Does Calisthenics Increase Stamina
Calisthenics is resistance training. It’s also anaerobic training. Wait, it’s also strength training! What if we told you it was also endurance training…
Yes, calisthenics is super effective for increasing stamina. In particular, any activity that requires upper body endurance benefits massively from calisthenics training as it improves muscle endurance in your arms, back, and core.
As a result, you’ll be able to keep your muscles contracted over extended periods. So, you won’t feel fatigued, as quickly, in sports such as rock climbing or gymnastics. As long as it’s an upper-body sport, calisthenics benefits.
And this is no small change either. If you tailor calisthenics to your sport it dramatically improves performance. For example, a dead hang conditions your forearms to withstand your full body weight over a long duration. So, in a sport like rock climbing, there’s enough resilience to go the full climb.
It goes a step further. Calisthenics is all compound movements – numerous muscle groups are under tension in one exercise. Even if one muscle is exhausted, you must still engage it to complete another exercise. And taking your muscles above this point of fatigue is essential for stamina building.
Sounds fantastic. Why doesn’t everyone use it?
The Limit:
We emphasized upper-body stamina since calisthenics does nothing to condition your legs. And apart from the ones mentioned, and a few others such as rowing, handball, and canoeing, few sports need upper body stamina and not lower body stamina.
For example, major sports like basketball, and soccer need significant lower-body stamina. This is something which calisthenics is less effective for; and so, has less recognition for.
Calisthenics Stamina Training
Calisthenics is such a broad training method that it’s imperative to train a distinct region of bodyweight exercises to target your endurance.
To improve your stamina via calisthenics, you must rep/hold every exercise until failure. This ensures you activate your slow-twitch muscle fibers which are responsible for long-lasting energy. While it makes your workout mentally tough, you’ll quickly see improvements in endurance.
Calisthenic exercises are usually quite explosive. So, these adjustments are essential to redirect the focus of your workout.
We highly suggest training until failure for two major reasons. Firstly, it taps into your slow-twitch muscle fibers. But, more importantly, it also trains your mind to break mental struggle. Our bodies are so much more capable than we think, and we only find this out when we train until failure and reach ‘breaking point.’
Training calisthenics until failure is the fundamentals of your workout. To speed up the process, we have three crucial tips that take it to the next level. These aren’t to replace failure training, but rather be incorporated on top of:
- Focus on statics and duration exercises, rather than reps and sets.
- Go slow on negatives.
- Cheat… kind of.
Focus On Statics Where You Can
Statics are a huge part of calisthenics. They are exercises where we remain in the same position throughout. Some examples include the plank, a human flag, and a front lever.
They are better for stamina building as your muscles remain contracted through the whole exercise; so, time under tension is extended. The longer you hold the static, the more conditioned your muscles become; and so, the stronger your muscle endurance is.
Go Slow On Negatives
The negative is the eccentric part of an exercise. Put in other words, it’s the movement that involves an extension of your muscle. For example, the negative part of a pull-up is the second part of the action, when you extend your elbows and lower yourself down from the bar.
If there isn’t a static alternative, make sure you rep slowly and with control during the negative phase. This keeps your muscles contracted throughout the full movement – maximizing time under tension. Otherwise, gravity does the work for you, and TuT is halved.
Cheat… Kind Of
We use the word ‘cheat’ loosely as you’re actually making it hard for yourself.
Calisthenics revolves around bodyweight exercises – strictly no dumbbells! But, if you want an endurance-based workout it’s more effective adding extra resistance. Be it a pair of ankle weights, a weighted vest, or resistance bands any form of added resistance will improve endurance faster.
The amount of resistance you add is critical. You don’t want it too heavy that it’s a weight training session. Less is always better since you still want to train until failure, with high reps. While it depends on the exercise, you should never add more than 15lb (7kg).
The Best Calisthenics Stamina Exercises
The Plank
Holding a plank is good, holding it until failure is better. It’s a static exercise which requires you to keep your core as tight as possible throughout. As a result, it’s great for building endurance in the core, but can also improve upper-body endurance.
| Duration | Muscle Group | Areas it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Until Failure | Upper Body and Core | Rock Climbing, Parkour and Swimming |
Challenge: Strap a 5lb (2.5kg) weight to your back while holding.
Deadhangs
The deadhang is an all-time calisthenics favorite. While the benefits to the core are well known, the muscle endurance it builds in your forearms goes unspoken. Since you’re holding your full bodyweight, you are quick to feel fatigued; but, repetitive practice is what gets your muscle endurance up!
| Duration | Muscle Group | Areas it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Until Failure | Forearms and Core | Rock Climbing, Gymnastics, and Martial Arts |
Challenge: Hold the bar using only your finger tips.
Handstands
You probably haven’t held a handstand since school have you! Either way, they’re excellent for building muscle endurance in the deltoids which are essential for sports that require a frequent swinging motion. Use a wall for support, but avoid resting your weight on it.
| Duration | Muscle Group | Areas it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Until Failure | Deltoids and Core | Water Polo, Tennis, and Volleyball |
Challenge: Bend your elbows, the lower you’re to the floor the more tension there is on your shoulders
Push-ups
This is the first dynamic movement out of the exercises we recommend. Remember, rep the negatives slowly and with control to ensure you maintain time under tension through the full movement.
| Duration | Muscle Group | Areas it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Until Failure | Pictorials, Triceps, Deltoids, and Core | Wrestling and Rowing |
Challenge: Place your wrists close, and angle your fingers into a triangle. These are triangle push-ups and are much more difficult
Wall sits
We can’t give you an exercise program without a leg workout! Wall sits are one of the most strenuous exercises since the build of lactic acid comes fast. But on the flip side, it also means it’s the best exercise for building muscle endurance in the legs.
| Duration | Muscle Group | Areas it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Until Failure | Gluteals, Quadriceps and Hamstrings | Skiing, Swimming and Cycling |
Challenge: Place a 10lb (5kg) plate on your lap, or alternatively, bend your knees lower then your usual seating position
Bring Sally Up Challenge
For our last exercise, we’ve gone with a fun one! The Bring Sally-up challenge was sensational in 2014, but is less spoken about now. Still, this doesn’t make it not effective for building endurance. It’s a push-up challenge where you must follow the rhythm of a song. Check it out:
| Duration | Muscle Group | Areas it helps |
|---|---|---|
| As long as you can go | Pictorials, Triceps, Deltoids, and Core | Gymnastics, Martial Arts, and Boxing |
Challenge: This is as tough as it gets!
How Fast Does Calisthenics Increase Stamina
Let’s put a time frame on it. But, more importantly, how effective it is.
It takes 5-7 weeks of consistent calisthenics training before you see improvements in your stamina. Within this period, the impact will be noticeable; but, not game-changing. It takes up to a year to have a significant upgrade in your performance.
Stamina isn’t like the other components of fitness, it’s bettered by training habitually in the long term. There’s no such thing as short-term stamina gains. So, you must be willing to put in hours of work (regardless of your training method) to see results.
The 5-7 weeks is where you’re likely to see beginner gains; then, your progression plateau. Hence, it’s imperative to stay consistent for a game-changing impact. Our graph below helps illustrate this:
Now, it goes without saying, that some factors alter this time frame. For example:
- Your current stamina level.
- The muscle group you want to build stamina in.
- Diet and nutrition intake.
- Your training split.
We use the 5-7 week mark for ideal conditions, but depending on the above depends on how much longer your personal circumstances take it.
So, how does this compare to other training methods?
Calisthenics is a good training method for generic (muscle) endurance building. If you have no sport or activity to build endurance for, it’s the place to start.
But, the supreme way to build endurance for a desired sport/ activity isn’t calisthenics – it’s relevant practice. Nearly every sport has its own sport-specific endurance. And, to improve this, it’s far more effective to do sport-specific drills than a generic calisthenics training routine.
For example, if a boxer solely trained calisthenics for his endurance he won’t be fit enough to get into the ring. He must do sport-specific drills, such as sparring, which has nothing to do with calisthenics; but, will build the necessary endurance.
So, ultimately it depends on your fitness goals as to how effective calisthenics is for building endurance. Overall, we rate it a 7/10.
A Common Misconception
Did you know there’s more than one form of stamina? Not many people do. This imperfect mistake causes so much confusion in the fitness industry; so, we’re here to set it straight. Let’s not beat around the bush and set the agenda.
Calisthenics improves your muscular endurance; but, not your cardiovascular endurance. So you will be able to keep your muscles contracted for a long duration; but, the impact on your aerobic system is minimal. While both are considered ‘stamina’ they have completely different roles in sports.
People think because calisthenics leaves you out of breath it’s a form of cardio. Not true. The intensity is too high and the exercise duration is too low to improve cardiovascular endurance. Instead, it conditions your muscles to sustain tension for much longer periods.
Awareness of this is a pivotal part of your fitness journey as it allows you to adapt and transform a training plan specifically for the demands of your sport. For example, both a cyclist and a rower need stamina but, the cyclist won’t train in calisthenics; whereas, the rower will.
What You’re Better Off Doing
We touched on the idea of sport-specific training above, but since it’s such an imperative part of building a bulletproof workout plan it’s essential to go in more detail.
Sportsmen/women can supplement their training with calisthenics; but ultimately, your primary focus should be on sport-relevant drills. If you’re a rower, row! If you’re a runner, run! If you play tennis practice tennis! Why try to build your endurance with another training method?
We’ve tried all types of endurance training through our years of practice. And every time, we always go back to a sport-specific drill. Calisthenics should be a method to intensify or make more difficult – but, not to completely replace.
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