Is calisthenics an effective form of exercise or just another fitness fad?
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Calisthenics has gained enormous popularity in recent years, particularly thanks to social media and the rise of workout areas in city parks. You probably know some of the moves already, like pull-ups, push-ups, dips and squats.
For the more advanced, it also includes eye-catching, gravity-defying moves like the muscle-up, planche (where the body is held horizontal, supported solely by the hands) or the front lever (where the body is held horizontally while hanging from a bar).
But is calisthenics an effective form of exercise, or just another fitness fad? To answer this question, we first need to clarify what it is.
Calisthenics is a form of training that mainly uses a person’s own body weight as resistance. Its name derives from the Greek terms kállos (“beautiful”) and sthenos (“strength”), though the word’s modern use only caught on during the 19th century, when it referred to various forms of physical exercise.
Today, it includes well-known exercises such as squats, lunges, push-ups, pull-ups and dips, but calisthenics is not inherently acrobatic. Anyone who starts by doing a simple wall push-up is using the same principle as someone doing a one-arm push-up on the ground: moving their body against gravity.
Our body weight is a considerable load. During a conventional push-up, for example, the arms can support around two-thirds of...