BEGINNER CALISTHENICS PROGRAM Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 1
Copyright Notice No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without expressed written, dated and signed permission from the author. All copyrights are reserved. Disclaimer and/or Legal Notices The information provided in this book is for educational purposes only. I am not a doctor and this program is not meant to be taken as medical advice. The information provided in this book is based upon my experiences as well as my interpretations of the current research available. The advice and tips given in this course are meant for healthy adults only. You should consult your physician to insure the tips given in this course are appropriate for your individual circumstances. If you have any health issues or pre-existing conditions, please consult with your physician before implementing any of the information provided in this course. This product is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept any responsibilities for any liabilities or damages, real or perceived, resulting from the use of this information. Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 2
Introduction Congratulations! Investing time in yourself and your body will give you immeasurable benefits in every aspect of your life. Reading Photon Fitness' free Beginner Calisthenics Program is the first step to you reaching your physique goals. Who is this beginner program for... This program will be most beneficial for beginners or someone who is in a detrained state (did some form of resistance training before but has had a layoff of months or years and has regressed). Aim The aim of this program is to introduce you to basic calisthenics exercises and help you increase your strength so you can advance to intermediate level calisthenics exercises, weighted calisthenics exercises and/or other forms of resistance training. Another benefit is that this program, combined with proper nutrition, is that it will help you to change your body composition and lead to a lower level of body fat and higher percentage of lean body mass. What is calisthenics? Calisthenics comes from the Greek words kalos, which means "beauty", and sthenos, meaning "strength". Calisthenics is the art of using ones bodyweight and qualities of inertia as a means to develop ones physique. The real beauty of this is you can workout anywhere and anytime, enhancing your adherence to the exercise program. The majority of calisthenics exercises are closed chain movements, where you move your body though space with your hands or feet Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 3
being fixed. The benefit of this is better joint stability, less susceptibility to injury, faster neural recovery, and the ability to recruit the maximal amount of muscle fibers from the first workout. Examples of closed chain exercises are push-ups, pull-ups, dips, squats etc. Programming I encourage a full body workout repeated on every consecutive day. When an individual starts training consistently the vast majority of initial strength gains are neurological in nature, it makes sense to get past this point as efficiently as possible so that your body can then start adapting by increasing the size and number of muscle fibers. Sometimes less is more. As a natural athlete (i.e. someone who is not using steroids) I would recommend working out every other day. Having a days break between resistance training sessions allows your muscles and nervous system to recover and adapt before the next workout. I advise working out 3-4 times per week, roughly one hour per workout. Plan ahead and dedicate specific times to workout in your week. Sometimes you won't feel like working out-these are the most important times to force yourself to "just do it". We must realize that the choices we make today will dictate who we are in the future. The other side of the coin is that life does happen, and occasionally shit does hit the fan. We can't control sickness, injury, natural disasters or our spouses ;). Just because you miss one workout doesn't mean you should give up and stop all together. Pick yourself up the next day and carry on. The only way to make progress and improve your physique is to actually do the workouts, be as consistent as possible, and challenge yourself and your own image of what you can achieve. "The race is long, and in the end it's only with yourself" -Baz luhrman Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 4
Two weeks programming should look like this: Week 1 Week 2 Week 1 Week 2 Week 1 Week 2 WRWRWRW RWRWRWR WRWRWRR WRWRWRR WRRWRRR WRWRWRW If you're dedicated and everything goes according to plan *W=workout, R=rest If you value your weekend, and all that a weekend entails for e.g. as I said before, life happens... don't give up, but for your own sake don't let this happen often! Compound exercises Compound exercises are exercises which engage two or more joints, and involve multiple muscles and muscle groups. As a beginner these exercises will make you progress faster and will give you the most benefit for your time spent working out. You will notice this program is based primarily around compound exercises. Warm-up I advocate dynamic stretching before performing resistance training. Dynamic stretching could be thought of as stretching while you are moving. Dynamic stretching is an active movement that provides muscle stretch but it isn't a movement that is held in a static position. Several studies have shown that dynamic stretching activates the muscles you will be using while working out improves your muscular performance improves your balance and co-ordination Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 5
improves your muscular power and performance All of the above are ideal for helping your progress in your calisthenics training. After you have completed your dynamic stretching I would recommend performing 2 warm up sets before commencing your routine. These warm up sets would be at lower reps and less resistance (an easier variation of the exercise) than your working sets performed in your workout routine. If you have done some dynamic stretching and your warm up sets there is no need to warm up individual muscle groups once you have start training (i.e. you do dynamic stretching and a few warm up sets once at the beginning of your session and there is no need for extra warm up sets between different exercises). You may do additional warm up sets and/or cardio at the beginning of your training if you wish, and at your preference. The actual workout Workout Sets Reps/Sec Push-up variation 3 10 reps Pull-up variation 3 10 reps Squat variation 3 10 reps Dip variation 3 10 reps Cobra pose/hip bridge 2 30-60 sec Plank 2 30-60 sec Your final workout, which shows that you have completed this beginner program, will look like this: Workout Sets Reps/Sec Decline push-ups 3 10 reps Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 6
Pull-ups 3 10 reps Half pistol squats 3 10 reps Dips 3 10 reps Hip bridge 2 60 sec Plank 2 60 sec Rest periods I recommend taking a rest of 2,5-3min between all sets and exercises. This will keep your workout to around an hour in length but still give you enough rest to make optimal progress in terms of allowing a good volume of work to be done per workout. Progression model Your aim should be to make a small improvement every single workout. This will ensure that you make progress. You may find you progress faster on one exercise compared to another. This is why I recommend advancing each exercise in the program individually. There is no need to hold back the progression of all exercises because you have one lagging exercise. I recommend always keeping to the 3sets of 10reps per exercise. This will ensure the volume of your workout is gradually increasing over time (volume=sets x reps x weight). Once you change to a harder progression of an exercise you won't be able to do 10 reps straight away, do as many as you can at the new progression and for the remaining reps revert back to the easier progression. Taking the push-up as an example. Your 3 sets on 4 different workouts might look something like this: Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 7
Workout 1 Set 1 10 Set 2 Push-ups 10 Set 3 10 Workout 2 Set 1 Decline push-ups 8 Push-ups 2 Set 2 Decline push-ups 5 Push-ups 5 Set 3 Push-ups 10 Workout 3 Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Decline push-ups 9 Push-ups 1 Decline push-ups 6 Push-ups 4 Decline push-ups 3 Push-ups 7 Workout 4 Set 1 Decline push-ups 10 Set 2 Set 3 Decline push-ups 7 Push-ups 3 Decline push-ups 4 Push-ups 6 *take note the above is just an example, some individuals will improve faster than others. At a minimum you should be adding at least one additional rep of a harder variation per workout to one of your sets if you are applying yourself and working out consistently (3-4 times per week) Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 8
The Exercises Push-ups Push-up progression: Wall push-up, incline push-up, knee pushup, push-up, decline push-up. Pull-ups Pull-up progression: Bodyweight rows (knees bent), bodyweight rows (knees straight), eccentric pull-up, pull-up. Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 9
Squat Squat progression: Half squat, squat, bulgarian split squat, half pistol squat. Dip Dip progression: Bench dips (knees bent), bench dips (knees straight), eccentric dips, dips. Hip Bridge & Plank Hip bridge progression: Cobra pose (on elbows), cobra pose (arms bent), cobra pose, hip bridge Plank Progression: Plank (on knees), Plank Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 10
Workout tips 1. Schedule your workouts: Just as you would schedule your meetings in a workday, or have scheduled lectures if you are a university student, or schedule a doctors appointment. Plan your week ahead and allot 3-4 hours per week for exercise. 2. Track every workout: Use the notes section on your phone or use a paper notebook and pencil. Make sure you track every single workout! How will you know what goal to aim for during today s workout unless you know what you achieved the last time you worked out? Seeing your progress in black and white is also a great motivator. Too many people who don't track their workouts end up doing the same exercises at the same intensity (level of difficulty and effort) for years on end and they wonder why they look exactly the same and their "hard work" hasn't helped them reach their goals. Do not become one of these people! Track your workouts! 3. Find a workout partner: someone to hold you accountable because you're exercising together. Someone to motivate you. Someone to enjoy the exercises and experience with. Conclusion: Thank you for taking the time to read this program. I wish you every success in your fitness journey. For any questions, suggestions, compliments, complaints or any other form of feedback, you can contact me at: tim@photonfitness.hk Beginner Calisthenics Program www.photonfitness.hk Page 11