How To Train Legs With Calisthenics
Huge legs and calisthenics aren’t usually considered to be in the same category. How wrong this is. Strong legs are what separates a professional calisthenics athlete from an intermediate.
To train your legs with calisthenics, you must use the weight of your upper body as a resistance against leg muscle. This involves exercises such as bodyweight squats, box jumps or calf raises. To optimize gains, focus on isolating each leg muscle to maximize the load it carries.
Calisthenics is associated with compound exercises. However, when it comes to building legs, a compound exercise won’t put them under enough tension to achieve hypertrophy – so it’s imperative to keep them isolated. What does this mean? You have to put your legs in wild and wacky positions to feel the burn…
Can You Build Legs With Calisthenics
Yes, you can increase leg muscle mass and size with calisthenics. Beginners initially have a high rate of hypertrophy, especially when they isolate each leg muscle group, use explosive movements and work until failure. With consistent and proper form, there will be noticeable leg growth after 4 weeks of training.
So what happens after the 4-week time frame?
After this period, your legs become well-conditioned to carry your body weight. You’ll notice this as you can repeat more reps until failure, and isolating each muscle group becomes less challenging. At this point, muscle hypertrophy starts to plateau, and the rate of growth slows down.
This isn’t to say there aren’t any benefits. Training calisthenics regularly in the long run results in:
- High leg muscle endurance.
- High leg relative strength.
- Health benefits such as burning calories.
- Better leg mobility and flexibility.
To keep the rate of hypertrophy high, you must increase the load your muscles are under. This could include using a weighted vest or resistance bands.
How To Grow Quads With Calisthenics
Everyone wants to grow their quads – it’s the bicep of the leg! We are going to teach you the most simple but effective way to grow them with calisthenics.
To grow your quadricep with calisthenics, it’s essential to isolate each quad to maximize the weight each limb carries. This mostly means balancing on one leg e.g. pistol squatting! However, it ensures there is enough strain to tear and repair and grow back stronger.
In calisthenics, ensuring your quadricep is isolated guarantees leg gains. Nonetheless, to speed up the time to see results, there’s an additional part of the exercise you must focus on: negatives.
The negative is the eccentric (lengthening of muscle) part of a movement. For example, standing back up in a squat. Most people rush this to complete as many reps as possible. Nevertheless, it’s imperative to control the negative and maximize time under tension to see gains as fast as possible.
Here are a few quadricep-dominated calisthenics exercises to try:
| Exercise Name | Tutorial |
|---|---|
| Bulgarian Lunges | Click Here |
| Wall Sits | Click Here |
| Pistol Squats | Click Here |
| Sissy Squat | Click Here |
| Lateral Bound | Click Here |
How Often Should You Train Legs With Calisthenics
To see results, you should train legs 2-3 times a week with calisthenics. If you ensure each session is intense, this puts your legs under enough tension to grow but also warrants sufficient rest so you don’t walk around limping!
Of course, we appreciate that everyone is in a different circumstance, so the optimum ranges from person to person. Some factors to consider include:
- What You Get Up To In The Day
An office worker and a tour guide have entirely different lifestyles. One sits all day, while the other is always on their feet. So, to enhance gains, the office worker should train their legs more often than the tour guide. If most of your time is spent sitting, train your legs 3 times a week; but, if you’re on the go 1-2 leg sessions per week should be adequate. - Depends On Your End Goal
Why do you want to use calisthenics to train legs? Is it for power, health, injury recovery, or muscle endurance? The reason you are working your legs massively influences how often you should do a leg session. To improve fast twitch muscle fibers, train less but more intensely; to improve slow twitch muscle fibers, train frequently at a low intensity. - Your Skill Level And Experience
Beginner calisthenics athletes should prioritize more time for upper body movements. Getting used to the equipment, movements, and muscle groups calisthenics uses pays more dividends at the start, rather than jumping straight to legs. Only when they develop more experience should they consider incorporating leg exercises into their routine.
The Best Calisthenics Leg Workout Without Equipment
We have outlined our favorite leg workouts using calisthenic moves only. These aim to put your legs under maximum tension, but use minimal equipment – in fact, none at all! Why not give a few a try?
How Wall Sits Help Build Legs With Calisthenics
The best way to describe the benefits of a wall sit is by exaggerating the drawbacks of a squat.
- The eccentric movement of a squat is often rushed and fueled by momentum.
- A wall sit forces you to be stationary during the hardest part of a squat (partial from).
- As a result, you are fast to feel the build of lactic acid and muscle fatigue.
How Pistol Squats Help Build Legs With Calisthenics
A pistol squat is far more efficient at building legs than a traditional bodyweight squat.
As you are restricted to using one leg, you have essentially isolated the whole movement to one limb. As a result, one leg must hold (and stabilize) your full body weight by itself.
This makes your legs a lot stronger a lot quicker; however, if you find it too challenging, you can adapt it:
- Hold onto a wall while you squat.
- Alternate between each limb every rep.
- Place a chair underneath your bum and take a seat with every concentric movement.
How One Leg Calf Raises Help Build Legs With Calisthenics
To build your calves with calisthenics, one leg calf raises is one of the best exercises to achieve it fast.
Once again, we isolate the movement to a single calf – rather than the traditional compound exercise of using both. This ensures each calf is under enough strain to go through hypertrophy.
Nonetheless, if needs be, you can start off with normal calf raises to build strength or hold onto something (like a wall) for added support.
How Box Jumps Help Build Legs With Calisthenics
A key part of building legs with calisthenics is being explosive with each repetition. This ensures your fast twitch muscle fibers are engaged, making you more powerful. A box jump is the best exercise to practice this – if you aren’t explosive enough, you won’t land on the box!
Extra box jump tips:
- The taller the box is, the more explosive you must be.
- For an extra challenge, squat every time you jump back on the floor.
- If you struggle with grip, try the exercise without shoes so your toes can curl around the box’s edges.
How Elevated Hamstring Curls Help Build Legs With Calisthenics
Elevated hamstrings improve balance and leg strength. While the technique is initially difficult, they do an excellent job of isolating the hamstrings to put them as much tension without using additional weights.
It’s imperative to control the negative (eccentric). Many make the mistake of focusing their energy on thrusting their hips up, and only using gravity on the comedown. By directing the eccentric movement, the time under tension is maximized – so your hamstring gains are optimized.
They are more commonly used to stabilize the knees and stretch the quadriceps – rather than power and muscle gains. However, they help set the foundations for more complicated movements.
How Reverse Planks Help Build Legs With Calisthenics
The best way to train your glutes is through squats. However, if your quadriceps are knackered, there are few alternatives to train your glutes, and not your quadriceps. But there is one savior – the reverse plank!
While the reverse plank is a compound exercise (training your core, deltoids, triceps, etc) it is one of few exercises that puts tension on your glutes and not your quadriceps. While your glutes aren’t isolated, it does mean there are other advantages, such as:
- Decompressing of your spine.
- Conditioning of posterior muscles.
- Improved mobility.
The video below displays the right technique, as well as the progression levels!
Why Do People Skip Leg Day
We are all guilty of it, or at least know somebody, skipping leg day.
There is a stereotype that calisthenics athletes don’t require strong legs; leading to inexperienced beginners skipping leg day. Most people recognize calisthenics for their ripped six-pack and wide upper back, so assume legs play no part in achieving this. Which isn’t true.
This is a myth; individuals who train their full body with calisthenics have one of the strongest pairs of legs in the world.
Another point is it’s more energy-demanding to train our lower body, so we find it much easier to trick ourselves out of it! We feel far more uncomfortable as we use our legs in sport, standing or sport, so we are constantly aching.
- Can You Film In The Gym – The Brutal Truth
I run a fitness blog and YouTube channel. And while writing is hassle-free, getting my camera, tripod and microphone out in the middle of the… - Can You Use The Holes In Bouldering
Have you ever seen the holes drilled into the bouldering/climbing wall? When I first went climbing I was confused as to what they are, who… - Does Climbing Increase Testosterone
Muscular, veiny, hairy, tall, and deep-voiced… All of which derive from high testosterone levels. Is it possible they derive from climbing too? Let’s find out……
