Calisthenics workouts focus on compound exercises that use your body weight as the resistance. Compound exercises are movements that recruit several major muscles at once, making them ideal for faster results in building lean muscle tissue, burning fat, and boosting endurance.
What’s more, a full-body calisthenics workout requires little to no equipment and it can be performed anywhere. If you’re a traveler or constantly on-the-go for work, this type of workout can help you stay fit.
Best of all, calisthenics workouts are easy to create. Let’s take a look at how you can make your own bodyweight workout. We’ll also throw in our ultimate calisthenics workout you can start using today.
How to Create Your Own Calisthenics Workout
You don’t need a degree in exercise science to create your own bodyweight workout at home. Here are a few simple steps to follow:
Choosing the Correct Exercises
As mentioned above, you’ll want to focus on selecting compound exercises or movements that utilize the greatest number of muscle fibers at one time. Exercises such as squats, push-ups, deadlifts, and burpees should make up the bulk of your workout.
While isolation movements are great for building muscle mass, they are not ideal for a full-body calisthenics workout because they only focus on one muscle group at a time. A great example would be bicep curls. A better alternative would be pull-ups, which targets the back, rear deltoids (shoulders), core, AND biceps.
Finally, I would recommend including a burnout movement at the end of each workout. This is typically for someone with prior fitness experience. A burnout exercise is a fast-paced movement that will amplify your metabolic rate to improve cardiovascular health and increase calorie burning. Examples include burpees, sprints, and jump rope.
Selecting Acute Variables
Every calisthenics workout will have a specific set of acute variables to follow. You should base these variables on your current fitness level, previous experience with exercise, and physique goals. A general rule of thumb is to set the variables just outside of your comfort level. As you progress, adjust the variables to challenge but not overwhelm yourself.
Repetitions (Reps): This is the suggested number of times you should complete an exercise – from concentric (lifting) to isometric (pausing) to eccentric (lowering). In general, the lower the number of repetitions, the greater the resistance should be, and vice versa. Higher repetition exercises tend to produce better results in fat burning and endurance while lower repetition exercises are better for muscle building.
Example: Fifteen repetitions means to do the exercise 15 times.
Sets: This is the suggested number of times that you should complete the recommended repetitions.
Example: Three sets of 15 repetitions (3 x 15) means to perform 15 reps, take a break, perform another 15 reps, take a break, and complete a final 15 reps.
Intensity: This is the perceived rate of exertion or how tough the workout feels to you. If you’re performing fewer repetitions, you should increase the intensity of the exercise. A great example of this is during a sprint; it’s a short exercise but it has maximal intensity.
Tempo: This is the speed of lifting, pausing, and lowering. Usually expressed in seconds, lifting speeds can vary based on experience and goals. Fast tempo workouts tend to be better for developing speed, power, and fast-twitch muscle fiber responses. Slow tempo workouts are great for endurance building and fat burning.
Rest Break: This is the amount of time you rest before the next set. Longer rest breaks should be taken after more intense exercises. Shorter rest breaks are great for improving your cardiovascular health and metabolic response.
Assessing Progress and Making Changes
Every 6 to 8 weeks, take a look at your progress and change your workout to make it more of a challenge for yourself.
Evaluate your workout and determine whether it matches your fitness level. In other words, the workout shouldn’t be too difficult or too simple. Change the workout accordingly by scaling it up or down in difficulty according to your current fitness level.
The Ultimate Full-Body Calisthenics Workout
The workout below offers three levels of difficulty: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Consider your current fitness level and choose accordingly.
I highly recommend consulting a personal trainer or, at the very least, YouTube video if you aren’t sure how to perform any of the following exercises.
Exercise One:
Beginner: Bodyweight Squat (Air Squat): 2 sets of 10 repetitions
Intermediate: Pistol Squat: 3 x 12
Advanced: Jump Squat: 3 x 15
Exercise Two:
Inverted Hanging Row: 2 x 8
Pull-Up: 3 x 10
Muscle-Up (Popular CrossFit and gymnastics movement that utilizes a kipping motion.): 3 x 12
Exercise Three:
Romanian Deadlift: 2 x 10
Single-Leg Deadlift: 3 x 10
Jumping Alternating Lunges: 3 x 10
Exercise Four:
Kneeling Push-Up: 2 x 8Push-Up: 3 x 8Decline Push-Up: 3 x 10
Exercise Five:
Pike Press (A shoulder exercise where you elevate your hips up and push yourself away from the ground like a push-up.): 2 x 8
Bear Crawl: 3 x 10
Handstand Walk (Enter into a traditional handstand then “walk” across the floor on your hands.): 3 x 25 feet
Exercise Six:
Crunch: 2 x 12
Russian Twists: 3 x 10
Toes-to-Bar (A gymnastics movement where you elevate your toes until they reach the pull-up bar.): 3 x 12
Exercise Seven (Burnout Exercise):
Jump Rope: 2 x 30 seconds
Burpee: 2 x 8
Burpee Box Jump Over (Perform a traditional burpee next to a box of about 24 inches in height, but as you jump, do so onto the box. Straighten your hips at the top then step down.): 3 x 6
Calisthenics Workouts: Convenient and Effective
Calisthenics workouts are a convenient way to achieve an incredible physique no matter where you are. Have you built your own calisthenics workouts? Share one in the comments below! Have questions about an exercise, don’t hesitate to ask!
References
1. Kotarsky CJ, Christensen BK, Miller JS, Hackney KJ. Effect of Progressive Calisthenic Push-up Training on Muscle Strength and Thickness. J Strength Cond Res. 2018 Mar;32(3):651-659. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002345.