The Best Calisthenics Exercises for Beginners

Calisthenics is a type of bodyweight training that has exploded in recent years. 

As more people move away from bodybuilding and towards functional strength, calisthenics has become the perfect way to get super strong and learn body mastery. With its origins in Ancient Greece, calisthenics combines elements of gymnastics with its own unique flavour to produce a discipline that’s both fun and technical. As a beginner, you should focus on the foundations of calisthenics: technique, control, and strength. Calisthenics is predicated on full-body mastery, and as such, exercises are completed slowly, purposefully and with perfect form. 

Below, we look at the best beginner calisthenics exercises and at how these could be combined to provide you with a regular workout routine that will transform your physique. 

Developing Upper-Body Strength

Calisthenics training is upper-body dominant. 

When starting, the best way to build upper body strength is through basic movement patterns. Calisthenics exercises for beginners include push ups, dips, and pull ups. Make sure to start with progressions that are challenging but not too difficult. You should be able to do 8–12 reps of each progression. 

Once the progression becomes too easy, feel free to make it more challenging. 

Push-up progression:

1. Wall push-ups: Lean onto a wall and push off. You should be a couple of small steps away from the wall. 

2. Incline push-ups: Use a ledge or bench to raise your hands while keeping your feet on the ground. 

3. Knee push-ups: While kneeling on the floor, lean forward while lowering yourself to the ground. Your torso should be in a horizontal position at the start of the movement.

4. Band-assisted push-ups: Tie a resistance band to a bar above you (or multiple resistance bands if necessary). Thread yourself through such that the band sits on your waist. Complete standard push-ups. They will be easier, as the elastic nature of the band will provide a vertical upward force.

5. Standard push-ups: Complete push-ups on the floor, ensuring the lower back does not arch.

Advanced variations of push-ups include one-arm push-ups and clap push-ups. 

Tip: Use push-up bars to promote a full range of motion. 

Dips progression:

1. Bench dips with bent legs: Place your hands on a bench and lower yourself down. Push back up to your original height. In this variant, you want to keep the legs bent and the body close to the bench. 

2. Bench dips with straight legs: This variant is similar to the one before, except your legs should be straight. By straightening the legs, you force the arms to do more work. 

3. Band-assisted dips: Place a resistance band across a set of parallel bars and anchor it in place using your hands. Bring yourself on top of the bars and allow your knees to rest on the resistance band. Lower yourself down to achieve a 90-degree angle at the elbows. The band will assist you on the way up.

4. Standard dips: Start above a set of parallel bars and lower yourself to create a 90-degree angle at the elbows. Push back up to the original position. 

Advanced exercises based on dips include Russian dips and weighted dips. 

Tip: The angle of your body and the bars' width can influence how much you work your chest vs. triceps. For example, leaning forward and having the bars more than shoulder width apart will engage the chest more, whereas keeping your body more upright and having the bars at shoulder width will engage the triceps more. 

Pull ups progression:

1. Leg-assisted chin-ups: Hold onto a pull-up bar at chest height, then squat down while using your lats and legs to control the movement. Use the same muscles to return to the starting position. Use your legs as much as you need, but the main focus should be your lats. 

2. Band-assisted pull-ups: Tie a resistance band to a bar. Grab the bar and thread your feet into the band. Pull up such that your chin rises above the bar. The thicker the band you use, the easier the exercise will be. Feel free to use some liquid chalk to prevent slippage. 

3. Australian pull-ups: Use a low bar or set of parallel bars that allow your feet to stay grounded. Bring yourself underneath the bar at a 45-degree angle. Pull yourself towards the bar, making sure not to allow the hips to sink. 

4. Standard pull-ups: As per band-assisted pull-ups, but without the band!

Once you're ready for the next level, advanced movements related to pull-ups include muscle-ups and L-sit pull-ups. 

Tip: To improve your pull-ups, think about driving your belly button towards the sky. You might also like to check out this video on how the shoulder blades should be positioned for pull-ups. 

Developing Core Strength

While the upper-body exercises discussed above will engage and strengthen the core, you could also complete exercises that specifically target your core muscles. Core exercises include sit-ups, planks, and leg raises, all of which can be completed in various ways to match your current level of strength. Take leg raises as an example...

Leg raises progression:

1. Alternating leg raises: Lie on your back and raise your left leg until your foot is facing the ceiling, slowly return it to the ground, then do the same with the right leg. Usually, you keep your legs straight. However, you can bend the legs a little if this is too hard. 

2. Leg raises: As above, but raise and lower both legs simultaneously. 

3. Weighed leg raises: Raise and lower both legs simultaneously while holding a small dumbbell between your feet. 

As well as increasing strength in your abdominal muscles, leg raises will strengthen your hip flexors (muscles involved in pulling your thighs towards your stomach). 

Tip: Muscle building is facilitated by increased time under tension (Krzysztofik et al., 2019). Therefore, a part of "good form" is maintaining control of your limbs throughout the movement. For example, with leg raises, focus on slowly lowering your feet towards the ground rather than just letting them fall. 

Developing Lower Body Strength

Training legs is obviously an important part of building muscle in the lower body and of cultivating overall strength. The best exercise for this that doesn't require any external weights is the bodyweight squat. 

Bodyweight squat progression:

1. Wall squats: From a standing position with feet hip-width apart, slide down a wall to a squat. At the bottom of the movement, your thighs should be parallel to the ground. Rise back up, maintaining a straight back throughout.

2. Chair squats: Stand with feet hip-distance apart with a chair behind you. Squat until your buttocks touch the chair, then return to standing. This helps practice correct form and depth.

3. Bodyweight squats: Start in a standing position, with the feet hip-distance apart, and squat while keeping the back straight. 

Once you can do 20 squats with your body weight, you could think about using free weights to increase the challenge. For instance, goblin squats involve holding a dumbbell vertically between your hands while squatting. 

Full-Body Workout for Complete Beginners

If you're a complete beginner, here's a training plan for you to try based on the easier versions of the exercises described above:

• 15 wall push-ups ​to develop strength in your chest and triceps.
• 15 bench dips with bent legs ​to develop strength in your triceps.
• 15 leg-assisted chin-ups to develop your back muscles and biceps.
• 15 alternating leg raises (per leg) to develop strength in your abdominal muscles and hip flexors
• 15 chair squats to develop lower body muscles (e.g., quads, glutes, hamstrings).

Your rest periods between exercises should be long enough to allow your cardiovascular system to recover. Only start the next exercise once your breathing is under control and when your heart rate feels relatively normal. 

Beginner Calisthenics Workout

​If you're a complete beginner, see the workout in the previous section. If you already have a base of strength and fitness—even if quite minimal—you might want to try this one instead:

• 15 knee push-ups to develop strength in your chest and triceps
• 15 bench dips with straight legs to develop strength in your triceps
• 15 band-assisted pull-ups to develop your back muscles and biceps. Use as many bands as you need
• 15 leg raises to develop strength in your abdominal muscles and hip flexors
• 15 bodyweight squats to develop lower body muscles (e.g., quads, glutes, hamstrings)

Progressive overload refers to gradually increasing the weight, frequency, or number of repetitions in your workouts to continuously challenge your muscles and stimulate growth. So, when you can complete the workout above, see whether you can add a rep to each exercise the next time you try it or go through the whole beginners workout routine more than once. 

Benefits of Calisthenics

A study published in Isokinetics and Exercise Science found that an 8-week calisthenics training protocol led to a significant difference in strength and body composition post-intervention compared to pre-intervention (Thomas et al., 2017). Let's look at outcomes like this in a little more detail: 

Developing Your Muscle Mass

One randomised controlled trial (RCT) found that progressive bodyweight training increased muscle strength and mass in sedentary young women (Wei et al., 2023).

Developing Your Fitness Level

A study published in Physical Education Theory and Methodology found that caliisthenics combined with aerobic exercise led to significant increases in flexibility, muscular endurance, and cardiovascular endurance in obese female students (Sakinah et al., 2022).

Weight Loss

Research published in Progress in Nutrition found that an 8-week calisthenics exercise regimen positively affected the body composition of football players, notably improving measures like body weight, body mass index (BMI), fat percentage, fat mass, and fat-free mass, despite no changes in basal metabolic rate and total body water (Cigerci & Genc, 2020).

Functioning in Everyday Life

With its emphasis on functional movements, calisthenics activities have been linked to a reduced risk of developing functional limitations in daily living among middle-aged and older adults (Pfeifer et al., 2022).

Where to do Calisthenics

One of the great things about bodyweight exercises is that you can do them anywhere you like, whether that's in your garden or the comfort of your living room. However, many people like to do a "street workout" in a park with calisthenics equipment. Calisthenics-parks.com currently has over 600 such locations listed for the UK. 

Summary

Once you master these foundational exercises for beginners, you'll have the strength to learn more advanced calisthenics exercises and skills (e.g., the human flag or straight-line handstand). To have a solid foundation for moving forward, aim to do at least 20 push-ups, 15 dips, 10 pull-ups, 20 leg raises, and 20 bodyweight squats. 

Combining these exercises will almost enable you to train your entire body. Push-ups and dips will work your chest and triceps, pull-ups will work your back and biceps, leg raises will work your abs, and squats will work your upper legs. However, you could add a couple of other exercises to work the remaining major muscle groups. For example, the best calisthenics exercises for your shoulders include pike push-ups and handstand push-ups, whereas calf raises are a great exercise for your calves.  

If you need help learning these exercises with proper form and reaching your fitness goals, why not contact one of these qualified, UK-based personal trainers? 

You might also like these articles on the benefits of a callisthenics personal trainer, bodyweight workouts for beginners, and total body HIIT workouts. 

References

Cigerci, A. E., & Genc, H. (2020). The effect of calisthenics exercises on body composition in soccer players. Progress in Nutrition, 22(1-S), 94-102. https://doi.org/10.23751/pn.v22i1-S.9797 

Krzysztofik, M., Wilk, M., Wojdała, G., & Gołaś, A. (2019). Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(24), 4897. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244897 

Pfeifer, C. E., Ross, L. M., Weber, S. R., Sui, X., & Blair, S. N. (2022). Are flexibility and muscle-strengthening activities associated with functional limitation? Sports medicine and health science, 4(2), 95–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smhs.2022.03.001 

Sakinah, M. H., Malek, N. F. A., Thariq Khan, A. K., Ishak, A., Hashim, H. A., & Chee, K. C. (2022). The Effect of 12-Week Calisthenics Exercise on Physical Fitness among Obese Female Students. Physical Education Theory and Methodology, 22(3s), S45-S50. https://doi.org/10.17309/tmfv.2022.3s.06 

Thomas, E., Bianco, A., Mancuso, E. P., Patti, A., Tabacchi, G., Paoli, A., Messina, G., & Palma, A. (2017). The effects of a calisthenics training intervention on posture, strength and body composition. Isokinetics and Exercise Science, 25(3), 215-222. https://doi.org/10.3233/IES-170001 

Wei, W., Zhu, J., Ren, S., Jan, Y. K., Zhang, W., Su, R., & He, L. (2023). Effects of progressive body-weight versus barbell back squat training on strength, hypertrophy and body fat among sedentary young women. Scientific reports, 13(1), 13505. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-40319-x