Do you need equipment to train Calisthenics?

Normally, typical Calisthenics workouts are in a park with a pull-up bar, parallel bars, and so on. But you can also train perfectly without equipment.

In this article we are going to see how you can do a complete routine at home without the need for bars or specific equipment.

We will also see what to buy in case you want to have some simple equipment to expand your possibilities.

To begin, we are going to divide the Calisthenics training into its most basic parts, such as: push, pull and legs, and thus we will analyze how to train each one of them.


How to work PUSH MOVEMENTS at home without equipment

The push is very easy to train without equipment, since in Calisthenics one of the basics are push-ups, a very complete exercise that works the pecs, triceps, anterior deltoids and generates abdominal work.

You have a practically infinite variety of them. For example, if you are a beginner, you can start doing inclined push-ups, with your hands resting on a height that can be a chair, armchair or a small table. From there you could move on to knee-flat push-ups, regular push-ups, and then if you continue to gain strength you can move on to explosive push-ups, clap push-ups, archer push-ups, and other advanced variations.

For advanced athletes who want to work the vertical push, and focus more on anterior deltoid and trapezius work, they can use all the handstand variations, either in balance or assisted on the wall.

Another of the basic pillars of the push in Calisthenics are the dips. This exercise actually works the same muscles as push-ups, so it's not a must, but you can still look for solutions.

For example, we can start with the bench dips, using a chair, armchair or similar as the first progression. And then for the final version of the dips we have all kinds of options, there are those who use two chairs, stools, the corner of the kitchen counter, or any element that allows us to place ourselves in a dip position.

Here you have a selection of push routines at home without equipment that you can do with Calisteniapp:

Push at home (beginners)

Push at home (intermediate)

Push at home (advanced)


How to work LEGS at home without equipment

In principle we all know that you can train legs with body weight. Exercises such as squats, lunges, Bulgarian squats and others do not require equipment to perform them. Even so, there is a fairly widespread belief that if you do not add weight to these exercises your legs will not grow, which is completely false.

In order for the leg muscles to grow, the first thing they need is a hypertrophy stimulus. This stimulus can come from having to move a lot of weight, but it can also come from a bodyweight exercise that is demanding, from a volume of exercises, series or repetitions that pushes them to the limit of their capacity, from intensity techniques such as super series, stairs, drop sets and others that we apply to our training, etc.

Therefore, for the legs to grow what we need is that the training to which we submit them is intense enough, and this intensity can be achieved by training with body weight.

If you still want to add weight, you can use water jugs, backpacks full of books, or whatever else you have on hand.

We leave you the link to our leg routines section where you can see a wide variety with all kinds of difficulty.



How to train your BACK at home without equipment

When we face training at home, it may seem to us that the pulling part (mainly back and biceps) is the most difficult to perform, but with a couple of key points it can be easily achieved.

For example, and especially for beginners, we can perform an exercise on the floor lying face up, called scapular retractions on the floor. We weight on our elbows and pressing against the ground we raise our upper back. It is an exercise that may not seem intense, but if you do it technically correctly and at a high repetition range, it can be very useful.

Then with the help of a couple of chairs or a table we can do our beloved Australian pull-ups and their different variations, from the simplest to the most demanding, with which you can get an intense workout even for advanced athletes.

In addition, if we add a simple elastic band, we can already do a good number of rowing, pulling or pulling exercises, with which to work the back from all angles. In addition, we can also do biceps curls.

Finally, with some extra weight like a jug of water, a backpack with books or similar, we can also do standing rowing exercises and biceps curls.


How to work abs at home without equipment

In this case, it is very simple since you can do all the classic abdominal exercises on the floor and their different variations without any problem.

We leave you a link to our section of abdominal routines at home where you have a wide variety to choose from.

Which equipment could I buy to train at home without limitations?

If you want to add extra possibilities to your training at home, we recommend buying elastic bands, a pull-up bar to place in a door frame and some mini parallel bars. With that you will have to do a huge variety of exercises for all levels, and you can even do intense workouts only suitable for advanced calisthenics athletes.



We believe that with this knowledge you will be able to perfectly design your training at home, either without equipment or with a few implements. If you need more help, simply go to the home routines section of our app and you will have everything you need.