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What Is Calisthenics and Where to Start

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What is Calisthenics?

Calisthenics comes from the Greek words ‘Kalos’ and ‘sthenos’ meaning beauty and strength. In Ancient Greece (around 1000 years BC) the chances are that if you grew up in Sparta, you would have been trained in calisthenics by some of the fiercest warriors the world has ever known.

Calisthenics is a type of exercise consisting of a variety of simple movements usually performed with your own body weight. The form of doing exercise in this manner is to increase flexibility and body strength without the need of any weights or other equipment.

Any movement that ONLY utilizes your bodyweight can technically be considered calisthenics.

Calisthenics where to start

You don’t need to lift weights to build muscle, using your own bodyweight as the resistance opens up so much more freedom for your training. So stop worrying that you can’t build muscle or get a good training session done without lifting weights.

Calisthenics will change your life! To begin with, you need to start with the basic exercises, and with calisthenics, the most basic, but also one of the most important of moves are push-ups, pull-ups and dips.

Using proper form is especially important for beginners, as the habits you develop early on will stick with you as you progress.

Why Calisthenics and not lift weights?

An advantage of calisthenics over weight training is the flexibility it gives your body whereas weight equipment can restrict the flow of your body’s natural movement.

While weights do build body mass, calisthenics does it better. … Calisthenics comes with one major advantage to lifting weights – it replaces the dumbbell with your own body weight meaning you can do your exercises wherever and whenever you want to.

Does Calisthenics help you gain muscle?

Calisthenics is great for building strength, it allows you to target specific muscles in a natural way, providing also a significant boost to strength. You can develop muscular strength, endurance and power, as well as flexibility with the right movements.

Calisthenics Scientifically Proven Results

A 2017 study by scientists from the Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Unit at the University of Palermo, Italy, ‘The effects of a calisthenics training intervention on posture, strength and body composition, found that calisthenics training is a “feasible and effective training solution to improve posture, strength and body composition without the use of any major training equipment”.

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