Published on
Updated
Reading 1 min.
Thanks to the development of outdoor sports parks, calisthenics is becoming more democratic. This practice mainly uses body weight and does not require investment. A solution when nearly a quarter of French people have given up practicing a sport because of their financial situation. Discover this inexpensive street workout practice.
Calisthenics: what is it?
If your budget does not allow you to enroll in a gym, opt for calisthenics, whose promise of results can be found in the name: “Kallos” means “beauty” and “Sthenos” means “strength”. This sport practice does not require investment or subscription. Its essence is found in the street, where it is practiced by its followers. This street workout mixes gymnastics, strength and flexibility.
Practitioners work mainly in body weight, with or without equipment. Also called calisthenics, it requires some facilities accessible free of charge. These are bodybuilding parks of which more than 1,000 are available throughout France, according to street-work-out.com.
A calisthenics session first includes a warm-up of the muscles. A warm-up of the tendons is necessary because they are very stressed during the tricks. Then, the postures vary according to the level. A beginner will be content to work on push-ups, abs and pull-ups. A series of essential exercises to achieve the “human flag” (the “human flag”). This is an emblematic posture of the discipline where the athlete hangs on at arm’s length, horizontally, in relation to a bar, like a flag.
A viral discipline on social networks
The social network TikTok helps to democratize the discipline, including the hashtag #calisthenics has over 13.4 million views. Yet, according to historians, the activity has been around for centuries. It was already practiced in ancient Greece, notably by the Spartans, renowned for their strength in battle. In China, the doctors of the Han dynasty (in 200 before our era), prescribed it to stay in good health.