Bodyweight calisthenics movements, if performed correctly, can work your whole body by stimulating and building high levels of strength, flexibility, and body control. Using your own bodyweight is also a great way to teach yourself to focus more on what your body is actually doing.
Plus, you won’t need to step into a gym with Calisthenics. Since it’s already an amazing way to build muscle and improve your mood alone. You’ll also have fun doing it because you get to play around with animal movements and maybe even outdoor gymnasiums.
Animal locomotion has been used in calisthenics, gymnastics, martial arts, and playground games for many years. There is a reason for this, and it’s primarily because of their positive effects on your body. Playing the role of a bear in a Bear crawl is a really powerful exercise. And it does much more than just moving around with your hands on the ground.
Bodyweight Calisthenics Mind And Body
This is a very different kind of workout and at first, for many including myself, it can be a little intimidating. However, the discomfort and challenge that each movement provides you with bring your mind and your body so much closer. You discover a new sense of strength, mentally and physically. Things start to make sense with your body, and you begin to develop natural strength and mobility. As opposed to lifting weights in a gym…
Calisthenics can also act as a self-confidence and self-esteem booster. This is because as you start to progress, you begin to lift your own bodyweight around effortlessly. In ways, you could never have imagined yourself doing before! We all have huge amounts of potential, but it is your choice whether you choose to live your dreams. Calisthenics gives you the confidence of knowing that you’re sculpting the body you want on your own.
The movement teaches you to believe in yourself more. Every time you hit another rep, you feel proud of yourself. Many of us do not value ourselves enough. However, with Calisthenics and bodyweight exercises you start to appreciate yourself in ways you had never done before. This starts to show very quickly!
In addition, you’ll begin to experience a higher level of self-discipline. Working out daily requires a lot of grit and willpower and this begins to trickle into the rest of your life.
What Is Bodyweight Calisthenics?
This form of exercise can be done anywhere, whenever it suits you. These exercises tone and build muscles which make them leaner whilst improving your endurance. The advantage here is that you target multiple muscle groups at once. For example, pull-ups work out your arms, lower back, and abs. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, ‘vigorous calisthenics burn more calories than many common cardio workouts.’ This is because you engage all of your muscles at once to perform these exercises.
When you perform Calisthenics, you’ll be engaging in exercises like; squats, pull-ups, push-ups, lunges, sprints, knee bends, pull-downs, jumping jacks, burpees and ab exercises. However, advanced calisthenics lets you explore more strenuous activities, and you are given the freedom to get more adventurous with animal locomotion, mobility, and pulling your own bodyweight.
There is not much equipment involved, so you also have less risk of getting injured. There is a lot less impact on your tendons and joints. On top of these factors, calisthenics allows you to naturally build functional, everyday strength which helps to complete daily tasks with ease.
Why Should You Start Doing It?
Bodyweight calisthenic gives your whole body an insane amount of stability. With this level of stability your body limitless capacities of control, balance, speed, endurance, and flexibility.
An exercise that I am sure most of you are familiar with is the squat. Squats are actually a calisthenics exercise and activate the entire lower body as well as the muscles in your back, core, and shoulders. All kinds of squat variations are great for your health, however, deep squats are the best by far! It engages more muscles with more intensity and burns a lot more calories. There are many who believe that deep squats are harmful to your knees. However, this is not the case, and might help strengthen the ligaments that operate on the knee joint.
In addition, when you lift weights, there is quite a bit of stress on your joints like your wrists and ankles. But with bodyweight calisthenics, you can align all your joints instead of straining them. You’ll be happy to know that calisthenics increases your resting metabolic rate. Experts say that it can enhance and develop both muscular and aerobic endurance.
Proprioception
You’ll also develop amazing lower body coordination. Perhaps even better than what Pilates could teach you. Moreover, you will experience an improvement in flexibility as many of the movements extend your body fully, all whilst reducing huge amounts of body fat!
Lastly, the most famous calisthenic exercises are push-ups. This position places your body in a way that requires your back and arms to lift your body weight. This enables you to capitalize on the laws of motion and leverage. This is called the Resync Method and improves strength, endurance, cardio, flexibility, and balance through the utilization of your own body weight and resistance.
So, you might want to find a bodyweight calisthenics outdoor gym near you right now! It’s the most successful training technique because its effects on the body cannot be replicated by weight training. It engages multiple muscle groups at once and develops ‘proprioceptive awareness.‘
