Calisthenics for Weight Loss: A Dynamic Approach to Shedding Pounds

Ask any group of trainers how to lose weight, and many of them will tell you to do more cardio. This makes a certain amount of sense as cardio burns calories and puts you in the so-called “fat-burning zone.” This is where your body preferentially uses stored body fat for fuel.  

Consequently, go to any gym and you’ll undoubtedly see people trying to row, run, or cycle off their unwanted pounds.

While cardio can contribute to weight loss, I’m my experience as a veteran personal trainer, it’s not the best way to lose weight and get lean. In fact, exercisers often spend many hours a week sweating on cardio machines and yet struggle to lose weight.

There are several reasons for this but, in simple terms, cardio doesn’t burn as many calories or as much fat as people believe (1). Consequently, you need to do a lot of it if you want to get rid of your unwanted pounds.

How much?

The number of calories you burn during an hour of fat-burning zone cardio varies, but 400 to 500 calories per hour is a good average for most people. Given that a pound of fat is worth approximately 3,500 calories, that means you’ll need to do something like 7 to 8 hours of exercise to lose a single pound.

Of course, all this number-crunching is irrelevant if your diet is not on point, or you are unable to work out regularly. Consequently, I don’t give a lot of cardio to my weight loss personal training clients. Instead, I predominately prescribe calisthenics for weight management.

In this article, I explain the benefits of calisthenics for weight loss and reveal how best to use this training method to shed those unwanted pounds.

What Makes Calisthenics Better for Weight Loss Than Cardio?

Calisthenics is an ancient form of exercise and probably the earliest example of formalized strength training. The word calisthenics has classical Greek origins:

• Kalos – meaning means beauty
• Sthenos – meaning strength

When it comes to calisthenics, many novices assume they’ll be doing high-skill movements like muscle-ups, dragon flags, front levers, planche push-ups, and other gymnastics-based exercises. Needless to say, most of these moves are well beyond the average person, especially those who are overweight.

In contrast, calisthenics for weight loss should revolve around basic exercises that you can do with perfect form in moderate to high volumes. Good examples include air squats, conventional push-ups, lunges, and inverted rows.

But what makes these exercises so good for shedding those unwanted pounds? Keep reading and find out!

High Energy Cost

Calisthenics exercises generally burn a lot of calories. That’s because they involve multiple muscle groups, either directly or indirectly.

For example, push-ups aren’t just another chest and triceps exercise. Instead, they engage just about every muscle in your body as you’ll need to work hard to keep your body straight and tight. From your legs to your glutes to your core to your upper back – all these muscles and more are working during push-ups.

This means that calisthenic exercises often burn more calories than their machine or even free-weight counterparts, and more than cardio, too.

Related: Calories Burned Calisthenics Calculator

Convenience

I’m amazed at how many people drive to the gym just to do cardio. Talk about a waste of time and effort! But, unless you have the space and budget for a treadmill or bike at home, I guess that’s what you need to do if you want to do hours of cardio.

In contrast, calisthenics exercises require little or no equipment so, therefore, you can do them anywhere, even at home. With no time wasted traveling to the gym, your workouts will be more convenient and time-efficient, so you’ll be less likely to skip them.

The best way to exercise yourself slimmer is to be active every day. The fewer barriers you have to overcome, the greater the likelihood that you’ll be able to achieve this goal. Calisthenics is the ultimate excuse-free workout, so the chances of being unable to exercise are much lower. When it comes to effective fat loss, consistency is the king.

As Effective as Lifting Weights

Contrary to what many people think, bodyweight exercises like push-ups and air squats are NOT inferior to lifting weights. Studies suggest that, done to the same level of intensity, calisthenic exercises can be as effective as weight lifting for building muscle and strength (2).

Not convinced? Just check out the physiques of elite gymnasts, MMA fighters, and military personnel, many of whom train exclusively with calisthenics.

That’s not to say that calisthenics is better than conventional strength training – it isn’t. However, it can be similarly productive, so don’t feel you’re “making do” if you decide to do push-ups instead of bench presses.

Quick and Easy Exercise Transitions

The best way to use strength training for weight loss is to arrange your exercises into supersets, trisets, giant sets, or circuits. All of these training methods involve switching quickly from one movement to the next.

Supersets, circuits, etc., allow you to cram more exercises and sets into your workouts for increased exercise efficiency and greater energy expenditure. But, to be effective you must move quickly between exercises. Slow transitions will make your workouts less successful.

With nothing to set up, you can move seamlessly between calisthenic exercises, creating a non-stop sequence of fat-burning movements.

As well as making your workouts more effective and time-efficient, doing several exercises back to back also delivers a potent cardiovascular workout, despite the absence of running, cycling, rowing, etc.

Most Exercises are Scalable

Can’t do full push-ups or pull-ups? No problem! Most calisthenic exercises can be adjusted (or scaled) to match your current strength and fitness. For example, you can do push-ups on your knees to reduce the weight on your arms, do inverted rows instead of pull-ups for your back and biceps, or do air squats instead of single-leg pistols or lunges.

This means you can modify most calisthenic workouts to make them more manageable, regardless of your experience level.

Safe

Working in a gym for more than three decades means I’ve seen quite a few serious accidents and injuries, often involving heavy weights or, almost as commonly, treadmills. That said, I’ve never seen anyone hurt themselves doing basic calisthenics, and I’ve never experienced any accidents during my own bodyweight workouts, either.

With no weights to drop or speeding belts to fall off, calisthenics is a very safe workout that’s also easy on your joints.

In summary, calisthenics is an excellent alternative to conventional strength training and cardio for fat loss. The workouts are safe, effective, and time-efficient. With fewer barriers, you should have no problem fitting some bodyweight workouts into even the busiest of schedules.

Four Fat-Burning Calisthenic Workouts to Try

A few push-ups or lunges won’t help you lose weight. Instead, you need to follow a dynamic workout that puts your exercises into a logical order and creates a metabolic challenge.

Below you’ll find four of my favorite fat-burning calisthenic workouts. Do each one in turn, aiming to complete them all over the course of a week. Combine with plenty of walking and a sensible diet to lose weight and keep it off.

But, before doing any of these programs, make sure you spend a few minutes preparing your body and mind for what you are about to do. Warm up by with 5-10 minutes of easy cardio, e.g., jumping rope or jogging, followed by dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises for your knees, hips, shoulders, and back.

Warmed up and good to go? Then let’s begin!

Workout #1 – Magnificent 7 Calisthenics Circuit

This simple circuit works all your major muscles and the only equipment you’ll need is a waist-high bar for the inverted rows. Do each exercise in turn, moving quickly from one to the next. Rest for 1-2 minutes at the end and then do another lap. Do 3-4 laps to burn calories, build muscle, and improve your fitness. 

	Exercise	Duration*	Transition
1	Air squat	45 seconds	15 seconds
2	Push-up	45 seconds	15 seconds
3	Inverted row	45 seconds	15 seconds
4	Prisoner good morning	45 seconds	15 seconds
5	Plank	45 seconds	15 seconds
6	Reverse Lunge	45 seconds	15 seconds
7	Russian twist	45 seconds	15 seconds

*Reduce the duration for each exercise to make it easier or increase the duration to make it harder.

Workout #2 – P.A.U.L Giant Set Workout

P.A.U.L stands for plyometric, abs, upper, lower, and is the order of exercises for this short but intense workout. Taking less than 20 minutes, this program is ideal for those days when you don’t have a lot of time but still want to squeeze in a workout.

Do four rounds of the following four-movement sequence, moving quickly from one exercise to the next. Rest one minute between laps.

	Exercise	Reps
1	Squat jump	10-15
2	Seated knee raise	15-20
3	Push-up	10-15
4	Lateral lunge	10-15

Workout #3 – CrossFit “Cindy” Workout

This CrossFit workout is a staple of my training and a favorite workout among my clients. It’s brutally effective, lasts just 20 minutes, and is completely self-regulatory, meaning it’s up to you how hard you work.

Simply do as many laps of the following triset as you can in 20 minutes. Rest when needed but remember that the clock is always ticking! Record how many laps you do and try to beat that number the next time to do the workout.

	Exercise	Reps
1	Pull-ups	5
2	Push-ups	10
3	Air squats	15

Workout #4 – Descending Burpee Pyramid and Jump Rope Intervals

Burpees combine squats, squat thrusts, push-ups, and squat jumps to create the ultimate bodyweight fat-burning exercise. Paired with jump rope intervals, this high-intensity movement burns calories like a furnace while building unstoppable fitness and endurance.

Storm your way through the following sequence as fast as you can. Note how the first few minutes are the hardest. This is intentional and should allow you to maintain a fast pace from start to finish.  

	Exercise	Reps
1	Burpees	10
2	Jump rope	50
3	Burpees	9
4	Jump rope	50
5	Burpees	8
6	Jump rope	50
7	Burpees	7
8	Jump rope	50
9	Burpees	6
10	Jump rope	50
11	Burpees	5
12	Jump rope	50
13	Burpees	4
14	Jump rope	50
15	Burpees	3
16	Jump rope	50
17	Burpees	2
18	Jump rope	50
19	Burpees	1
20	Jump rope	50

You can check out an old video of me doing this workout below:

Closing Thoughts

Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t have to do hour after hour of cardio to burn calories and lose weight. In fact, excessive cardio can cause muscle loss and make you “skinny fat,” which is neither attractive nor healthy.

In my experience, intense calisthenics workouts are more effective than cardio. They’re time-efficient, and fun, and you don’t have to go to a gym to do them.

But, don’t just take my word for it: try the four workouts in this article to experience the fat-burning power of calisthenics for yourself. They’re a big hit with my clients, and I think you’ll enjoy them, too.

References:

1. Donnelly JE, Honas JJ, Smith BK, Mayo MS, Gibson CA, Sullivan DK, Lee J, Herrmann SD, Lambourne K, Washburn RA. Aerobic exercise alone results in clinically significant weight loss for men and women: midwest exercise trial 2. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Mar;21(3):E219-28. doi: 10.1002/oby.20145. PMID: 23592678; PMCID: PMC3630467.
2. Calatayud J, Borreani S, Colado JC, Martin F, Tella V, Andersen LL. Bench press and push-ups at comparable levels of muscle activity results in similar strength gains. J Strength Cond Res. 2015 Jan;29(1):246-53. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000589. PMID: 24983847.

---