Beginner’s Guide to Calisthenics for Audiophile Nerds

Not my words, someone said it probably 100 years ago and I heard it from Pavel T, I summarize:
''Kettlebell workouts manage to net more positive outcomes than the perceived work put in would make you believe''

That is my desert island setup: gymn rings (to hang over a branch of a tree) and a heavy ass kettlebell (or two).

 

When I first saw that, I thought you meant that was your barbell squat until I reread the plate part.

Still impressive though!

I started to do 4-6 days (mostly back to 6) at the gym back when my wife passed, and it’s helped me quite a bit in several ways. I usually hit every muscle twice a week with up to 10 sets, with hamstrings (and occasionally quads) being the exception. I can’t go past 6-8 sets of hamstrings a week and they recover, for whatever reason.

I don’t do Calisthenics though, as I tend to prefer body-building style training.

 

Big muscle = big recovery

I would suggest adding some massage therapy to help get the bad juice out and the good juice in if you deal with DOMS type stuff in the large muscle groups.

 

Similar story for me. If I go really hard on pullups and ring dips (60..70 kg added and 1 RiR) both for 8 sets a week is where I still feel like life is worth living. With extreme discipline I've gone 12 a week. It takes the desire to train this movement out of the equation.
I don't get any muscle soreness in my upper body for years now, but the systematic fatigue gets me.

And the bigger you are the longer you take to recover.
A 60 kg guy can get away with more sets than a 110 kg guy.

The internet is going circles around the sets thing without proper context. Somehow when the influencers say 20 sets a week for proper hypertrophy - they leave out what movements. I want to see someone do 4 weeks a heavy ass lowbar squat for 20 sets a week. It is not the same as doing lateral raises for side delts with micro weights.

 

Today's 3 hr total body workout involved inclined rowing, twisting tricep extensions, butterfly presses, and farmer's carry.

Equipment used includes: rake, pole saw, loppers, wheelbarrow.

 

Finally got back to doing 3 sets of 10 various grip pull/chin ups in the garage. A set of rings showed up and I tried push ups almost parallel to the ground, and they are tough. Next I tried dips, I couldn’t even do one dip with the rings… not yet anyway. The pump from the push ups was great, felt throughout entire upper body, and core, not just chest, triceps, and shoulders. $15 on rings was $$$ well spent.

 

Progress update after switching to calisthenics full-time for the past two months.

Back in 2019–2020, I was overweight and hooked on junk food. COVID made that worse. In 2023 I discovered HIIT and went full Goggins mode. I got addicted to training—think 2–3 HIIT sessions a day, 2–3 runs a day, 20km on the bike. I was eating 3,000-calorie breakfasts and still losing weight (and muscle) from overtraining. I'd crash hard on weekends and then repeat the cycle.

After about a year, I was in the best shape of my life on paper—about 10% body fat—but I was completely burned out. So I went to the opposite extreme and adopted a HIT/Mike Mentzer-style approach. Trained once every 96 hours, to absolute failure with supersets. It worked for a while: I saw visible growth the next morning, workouts were over in 20 minutes, and motivation was high. But I was sore and CNS-fatigued for 24–48 hours after every session. I had no energy for the stuff I actually enjoy, like running and rock climbing. Eventually I plateaued, and the only answer seemed to be either reduce intensity or increase rest. But training once every 120+ hours? Ridiculous. And again, I was just tired of being tired.

So I switched to a more conventional volume-based approach: 1–2 RIR on compound lifts, 0–1 RIR on isolation. I started growing again—but realized I absolutely hate commercial gyms. That’s when I started getting into calisthenics.

So, 2 months of going to the park and doing the movements I explained in the OP.

Diamond Push-ups
Start: Could barely do 1 clean set of 5. Hips sagging, no core control, major discomfort in triceps and forearms.
Now: Easily cranking out 2 sets of 10 clean reps. Core and glutes are solid. Still some forearm strain as I gradually increase elbow flare.
Result: More visible triceps growth from doing this every other day for two months than I ever got from years of tricep extension machines.

Pike Push-ups
Start: Major form struggles. Had to shift most weight onto my feet just to get through 1 rep.
Now: Sets of 8–10 with most weight off the feet. Finally feeling the burn in anterior and medial delts.
Result: Immediate growth in the shoulder caps. I used to have visible rear delts but lagging front/middle, even after years of overhead pressing and lateral raises on machines.

Rows (Bodyweight)
Start: Maxed out at 6–7 reps with full ROM at a 45° incline.
Now: Doing 6–8 reps on completely horizontal rows with rings (harder than a bar or parallets due to instability).
Result: Visible back dimples now showing through—nice bonus.

@Priidik was right about training daily. Though I will maintain absolute beginners will need rest days in the beginning of their journey, I am fortunate to live near a park that has an outdoor gym with Kompan equipment and I have been going there 2-3 times a day to practice these movements, alternating volume according to my own rested state. Neuromuscular strength makes a very big difference in the ability to perform quality reps, which in turn provides more stimulation for growth. Plus it's a lot of fun!

 

Bonus on posture, mobility and stiffness. I discovered a few YouTube channels with no-fluff content regarding mobility, among other things.

Like many of you I work a remote job and sit a lot more than I would like. I have struggled with back stiffness, tight hamstrings and weak knee joints for as long as I can remember.

I have started doing the perfect hang, the resting squat and the forgotten squat daily. Either randomly throughout the day or as part of warming up for a workout. My tightness and stiffness problems have basically gone away. I notice I no longer round my shoulders or hang my head when standing up or sitting down.

Simple videos:

 

A big reason why I want a floor desk setup is for mobility. In a chair there's only one way to really sit. On the floor there's a lot of stretched positions you can hold to maintain and increase flexibility

Several articles have also talked about the dangers of long periods of chair sitting and recommend walking somewhere every 20-30 minutes. Well one of the observations I've made about floor sitting is that it's not too comfortable and I can really only maintain it for 20 min...which is the frequency you need to move. I find this better than relying on a timer. (it’s similar to being in a comfortable bed and wanting to stay there when the alarm goes off)

Not to mention that every time you get up, you are basically doing a squat. You probably add 15 squats daily just by choosing to sit on the floor over a chair

 

I agree with all of this. I haven’t graduated to floor sitting yet, but for years I only work in backless chairs or stiff wooden chairs which make slouching or otherwise long periods of relaxation impossible. Plush “ergonomic” office chairs are a death sentence to the back.

 

From my physical therapist: the human back is ripe to manifest other major muscle's injuries. Neglect the health of a small balance muscle and you end up with large muscles fighting each other, leading to overuse and tendon and/or joint inflammation.

 

A regular chair with no wheels or swivel is underrated. I noticed the difference the other day while retrieving something behind me. My back stretches and engages all these muscles that I just never use in a swivel chair.

 

Yesterday's 6-hour workout involved moving roughly 12,000 lbs of soil from the driveway to the backyard (roughly 150 ft to go around the garage each way) and spreading it all flat. Everything hurts.