Benefits Of Calisthenics

1. Its free or very cheap as no or minimal equipment is required. There is no gym fee, can be done outdoors, in hotel rooms, prison, can train multiple people at once in dojos. 

2. Most exercises are functional movements, so the benefits gained from them will transfer into better movement in day to day life. We will not require the strength to shoulder press 100kg in our lives for anything practical, but we may need to climb a window or rope to a helicopter or window. The chin ups and pull ups we did will come in handy here; the lunges will help us get up of the floor easier. The stretching will help us move around easier. The body is a multi-muscular movement system; most calesthinic excercises are multi muscular movements.

3. Most exercises are closed chain movements; you move your body through space instead of you moving an object through space. This neuromuscular coordination, for example a pull up is closed chain and a lat pull is open chain. A squat is closed chain and a leg press is open chain. According to a study by the journal of orthopedic & sports physical therapy. Closed chain body weight exercises showed much better results in power than their machine equivalent. A 6 weeks study showed that a squat improved lower limb strength by 31 % while a leg press improved it by 13%. In terms of power output, the body weight group saw a 10% increase in vertical jump while the machine group saw none.

4. Training can also be more focused on fast twitch muscle fibers; this is more advanced, and you should only attempt when the foundations have been built correctly. This is known as plyometrics training and is done by many combat athletes.

5. Good for neuromuscular coordination and core stability. 

6. It is the go-to method for combat fighters as the movement’s workout, strength, endurance and power at once. For example a set of 200 bodyweight squats will give you strength and endurances at the same time and prepare your muscles for fights were you may be throwing loads of kicks. Which is more benificail than 10 reps of 200kg squats for the fighter, if they could only choose one method. But idealy a combination of different methods is best.

I advocate calistheics and it is my favourite way of training, its simple and free. You can do it in a park, living room or jail cell.

A lot of free weight exercises are good and can be used to complement your calisthenics training.