The word “calisthenics” came from the combination of the Greek words kallos – “beauty” and sthenos – “power”.
Calisthenics is a system of training with the weight of one’s own body, which helps to find a beautiful and harmoniously developed body, to increase strength and aerobic endurance.
Athletes engaged in calisthenics do not use free weights and simulators, they work on horizontal bars, bars and Swedish walls – on sports equipment, which can be easily found on the street. Therefore calisthenics are also called street workouts.
Calisthenics trains the whole body
Exercise with the weight of your own body can not be done in isolation – even if you raise yourself at the expense of the hands, the rest of the body is also in tension. This is especially true for complex movements like pull-ups on one hand or exercises “horizon” (plaque, planche).
Press
Any movements from kalsteniki involve the muscles of the press. In addition, there are special exercises for working out these muscles, for example, lifting the legs to the bar or exercise “wipers”. These exercises also involve the front jagged muscles, which together with the rectus abdominis muscle determine the appearance of your press.
Arms
In calisthenics, many kinds of pull-ups that can pump the muscles of the arms and back are better than exercises with weight: pulling up to the chin and up to the chest, a narrow or wide grip, on a thick bar and other objects you can grasp, slow pulling, L-pulling , pull-ups on one hand. There is always a more complex option that will provide more stress on the biceps and back muscles.
For triceps and chest in kalstenik there are many kinds of push-ups on the floor, as well as on uneven bars and rings. By combining pull-ups and push-ups within one workout, you evenly pump the entire top of the body.
Legs
Most often, the criticism of calisthenics concerns exactly the development of the legs, because they do not participate in spectacular exercises on the bar. However, it is quite possible to pump your legs with exercises with your own weight.
Using a full range of motion (squatting before hitting the shins), a large number of repetitions and more complex shapes, for example squatting “pistol”, you can increase the load on your legs and develop their strength.
Calisthenics creates the perfect balance of muscles and fat
To perform complex calisthenic movements, an ideal balance of muscles and fat is required, in which the athlete can easily pull his body on two or one hand, squeeze him up and move from one position to another.
Therefore, unlike athletes from power sports, amateur calisthenics simply can not be thick or pumped – they are all dried, with a distinct relief of muscles and a harmoniously developed body.
To see this on a live example, we offer a glimpse into Instagram and admire the figures of famous athletes in the world of calisthenics.
Let’s start with the female figure. Here is the beautiful Malin Malle (Malin Malle), in the profile of which you can see a lot of exercises, gymnastics and tricks.
Famous athlete Chris Heria (Chris Heria), coach and author of THENX project – a site with a base of training and exercise techniques.
Demi Bagby, a 16-year-old female athlete, is strong, flexible and coordinated. She creates incredible things on the bar, easily performs gymnastic elements and tricks.
Frank Medran, personal trainer and expert in calisthenics, fitness model.
If you like dried brawny figures of athletes, try to do some training and decide whether you are calisthenic or not.
Where to find a training program
Among other advantages is that kalstenika is a rather economical sport. You do not need to buy a subscription to the gym, it’s enough to find horizontal bars on the street in the summer, and in the winter to work on the bar and bars at home.
You can also do without a coach, using the variety of information on the Internet. First, you can watch videos on YouTube. For example, the same Chris Jeria on his channel tells how to start a calisthenics.
Look at the channel of the famous coach and author of books about kalstenika Al Kavadlo (Al Kavadlo). Here you will find plans for training and progression of exercises: from the simplest to the most difficult options.
Many workouts with body weight can be found on the YouTube channel Calisthenics Weight Training. Here is a playlist of calisthenics workouts.
A few more trainings for beginners and techniques for performing some exercises you will find on the channel BaristiWorkout.
Also free training programs in Russian can be found on the site workout.su, and if you do not mind buying training in English, it can be done on the websites of the Calisthenic Academy, School of Calisthenic or THENX.
And you tried to engage in calisthenics?
