Many people underestimate the power of calisthenics. Calisthenics are great for increasing muscle, flexibility, endurance, and coordination. Calisthenics increase your muscle strength in a way that will help prevent injuries especially to your lower back which is a problem area for many people. Maybe the reason that calisthenics are so overlooked is because they are very simple and you generally only use your own body weight for resistance. You can easily hit every body part in a short period of time.
Before your eyes glaze over at the idea of doing calisthenics exercise, keep in mind that it takes just a few short sessions each week to improve overall conditioning. These body weight-bearing exercises help to increase metabolism while you build lean muscle - which turns your body into a fat burning machine.
Calisthenics exercises are great in that they have the proof of time. Before modern workout routines came into prominence, calisthenics workouts were the way to go. In the old days, warriors would endure a progressive training program that involved using their own body weight to increase strength. Doing a bench press won't get you nearly the same kinds of results as pushing a stationary object or mountain climbing.
The origin of Calisthenics is attributed to gymnastics, and one of the key benefits of calisthenics exercises is that it does not require the usage of any specialized equipment to perform the exercises. Another great thing regarding this type of exercises is that it could be performed anywhere and that too at anytime. As it not risky and does not cause any damage to the body, it could be carried out by people of almost all ages. Further, it is inexpensive, since one can do it without investing in the gym equipments.
Many times when a person is told that regular exercise needs to be incorporated with a diet regimen, the first thing that comes into his or her mind is the need for strenuous and fast paced kinds of exercise routines. While this is the ideal type of exercise routine to help you lose weight faster, this is not always the best type of exercise routine for everyone. People who have suffered an injury, have undergone a recent surgery or have an illness, such as heart disease, are unable to engage in strenuous and fast paced types of exercise routines.
The most common calisthenics exercise to build the abdominal muscles. Start with your back flat on the ground, legs bent at the knees, with the souls of your feet flat on the ground. Place hands either behind your head, or Chris-crossed on your chest, and move your chest towards the knees. Excellent for the upper abdomen muscles.
Hanging from a bar get into an L-Sit. Now dip backwards, so that your legs become vertical. Then start moving your legs from side-to-side; twisting your core while trying to reach as far as you can. Your range of motion will increase with practice as well as balance. This calisthenics exercise is great of obliques.
A lot like a one-arm push-up; but instead of having your body weight distributed between your feet and arm, your mainly relying on just one arm. If you're really really short, then perhaps a good sturdy desk will do, otherwise go find a wall! Maybe do a few regular dips to get into it, and once your ready use only one hand. It may help to lean forward a bit so that your arm is directly bellow your chest, and pivot as you lower and raise yourself back up.
A bit more challenging than a common squat, in that your legs are not on the same level, shoulder width apart. Rather one is flat on the ground and slightly in front of you, while the other is slightly behind you; resting on some object about two feet off the ground. If you want a visual imagine that as you were running; someone grabbed your hind leg when it was in the air, asked you to stop, and perform squats.
I walked up to this guy and told him, "Man you seriously look like a comic book character, what's your name?". The guy laughed and told me his name (we'll call him Cesar). Cesar and I talked about the importance of nutrition and he told me about three key exercises that were the basis for his Spartan body. So here are the three exercises that you should incorporate into your routine with 2 - 3 minutes rest time between sets.
A lot of you have read my interview with Hit from the calisthenics kings. In that interview he mentions that he doesn't train with weights. Hit is built like a tank and is amazingly strong too. So now you realist you can get an effective workout if you're on the road and have no access to weights, or if you just don't want to use weights, or if you just want to learn some of those extreme body weight exercises. This article explains exactly how to do it. In simple terms.
Body weight calisthenics training is different than other forms of training, (leading to its effectiveness), and will stress the body in different manners than other forms of training, like weight lifting.
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