Calisthenics is the awesome new body-weight movement taking over the fitness world. It’s lean, it’s mean, it’s the new crossfit – except without the weights and bulging discs.
Calisthenics, also known as street workout, has deep roots in Eastern Europe. It originated in outdoor workout parks, where athletes started mixing various elements of gymnastics, breakdance and brand-new skills never seen before.
Calisthenics in Melbourne, as in other major cities around the world, has exploded in the last decade thanks to viral videos hitting YouTube from the likes of Bar Brothers and Thenx. It quickly became known for flashy stunts, incredible static freezes and the lean aesthetic physiques it develops.
Why get into calisthenics?
Calisthenics is not only an incredibly fun way to train, it’s also fantastic for keeping fit. Calisthenics is different from traditional training because you are training to master skills. The way you progress in orthodox training regiments is by lifting heavier, running faster, jumping higher, etc.
For some people this can be exciting, but even for the most dedicated athletes this can become tedious. Once results plateau, boredom follows and motivation sinks. Calisthenics is unique in that there is always a more difficult skill to achieve – and an almost limitless amount of directions to improve in.
While learning new skills, and generally jamming, you are building lean muscle and losing fat. How good is that!? Training doesn’t need to be tedious; it can be a genuinely fun time.
In fact calisthenics training gives you are more diversified whole-body workout than just about any other type of training. This is because the body control that’s needed to perform calisthenics hits all those postural muscles in your core that typical weight training misses. Have you ever seen a body builder on gymnastic rings? They shake like worse than an old Nokia.
How to get started?
No one starts a pro. Calisthenics is for everyone, irrespective of training background. It takes commitment. Calisthenics is not easy, but those that put in the hard yards will be rewarded.
To get started with calisthenics it’s necessary to build a certain level of strength. Pull ups, push ups and core exercises should be done to a certain competency. What if I can’t do those? Well the great thing about calisthenics is everything can be modified to suit your level. Lever lengths, angles, and the amount of bodyweight you’re working with can all be modified to make an exercise easier (or harder).
Once you have a strong foundation, you can get into the flashy calisthenics freestyle and statics. This is where it gets super technical. It’s highly recommended that if you don’t know what you’re doing you get in touch with a trainer that does.
Melbourne Calisthenics personal trainers can offer awesome advice in person or online to help you on your calisthenics journey. It’s good to learn on your own mistakes, but much better to learn on someone else’s. Experienced trainers can help you with technique, rehabilitation, strength and muscle gain, and can ultimately help you expand your calisthenics repertoire.
