Calisthenics at Home: What You Actually Need to Start
The appeal of calisthenics is that the equipment is you. Here is the short list of what helps, and the longer list of what you can ignore for now.
What you need
- Floor space. About the size of a yoga mat, plus room to stretch your arms out.
- Something soft to lie on. A mat, a folded towel or a rug.
- A sturdy chair, bench or countertop. For incline push-ups. Check that it cannot slide or tip.
- A timer. Your phone is fine.
What you can skip for now
- A pull-up bar. Useful later for pulling exercises. Not needed for a first three weeks.
- Resistance bands, rings, parallettes. Good tools once the basics are solid.
- Special shoes or clothes. Anything you can move in. Bare feet on a non-slip surface work well.
- Supplements. Nothing about beginner bodyweight training requires them.
Set up a spot you will actually use
- Pick one place and one time of day, and keep them.
- Leave the mat where you can see it.
- Put a printed calendar on the wall and tick each day.
Two floor moves to try today
Glute Bridge
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, hip-width apart.
- Press through your heels and lift your hips until knees, hips and shoulders line up.
- Squeeze your glutes at the top for one second.
- Lower slowly to the floor.
Form cue: Lift with your glutes, not by arching your lower back.
Easier: Lift only as high as feels comfortable.
Superman
- Lie face down with your arms stretched out in front of you.
- Lift your arms, chest and legs a few inches off the floor at the same time.
- Hold for one second, looking at the floor to keep your neck long.
- Lower with control.
Form cue: Lift a little, not a lot. This is not a back bend.
Easier: Lift only your arms and chest, or opposite arm and leg.
What a floor routine can’t do
Without a bar there are no pulling exercises, so your back and biceps get less work than your chest and legs. That is fine for a first month. When you are ready for more, a doorway pull-up bar is the natural first purchase.
The CaliStart bundle is 84 days of sessions like this, from beginner to advanced, one page a day, with photos of every move. Seven PDFs, pay once.
General fitness information for healthy adults, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before starting an exercise program, and stop if you feel pain, dizziness or chest discomfort. Results vary. The people in the photos are models.