Total Body No Equipment Calisthenic Program

When there are no weights available to you, your best bet is to use your own bodyweight to build lean muscle mass and burn fat. That is where calisthenics come in. Calisthenics refers to any movement that you perform with your own bodyweight as resistance.

There are many bodyweight movements to choose from. However, you only need a few to see reasonable changes in your physique. I have narrowed it down to 7 essential calisthenics movements:

1- Chinups

Grab a pullup bar with an underhand, palms facing you, grip. Hang from the bar with you arms straight and feet tucked behind you. This is the dead hang position. Now pull your body up as close to the pullup bar as possible. Click here for other variations of the chinup.

2 – Handstand Pushups

Perform a handstand with your feet resting on a sturdy wall. Bend your arms so that your head touches the ground. Now press up. This movement will require lots of practice. Don’t be surprised if you are unable to perform one full repetition in the beginning. Click here for a full tutorial on handstand pushups.

3 – Planks

The plank is a much more effective abdominal movement than situps or crunches. Simply get into pushup position, and hold that top position for a set amount of time. Start off with 10 second holds and steadily build up to 60 seconds. Click here for a sample abdominal workout.

4 – Squat Jumps

Squat jumps have come to be my favorite lower body movement. Simply squat down and explode up into the air. As soon as your feet hit the ground, squat down again and blast off. Try and keep the movement continuous. Click here for some more explosive movements.

5 – Lunges

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Step forward with one foot, and bend your knees so that your body lowers to the ground. Stand back up and return your feet to starting position. Repeat on the other side. Click here for some more lower body bodyweight movements.

6 – Dips

Dips are a tough chest and triceps movement. Grab a hold of a dipping or parallel bars. You can also perform this movement between two chairs. Simply place each hand on dipping bars, and lower your body.

Try to lower your body as low as you can go, preferably with your hands bending past parallel. Push back up to starting position and repeat. Dips are also great for shoulders. Click here for more shoulder movements.

7 – Pushups

You may think that you do not need any chest work with dips, but pushups will always be a part of my training programs. Once basic pushups get too easy, there are many other variations that you can do. Click here for a great 3 minute Pushups workout.

These basic movements are part of all bodyweight calisthenic workouts. TIf you’re looking for a full bodyweight program, then you should check out my brand new Shah Training Playground Workout Program. It’s available as a free download:

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Tags: bdoyweight training, bodyweight calisthenics, calisthenics training, craig ballantyne, total body training