To get results from calisthenics, train the entire range of exercises, such as the push, pull, and leg muscles. You will need to be consistent with your calisthenic routine for almost every week of the month to see results.

You don’t necessarily need to train every day to get results from calisthenics. It is recommended to perform calisthenics exercises at least 2 times a week to improve your strength and balance. So how long should calisthenic workouts be?

Calisthenic workouts can be as short as 20 minutes and as long as an hour. While short calisthenic workouts (less than 20 minutes) will rapidly build your endurance, long calisthenic workouts (over 30 minutes) will develop your bodyweight skills.

Short Calisthenics (Less Than 20 Minutes)

Shorter calisthenic workouts are going to be more intense and consist of a higher number of repetitions in a short period of time doing exercises relevant to your experience level.

Long Calisthenics (Longer Than 30 Minutes)

Longer calisthenic workouts are going to allow you to get comfortable with your technique on difficult exercises and maximize strength building by using longer recovery time.

Recommended Workout Length for All Skill Levels

A 15 minutes calisthenics workout is recommended for beginners. Multi-hour long workouts with thousands of repetitions aren’t going to jump-start incredible strength gains.

Training too long too quickly can lead to intense soreness and feelings of dread or anxiety when approaching workouts.

As you progress, you can gradually increase your calisthenics workouts.

Skill Level	Duration
Beginner	15-20 Minutes
Intermediate	25-35 Minutes
Advanced	40-60 Minutes

How to Increase Your Training Time

There are a number of ways to increase your calisthenic endurance eventually including more reps, sets, and exercise variations.

• Increase rest periods for difficult movements
• Progressively add more sets to workouts
• Mix in short rest periods to increase endurance
• Use exercises that stimulate cardiovascular involvement

An increase in workout session length will happen naturally as you gain experience in your calisthenics journey.

Don’t be too eager to jump to excessive lengths to kick start unnaturally fast progression in calisthenics.

Short rest periods combined with exercises that temporally increase heart rate is a simple and effective plan to increase training endurance gradually.

How to Know You’re Training Too Long

In an effort to increase strength, hypertrophy, or endurance, we often push ourselves to train for too long. Be wary of excessive training lengths as they can hinder your calisthenics training.

Signs of excessively long training sessions include:

• Breakdown in exercise technique
• Intense muscle soreness the day after calisthenic workouts
• Anxiety when thinking about training
• Lack of enjoyment during calisthenic sessions

Pushing oneself too hard in a calisthenic training session can actually hinder your progression and strength gains.

Training using short rest periods for lengthy amounts of time can lead to intense muscle breakdown that will prolong recovery and prevent you from getting back out for your next training sessions.

If you feel major energy or strength drop-offs during a calisthenic training session, it may be best to call it a day and be confident in the work you have put in.

Being conscious of training lengths can help you maximize the time you do have and encourage quality in your workload.

How Often Should I be Training?

Just like it is important to not train for over thirty minutes as a beginner, it is also important to not train more than three times a week.

Overtraining can lead to injury and prevent strength gains. Strength gains can also be stifled by a lack of recovery time.

Skill Level	Weekly Sessions	Weekly Sets
Beginner	2 to 3 times per week	<12 sets a week
Intermediate	3 to 4 times per week	12-15 sets a week
Advanced	4 or more times a week	16-20 sets a week

Beginners should focus on building a routine to create a solid foundation in their calisthenic journey. Going to the calisthenic park or training in your backyard too often as a beginner isn’t a maintainable habit.

Two training sessions a week as a beginner will give you a realistic routine with enough time to develop strength and endurance.

Intermediate calisthenic athletes should still be wary of overtraining. However, the strength and endurance foundation you have built will allow you to increase your training volume.

As an advanced calisthenic athlete, it takes a higher volume and training frequency to achieve many of the calisthenic milestones advanced athletes desire.

While still being mindful of rest and recovery, advanced athletes have developed enough core strength and endurance to fuel them in their quest to strive for rewarding calisthenic achievements.