Calisthenics Plan

Calisthenics is strength training where the resistance is your own bodyweight, and progression comes from changing leverage rather than adding plates. That single difference is what makes it work: a movement gets harder by moving your body further from a mechanical advantage, and there is a long ladder of those between a knee push-up and a one-arm push-up.

Level: Beginner through advanced
Days a week: 3–4
Equipment: A pull-up bar. Everything else is optional.
Per session: 40–50 minutes

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Session A

Upper body push and pull

Pull-up4 × 3–8 · 150s rest

Progression: dead hang → negatives → band-assisted → full → archer.

Push-up progression4 × 5–12 · 120s rest

Progression: incline → full → diamond → archer → one-arm.

Chest dip3 × 6–12 · 120s rest

The heaviest push most people can load at home.

Commando pull-up2 × 4–6 each side · 90s rest

Session B

Lower body and posterior chain

Bulgarian split squat4 × 8–12 each leg · 120s rest

Progression towards the pistol squat starts here.

Bodyweight pulse squat3 × 15–20 · 90s rest

Bodyweight wall squat3 × 45–60s hold · 60s rest

Standing calf raise4 × 15–25 · 45s rest

Session C

Skill, core and conditioning

Hollow body hold4 × 20–40s · 60s rest

The base position for almost every calisthenics skill. Learn it before chasing a lever.

Arm slingers, hanging straight leg3 × 8–12 · 90s rest

Around-the-world superman hold3 × 20–30s · 60s rest

Burpee4 × 10–15 · 60s rest

How to progress this

Add a rep before you add a set, and add a set before you make a movement harder. When you hit the top of the rep range on every set of an exercise, move to the harder variation named in its note and start again at the bottom of the range. That is progressive overload without any weights to add — the load comes from leverage instead of from plates.

Take the last set of each exercise close to failure — one or two reps left. Bodyweight training fails when the sets are comfortable, because there is no bar weight to tell you the session was hard enough.

A plan built for your body, not a generic one

This is a good plan. It is not your plan — it does not know which area is holding your physique back. Dietly Fit scores one photo a week out of 100, names the weak point, and builds the week of training around it, from whatever equipment you actually have.

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Other plans

Home Workout PlanFour sessions a week, no equipment, the whole week written out.No-Equipment WorkoutNothing but floor space. Three circuits, scalable in both directions.

Reviewed 22 September 2026. Sets and reps are a starting point, not a prescription. Speak to a qualified professional before starting a new exercise program, particularly if you are managing an injury or a health condition.