Recent studies highlight the efficacy of calisthenics—bodyweight resistance exercises—in improving muscular strength, neuromuscular function, and overall health. The findings offer promising implications for health-conscious individuals, especially those who are sedentary or untrained.
Resistance training (RT) results in many long-term benefits. Consistent RT can lead to increased strength and muscle mass, decreased visceral fat, improved body composition, better metabolism, and improved physical performance. For weight loss, the quality of weight loss is high, since the muscle mass is maintained or increased while the fat mass is lost. Furthermore, there is evidence that RT can reduce blood pressure, decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improve cardiovascular health, improve insulin sensitivity, reduce hemoglobin A1c, and improve cognitive functioning. Overall, regular RT is associated with lower all-cause mortality.
It is currently recommended that you engage in muscle strengthening activities of moderate-to-high intensity involving all the major muscle groups at least 2 or more days per week. However, there can be significant obstacles to meaningful RT long-term, including competing interests, lack of time or motivation, missed opportunities, lack of planning, and/or lack of training. For these reasons, it is beneficial to get involved with a fitness maintenance program that supports the behavioral changes necessary to maintain long-term RT and its associated health improvements.
Breaking Sedentary Time with Calisthenics
After the age of 30, the ageing process begins to result in decreased muscle and neuromuscular function. In addition to aging, sedentary lifestyles can lead to increased health complications and risks. Many adults spend between 51-68% of their time engaged in sedentary behaviors (activities done while sitting or reclining).
A study by Mear et al. (2022) examined the effects of introducing calisthenic exercises into prolonged sedentary daily routines (adults aged between 20-46 years who spent ≥6 h/day sitting). Over 4 weeks, participants performed up to 8 sets of exercises during the working day (09:00-17:00), with one set consisting of eight repetitions of five difference exercises (including squats and lunges).
Those who integrated the exercises into their workday exhibited significant increases in knee extensor maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) strength and improved balance performance. The results suggest that breaking up sedentary time with calisthenics can lead to increased muscular strength, muscular force, and improved balance, all of which may help reduce the ageing process. The benefits were evident with only 16 minutes per day dedicated to calisthenics exercise, spread across a period of 8 hours.
Push-Ups vs. Bench Press
In another study by Kotarsky et al. (2018), researchers evaluated the effectiveness of varied calisthenic push-up training on muscle strength and thickness compared to traditional bench press training.
The study consisted of a group of moderately healthy and trained men aged 18-45 years (men who had performed resistance exercise at least twice a week for the past 2-6 months). Participants were randomly assigned to a push-up group or a bench press group. The subjects trained 3 days per week, separated by 48 hours, for 4 weeks. Participants completed 12 training sessions.
Participants in both the calisthenic push-up program and the bench press program showed significant increases in 1 repetition maximum, and push-up progression. The improvement in push-up progression was significantly greater for the push-up group. It is also notable that neither exercise group showed significant improvement in muscle thickness, nor seated medicine ball put distance.
For overall strength training benefits, the study demonstrated that calisthenic push-ups done with increasingly difficult calisthenic variations can improve upper-body muscle strength. However, it is important to note that when the progressive variations were not introduced into the calisthenic push-up programs, there were typically no improvements in muscle strength.
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