Calisthenics Guide of Leo Wang
Push Pull Leg Split
Pushing: horizontal and vertical pushing movements
Ex: Pushups, pike pushups, dips
Pulling: horizontal and vertical pulling movements
Ex: Pullups, chin-ups, inverted rows
Leg: all leg movements
Ex: Pistol squats, nordic curls, calve raises
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Example PPL Split:
Monday- Push
Tuesday- Pull
Wednesday- Rest
-Can be rearranged, as long as you
have 1-2 rest days between movement
categories
-Only training related muscle groups
in one day means better focus;
shorter workouts
Thursday- Push
Friday- Pull
Saturday- Legs
Sunday- Rest
*Core training is fit into the end of any of the
workouts once or twice a week
*This split can be extended past a week if you are also
planning to do skill training
Full Body Split
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-Meant for those who don’t have a lot of time
-Full body workout including all categories of
movement discussed in the video
Ex: horizontal pushing/pulling, vertical
pushing/pulling, core, legs
-2-3 workouts a week
-Less workouts throughout the week
-High number of sets every workout, may cause you
to fatigue mid workout and use less effort for
remaining sets
-May take a while to become accustomed to full body
soreness
Skill Split
-Also referred to as periodization
-Different cycles which last 4-6 weeks each where
you train different aspects of a skill
-Varying cycles for hypertrophy and skill
specificity
-Deloads at the end of each cycle
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Training Styles
*Intensity- how heavy or difficult
an exercise is
Strength Training:
*Volume- amount of work you do (reps
x sets)
-Training for pure
strength
-high intensity with less reps per set and longer
rest times
(1-5 reps per set, 3–5-minute rest per set)
Hypertrophy Training:
-Training to build muscle efficiently/ increase
muscular endurance
-Higher volume, short rest times
(8-12 reps per sets, 1-3 minutes rest per set)
*Both styles of training will promote muscle growth
but training purely for hypertrophy will not help
you gain strength efficiently in calisthenics
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-Beginners should have a mix of both hypertrophy
training and strength training in their routine
-Create a routine with exercises of varying
difficulty and utilize different rep ranges and
rest times
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Routine Building
-If you plan to build your own workout routine make
sure each workout has all categories of movement
corresponding to whether it is a push, pull, or leg
workout
Ex:
-Push workouts should include: Vertical pushing in
both directions, horizontal pushing
-Pull workouts should include: Vertical and
horizontal pulling
-Leg workouts should include: Piston squat
progression, nordic curl/ hamstring curl
progression, and calve raises if you are training
them for calisthenics
-Core workouts can be fit into the end of any push
pull or leg work once or twice a week and should
include: leg raise progression, seated pike lift
progression, hollow body hold progression
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Exercise List (Push)
Vertical pushing (overhead)
-Pike pushup (adjust difficulty with hand placement)
-Decline pike pushup (adjust difficulty with hand
placement and decline height
-Decline pike pushup with parallettes/elevated hands
(adjust difficulty with hand placement, decline height,
parallettes height
Vertical push (downwards)
-Dip negatives (adjust difficulty with speed)
-Dip with bands (adjust difficulty with band)
Horizontal push
-Incline knee pushups (adjust difficulty with incline
height)
-Knee pushups
-Incline pushups (adjust difficulty with incline
height)
-Standard pushups
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-Explosive pushups
-Diamond/Archer push ups
-Pseudo planchet pushups (adjust difficulty with lean)
-Decline pushup variants
Exercise List (Pull)
Vertical pull
Pull up negative (adjust difficulty with speed)
Banded pull ups (adjust difficulty with band
thickness)
Pullup/Chin-up/Neutral
Explosive pullup/chin-up/neutral
Horizontal pull
Inverted row with bent legs (adjust difficulty with
bar/ring height)
Inverted row with straight legs (adjust difficulty
with bar/ring height)
Inverted row with elevated legs (adjust difficulty
with elevation height)
Accessory work (difficulty dependent on person)
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Accessory work (difficulty dependent on weaknesses)
Isometric holds in your hardest rom
Vertical scapula retraction and depression
holds/pulls
Horizontal scapula retraction and depression
holds/pulls
Exercise List (Legs)
Pistol squats
-Single leg box step
-Pistol squat with hand assistance
-Pistol squat with opposing leg not locked
-Elevated pistol squat
-Standard pistol squat
Nordic curls
-Nordic curl negative with posterior pelvic tilt
(adjust difficulty with tilt angle)
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-Nordic curl negative with posterior pelvic tilt
and pushup (adjust difficulty with tilt angle, and
pushup power)
-Nordic curl negative with pushup (adjust
difficulty with pushup power)
-Standard nordic curl
Sliding hamstring curls
-Sliding curl with posterior pelvic tilt (adjust
difficulty with tilt angle)
-Standard sliding curl
-Sliding curl with one leg
Calve raises
-Calve raises with both legs (adjust difficulty by
elevation)
-Single leg calve raises (adjust difficulty by
elevation)
Exercise List (Core)
Leg raises
-Knee raises
-Knee raises with one leg extended
-Knee raises extend both legs at top
-Standard leg raises
Hollow body hold
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-Hollow body hold with hands on the side (adjust
difficulty with leg leverage)
-Hollow body hold with hands overhead
-Hollow body hold with arm circles
Seated pike lifts
-Pike lift with backward lean and one leg (adjust
difficulty with hand position)
-Pike lift with one leg (adjust difficulty with
hand position)
-Pike lift with both legs (adjust difficulty with
hand position)
Accessory work (difficulty dependent on weaknesses)
-Knee/leg raise holds
-Pike lift holds
-Hamstring stretches
Beginner Template (1/4)
Push Day
2 x 3-5 challenging pike pushup
progression
(3-5 minutes rest between sets)
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Start each category of
movement with a high
intensity progression
3 x 5-8 pike push
progression
Less intense progression with more
reps per set
(1-3 minutes rest between
sets)
2 x 3-5 challenging dip progression
3 x 5-8 dip progression
2 x 3-5 challenging horizontal pushing progression
3 x 5-8 horizontal pushing progression
2-3 sets of isometric holds/ accessory work is
needed
*Before any workout always properly stretch and
warmup
*The number shown represents the sets and reps. Ex:
2 x 3 means 2 sets of 3 reps
Beginner Template (2/4)
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Pull Day
2 x 3-5 challenging vertical pull progression
3 x 5-8 vertical pull progression
2 x 3-5 challenging horizontal pull progression
3 x 5-8 vertical pull progression
2-3 sets of isometric holds/ accessory work is
needed
*Before any workout always properly stretch and
warmup
*The number shown represents the sets and reps. Ex:
2 x 3 means 2 sets of 3 reps
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Beginner Template (3/4)
Leg Day
2 x 3-5 challenging pistol squat progression
3 x 5-8 pistol squat progression
2 x 3-5 challenging nordic curl/sliding curl
progression
3 x 5-8 nordic curl/sliding curl progression
3 x max calve raise progression to failure
2-3 sets of isometric holds/ accessory work is
needed
*Before any workout always properly stretch and
warmup
*The number shown represents the sets and reps. Ex:
2 x 3 means 2 sets of 3 reps
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Beginner Template (4/4)
Core Workout
2 x 3-5 challenging seated pike lift progression
3 x 5-8 seated pike lift progression
2 x 3-5 challenging leg raise progression
3 x 5-8 leg raise progression
3 x max hallow body hold progression
2-3 sets of isometric holds/ accessory work is
needed
*Before any workout always properly stretch and
warmup
*The number shown represents the sets and reps. Ex:
2 x 3 means 2 sets of 3 reps
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Beginner Templated Explained
Starting with higher intensity
exercises
More energy and strength
Push harder compared to if you
did them after the higher volume
sets
Follow up the strength sets with
higher volume sets to stimulate
hypertrophy
Finish with accessory work to
help fix imbalances, improve
specific weaknesses
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Progressive Overload
-Prevents plateaus strength and muscle gain
-Progressively overload in calisthenics by
increasing the difficulty of the exercises and/or
increasing the rep ranges
-A simple way to overload as a beginner is to reach
10-12 reps of exercise and then replace it with a
harder progression
-By keeping the same exercises with the same reps
for a long period of time you may face with muscle
gain breakdown
-Make sure to eat healthy foods and fats that
includes protein and carbohydrates to progress
faster
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Progressive Overload Example
Push Day
2 x 3-5 challenging pike pushup progression
3 x 5-8 previously challenging pike pushup
progression
2 x 3-5 challenging dip progression
3 x 5-8 dip progression
2 x 3-5 challenging horizontal pushing progression
3 x 5-8 horizontal pushing progression
2-3 sets of isometric holds/ accessory work are
needed
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