Impossible Callisthenics tricks!

Hi there!

Welcome to this new article which follows on from the one presenting the different Street-Workout tricks, from the most accessible to the most impossible.

We're going to look at the different methods that will help you gradually reach all the figures we're going to see 💪

Let's learn Callisthenics!

Unilateral exercises, slowly but surely!

First method: You can make the exercises progressively unilateral, i.e. gently separate yourself from one arm or leg. This method is particularly useful if you're just starting out with basic exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups and squats.

You can start by doing them in archery to put more weight on one side, then you can use your second limb to assist the first less and less.

This can be done by gradually removing fingers, or by holding onto an external object at different heights. For pull-ups, you can still hold onto your own body, or even use a pulley and counterweight system to progress to one-arm pull-ups.

Learning Callisthenics: Playing on the height of support points

Second method: You can play with the height of the support points, especially when the figures require you to place at least one hand and one foot somewhere, which is the case for all floor push-ups, horizontal pull-ups and stand-ups, for example.

It simply involves raising the hands or feet to make an exercise more or less difficult.

For example, to make push-ups more complex, you can raise your feet. Conversely, raising your hands will simplify the exercise.

Vary the supports to increase strength

Third: You can vary the supports and holds to change the difficulty of an exercise. 

For example, dips can be performed in a variety of ways: on straight bars, parallel bars or gym rings.

Weighting down with Callisthenia : guaranteed progress 

Fourth method: Add external weights to progress. You can equip yourself with a weight belt or a weighted vest, for example, which are the 2 essentials for exploding your performance.

Adding more and more weight to these exercises is a great way to increase muscular strength and endurance. For example, weighted pull-ups are among the best exercises to do when you're looking to get a one-armed pull, or simply to do more pulls in a row.  

Improving Callisthenics: Play with your body's leverage! 

Fifth method, and certainly the best-known: you can play with your body's leverage by bending and bringing one or both legs closer to the hook point.

This is often recommended for the main figures, which are the Back Lever, the Front Lever, the Flag and the Board.

Standard progressions are the Tuck,Advanced Tuck, One Leg, Straddle and Full.  

There's an almost unlimited number of progressions between each of these, so don't hesitate to try out your ideas.

Next, a well-known and highly effective method is to assist yourself with an elastic band.

You can modulate the difficulty by choosing the resistance of the bands, and by pulling them more or less. 

Flexibility and mobility, your best allies!

It's pretty obvious, but working and improving your flexibility and mobility will pay off just about everywhere, and especially for :

• The V-Sit.
• Straddle progressions.
• The Handstand and its variants.

To perfect your skills in these exercises, we offer you products that will meet your expectations, such as wooden parallettes through to bars dipsyou'll find everything you need in our our store ! 

What is concentric work?

There is not only mileage exercises to learn the main figures!

Think about doing concentric work, i.e. doing repetitions and eccentric work: negative repetitionsor slowly holding the descent.

Front Lever negative

You can also apply these tips to exercises that are not primarily strength-based, looking for variations or accessory exercises that will transfer their progress to the final figure. 

Repetition amplitude, a determining factor for progress in Callisthenics

Finally, it's a good idea to play with the amplitude of the repetitions. Whether you're doing relevés or negatives, stop before you reach the most difficult point, where the body is horizontal.

Don't hesitate to comment on this article if you like it more! 

See you soon,

Eric Flag