10 Best Push Exercises to Start Calisthenics

What's up guys!

Its Michael from calisthenics family.

And today I'm going to show you the top 10 push exercises that you should do

as a beginner and intermediates to get started or progress in calisthenics.

So first of all, let's share some of my experience,

because when I started out with calisthenics about six years ago,

I had these big dreams, which we all have.

If you're watching this video right now to unlock the planche,

the handstand push up, and, for example, a muscle up.

But I just didn't know where to start and which exercises I needed

to really progress and learn all these amazing calisthenics exercises.

So after a lot of trial and error, getting to know my weaknesses

and discovering new exercises, I gradually started to understand

which exercises were important for me to progress.

So for this video, I thought, Let's share these exercises

that really helped me out so you can benefit from it, too.

So let's get straight into the ten exercises and make sure

to watch this video all the way to the end for our weekly giveaway

and a special announcement.

So the first push exercise that comes to mind is the pushup.

Should you incorporate this exercise in your routine?

Yes, you should

It's a great fundamental exercise to get stronger in your pushing strength,

but only if you perform this with proper form and technique.

So don't do your pushups like this, but instead make quality reps

only with full range of motion, scapular protection

and a posterior pelvic tilt a.k.a no arched back.

This is really the only way that the pushup will benefit

you in more advanced exercises in a later stage.

Next up is the frog stand.

When I tried to learn a handstand, I did a ton of attempts just trying to balance

and hopefully hold it for a few seconds, but mostly without success.

This was a big waste of time because when I dropped my ego and started

with the frog stand, I finally started to understand how to balance all my hands.

This exercise really enables you to get started with hand balancing work

in an accessible way and is a must have in your routine.

Number three is the parallel bar dip.

This is the most effective exercise to increase overall pull strength.

This exercise will prepare you for all harder push exercises

such as the hands and push up the muscle up and the L-sit to handstand.

Furthermore, it is the most effective exercise to build muscle mass

in both your shoulders, your chest and your triceps.

Number four is the pike stand and isometric exercise

that will help you to get started with straight arm strength,

unlike with the wall handstand where you tend to arch your back.

This exercise will help you to understand good body alignment for the handstand

to level up, elevate your legs on a box and focus on complete straight arms,

elevated scapular position and a posterior pelvic tilt.

Next.

This exercise also helps to improve your shoulder mobility

all aspects that are important for a proper form handstand

number five are the scapula pushup and dip,

probably the most forgotten and neglected exercises.

These two exercises are essential to improve range of motion

in your scapular area and to understand the different moving patterns

like protection, elevation, depression and retraction.

All these positions are a must to understand

because you all need them in all calisthenics exercises.

Next is the straight bar dip, also called the French Dip.

The fundamental push exercise when learning the muscle up

which consist out of a pull up and straight bar dip.

This exercise helps you to get stronger in a deeper position of the dip.

So when practicing this exercise, try to hit the chest to the bar

and focus on pushing up as explosive as possible.

Number seven is the pike pushup.

If there's one exercise that you need to remember

after watching this video, then it's this one.

This exercise is really the only exercise that is a vertical push motion

that replicates the handstand push up.

You can level up by elevating your legs and increasing range of motion.

So make sure to never skip this exercise in your routine.

Next is the psuedo of push up or forward lean push up.

When you've reached enough strength

in the regular pushup, you can level up by moving more forward.

This will get your body used to more lean and force in your shoulders.

This exercise is a must to master to prepare yourself

for, for example, a plank or 90 degree handstand push up

number nine are the weight push up and dip.

If there's one thing that I learned is that evidence

based strength rules also apply to calisthenics training.

So when you've reached a certain amount of regular pushups and dips,

there's no need to increase with even more reps

because then you start to train muscle endurance while you

want to increase the intensity of the exercise by adding more weight

so you stay in optimal rep ranges for building strength.

As a result, your body weight exercises start to feel light weight.

The last exercise of the list is the L sit hold,

one of the most functional exercises besides working to complete core

and six pack abs.

This exercise practices core compression and is incredibly effective to improve

scapular depression, which is useful for all downward pushing exercises

such as the dips, muscle ups and the L-sit to handstand, since the l-sit

It is pretty challenging to start.

We would recommend to start with the tucked l-sit hold.

All right, guys.

So these were the 10 best push exercises that you have to incorporate

into your routine as a beginner or intermediate athlete.

I hope this was helpful and that you now have a better understanding

which exercises are helpful and why they are.

Of course, all of these exercises are also incorporated

in all our training programs, in our Calisthenics Family Workout app,

which you can download and start for free in the Google play and App Store.

Make sure to check out the first link in the description.

Also, I want to give you guys a heads up because next week we will have our app

and coaching programs on sale with the highest discount of the year

because of the Black Friday deals and the first 50 people

that will sign up get free calisthenics, wrist reps.

So make sure to keep an eye out on our socials and your email

to be the first in line.

So now let's get into this week's giveaway.

And today we will give away one set of our optimal grip paralettes

which are very useful to practice almost all calisthenics push exercises

that you have seen in this video, like the pike pushup,

the l-sit and the frog stand all with more stability.

So how to win

Last video, we gave away two pairs of our calisthenics,

family wrist reps and the winners will appear right here in a screen.

Congrats and guys, thanks for watching.

Make sure to like this video.

Subscribe to our channel for more workouts and tutorials

and I'll see you in one of the next videos.

Peace out.