If you want to build muscles but are stuck between calisthenics vs weights, then this is the correct place for you to clear all your doubts.
This science-based article will clear all your doubts regarding calisthenics and weights to decide which one would be better for you. So let’s get started.
Calisthenics Vs Weights: What’s the difference?
Weight training and calisthenics, are both training methods that give different stimuli to your muscles. Weight training is something in which you use additional weights like barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or gym machines to train your muscles.
On the other hand, in calisthenics, you only train with your body weight. In calisthenics, no weights are involved. However, you can use some equipment like parallel bars, pullup bars, rope, etc.
Both training methods give resistance to your muscles and hence lead to growth in strength and muscle mass (1).
So which one should you choose?
Well, both training methods are quite different and hence yield different results. Both have their own pros and cons. So which one is best for you depends on your fitness goals.
Benefits of Calisthenics
You can perform calisthenics almost anywhere and you don’t need many types of equipment for that. You just need your body which you always carry with you and some open space.
Here are some major calisthenics exercises:
- Pushups
- Pullups
- Squats
- Muscle-ups
- Lunges
- Crunches
- Burpees
1. Need less equipment
You can perform calisthenics exercises with a very less number of equipment like parallel bars, pullup bars, etc. In fact, some exercises like pushups, crunches, squats, etc need no equipment.
2. Easy to access
Calisthenics is very easy to access. You don’t need to go to the gym for that. You can do your calisthenics workout even at home.
This training method is very affordable also as you don’t need any gym membership or expensive workout machines.
3. Relatively safer
When we compare calisthenics vs weights, then calisthenics is found to be relatively safer than weight training. As you are lifting your bodyweight only so there is no scope of injuries due to heavy lifting.
4. Includes multiple muscles simultaneously
Calisthenics involves a lot of compound movements. This means you use multiple muscle groups at the same time. Hence, it burns more calories in less time which further helps in weight loss.
5. Improves body balance
Another major benefit of calisthenics is that it helps in improving your body balance and coordination. Since you are not using any machine or mechanical support to perform any exercise, so your body has to hold itself during the complete movement.
Benefits of Weight Training
Weight training is something in which you give resistance to your muscles by using additional weights. Here are some common weightlifting exercises:
- Bench press,
- Barbell bent-over rows,
- Barbell curls,
- Overhead press,
- Deadlift,
- Skull crushers, etc.
Let’s look at some major benefits of weight training.
1. Easy to Progress
When we compare weight training vs calisthenics in terms of progress then weight training gets the upper hand. In weight training, you can easily do a slight increment in the amount of weight you are lifting as you have access to weight as low as 5 pounds in the gym.
Whereas calisthenics doesn’t give you this advantage. It’s very difficult to do a small increment in any calisthenics exercise as you are using your own body weight only.
2. You can train a single muscle group
In weight training, it is easier to do isolation exercises (which involve a single muscle group). You can perform isolation exercises by using dumbbells or by using different gym machines.
For instance, leg curls for quads, lateral raise for the lateral head of deltoids, skull crushers for the long head of triceps, etc.
These concentrated exercises help in stimulating a single muscle group which is not feasible in calisthenics.
3. A wide variety of exercises
Weight training gives a lot of options to train any muscle group. There are plenty of exercises and several variations of them to train any part of the body.
For instance, to train quadriceps muscles, you have barbell squats, dumbbell squats, front squats, leg press, leg curls, lunges, etc. You can pick anyone or two exercises for your quads and add them up to your leg workout routine.
So you can design a variety of workout plans at your convenience. You don’t need to follow the same exercises forever.
Which is Better For Strength Gain
In simple terms, strength means the ability to lift heavy weights. To gain strength, you have to keep gradually increasing the weights you are lifting in a particular exercise. In other words, you have to do progressive overloading.
Read more: Progressive Overload Training Principle 101
Now it is easier to do this by adding extra weights to the bar as compared to using just your body weight. So in the battle of calisthenics vs weight training, weight training wins the match when it comes to strength gain.
Since strength and hypertrophy go hand in hand so weight training is better if your goal is muscle gain.
So if your goal is to gain strength or to build muscle, weight training is better than calisthenics.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t be strong by doing calisthenics. Bodyweight exercises also build strength and muscle mass but up to some extent.
As a beginner, you can obviously do great progress in strength and muscle gain through calisthenics but at an intermediate level, when you need some serious gains, you have to add weight training to your workout routine.
Which Burns More Calories
Calisthenics vs weights: which training technique will burn more calories? Well, both of them are intense types of training routines so you burn a lot of calories in any one of them.
However, calisthenics is slightly better than weight training in burning calories and losing weight and body fat.
So if your primary goal is to burn calories or to lose weight, choose calisthenics over weight training.
Calisthenics involves a lot of compound exercises and some of them require you to move your body as a whole which needs too much energy. The more energy your body needs, the more calories you burn to get that energy and this leads to losing more weight.
On the other hand, the isolation movements you do in the gym don’t require that much energy. So the calorie burn is lower than in the calisthenics.
However, to train muscles or to target a specific muscle, those isolation exercises in the gym are better but if your main goal is to burn calories then go with the calisthenics.
Can You mix Both of them?
Is it necessary to choose anyone in calisthenics vs weights? Nope, you can combine both of them. In this way, you can get the benefits of both techniques.
There are several ways to combine these techniques effectively.
Do both of them in the same session: You can start your workout with some calisthenics exercises and after that, jump on to lift some heavyweights. For instance, on chest day, you can start your workout with some pushup variations and then go for bench press and flys.
Do them on alternate days: If you want to focus on a single type of training at a time, then you can do them alternately. Here is an example of an upper/lower workout split.
| Day | Training Technique |
|---|---|
| Monday | Upper (weight training) |
| Tuesday | Lower (weight training) |
| Wednesday | Rest |
| Thursday | Upper (Calisthenics) |
| Friday | Lower (Calisthenics) |
| Saturday | Rest |
| Sunday | Rest |
It is not necessary that you have to combine them in the above ways only. You can design your training routine in any way you like.
However, make sure to train all the muscles effectively to build a symmetric physique. Also, giving enough rest to your muscles is also very important. As both training methods give resistance to your muscles, so rest and recovery are equally important for growth.
Calisthenics Vs Weights: The Takeaway
So this was the article explaining calisthenics vs weights, which one should you choose and why. Here are the key points that you should remember.
Calisthenics uses your bodyweight and almost negligible equipment whereas, for weight training, you need several machines and free weights. Which training method should you choose, depends upon your convenience and fitness goals.
If your goal is to gain muscle and strength, then go with the weights. Though you can add some calisthenics exercises also but weight training should be the major part of your workout routine.
By weight training, you can give enough resistance to your muscles and it also becomes easy to do progressive overloading. Hence, it gives better results in building strength and muscle size.
In addition, it helps you in training a single muscle group at a time and gives multiple variations to train your muscles.
However, if your primary target is to burn calories and lose weight, then calisthenics is slightly better than weight training.
