Maggie's Farm

Readers know that we recommend scheduling two hours of calisthenics/week as part of a balanced fitness program (ie resistance, cardio, and calisthenics).

Calisthenics are for athleticism, generally addressing a mix of cardio, balance, agility, speed, endurance, without much focus on strength. While playing basketball or doing martial arts count as calisthenics, most of us do calisthenics routines in the gym, preferably in fitness classes, or on our own.  The classes are more intense, thus better, I feel.

Because my class sched changed, here's what I did on my own this morning as an example:

- 10-minute elliptical warm-up - 30-sec sprints, and 60-sec recoveries. Sweat. 
- 1st rotation of 3 rounds: Pushups, pullups, Roman Chair leg lifts, elbow planks, jump rope, squat and holds
- 2nd rotation of 3 rounds: Kettlebell swings, heavy ball squat and throws, "bicycles", rower - 60-sec sprints

I have another rotation list with which I alternate the above list when needed, just keeping the pushups, jump rope, and pullups. (List #2 includes other things like lunges, farmer walks, step ups, box jumps, mountain climbers, inclined pulls, etc). These things are good and semi-fun complements to my other things.

Do our readers incorporate calisthenics in their fitness routines and, if so, what do you do?