Unlike weight training, where you can gradually increase the tension by slowly raising the weight by 5 to 10 pounds, Calisthenics is a bit more complicated.
The beauty and allure of weight training is the clear advantage that just about anyone regardless of skill level can lift weights, its just a matter of finding the appropriate starting point.
With Calisthenics, you have one weight, your own body weight, and it can seem intimidating at first. Well rest assured there are a few things you can do, which is the purpose of this post. I am going to share with you four easy and simple things you can do that can make the transition into calisthenic training a little easier.
The question comes up time and time again, how do I progress with calisthenics? Progressive calisthenics is a lot easier than you might think, here are four suggestions that might help:
1) Modify Movements
When it comes to calisthenics, lifting one’s own body weight can be a bit of a challenge, that’s why it might make sense to modify the movements. It’s not cheating, it’s just a modified version. For example, with push ups, if you are not able to get into a plank position and do a regular push up:
Then try doing a modified version with your knees on the ground:
On the flip side let’s say that regular push ups are far to easy for you than try doing, a plyo push up, where you elevate your hands off the ground:
Or better yet try a depth push up:
Or a shoulder tap push up
My point is that you can always find a variation regardless if where you are currently at seems to easy or to difficult, find an alternative to modify the movements. Calisthenics is all about being creative.
2) Get Assistance
Getting help is not a bad thing. I think we sometimes become so rigid in our ways of thinking about calisthenics that we can think if I can’t do it on my own than I will keep going until I get it. What happens often is that you can sacrifice form and quality for the sheer desire to do the movement. That’s all find and dandy but it doesn’t have to be an either or equation. You can have both. Don’t feel you are cheating or it’s “wrong” to get assistance, either in the form of a partner, an elastic band, bar, jumping, etc.
A lot of the guys and gals you see on YouTube did not get to where they are now straight out of the gate, and any one that tells you they did, is lying.
Forms of assistance are:
Self-assisted muscle ups
Assisted pull ups
Assisted pistol squat
Depending on your goals and what you want to accomplish getting assistance to train your muscles and yourself to perform the movements is crucial. It can go a long way to helping you get over any psychological block you may have as well. When you know that you can modify the movements and get assistance it makes the prospect of mastering calisthenics a lot more attainable.
3) One Rep Advantage
When you first start off doing calisthenics it’s completely normal to want to do a ton of reps, unfortunately and at the same time, fortunately it does not work like that. Calisthenics is a bit different than traditional weight lifting because with Calisthenics you are lifting your own body weight. And as each of us weighs quite differently that the next person, you are challenged with mastering your own weight. That’s why just doing one repetition might be all you can do. Or you might not even be able to do one repetition, which is why I incorporated the above suggestions. But for the sake of this suggestion, let’s say you can just squeak out one rep of a pull up. Great! That is awesome. Just keep it up. Do one rep rest for said period of time, I would do a 2:1 ratio (Tabata), where you do one rep for 3-5 seconds, than rest for 1-2 seconds and then repeat. I would repeat this 3-5 times and than rest for 1 minute. Than repeat that cycle all over again. I would do 8-10 cycles. it’s a slow process, but remember it’s not a race to see who can rip muscle fiber and tear tendons the quickest, you are in it for the long haul. When I first started out I could only do 2-3 reps on the pull up bar, and now I can do 10-12, but it took time. It did not happen over night. You have to be patient.
4) Vary Grips and Stance
As your progress in calisthenics you may find that you get bored of doing the same movements, well that might because you are not varying your grips or stance. With calisthenics there are at on of different ways just to do a push up, but don’t take my word for it, check these videos out:
And those were just push ups! There are always a ton of different ways to perform one movement, you just have to be creative. I realize that I have said that many times throughout this post but calisthenics and creativity go hand in hand.
In conclusion, progressive calisthenics can be achieved no matter what your fitness level is.
