If you are not in the best shape of your life, chances are you are a beginner. That is perfectly okay, because everyone has to start somewhere. The important thing is that you are ready to try to better yourself, and get into better shape, so welcome to step one of the calisthenics plan. You want to make sure that you are ready for this, so make sure you have enough time to get in some stretches along with a couple of moves. Fifteen minutes is the recommended minimum for your exercise block if you can’t do a full hour at once.
You are classified as a beginner if you can only do ten push-ups or less, and fifteen sit-ups or less in a minute. If you feel like you can’t do anymore after those no matter the time limit, you are also classified as a beginner, but that is okay. Once you build up stamina, you will be able to do more. When you are planning to do this routine, you will be instructed to do at least ten push-ups, and fifteen sit-ups. Do your best, and as time goes on it will get easier. Push-ups and sit-ups are not the only exercises, those are just the guidelines for the beginner course. When you get to intermediate, it changes to push-ups and chin—ups, which will be introduced properly in the next chapter. However, a lot of beginners struggle with upper body strength, so chin—ups are not the easiest to do, and some people can’t do them at all at first.
Stretches
Here are some stretches to do before you begin your workout. It is important that you do not skip your pre-workout stretches, because you risk suffering a muscle injury due to unprepared muscles. Just as you need time to wake up in the morning, your muscles need time to be ready to move and work. Stretching wakes them up without causing them to tense up and resist the pressure being put on them.
Downward Dog
This pose stretches your back, legs, and arms, which are mostly what is going to be used here. Make sure that you are stretching properly in the right position to adequately loosen your muscles.
When doing this stretch, stand with your feet together on the mat, your hands stretched to the sky as high as they can reach and your back straight. Slowly bend at the waist, and place your palms firmly on the mat. Hold this pose for thirty seconds while taking deep breaths the entire time. Slowly return to the start position. Do three reps of this stretch.
Back Stretch
This stretch mainly focuses on your back, particularly the muscles directly surrounding your spine. It is important you do this stretch with a straight back to help limber up your back for moves like sit-ups and crunches.
When doing this stretch, start by sitting with your legs out straight and flat on the mat. Stretch your arms out, and lay your body as flat as you possibly can on your legs. If you can, hug your feet with your arms to lay even more flat on your legs. Hold for thirty seconds. Do only one rep.
Cross Body Arm Stretch
This pose will really stretch your arms for push-ups. This will allow you to do more push—ups without your biceps and triceps giving out on you.
When doing this stretch, you can either be sitting or standing. Stretch your left arm across your body, and hold with your right arm. Hold this for ten seconds. Repeat with right arm. Do three reps.
Once you are done with your stretches, if you have enough time, you can go for a five-minute cardio run. If you do not have the time, it is perfectly okay to move on to your exercises.
Some Rules to Get Started
Before you get too far into your beginner calisthenics workout, you need to make sure that you are following some of the basic rules that come with this. These basic rules are going to make it easier for you to make sure that you have the proper form, that you are able to really strengthen out the muscles, and that you aren’t going to get harmed in the process. Some of the best rules that you can follow when you first get started with calisthenics include:
– Perfect form: remember that when you work with calisthenics you are only going to be competing with yourself. You need to make sure that you work on that perfect form and then work from there, regardless of how others may be doing. When you work on the perfect form, you will end up with better progress, zero sticking points, and many more skills as you advance in the calisthenics.
– Focus: you want to make sure that you focus on the work that you do, and this is really important when it comes to the quality of your workouts rather than worrying about the quantity. It isn’t as important how many reps of an exercise that you do, as long as you do it with the right form and include as many muscles inside it as possible. If you are timing your workouts, like doing pushups for a minute, it is better to get 7 or 8 good ones in that minute than 20 bad ones.
– Mindful practice: when you are doing your reps, you should spend time focusing on your muscles contracting and you should feel them building up at the same time. When you are mindful about the movements that you are doing, you are going to focus on doing them the proper way, and you are going to get better results.
– Breathe: and no matter what kind of workout or exercise that you are doing with calisthenics, make sure that you are breathing throughout them. Holding your breath is going to make the work harder and you may find that it is not so easy to keep going. Take regular breaths in and out to get the best results.
– You are able to add in some rest times between each of the rounds or the individual exercises if you need. For example, the first workout that we provide below has you doing the process four times. If this is too hard at the beginning, consider taking a five-minute break in between, or doing two rounds in the morning and another two in the evening until you can build it up a bit more.
– If you have some trouble performing a new exercise when you are first starting out, don’t get discouraged. You don’t quit a whole program because one of the exercises is too hard. You can find some easier variations to use and then as you get stronger, you will progress from there to the normal form.
As you can see, these rules are pretty simple to work with and they are going to ensure that you are able to see the good results that you are looking for when you are working on your calisthenics.
The Workouts
Now that you know a few of the rules that you need to follow in order to get started with calisthenics, it is time to pick out the workout routine that you need to work with. With this one, we are going to work on the idea of three days of workouts and then four days of rest, alternating them so that you are able to work your body hard while still giving it some time to get the rest it needs to recuperate.
This is a beginners’ workout so it is not going to be as intense as some of the rest of the workouts that you will come across in the intermediate and the advanced sections, but it is a good way to become more familiar with what you should be doing with this program and how you will get stronger in no time.
Even though you will only be working out about three days a week (you can add in some light stretching or a few of these workouts on the other days if you are feeling strong, but do allow your muscles some time to rejuvenate after the hard work), you are going to see some great results. Make sure that you do take those rest days to see the best results, but this is a great place to begin for those who have never done a workout like this before.
Ideally, you will do this work out, starting with day one on Monday and so on, for about a month. If you feel that you need a bit more time with the beginner option before moving on, go ahead and take another month to work on this. But at least go through this for a month before moving on to the intermediate option. So let’s get started with some of the great options that you can use when starting out as a beginner in calisthenics.
Day 1 Workout Here is where the fun begins.
This exercise is simple as all the exercises here were explained in the first chapter. In the later chapters, there will be a few that will be introduced new to you.
1. Jumping Jacks
There are no set number of jumping jacks here, just do as many as you can in two minutes, and try to keep the same pace the entire time. Count how many and keep track as the days go by to track improvement.
2. Lunges
Do fifteen lunges. Hold each lunge for fifteen seconds. Rest for one minute
3. Sit-Ups
Do at least fifteen sit-ups in one minute, more if you can do so. Keep track of how many you do over time to see improvement.
4. Squats
Do fifteen squats, hold each squat for fifteen seconds. Rest for one minute
5. Push-ups
Do at least ten push—ups in one minute, more if you can. Keep track of how many you do over time to see improvement.
Rest for one minute.
Do at least ten push-ups in one minute, more if you can. Keep track of how many you do over time to see improvement.
Rest for one minute
Once you have done these workout moves, repeat the stretches to relax your muscles. This helps aid muscle repair.
Repeat this process four times throughout the day to get in an hour’s worth of workout. If you are new to this process, you can go through and just do it once or twice to help strengthen the muscles. The goal is to get through it four times, but as a beginner, this may be too hard for you to get done right away. Write down the work that you are doing, how many sets you are able to do, and then keep track of how much more you are able to get done over time.
Day 2 Workout
This is going to be a rest day. You should make sure that you take this day off and just relax a little bit. If you are a beginner, you don’t want to push yourself too far or your muscles are going to get sore and you may cause some injury to yourself. If you feel like doing some light stretching on this day to alleviate some of the muscle tension and to increase flexibility for later on, go ahead and do this, but be careful not to strain yourself. When you are a beginner, you want to make sure that you are giving your muscles the break that they need to be strong and to ensure that they are not going to overdo it.
Day 3 Workout
The following is another workout that you are able to work with. It is best if you are able to do about three rounds of this, without taking a rest in between each of the exercises. When you are done with a round, you will be able to stop and take about 90 seconds to catch a break before restarting. If this is too much for you as a beginner, take just a few seconds of breaks in between each workout or just do a round or two until you are able to progress to something a bit harder. The exercises that you will need to do for this second workout include:
– Static chin-up: do this one for 8 repetitions in each cycle
– Elevated push-up: this one needs to be done for 10 repetitions in each cycle.
– Leg raises: this one needs to be done for 10 repetitions (each leg) in each cycle.
– Inverted rows 45: this one needs to be done for 15 repetitions in each cycle.
– Bench dips: this one needs to be done for 10 repetitions in each cycle. – Squats: this one needs to be done for 20 repetitions in each cycle.
Remember that you need to keep going through all of the exercises without taking any breaks if you are able to complete that. Once you have gone through these six exercises, you can then take a 90 second break before going on and doing another cycle. You will want to do this about three times if possible, but you can also work on building up to doing it that many times if you find it too difficult.
Day 4 Workout
This is going to be a rest day. You should make sure that you take this day off and just relax a little bit. If you are a beginner, you don’t want to push yourself too far or your muscles are going to get sore and you may cause some injury to yourself. If you feel like doing some light stretching on this day to alleviate some of the muscle tension and to increase flexibility for later on, go ahead and do this, but be careful not to strain yourself. When you are a beginner, you want to make sure that you are giving your muscles the break that they need to be strong and to ensure that they are not going to overdo it.
Day 5 Workout
We are back for another day of doing some of the calisthenics and you will find that some of the workouts are going to be a bit different than the rest. Push it hard in this one to help you to get a really good workout because you are going to get two days of rest before you start with the second week of this program. For this day of workout, you will do the following, trying not to take a break between the exercises unless you really need to:
– Australian pull-ups: you will need to do five repetitions of these.
– Lying knee tucks: you will need to do five repetitions of these.
– Split squats: you will need to do five repetitions of these on each like.
– Push-ups: for this one, you will need to do at least five of these, or as many of the knee push—ups as you can if you find that the normal ones are too hard for you to complete.
When it comes to resting in between the workouts, you should try to not take any rest in between the exercises. Ideally, you will only take a break that is long enough to get into the next position before starting up, but if you need, you can take a few seconds to catch your breath as you get used to the workouts.
When it comes to the cycles that you should do, as a beginner you may want to start out with just doing one to get familiar with it all. Once you find that these start to get easier, you should move it up to 3. As you add in more cycles, you can add in about a minute to two minutes of rest between each of the cycles before restarting.
Day 6 Workout
This is going to be a rest day. You should make sure that you take this day off and just relax a little bit. If you are a beginner, you don’t want to push yourself too far or your muscles are going to get sore and you may cause some injury to yourself. If you feel like doing some light stretching on this day to alleviate some of the muscle
tension and to increase flexibility for later on, go ahead and do this, but be careful not to strain yourself. When you are a beginner, you want to make sure that you are giving your muscles the break that they need to be strong and to ensure that they are not going to overdo it.
Day 7 Workout
This is going to be a rest day. You should make sure that you take this day off and just relax a little bit. If you are a beginner, you don’t want to push yourself too far or your muscles are going to get sore and you may cause some injury to yourself. If you feel like doing some light stretching on this day to alleviate some of the muscle tension and to increase flexibility for later on, go ahead and do this, but be careful not to strain yourself. When you are a beginner, you want to make sure that you are giving your muscles the break that they need to be strong and to ensure that they are not going to overdo it.
Some of these exercises are going to seem easy for you to complete and some of them are going to seem like they are pretty hard. It is all going to depend on your level of fitness when you got started on the plan. Regardless of your previous fitness level, you should start to notice that the workouts become easier as the month goes on and you are able to add in some more reps, work the muscles harder, and maybe even get in some more of the cycles to see more results. Remember that you are not in competition with anyone else so it doesn’t matter if someone is able to progress through this workout in just a few weeks and it takes you several months. Even if the progress is slow, you are going to see the results pretty quickly and will be pretty happy with them as well.
By the end of that first month, or more if you need to take a bit longer, you are going to see some amazing results with your workouts. These are simple to do, but you will see some firming and toning in all of the muscles that you use, even though you are using a simple beginner’s plan to help you out. If you want to see how great the results are, consider taking some before and after pictures to help you really compare.
Remember that if some of the exercises are too hard for you to complete, you can just make modifications. You should also adhere to the rules about resting times, but if you need more rest, take it. You have to listen to your body and do what is best for you, but it should be somewhat of a challenge so don’t take long breaks just because it is easier. Record your progress as well so you are able to see when you are improving and by how much! Everyone is going to improve, even if it doesn’t feel like you are getting anywhere so stick with your workouts and you will see the results!
