Best Beginner Calisthenics Workout (In-Depth tutorial)
Calisthenics can be very confusing at times due to the ambiguity of different skills and ways to do it. This workout routine will help establish the basic foundational exercises so that you can obtain those beginner to intermediate-level skills like the L-sit, V-sit, or HSPU.
Stretching
So to start off any calisthenic routine you need to perform a warm-up to get the muscles and joints prepared to exercise:
Shoulder dislocation drill: You will want to grab a fitness band or a thin pole, extend your arms outward in a pronated grip and bring your arms toward the back of your body. Perform 15 repetitions.
Palm pulse: Palm pulses can help strengthen forearms. You're going to want to get on your knees hands pronated on the ground and extend your palms upwards. Do about 10–15 palm pulses.
Wrist rolls: Helps open up the wrist to decrease the chance of injury. Clasp your hands together and roll your wrist for 30 seconds.
Full-body squats: Performing 10–15 full-body squats to help to open the hips.
Floss leg stretch: Get into lumber flexion and let your hands fall to your toes. Bend your legs back and forth to stretch out your hamstrings and do about 10–20 repetitions.
Ankle dorsiflexion: Improving ankle dorsiflexion allows for a better squat. Take your foot and put it thumb length away from the wall and slowly extend your needs toward the wall until you feel a stretch. Stretch each leg for at least 10 seconds.
Scapula pullups: Hang on a bar and depress and retract your scapula. Helps warm up the scapula and rotator cuff muscles. Do 10 repetitions.
Scapula pushups: Get into the pushups position and retract and protract the scapula. Tuck your elbows inwards in order to stimulate the serratus anterior more. Helps prepare the scapula and rotator cuff. Do 10 repetitions.
Warmup exercises
After stretching you're going to need to warm up the muscles. A good way to get the heart pumping is to jump rope for about 5 minutes. Jumping roping is a good full-body exercise that will deliver oxygen to each muscle group.
Because this is a full-body routine, you will need to implement exercises that work with each muscle group. I suggest performing the main workout at a lower intensity, doing either half are all the exercise for one set.
Pullups/ eccentric pull-ups/ banded pull-ups 1x10
Push-ups 1x15
Rows 1x12
Dips 1x8
Tucked v-sit swings 1x10
Jump squats 1x45seconds
Skill work
Skill work should always be done before a session or another day from the main workout. This is because your freshes at the beginning of a workout rather than the end of it. It allows you to perform movements such as the handstand in peak conditions.
Selection of beginner skills
The skills a beginner should train for are the L-sit, V-sit, handstand, and pistol squat. Implementing exercises before the main workout to focus on these skills is advised.
Main workout
Pullups/ eccentric pull-ups/ banded pull-ups 3x10: Works the back muscles in a vertical plane of field.
Push-ups (3x15): Performing push-ups hits the chest, shoulder, and tricep area in the horizontal plane of the field.
Rows (3x10): Rows hits the back in that horizontal plane of field.
Dips (3x10): Hits predominantly the lower parts of the chest and tricep in the vertical plane of the field.
Tucked visit (3x10 swings): In order to perform this exercise you need to go into a tucked l-sit and swing your body forward. This is so that you hit the posterior delt of your shoulder making this routine a balanced one.
Jump squats (3x45 seconds): Go into a full-body squat and explode upwards for 45 seconds.
Nordic curls (3x8): When performing nordic curls slowly descend during the eccentric and once you hit bottom push your body just enough so that your legs can pull yourself up.
Calf raises(3x20/10/10): When performing smaller muscle groups they are composed of mostly slow twitch muscle fibers, meaning that you need to perform high repetitions in order to progress with them. You will first perform 20 regular calf raises and then tilt your heels outward to hit the gastrocnemius medial head for 10 reps. Tilt your heels inwards to hit the lateral head of the gastrocnemius for the same number of repetitions.
The number of repetitions that you perform in each exercise will depend on your fitness level so if you have to change the numbers a bit that is okay. A good rule to follow is to perform maximum repetitions, minus one for at least three sets. This is so you can consistently perform the same amount of repetitions for an exercise every set.
Form
During the pull movements of this routine make sure to depress and retract the scapula, and during the push, movements depress and protract the scapula.
Make sure that the elbows are fully extended before starting each rep of the upper body exercises to get the most bang for your buck.
Compound vs Isolation exercises
You should always focus on compound exercises before working on isolation exercises. This is because performing isolation exercises before compound ones can cause you to fatigue faster during an exercise leading to fewer reps. For example, if you were to do some tricep extensions to work the triceps before you went to do dips to failure. The amount of dips you can go to failure after performing tricep extension is less due to working the triceps. That leaves the other muscle groups involved in the movement such as the chest with more gas in the tank than the triceps. Leading to fewer gains.
Rest time
3–5 minutes between sets and 30–60 seconds between exercises. This is so that you have plenty of energy to perform exercises, but still have enough intensity to cause adaptations to occur.
You should perform this workout anywhere between 3–4x a week to see the best results. Leave a 24–48hr rest time in between workouts to reduce the amount of fitness fatigue as possible.
Main Stretching
After your workout is done is when you should focus on the main portion of your stretch routine. This is so that you will have better mobility for the skill exercises such as the v-sit. This is also because long periods of static stretching before a workout can decrease muscle performance.
Conclusion
When starting out calisthenics you want to have a balanced routine such as this one that hits every muscle group. Focus on beginner skills and work you’re way up. I cannot stress enough that having proper scapula form of the push and pull movements is crucial when wanting to develop a stronger body. And above all else be consistent. Consistently performing this workout will eventually lead you to see gains and progress to the intermediate stage of your training.
Source: Low, Steven. Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength. Battle Ground Creative, 2016.
