Beginner’s Guide to Calisthenics for Audiophile Nerds

Here is a simple guide to get started exercising at home with calisthenics (resistance training using only your bodyweight).
The sheer amount of fitness information online often leads to analysis paralysis, self-doubt, and a failure to build the consistency needed to make progress.

Fitness influencers thrive on content overload—because if they stop posting, they stop being relevant. That’s why there are 2,000 videos on how you're doing bicep curls 'wrong' and the one 'secret' to maximize your gains.

Why calisthenics over isolation exercises at a gym?

• it's free, with limited to no equipment needed (a local park may help)
• you can do it in the comfort of your own home or the great outdoors
• improved functional strength (actually being able to do cool things outside of the gym rather than looking cool inside the gym) and relative strength (your strength compared to your bodyweight)
• joint health & injury prevention
• more natural progression opportunities as you grow stronger, less likely to lead to a feeling of 'plateau'

A well-structured push/pull/legs split in a gym with proper progressive overload will likely build muscle faster—especially in the lower body. But unless you're planning to train consistently for years to reach your genetic potential, you don’t need that level of optimization to see great results.

How do I get started?

A basic routine of push-ups, pull-ups and squats. For each exercise, 3 sets to failure with 2 minutes of rest in between each set. Failure may mean absolute failure (you can lower yourself to the ground but not push yourself back up) or technical failure (your form is severely compromised, you can squat but with a big forward lean and sway).

If you cannot do 1 push-up or 1 pull-up, here are logical progressions to get started:

Push-ups:

• Wall Push-ups – Vertical push-ups against a wall.
• Incline Push-ups – Use a sturdy bench or table for support.
• Regular Push-ups – Full-body push-ups on the floor.
• Diamond Push-ups – Hands close together for more triceps focus.

Pull-ups:

• Door Pulls – Stand in a doorway, grip both sides, and pull yourself toward it.
• Australian Rows – Use a low bar and pull your chest up from an incline.
• Assisted Pull-ups – Use a resistance band or a sturdy chair for support.
• Full Bodyweight Pull-ups – The final boss move.

Squats:

• Squats to Seat Depth – Start with controlled squats to a seat or bench.
• Full Air Squats – Squat as low as your mobility allows.
• Bulgarian Split Squats – One leg elevated behind for more difficulty.
• Pistol Squats – A one-legged squat for advanced balance and strength.

There are tons of YouTube videos on how to properly and safely do each of these exercises. For each exercise, you will want to consistently achieve 12-15 reps per set before advancing to the next progression.

You can get started at pretty much any fitness level by intuitively learning modifications to base exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, squats) and progressing gradually but slowly. Wall pushups and door pulls may look and sound silly, but completely kick your ass.

You may feel embarrassed by not being able to do one push-up, one pull-up or feeling queasy and exhausted after a few bodyweight squats. The good news is that a) you're at home and there is no one there to judge you and b) the lower your starting point, the more rapid and exponential will be your progress and therefore feeling of accomplishment.

For training frequency, you do not want to train every day, as no rest days will short-circuit the body's recovery process, leading to minimal strength and size increases. A good idea is to train every other day, with weekends off if you like. For beginners or the severely de-conditioned, your first few training sessions may be followed by extreme muscle soreness, in which case rest an appropriate amount of days while you recover. Eventually your body will adapt to the increased stresses and you can begin training every other day.

Take a shirtless photo (front, side, back) before starting. Every two weeks, snap new ones to track progress. You’ll be surprised how much you change.

Any questions let me know

 

Tangentially related, many years ago I did something akin to this for a while... https://www.shovelglove.com/
Yes yes, slightly cringe in retrospect. I used one of these.

 

I don't want to suggest overcomplicating things and I do appreciate your post, but using train to exhaustion for every exercise stress is bound to result in injury. much safer to use train to exhaustion (or maximal single effort) to determine reps and sets. Exhaustion varies by day (sleep quality, hydration/nutrition, psychological stress, etc. all affect maximal effort and relative perceived effort). So, the first time i try doing pushups, I do as many as I can. After that my training protocol becomes: 60-80% of the number at exhaustion reps for 3-5 sets. Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to keep folks in an injury free zone, if possible.

One final note: I had a wellness coach for a bit after suffering a sports related injury. Her biggest bit of advice that was a eureka moment for me was, "we are all training from injury from the moment we're born" - in other words, our bodies are a walking tally of injury, and if we are truly looking to improve any aspect of our mental and physical being, we must train from where we are, not from where we were or where we think we should be.

 

there is a lot of healthy debate about this and I don’t mind your opinion.

I have personally seen near identical results from training to 1-2 reps in reserve versus 0 reps in reserve for compound movements. However when you’re talking about 60% of capacity, I’ve seen virtually no results. I may as well have not been lifting, from a growth and strength development perspective. Muscles need sufficient stimulus to instigate growth, and the range of this stimulus certainly does vary with individual genetics and training experience.

The argument is that inexperienced lifters have quite a difficult time judging 1 RIR from 2-3 RIR. This is one of the great benefits of working with an experienced trainer or partner, they can push you within safe limits.

when you’re talking about body weight exercises and an individual can hardly do 3 incline rows, it doesn’t make much sense to stop at 2 for the purposes of injury prevention.

I also differ on the terminology. To me training to failure and exhaustion are two different things. I think of exhaustion and the factors that you mentioned like sleep and stress as relating to central nervous system fatigue. Training to momentary failure and especially technical failure do not have to contribute to CNS fatigue if proper rest is afforded between sets and between workouts. Inexperienced individuals are advised to research the symptoms of CNS fatigue and overtraining and learn to avoid them within their own physiological limits.

Obviously if you’re older, have pre-existing conditions, joint issues, etc. you should consult a physician and take appropriate precautions before engaging in physically demanding exercise.

On the wall of my local YMCA it says “if it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you” and I believe in that.

 

Very glad to see this post; if even a few people use it to start to improve health, it's well worth it. Calisthenics are great for the reasons @k4rstar cited.

Probably 15 years ago I talked a friend into starting a weight-lifting protocol at a gym. Still at it; for me the obligation to someone else was the thing that stopped me from bailing. And I don't mind going to the gym.

There are a couple things I've learned from reading about weight-lifting protocols that I think might be interesting to folks starting down @k4rstar's path:
1. the average person that has been relatively inactive is only using 60% of their muscles (there is a bell curve here, not everybody is the same); the body shuts down what it can for efficiency. This matters because someone can be getting significantly stronger without seeing muscles swell up, which can be dispiriting and a cause to drop out
2. I've read through a bunch of lifting protocols; the 3 days/week & a day off between is sound. Nikolai Yakovlev figured this out in the 1960s. Yes, a D1 or pro can go day after day for weeks at a time; my DNA is a lot different from theirs

 

Yesterday I went to go squat but realised I forgot to pack my gym shorts. So I walked to a calisthenics park and blasted some pullups, dips, rows and leg raises real boomer style in a shirt and jeans on.

 

Appreciate the write up. We could all use more exercise and this is an easy place to start.

Pretty sure Chuck Norris squats with jeans on.

 

As a complete wimp/weed, it is nice to get some encouragement

Aiming at getting @YMO involved?

 

Pictures or it didn't happen.

 

Well, 60% of that, anyway

 

OMG yes I need this

 

In addition to working out, just stop eating. If you're hungry and not feeling lightheaded after eating a high protein, low refined carbohydrate meal, just don't eat. Eat when you feel famished, not when your stomach is empty. Cut out most beer, pasta, white bread, sugar, rice, fried garbage you know the drill. Don't think you can replace that stuff with healthier alternatives like light beer (disgusting), non alcoholic beer (beer flavored soda. just drink seltzer or have a diet coke. I dumped all my NA beer today), whole wheat pasta (disgusting), supermarket wheat bread (sugar laden cardboard), brown rice (enjoy the arsenic), and air fried stuff (enjoy the forever chemicals). Limit your consumption. Eat protein. Work out. Run a caloric deficit.

If the traditional food of your culture runs heavy on refined carbohydrates like Middle Eastern and East Asian food and whoever the hell eats potato chips as a staple, well think of the good part: cutting out that part will run you a greater caloric deficit. Eat the dumplings and not the bowl of rice. Eat the kabob meat, the vegetables if they're hot, and avoid the bread and rice. Do not eat foods that use minimal amounts of protein to feed you lots of refined carbohydrates like meat loaf or fried rice. Just eat the egg. Eat vegetables too.

 

Good thread. Calisthenics have been part of my life for the last 5 years.

I focus on short routines/sessions to keep the probability of injuries low.

My goal is to develop a balanced yet powerful body and mind. One daily goal is 10 pull-ups a day. Slow is better and focus on negatives. Control over your mind and body will increase. I started slow in 2020 and nowadays I have strength and flexibility galore.

 

Even nowadays in the Philippines you pretty much can't get away from a meal without there being a ludicrous amount of rice involved. That's something I used to be good about avoiding, but in recent years I've actually found myself piling on absurd amounts of rice to complement the viands which basically had the effects you'd expect.

It's not even about availability necessarily, just that rice is relatively affordable compared to lots of other foodstuffs and so is pretty deeply ingrained (pun inadvertent) in the cultures of nominally less conventionally wealthy countries-- lots of folks below the poverty line deadass just have some small packets of sauce dunked onto large dinnerplates full of rice for meals, and even among folks who can get by pretty easily you just have big-ass bowls of rice as being the norm.

tangent: I remembered that this thread existed and the talk specifically about diet may be more apropos for here lmao

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/health-advices-and-longevity.6221/

 

From the days of manual labor in inefficient factories pre assembly lines and robotics. Ever since we could stand or sit in one place, we've gotten worse.

It's hard but must be done. Just don't eat the rice. Don't buy it. Don't touch it in restaurants. I ate Pakistani food last night; I avoided the free iftar dates (go a couple hours after the sundown rush to a halal place and they'll be happy for you visiting) and juice that are blood sugar raisers / stomach expanders / waisted calories, just ate the awesome lamb chops, and half the fresh naan as a vehicle for the chickpeas (fiber and more protein). Today is St. Patrick's Day so I ate the goddamn soda bread with butter for lunch so I must suffer through that. I'll probably eat a lean hamburger patty or some other joyless protein later. Joyless protein is the way. Joyful protein costs money and has higher fat.

Chicken breast I always avoid unless it's grassfed because of the woody breast and stringy muscle fiber because we've bred chickens to make them grow too quickly. It's inedible. This can be in 10-20% of all generic super market breasts. It's not the cost, it's the time. I've even seen it in frozen indian chicken shit that tastes minutely better than the frozen stouffer's and amy's garbage. The meat quality is very low here in the US.