It’s one of the age-old debates in fitness: calisthenics vs. weight training – which one is better?
Calisthenics is a bodyweight-based form of exercise. Push-ups, pull-ups, and jump squats are examples of calisthenics. Weight training, on the other hand, involves using external resistance in the form of weighted equipment such as dumbbells, kettlebells, and barbells. The big three weight training exercises are bench presses, barbell squats, and deadlifts.
Let’s review the benefits, risk of injury, and results of both forms of exercise to see which one is best for you.
Benefits of Calisthenics
Form Your Foundation: If you’re a beginner, calisthenics are the best place to start. You will learn the foundation of fitness with exercises like push-ups and squats. Beginning with calisthenics will make a transition into weight training smoother, assuming you want to make the jump.
Functional Strength: Calisthenics allow you to avoid and correct any type of imbalance in strength and muscle size. For example, if you notice your left side is weaker than your right side, calisthenics can help to achieve balance in strength. This is essential before moving on to weights. If you have a muscular distortion or strength imbalance, weightlifting can exacerbate the issue.
High Rate of Progression: You’d be amazed at the number of progressions that are available for calisthenics. When it comes to the exercises themselves, there are a number of ways to increase difficulty and intensity to see better results and progress. Calisthenics are also an ideal launch point to try other forms of bodyweight-based exercises such as gymnastics.
Convenience: The majority of bodyweight exercises require no equipment and very little space to perform. If you travel for business or pleasure, calisthenics can help you stay in shape while you’re on the road.
Rate of Injury in Calisthenics
Over a long enough timeline and without proper body maintenance such as stretching, massage, and proper nutrition, all forms of exercise can result in an injury. With that said, studies show that calisthenics have a lower rate of injury compared to weight training.
How Easy is it to Start Calisthenics?
Bodyweight exercises are the easiest way to get involved in fitness. Every exercise can be scaled up or down to meet your current fitness level, ensuring you are able to perform without an increased risk of injury.
What’s more, the basics of calisthenics don’t require gym equipment. And the market is saturated with high-quality guides on how to perform each exercise. You can easily find a video tutorial or an in-person expert trainer.
Calisthenics Results
For beginners, calisthenics tend to promote several areas of personal fitness at once, especially strength, endurance, flexibility, and lean muscle growth. It’s important to note that calisthenics can help you build lean muscle, but not muscle mass on par with a bodybuilder. That’s where weight training can help.
Benefits of Weight Training
Best Way to Build Muscle Mass: When you want to get big, there’s no substitute for weightlifting. Calisthenics can only get you so far. At some point, you will need to start using external resistance in order to increase muscle mass. Hypertrophy training is a scientifically proven way to increase the size of your muscle tissue and it’s accomplished through weight training.
Ideal for Maximal Strength Development: Ever watch a Strongman competition? Wondering how those guys and girls are able to pull trucks and carry Atlas stones? It’s all about weight training. Powerlifting and Strongman training is focused on weightlifting exercises. Calisthenics might be used on maintenance days, but you can’t deadlift 700 pounds with bodyweight exercises alone.
Improves Connective Tissue and Bone Strength: It’s not as obvious or as glamorous as showing off how much you can lift, but the strength of your connective tissue and bones has far greater implications for long-term health. Studies show that weight training can dramatically improve the health and strength of your bones and connective tissue, which can reduce your risk for age-related injuries.
Complement All Training: Whether you’re an athlete, getting into CrossFit, or preparing for a 5k, weight training exercises can complement your fitness goals.
Rate of Injury in Weight Training
Studies show that without proper education, preparation, and performance, the risk of injury can be high for weight training, especially for powerlifters (a type of weight training).
Weight training has a higher rate of injury compared to calisthenics, but it has a lower rate of injury when compared to competitive sports.
How Easy is it to Start Weight Training?
The short version: It’s not as easy to get into weightlifting as calisthenics. It requires a basic level of neuromuscular connection or syncing up your central nervous system with your muscle tissue, which is what you develop with calisthenics.
For beginners, I highly recommend hiring a trainer for a few sessions to learn the proper biomechanics, set-up, and execution of the foundational movements. This is an investment in yourself and your future fitness goals that will pay itself back over and over again.
Weight Training Results
Maximal strength and muscle mass growth are the two most reported (and sought after) results from weight training. Depending on what you’re after – size, strength, or both – you can manipulate your workout variables to achieve that goal.
Calisthenics vs. Weight Training: Which One Is Better?
The true question is, which one is better for you? And this depends on a number of factors:
If you’re a beginner, going through rehabilitation following surgery or an accident, or you want to focus on building functional strength, consider calisthenics. But if you want to increase muscle size, learn more advanced movements for a sport (e.g., Olympic weightlifting), or you want to improve explosive strength, choose weightlifting.
Here’s the thing: The ideal workout will contain both calisthenics and weight training as the two complement one another. So, if you’re a healthy individual with no medical complications or strict doctor’s order, consider splitting your time each week between the two.
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