Hi everyone, Today’s post is going to tell about the importance of incorporating calisthenics within a lifting workout program.
I started to lift weights in my first five years to robustness.
And got strong and gained some muscles, but I felt stiff as a surfboard.
Bending or moving quickly and coordinated was challenging.
Therefore, I joined boxing classes and Tai chi classes.
I noticed that they do not use weights to train, only calisthenics.
After one year of incorporating calisthenics to my training regimen, I began to feel more flexible, mean, and robust.
Calisthenics date back to ancient times.
The main exercises of calisthenics are: bending, pushing, pulling, swinging, twisting, or kicking.
Weights are awesome; however, are not as natural as bodyweight exercises.
The exercises came from many years of the prehistoric man need for food.
Back then, walking, jumping running, climbing, pushing, and pulling were necessary to hunt and survive.
Incorporating calisthenics to a weight lifting routine can make one improve joints, flexibility, and target muscles simultaneously
The oldest ways of exercise used by ancient warriors are calisthenics.
Combat sports, team sports, and modern military forces leaders use calisthenics programs to train.
Bodyweight training involves exercises that humans naturally start doing since are born.
Your hands are the only one controlling the range of motion of the exercises.
Therefore, hands strength is going to increase and your joints adapt to the resistance.
Calisthenics is best for the core.
People who practice calisthenics use isometric or static exercises.
Exercise like the back and front levers do not require reps, only holding time performing them.
The more resistance the more fat you will burn in your core.
Body weight exercises improve whole body coordination and agility.
The nervous system is going to be trained.
All calisthenic exercises required your whole body muscles coordinated and working simultaneously.
Modern gym weight machines require only one or two muscles working simultaneously.
However, calisthenics uses a large group of muscles working together to complete the exercise.
Also, calisthenics is more natural and are going to make you sweat and improve your cardiovascular system making one more agile.
One of the main aspects of calisthenics is the transferability of strength to bodybuilding and other sports.
Calisthenics strengthens body and mind connection.
When a large group of muscles is working simultaneously for some time will fatigue your body’s nervous system and make it robust.
Once you start shaking and trembling from executing bodyweight exercises, you are going to know they are working.
One becomes more self-aware of the connection of body-mind
Bodyweight exercises can be transferable to weightlifting and other sports.
How to mix calisthenics and a weight program?
It is the common opinion that calisthenics and weightlifting should be executed on different days.
However, I don’t completely agree with it.
The amount of energy to have two separate exercise programs is going to make you feel exhausted and actually can make it harsh for recovery.
The best way to mix them is to do bodyweight exercises when one is at the gym.
For example; let’s say one is doing three days a week at the gym workout program:
- Bench Press and triceps rope push downs with push-ups and dips
- Deadlift and biceps curls with them with pull ups or chin ups.
- Leg press machine mixes it with squats.
- Overhead shoulder press with handstand push-ups or shoulders inclined push-ups.
To summarize,
Calisthenics is great to help you get ripped, robust, and more coordinated.
It is great when you are stuck in a hotel or place with no gym equipment.
The only things needed to them are a flat solid surface and somewhere one can hang.
The implementation of bodyweight and weight training for you to become the ultimate robust version of yourself.
For more information check out the following robust sources:
Books:
Complete calisthenics – Ashley Kalym
Convict Conditioning- Paul Wade
Websites:
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