Calisthenics: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

When we started in 2012, calisthenics was more of a niche. A small group of people that created a new style of working out by sharing their experience online. Over the years it evolved to a mainstream fitness trend with millions of people doing and loving it. However, there's no light without shadow. So let us show you the good, the bad and the ugly side of today's calisthenics. First of all, calisthenics connects people. Doing the same thing and sharing your results with like-minded people is a great way to stay motivated and reach your goals. Many of you probably started because you saw someone doing a muscle-up, a handstand or a planche and wanted to do the same. Another good thing about calisthenics is the variety, because it's not a simple sport with one goal. It actually offers a very wide spectrum for different goals and training styles. There are people that just want to stay fit without going to the gym or using any equipment at all. Others like to focus on mobility and do yoga-like training with some calisthenics elements in it. Another group focuses on skills, so improving their strength and coordination to learn challenging moves. There are also people that do calisthenics with the main goal to build an athletic body, so something that could be called bodyweight bodybuilding. Sets and reps is another unique training style. These people focus on basic exercises like pull-ups and push-ups with high numbers. There are also competitions for weighted calisthenics, such as how much additional weight can you pull, push and squat. Each of these styles is different and requires a different training approach, at least if you want to max out these styles. On the other hand, it's also possible to be a good all-rounder and some styles can have a carry-over effect for others. For example, mobility is important for many calisthenics skills. Weighted calisthenics has a carry-over effect for the strength aspect of skills. And strength training in general will build muscle, no matter if you do weighted calisthenics in the lower or sets and reps in a higher rep range. Besides these styles, calisthenics is a sport that doesn't require a fully equipped gym. Most of the exercises can be done on the ground, on a pull-up bar or on a pair of rings. To get a specific or a good all-around calisthenics program, make sure to join our online courses on calimove.com. Every program comes as a detailed day-by-day guide, so that you don't have to worry about what to do, how much to do and when to train. Benefit from our knowledge and experience and make your workouts count. One of the major downsides of calisthenics is that it's a bit tricky to adapt the exercises to your level. If you train with weights, it's very easy to add or remove weight in very tiny steps. So you can adapt every exercise very precisely to your level and the rep range you want to train in. With calisthenics it's a bit different. You cannot change your own body weight immediately. So you have to find other ways to make the exercises easier or harder. So if you can't do pull-ups, start with rows, do negatives or use a band. If you can't hold a front or back lever, start with skin the cat and shorten the lever when doing holds. And if you can't do handstand push-ups, make them easier by doing pike push-ups with feet support on the ground. There are many options, but you have to be aware of them and also know when and how to apply them correctly. Over the years we've seen so many people who killed their joints, tore their muscles and beat down their bodies because they were too impatient and let their egos take over. Sure, this is not a calisthenics exclusive thing, but calisthenics seems to be a magnet for people who like to show off. Don't get me wrong, this is not about shaming people for showing and sharing the results of their hard work. Of course you can and should be proud of your achievements. It's only a problem if you're doing way too risky things you're simply not ready for. That's also the reason why we preach the same principles over and over again. Be patient and prepare your body, always train with proper form and don't let your ego take over. Long story short, you may progress a bit slower if you're more careful, but if you're injured you can't train at all and with that even lose what you've built so far. The last point has something good, bad and ugly to it. The influence of social media. The good part is that social media allows us to share our results and motivate each other. You can watch other people's success stories, you can read fitness articles and you can get hyped up by motivational videos. Besides that, social media makes it very easy to get and share information and knowledge about calisthenics and fitness in general. However, the bad part is that everyone can also share misinformation with the click of a button. People can pass opinions off as facts and sadly, some will believe those things even if they're simply not true. So it can be tricky to find reliable sources that care about your health while offering solid information. But they are definitely out there. The ugly part about social media are wrong expectations and a distorted image of reality, because most of the time you only see the results and not the hard work behind it. So don't get frustrated because you can't do muscle ups after just a few weeks of training and can't look like a greek god immediately. These things need time and usually don't come that easy. Also be aware that social media favors content that is impressive. So you are more likely to see an above average performance or physique and this can lead to skyrocketing expectations. To get a reality check, here's a little fun fact. According to a study, more than half of Americans are incapable of performing 10 consecutive push-ups and more than a third cannot even do 5 push-ups in a row. So if you can do more than 10 push-ups in a row, you are above average. Alright guys, I hope we could help you on your calisthenics journey. If you want to benefit from our experience as trainers and athletes, please make sure to check our workout programs on CaliMove.com. If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up and leave a comment. My name is Alex and I'll see you in the next video.