Sponsored Content
Calisthenics
Have you ever done push-ups or sit-ups? If you have, then you have done calisthenics. Calisthenics is a fancy way of saying body weight exercises. Calisthenics is commonly seen as exercises like squats, push-ups, sit-ups, on-the-floor core workouts, and pull-ups - anything that involves your body weight and gravity.
Calisthenics creates lean muscle mass, not a big physique. It builds lean muscle mass because instead of doing short sets with heavy weight, you do longer sets with more reps in each set. THIS DOES NOT MEAN you won’t gain muscle, but it will not be the thick muscle from lifting heavy weights. Since you are doing more repetitions during an exercise, the results are more defined muscle, better suited for faster and quicker athletes than athletes that need size and power.
A benefit of calisthenics is that it can be done anywhere. You can do some push-ups or sit-ups at home, in a hotel, on a beach, or in an airport. The convenience factor is what makes calisthenics so popular in the fitness community.
An example of a full-body workout of just calisthenics could be doing three sets of 10 for each workout. You can do either more or less on the reps but sets of 3 would be a good number to stick with. The workout could involve push-ups for the chest and triceps, air squats for quads, lunges for legs, crunches for the core (instead of doing 10, you could increase the number on these), and burpees to do a full-body exercise that raises your heart rate to finish it. You can decrease or increase the reps to accommodate your fitness level. Once you progress, and if it is available, you can use a pull-up bar or a dip station to do dips or even jump rope!
The point of calisthenics is always to get lean. Calisthenics are great when you want to work out and build muscle, but you don’t want to be lifting heavy metal barbells or using machines. The results from calisthenics can be rewarding and help with flexibility and mobility. Not to mention that there are so many more workouts that can be done with calisthenics that you can eventually progress towards. A great example could be doing a handstand and holding it for a certain amount of time.
A great place to do these exercises could be on our beautiful beaches in South Padre Island as you start your day and then cool off in the beautiful water.
