Calisthenics exercises are simple body weight movements, performed without using any weights or machines. The idea behind calisthenics is to improve coordination, balance and muscular strength and endurance.

Typical exercises involve, jumping, squatting, swinging, twisting, or kicking using your body weight as the resistance. Objects, such as sand bags, rocks, branches or even a partner can be used to add additional resistance.

Advantages of Calisthenics

If you are a complete beginner and have just started to exercise, calisthenics are a great way to learn core exercises, whilst at the same time building a foundation.

The marines often perform drills made up of calisthenic exercises, such as squats, chin ups, situps, star jumps etc. Marines do this because they need to train in random locations, where equipment is not available. Often, they work in small teams, using their partners, bags or other objects as additional resistance.

So, If you travel often or don’t have access to any weights, then callisthenics are a fantastic way to stay in shape. Complete beginners will also see vast improvements in balance, coordinaton and overall fitness.

Disadvantages of Calisthenics

The major downside to callisthenics is that you cannot perform heavy repetitions. Most people can lift their own bodyweight for multiple repetitions, so if you are looking to get bigger and stronger you need additional resistance. Whilst you can use surrounding objects, there comes a time when the need to use weights is your only option.

You also can’t safely warm-up with calisthenics, due to the fact you are lifting your body weight from the offset.

Popular Exercises

Push Ups

Push-ups are great for working the chest, triceps and shoulders. You start by lying face down on the floor with elbows at the side, making sure your firsts are touching the ground. Don’t make the mistake of doing a pushup with your palms, it places far too much pressure on the wrists. Now, begin be pushing up until your elbows lock out, at this point go back to the start position and stop when your arms go just past 90 degrees, this is one complete repetition.

Pull-Ups

Pull ups are the toughest body weight exercise you can do, to be able to perform 10 + consecutive pull ups is tough, even for intermediate weight trainers. If you want to improve back muscles then pull ups are the answer.

Start by gripping the bar with a wide, overhand grip (slightly wider than shoulder width). From hanging position start to lift up, bringing you chin to the bar, the whole time keeping your body tight and avoiding over swing.

Squats

Squats are a great exercise for the leg muscles. However the legs muscles are the strongest collection of muscle groups you have, therefore, most people can perform many repetitions doing body weight squats. To increase the difficulty you can carry objects, such as sand bags, heavy backpacks etc, you can also try squatting as slow as possible, keeping your leg muscles under constant tension.

Start with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart with your toes pointing outwards (about 30 degrees). Begin to lower your body by sticking your butt out, like you are sitting on a chair. Go down until your hips are below parallel and then immediately come back up, always using the hips to drive upwards.

We all want to get bigger, stronger and leaner, but a lot of recreational trainers don’t look to improve muscular endurance. It’s a shame, because improving muscular endurance helps with sport activities outside of the gym. If you play ball sports, run, bike, swim, participate in martial arts, play tennis, golf, etc, then improving muscular endurance will help you with these and other sports.

When most people talk about improving endurance they usually associate it with aerobic activities. However, I am referring to muscular endurance in this article, and not aerobic endurance. You should understand the difference between “aerobic endurance” and “muscular endurance”.

Aerobic endurance is improved by performing, long, slow distance exercises. Such as riding a bike for several hours, or running for several miles. Aerobic endurance training improves a persons overall aerobic capacity.

Muscular endurance is improved by lifting a moderate weight for a high number of repetitions, or for a given amount of time. Doing this improves your ability to tolerate pain, and remove high levels of lactic acid that becomes built up during exercise.

Most trainers don’t realize that by lifting heavy weights for low repetitions it actually improves endurance to a degree. Heavy training improves absolute strength and power, thus making it easier for an endurance trainer to increase their time to fatigue.

To give you some examples, a cyclist trains heavy squats and deadlifts over a number of months. Because the cyclist is stronger it will become easier for him to explode out of the start line and also sprint towards the end of a race. Of course the cyclist will still benefit from muscular endurance training, but will find additional benefit from absolute strength and power training.

Another example, strongmen who compete in strongman competitions often perform “local muscular endurance” activities. Local muscular endurance is a method of improving endurance for a specific muscle, or group of muscles. For example, strongmen often perform techniques such as: lifting light weights for many repetitions, prolonged isometric holds and gripping and carrying heavy objects.

Types of Muscular Endurance

Depending on the sport you play depends on which endurance type you select. There are 3 different muscular endurance training methods: Short term, Long term and power endurance.

Short Term Endurance

Short term muscular endurance training is designed for sports that utilize short bouts of exercise, typicaly lasting between 30 seconds to several minutes. Sports or events that benefit from this type of training are: field hockey, soccer, 800 meter sprints etc.

Short term endurance training uses relatively light loads (40-60% of 1RM), for either a high number of repetitions or a set period of time, usually set-up in a circuit style of training. Below is a quick guideline and sample routine for short term endurance training:

Guideline

Weight: 40-60% of 1RM
Time per set: 30-60 seconds
Number of Circuits: 2-4
Rest Between Sets: 60-90 seconds
Rest Between Circuits: 2 – 3 minutes
Speed of Movement: Medium to Fast
Workout Frequency: 2 – 3 times per week

Example Routine

Exercise                         Reps
Bench Press                     20-30
Shoulder Press                20-30
Mid Row                          20-30
Deadlift                            20-30
rest 2-3 minutes after deadlift and repeat 2-4 times.

Long Term Endurance

Long term muscular endurance training is designed for sports that utilize continuous, steady state events, such as long distance running, triathlon training, long distance rowing and other activities that last longer than 2 minutes per bout.

Lighter loads are used so that the exercise can be sustained for long periods, typically (20-40% of 1RM), for a high number of reps (50+), or a given amount of time above 2 minutes, again set-up as a circuit style of training. Below is a quick guideline and sample routine for long term endurance training:

Guideline

Weight: 20-40% of 1RM
Time per set: more than 2 minutes
Number of Circuits: 2-4
Rest Between Sets: varies depending on duration of set
Rest Between Circuits: varies dependant on duration of set
Speed of Movement: Medium
Workout Frequency: 2 – 3 times per week

As you become more efficient at the workout, you increase the amount of time spent performing each exercise. For example, the 1st week you would aim for 2 minutes per set, by the 3rd week it would be 3 minutes per set, by the 8th week it would be 5 minutes per set, all the time using the same weight, once 5 minutes can be maintained, the weight would be increased.

Example Routine

Exercise                         Reps
Bench Press                     50-100
Shoulder Press                50-100
Mid Row                          50-100
Deadlift                            50-100
rest 5-7 minutes after deadlift and repeat 2-4 times.

Power Endurance

Power endurance is designed for short bursts of strength and power, typically lasting under 30 seconds. If you sprint, practise martial arts, wrestle, play tennis, fence etc then power endurance will help.

Power endurance uses moderate loads, 50-70% of 1RM, performing 15 – 30 repetitions, with high rest periods lasting 5-10 minutes. The exercises are performed in a circuit style, going back to the first exercise once all others have been completed, this allows the lactic acid build up to fully deplete.

Explosive is the key to power endurance, the goal should be to complete the exercise quicker than the previous time, using the same weight. It would also be useful to select exercises that, by their very nature, use speed and power, exercises such as cleans and snatches. Below is a quick guideline and sample routine for power endurance training:

Guideline

Weight: 50-70% of 1RM
Time per set: Less than 30 seconds
Number of Circuits: 2-4
Rest Between Sets: long, (5-10 minutes)
Rest Between Circuits: same as above
Speed of Movement: Fast & explosive
Workout Frequency: 2 – 3 times per week

Example Routine

Exercise                         Reps
Bench Press                     15-30
Mid Row                          15-30
Back Squat                       15-30
Cleans                               3-6
rest 5-10 minutes after deadlift and repeat 2-4 times.

You may notice that cleans are only 3-6 repetitions, this is because of the nature of the exercise. In order for it to be effective, it must be heavy, therefore only allowing 3-6 repetitions.

Other Endurance Programs

There are several workout programs that wrongly promote strength and size, but the very nature of the program promotes fitness, weight loss and endurance.

Programs such as P90X, insanity, asylum, crossfit etc. These programs are home or gym workouts that involve high repetitions using primarily your own bodyweight. They are fantastic if you want to lose weight, look ripped and improve endurance, but they are not so good at improving overall strength, size and power.

Conclusion

Recreational lifters who play sports should include some form of muscular endurance into their workouts. However, it’s best to maintain the strength, power and size training as part of your workout to further improve your endurance.

You should also make use of advanced training methods, such as super setting, drop setting, pyramid lifting and others. See my section on advanced weight training methods for more info.

Overtraining is one of the most misunderstood topics in the world of weight training. Fitness magazines make you believe that overtraining is a common problem, and the only way to fix it is by changing your workout routine or purchasing supplements to “fix the problem”.

However, overtraining for recreational weight trainers is actually quite rare, when most of us say overtraining, we actually mean “over reaching”. Over reaching is what the majority of recreational lifters experience when they hit a training plateau.

Over reaching is pushing yourself to a mild state of fatigue, followed by a short period of rest (typically days), or a reduced training volume. Following the rest or reduced volume period, performance quickly bounces back.

Overtraining on the other hand, is when you “over reach” for months or years at a time, without adequate recovery. This overloads you central nervous system and causes reduction in physical performance. But, overtraining is a chronic condition that not only affects physical performance, but also has an impact on psychological behavior. Symptoms of overtraining are: depression, lack of energy, loss of enthusiasm, muscle and or joint pain, insomnia, decrease of appetite.

The majority of lifters do not understand when they are “over reached”, and probably change too many variables in their workout/diet, hoping it will help them break a plateau. Unfortunately, the lack of understanding will cause too much or not enough recovery, which leads to a training regression.

The Overtraining & Over Reaching Cycle

When you lift weights regularly it stresses the central nervous system (CNS). Overtraining/over reaching occurs due to the accumulation of fatigue on the CNS over a period of months/years of heavy, consistent training.

A percentage of your central nervous system is recovered with every workout, however it does not fully recover. As the weeks go by the CNS levels continue to drop, until you reach a point of fatigue, which is why it can take so long to become overreached/overtrained.

The best metaphor to explain CNS fatigue is a sink. Imagine an empty sink with the plug in, when you lift weights it’s like taking a small cup of water and pouring it into the sink. The size of the cup represents how strong you are and the amount of work you do. With adequate sleep and nutrition, you open the plug ever so slightly to let the water out, but sleep and nutrition can only do so much, they can’t get rid of CNS fatigue.

So, using this example, as you continue lifting weights on a regular basis, getting bigger and stronger, this makes the cup bigger. Now, because the cup is bigger the sink fills quicker than it can empty, eventually becoming too full and spilling over.

The sink spilling over is your CNS, which, over time, accumulated fatigue. Once this happens it inhibits your performance in the weight room. To continue making progress you have to get rid of the accumulated CNS fatigue.

Ways to Overcome CNS Fatigue

The best way to overcome CNS fatigue is to build it into your program. There are two basic methods to do this, the first is taking time off from lifting weights, the second is the deloading method.

In my opinion and personal experience, deloading is the most successful method for continued progression. I have, in the past, taken time off, but found it only sets me back, don’t get me wrong, some people work better taking a week (or two) off lifting weights, but I am not one of them, so I choose to deload.

Deloading is a method whereby you cut the volume, the weight used or both for a given period of time, doing so allows your CNS to fully recover. The de-loading phase can last as little as a few days to several weeks, depending on how fatigued you are.

There are several ways in which deloading can be achieved:

1. Use the same weight but perform less sets/reps.

2. Lower the weight and use the same sets/reps.

3. Use both methods at the same time.

Personally, I keep the same weight and rep range but drop the number of sets. My normal workout consists of 3 sets of 8-10 reps. However, once I start deloading I keep the same weight but only perform one set of 8-10 reps, I do this because my primary goal is muscle size with strength, therefore I wan’t to keep the intensity high but the volume low.

The deloading phase applies to the entire workout, because you are trying to recover the central nervous system and not individual muscle groups. After the deloading phase you can resume your normal training, and at this point you should begin to see increases in performance within the first few workouts, if you don’t you may need to continue deloading for another couple of training sessions until performance improves.

You should also be aware that as you become stronger (after years of training), you lift weights to a greater intensity, which taxes your CNS to a greater level. So, you may find that after only 3-4 weeks of lifting you need to begin a deload phase. If we compare this to an intermediate lifter, who may be able to continue making progress for 4-12 weeks before the need for a deload phase. A beginner might take months to accumulate enough CNS fatigue that a deload may not be necessary for 6-12 months of training.

It is also important to mention the importance of “consistent training”. If you are not consistent and regularly miss workouts, chances are you will never fatigue your CNS enough to need a deload week.

Detecting CNS Fatigue

The hardest part of weight training is detecting when you are starting to fatigue. We all have bad workouts or even a bad week, the hard part is deciding whether a deload is necessary. Depending on your training intensity, exercise selection, fitness level and workout frequency will depend on when and how often you need to deload.

As your central nervous system becomes fatigued you will start to notice a reduction in performance. If you cannot get a repetition range with a weight or cannot increase the weight for one or several exercises, over a period of 3-4 workouts it could mean your CNS is becoming fatigued. When this happens it’s time to get rid of the built up fatigue and deload.

There are general recommendations for deloading, ranging anywhere from 4-12 weeks, depending on training level. However, the best time to deload is when YOU are not making progress. deloading too soon or too late can be counterproductive to your training, so listen to your body and deload when fatigued.

Fatigue & Fitness

It’s important to realize that as you get bigger and stronger your fitness improves. Sadly, CNS fatigue can mask the fitness gains. The good news is that fitness persists about 3 X longer than fatigue does. This means that when your CNS fatigue has gone from your deloading/rest period, the fitness gained from training will persist 3 times as long as the fatigue. So, if you are concerned that de-loading or taking a week off will hinder your progress, think again!

Supercompensation & Diet

The whole reason to deload or take a week (or two) off training is to allow your CNS to fully recover. But of course you don’t want to return to the gym with reduced performance, you want to come back better. Thankfully this is what happens following a de-load, and it’s called supercompensation.

To make the deload/recovery period optimal it’s essential that you increase your calorie intake and keep your diet as neat as possible during this phase. For example I consume more protein, carbohydrates and fats during the deloading phase, I also make sure I get plenty of rest.

Conclusion

You have to build deloading/recovery phases into your workout routines, otherwise you will soon find yourself hitting a training plateau. Changing your entire workout routine when your progress stalls actually does more harm than good. So, be sensible and deload when necessary, this will keep you on the right track to making progress.