Calisthenics course

The course is divided into three stages:

• Preparation - fix your weaknesses and condition your body so it can handle training.
• Basics - build strength and master the fundamental bodyweight exercises.
• Advanced - unlock advanced skills like the handstand push-up, planche, and front lever.

They mirror your journey as a calisthenics athlete.

Alongside the stages, the Foundation section covers the theory behind the training: how to program, how to progress, and what equipment helps.

No matter which sport you choose, you first have to prepare your body for the stress to come. This is where preparation stage comes in. It has these main goals:

• Address any existing imbalances and weaknesses - for example, bad posture, wrist or shoulder pain, scapular winging, and similar.
• Condition connective tissue - this reduces risk of injury down the line.
• Learn correct movement techniques - such as how to brace and breathe, how to engage muscles and similar.
• Increase mobility - bodyweight exercises require a good range of motion, otherwise you will not be able to perform them.
• Strengthen your core - the core is very important in calisthenics - the sooner you start training it, the better your results will be.

Assessment

You are ready to move on to the next stage when you pass the basic fitness tests:

• 60s active hang with engaged scapulae
• 30s plank with about 70-degree wrist extension
• 30s hollow body hold
• 60s deep squat hold
• 30s side plank hold
• Palms-to-floor pike test
• And many others...

See the assessment for the full list.

If you can pass all the tests without any pain or discomfort, you know that you have sufficient mobility and conditioning to move to strength training.

Once you have enough mobility and conditioning to perform basic exercises, it is time to start building strength, the main attribute that unlocks more advanced skills. This stage has these main goals:

• Build strength in 4 main movement patterns - push, pull, legs, and core.
• Master the basic exercises - such as push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and so on.
• Learn the handstand - a foundational skill in calisthenics.
• Maintain mobility and conditioning - you can't have enough mobility for calisthenics.

Assessment

You are ready for the final stage once you can perform the basic exercises with good control and technique, for example:

• 20 strict push-ups
• 12 strict pull-ups
• 30s freestanding handstand
• 10 pistol squats per leg
• 30s L-sit hold on hands
• And many others...

See the assessment for the full list.

Advanced stage is where all the fun happens. This is where you move from the basic exercises to more advanced skills like the handstand push-up, planche, front lever, and so on. This stage has these main goals:

• Acquire new skills
• Maintain your existing skills
• Explore different styles of calisthenics

Before you start, read these. They are important.

That said, the current content is already enough to begin training.

The videos are grouped into playlists, and playlists into pages.

Each video is about 1 to 3 minutes long.

If you are unsure where to start, follow the playlists in order.

If you already know what you need, you can jump to specific playlists based on your goal, such as strength, mobility, or a particular exercise.

This course is for anyone who wants to improve their strength and mobility using their own bodyweight.

Although, I designed this specifically for those who want to get into calisthenics, it can be used by anyone who wants to improve their fitness.

Especially if you haven't done any sports before and aren't familiar with the basics.

It costs nothing but your time - you do have to watch the videos to learn it.

No equipment is mandatory. You can begin with just your bodyweight and the floor.

That said, a pull-up bar and a pair of parallettes open up a lot of exercises and make many of them more comfortable. For what helps and why, see equipment.

Yes, there is no weight limit to start calisthenics training.

In fact, I designed this course specifically for those who are overweight, sedentary, middle-aged or older, and have little or no prior training experience.

The progression section covers this in detail, but in general, progress when you can perform your current exercise with good control and technique.

If your technique is not stable, stay at the same level and keep refining it.

At first, the most important part is addressing existing issues like back pain, wrist pain, postural problems, shoulder discomfort, you name it.

These are often the main limiting factors in your progress and, if ignored, can slow you down or lead to injuries.

After that, the most important thing is to cover all movement patterns: push, pull, legs, and core.

Beginners are more likely to develop muscle imbalances, so training all four ensures a balanced foundation.

Mobility and conditioning are a must too, because without them you cannot perform the exercises safely. Beyond that, the rest depends on your goals.

I often use terms "Course" and a "Program". These are not interchangeable.

• Program is the set of exercises you follow day by day to achieve a fitness goal.
• Course is the teaching material that guides you through a topic. In this case, calisthenics.

Questions about recovery, pain, and skipping exercises are answered in the Foundation FAQ.

This course is for true beginners, so here are the words that appear most often. Read this once, then come back whenever something is unclear.

Movement patterns

Almost everything is organised around four movement patterns. A balanced program covers all four:

• Push - pushing weight away from you (push-ups, dips, pike push-ups).
• Pull - pulling weight toward you (rows, pull-ups).
• Legs - lower body work: squats, single-leg work and hinges (bending at the hips, like a deadlift).
• Core - the muscles around your trunk that keep your body rigid (planks, L-sit, and more).

The scapula

The scapula (plural: scapulae) is your shoulder blade. A huge part of calisthenics is controlling how it moves, and there are six directions to know.

• Protraction - spreading the shoulder blades apart, away from the spine (the top of a push-up).
• Retraction - squeezing the shoulder blades together, toward the spine (the top of a row).
• Depression - pulling the shoulder blades down, away from your ears (holding yourself up on dip bars).
• Elevation - lifting the shoulder blades up toward your ears (shrugging, or pushing tall in a handstand).
• Upward rotation - turning the shoulder blade so its socket points up, letting you reach overhead (a handstand or pike push-up).
• Downward rotation - the reverse, turning the socket back down as you lower your arms.

The word scapular is just the adjective form, as in "scapular retraction."

Lats

The lats are the large back muscles below your armpits that you use to pull.

Starting positions

Most basic exercises start from a position you first learn to hold. These are covered in preparation:

• Plank - a straight body supported on your hands and toes. The starting position of the push-up.
• Pike - like a plank, but with your hips raised so your body folds at the hips. The starting position of the pike push-up and the first step towards the handstand.
• DSH (dip support hold) - holding yourself up on straight arms above the bars. The starting position of the dip.
• Row hang - hanging under a low bar on straight arms, body straight and heels on the floor. The starting position of the inverted row.
• Active hang - hanging from a bar with your lats engaged and shoulders slightly pulled down. The starting position of the pull-up. A dead hang is the same, but fully relaxed.
• Deep squat - sitting all the way down with your heels on the floor. The foundation for the pistol squat.

Training terms

• Conditioning - gradually building the tolerance of your joints, tendons, and connective tissue so they can handle load without getting injured.
• Straight-arm vs bent-arm strength - strength with your elbows locked out (support holds, levers, planche) versus strength with your elbows bending (push-ups, pull-ups). Calisthenics needs both.
• Compression - actively pulling your legs up toward your torso using your hip flexors and abs (needed for the L-sit, see compression).
• Volume - the total amount of work you do. This course usually counts it as hard sets per movement pattern per week.
• Hard set - a set done at High or Intense intensity. Rest between workouts is based on how many hard sets you did.
• Deload - a planned easier period, usually a week or a single workout, that lets fatigue clear while you keep training (see deload).
• Compensation - cheating a movement by using the wrong muscles or breaking form, often because you lack the strength or mobility to do it cleanly.
• Compound vs isolation - compound exercises work several joints and muscles at once (push-ups, pull-ups, squats); isolation exercises target one (bicep curls).
• Prehab - light exercises that strengthen joints and small stabilising muscles to prevent injury (face pulls, shoulder rotations).
• Progression / regression / variation - a variation is a different version of an exercise; a progression is a harder one, a regression an easier one.
• Support hold - holding yourself up on straight arms, as in a DSH, L-sit or planche.
• Hollow body - a position where you lie on your back, press your lower back into the floor, and lift your arms and legs slightly, keeping the whole body tight.
• Mobility vs flexibility - flexibility is how far a joint can be moved passively; mobility is how far you can move and control it with your own strength. Calisthenics wants mobility (see mobility).

Reps, sets, intensity, and failure

• A rep (repetition) is one full movement. A set is a group of reps done back to back.
• Failure is the point where you cannot do another clean rep with good form. Stopping 2 reps short of failure means you could have done 2 more.
• Intensity is how demanding a set is. This course uses four levels: Intense, High, Moderate and Easy, based mainly on how close you train to failure.
• Tension is how hard a muscle contracts. This course uses three levels: activation, engagement and squeeze.
• Bracing is creating pressure and tension in your trunk to keep your spine stable during an exercise (see bracing).
• An isometric exercise, or hold, is one where you hold a position without moving (a plank).
• Tempo is how fast or slow you move through each rep.
• A negative (also called an eccentric) is the lowering phase of a movement, done slowly.

Splits (how you organise your week)

• A split is how you divide your training across the week.
• A full-body split trains push, pull, legs, and core in every session.
• A PPL split stands for Push, Pull, Legs. Each day focuses on one category. PPL + Core simply adds a dedicated core day.

A few joint and trunk terms

• Range of motion (ROM) - how far you move through an exercise.
• Dorsiflexion - flexing the ankle so the toes come toward the shin (needed for a deep squat, see ankle dorsiflexion).
• Plantarflexion - pointing the toes away (needed in some push-up variations).
• Anti-movements - exercises where the core works to resist movement rather than create it. A plank is anti-extension (resisting your lower back arching), a side plank is anti-lateral flexion (resisting your trunk bending sideways), and a Pallof hold is anti-rotation (resisting your trunk twisting). See anti-movements.
• The chains - the anterior chain is the muscles on the front of your body, the posterior chain the muscles on the back, and the lateral chain the muscles down each side. A balanced program trains all three.

Skills

Advanced skills you will see mentioned. You do not need these yet, but they come up as goals:

• Front lever - holding your body horizontal while hanging from a bar, facing up.
• Planche - holding your body horizontal while supported only by your hands on the floor.
• Human flag - holding your body sideways while gripping a vertical pole.