Calisthenics Strength Standards

“Where should I start?”

That’s one of the most common questions asked about calisthenics.

Everyone knows pushups are a great exercise.

But the question remains: how many should YOU be doing?

If a pushup is too hard for you, they won’t help you get stronger. You need an easier variation to do meaningful work.

Similarly, if a pushup is too easy for you, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. You need a harder variation.

To help you answer this question I’m going to provide you my Calisthenics Strength Standards.

Use this standard to test yourself. Where you end up will tell you where you should start.

Here’s how it works.

Strength Standards Explained

There will be three groups for each exercise: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each group will have reps listed for one, all-out set.

Do one set of each exercise to see what group you’re in.

👉 Take some time this week and test yourself. Even if you know you won’t start working out tomorrow, you have your first data point. When you do decide to start, you’ll know exactly where to begin.

If you’re a beginner, do an easier variation of the exercise or train consistently until you work your way up to intermediate and advanced.

If you’re intermediate, continue training the exercise consistently until you work your way up to advanced.

The overall goal is for you to progress to the advanced group. From there, you will be able to add weights or work on more difficult variations.

🙋‍♂️ Watch this video I made to learn how to progress from beginner to intermediate/advanced.

Pushup

The essential bodyweight pushing exercise.

• Beginner: 0-20 reps
• Intermediate: 20-30 reps
• Advanced: 30+ reps

Click here to watch my 60s pushup tutorial.

Pullup

The essential bodyweight pulling exercise.

• Beginner: 0-10 reps
• Intermediate: 10-20 reps
• Advanced: 20+ reps

Click here to watch my 60s pullup tutorial.

Dip

A great calisthenics exercise for your chest, arms, and more advanced skills if you care to learn them.

• Beginner: 0-15 reps
• Intermediate: 15-30 reps
• Advanced: 30+ reps

Click here to see how to perform a dip.

Row

Another bodyweight pulling exercise but this one is much easier than a pullup.

• Beginner: 0-10 reps
• Intermediate: 10-20 reps
• Advanced: 20+ reps

Click here to watch my 60s row tutorial.

Squat

Just like a pushup, no equipment needed here until you need extra weight.

• Beginner: 50 squats
• Intermediate: 100 squats
• Advanced: 25+ Bulgarian split squats

Click here to see how to perform a squat.

How to Use Your Results

Let’s assume someone, we’ll call him Bob, did 8 pushups (beginner), 3 pullups (beginner), 15 dips (intermediate), 9 rows (intermediate), and 22 squats (advanced).

How should Bob use that data?

Here’s are a few of my recommendations, exercise by exercise, to help guide you through my thought process.

Pushup (Grade: 8 Reps, Beginner)

Since Bob’s number here isn’t too low, I would recommend to continue doing pushups with 1 to 3 fewer reps (1 to 3 fewer than their max) per set. Something like 3 sets x 5-7 reps.

Bob could also do a more classic 5 sets x 5 reps approach here too if they stick with pushups.

If Bob finds out they get tired faster than they expected once they start doing their workout, they could also consider doing incline pushups instead but with more reps, probably 10+ since the exercise is much easier.

Pullup: 3 reps (Beginner)

Since this number is low enough that they likely won’t be able to do multiple sets of more than 1 rep, I would recommend they start by doing multiple sets of singles. Something like 5 sets x 1 rep. Maybe a few more sets depending on how he performs.

Similar to the pushup example above, they could also do some banded pullups once their form starts to fail on normal pullups.

Dip: 15 reps (Intermediate)

Now we’re in the intermediate range. Here I’d recommend sticking to dips, just adjusting the reps slightly based on the number of sets.

Similar to pushups, Bob could do 3 sets x 12-14 reps.

With each workout, they’ll continue to push themselves until they creep into the Advanced range. Once they get there, they can move on to weighted dips!

If you’re not familiar with how this progression process works, I’d highly recommend watching my video “How to Get Strong”.

Row: 9 reps (Intermediate)

Just like dips we’ll keep doing rows here with 1 to 3 reps knocked off our max, 3 sets x 6-8 reps.

Once again, they’re not too far from the Advanced range. Once they get there they can start doing weighted rows.

Squat: 22 reps (Advanced)

In the event that you test into the Advanced range for one of the exercises above like Bob did for squats, you can simply move on to a more advanced version of the exercise. Here Bob could do something like goblet squats.

Depending on the weight of the kettlebell he owns I’d recommend he test himself with the kettlebell again, figure out his new set and rep target, and repeat the process all over again!

Questions?

I get it, that was a lot. But I hope breaking it down like this from scratch and working our way back towards sets and reps helped clear things up.

If you have any questions about this, please let me know! Get in touch with me and I will be more than happy to help!