Your workouts don’t need to follow a rigid routine.
Here at thehybridathlete.com we believe in doing 30 to 45 minute workouts regularly, whilst trying to get as many muscle group involved as possible.
With that in mind, we’ve developed an in-depth guide to all calisthenics related exercises we know.
We hope these will add some flexibility to your exercises, allowing you to pick and choose muscle groups and progressions to focus on.
And here’s the best part:
Most of these won’t require fancy equipment or a gym subscription.
So without further ado, here is our complete list of calisthenics and street workout exercises:
Upper Body and Core Calisthenics Exercises
The Push-up
As a staple of any calisthenics training regimen, these are never outclassed. And with the number of variants available, you can tune your workout up or down, depending on ability and preferences.
More than most other moves, push-ups are extremely reliant on proper form. Your body needs to be kept straight, your feet together, and chest lowered as low as possible without touching the floor.
The video below demonstrates this proper form:
Progressions:
- Straight Arm Plank (Beginner)
- Arm Elevated Push-ups (Beginner)
- Feet Elevated Push-ups (Advanced)
- Chest Dips (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Chest
- Shoulders
- Triceps
- Abs
Note: Push-ups have a whole lot of variants. Most merely change the focus of the exercise. For instance, far grip push-ups focus more on the chest, while diamond push-ups hit your triceps harder. Whatever your upper body needs, a proper push-up can deliver.
The Chin-up
Chin-ups are the pull-ups’ bicep-obsessed cousin. They work nearly all the muscles in your body, and are just as notorious for being an all-or-nothing move (meaning you can either do them, or you can’t).
The fact that the two moves have significant overlap means that you will need to plan your workouts in advance if you intend on using both. Doing a good number of chin-ups will decrease the number of pull-ups you will be able to pull off, and vice versa. Other than that, you can’t really go wrong with either. One of the best ways for training the entire body.
For a video demonstration, please refer to the video below:
Progressions:
- Isometric Chin-ups (Beginner)
- Chair Assisted Chin-ups (Beginner)
- Muscle Up (Advanced)
- One Arm Chin-ups (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Chest
- Shoulders
- Lats
- Biceps
- Triceps
The Muscle Up
The Muscle Up is one of the most popular calisthenics exercises. It consists of doing a pull-up, but instead of stopping when your chin passes the bar, continuing the movement until your whole upper body is on top of the bar, ending in a dip position.
Besides working on a whole bunch of muscles, this exercise is actually really fun to do and progress. It also gives a solid foundation for gymnastics and street workout routines.
In our opinion, ThenX has the best muscle up tutorial:
Progressions:
- Band Assisted Muscle Up (Beginners)
- Olympic Ring Muscle Up (Intermediate)
- Negative Muscle Up (Intermediate)
- Weighted Muscle Up (Advanced)
Muscles Worked:
- Shoulders
- Chest
- Biceps
- Abs
- Triceps
Word of advice: It’s easy to become obsessed with your muscle up form. This will most likely result in busted hands. That’s why we recommend purchasing some calisthenics gloves.
The Dip
The dip is a great exercise to add some variety to your routine, putting less emphasis on the chest area and more on the lats.
It can be done in parallel bars or in a normal pull up bar. In the latter case, you will also be working on your muscle up progression.
Calisthenics movement has a good video on the perfect dip form:
Progressions:
- Bench Dip (Beginner)
- Weighted Dip (Advanced)
Muscles Worked:
- Triceps
- Biceps
- Shoulders
- Deltoids
The Planche
A difficult to achieve and visually impressive calisthenics skill, this one is well worth working up to. Just don’t expect to master it overnight, or even over a month or two.
It employs most of your upper body and core, while also demanding a good degree of balance and control. Which says a lot about the muscles it will work when successfully executed.
For a visual demonstration, have a look here:
Progressions:
- Tuck Planche (Beginner)
- Straddle Planche (Beginner)
- Planche Push-up (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Chest
- Shoulders
- Back
- Glutes
The Side Plank
Just as agonizing as the classic plank (but far sillier looking), the side variant is in fact its perfect companion exercise. Doing away with all chest resistance, it focuses almost entirely on obliques in order to give you a fully sculpted core.
See it done properly here:
Progressions:
- Bent Knee Side Plank (Beginner)
- Side Plank Knee to Elbow Crunch (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Back
- Glutes
Climber Pull Up
The climber pull up is a great cross training exercise. As the name would suggest, this exercise will improve your climbing and it will also aid in other upper body exercises such as the muscle up.
Grab the pull up with your arms as wide apart as possible. Pull up towards one of the hands, and once there, shift to the other hand.
The below video illustrates well the progression:
Muscles worked:
- Chest
- Shoulders
- Lats
- Biceps
- Triceps
Handstands
This topic deserves its own blog post, which we will surely write in the future, but for now let’s go over the basics:
The handstand is the base for most gymnastics disciplines. It utilizes almost all muscles group and involves a great deal of balance. To properly master this area, you will need to have tight control of your fingers and core, to keep your body straight and balanced.
If you’ve never done a handstand before, start by trying against a wall, slowly progressing into a bigger distance between the wall and you. This exercise requires more technique than strength so it can be hugely gratifying, just like the muscle up.
Below we leave two of our favorite videos on the subject:
Progressions:
- Wall assisted handstand (beginner)
- Leg bent handstand (beginner/intermediate)
- Open legs handstand (advanced)
- One arm handstand (advanced)
Muscles Worked:
- Arms
- Abs
- Shoulders
- Fingers
- Forearms
Front and Back Lever
Front Lever-
Grab the pull up bar keeping your hands at shoulder distance. Slowly raise your legs, keeping your core straight, then elevate your waist until your body is in a straight line, parallel to the floor.
ThenX has a great video on some complementing exercises and progressions:
Back Lever-
Grab the pull up bar keeping your hands at shoulder distance. Bring your knees up, using core and leg strength. Bring your knees in and rotate backward. Once your legs have passed the bar, stretch them, keeping your whole body straight.
Progressions:
- Knee(s) bent front/back lever (beginner)
Muscles worked:
- Chest
- Lats
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Abs
- Lower back
Human Flag
The Human Flag is one of the most photogenic exercises in Calisthenics. It consists of holding a post or bar that is perpendicular to the floor and elevating your body until it’s parallel to the floor.
It requires tremendous shoulder, arm, and lat strength and can be quite fun to do.
Here’s a great video on the exercise:
Progressions:
- Human Flag With Legs Apart (Intermediate)
Muscles Worked:
- Abs
- Forearm
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Lats
- Core
The Plank
Yet another classic, the plank starts out easy but quickly imposes an escalating challenge that can spiral into all-out agony. True enough, no one actually likes spending time in the pose, but dismissing its usefulness is never smart.
Along with the side plank (detailed below), it forms the basis for the human flag, which is an impressive party trick as well as an awesome way of training your body.
For a show of proper form, look no further than the video below:
Progressions:
- Straight Arm Plank (Beginner)
- Feet Elevated Plank (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Back
- Chest
- Shoulders
The Sit-up
Oftentimes forgotten or thought outclassed, the lowly sit-up nevertheless has its place in the modern calisthenics arsenal.
Nothing wrong with these. If you’re looking to get started with abs, or for straight-up endurance training with a massive number of reps, it will get the job done. Whether or not you choose to replace them along the way, will be your call.
Proper form is shown in the video below:
Progressions:
- Extended Arm Sit-ups (Beginner)
- Raised Leg Sit-ups (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Abs
The Crunch
Now this is more like it!
Crunches are simple, effective, and (perhaps most importantly) not at all difficult for what they do. The isolation work they give you is excellent for a calisthenics move, and there is no real reason not to do them.
More advanced exercises do exist, but a squat will always work your abs hard.
For a visual demonstration, head over to:
Progressions:
- Crunch With Hands on Knees (Beginner)
- The Reverse Crunch (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Abs
L-Sit
The L-sit is a classic static exercise. It will help you greatly with core strength but also with flexibility in the legs, which in turn will improve your knee/leg raises, and ab exercises.
Progressions:
- V-sit (advanced)
Muscles Worked:
- Abs
- Forearm
- Biceps
- Triceps
- Legs
- Core
Leg and Lower Body Calisthenics Exercises
L-sit Leg Raises
This exercise could have easily been included in the previous section, though from our own experience, it focuses heavily on quad strength, closely followed by abdominal strength.
The L-sit Leg Raise consists on sitting on the floor with your legs stretched in front of you, grabbing the floor with your palms extended as close to the knees as you can. Then, keeping your legs straight, lift and release the legs for as many reps as you can.
The video below demonstrates the exercise, though in our opinion with bad form, as the palms should be fully in contact with the floor and the heel of the foot shouldn’t touch the floor in each rep:
Muscles worked:
- Quads
- Abs
- Hamstring
The Lunge
The lunge is to the squat what the side plank is to the plank. More precisely, it is a related exercise that puts your sides to work.
Lunges are popular for a reason. Combine them with squats, and you will shape yourself a rock-hard set of buns!
See a video on lunge form below:
Progressions:
- Split Squat (Beginner)
- Backward Lunge (Advanced; works the glutes more)
Muscles worked:
- Quads
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
Mountain Climbers
An exercise famous for its “I’m dying” factor, these are both loved and hated. Mountain climbers will make you gasp for air, sweat like mad, and set your lower body on fire.
You’ll never ask for more, but you’ll always be glad that you’re doing them.
The video below illustrates the exercise:
No real progressions here. Your speed will make up much of the difficulty.
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Legs
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
- Triceps
- Chest
Burpees
Hailed as the king of fat burning, the burpee is said to make you burn more fat than any other move. Part push-up, part squat, and part self-torture, it’s sure to become one of your most hated exercises.
See it done properly here:
Like with mountain climbers, your speed will determine the difficulty. Burpees are all about the explosiveness.
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Legs
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
- Triceps
- Chest
Jump Rope
A huge number of athletes jump rope, and that is no accident. As one of the most primal ways of working your legs (the other one would be good old-fashioned running), this one has passed the test of time.
Click below for some form-correct rope skipping:
While pace does affect the difficulty, so does the rope used, as well as method employed for working the rope. The sky is the limit.
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Legs
- Glutes
- Arms
The Jumping Squat
As the name says, this is your regular squat with a bit of something extra. While the explosive leaps do rob this variant of some of its muscle building effectiveness, they do make it a highly effective way of burning fat.
Besides, the value of HIIT (high intensity interval training) can’t be overstressed, and these often find a place in such a routine.
Here’s how it’s done:
Progressions:
- Bodyweight Squats (Prerequisite)
- Jump Knee Tucks (Beginner)
- Barbell Squat Jumps (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Legs
- Glutes
The Hanging Leg Raise
A difficult exercise to categorize, given that it works most of your body and especially your core. However, given that the lion’s share on the move is done with your legs, we chose to place it here.
If you want an all-rounder that mostly targets your lower body, look no further.
For a visual aid, refer to the video below:
Progressions:
- Lying Leg Raise (Beginner)
- Parallel Straight Web Raise (Beginner)
- Hanging Knee Raise (Beginner)
- Hanging V-raise (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Abs
- Legs
- Glutes
- Shoulders
The Bodyweight Squat
Standing proud right alongside the push-up, the squat is another proud staple of bodyweight training. It strengthens and tones your lower body, and forms the foundation for many other, more advanced moves.
The basic squat can be done anywhere and at any time. While it doesn’t exactly go obsolete, you can always replace it with one of the more challenging variants like the pistol or archer squat.
In case you need it, here is a video demonstration:
Progressions:
- Shallow Squats (Beginner)
- Assisted Squats (Beginner; use a chair to grab on to)
- Deep Squat (Somewhat advanced)
- Resistance Band Squats (Advanced)
- One Legged Squat (Advanced)
Muscles worked:
- Quads
- Hamstrings
- Glutes
Pistol Squat / 1 legged squat
This is probably the most common leg calisthenics exercise. It will develop both your leg strength and your balance.
Make sure to look ahead and fix your gaze in one point.
Progressions:
- Ankle Grab Pistol Squat (Advanced)- Great exercise mixing flexibility with strength.
Muscles Worked:
- Gluts
- Quads
- Hamstring
Archer Squat
This is a great exercise to work on leg strength, flexibility, and balance. As the video below shows, it consists of shifting the weight from one leg to another whilst doing the squat movement.
Progression:
- Weight belt archer squat
Muscles Worked:
- Gluts
- Quads
- Hamstring
Final Thoughts
We hope we have given you some workout inspiration. If not, feel free to check out our beginner routine or leave a comment below and we’ll help you as best we can.
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Chris is an experienced Calisthenics practitioner focused on isometric exercises and street workout. He founded thehybridathlete.com in 2017, which was subsequently acquired by theyhybridathlete.com
He is based in Portland and has been working out using solely his own body weight and bars for the past 6 years.
