The 100 best calisthenics exercises.
One clean, curated reference for building real strength with nothing but your bodyweight — from your very first push-up to the iron cross. Filter by goal, search by name, and learn the cues that matter.
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Showing 100 of 100 exercises.
Standard Push-Up
The cornerstone pressing movement. Lower your chest to the floor and press back up while holding a rigid plank from head to heels.
Knee Push-Up
A scaled push-up performed from the knees, reducing the load so beginners can master the pressing pattern with full range of motion.
Incline Push-Up
Hands elevated on a bench or rail. The higher the surface, the easier the press — a clean way to build volume toward full push-ups.
Decline Push-Up
Feet elevated to shift load toward the upper chest and shoulders, and to add resistance compared with the flat push-up.
Diamond Push-Up
Hands together forming a diamond beneath the chest, biasing the triceps and inner chest through a longer elbow range.
Wide Push-Up
A wider hand placement that emphasizes the chest through a broader stretch at the bottom of each rep.
Archer Push-Up
A wide-stance push-up where you shift onto one arm while the other stays straight, building toward the one-arm push-up.
Pseudo Planche Push-Up
A push-up with hands by the waist and shoulders leaned far forward, loading the front delts and prepping the planche.
Pike Push-Up
An inverted-V push-up that drives load onto the shoulders, the first true step toward the handstand push-up.
Hindu Push-Up
A flowing push-up that swoops from a downward-dog pike into an upward cobra, training mobility and pressing strength together.
Clap Push-Up
An explosive push-up where you drive off the floor hard enough to clap your hands before landing — pure pressing power.
One-Arm Push-Up
A push-up on a single arm with a widened foot base, demanding immense pressing strength and full-body anti-rotation control.
Pike Push-Up to Wall
Feet walked up a wall into a steep pike, bridging the gap between pike push-ups and full handstand push-ups.
Wall Handstand Push-Up
A vertical press performed in a wall-supported handstand — the bodyweight answer to the overhead press.
Freestanding Handstand Push-Up
A handstand push-up with no wall — combining a maximal overhead press with continuous balance correction.
Parallel Bar Dip
Suspended between two bars, you lower until the shoulders dip below the elbows and press back to lockout — the king of bodyweight pressing.
Bench Dip
Hands behind you on a bench, you bend the elbows to lower the hips and press back up — an accessible triceps builder.
Ring Dip
A dip on unstable rings that demands constant stabilization, dramatically raising the strength and control required.
Korean Dip
A dip behind a straight bar with the body leaned back, brutally loading the triceps and rear shoulders.
Planche Push-Up
A push-up performed in a planche with the feet off the ground — arguably the hardest pressing movement in calisthenics.
Sphinx Push-Up
A push-up that lowers from the hands to the forearms and back, isolating the triceps through an extended range.
Dead Hang
A passive hang from a bar that builds grip endurance and decompresses the spine — the foundation of all bar work.
Scapular Pull-Up
A small range pull driven only by the shoulder blades, teaching the scapular control that powers every pull-up.
Negative Pull-Up
Jump or step to the top of a pull-up, then lower as slowly as possible — the fastest route to your first full rep.
Australian Row
A horizontal row under a waist-high bar with feet on the floor — the easiest scalable pull for building back strength.
Pull-Up
An overhand-grip hang pulled until the chin clears the bar — the definitive test of bodyweight back strength.
Chin-Up
A supinated-grip pull-up that lets the biceps contribute more, often the first vertical pull a trainee can complete.
Wide-Grip Pull-Up
A pull-up with hands set well outside the shoulders, shortening the biceps involvement and hammering the lats.
Commando Pull-Up
A pull-up gripping the bar lengthwise so the head passes alternately on each side, adding a strong rotational core demand.
Archer Pull-Up
A wide pull-up that pulls the body to one hand while the other arm stays straight — a key step toward the one-arm pull-up.
Typewriter Pull-Up
Pull to the top, then slide side to side along the bar keeping the chin high — a brutal display of pulling control.
L-Sit Pull-Up
A strict pull-up performed while holding the legs out in an L — combining pulling power with a relentless core hold.
Muscle-Up (Bar)
An explosive pull-up that transitions over the bar into a dip — the iconic move that joins pulling and pressing.
Ring Muscle-Up
A muscle-up on rings, where the unstable transition through a false-grip pull demands far more control than the bar version.
One-Arm Pull-Up
A full pull-up on a single arm — one of the rarest and most coveted feats of relative strength in calisthenics.
Weighted Pull-Up
A strict pull-up loaded with added weight to drive maximal strength gains once bodyweight reps become easy.
Ice Cream Maker
From the top of a pull-up, lever the straight body forward and away from the bar, then pull back — a dynamic lever-pull hybrid.
Front Lever Row
A horizontal row performed while holding a front-lever body line, demanding extraordinary lat and core strength at once.
Skin the Cat
A controlled backward roll through the shoulders into a German hang and back, building shoulder mobility and control.
Ring Row
A horizontal row on rings whose instability recruits more stabilizers than a fixed bar, with infinitely scalable difficulty.
Plank
An isometric hold on the forearms and toes that teaches the whole-body bracing every advanced skill depends on.
Side Plank
A lateral plank balanced on one forearm and the side of the foot, targeting the obliques and lateral core.
Hollow Body Hold
The fundamental gymnastics core position — lower back pressed flat while the legs and shoulders hover off the floor.
Hollow Body Rock
A dynamic version of the hollow hold where you rock back and forth while keeping the tight banana shape.
Crunch
A short-range spinal flexion that isolates the rectus abdominis — a simple, accessible ab builder.
Bicycle Crunch
A rotational crunch alternating elbow to opposite knee, combining flexion with rotation to hit the obliques.
Russian Twist
A seated rotation, feet hovering, that twists the torso side to side to train the obliques and anti-rotation control.
Lying Leg Raise
Flat on your back, raise straight legs to vertical and lower with control — a staple for the lower abdominals.
Hanging Knee Raise
Hanging from a bar, draw the knees toward the chest — an approachable entry into hanging core work.
Hanging Leg Raise
A straight-leg raise from a dead hang up to horizontal or higher, dramatically loading the lower abs.
Toes to Bar
A full hanging raise that brings the toes all the way up to touch the bar — a demanding compound core movement.
L-Sit
A static hold supporting the body on the hands with legs extended straight out — a benchmark of core and hip strength.
V-Sit
An advanced L-sit where the legs rise above hip height into a V, requiring elite compression and hamstring flexibility.
Dragon Flag
Anchored at the shoulders, the entire rigid body is lowered and raised as one lever — a legendary full-core builder.
Ab Wheel Rollout
Rolling a wheel out and back while holding a hollow line — one of the toughest anti-extension core exercises.
Mountain Climber
A plank with rapidly alternating knee drives, blending core stability with a strong conditioning stimulus.
Flutter Kick
Small, rapid alternating leg kicks held just off the floor, building lower-ab endurance and control.
Windshield Wiper
Lying with legs raised, you sweep them side to side like wipers, hammering rotational and oblique strength.
Hanging Windshield Wiper
From a hang with legs raised to the bar, the legs rotate side to side — an elite test of rotational core power and grip.
Dead Bug
On your back, you extend an opposite arm and leg while keeping the spine flat — gentle yet potent anti-extension training.
Bodyweight Squat
The fundamental lower-body movement: sit the hips down and back to depth, then drive through the floor to stand.
Sumo Squat
A wide-stance squat with toes turned out that shifts emphasis onto the inner thighs and glutes.
Split Squat
A stationary lunge that builds single-leg strength and balance with both feet planted throughout the set.
Bulgarian Split Squat
A split squat with the rear foot elevated, intensifying the single-leg load and demanding real balance and mobility.
Walking Lunge
Continuous forward lunges that travel across the floor, building single-leg strength, balance and coordination.
Reverse Lunge
A lunge stepping backward instead of forward, which is gentler on the knees and biases the glutes.
Jump Squat
An explosive squat where you leap off the floor at the top, training lower-body power and rate of force.
Pistol Squat
A full single-leg squat with the other leg held out straight — the hallmark of bodyweight lower-body strength and mobility.
Shrimp Squat
A single-leg squat where the rear foot is held behind you, lowering the back knee to the floor — a quad-dominant alternative to the pistol.
Cossack Squat
A deep side-to-side lateral squat that builds hip mobility, adductor strength and single-leg control.
Wall Sit
An isometric hold with the back against a wall and thighs parallel to the floor — simple, brutal quad endurance.
Glute Bridge
Lying on your back, you drive the hips skyward to a full lockout, the most accessible way to train the glutes.
Single-Leg Glute Bridge
A glute bridge driven by one leg with the other extended, doubling the load and exposing side-to-side imbalances.
Nordic Hamstring Curl
Kneeling with the ankles pinned, you lower the rigid body forward using only the hamstrings — elite eccentric hamstring strength.
Calf Raise
Rising onto the balls of the feet and lowering with control, directly training the gastrocnemius and soleus.
Box Jump
An explosive two-foot jump onto a raised platform, developing lower-body power and landing mechanics.
Broad Jump
A maximal horizontal jump for distance, building explosive hip extension and athletic power.
Step-Up
Stepping up onto a raised surface one leg at a time, an effective and joint-friendly single-leg strength builder.
Sissy Squat
Leaning back and bending only at the knees, you stretch the quads under load — an intense quad isolation movement.
Natural Leg Extension
Kneeling and leaning back to extend at the knee, this no-equipment movement closely mimics the leg-extension machine.
Crow Pose
A balance hold with the knees resting on the backs of the arms — the gateway to all arm-balancing skills.
Frog Stand
A tighter cousin of the crow pose used to build the straight-arm scapular strength needed for the planche.
Tuck Planche
The first true planche: the whole tucked body floats parallel to the floor, supported only by straight arms.
Straddle Planche
A planche with the legs spread wide to shorten the lever — the key milestone before the full planche.
Full Planche
The entire straight body held parallel to the ground on straight arms — one of the pinnacle static strength feats.
Tuck Front Lever
Hanging from a bar, the tucked body is held horizontal — the entry point to the front-lever progression.
Front Lever
The entire straight body suspended horizontal beneath a bar, facing up — a defining display of pulling and core strength.
Back Lever
The straight body held horizontal facing the floor — often the first lever skill athletes achieve.
Human Flag
Gripping a vertical pole, the body is held horizontal and sideways like a flag — an iconic feat of lateral core strength.
Handstand
A balanced inversion on straight arms — the foundational skill that unlocks pressing, balance and body control.
Elbow Lever
The body held horizontal and balanced on the elbows dug into the abdomen — an accessible, impressive balance hold.
Maltese
A planche-like hold with the body held low and level at ring height, arms extended out to the sides — among the rarest gymnastic feats.
Victorian
An inverted back-lever-like hold on rings with the body held rigid and level — one of the most extreme strength skills in existence.
Iron Cross
Suspended on rings with the arms held straight out to the sides like a cross — a legendary test of shoulder and chest strength.
Manna
An extreme L-sit progression where the legs rise overhead in front of the body, demanding rare shoulder extension and compression.
Burpee
A squat-thrust into a push-up and an explosive jump — the quintessential full-body conditioning movement.
Bear Crawl
Crawling on hands and feet with the knees hovering, a powerful contralateral conditioning and core-stability drill.
Inchworm
From standing, you fold forward and walk the hands out to a plank and back — a mobility-rich full-body warm-up staple.
Wall Walk
Starting in a plank with feet at a wall, you walk the feet up and hands in toward a handstand and back down.
Sprawl
A burpee variation without the push-up or jump — drop the hips to the floor and snap back up for fast-paced conditioning.
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