Calisthenics: History and Guiding Principles

The idea of using ones body for strength exercises has existed since ancient times. Even in todays world, training with ones own body weight is a part of almost every training program, even if its just in the form of classic push-ups.

While the training for a certified fitness trainer also covers exercises with equipment, the Calisthenics Master Trainer course focuses on training with ones own body weight.

However, if you think back to the often boring and monotonous physical education classes in school, you are mistaken: training with ones own body weight offers a rich variety! While Basic Calisthenics focuses on muscle building without weights, the focus of Endurance Calisthenics is on endurance, and Freestyle Calisthenics impresses with versatile dynamic, acrobatic exercises.

In this unit, we will not only discuss the historical influences on modern Calisthenics, but also the different directions and the principles of competition evaluation.

Of course, we will also extensively cover the most important general principles to consider during training.