What Is Hybrid Callisthenics? Training & Benefits

If you want to improve your flexibility, strength, and overall fitness, adding hybrid callisthenics to your fitness routine may be a great decision for you. 

Hybrid callisthenics is a mix of traditional calisthenic exercises with other forms of workout like plyometrics that can help you achieve your fitness goals. Whether you are new to the world of fitness or have been here for a while, this form of physical training offers benefits to everyone. 

However, you might be confused about what to include in your hybrid callisthenics training, especially if you work out without any assistance. In this article, we will be going through the various training techniques of this form of exercise along with its benefits. Let us begin!

Techniques Of Hybrid Callisthenics Training

Hybrid callisthenics is rising in terms of popularity because it can help you create a balanced and well-rounded hybrid workout routine. There is a wide variety of training techniques that are used while doing hybrid callisthenics, and here are a few of them:

1. Bodyweight Exercises

As the name suggests, bodyweight training exercise requires you to use your own body weight as a form of resistance training. Like all calisthenic workouts, it is a good way of building endurance by targeting your slow twitch muscle fibres. Body weight exercises form the basic premise of traditional callisthenics and are an important part of its hybrid alternative too. 

While performing hybrid callisthenics workout routines, you can use various bodyweight exercises such as pull-ups, push-ups, and lunges in several ways. For instance, you can do a circuit workout by combining your sets of pushups, lunges, and squats with pull-ups. 

Since lifting your own weight targets several muscle groups at a time, doing these compound movements can help you increase the overall strength of your body. While doing squats and lunges can help you build your endurance, the pullups and dips will develop your upper body region (chest, shoulders, and biceps).  

Another way you can perform bodyweight resistance training exercises as part of your hybrid callisthenics routine is by pairing up push-ups with weightlifting exercises, such as a bench press. 

This way, while the former workout will improve your strength and endurance, the latter will help you increase your muscle mass. Combining the two can also help promote muscle hypertrophy, tone your body, improve bone health, and so on. 

2. Weight Training

While bodyweight exercises are effective, you need something more for isolation movements. In such cases, switching them with an effective weight lifting regime can make doing hybrid callisthenics more enjoyable. 

Weight training, as the name implies, requires you to lift weights, such as dumbbells and kettlebells. This training style can help you with muscle growth effectively. 

A few forms of weight-lifting exercises include but are not limited to deadlifts, curls and bench press. And since pull-ups require you to have a strong grip, practising them from time to time can help you improve your ability to grip. 

As a result, you will also be able to lift weights more easily. This kind of combination can further help you improve your sense of balance, increase your overall back strength, and help with muscle gain. 

You can also use weight training to intensify your bodyweight exercises. For instance, you may hold a dumbbell in your hands while performing squats or do weighted pull-ups. This can further improve your endurance and body strength.  

3. Plyometrics

If you want to improve your athletic performance, incorporating plyometrics in your hybrid callisthenics workout regime can be a great decision. Plyometrics is also known as jump training and requires you to perform explosive exercises that need a lot of instant power and energy. A few of the many plyometric exercises include box jumps and plyometric pushups. 

One way to add plyometrics to your hybrid callisthenics regime can be by performing a circuit workout. You may do so by doing jump squats, burpees, and plyometric pushups. This combination can improve your cardiovascular health and increase the rate at which your calories burn. 

Another way of utilising the benefits of plyometrics is by performing its exercises as a form of warm-up before moving on to traditional calisthenic workouts. This way, you can prepare your body perfectly for the upcoming physical training session. 

4. Gymnastics

Not everyone can indeed master the advanced techniques of gymnastics, but what is stopping you from trying out the basic ones? You can work on your flexibility, strength, and coordination easily by including this form of physical training routine in your hybrid callisthenics regime. 

One way to include gymnastics in your hybrid callisthenics routine is by combining traditional exercises with gymnastic workouts like handstands. This combination can help you tone the upper body muscles of the chest, shoulders, and back. At the same time, it will increase the strength of your core. 

You may also include gymnastics into your hybrid callisthenics training program doing handstand pushups. It is a challenging form of exercise that requires a decent time to master. This can help you improve your body stability and control, and tone your upper body muscles. 

Benefits Of Hybrid Callisthenics Training

1. Improve Your Strength

Hybrid callisthenics can help you enjoy the benefits of several fitness worlds at once. While traditional callisthenics can help you work on improving muscle strength, pairing it with other forms of physical training programs like weight lifting can help you work on aspects like building muscle mass. 

Since the premise of hybrid callisthenics is built on the concept of the variability of exercises, you can target several muscle groups at a time. Hence, you can work on your upper body, core, lower body, triceps, and so on without any trouble. 

And since no vital region of the body is left untouched while working out using this technique, you can improve your overall body strength easily.   

2. Better Flexibility

It is a common misconception that workouts like hybrid callisthenics only work for people who want to build muscle or lift weights. In fact, it is proven to help improve flexibility as well. Lunges and squats work on regions such as thigh muscles, which can help you perform stunts like splits that require these parts to be flexible.

Including dynamic stretching in your hybrid callisthenics routine can help you improve your flexibility significantly. And a few exercises under this category that are worth including in your routine are lunges, leg swings, and squats.  

You can work further on your flexibility by combining traditional calisthenic exercises with yoga. Poses such as forward fold, pigeon pose, and so on can help you achieve your fitness goals. They strengthen your muscles and improve the overall flexibility of your body.

3. Time-Efficient

If you are someone who does not have the time to invest in or use any special equipment, then hybrid callisthenics may be your ideal form of workout. Most of the exercises included in it do not require you to go to a gym and can be performed with little to no equipment assistance. 

Additionally, since this form of workout requires you to combine a few different types of physical training techniques – you get a combination of benefits. By targeting different muscle groups at a time, you can easily accomplish your daily fitness goals in a shorter period. 

Hybrid callisthenics also requires you to perform high-intensity workouts. As a result, you get shorter breaks between different exercises while doing, for instance, a circuit set. 

This is a great way to burn more calories in less time. It is also highly customisable, and hence you can build your routine according to your time preferences. 

4. Variety Of Exercises 

It is easy to get bored with something when we have to do it repeatedly, and workouts are no exception. However, consistency is the key when it comes to achieving results in this field. Hence, the variety that hybrid callisthenics has to offer you is one of its greatest benefits. 

Hybrid callisthenics allows you to choose which form of physical exercise you want to pair your traditional callisthenics routine with. You can modify your workout routine whenever desired to ensure a boost of motivation to keep working out.

Conclusion

Hybrid callisthenics is a great way to make working out more interesting and fun. Traditional calisthenic exercises such as push-ups, chin-ups, pull-ups, weighted dips, back squats, and so on are great, but their benefits skyrocket when we combine them with another complementing exercise. 

So, you should incorporate training techniques, such as bodyweight exercises, weight training, plyometrics, and gymnastics into your hybrid callisthenics routine to improve the efficiency of the workout. It can help you increase your strength and flexibility. It is also quite time-efficient and adds a greater variety to your fitness regime. 

Check out our hybrid callisthenics guide, were we dive into it further.

With that, we have reached the end of this article. Until next time, keep working out and stay fit!