What really is calisthenics?
Whenever someone asks me the type of training I do and I respond with, “calisthenics”, majority of the time they have no idea what I’m talking about. They say “cali what? What is that?”
So what is calisthenics considered?
Calisthenics is another way of saying bodyweight workouts. It’s using nothing but your own body weight against gravity to create resistance. So no external weights, tools or anything of that sort. Therefore, yoga, parkour, and gymnastics could all be considered a form of calisthenics.
Still pretty generic right? Let’s get more specific.
There are multiple categories within calisthenics. There’s static, dynamic and freestyle movements.
Statics are simply holding one position for an extended period of time. For example, a handstand. This is most closely related to yoga and gymnastics.
Dynamics are basically reps. An example of this could be advanced like handstand push-ups or simple like regular push-ups, pull-ups or dips. This is also closely related to some gymnastics movements.
Freestyle is its own category. This has more to do with creating momentum to perform movements like a 360’s, flips etc. on a pullup bar. This is most closely related to parkour as it can be dangerous and doesn’t take as much control or strength like statics or dynamics.
All of these are considered calisthenics, it’s just a matter of which you prefer!
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