The Principles Of Callisthenics

Calisthenics is a sport that involves developing your physical abilities, especially your muscles and strength, by using your body weight as resistance. How to do calisthenics? What are the principles of callisthenics? We tell you everything in this blog post, keep reading.

The principles of callisthenics

It is one of the new trends in muscle strengthening. After CrossFit, athletes are now taking up Calisthenics, a discipline that combines gymnastics and bodyweight training. Popularized by its variants such as street workout, calisthenics is gaining more and more followers.

Definition of calisthenics

Calisthenics is a sport that involves bodybuilding and gymnastics exercises. The name of this discipline comes from the ancient Greek: “kalos”, which means “body”, and “sthenos”, which refers to strength. Calisthenics involves using your own body weight to strengthen your physical abilities and control your appearance.

The origins of calisthenics

Calisthenics training as we understand it today is inspired by Swedish gymnastics, theorized by Pehr Henrik Ling in the 19th century. This form of gymnastics involves repeating exercises without using equipment and without overworking muscles, tendons and joints. This method was taken up in the United States in the mid-19th century by educator Catharine Beecher. In both cases, the goal is to improve your physical condition and health through exercises that do not require the use of apparatus or specific equipment.

A variation of calisthenics is “street workout”, a practice also called “street training”. In addition to the gym and bodyweight training, this discipline adds a “parkour” dimension, which relies in particular on the use of street furniture to perform pull-ups, jumps, etc.

The benefits of calisthenics for women

Whether you are a man or a woman, training with bodyweight and more particularly at home can offer many advantages.

In summary, calisthenics allows you to:

• Save time
• Save money
• Develop a more harmonious and functional body

We allow ourselves to note another important advantage: not being subjected to the gaze of others.

Indeed, whether it is out of shame or embarrassment, many women do not dare to go to the gym. It must be said that in the gym, there are people who work their eyes more than anything else!

Training at home allows you to be comfortable and not have to face the gaze of others during your training.

we still want to moderate our remarks, because we must not be paranoid or ashamed of our bodies, because we all start somewhere.

The main “calisthenics” exercises

Among the essential calisthenics exercises are:

–Squats, or leg bends, to work the thigh muscles and glutes

Standing, feet shoulder-width apart, bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Stretch your arms forward to maintain balance or keep your arms crossed at shoulder level. Then return to the initial position. The pistol squat is to do this movement on one leg; the other is stretched forward. The box squat consists of sitting on a bench at the end of the bend and then raising your body without momentum.

–Push-ups, to work the pectorals, triceps and shoulders

With your palms flat on the ground and your body balanced on your tiptoes, bend your elbows while lowering your chest, keeping your back straight. Push-ups can also be clapped: when you stand up, give a push with your arms to “clap” your hands before they return to the ground. Incline, decline, one-arm push-ups, etc. are other possible variations.

–Burpees, an exercise that combines push-ups and squats

It consists of chaining a bend in the legs at the end of which the hands are flat on the ground, a throw of the feet backwards to find yourself in a plank position and a return to a squat position. The movement ends with you getting up. You can add a push-up while performing the burpee and/or a jump when you stand up.

–Pull-ups, to work the biceps and back muscles

They are performed with a fixed bar and have many variations. The basic exercise consists of placing your hands on the bar, palms facing you (supinated grip), then lifting yourself up until your chin is at the height of the bar. In a pronated grip, the palms of the hands are turned forward: the back muscles are more used. The muscle-up is like passing r the body above the bar during the pull-up.

–Dips, to work the pectorals, shoulders and triceps

The principle of dips consists of hoisting yourself up onto parallel bars using the strength of your arms and bending your elbows. To avoid a swinging motion, keep your legs raised backwards.

–Crunches, to work the abdominal muscles

Lying on your back, with your legs bent, bring your torso towards your knees by stretching your arms forward or keeping them crossed behind your neck. Your feet and lower back remain glued to the ground.

Calisthenics program for beginners

Want to start calisthenics? Here is an example of a workout. Twice a week, your session includes:

• A series of 5-20 push-ups
• A series of 15-20 squats
• 30 to 45 seconds of core strengthening
• A series of 10-15 pull-ups

Gradually increase the number of repetitions of each movement. As you train, you can make the exercises more complex with more explosive variations or with weights, such as a weighted belt or vest. Also increase the frequency until you reach 5 consecutive days of training, while making sure to keep two days of recovery.

You can also ask a sports coach for advice. Depending on your goals and your physical condition, they will guide you in your calisthenics sessions.

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I hope you enjoyed this little overview of the principles of callisthenics and found it useful. Comment down below what you think of this sport. Would you try it? Or share with us your tips to smoothly get into it!

Looking forward to reading your comments, sending you love and positive energy!!!