Calisthenics Muscle Growth And Muscle Mass
Context
I mentioned in a previous post how I would not wish to gain back some of the muscle I had lost and why. However, I don’t wish to be a gatekeeper to your gains if you want to pursue this path. I’ll put some of my practical knowledge, reading, and my NASM cert together to help you out.
But first, let me tell you a story…
My fascination with building a better physique through body weight started with two things in college.
One of them was a street workout video on youtube(Profanity Warning). Seeing people with such builds from just body weight was a game changer for me. I thought body weight was only for endurance. Being in a military training environment I was used to high-repetition bodyweight exercises. Having been involved in weightlifting in my high school days and owning the Arnold Schwarzenegger “Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding” book I thought weights were the only way to go. But these ghetto street workout videos with loud/aggressive rap music and utilizing everything in their environment to improve their health and fitness started to alter my worldview.
The next was, “Convict Conditioning” by Coach Paul Wade. Although there is some speculation on whether the author is a real person the information in this book was nonetheless useful. The writing style along with the progression spectrum of bodyweight exercises was the final nail in the coffin to cause me to throw myself into building muscle/getting stronger with calisthenics.
Up to this point, I thought that heavyweights were the only way to get bigger and stronger. But, presented with enough information and later, application, my worldview/paradigm began to shift. This would not be the only time in which my worldview would change.
Done effectively and especially for beginners, it shouldn’t be difficult to pack on muscle. The amount of total muscle somebody will be able to throw on will be reliant on genetics. Don’t expect bodyweight exercises to get you into some type of bodybuilding contest anytime soon but there will be noticeable changes in your shape and you may need to buy bigger shirts.
Application
To cover as many bases as possible I find it effective to divide the workout into legs, upper body pushing, upper body pulling, and core portion.
I believe doing full body is best (Time permitting) as you are giving your whole body time off between workouts as not only do your muscles need to recover so does your nervous system to an extent. Progressive calisthenics, utilizing difficult variations of movements that can’t be done for high repetitions will call upon a great deal of energy and focus to execute. If you split up your workout your localized muscles will be able to recover but your system as a whole will be drained. This overtime will result in slower progressions in your workout and even plateaus which is what occurred to me during my early days of progressive calisthenics. Now, doing full body, despite being much older I am improving at a much better rate than in previous years. It’s not how much you train but how much your progress.
If you want more explanation on this I believe a bodybuilder by the name of Mike Mentzer explains this concept of localized vs systematic recovery very well. His system focused on short but intense workouts and longer rest days between workouts than the average bodybuilder of his time. The results don’t lie and I have come to realize that his training philosophy can be of use outside of bodybuilding in some areas.
If you don’t have time for a full body workout then as a beginner split workouts are just fine and you’ll see plenty of gains for the first few months. You can do a Pulling workout one day, an upper body push workout the next, and a squat/core to finish things off taking a day or two between workouts. Watch your strength and if it begins to falter take some more time off between workouts. Instead of 2 days in between each split try 3.
Exercise Layout
Legs: In order to build muscle with calisthenics in a timely manner, it's appropriate to use the correct difficulty of the exercise. For most a regular bodyweight squat is not going to do it. All one needs is two sets of an exercise with 12-20 reps per set to be sufficient. I started doing pistol squats to start during college, which wasn’t smart, but what are some lower difficulty lower body exercises?
Time under tension is important for muscle building so any exercise you can do for the legs that keeps a decent amount of tension on the muscle for an extended period of time will help you get to your goal a great deal quicker. Therefore, I believe it’s important to go unilateral for this. The primary exercise I believe will be beneficial for most beginners will be the lunge press
It’s a variation of the lunge that keeps the tension on the muscle being worked much longer than your standard lunge where you change legs after each rep.
Ways to progress in this are to elevate the pressing leg a little over time. This will increase the range of motion allowing one to get a full stretch of the working muscle which I believe is an important aspect of muscle building.
Once you can do two sets of twenty with the above, then you can probably move on to regressions of the pistol squat. But take your time and log your progress. You’ll get there soon enough.
Push: For pushing, variations of the standard push-up will suffice. If you can’t do them on the floor do them elevated. If you can already do push-ups shoot for close push-ups, archers, or elevated one-arm push-ups.
If you have gymnastics rings nearby that you can hook up or a dip bar then I’d shoot for these instead as they don’t take as much manipulation with the technique to make them more difficult.
Then there’s the handstand push-up and its variations. The advantage of these is that if you don’t have anything to do full dips with most of these variations are higher in difficulty than most push-ups and they’ll round out your shoulders pretty well.
Pull: For most either the bodyweight row, or pull-ups will provide enough of a stimulus for growth. Bodyweight rows can be made even more or less difficult by how parallel your body is with the ground. The lower you go the more difficult.
If you can already crank out pull-ups like a madman then shoot for archer pull-up variations where the non-working/supporting arm is placed farther away from the center line of your body.
Core: I’ve gone from hanging leg raises to hanging V-ups. I’m currently trying to scale from an L-sit to a V-sit. However, don’t expect your abs to get humongous. Ab training is important in teaching you how to properly engage and properly move your core but the amount of bodyfat on your midsection will still determine whether they are seen or not.
With that said a good exercise for everyone are Vince Gironda or hollow crunches. They work by you moving only your shoulder blades off the ground. Try to curl as high as you can, hold for a split second, then come back down. Your lower back should be connecting with the ground at the top of the curl. These are deceptive and can be very difficult. Start with these and see how you feel. If these bore you then head for some hanging ab exercises. But if you choose to do hanging ab movements try to go slower to eliminate swinging while keeping tension on the muscles.
Sets and Reps Scheme of Maneuver
With all of the above aim for two sets of reps 8-20 for the legs and 8-12 for everything else. Each rep should be slow and controlled as this keeps tension on the muscles and eliminates the possibility of injury. Once you can do two sets of the highest rep count find a more difficult variation. I’ll be posting some more demos here to give you some guidance.
Diet
As a beginner as long you’re eating quality food and eliminating the processed cardboard stuff you will be set up for success. I am not a physical specimen but as long as I put in the work and ate till I was somewhat satiated I kept growing. If you want to grab a calculator and a small food scale to measure your calorie input and such go ahead.
Protein is important but so are carbs. I tried the carnivore diet a few years back and became super lean but was not able to put on a single pound.
Resting
…if you can help it
Try to do nothing strenuous on your days off. At the most go for a walk or a few relaxing laps in the pool. Try to get some good sleep and don’t worry about getting eight hours for that’s impossible for most people these days. But have a going-to-bed routine, eliminate blue lights prior to, stretch, read a book, pray, etc. I always tend to judge how well I sleep by whether I have a dream or not. Walking will help with getting better sleep and as I’ve experienced from time to time so does Muscle Control.
Looking Forward
Building muscle whether in the gym or out, is a process and requires many things to fall into place properly. Train hard, eat big, rest well, and take notes.
Thank you for making it to the end and if you have any questions send them my way.
Until Next Time
