Aerobics Vs. Callisthenics: What’s The Difference?

Maintaining an active lifestyle is essential if you want to look and feel good.

Regular exercise not only helps to improve physical health but also offers numerous benefits to your mental health, as it helps reduce stress and boost mood. However, with so many fitness influencers out there propagating their online programs and meal plans, it becomes difficult to choose the right type of exercise for yourself.

That said, two popular forms of exercise are aerobics and callisthenics, both of which are effective in improving one’s fitness level and overall health. However, while these two workout styles share some similarities, they have key differences that are important to understand. Accordingly, you can choose a workout style that aligns with your fitness goals.

So, whether you’re a seasoned fitness enthusiast or just starting out, here’s what you need to know about these two exercise styles… 

Aerobic Exercise

“Aerobics” is the brainchild of Dr Kenneth Cooper and Col. Pauline Potts of the US Air Force, who wondered why some strong, muscular individuals performed poorly in fitness tasks. So, they developed a bunch of aerobic exercises, which became popular in 1968. This led to the popularity of “workout fashion,” including leg warmers, striped leotards, headbands, and more. 

The first and foremost advantage of indulging in this exercise is the strengthening of your cardiovascular system. Basically, aerobic exercise, regardless of its intensity, involves swift movement set to music. It causes sweating and heavy breathing as the heart delivers oxygenated blood to your muscles. 

Performing aerobic exercises can also help burn calories and result in weight loss. Other benefits include stronger muscles and bones, increased energy and endurance, reduced risk of heart disease, better blood circulation, reduced stress and anxiety, etc.

Examples Of Aerobic Exercises 

Aerobic exercise is commonly divided into two categories: low-impact and high-impact.

Low-impact exercises are less taxing on the joints and are recommended for overweight individuals with knee problems. These exercises include walking, cycling, swimming, rowing, and using an elliptical machine.

On the other hand, high-impact exercises are great if you do not suffer from joint issues. As such, you can indulge in running and jumping rope. Or, consider taking aerobics classes that involve a lot of jumping and bouncing.

Moving on, the intensity and duration of an aerobic exercise routine can be increased to make it more challenging. Alternatively, resistance can be added to exercises like walking or cycling uphill.

However, you should always start with low-intensity exercises for 20 to 60 minutes throughout the week. The duration of the exercise depends on its intensity, so the harder your work, the less time you need to exercise.

Callisthenics 

Callisthenics are rhythmic strength training exercises that use the individual’s body weight for resistance. These bodyweight exercises are believed to be practised by the Spartans long before the advent of aerobics. They are an effective alternative to traditional gym workouts and are performed before any exercise routine. 

Unlike aerobics, callisthenics does not involve any dancing and, instead, includes push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and knee rotations. 

Coming to the nitty gritty of how callisthenics work, the repetitive movements against resistance create tiny tears in one’s muscles. After healing, these tears make the muscles stronger and bigger. This further results in better metabolism, allowing you to burn calories more efficiently.

Moreover, a vigorous callisthenics workout employs more muscles simultaneously, thereby improving the cardiovascular system, building endurance, and burning more calories than most aerobic exercises. Callisthenics also provides many of the same mental health benefits as aerobic exercise, including improved self-esteem, reduced anxiety and depression, and better sleep.

Examples Of Callisthenics Exercises

Callisthenics exercises focus on specific muscle groups, with push-ups targeting the arms, abs, and chest and squats targeting the buttocks and thighs. Examples of upper-body callisthenics exercises include handstand push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips. For the lower body, exercises such as lunges, squats, pistol squats, and heel raises are common. Core muscles of the midsection can be worked with exercises like crunches, planks, and supermans.

Unlike aerobic exercise, which is typically done for an extended period of time, callisthenics involves completing a certain number of reps or performing for a short duration. Typically, a particular exercise can be performed anywhere between 8 and 20 reps, followed by one to four sets with brief rest periods in between.

Overall, doing callisthenics at least twice a week is recommended to work on all major muscle groups.

Choosing Between Callisthenics And Aerobics

1. Do You Want To Lose Weight?

For those who want to lose weight to achieve that envious beach body, aerobics is the way to go! 

For instance, if you weigh 70 kgs, a 30-minute vigorous routine of callisthenics exercises can help you burn about 298 calories. On the contrary, a 30-minute stationary cycling session can burn around 391 calories, while outdoor cycling at a speed of 16-19 mph can burn approximately 446 calories. 

Besides, aerobic exercise can be performed every day to burn more calories and speed up the weight loss process. However, callisthenics should be spaced out to avoid working the same muscle group on consecutive days.

Notably, in the long run, combining callisthenics with aerobics can aid in weight loss, as muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, when at rest.

2. Do You Want To Build Or Maintain Muscle Mass?

To build muscle mass, strength and weight training workouts, including callisthenics, are more effective than performing aerobic exercise. Callisthenic exercises such as push-ups use your body weight against gravity to strengthen the muscle groups in your chest, shoulders, and arms. 

Apart from increasing muscle strength, callisthenics can help improve bone health and flexibility. However, if you wish to stick to aerobics, we recommend trying out lower-body workouts, especially sprinting, as it strengthens the legs, glutes, and core.

3. Or Both?

Exercises that combine callisthenics and aerobics are classified as hybrids, as they involve cardio as well as resistance-training workouts. For instance, when you run up a hill or climb a flight of stairs, you are working through gravity. This is similar to what one may feel while performing callisthenic workouts. However, the running aspect of these exercises is clearly aerobic in nature.

Conclusion

Both aerobics and callisthenics offer numerous health benefits and can help individuals achieve their fitness goals. That said, aerobics is particularly effective for weight loss and improving cardiovascular health, while callisthenics is great for building muscle strength and endurance.

However, exercises combining cardio and resistance-training principles can provide the benefits of performing aerobics and callisthenics simultaneously. 

Ultimately, the best approach to exercise depends on an individual’s goals, preferences, and physical condition. We further recommend consulting a doctor or a fitness professional before starting any new exercise program to ensure safety and effectiveness.