What is calisthenics?
What is calisthenics? Is it a branch of fitness? A sport discipline? A religion? Believe it or not, even the most respected, popular, famous athletes/coaches/calisthenics gurus would struggle to answer this question.
The problem is that calisthenics is many things, and it’s not even easy to classify each aspect of it. It can be related to calisthenics fitness, which aims to develop not only strength but also a harmonious and muscular body. It can be related to calisthenics sport, which instead aims to improve performance in certain skills.
If you ask me what it is, calisthenics is a form of art -I’m a romantic. A form of art where we rely on using our own body weight to build something :
Motor capabilities: strength, flexibility, speed, or endurance.
HUGE AMOUNT OF MUSCLE: ok, maybe I went a little bit too far with the term “huge,” but I tell you what, with a good program and consistency, you going to discover muscles you weren’t aware to have and let be honest, this is probably one of the main reasons that push people into this sport. The problem is that with calisthenics, it is not that easy ( don’t rely on Instagram or TikTok, where genetic “freaks” put 10 lbs of muscles in a year).
But also anything concerning everyday life, like:
Relationship: you have a passion for something, you meet someone who shares this passion with you, you make friends, you …well… you know how life works.
Working out at the nearest park and meeting some random strangers, he notices you while you are doing a muscle up. He asks you some tips about it because he is still not able to unlock it, and you start talking to him and sharing some routine tips. I think interaction with others is the most important thing in sport, and calisthenics, which is such a spectacular discipline from some points of view, will definitely help you with this.
Feeling good ( not the song ): We often take for granted this last thing, but many just want to spend those couple of hours free each week doing something that makes them feel better.
Not everyone wants to flex amazing skills or huge biceps, but just overcome a back pain through some stretching or functional routines, lose a few pounds to be ready for the summer or, as I just say, interact with others.
Now, I’m not going deep into each of these points; I’m not the person you are looking for if you want to know the meaning of life, but I’ll focus on the first one, most precisely on what calisthenics became in the last decade from a sportive perspective.
BRIEF HISTORY of CALISTHENICS SPORT
(very, very , very brief)
Do you remember Hannibal for king? The superhuman guy who used to publish on YouTube his workout. If you are old school ( like me ), you certanly know him , if you are not , just be aware that he is the creator. Creator of calisthenics/street workout as we know it obviously, as far as i know he didn’t created any religious sect ( even if after those who venerate a spaghetti god , a wouldn’t be surpised) .
He is where all started . About 15 years ago . Afterwards others, like Frank Medrano , Al Kavaldo, Chris Heria etc…. built their own legacy thanks to calisthenics and this “movement” began to spread around the world . It was a metter of time since the first competition took place .
Don’t ask which one it was because i don’t know , but i think in some east europe country , where they raised the level of the skills beyond any imagination .
Many personal trainer took this new trend as an opportunity to start their own business. Online coaching, workshops, 1:2:1 PT , business consulting ; i can state that in 2023 calisthenics is definitely recognized in the fitness industry as part of it .
But what about a sportive point of view? Is i the same ? No. I will not be too harsh about it , by the mere fact that that calisthenics sport it’s still “young”.
But first of all , what can you compete in calisthenics ?
SKILLS
The most common one , or at least it was after the rise of streetlifting.
Front lever, planche , iron cross, maltese, one arm pull up , one arm handstand and so on and so forth. These are just a few among the many skills you can perform in a competition like that . It cover dynamic skills, isometric skill, freestyle and any combo with each of them.
I still remember the first time i watched on YouTube the performance of Vladimir Sadkov at the worlds of 2013. Open the set with a front flip into straddle planche, into straddle planche push up with clap behind the back.
Boom!
I was taken. And then came what calisthenics became famous for : creating always new skills ,to raise the bar each passing year and to try to deviate more and more from gymnastic. I’m not gonna cite here all the skillers became famous in the last decade , but i can say that nowadays we see crazy stuff out there.
yeah , all good so far , yeah ……….but then why calisthenics skills competition are diyng? mmmh , i don’t know, maybe because it is a flipping caos!!!! Every competition has their own scoring system , there are no clear paramethers in judging the skills , and so many other issues that if had to list it down below i would finish next year. But i’ ll defenetely be polemic about it in another article.
STREETLIFTING
Here it is : the trend of the moment! More than a trand actually , because in the future , as well as powerlifting did, it will become a beautiful reality ! - If they don’t mess up -
But i tell you what , i’m kinda optimistic about it .
It consist in become as strong as you can ( 1 RM ) in four exercises : muscle up , dips, pull up and squat. Who win ? whoever score the higher total .
The muscle up it’s the most interesting lift among all , no doubt , and in my opinion is what the federations should focus on to make this discipline more popular .
Luckily there are specific paramethers in streetlifting competitions : an athletes know that he has to break parallel in squat , chin over the bar in a pull up , don’t kip in a muscle up etc… and this obviously affect coaches’s jobs , makingit easier , because it allows them to deeply study the movement .
It’s not the point of this article to go into details of this discipline , but if you want more info about it you can visit the international streetlifting federation website .
ENDURANCE
I don’t wanna lie , I ‘m defenetely not into it , never like it , never found it spectacular.
But at least they have clear rules.
It consist in performing as many reps as possible in a certain exercise, which can be a push up , muscle up , pull up , pistol squat , dips. Usually with a weight.
I remember that back in the days the most common ones where max number of pull up with +32 kg and max number of dips with +48 kg. Over the years they created more structurated competition , which includes also muscle up ( + 8/ +12 kg ) , pistol squat and push up . Probably the most interesting endurance competition is a 1 vs 1 , where each athlete has to perform a sort of a giant set as quickly as possible. The interesting part is that , since it is a 1 vs 1, you know how far is your opponent to the end , and this gives you an extraboost in case you are behind( or it takes the wind out of your sails) .
I just wanted to give you a quick overview of what calisthenics is. I didn’t go into details on purpose , there will be time for that.
See you soon !
