Body Workout Plan

Remember in middle school when your gym teacher barked at you to do twenty jumping jacks, followed by ten sit-ups and ten push-ups? Perhaps you felt pretty silly jumping around and grunting and puffing our way through the exercises, but it turns out that your good old gym teacher was onto something.

Those very same exercises, also known by the word “calisthenics”, are quite profitable in many ways. Though they are rarely used in most modern fitness programs today (try to find a trainer at Planet Fitness who will instruct you to do jumping jacks!), the fact is, they contribute greatly to your body strength, your muscle stamina, and even your heart health. Many fitness experts can tell you that doing approximately 25 minutes of calisthenics per exercise session offers greater benefits than twice the time you might spend jogging or even using equipment designed for cardiovascular fitness.

Experts also assert that most other widely-practiced cardio workouts, including those that involve equipment, really only work your lower body, thus leaving out important advantages such as strength training.

Another disadvantage to exercises such as running or jogging is that they cause an enormous amount of tension on your body. It doesn’t matter if you jog on a treadmill or take a run through the city park; the added stress, which can be as much as twice your body weight per stride, makes this kind of exercise far inferior to the low-impact, high-benefit aspects of calisthenics and body weight exercises.

Two of the best things about calisthenics are that they are 1) simple to employ in any exercise program, and 2) provide great variety; a diversion from the “series of twenty reps” one might be used to. We’ve already mentioned jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups.

Other basic exercises that any of your clients can do include pull-ups, leg drives, squats, squat thrusts, and lunges. These exercises are both fun and challenging enough to create a workout for your client, no matter what level they may be, from bodybuilder to middle-aged grandma!

As a trainer, moving beyond the oft-employed cardiovascular exercises and implementing calisthenics and body strength exercises with your clients shows your versatility and creativity in planning sessions that adapt to their fitness level and give them enough variety to avoid the boredom that can occur with exercising.

Doing a few minutes of calisthenics at the beginning of a workout can be a great warm-up, or designing shorter sessions that are primarily calisthenics from start to finish can be very effective and time-saving for both you and your client.

One more great thing about calisthenics is that they can be done anytime, anywhere, by most anyone. No equipment to worry about; no need to have a special “exercise room” in your home; and easily tailored to the specific needs or level of fitness for any client. If you are a fitness trainer, you will greatly benefit by adding these exercises to your repertoire and showing your clients how effective they can be in both in your training sessions with them, and at home on their own as well.