Do You Lose Gains Switching To Calisthenics
The switch from weight lifting to calisthenics can worry gym-goers. Especially those who have spent years training and can’t bear for their muscle gains go to waste. But, should this be an actual concern? Or, is it just more gym-bro science…
Muscle hypertrophy is harder to reach in calisthenics than weight training; but, this doesn’t mean you lose your gains. Rather, you have to be more creative with how you overload your muscles to maintain your size and strength.
And, this is where the challenge starts. Since calisthenics uses bodyweight exercises overloading your muscles is easier said than done. It involves using one limb per exercise, adding weighted vests and resistance bands, or going upside down!
If you can effectively work out like this, you’ll find no problems maintaining gains. We aren’t saying it’s impossible; but, it does take time to get used to. For example, swapping a straightforward bench press, for a one-handed, decline push-up with a weighted vest to match the level of tension in your chest.
In some cases, the calisthenics alternative offers more muscle gain! Since they use compound movements, multiple muscle groups are trained in one exercise. In the example above, you train your chest, deltoids, triceps, and core; whereas a straightforward bench press only uses the chest.
The One Exception
Upper body training is straightforward in calisthenics, but when it comes to legs it’s a different story. Since our legs are already strong enough to hold our bodyweight, there are much fewer exercises to do which feel a burn.
In calisthenics, it’s far less practical to overload your legs, and because of this most athletes can’t tear and repair their legs. As a result, they rarely undertake muscle hypertrophy and they lose their leg gains by switching from weight training.
This assumes you switch to calisthenics with muscular legs. And since no calisthenics exercise can mimic, for example, a 200lb squat or leg press your legs just deflate. Now, you can choose to accept this, or you can incorporate hybrid training – something which we discuss further below.
While there are calisthenic leg exercises, such as pistol squats, box jumps, and wall sits none train your legs to the extent of weight training. They’re in two different leagues!
Why Most People Lose Muscle Switching To Calisthenics
Unfortunately, It’s more common for people to lose their gains than to keep them. We want to tell you why, and how you can avoid it.
There are only two mistakes – yet they’re made so frequently. And because of this, the instant assumption is your muscles disappear the second you start calisthenics. But no, make sure it’s appropriate, and stick to the fundamentals and the transition will be smooth.
Already Too Big
You can only go so far with calisthenics, for example, it can’t support a bodybuilder training program. If you already have substantial muscle gains, calisthenics can’t match your muscle demands; so, you will experience loss by switching over.
Those who compete and have high absolute strength need to isolate their training and overload beyond calisthenics capabilities. Essentially, anyone who lifts more than 1.5x their bodyweight on major exercises should stick with weight lifting.
Changing The Fundamentals
Muscle gain is developed from two ingredients: low reps and high weight. But since calisthenics is only your bodyweight, a common mistake is compensating for this with much higher reps. This is where the majority experience muscle loss.
Don’t make the same mistake. Instead, adapt your exercises to increase the resistance – we mentioned a few techniques above, such as weighted vests or progressive exercises. This increases muscle tension, so you can keep the ‘low rep high weight’ basics.
Will Switching To Calisthenics Affect Your PRs
When training calisthenics, you only lift as heavy as you weigh. Most people are unbothered by this, but for powerlifters, bodybuilders, and cross-fit enthusiasts, it’s going to bruise their PRs…
While visually the switch won’t cause too big of an effect – your max lifts will take a huge drop the moment you stop lifting weights. Since you won’t be taking your muscles to their maximum threshold, they naturally lose some absolute strength.
The rate at which it drops depends on your current ability. The higher your absolute strength, the more rapidly you’ll see struggle in your PRs. While this may seem like a huge demotivator, not all is lost because you become stronger in other areas…
Relative strength. While the total amount you can lift decreases, how much you can lift compared to your bodyweight increases. As a result, you’ll feel more explosive and powerful – rather than slow and heavy.
Ultimately it depends on your fitness goals if you see this as a plus or negative. In saying that though, what’s stopping you from reaching new PRs that revolve around relative strength? Here are a few for you to try:
- Most number of pull-ups in one go.
- Longest time you can hold a plank.
- How quickly you can do 100 push-ups.
The Right Way To Change From Weight Lifting To Calisthenics
Going straight from weight training to calisthenics is a poor fitness decision. There is a much more effective way, and it’s called hybrid training:
Hybrid training is a fault-proof way to convert from weight training to calisthenics. Fusing the two training methods gives you a form of security in case you train incorrectly, or take a long time to pick up the fundamentals – saving you from losing gains.
If you completely drop weight training and start calisthenics with no experience, you lose gains rapidly as you don’t know anything about the training method, so most of your workouts are ineffective. It’s a learning curve and takes at least 3 months before you understand the basics.
Therefore, during these 3 months, you should train both weights and calisthenics. This avoids a sudden drop in gains because you can fill your workout with familiar exercises, that you know build muscle mass. As a result, you can learn calisthenics without the time pressure of muscle deterioration.
What’s More, You Won’t Look Back.
While we position hybrid training as a temporary saver when you transition between the two, every athlete we work with makes it a permanent change to their workout plan. As soon as they introduce a mixture of both training methods, they only wonder why they didn’t start earlier.
The reason it’s so popular is you get the best from both worlds:
- You’re guaranteed to keep your gains as you can use dumbells, barbells, and plates.
- You build a proportionate frame by the compound exercises from calisthenics.
- You benefit from increased mobility and posture from calisthenics, but also higher absolute strength from weights.
And it makes sense, why pick between the two when you can choose both?
Conclusion – Are You Making The Right Decision
Just because something ‘works’, doesn’t mean it’s a good decision. For example, you can play soccer with trainers, but would you? No…
Yes, calisthenics can maintain, and in some cases increase, your muscle gains. But, it’s not an effective way to go about it. Put simply, you’re making it harder for yourself for no reason. And apart from a few exceptions, weight lifting is always better for your gains.
If keeping your muscle mass is a priority, stick with weight training. Trust us. Especially if you have no reason to change – you will only regret it down the line. For comparison, it’s like taking the stairs when a lift is right next to you.
On the other hand, if you do have a reason (e.g. injury or joining the army), there’s no choice. But, even if you dread the idea of losing your gains, it should give you comfort knowing you can keep them with calisthenics, it’s just very hard maintenance.
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