saffacel
spinning my wheels
- Joined
- May 10, 2020
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I was hoping to do this after getting more personal experience and reading, but due to the post made earlier and the fact i am free and not having sex with someone I thought it might be a good time to post this.
If you can't (or won't ) use a gym there is no reason not to make strides towards your ideal body. Weight lifting is all about progressive overload calisthenics is also about that but the buzzword used is progressions. Calisthenics is all about exercise progressions.
So calisthenics is all about making slight tweaks to exercises to make them challenging enough for you to make progress. Eg Kneeling push ups if you can't do push ups.
In general a good program will focus on these types of exercises push, pull, legs
1. push - push ups, military press, handstand push ups
2. pull - pull ups, rows, muscle ups
3. legs - squats, calf raises
For optimal muscle growth you want to work the muscles from all angles so push and pull in the program would consist of two exercises. Horizontal and Vertical variations of them. Eg pull ups and rows.
Reps/sets
One of the best programs is the one on r/bodyweightfitness. You will need to look up the exercises on youtube and/or google. The author of one of the best calisthenics books Overcoming Gravity was involved in creating their famous recommended routine.
Tbh, the above routine was too long (1.5 hours) for my natty self and I wasn't recovering between workouts. So a more beginner friendly routine I recommend is the one on startbodyweight.com. Here it is copy pasted (links won't work). If you using peds or are not lazy then technically the reddit routine is better.
This routine can be done in 45min to 1 hour which is I think an ideal length for beginners and lazycels. Every good program kinda looks like this. With exercises recommended differing slightly. In reddit's routine you'd do both a push up variation and dip variation (or some other exercise that targets the same muscles). So you can use this as a template and choose your own adventure.
ignore the ancillary progressions for now.
Now, this is meant to be done three times a week but if you're struggling to recover you can still get results doing it twice a week.
Sometimes you will find you don't have the equipment or something unique about your workout environment prevents you from using a certain exercise in the chart.
No biggie, just try to find an alternative exercise that your struggle to do for 8 reps. r/bodyweightfitness should be your first stop, or you can try find something on google or a great book like overcoming gravity or convict conditioning. eg, i don't have a level surface to stand on for the early versions of the pull up variation so I am using the reddit's first exercise in their pull up progressions.
Equipment
Use your environment, eg find a place to hang, use chairs, desks tables,
Gym rings can be used in the most number of exercises eg pull ups, dips and rows (optional but highly recommended)
Pull up bar (optional)
Parallel bars (optional) - buy them if you can ring dips are tough to do so this is also highly recommended
Note
Recommended reading, C-mass by Paul Wade and Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low. The former is ideal for beginners and latter ideal for intermediate to advances calisthenic trainees.
So here is an example of a calisthenics body, probably the most well known calisthenics dude is Austin dunham and he claims to be natty.
but...but i have no access to the gym
No more excuses, you can make progress now.
If you can't (or won't ) use a gym there is no reason not to make strides towards your ideal body. Weight lifting is all about progressive overload calisthenics is also about that but the buzzword used is progressions. Calisthenics is all about exercise progressions.
So calisthenics is all about making slight tweaks to exercises to make them challenging enough for you to make progress. Eg Kneeling push ups if you can't do push ups.
In general a good program will focus on these types of exercises push, pull, legs
1. push - push ups, military press, handstand push ups
2. pull - pull ups, rows, muscle ups
3. legs - squats, calf raises
For optimal muscle growth you want to work the muscles from all angles so push and pull in the program would consist of two exercises. Horizontal and Vertical variations of them. Eg pull ups and rows.
Reps/sets
- 3-5 for pure strength but not recommended because of skill factor in calisthenics. good form important
- 5-8 mixture of strength and hypertrophy
- 9-12 best for hypertrophy
- Note that you have to find the exercise that you can just barely do 4-8 reps
- if you can barely do 4 reps try an easier variation, if you can do 8 comfortably move up
- 2-3 sets is usually recommended
One of the best programs is the one on r/bodyweightfitness. You will need to look up the exercises on youtube and/or google. The author of one of the best calisthenics books Overcoming Gravity was involved in creating their famous recommended routine.
Tbh, the above routine was too long (1.5 hours) for my natty self and I wasn't recovering between workouts. So a more beginner friendly routine I recommend is the one on startbodyweight.com. Here it is copy pasted (links won't work). If you using peds or are not lazy then technically the reddit routine is better.
EXERCISE | SETS/REPS/TIME |
10 min | |
Appropriate variation from squat progression | 3 sets of between 4 and 8 repetitions; Rest between one and 2 min between sets |
Appropriate pull up variation | 3 sets of between 4 and 8 repetitions; Rest between one and 2 min between sets |
Appropriate handstand push up variation | 3 sets of between 4 and 8 repetitions; Rest between one and 2 min between sets |
Appropriate leg raises variation | 3 sets of between 4 and 8 repetitions; Rest between one and 2 min between sets |
3 sets of between 4 and 8 repetitions; Rest between one and 2 min between sets | |
Appropriate horizontal pull variation | 3 sets of between 4 and 8 repetitions; Rest between one and 2 min between sets |
Appropriate plank variation | one plank between 30s and 60s |
10 min |
This routine can be done in 45min to 1 hour which is I think an ideal length for beginners and lazycels. Every good program kinda looks like this. With exercises recommended differing slightly. In reddit's routine you'd do both a push up variation and dip variation (or some other exercise that targets the same muscles). So you can use this as a template and choose your own adventure.
ignore the ancillary progressions for now.
Now, this is meant to be done three times a week but if you're struggling to recover you can still get results doing it twice a week.
Sometimes you will find you don't have the equipment or something unique about your workout environment prevents you from using a certain exercise in the chart.
No biggie, just try to find an alternative exercise that your struggle to do for 8 reps. r/bodyweightfitness should be your first stop, or you can try find something on google or a great book like overcoming gravity or convict conditioning. eg, i don't have a level surface to stand on for the early versions of the pull up variation so I am using the reddit's first exercise in their pull up progressions.
Equipment
Use your environment, eg find a place to hang, use chairs, desks tables,
Gym rings can be used in the most number of exercises eg pull ups, dips and rows (optional but highly recommended)
Pull up bar (optional)
Parallel bars (optional) - buy them if you can ring dips are tough to do so this is also highly recommended
Note
- You will need to look up how to do exercises before doing them, sometimes even during your workout.
- technique is important, so constantly check if you doing it right, especially if you getting injuries.
- don't go to failure in your first set, leave one rep in the bank since you will be doing 3 sets
- try doing some form of warm up even if it's not the same as the one recommended in your chosen program
- If want especially large legs you may need to add squats with weights later on.
- If you have zero money to buy equipment just start off with the You are your own gym book although it doesn't follow the recommendations here I made noticable progress on it in the past. It's quite a fun exercise program too.
Recommended reading, C-mass by Paul Wade and Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low. The former is ideal for beginners and latter ideal for intermediate to advances calisthenic trainees.
So here is an example of a calisthenics body, probably the most well known calisthenics dude is Austin dunham and he claims to be natty.
but...but i have no access to the gym
No more excuses, you can make progress now.
