Take your bodyweight strength training to the next level with these 6 essential pieces of equipment.
Parallettes are portable parallel bars. They are lightweight and much smaller than actual parallel bars. The advantage of parallettes is that you can carry them wherever you go and use them anywhere where the ground is flat, for example, at home, in your garden, the local park or the beach. Owning a set of parallettes can not only save you time from travelling to the gym, but also encourage you to exercise more frequently. I find it very convenient to take my parallettes out at my doorstep and fit a quick training session before work without having to travel anywhere.
Olympic rings are no longer reserved for gymnastics places only. You can now buy a pair for less than £40!
Training with Olympic rings requires more strength and muscle coordination than training on bars. If you are looking to build on your physical abilities and learn new skills, like the iron cross, it’s well worth buying a set. Olympic Rings come in handy when you live nearby a park or wood and there’s no calisthenics gyms around. You could hang the rings on a suitable branch and have an amazing workout amongst nature!
If you are looking to make some serious muscle gains, improve explosiveness, and increase your max reps in pull ups and tricep dips, use a weight belt to attach additional weight to your body, like kettlebells or barbell disk weights.
As implied by its name, ankle weights are two pieces of weight you wrap around the ankles before doing leg raises or L sits, for instance. They usually come in a total weight of 1kg, 2kg, 3kg, 4kg and 5kg. Exercising with ankle weights on can not only make your core and hips stronger but also solidify your execution of key calisthenics skills like levers and handstands.
Another great accessory for building strength and improving performance is the weighted vest. It’s usually one size and comes in various weights of 5kg, 10kg, 15kg, 20kg and 30kg. Weighted vests are usually used for exercises like push ups, pull ups and dips. In contrast to ankle weights, you can also run and sprint in a weighted vest, whereas doing so with ankle weights on could be awkward.
Ristance bands come in different lengths and resistance. They are normally used during warm up, to mobilize the muscles and joints. Resistance bands could also aid in learning new bodyweight skills. For example, if you need assistance to do chin ups or muscle ups, attach a band to a horizontal bar, step onto it and use the resistance to pull yourself up.
