Dos & Don’ts for Calisthenics Beginners

Calisthenics is a pretty simple discipline. All you need to do is move your body against the resistance of gravity to build a stronger body. It’s so simple in fact that you’ve been doing just that since you were able to walk. Therefore calisthenics training is not about doing anything fancy or exotic, but using your body as you always have. You’re just elevating how well you use it.

But what is basic in concept can also be deep and complicated in practice.

Bodyweight training can become especially messy if you get trapped in the countless calisthenics internet rabbit holes that offer conflicting advice.

It’s easy to become ensnared in the trap of paralysis by analysis, especially during the first few years of training. Years of workout experience can shield you from the foolish, and sometimes dangerous, advice that saturates our fitness culture. However, even seasoned training veterans can fall for enticing scams, myths, and misconceptions.

Heaven knows I’ve fallen for many popular myths myself. Some of these myths have cost me years of wasted time and effort. I’ve now been training primarily in calisthenics for almost two decades. However, I honestly consider much of the first decade a messy hodgepodge of dead ends and mistakes because I did so many things wrong.

I wasted so much time and effort because most false leads sound great and make a lot of sense, but that’s just the problem. Just because an idea makes sense and sounds good doesn’t mean it is worthwhile.

Thankfully, I was too stubborn to quit despite years of frustration. Now, my training is far more productive and worthwhile and I’m pleased to share what I’ve learned through this article. These are the top things to do and not to do for more effective and worthwhile calisthenics training.

Don’t:

Do endless push-ups & sit-ups.

Bodyweight training often lends itself to “rep-chasing,” where you endlessly pursue more volume. Adding some extra sets and reps is fine when starting out.

You certainly will build some degree of muscle and strength when you are starting out, and it’s easy to do more volume.

However, you can’t endlessly scale hard work. Before long, you inevitably hit a limit of how much you can invest in your training. At that point you’re slogging through one exhaustive workout after another which takes a toll on your body, mind, and lifestyle. Even worse, all of that extra hard work doesn’t help you make much progress at all. It often costs you strength and muscle as your body struggles to recover from the taxing workouts.

Do:

Learn progressive calisthenics theory

Like all forms of strength training, there are many ways to progress in calisthenics. Adding more volume is a good way to advance your training, but it’s certainly not the only, or even the best way most of the time. Doing endless push-ups is fundamentally the same thing as going into the gym and lifting an empty barbell without ever adding plates onto it.

Adding intensity is essential for proper strength training. The best way to do that is to add weight to the working muscles as you grow stronger. In weight training, you add weight to increase the resistance of the exercise you’re doing; and the same is the case for calisthenics training. You still add weight to increase resistance, you just go about it a different way. With calisthenics training, you shift your weight distribution from one area of your body to another.

There are two primary ways you do this, the first is to shift weight between your hands and your feet, like when you do a recline row.

Do:

Create and stick to a 7-day workout plan.

Consistency is the foundation of all success in physical training and calisthenics is no exception. The easiest way to maintain that consistency is to plan out a 7- day workout routine.

A simple weekly plan helps you plan your workouts around even the busiest of schedules. Writing down when you will train ensures you’re not leaving your training, and success, up to chance.

Don’t:

Overthink your weekly training plan.

The most important part of a sound workout plan is creating a plan you can stick to. It doesn’t matter how great a workout routine is on paper; it’s not a good plan if you have trouble sticking to it.

Start with a simple plan that allows you to work your major muscle groups 2-3 times a week on non-consecutive days to allow recovery. From there, make tweaks and changes as you see fit to make it easier to stick to consistent training.

Do:

Create or find a place that’s dedicated to your workouts.

The beautiful thing about calisthenics is that you can practice anywhere. It’s fine to train wherever you find yourself, but you’ll have more consistency and focus if you regularly train in a dedicated environment.

A good training space can be as simple as a pull-up bar in a doorway or some clean floor space in your basement. It may also be a park with some pull-up bars for some outdoor training. Better yet, it’s a good idea to have several potential spaces to workout so you have flexible options.

Don’t:

Waste money on expensive exercise equipment.

Fundamentally, physical training is about using your body; not fancy equipment.

You don’t need to spend big bucks to fill your basement with equipment. All you need is a place to hang, a sturdy wall, and the floor beneath your feet. It’s fine to add some extra toys like a pair of gymnastics rings or a plyo-box, but these are not necessary. Even so, the simplest and most cost-efficient products will be more than adequate to enhance your training for years to come.

The second way you can add weight to your working muscles is to shift it from one side of your body to the other like with an archer push-up.

Adjusting your technique, breaks you out of the endless dead end volume chasing rat race. It makes it easier to build muscle and strength, reduces the stress on body, mind, and lifestyle while also enhancing other qualities like stability, mobility, and coordination. This is how you effectively reverse the effect of putting in work without much benefit and getting more benefit from a modest amount of work.

Don’t:

Focus on any one muscle group.

One of the most common calisthenics mistakes is spending too much time and attention on one area of the body. A common example is only practicing upper body exercises, like push-ups and pull-ups, or focusing too much on the “mirror muscles”.

I know it can be tempting to emphasize the muscles. You can see, but the muscles along the back of your body contribute just as much, if not more, to your overall physique, health, and performance.

Do:

Work your whole body including legs and posterior chain.

Contrary to popular belief, calisthenics is an effective way to train all of the muscles of the body, including the legs, back, and even the neck. Some of the more effective hamstring and back exercises in existence are bodyweight techniques.

I used to be quite the free weight zealot who worshiped daily at the altar of the squat rack. However, when I made the change to calisthenics training, it was my legs and posterior chain that saw the most rapid improvement. I improve my posture and lower body strength faster in two months of calisthenics training than I had in several years of weightlifting.

Granted, much of my inability to get what I wanted from the weights was due to a lack of my personal proficiency. I simply wasn’t very good at doing back squats and had a lot of imbalances lurking in my hips. Calisthenics training required me to address those imbalances and use my muscles in a much more holistic and functional way.

And that’s the sad reality of popular calisthenics training. Emphasizing popular exercises, like push-ups and pull-ups, while neglecting less popular techniques like back bridges only amplifies the imbalances that compromise your physique, health, and performance luckily. It’s easy to overcome this limitation by adding in a couple of simple basic techniques

Don’t:

Emulate what you see on social media

It’s only natural to explore calisthenics resources and tips through the Internet, which inevitably leads to watching calisthenics videos on social media. Many of those resources can be helpful, and inspiring to say the least. However, don’t forget that social media is a business that’s designed to grab your attention with fancy, yet often impractical depiction of practical training.

That’s not to say that what you see isn’t real; it’s just an inaccurate depreciation of what most people practice to reach their fitness goals.

The gifted athlete who’s been doing gymnastics for most of their life doing backflips off of a pull-up bar may get a lot of likes, but that’s hardly the type of exercise most people should be doing. It’s fine to aspire for fancy techniques and circuit tricks, but impressive structures are rarely built from exotic materials. Even the most impressive techniques you see on social media are only possible through years of training that’s dedicated to mastering the basics.

Do:

Build a program that’s best suited for your body, resources, and goals.

You probably won’t get your best results with fancy circus tricks and over- complicated routines. Instead, your most effective strategies will rely heavily on basic exercises customized for your fitness level and goals.

As a coach, it’s not my job to force anyone to work outside of their current abilities. It doesn’t matter if you can do 100 arm push-ups or struggle to stand up out of a chair; it’s my responsibility to ensure your workouts meet you where you are, not the other way around.

The best exercises and routines for you may not help you trend on social media, but they will be far safer and deliver faster results. After all, what’s more important: a few extra likes from total strangers or building a body that helps you look, feel, and live your best life?

Don’t:

Try to find that ultimate routine that you commit to for the rest of your life.

Many people want to find a workout routine that’s the “best” way to get results.

They search for that one routine that will take them to the promised land if they can only commit to it for a lifetime.

It’s kind of like looking for the person you’re going to marry, or the career that you will take into your retirement years. There’s just something enticing about finding that one ultimate solution that will take care of all of your needs for the duration of your training career.

Do:

Learn many techniques and strategies

Few people get very far with any one routine or exercise plan. Long-term success almost always involves using many different training strategies and methods that you can mix and match through throughout your career.

Various strategies allow you to adapt your training to fit changing circumstances. Sometimes you may need to utilize a high-volume approach. Other times, using a high-intensity strategy may be the way to go. All training methods have their pros and cons. There is no perfect routine that will give you everything you want or need to address. You will always fall short in one way or another no matter how perfect your routine is. Your needs, preferences, and objectives will also change overtime. So even if you do find that one perfect routine that checks all the boxes right now, it won’t stay perfect for too long as you and your lifestyle inevitably changes.

Forcing yourself to adhere to a dogmatic workout program pulls you out of alignment, which means that perfect program can quickly become a liability for your body, mind, and lifestyle. When people with a “perfect“ routine face so much stress, they abandon their approach, including the parts that were beneficial. They continue looking for another “perfect” plan. This endless search for the proverbial pot of gold is not only exhausting and ineffective, it’s also frustrating and pulls you away from developing a flexible approach.

Any sound approach to physical training will evolve over time. You don’t need to make drastic changes from one month to the next. You may never adopt a whole new routine at all. Instead, the best way to reduce stress and get better results is to make changes as they are necessary while maintaining consistency in your approach.

Do:

Learn and master simple, repeatable, workouts

As the saying goes, it’s not what you do, but how you do it, and this principle goes for calisthenics as well. Because it’s not about how fancy your routine is, or what tools you use; it’s about how well you can execute your routine and the exercises you do.

So to help you out, I’ve created several videos on how to hit the ground running with the most fundamental calisthenics training techniques.

Starting push-up strength:

Starting Row Strength:

Starting Squat Strength:

These simple strategies can help you avoid years of unnecessary stress and frustration and also increase your chances of rewarding productivity. Like all physical disciplines, calisthenics should be challenging, but also extremely rewarding. It’s not supposed to be an endless struggle that will hopefully pay off in the distant future.

Struggle and frustration are not the signs of an effective routine. They are indicators that something is out of alignment and you should make a change in your approach. After all, fitness only works if it gets easier overtime and calisthenics can be one of the simplest and easiest ways to build the body you want.

If you need us to help you with your training program then check out what we offer here or just send us a message!