A Primer, Bodyweight Basics

SO, WHAT IS IT?
The oxford dictionary defines calisthenics as “gymnastic exercises
to achieve bodily fitness and grace of movement.”
Looking at the origin of the word in Greek it is broken down to
Kallos, meaning beautiful, and Sthenos, meaning strength. All
disciplines of fitness are valid in their own right, however even a
bodybuilder will have a hard time performing a muscle up. Many
old time strongmen and bodybuilders believed you were not truly
strong unless you were proficient at hand balancing. It’s all good
having muscles, but what can you actually do with them?
It is here that calisthenics fills the middle ground. We can easily
build muscle with bodyweight exercises, while also providing a
natural element of progression by adjusting our body position and
leverage, you learn some skills along the way too!
Weight training is great for
building size and strength,
but this usually only leads to
isolated movements, while
compound lifts (using multiple
muscle groups) like a
squat or deadlift are used in
many routines, calisthenics
exercises often require tension
throughout the entire
body using gravity as your
resistance, with leverage
being the deciding factor on
the difficulty.
Large legs will make a full
front lever (and planche)
even harder, many people
stop at the straddle progression
for both of these movements.
.
LEVERAGE
We can see this in action by looking at the front lever,
while the full front lever is a very challenging move to
hold, all the progressions leading up to it gradually take
more weight away from the center of mass.
As the lower back extends
and our weight is moved
away from the center of
mass, you must pull harder
to maintain the position. If
it’s too hard, bring your legs
in.
With all the weight at
the centre of mass, this
tucked position is our
starting point for the
front lever.
A fulll front lever requires
tension through the whole
body and is very challenging,
A straddle position
(split legs in a V shape) will
shift more weight back to
the centre of gravity.
4 BODYWEIGHT