How to Start Calisthenics (Part 2)

Just getting started with calisthenics? Want to get started but not sure how?

This article is going to outline exactly how I would get started if I had to do it all over again.

Trust me, I’ve made plenty of mistakes so what you’re getting here is gold.

This is all about taking everything I did and removing all the stuff that didn’t work to give you faster results with less work.

Apply everything in this email and you will get stronger at least 2x as fast as you would without.

I’ll start by addressing the question of “how much” (how many exercises, how many days to train, how many sets and reps).

Then we’ll get into “what” you should be doing (the exercises).

Finally, I’ll provide you with a few example training schedules to get you started immediately.

3-5 Method

“How much should I do?”

That’s one of the most common questions asked and rightfully so!

You don’t want to do so little that you don’t see results. Similarly, you don’t want to do too much because you probably have more important things to be doing!

To simplify this you’re going to use the 3-5 Method. Here’s how it works.

You’re going to train 3-5 days a week. You’ll do 3-5 exercises. You’ll do each exercise for 3-5 sets.

Easy right? The 3-5 Method simplifies 3 of the biggest questions we have regarding exercise.

“How many days should I exercise? How many lifts or exercises should I do? How many sets should I do for each lift or exercise?”

When in doubt, revert to the 3-5 Method!

How Many Reps?

Now, how many reps should you do? If you want me to be 100% honest, it depends.

Once again, the goal must be taken into account here. Are you training purely for strength, hypertrophy (muscle size), or endurance?

Your answer to that question determines how many reps you should do.

But just like the 3-5 Method we’ll simplify this.

Ask yourself: At the end of the day, you just want to look good naked…right?

For me the answer is, yes! I don’t really care all that much about how much weight I’m lifting as long as I look like I lift.

Another way to think about it is, would you rather:

1. Bench 350 but you don’t look like you lift weights
2. Bench 200 but you look like a fitness model

If you’re like most people your answer is #2.

Now let’s bring that back to the question of how many reps.

For that we’ll target growing muscle size and definition (hypertrophy) by utilizing a rep range of 8-15+ reps per set.

No Splits

If you’re familiar with strength training at all you may have heard the term “split” or “workout split” thrown around at some point.

One of the most common splits is the Bro Split. You do chest one day, arms another, legs, shoulders, etc.

It’s effective but it’s for a specific type of person with a specific type of goal. Unless your goal is to be a professional bodybuilder, you can be much more efficient with your workouts.

My recommendation for beginners in calisthenics are full body workouts.

Once you’re ready to start working on calisthenics skills (if that’s even of interest to you) then you can focus on a more specific training split such as a pushing and pulling split.

But for now, stick to full body workouts.

Always start with fundamentals.

Build your base of strength first. Build specific strength later.

Quality over Quantity

When it comes to exercise, intensity is everything.

It doesn’t matter if you’re training for strength, hypertrophy (muscle size), or endurance. Quality, or intensity, is much more important than quantity.

In other words, it’s better to do 6 or 7 hard reps all out than 15-20 easy reps.

To grow, you must push yourself.

Fundamental Calisthenics

Just like the 3-5 Method there’s 5 fundamental exercises for you to learn and master.

1. Push-up
2. Pull-up
3. Dip
4. Row
5. Squat

If you only did these 5 exercises for the rest of your life, you could get jacked. Like, Olympic level jacked.

The simplicity not only keeps training simple for you but these exercises serve as the foundation of calisthenics for a reason. They give you the most results for your effort and the strength developed will carry over to everything else you do.

There’s no reason to add complexity with a ton of exercises, especially when you’re just starting out.

Sample Week Routine

Let’s wrap this up by applying the 3-5 Method and the Fundamental Calisthenics Exercises to create a weekly workout routine.

Bodyweight Bodybuilder

These are the types of workouts I’ve been doing lately in my home gym.

One pushing exercise, one pulling exercise, and one exercise for legs.

Adjust the exercises and reps as needed to your strength level.

Minimalist Muscle

If you’re really limited on time you could add one more day to your training but cut one of the exercises.

Here we do at least one leg exercise every day and alternate between upper body pushing and pulling exercises.

I’ve also added 2 more sets to each exercise to keep the volume roughly the same between the two schedules.