I used to workout all the time at a gym lifting weights, or working out at home lifting weights/bands.

It wasn’t until October of last year that I canceled my gym membership put the weights/bands away, and made the leap into the unknown world of calisthenics.

I figured if guys like Frank Medrano, Hannibal for King, Lord Vital, and Denis Minin, can be in great shape lifting just their own bodyweight, so can I.

I made a few purchases, as it was winter here in Spain when I began training, and I thought working out in the rain and cold might not be such a great idea.

The three purchases I made over the course of 3 months:

1) Dips Bars – $100 (Tax & Shipping included)
2) Parallette Bars -$35
3) Gymnastic Rings – $40 (Tax & Shipping included)

I want to preface that all three of these purchases are not required to do calisthenics, these were just personal preferences that I decided I needed to advance my training.

The three factors that influenced my decision-making process were:

Time – it was easier for me to buy these online and not build them, plus I wanted steel iron dip & parallette bars, that is of course a personal preference.

Energy – again citing the above item, it was easier to use my energy to buy them online. Again, I live in a small town where it just made sense to buy versus build.

Money – I realize I paid double what I would have normally would have if I just built them myself, but again, time and energy saved offset the cost of paying extra. In addition, I factored that as I had canceled my gym membership, which was $43 per month, in 4 months I would recouped my money, and also have something to show for it, instead of a wasted gym membership.

Dip Bars $100

My first purchase was a pair of dip bars that cost me around $100.

I realize I could have easily just used our dining room chairs putting them back to back, but when my girlfriend saw me doing that she nearly had a fit so I scrapped that idea and made the investment online for a pair of good dip bars.

With regards to dip bars, I was considering building my own with PVC, but in the videos that I saw, they just seemed a bit flimsy and tended to bend and move more than I wanted.

Here is a great video on just how to make them, that will cost you around $30-40.

I thought, my gym membership was cost my $43 per month, so in 2 1/2 months I will recoup my money on the dip bars.

In the end, the dip bars I decide to buy were the Lebert Equalizer dip bars for just $100 with tax and shipping included.

Parallette Bars $35

I also bought some parallette bars that cost me $35. Again I wanted metal iron parallette bars, of course this is a personal preference.

So altogether, the initial start-up costs were around $175. (4 months of the cost of my gym membership)

I could have bought PVC and made the parallette bars for half the cost, $30, but for me the cost was so small a price to pay that I opted to buy them.

Here is a great DIY (Do It Yourself) Video

As I said before, I live in a pretty small podunk town and with all the time involved and trial and error it would probably have evened out in cost with time and labor factored in or possibly even more. And yes, I know, the videos and PDF’s state it takes an hour to make, but where I live we don’t have a Home Depot.

For those more fortunate with ample resources (ie Home Depot) I would have probably made them myself, because the experience of building my own parallette bars certainly is priceless. But, nevertheless I opted to buy versus build.

The parallette bars I bought were by J-Fit, Pro Push Up Bars $35.

Gymnastic Rings $40

My last purchase was a pair of gymnastic rings with suspension wraps and buckles. The cost was $40. I bought these for several reasons:

1) Lifetime guarantee
2) Free Worldwide Shipping
3) Buckle and wraps included
4) Made from Baltic birch wood from Ireland.
5) The cost was the best I could find at the time.

As you probably know, I love the gymnastic rings. Suspension training gives you something that traditional bodyweight training methods really can’t.

Working out with some form of suspension training, preferably gymnastic rings, has made such a profound impact on me, that I was inspired to write a post just on this one subject.

All three purchases have been essential to my progress and training.

As for the title of this post, What to Expect From Calisthenics, here is a list of what you can expect in the days, weeks and months to come and some suggestions:

1) Goal(s) Setting:I would set a goal, what are you wanting to do exactly? Build muscles, transformations, lose weight?
2) Have a Plan: Stick to a routine and change it every 3-4 weeks, such as: Day 1 Chest/Back Day 2 Swimming Day 3 Shoulders/Triceps/Legs Day 4 Swimming Day 5 Back/Biceps Day 6 Swimming
3) The Three Pillars: Variety/Consistency/Intensity: You want to mix it up even when you have a set routine like above, changing up the exercises, with varied grips, leg stances, angles, etc. You want to be of course consistent and not mix a workout,and give 100% or don’t workout at all.
4) Take Your Time: Be patient, there are not quick fix, magic pills, special mantras, or unicorns and fairy tales….its all about be patient, and committed.
5) What’s Your Motivation: Have a WHY, this really should be #1, but I am writing spontaneously, so bear with me…..you need to know why you are working out in the first place, that will sustain you for the long haul.
6) Fun In The Sun: Have FUN, if its not fun you wont do it, period, so have fun, if there is a park nearby your house and you have time and its sunny go to the park and do pull ups, etc. It’s worth repeating again, have fun!
7) There’s Power In Numbers. Build a community is so critical to your success. It’s one of the reason why I created this site, to find and support like-minded people that share my passion for calisthenics. This is huge, you need to surround yourself with like-minded positve people, especially when you work out at home. You need to have a community. There are plenty of things you can do to our forum here, Facebook, you tube etc, but you want to have a community to support you, no man nor woman is an island.
8) Creativity. Working out at home especially calisthenics is all about being creative, you are no going the conventional way, where most people (67% to be exact) by a gym membership and never use it. You need to seek knowledge, check out the various interviews and articles on this website, go to YouTube videos or ExRx.net.
9) Rest. Believe it or not, calisthenics can kick your butt, don’t underestimate exercises that use just your body weight. You will be sore, it’s inevitable. You need to rest and recover, and most importantly sleep 7-9 hours every day, preferably 8 hours per day. To learn more about sleep check out this post.
10) Fuel the body. Food is without a doubt one of the most important parts to your training. Without food there is no fuel. Besides sleep, food and water are the two mainstays of a proper calisthenics training regimen. Eat whole foods in the unaltered states and drink plenty of water.

These are just a Cliff notes version of what you can expect as your train using your own bodyweight. Most important have FUN.