The Benefits of Calisthenics for Women in Midlife
The internet has been buzzing with content about the benefits of calisthenics, but what exactly is it, who is it for, and how does it differ from weight training?
What does calisthenics mean?
In a nutshell, calisthenics simply means body weight training. Contrary to popular myth, you do not need to be a gymnast or a circus performer in order to do it! There is nothing inherently acrobatic about it. In fact, calisthenics is extremely beginner friendly and there are plenty of simple exercises to get you started.
"The foundations of calisthenics training are very useful in everyday life, because a lot of routine, daily movements revolve around using muscles that are built through calisthenics."
The benefits of calisthenics for women over 40
Midlife can be a time of significant change. Our bodies evolve, our priorities shift, and the way we exercise may need to change with us. Maintaining muscle strength becomes increasingly important, to help us stay independent and active as we age. Getting up from the floor, carrying shopping bags, climbing stairs, lifting luggage and children all require strength and coordination. Calisthenics trains the body to work as a connected unit, rather than isolating individual muscles, which helps to build functional strength fluidly.
"When I worked within the care industry, I witnessed older people struggling to get out their chair or bed and even using a frame as support can be difficult due to the lack of strength in their arms to manoeuvre their own body weight. As we get older these things can become very hard and people often rapidly decline."
Calisthenics is a flexible form of strength training that can be performed anywhere, without the need for equipment. This is particularly handy if you are short on time, space or resources. Because calisthenics can be done anytime, anyplace, it can be slotted into busy schedules without the need to clear the decks in order to fit it in. In fact, it can be a fun activity to do with kids or alongside them while they play. Not only can this reduce the stress of organising childcare or trying to squeeze it in during the working day, it has the added benefit of being a powerful form of modelling daily movement.
Calisthenics for perimenopause and menopause
Great for injury prevention and longevity, calisthenic movements can be particularly beneficial for women navigating perimenopause and menopause. Oestrogen helps to build muscle, lubricate joints, and support collagen to keep our ligaments and tendons strong and stretchy. When our oestrogen levels start to fluctuate and decline in midlife, we can feel more stiff, tight and achy - especially first thing in the morning.
Bodyweight exercises use multiple joints and planes of motion at the same time, which helps improve functional movement. Unlike passive stretching, calisthenics builds strength at the edge of our movement range, teaching our nervous systems to feel strong and safe in deep positions.
"Calisthenics movements can help with creating shoulder stability and getting blood flow to the shoulder joints. This helps in keeping them mobile which is very important as a common symptom is frozen shoulder."
Strength isn't just about how much weight we can lift. Many calisthenic exercises require you to control your own body through space, which improves balance, stability and coordination. Single-leg exercises, planks, pistol squats, lunges and core movements can challenge the muscles responsible for stability while also improving body awareness.
Better balance can help us to feel more capable and connected to our bodies, so we feel more confident in the way we move through the world. Routinely avoiding activities and living in a heightened state of caution will only make our lives smaller and can negatively impact how we perceive ourselves. Gaining trust and confidence is essential for building a sense of safety in our bodies, so we can make decisions based on joy and curiosity instead of fear.
Calisthenics is also an effective way to improve pelvic floor and bladder control through deep core exercises, like dead bugs, heel taps and hollow holds. Doing deep core exercises can improve or resolve diastasis recti by helping to bring separated core muscles back together, even after years.
Bone health deserves particular attention during midlife, especially around and after menopause, when hormonal changes can affect bone density, creating an increased risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis. Weight-bearing and resistance exercises place healthy stress on the bones, which helps maintain skeletal strength. Calisthenics can provide this type of stimulus through movements such as lunges, step-ups and, when used in conjunction with plyometrics (eg. skipping, pogo jumping, and clapping push-ups), it is a great tool for improving bone density and even reversing osteopenia and osteoporosis.
Calisthenics at Fitology Hub
Fitology Hub members will already be familiar with a number of functional calisthenics exercises from sessions, including push-ups, planks, squats, lunges, dips and pull-ups, which can all be adapted to ensure all exercises are individually paced.
"If you’ve always wanted to be able to do a pull up, a great starting point is using resistance bands on a pull up bar to reduce some of the load, so that you’re able to understand form and be able to do the movement. Over time, through repetition and consistency, you will be able to do more sets with fewer resistance bands until, eventually, you’re able to pull up your own body weight."
Calisthenics improves agility and endurance as well as strength, with plenty of scope for progression. Regular practice can, if performed with enough consistency, even lead to the kind of gravity-defying feats of strength seen in elite movements like muscle-ups and the human flag!
What are the differences between calisthenics and weight training?
While weight training focusses on progressive load, calisthenics focusses on progressive challenge. Calisthenics is great for training body control, coordination and functional movement, while weight training makes it easier to progressively overload individual muscles. Different disciplines can cross over and work together - it doesn't have to be either/or! Both forms of strength training are fantastic, especially when used in combination. At Fitology Hub, you get the best of both worlds!
