How To Start Calisthenics - The Awesome Way To Master Your Bodyweight

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Meaning if you click on a link and make a purchase, I'll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

If you want to learn how to start calisthenics then listen up. Because in today’s blog post I’m giving you a groundbreaking introduction into everything you need to know.

I’ll be taking you through the basics…

…Progressions

And I’ll also be giving you a brief insight into the massive benefits it provides.

I’m not just talking about physical benefits either. I’m talking about the functional and mental benefits it has on your health and wellbeing.

See when I first started calisthenics, I was around 11 years old. I played local league basketball. And one day my coach tasked the team with doing 5 pushups every day.

This was in addition to our regular basketball workouts.

Now at this point in my life, I couldn’t do pushups. But I did as I was told and found the time to attempt at least 5 pushups every single day without fail.

It was hard at first, given the fact that I’d rarely even done pushups. So when I first tried them, I could barely muster up 5 consecutive ones without nearly bursting a blood vessel.

But when the next week rolled around and I went back to practice, it was immediately obvious that things were different.

I was at handling the ball better. My passing was on point. And I was a lot stronger on both offensive and defensive play.

That’s when I realized the huge benefits of calisthenics.

So over the next few weeks and months, I made it my mission to progress.

I started doing 10 pushups a day, 20, 30 then 50 a day and my game continued to improve.

Why am I telling you this?

Because if you want to learn how to start calisthenics, then it’s important to understand that the benefits go way beyond just looking good.

And as far as I’m concerned, it will improve almost every aspect of your life positively.

The problem though is that if you don’t know how to start calisthenics. Then it can be hard to find a reliable workout routine that will get you the results you want.

And unless you’re following a structured calisthenics program like the Bar Brothers 12-Week Transformation Program. Then you’re likely going to fall short when making improvements to your strength and fitness levels.

Table of Contents

How To Start Calisthenics – The Basics

Now, building a calisthenics routine that works isn’t as difficult as you might think.

In fact, except for a pullup bar (and preferably dip station), there isn’t really anything else you need except your own bodyweight.

But in terms of workout structure, there are actually only 6 movement patterns you should focus on.

And as long as you’re adding some form of each into your workout then that’s really all you need to get started.

WATCH VIDEO: How To QUICKLY Master The Planche, Muscle-Up, Human Flag, And Other Advanced Calisthenic Moves That Defy The Law Of Gravity

(Video Will Open In A New Window)

The 6 Movement Patterns

Horizontal Push

As the name suggests, a horizontal push is a movement that involves any pushing exercise from a horizontal position.

In the weight room, bench pressing is the king of horizontal pushing movements.

But with calisthenics, it’s the pushup.

Now, the primary muscles involved with pushups are both the chest and triceps.

Other muscles do assist the move. But for now, just remember these two.

Anyway…

The pushup is only the basic movement pattern. But as you progress, there are literally hundreds more pushup progressions that can take your pushing strength through the roof.

Here are a few basic ones so you can see what I mean…

Horizontal Pull

Opposite to the horizontal push is the horizontal pull.

This involves pulling something towards your chest form a horizontal position.

A classic example of this would be any form of rowing movements such as a dumbbell or barbell row.

But in calisthenics, the simplest version of this exercise would be an inverted row or Australian pullup as some might call it.

Not only is this exercise awesome for building your back muscles. It’s also a great stepping stone for learning more difficult vertical pulling movements such as the pullup or chin up.

Vertical Pull

As we’ve discussed a vertical pull in calisthenics involves both pullups and chin-ups.

They’re a lot harder than their horizontal counterpart so it can be difficult to get the hang of. Especially when you’re learning the basics.

The reason being is that your feet aren’t supported during the movement. Which makes it a lot harder to pull yourself up.

Give it time though, and they will get easier. Provided you’re using the right pull-up progressions to master them.

Vertical Push

So last on the list of upper body movement patterns is the vertical push.

Now there’s a little bit more to the vertical push because there’s actually two plains of motion you can use.

The first one is a vertical pressing movement where you’re pressing your hands over your head.

The calisthenics version of this is the handstand pushup and it’s the more dominant shoulder variation.

This is because your shoulders are taking the majority of the load when performing the exercise.

The other vertical push is where you’re pushing yourself vertically in the opposite way. The most common exercise is the parallel bar dip.

This exercise places more emphasis on your triceps and lower chest muscles. So it’s not as ideal if you’re looking to build immense shoulder strength.

But it’s better for overall chest development.

It’s worth noting that both exercises have their place in the vertical push department. So if your serious about working every area of your upper body.

My advice is to just do both and reap the benefits of each.

Squats

Moving away from the upper body we have bodyweight squats.

Now in some instances, bodyweight squats can be limiting. For instance, if your goal is to be able to squat 500-pounds then calisthenics alone won’t be enough to get you there.

But if you’re looking for something more functional…

…Skillful

And something that uses balance and coordination in a way heavy squatting can’t.

Then calisthenics is the way to go.

Take the pistol squat for instance.

This exercise is the pinnacle of calisthenics leg exercises.

And I challenge anyone, trained or untrained to try and perform this almost impossible move without falling on your ass.

This is where calisthenics breaks away from the norm. Because anyone who can perform a solid repetition of the pistol squat with perfect form is way up there on the list of calisthenic masters.

Now the pistol squat isn’t something you should ever be thinking about yet.

I’m just using it as an example of what you can achieve when you put the effort in.

Your main focus at this point should be pretty straight forward…

Do squats, lots of them, and the results will follow.

Hinge Movement

A hinge movement is any exercise that involves bending your body at the hips with added resistance.

Now, this is where calisthenics comes unstuck a little. Because to be honest, there are only three movement patterns you can use in a hip hinge movement without adding weight.

These are…

…Hip thrusts

…Bodyweight Deadlifts

…And Back bridges

Don’t get me wrong all these moves have their place when you’re first learning how to start calisthenics.

But as you progress, it becomes difficult to make these exercises harder without adding resistance.

How To Start Calisthenics – Progressions

When you start getting good at the basics. You’ll then want to start adding harder variations of each exercise to continue to increase your strength and fitness levels.

Now I’m not going to take you through every single progression of every single exercise. Because frankly, it’s too much information for one blog post.

You’d be better off investing in the Bar Brothers 12-Week Transformation Program.

This will take you step-by-step through every single calisthenics progression you can imagine. Until you’re performing elite feats of strength like muscle-ups, human flags, and the planche.

But what I will say is that you can make any exercise harder by using just one thing…

…Leverage

Basically, leverage is when position your body in a variety of different ways to make an exercise harder.

For instance, I could very easily make pushups harder by positioning my weight further to one side of my body…

…Or by positioning my hands further towards my waist to place more of my body weight on my shoulders.

These are just a few examples of using leverage. But the great thing is, you can use it on practically any calisthenics exercise provided you know what you’re doing.

This is how advanced calisthenics athletes build insane amounts of muscle using nothing more than their body weight.

Click Here To Check Out The Official Bar Brothers Website

Increasing The Intensity

As you progress further, eventually you’re going to want to start getting more out of your calisthenics workouts.

So it this point, increasing the intensity of your workouts should be a top priority.

The best way to do this is to pair two exercises together.

This is called a superset. And not only will it increase your work capacity. It’ll also cut your workout time almost in half.

All you have to do to make this work is to perform 2 exercises targeting different muscle groups back to back.

So, for example, you could do a set of pull-ups followed immediately by a set of pushups.

Rest for a set time and then repeat for however many sets you need.

Doing this will not only get your heart rate up. It’ll also force your muscles to grow and adapt.

Not only will this increase your strength. But it will allow you to progress to more advanced calisthenics moves a lot quicker than you normally would.

It’s challenging, but worth it in the long run.

Start Mixing Things Up

Another thing I want to talk about which is equally as important. Is mixing up your workouts as you continue to progress.

Now, this might be difficult at first because to be fair, it’s hard to change things up when you can only do one or two exercises from each movement pattern.

But as you get stronger. You’ll want to start playing around with your workouts by changing things up.

Adjusting things like the sets, reps, the tempo will make a huge difference to your strength and endurance levels.

So let’s say you can comfortably do 5 reps of a one-arm pushup. It doesn’t mean you should practice only that.

It’s still useful to add in easier pushup variations to stimulate your muscles. This will make sure you’re targeting all your muscle groups from every possible angle.

This is how you continue to progress and gain strength. It’s also how you’ll be able to break away from the more traditional exercises and into more advanced variations of calisthenics.

Skills Training & Advanced Progressions

Once you reach a certain level with all the basic progressions

You should really start working towards some of the more advanced calisthenics exercises.

Now, there are plenty of hard calisthenics exercises. But in my experience, the skills that most people want to lear tends to be one or more of the following nine exercises.

These are…

The Planche
Muscle-Up
One-Arm Pullup
One-Arm Pushup
L-Sit
Human Flag
Front Lever
Back Lever
Pistol Squat

If you can learn all these exercises then you can officially call yourself a calisthenics master.

Creating Your Calisthenics Workout

So to quickly recap on everything we’ve talked about. Here’s what you should look when you’re learning how to start calisthenics.

Cover All Movement Patterns – This includes all 6 movement patterns including the horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, vertical pull, squat, and the hip hinge.

Use Leverage – Change your angle of attack, place greater emphasis on certain areas of your body by distributing your weight or altering your hand position.

Mix Up your workouts – Change up your sets, reps, exercise tempo to create strength-based and endurance-based workouts. This will have a natural carryover to other more advanced calisthenics exercises.

If you follow everything you’ve read above then there’s no doubt you should be well on your way to getting to where you want to be with calisthenics.

Learning how to start calisthenics can be a challenge to begin with. But if you’re consistent, work hard, and more importantly, follow a structured Calisthenics Program That’s Proven To Get Results. Then you’ll get everything you want out of it and more.