Calisthenics.
Get strong from a new angle.
— a sensible approach to strength.
Calisthenics is a form of resistance training that primarily utilizes the body’s own weight and leverage to generate progressive overload. Unlike conventional strength training methods such as weightlifting, which rely on external loads to create resistance, calisthenics employs the practitioner’s body mass as the primary source of resistance. Similar to how external weights can be increased or decreased to adjust training intensity, the effective load in calisthenics can be modified through structured and systematic progressions.
Furthermore, while traditional strength training often emphasizes open kinetic chain movements—where muscles and joints operate largely in isolation—calisthenics emphasizes closed kinetic chain exercises that promote integrated, full-body muscle recruitment and sustained tension throughout the movement.
"The goal of bodyweight strength training is to decrease leverage, which reduces the mechanical advantage that muscles have during an exercise, thus increasing the demand of force on the muscles to execute certain positions or movements. This is how astounding strength can be built without the use of external weight."
— Steven Low, Overcoming Gravity: 2nd Edition.
Key Benefits
Calisthenics offers distinct differences compared to other forms of strength training.
Functional
Reap the benefits of multi-angled strength for a lifetime of physical activity and independence.
Effective
Calisthenics encourages adipose tissue loss and the development of lean muscle through full-body closed-chain activation.
Carry-over
As a byproduct to strength gains, calisthenics promotes an increase in one's mobility, explosive power output and lean muscle definition.
Athleticism
Calisthenics is a gateway to athleticism. Calisthenics is the foundational piece by which all other mediums of movement can be built upon safely.
Accessible
Calisthenics is highly accessible without the necessity of external equipment.
Safety
Calisthenics prioritizes fundamental bodyweight movement patterns to support joint and muscular integrity while reducing the risk of injury often associated with heavy weightlifting.
Transform
Develop whole body awareness and unlock new movement potential through systemized progressions. Discover what your body can do!
Progressions
— Level Up
While traditional strength training achieves progressive overload by continually increasing external weight, calisthenics builds strength through a series of structured bodyweight progressions. These progressions apply to all major movement patterns — pushing, pulling, and lower-body exercises — allowing steady development without the need for external equipment.
As strength is gained in a more accessible variation of a movement, progression occurs by gradually reducing mechanical advantage against gravity. In simple terms, this means adjusting leverage to make the exercise slightly more challenging, which in turn stimulates continued strength adaptation and growth.
The example below demonstrates how one movement, namely the push-up, can evolve from an entry-level position to an advanced form by changing leverage. Walking the feet back toward a parallel body line or elevating them increases resistance, creating a natural path from beginner to well-trained.
Skill Work
One of the unique characteristics of calisthenics is its skill-based component. In addition to its high scalability for all fitness levels via systemized progressions, calisthenics offers the pursuit of targetable skills in the form of balance, transitions and straight-arm strength. The majority of skills fall towards the more advanced end of a given push, pull or leg progression spectrum. For example, once one has gained sufficient capacity in the movement patterns of dips and pullups, the pursuit of the ring or straight bar muscle-up transition can sensibly begin. Other skills include the one-legged pistol squat, handstand and various straight-arm exercises such as the front/back-lever and planche.
Weighted Calisthenics
Weighted calisthenics is when external weight is added to the body as a means to increase the strength demand of a particular calisthenics movement. The appropriate time to incorporate weighted calisthenics into a strength routine is when further strength is desired in a specific movement pattern when it has otherwise been progressively exhausted through bodyweight progression alone. Much like traditional weightlifting, adding external weight stimulates progressive overload without direct reliance on a reduction in mechanical advantage. In other words, the external weight becomes the load rather than the human body acting as the load itself.
