Calisthenics For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 How This Book Is Organized 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Total Fitness: No Limits 5 Chapter 1: Calisthenics: When Your Body Is Your Equipment 7 Calisthenics: For All Bodies and Abilities 7 Why Calisthenics Is Better than Any Other Workout 8 You save time 8 You save money 9 You save space 9 You can do it anywhere 9 No gymbarrassment 9 It’s always open 9 It’s safer 9 You will not stop seeing results 10 Getting the Results You Want 10 Become stronger 10 Burn more fat 10 Get better with age 11 Regain your youthful metabolism 11 Live injury free 11 Getting Comfortable with Bodyweight Exercises 12 Use muscles you didn’t know you had 12 Get off the bench 12 Discovering the Eight Abilities You’ll Build Through Calisthenics 12 Muscular strength 13 Power 13 Muscular endurance 13 Cardiovascular endurance 13 Speed 13 Coordination 13 Balance 14 Flexibility 14 Rounding Up Your Gear for Home Workouts 14 A backpack 14 Towels 16 Trees 16 Table 16 Chairs 16 Video camera 17 Pull-up bar 17 Bosu ball 17 Suspension straps 17 Elastic bands 17 Your Body Is Your Home 18 Chapter 2: You Were Made to Move 19 Fitness Equals Function 19 Practice the movements most important to your survival 20 Put the pieces together 20 Locomotion: The Secret to Your Best Physique 20 Understand locomotion 21 Improve locomotion as quickly as possible 21 Your Body Is a Tower 21 Your body’s ability to resist stress depends on its alignment 22 Ideal joint alignment 22 Spinal stabilization 22 Joint functions 22 Weight shifting 23 Focusing on Developmental Movements 23 Mobility 23 Stability 24 Force absorption 24 Load sharing 24 Perfect posture and physique 25 Your Performance Pyramid 25 Avoid neglect 25 Aging does not equal disabling 25 Living Pain Free 26 Coordination helps you avoid injury 26 Functional exercises are the safest 26 Lessen hip and knee pain 26 Ameliorate lower back, neck, and shoulder pain 27 Putting the Building Blocks of Calisthenics in Place 27 Focusing on Attention and Breathing 28 Performance Leads to Efficiency 28 You only get good at what you do 29 Focus on the fundamentals 29 Mastery of life 29 Chapter 3: Setting Goals and Staying Motivated 31 Knowing What You Want from a Calisthenics Program 31 Evaluate where you are and where you want to be 32 Create specific goals 32 Step away from the scale 33 See your effort pay off 35 Embrace the mental boost 35 Throwing Your Ego Out with the Weights 35 The true measure of your merit 36 Start small and progress gradually 36 Finding and Keeping Your Motivation 36 Big rewards, small costs 37 Independence day 37 Making your health a top priority 38 Overcoming Obstacles 38 Dealing with injuries 38 Modifying your routine when life gets in the way 38 Picking up where you left off 39 Facing Down Your Excuses 39 Giving in to your excuses backfires 39 Resisting your excuses creates a better you 40 This is your time 40 Part 2: the Exercises 41 Chapter 4: Getting Down with Floor Exercises 43 Gaining Big Improvements with Small Exercises 43 Developing better posture 44 Improving hip, spine, and shoulder functions 44 Better coordination means getting more for less 44 Back Lying Exercises 45 Dead bugs 45 Glute hip-ups 46 Up and overs 47 Windshield wipers 48 Crawling Exercises 49 Dirty dogs 49 Hip circles 50 Pointers 51 Straight wide legs 52 Front Lying Exercises 53 Hip twists 53 Moose antlers 54 Twists and reaches 55 Y cuffs 55 Side Lying Exercises 57 Hip drops 57 Moon walks 58 Side crunches 59 Side leg lifts 60 Chapter 5: Lying to Standing Transitions (Developmental Movements) 63 The Role of Weight Shifting in Movement and Stability 64 Exercises for Coordinating Hip and Shoulder Functions 64 Rolling exercises 64 Lying to kneeling exercises 65 Kneeling to standing exercises 67 From lying to the stork stance exercises 68 Chapter 6: Strength Training Exercises for Your Core 71 Mastering the Abdominal Exercises 72 Bodyrocks 72 Reaching bodyrocks 73 Side reaching bodyrocks 73 Pillar reaches 74 Tripod scissor kicks 75 Mountain climbers 76 Mountain climbers across 76 Mountain climbers around 77 Rollouts 78 Hanging leg lifts 79 Scorpion kicks 79 Parallel leg crunches 81 Starfish crunches 82 Sit-ups 83 V-ups 83 Jack knives 84 Practicing the Lateral Stability Exercises 84 Side plank 85 Side v-ups 85 ITB (Iliotibial band) leg lifts 86 ITB kickouts 87 Learning the Lower Back Exercises 87 Reverse hypers 88 Swimmers 88 Skydivers 89 Chapter 7: Strength Training Exercises for Your Legs and Hips 91 Trying the Hip Hinging Exercises 92 Deadlifts 92 One-legged deadlifts 93 Romanian deadlifts 94 One-legged Romanian deadlifts 95 Narrow squats 96 Wide squats 97 T-arm squats 98 Overhead squats 99 Squats to deadlifts 100 Deadlifts to squats 100 One-legged squats 102 Squat thrusts 103 Bulgarian split squats 104 Dynamic squats 105 Learning the Lunging Exercises 106 Back lunges 107 Front lunges 108 Side lunges 108 Saxon lunges 109 Twisting lunges 110 Squats to lunges 111 Lunges to squats 112 Iron Mikes 113 Practicing the Kneeling Transitions 114 Long kneeling transitions 115 Short kneeling transitions 115 Side kneeling transitions 117 Bottom squats 117 Cossack squats 118 Strengthening with Step-Ups 120 Stork stances 120 Gate swings 121 Cross steps 122 High-knee marches 124 High-knee runs 124 High-knee skips 125 Chapter 8: Pushing to Strengthen Your Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps 127 Maintaining Ideal Alignment Under Stress 128 Practicing the Perpendicular Pushing Exercises 128 Classic push-ups 128 Staggered push-ups 130 Archer push-ups 130 Contra presses 131 Tripod push-ups 132 Dips 133 Seated dips 134 Bouncing push-ups 135 Semi-planches 136 One-arm push-ups 136 Trying the Inline Pushing Exercises 137 Military presses 138 Dive bombers 140 DF glides 140 Bear crawls 141 Chapter 9: Pulling Exercises to Strengthen Your Back, Biceps, and Forearms 143 Finding Tools for Pulling Exercises 144 Practicing Perpendicular Pulling Exercises 144 Let-me-ins 144 Let-me-ups 147 Trying Inline Pulling Exercises 150 Pull-ups 151 Assisted and negative pull-ups 154 Chapter 10: Exercises for Mobility 157 Enjoying the Benefits of Proper Positioning 158 Starting with the Spiderman Exercises 158 Hip swirls 159 Arm circles 160 A frames 160 Saxon tilts 162 Doing the Inch Worm Exercises 163 Bloomers 163 Deep squats 165 Vertical twists 165 Kneeling switches 168 Mastering the Quadruped Exercises 169 Kickouts 169 High kicks 170 Side kicks 172 Table tops 172 Trying the Starfish Exercises 175 Starfish twists 175 Starfish hip drops 177 Starfish push-ups 177 Starfish dive bombers 179 Part 3: the Workouts 183 Chapter 11: Mixing and Matching Exercises for Your Goals 185 Choosing Your Workout Types 185 Sets across 186 Supersets 186 Ladders 187 Timed sets 188 Speed sets 188 Circuit training 189 Flows 189 Focusing Your Training with Training Splits 191 Full body workouts 191 Upper and lower body workouts 192 Pushing, pulling, legs, and core workouts 193 Adapting Your Workouts for Long-Term Progress 193 Volume and intensity 193 Consistency and variety 194 Progression and regression 194 Covering the Essentials to Avoid Injury 195 Joint functions and transitions 195 Beginning with warm ups 195 Wrapping up with cool downs 195 Allowing time for active recovery 196 Chapter 12: Following a 13-Week Program 197 Creating a Tailored Routine 197 Introducing the Workouts 198 AMRAPs 198 Timed sets 199 Circuit training 199 Block 1: Weeks 1-4 200 Monday 201 Tuesday 203 Wednesday 204 Thursday 206 Friday 208 Saturday 210 Block 2: Weeks 5-8 212 Monday 212 Tuesday 214 Wednesday 216 Thursday 218 Friday 220 Saturday 222 Block 3: Weeks 9-12 224 Monday 224 Tuesday 226 Wednesday 228 Thursday 230 Friday 232 Saturday 234 The Active Recovery Week 236 Monday 237 Tuesday 238 Wednesday 240 Thursday 242 Friday 244 Saturday 245 Part 4: Calisthenics for Special Circumstances 249 Chapter 13: Doing Calisthenics When You’re Pregnant 251 The Benefits of Exercise Before and After Baby 251 Taking Heed and Taking It Slow 252 Preparing for a Successful Pregnancy and Delivery 253 Getting fit before getting pregnant 253 Volume over intensity 253 Increased stress tolerance 253 Improved recovery 254 Chapter 14: Working Out with Limited Mobility 255 Getting the Essentials Right 255 Finding your safest starting point 256 How working with limited mobility inspired my program 258 Getting and Staying Prepared for Life 258 Getting up and down from the floor 259 Rolling exercises 259 Lying to kneeling transitions 260 Kneeling to standing transitions 261 Back lying to standing transitions 262 We’re the Only Mammals That Walk on Two Feet 263 Chapter 15: Starting Your Kids on Calisthenics 265 Keeping Your Kids Happy and Healthy with Movement 265 Leading by example and training together 266 Instilling/encouraging the joy of movement 267 Increasing your child’s injury resistance 267 Learning to learn better 268 Overcoming Complaints about Exercising 269 Chapter 16: Nine-Minute Workouts 271 Athleticism Leads to Efficiency 272 Structuring Your Workouts 272 Starting with the Pushing Exercises 274 Push-ups 274 Military presses 275 DF glides 275 Trying Out the Pulling Exercises 276 Let-me-ins 276 Let-me-ups (knees bent) 276 Let-me-ups (legs straight) 277 Moving on to the Hip Hinging Exercises 278 Squats 278 Romanian deadlifts 280 Back lunges 280 Part 5: the Part of Tens 285 Chapter 17: Ten Tips for Success 287 Stay Consistent 287 Schedule Your Workouts 287 Listen to Your Body 288 Strengthen Your Weak Side First 288 Rest and Recuperate 288 Don’t Do Too Much 289 Show Up 289 Keep a Playful Mindset 289 Count Your Wins, Not Your Losses 289 Eat a Healthy Post-Workout Meal 290 Chapter 18: Ten Bodyweight Training Myths 291 Men and Women Should Train Differently 291 Women’s Muscles Will Get Too Big If You Do Strength Training 292 You Can Reshape a Muscle by Doing Isolation Exercises 293 You Need High Reps for Definition and Low Reps for Mass 293 Muscle Can Turn Into Fat 294 You Can’t Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time 294 Going Hungry Means Looking Healthy 294 Exercise Machines Were Built for You 295 Bodyweight Exercises Don’t Allow You to Adjust the Difficulty 295 Aerobics or “Cardio” Is the Only Way to Burn Calories 296 Index 297