Starting Your Calisthenics Journey - Tips for Beginners

By definition, calisthenics is a type of exercise that utilizes only the body and minimal or no equipment. While you will need pull-up bars, parallel bars, ropes, etc. to do some calisthenics exercises, the idea is that the resistance will come from your own bodyweight.

Most bodybuilders hate this type of exercise and prefer weights over doing calisthenics. Most people, especially gym freaks believe that calisthenics cannot make you strong and eventually build muscle. I hate to burst the bubble but after a year out of the gym and working out at home using my homemade pull up bar and parallel bars, I have become stronger than I could ever imagine.

Well, enough of the introduction, here are my tips for beginners who want to start their calisthenics journey:

1. Compound is better
Unlike with weights where you work specific muscle groups on a given day, whole body calisthenic routines every other day is much better for bodyweight exercises. Most bodyweight movements like pushups for example target several muscle groups at once (in this case, your chest, delts, triceps, lats, and your abs). However, you can try splitting your training once you are in the intermediate or advanced levels of calisthenic training or if you are no longer progressing with full body routines.

2. You are competing against yourself, not with any other person
Most people envy their friends who can do 20 push ups even if they were previously untrained. While some people are genetically gifted, you could be one of those people who are not. Do not force yourself to break records in a short timespan; remember that what's important is that you are making decent improvement, no matter how slow. Forcing yourself into doing hard exercises will only cause you to exercise with bad form and could lead to you getting injured.

3.  Rest is just as important as working out
While calisthenics only focuses on exercises that utilize natural body movements, your muscles would still fatigue after a hard day's exercise. Make sure that you give your muscles plenty of time to recover before you work out again. Not getting enough rest could hamper muscle recovery and could do more damage than good. If you are feeling very sore or you feel like you are losing strength after each workout, you might want to rest and recover a bit more.

4. Your diet plays a big factor  
If you are looking to get lean and "toned", exercising everyday wouldn't help if you are eating too much. While it is true that muscle is built by exercising, you need to maintain a good diet to get fit. I personally am a believer that "junk food" is ok as long as you keep it to a minimum. Depriving yourself with the good stuff will only make you binge eat, and it could get disastrous. I would recommend that you get a food logging app to record your daily food intake and see when you can snack a chocolate bar. Always remember that sweets contain sugar, which is a carbohydrate. You can reduce your carb intake for the day to pave way for a snickers bar without feeling really guilty about it.

5. Progress, progress, progress
Once you are strong enough, workouts can get too easy for you. Always look for ways to progress. You can wear a weight vest while you push ups or if you prefer to be a purist, you can try declined pushups and eventually progress to doing one-arm pushups. The idea is to find ways to make every workout a bit harder than the last. Even 1 additional rep per week can make wonders for you.

These are just some of the tips that I can share to people who want to try living a healthy life with calisthenics. I might post some workout routines soon. Good luck on your calisthenics journey!