Fitness
Calisthenics are making a comeback. Is body weight enough to get a good workout?
You won’t find dumbbells or weight machines in the gym Sean Keogh runs. At Calisthenics Club Houston, it’s all about training with body weight.
“That’s all we do,” Keogh said — but that’s enough to keep new members coming through the doors, excited to learn moves like handstands and pullups.
Keogh and his members have plenty of company. These days, content creators, independent gyms and megachains alike are promoting calisthenics, an age-old form of fitness that uses little or no equipment and instead relies on body weight for resistance.
In July, President Donald Trump even reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test, intending that youth across the country will again practice old-school exercises like situps, pushups and pullups.
It’s little surprise that these no-frills moves are making a comeback in our over-scheduled society, said Anatolia Vick-Kregel, director of the Lifetime Physical Activity Program at Rice University. “We don’t always have time to go to the gym,” she said. “This is what you can do at home or in your office.”
Another reason might be economic, said Michael Stack, an exercise physiologist and president of the Physical Activity Alliance, a coalition of groups that promote physical activity. With no equipment required, calisthenics-based programs are affordable for exercisers and profitable for gyms that offer them. Plus, people may have gotten used to exercising with few accoutrements during the pandemic.
“This trend has been building,” Stack said. “The pandemic definitely accelerated it.”
This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.
How effective are calisthenics?
There’s plenty of research to suggest that calisthenics can improve everything from muscle strength to aerobic conditioning, Vick-Kregel said.
“Body weight is phenomenal,” she said.
But there are limits to its effects, said John Raglin, a professor of kinesiology at the Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington. “It can be effective,” Raglin said. “But I think the idea that it can or should replace the use of even simple equipment is wrong-headed.”
Sometimes, Raglin said, using equipment can actually make exercises simpler or safer to perform. Many people, for example, do pushups with improper form.
“If you’re not strong enough or you have joint issues or arthritis, then lying on a bench and using small hand weights can actually be safer and more practical,” he said.
It all depends what your goal is
Beyond safety, people looking to significantly increase their strength or muscle size will likely see more dramatic results if they use weights, Raglin said. Doing so “utilizes more of your muscle and generates more force than you could otherwise,” he explained.
Lifting weights also damages muscle tissue in a way that can be productive, as muscles grow larger through the body’s repair process. Over time, though, it may take larger amounts of weight to keep seeing gains. Progress plateaus as the body gets used to exercises it’s done before.
It’s not impossible to grow muscle through calisthenics, Vick-Kregel said; it’s just harder to continuously level up exercises for sustained progress without increasing external weight.
“After you’ve done a couple workouts of squatting with your body weight, your body’s going to need external load to get stronger or to build muscle tissue,” Stack agreed.
In other words, if you’re after bulging biceps, you may need more than calisthenics to get there. But if you’re just looking to get moving and improve your health, your body is probably enough.
Particularly for the roughly 75% of Americans who aren’t meeting federal physical activity guidelines — which call for at least 75 minutes of vigorous or 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week, plus two strength-training sessions — calisthenics are a great option, Stack said.
“Body weight is the simplest apparatus you can use,” Stack said. “I would encourage anyone who’s not exercising to start exercising with just their body.”
How to begin a calisthenics routine
First, assess your current fitness and mobility, Vick-Kregel said. With the help of a mirror, workout buddy or trainer, see if you can do exercises like planks, pushups and squats with correct form. If not, look for modifications, such as doing pushups from your knees.
Once you feel confident with the fundamentals, aim to perform calisthenics in 10- to 30-minute chunks, two to three times a week, she suggested. (For a little more structure, you can consult the The Five Basic Exercises Plan, or 5BX, a classic calisthenics program developed by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1950s.)
Progressively increase the duration and intensity of your workouts as you get fitter. “Gradual progression is critical,” Vick-Kregel emphasized.
As you get more experienced, though, calisthenics can be performed at high intensity. Keogh maintains that these exercises are not just for beginners. There are plenty of ways to increase the difficulty of body-weight exercises over time, making them both highly challenging and effective, he said.
For doubters, Keogh has a blunt message: “Try it.”
Physical activity saves lives, but now it turns out there’s a “precise dosage” at which it becomes especially effective in preventing heart disease.
Exercising is key to longevity; it’s been associated with everything from improved cardiovascular health to increased strength to a longer life. But there’s one exercise, in particular, that a doctor says women over 50 should add to their routine.
Meet the expert: Steven Bowers, D.O., board-certified family physician and author of Secrets of the World’s Healthiest People
Daily strength workouts may help boost all aspects of life, Steven Bowers, D.O., board-certified family physician and author of Secrets of the World’s Healthiest People, previously told Prevention. Physical fitness makes functional tasks like carrying grocery bags from the car, opening jars, and lifting heavy items easier.
There are plenty of moves to try, but Dr. Bowers says the one that should get top billing in your routine is the plank.
While planks challenge your whole body, they’re particularly great for strengthening your core. “Core muscle fibers tend to shrink and become less supple as we age, which can put more strain on your back,” he previously said. Having a strong core is important for balance and stability, and it can help you go about your day with more ease.
Wondering how long to hold a plank, and the proper form? First, place your forearms on the floor. Your elbows should be right below your shoulders, and your arms should be parallel—not turning in or out. Your feet should also be shoulder-width apart. Press your hands and toes into a mat on the ground, lifting your body, squeezing your glutes and quads for support. Your body should create one straight line from head to toe. Don’t lock your knees or arch your back, and keep your neck straight by looking slightly in front of you.
Hold this position for 20 seconds. “As you get more comfortable and your core gets stronger, hold the plank for as long as possible without sacrificing form or breath,” Dr. Bowers noted. It’s that simple! Whether you’re a pro or want to test your plank skills, adding the simple move to your routine may be what your core has been waiting for.
Shin splints are one of those nagging aches and pains most runners encounter at some point in their training—but that doesn’t mean you should just grin and bear it.
“We see it all the time in the clinic,” osteopath and clinical lead at The Livewell Clinic, Danny Sayandan tells Fit&Well.
Common themes, he says, are runners in worn-out shoes, heel striking instead of landing midfoot, or overstriding.
“It’s often linked to the least stretched muscle in the body—your calves—and most neglected muscle—the tibialis anterior—found on the front of the shin,” says Sayandan.
When they’re tight or undertrained, the impact of every footstrike gets pushed straight into the shins, triggering a dull ache down the front or inside of your shins.
The solution? Add these five exercises from Sayandan to your weekly workouts to stretch and strengthen these often overlooked muscles.
5 exercises to try if you get shin pain when running
1. Toe raise
Toe Raises – Ask Doctor Jo – YouTube
Watch On
Sets: 2 Reps: 12-15 each side
Why: Lifting your toes strengthens the front of your shin.
How:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
- Lift your toes.
- Hold for two seconds.
- Lower your toes to the start.
2. Calf raise
Sets: 2 Reps: 12-15
Why: Build strength and endurance in the lower legs.
How:
- Stand with your feet together.
- Lift your heels to rise onto your toes and the balls of your feet.
- Pause, then lower slowly.
You can also perform these with your heels off a step (as in the video above), lowering your heels below the step to add a stretch to your calves.
As you get stronger, progress to single-leg calf raises, then begin to add weight with a dumbbell or kettlebell held in one hand.
3. Soleus wall hold
Sets: 2 Reps: 12-15 / Time: 30sec
Why: This bent-knee heel raise targets the deep-lying soleus muscle in your calves.
How:
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a bannister or other sturdy anchor point for support (an alternative is to rest your back on a wall, as in the video above).
- Bend your knees and push your hips back to lower into a squat, with your knees bent at 90˚.
- Hold this position and either perform 12-15 calf raises (see above), or rise up onto the balls of your feet and hold for 30 seconds.
4. Tibialis stretch
Anterior Tibialis Stretch Kneeling – Ask Doctor Jo – YouTube
Watch On
Sets: 2 Reps: 8-10
Why: This is a gentle stretch for the muscles in the front of the shin.
How:
- Kneel with your feet together, sitting on your heels with your hands or forearms on the floor to help control the load through your ankles.
- Push through your hands or forearms and carefully lift your knees to increase the stretch in the front of your shins.
- Hold for a few seconds, then lower.
Rather than an exercise, try to practice this continuously—and certainly as you move from exercise to exercise in this workout. Concentrate on landing softly through your midfoot to retrain your gait and reduce impact through your heel, ankle, calves and shins.
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