Is Calisthenics And Gymnastics The Same Thing?

No, calisthenics and gymnastics are two different activities. Gymnastics is a sport, whereas calisthenics is a method of training. While they share movements (handstand push-ups, front lever, plank, or human flag), a gymnast will apply it in a much more technical and advanced manner to impress a judge.

The aim of calisthenics is to use your body weight as creatively as possible to create a workout. You can consider it as an exercise philosophy where you’re the only judge. While there are competitions, they are far from the scale of the Olympics. 

On the other hand, gymnastics is an Olympic sport in which your ability must be proven by a qualified judge. The aim of a gymnast is to display how they can use their body skillfully and tidily rather than show off strength. 

What Are The Main Differences Between Calisthenics And Gymnastics?

As well as the differentiation between the sport (gymnastics) and the training method (calisthenics), some distinct differences enable you to separate the two. These include:

• Using different equipment.
• Both have different skill and fitness demands.
• Both are judged differently.
• Exercise and training are done in contrasting locations.

Is There Different Equipment Usage in Calisthenics and Gymnastics:

Calisthenic and Gymnastic athletes share the use of the floor, bars, and rings; however, they perform contrasting exercises and incorporate them with different intentions. A calisthenics athlete aims to achieve hypertrophy, while a gymnast reserves their energy to practice their routine.

Common apparatus found in a gymnastics gym include the floor, vault, balance beam, bars (uneven, high, and parallel), rings, and pommel horse. They use these to perfect routines before competing competitively.

Apart from the floor, bars, and rings, calisthenics focuses on bodyweight exercises; therefore, there is no universal equipment you’re guaranteed to find at a gym. The equipment mentioned is only used to allow athletes to use their body weight as resistance.

So while there is common equipment, they have different uses:

• The Floor: Gymnasts use the floor to practice flips and rotational movements for a routine. In contrast, calisthenic athletes use them for push-ups, handstands, and technical statics without choreography. A gymnast’s floor must absorb the impact from any jumps or flips, and so has padding. This isn’t the case with calisthenics, so most are solid, with individuals placing mats down for comfort.
  
  
• Bars: Gymnastics include more rotational movements around the bar, such as a full giant, which you won’t see many calisthenics athletes attempting. 
  
  The type of bars will be different. Most gymnastic bars will be uneven and flexible to help generate momentum and assist in re-catching. However, a calisthenics bar is sturdy and parallel to aid pull-ups, chin-ups, muscle-ups, etc. 
  
  
• Rings: both athletes use the rings similarly; however, a gymnast will practice to incorporate them into a routine, whereas a calisthenics athlete will either be attempting a new trick or casually working out. 

How Gymnastics And Calisthenics Use Fitness Components Differently

Undoubtedly, you must be fit and healthy to be great at either calisthenics or gymnastics. However, certain fitness components weigh more on one activity than the other, improving your ability as an athlete. 

• cardiovascular endurance
• flexibility
• balance

Cardiovascular Endurance

Gymnasts need significantly more cardiovascular endurance than calisthenics athletes because of the jumping, sprinting, and flipping involved. These must be up-kept for a long duration to perfect routine choreography – whereas calisthenics only releases bursts of energy.

• Calisthenic workout sessions are short and intense, so cardiovascular endurance isn’t tapped into. While you can practice many reps per exercise, this only improves muscular endurance and isn’t considered cardio. 
  
  
• On the other hand, gymnasts must have significant stamina to repeatedly practice their routine. This gets it closer to perfect and allows them to finish without breathlessness. Furthermore, it allows the gymnast to maintain the explosiveness needed to perform certain tricks.
  
  Without good cardiovascular endurance, gymnastics become dangerous, as they’re more likely to get injured through laziness and floppy form that puts too much pressure on joints. 

Flexibility

Gymnasts incorporate flexibility training into their workouts to ensure they’re bendy enough to attempt tricks without injury. Calisthenics athletes tend not to, as most bodyweight exercises aren’t dependent on being flexible (though it helps), so there’s a large gap in flexibility between them both.

• Gymnasts are one of the most flexible athletes. Your muscles must be very elastic and have a high range of motion to allow your body to bend in gymnastics certain positions, for example, the splits, backbends, leaps, and many more.
  
  
• Flexibility is required with calisthenics, but nowhere near the extent of a gymnast. Once again, having a good level of flexibility is significant in avoiding injury; however, there aren’t many exercises that require substantial bend or flex. 

Balance

Both gymnasts and calisthenic athletes need balance to conquer their activity; however, gymnasts are dependent on it, and calisthenic athletes aren’t. A gymnast needs it to maintain control throughout their routine, whereas a calisthenic athlete only needs it to assist a static/exercise.

• Gymnasts perform rotations, spins, and flips, which require an abundance of balance. They must maintain stability so their routine looks aesthetically pleasing and well-kept to give them the best chance of getting a high score!
  
  
• Calisthenic athletes need balance for body control and for the ability to exercise. Athletes won’t train their balance to make a move look neat.
  
  Good balance is needed so you can actually perform the exercise and utilize strength For example, athletes with significant strength but no balance could struggle with certain holds and exercises, such as the frog stance, human flag, or handstand.

How Gymnastics And Calisthenics Are Styled Differently

Gymnasts aim to impress a judge by making their routine tidy and clean via straight posture and costume; however, calisthenics is a show of strength. These indicators are assessed differently: gymnastics uses an official scoring system, whereas calisthenics uses opinion and relativity.

Gymnasts spend significant time perfecting these moves, allowing their routine to look tidy. While it’s a critical element of gymnastics, it’s rare to see a calisthenic athlete focusing on it.

However, calisthenics is only a training method; therefore, it has no standard for what makes someone’s trick, statics, or exercise ‘better’ than somebody else. The calisthenics community has come up with these criteria, and it isn’t based on an official scoring system. 

Look at the videos below, one showing a gymnast routine and the other displaying a calisthenic routine.

Do Calisthenics and Gymnastics Differ In Location

A gymnast is limited to exercise at a specialized gym; however, a calisthenics athlete can exercise anywhere on land because it only requires body weight.

• Generic gyms don’t have a proper gymnast set-up, so most athletes train in a specialized gym. These have the necessary safety precautions, such as foam, mats, and crash pads, to practice in a controlled, risk-minimized environment. 
  
  They tend to be indoors and large, so there is plenty of room to practice floor routines. 

• In terms of calisthenics, you can train anywhere – at home, outside, or in the gym. As the focus is bodyweight, you aren’t reliant on massive equipment.
  
  Most athletes train somewhere with a set of bars and a comfy floor, but this is all you’ll ever need, and you aren’t reliant on finding a calisthenic-specific gym to have a sound workout! 

What Are The Similarities Between Calisthenics And Gymnastics

Calisthenics and gymnastics share attributes such as the type of strength needed, the body types, the movements, and certain equipment.

• The level of strength.
• Individual body types.
• Routine, choreography, and motion.
• Equipment to perform the movements.

Why Strength Is Alike In Gymnastics And Calisthenics

Athletes in gymnastics and calisthenics have similar strength levels as they share the foundations. Therefore they exercise the same muscle groups, despite having different intentions.

1. Wrist strength: Both activities utilize the wrists, for example, handstands, gripping wooden rings, and swinging on high bars. All these moves require the athlete’s wrists and forearms to resist the pressure of their body weight and stay in control.
   
   
2. Core Strength: In both activities, athletes put themselves in awkward statics; for example, a human flag requires you to hold yourself horizontally by gripping a pole, or a front lever requires you to lay flat in the air by holding rings – the core is what enables athletes to maintain good posture and hold for a long duration. 
   
   
3. Upper body Strength: Athletes in both activities have a solid upper body. The back, shoulders, chest, and arms create the foundations for both activities, as these are the muscle groups that you use the most.
   
   
4. High strength-to-mass ratio: Athletes in these activities want a high strength-to-mass ratio to give them enough power to perform tricks and statics while keeping light, so they don’t burn out.

Why Athletes In Calisthenics And Gymnastics Have Similar Body Types:

Both calisthenics and gymnastic athletes are ripped (high muscle definition) because they exercise the same muscle groups, and maintain a similar intensity, leading to similar levels of hypertrophy.

A short description includes:

• Low body fat.
• High muscle mass.
• Broad upper body.
• Toned and chiseled. 
• Defined muscles.

The exercises both athletes participate in are extremely intense. Therefore, it uses a lot of energy and burns many calories. This calorie burn results in low body fat levels, which, in turn, increases muscle tone.

How The Statics Are Alike In Calisthenics And Gymnastics

Calisthenics and gymnastics share a lot of statics, such as the Victorian cross, reverse lever, or Maltese. Additionally, some of the tricks and movements, such as muscle-ups, tricep dips, and jumping, are shared across each activity.

Watching both calisthenics and gymnastics, it’s clear they take inspiration from one another.

While the execution may differ, they all have undeniable similarities, which makes it understandable why people may think they are the same. 

What Equipment Is Used In Both Calisthenics And Gymnastics

Calisthenics and gymnastics share the following: the high bar, the parallel bar, the rings, and the floor.

As mentioned above, there will be some differentiation in how each athlete will use the equipment, but both athletes use them in their own way.

Should You Pick Calisthenics Or Gymnastics

Picking calisthenics or gymnastics heavily depends on what you want to get out of the activity. Comparing an Olympic sport and a street workout, there are differences in fame, money, and day-to-day responsibilities each activity has.

Below are brief overviews of each, so you know what you’re signing up for; however, remember it isn’t black and white; each activity shares elements with one another.

• What Experiences You get from gymnastics.
• what experiences you get from calisthenics.
• what are common traits of a gymnast
• What are common traits of a calisthenics athlete.

What Experience Do You Get Out Of Gymnastics

2. Teamwork: While gymnasts perform independently, many managers, trainers, coaches, etc, support and guide them along the way. If you want to be a part of a team and build long-lasting relationships, gymnastics provides the lifestyle to do so!
   
3. Impressing loved ones: Gymnasts have the strength, balance, and flexibility to perform tricks in front of friends and family, such as front flips. It could be on a beach, grass, or road, but a gymnast’s tricks will always impress a crowd! 

What Experience Do You Get Out Of Calisthenics

1. No strings attached: Calisthenics has the flexibility to train whenever, wherever, and with whoever, as there aren’t strict requirements to compete. Some individuals prefer this to gymnastics, as while you exercise similar movements, there aren’t any major commitments.
   
2. Functional Strength: Calisthenics works multiple planes of movements and rotations, so athletes have high functional strength. As a result, day-to-day tasks seem a lot more effortless, leaving you with more energy throughout your activities.
   
3. Creative and challenging exercises: The variety of exercises gives athletes muscle awareness so they contract the desired muscle groups. This allows for a better workout, and lets athletes have a deeper understanding of their bodies.

How To Become A Successful Gymnast

1. Competitiveness: This is a great motivator because athletes force themselves to out-train all other athletes to get the most points to win. However, it must be a healthy amount; otherwise, it could work against you by causing exhaustion.
   
2. Passion For Acrobatics: You must love being in the air and throwing your body off the floor. Learning flips and spins should fire you up as the more daring tricks you perform, the more points the judges score.
   
3. Bravery: Lots of tricks can seem daunting for the first time; however, overcoming this fear and safely attempting it is a crucial trait in becoming a great athlete. Use this in moderation; you should only try dangerous tricks in a controlled environment.

How To Become A Good Calisthenics Athlete

1. Passion For Bars: The pull-up, tricep, and monkey bars are all common equipment that can dictate a whole workout session. This helps athletes persevere through intense and demanding workouts.
   
2. Rock climbing: A shared hobby of calisthenic athletes is rock climbing and bouldering! They target the same muscle group and mimic similar movements; for example, a pull-up simulates climbing on top of a rock ledge.  If you have had experience as a rock climber, you have most likely built up enough strength to be a calisthenic athlete too.
   
3. Body Mobility: Being free with your body and improving its abilities, to become more functional I a key idea that pulls individuals to start calisthenics.

Does Being Good At Calisthenics Help With Gymnastics

Yes, being good at calisthenics helps your ability as a gymnast and vice versa. Both activities require lots of functional strength, which you gain through bodyweight exercises. Gymnasts use plenty of calisthenics training to condition their bodies to be able to withstand body weight, allowing them to perform tricks and statics. 

While calisthenics will help a gymnast get the necessary strength, it won’t help with the balance or cardiovascular endurance a gymnast needs. 

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