Calisthenics is the oldest and most natural form of training in human history
A long time ago, humans knew that exercising was vital to improving health and strength.
The human body has evolved millions of years ago, and so has the way of exercising.
Jumping from one tree to another, running away from a monster, or competing in the Olympics. All have one thing in common: Moving one's body!
The human body was designed to move itself in space and interact with the surrounding environment. That means the safest and most functional way to exercise is to move your body in space! Our ancestors understood this pretty well and they called this art of training Calisthenics
The word “calisthenics” originates from Greek literature and is composed of two words: strength and beauty. It makes your body strong and beautiful simultaneously.
Calisthenics throughout history
Calisthenics training is rooted in human biology, our ancestors used to jump from one tree to another using pulling movements and they escaped from monsters to survive all day long movement. This is known nowadays as Parkour I consider it calisthenics as you move your body through space.
Moving forward in time we meet one of the greatest warriors in the world, the Spartans!
Spartans were known to be so tough and strong that they were facing huge army even if outnumbered.
In 480 BC the Persian king Xerxes was willing to invade Greece so he assembled an army of approximately one hundred and twenty thousand men for this purpose. He met the spartans at a location known as the hot gates.
The Spartans were only 300 soldiers including King Leyonides their job was to delay the marching of the Persians until the whole Greek city united to counter this attack.
Before the battle began, King Xerxes sent his scouts to check the Spartans they came back telling him they saw the Sparnas doing calisthenics preparing for the battle, he was confused about this act.
Little did he know that those 300 Spartan warriors could delay the hundreds of thousands of his army for days and he didn’t know what to do to pass through the gates to invade Greece until of course he bribed a Greek traitor to know another route to flank the spartans and killing them as we all have seen in the great movie 300.
The Greeks were famous for their Olympic event regularly, and we even keep this tradition to this day, It was a big contest among different athletes. It was basically a calisthenics competition doing movements like pull-ups and jumping squats, and also other activities like throwing javelins.
In our time the Olympics takes place every 4 years. It includes lots of sports that depend on moving one’s body in space, just like the old times.
In the Roman Empire, there was a gladiator called Spartacus.
Gladiators back in that time were so powerful with superhuman strength. They were competing infront of a big crowd like we all saw in the movie Gladiator.
It’s documented that they used bodyweight exercises and fighting to achieve their great strength.
Spartacus and his gladiators challenged the emperor himself and faced the Roman legions they caused them many troubles though they were less equipped and outnumbered.
Now let’s jump forward in time and talk about the modern army.
Every army in the world depends extensively on calisthenics movements to make soldiers strong and tough. Movements like pushups, pull ups, and jumping squats are pillars in every military training camp.
Even special forces units the best of the best, depend heavily on calisthenics to achieve great strength and endurance.
You can look up any army special forces unit and see the tests soldiers must pass to join, mostly it’s calisthenics and sometimes swimming and rucking.
Army can’t go wrong! They know what really works to become strong and tough without any complicated routines or equipment.
The bronze-era bodybuilders weren’t only looking good, they were also so powerful.
Not like today's bodybuilders who inject steroids and synthol into their bodies and care only about looking as big as possible, the bronze-era bodybuilders valued health, and strength as much as big muscles.
Advanced movements with bodyweight like handstand pushups, one arm pull up, and one-leg squats were a cornerstone in every bodybuilder in the bronze era.
Myths about calisthenics
Gym is better?
As we know now, humans throughout history used bodyweight exercises to get stronger and fit. There were no gyms back then.
People depended mostly on their bodies against gravity to prepare for sports events, competitions, and battles. Then money comes and ruins everything!
The mainstream media in the past decades convinced people that the only path to strength and health is to go to the gym. This is far from the truth.
I don’t say the gym is bad or useless, what I am trying to tell you is the gym isn’t the only option, it’s not even the best option!
You can build an amazing physique with superhuman strength and stamina with calisthenics, exactly like everyone who has done throughout history.
Imagine this: you can train anywhere, anytime, and with minimum equipment.
Not only that the injury rate is far less than gym and you build functional muscles that will help you move better and perform better in any sport or activity.
Calisthenics can’t build big muscles?
This myth can be easily refuted!
If you take a look at the gymnasts, you will see great physiques that could easily put most bodybuilders to shame. They have massive biceps and big deltoids like watermelons.
They are natural athletes they don’t inject steroids into their bodies to get superficially massive like the unhealthy bodybuilders, yet they develop great athletic bodies using only their body weight against gravity.
Another great example is the sculpted statues of ancient athletes. They were sculpted after real models. There are statues of models that are much bigger and more muscular than lots of today's steroid bodybuilders!
Of course, back in that time, there was no gym, no steroids, no supplements, or complex diets. They used the ultimate way to get strong and healthy.
Is it only endurance training?
That’s a big misconception about calisthenics. Most people think it’s only for kids! Or for just warming up before other exercises.
That’s one of the reasons that prevent people from approaching calisthenics seriously because they don’t fully understand how to progressively make the exercise harder.
Let’s take push-ups as an example, yes you can use the normal push-ups to build great stamina in your arms, but also you can build great strength if you start to do harder variations of push-ups, like archer push-ups, diamond pushups, and one-arm push ups.
Here’s the secret that most people don’t, In calisthenics form is so important. To perform push ups (or any other exercise) to gain maximum strength, you need to do it in the right form.
By the right form I mean start descending for two seconds until you reach the end of the movement, pause at the bottom position for one second, then ascending for 2 seconds to the start position.
This is the correct form that eliminate momentum completely and focuses entirely on the power of the muscles to perform the pushups for gaining strength and muscle mass.
Now if you start doing easier progression of push ups with the right form I mentioned above and then move up to harder progression, you will be amazed about the strength and muscle you will acquire.
The best part about all of this is that you can use easier progression to gain more endurance by doing more reps. It all depends on your goals.
There’s a limit to calisthenics you can’t surpass it?
This opinion is adopted by many, but it’s no accurate. There’s always a way to make any exercise variation harder and more challenging.
For example you can start doing wall push-ups then do decline push ups and so on until you start doing one arm push ups in great form. It’s no easy challenge, and even if you get there there’s still other variations that you can exercise.
It’s like a video game you reach a certain level and there’s always another level to unlock.
My personal experience
Since I was a boy I always wanted to be strong, but I didn’t have money to join the gym. Every time I passed by a gym I felt so sad I couldn’t enter through the door and smash those weights!
So I bought a couple of dumbbells and started using them, I looked up exercises using dumbbells on Google and I found a video on YouTube with basic exercises.
I trained for several weeks but got bored because I was doing the same exercises with the same weight and I stopped improving.
I got bored and decided to give up because I wasn’t seeing the results I expected.
I stopped training for years and during those years I trained irregularly at the gym near my home because I was working in a job and was able to pay for the job.
But I really didn’t like the gym because it was tiring for my joints and my spine.
I was getting bigger in the gym, but something felt wrong, It made me stop for long time before coming back again.
Someday I was surfing the internet, and then something happened that changed my life forever!
I came across a video speaking about calisthenics, It was 2020 at the time of Corona, and everyone was looking for ways to become fit and strong at home because of the lockdown. I was amazed that I could use my body to become muscular and strong from the comfort of my home! And of course without paying a monthly membership.
I started with eay variations of 4 exercises: push ups, pull ups, leg raises, and squats.
Over time I increased the intensity of those 4 movemnts by maniplutaing my body position to make the exercise more challenging. I was amazed by the results I got in few weeks!
I got stronger and muscular, and without getting injured like in the gym or other training methods!
I have been training for 3 years now and my body is performing greatly in everyday activities and sports because of the athleticism I gained from training in calisthenics.
It is so much more fun and easier to be persistent in calisthenics than in the gym. You can be creative, and change your routine, and choose from unlimited exercises.
Now my friend I encourage you to take advantage of this great form of training, and I guarantee you won’t regret it.
I am not telling you to give up the gym and approach calisthenics, you can do both and you will see for yourself the true power of your body, then you will know it’s the only thing you need to become strong and healthy like never before!
- Blue wolf
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