Often people misjudge calisthenics and think it’s like cardio. If you’re not a gym rat or a fitness freak, you probably don’t know that it’s so much more! Gone are the days when you had to pick up heavy weights to bulk up. Your body alone is the only tool you need to get a muscular figure.
With calisthenics, you’re not only training to get muscles like a bodybuilder. With this, you increase your strength, improve endurance, and become more flexible. You still might be questioning how you’re gaining muscle without lifting weights? That’s because your body cannot differentiate what weight you’re working on. It matters how you work.
The Best Tips for Weight-Free Muscle Gain
We live in a society convinced that going to the gym is the only way to bulk up. We’re here to tell you that preconceived notion is wrong! Here are some essential tips for building muscle with calisthenics training. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or have been doing calisthenics for years. These tips apply to everyone.
Tip #1: Basic and Compound Calisthenics Exercises
If your goal is muscle gain and increased strength, rotate a diversity of exercises every week or two. Use basic calisthenics and compound exercises to build that mass. The media has a habit of pushing every little new slide or adduction. They might work, but they also might be just wasting your time.
You don’t need more than a combo of basic and compound calisthenics. The important exercises include pushups, pull-ups, squats, and leg exercises. Add to them with some variations that have proven effective, and you’re good to go.
Go with commando pull-ups, body rows, chin pull-ups, and so on. You can also add plyometric variations in your routine such as high jumps, box jumps, etc.
Tip #2: Train Frequently and Maximize Gains
It’s not called a training routine because it sounded pleasing. It’s called that because it should be a cycle. Your training regime should be repetitive. With calisthenics, you need to stress your muscles, burn them, and make them hurt. If you’re not feeling them after, did you really do it right?
You need to stress your muscles to build muscle, and you can only do that when you’re applying pressure with repetitive training. Your workout can be the same every time, or you can add variations as needed. It will be the key to improving strength and building muscles.
If the volume of your workout is not the same every time, it’s normal. It happens to the best of us. Make sure to keep at it and embrace the variable. Control what you can instead of focusing on what you cannot.
Tip #3: Increase Volume and Tension to Stimulate Hypertrophy
While consistency is key, you also need to gather volume, even with the most basic exercises. The more reps you can fit in your routine, the higher the muscle fatigue will be and burn your muscles. When you increase the volume, you also need to increase the tension on the muscle. This will stimulate hypertrophy.
Hypertrophy is the state where muscle cells start to increase and grow. Strategically applying fundamentals is what will get your body to build muscles. Do volume training and pick some strenuous exercise in one single workout.
Tip #4: Have Better Control Over Your Execution
Doing a faster tempo works, but you can go slow as well. What you need is adequate control over how you execute it. On the positive portion of your calisthenics training, use a fast and powerful contraction and go as slow as possible on the negative part. You need better control over the negative part after exerting more tension on the other.
Tip #5: Focus on the Mind-Muscle Link
When working on your routine, avoid thinking about the problems plaguing you. Your focus should be on the reps, and any conversation should be helping you train better and more aggressively. Train alone and in silence so you can better concentrate on every repetition.
Train with patience and have your workout mapped out in your head before you start. Keep a training journal and track your progress. Set goals that you must accomplish. Having a muscle-mind link with your fitness routine will improve your strength and technique and lead to better muscle gains.
Tip #6: Eat More but Eat Right
When we say eat more, we mean to eat the right kinds of foods. You can’t grow muscles if you’re binging on burgers. The cleaner and better the diet you have, the faster you’ll see results. Add more cardio and interval training to your routine if you have one or two cheat days per week.
With clean eating, you’ll get lean muscles but also burn fat. Also, check your insulin sensitivity levels and use more power training if you are resistant instead.
Learn More Through a Calisthenics Training Expert and Author
Calisthenics is an art form that can be beneficial in multiple ways. You just need to know the right way to apply it. Neuroscience calisthenics training takes it a step further by helping you biohack your body and take more advantage of the fitness regime. If you’re interested in learning more tips on how to train like a cyborg that has lean muscles, you can follow serial entrepreneur and biohacking expert Jean Fallacara.
Moreover, you can also read his book, Neuroscience Calisthenics: Hijack Your Body Clock, to know how anti-aging biohacking works. Reach out to us for more details on neuroscience calisthenics strength training to build muscles and improve your endurance!