Is calisthenics better than using weights?

Calisthenics is a form of strength training. The practice of calisthenics mainly focuses on using your body weight rather than relying on weights. With the help of calisthenics, you can target larger muscle groups. The Oxford English Dictionary describes calisthenics as, “Gymnastic exercise to achieve fitness and grace of movement. The practice of calisthenics dates back to Ancient Greece. The word calisthenics comes from the Greek word kállos which stands for beauty and sthenos which stands for strength. The practice of calisthenics involves using your body’s resistance to develop a lean physique.

Here are a few advantages of calisthenics

1. It is safer

When you compare the practice of calisthenics and weight training, the former is relatively safer. Since the art of calisthenics requires one to use only their body weight, there are very low chances of an injury. 

2. It requires little to no equipment

The thing about calisthenics is that you only require a pull-up bar. However, thanks to the calisthenics experts they have found different exercises that you can implement while doing calisthenics, and these exercises do not even require a pull-up bar and can still target the same group of muscles. You can save up a lot of money on a gym membership.

3. Convenience

The art of calisthenics is so beautiful that it can be done anywhere. You can do it at your home or in a park. All you need is roughly 30 mins to get a full-body workout. It is easy to find different workouts and each of them has its level of difficulty. 

Here are the cons of calisthenics

1. It is quite difficult to start

Calisthenics is quite hard to get into and you need a lot of practice. It has a very slow start and due to this staying committed is not an easy task. 

2. You can’t increase your weight load.

In weight training, you can just add on more weight plates to go to a higher level. However, in calisthenics, this is quite difficult. You solely rely on your body weight and increasing the load is not all that simple.

3. Muscle Isolation

When it comes to calisthenics, you cannot target single muscle groups. This will not let you increase the size of your muscles as much as how you can in weight training. 

Weight Training

Weight Training is one of the most common ways of strength training. It helps develop the strength and size of skeletal muscles. Dumbbells, Barbells, etc are the most common items used in weight training. With weight training, you can focus on specific muscle groups of your choice and build them accordingly.

The advantages of weight training are

1. Increase muscle strength 

Through weight training, you can focus on each muscle group on different days. Gym experts usually tell you to split the workout into push day, pull day, and leg day. This will help you focus on different muscle groups and increase them steadily.

2. Faster Progress

When it comes to weight training, you can progress to the next level quite quickly. All you need to do is add a few more weight plates and that’s it. This way you can keep improving at a fast pace.

3. Boosts confidence

When one begins lifting weights, their confidence grows as they progress. This will help them keep a positive mentality which in turn helps them in their lives. 

The disadvantages of Weight Training are

1. It is comparatively more dangerous

When you lift weights many risks are involved. There are chances of the weight plates slipping. If you were to try to increase the weights all of a sudden, it may also cause damage to your muscles.

2. Costs money

Weight Training is highly dependent on dumbbells, barbels, weight plates, etc. To buy good quality weights you must spend a good amount of money. The better the quality the safer it is.

3. Inconvenience

When it comes to weight training it can’t be done anywhere. There are not many places where you can do weight training and your weights are not easily portable too. 

The Takeaway

So finally, it’s time to end this debate of whether calisthenics is better or weight training. From the looks of it, calisthenics certainly seems to have more benefits when it comes to fitness. They make you more flexible and help you achieve better posture and balance. Calisthenics will help you build strength and also maintain a lean physique. Overall, calisthenics is better.