Complete Calisthenics Skills List – 40+ Exercises from Beginner to Pro

The passive hang improves your grip strength and shoulder health. This exercise prepares you for more advanced movements like Chin Ups or the Muscle-Up.

The Support Hold is a fundamental hold exercise that strengthens the shoulders, arms, and chest. A stable support position forms the foundation for many advanced bodyweight exercises.

A strong core is essential for many bodyweight exercises. The Hollow Body Hold improves your body tension and is one of the most important foundations for the Handstand and the Front Lever.

Squats are one of the best exercises for strengthening your leg muscles and improving mobility and explosive power. They are the foundation for more advanced variations like the Pistol Squats.

Push Ups work the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core and can be adjusted with different variations. They are one of the essential foundational exercises in bodyweight training.

Rowing is an effective exercise for the back, rear shoulders, and biceps. It helps develop strong pulling strength and is an essential complement to pushing movements like push-ups.

Few exercises improve your upper body strength as effectively as pull-ups. They require both technique and strength and are one of the most important exercises in calisthenics.

The Crow Pose is a challenging balance exercise that improves your arm strength and body tension. It serves as preparation for the handstand and other balance movements.

Dips are one of the best bodyweight exercises for the chest, shoulders, and triceps. They are the perfect complement to pull-ups.

Toes To Bar engages the abdominal muscles and prepares you for exercises like the Front Lever and Skin The Cat.

The exercise Skin The Cat improves your shoulder mobility and strengthens your entire upper body. It is one of the basic calisthenics skills you should master before attempting advanced elements like the Back Lever.

Reverse Nordic Curls strengthen the front thigh muscles and protect the knees from injuries. This exercise is a valuable addition to your training for strong legs.

Pike Push-Ups shift the focus to the shoulder muscles and prepare you for Handstand Push Ups. They are an essential part of a well-rounded calisthenics skill training.

The L-Sit is one of the most well-known static calisthenics skills, demanding significant strength from the core, hip flexors, and shoulders. Mastering this skill provides a solid foundation for advanced exercises like the V-Sit.

In the Ring Support Hold RTO (rings turned out), you stabilize your body in the support position on the rings. The external rotation increases the difficulty and puts a significant demand on your shoulder muscles.

Archer Push-Ups are an excellent preparation for One Arm Push Ups. This exercise is one of the best calisthenics skills to strengthen your chest and arm muscles. Alternatively, you can also perform the exercise on gynmastic rings.

Pistol Squats combine balance, mobility, and leg strength. They are one of the calisthenics skills on this list that you should work on after mastering classic squats and before progressing to Dragon Squats.

Due to the free movement of the rings and the increased range of motion, Bulgarian Push-Ups are one of the most intense chest exercises in calisthenics. They are a great addition to classic Push Ups.

One Arm Push Ups are the ultimate strength test and require strong core stability. They are among the more difficult calisthenics skills and one of the toughest pushing movements in bodyweight training.

Weighted Dips are perfect for increasing strength in the chest, shoulders, and triceps. They are a must in any advanced athlete’s calisthenics workout and serve as a progression to normal Dips.

The Bridge Hold improves spinal flexibility and strengthens the back muscles. It is essential for gymnasts, dancers, and athletes who want to work on their back mobility.

Archer Pull Ups are an effective way to train unilateral pulling strength. This exercise is one of the more challenging intermediate calisthenics skills and helps prepare for the One Arm Pull Up.

Bulgarian Dips on the rings require more stability and strength than regular Ring Dips. Due to the increased stretch, they place greater demand on the chest muscles.

The Pancake Stretch improves your hip mobility and is essential for movements like the Straddle Press Handstand.

Dragon Squats are an advanced variation of Pistol Squats. This exercise requires a high level of mobility, balance, and leg strength. It is one of the most challenging calisthenics skills for the lower body.

A Ring Muscle-Up is a combination of a pull-up and a dip. This skill is one of the most well-known calisthenics skills because it combines pulling and pushing strength.

Here you can find an article on the topic: How to Muscle Up

The Handstand is one of the few calisthenics skills suitable for beginners. It forms the foundation for advanced exercises like Handstand Push Ups or Press Handstand.

The Dragon Flag is one of the toughest core exercises and requires maximum body tension. It is essential for improving core stability for advanced calisthenics skills.

The Human Flag is one of the most iconic calisthenics skills and requires a combination of pulling strength, pushing strength, and body tension. Mastering this skill demonstrates extreme control over your body.

The Bar Muscle-Up is an explosive strength movement where you pull yourself over the bar and transition into a dip. Learning the Bar Muscle-Up requires strong and explosive pulling power, which you can train with Explosive Pull-Ups.

The Back Lever is a static calisthenics skill. It is one of the exercises that can be trained after mastering Skin The Cat.

The Front Lever is one of the hardest static holds and requires extremely strong core and back muscles. It is one of the more difficult calisthenics skills and demands a lot of patience in training.

Handstand Push Ups are one of the best exercises for strengthening the shoulders and upper body. They require not only strength but also balance and technique. Mastering them demonstrates an impressive level of body control.

The One Arm Chin Up is the ultimate strength test. Without support from the second arm, you have to pull yourself up using only the strength of one arm—placing extreme demands on your back, biceps, and grip strength.

The Side Split not only improves hip mobility but also enhances control over your leg muscles. It is especially useful for movements like the Pancake or the V-Sit and takes your flexibility to a new level.

The V-Sit is an advanced progression of the L-Sit and requires extreme core tension. The higher your legs, the harder the exercise becomes, as it demands not only strength but also great hamstring flexibility.

The Press Handstand combines strength, flexibility, and control. Instead of jumping up with momentum, you lift your legs into the handstand position in a controlled manner.

Back Lever Pulls are an advanced progression of the static Back Lever. The controlled pulling up and lowering demonstrate complete mastery of the movement.

Front Lever Pulls are an advanced progression of the static Front Lever. The controlled pulling up and lowering demonstrate complete mastery of the movement.

The Planche is one of the most challenging calisthenics exercises. Your body remains horizontal in the air, supported only by your arms. A combination of pure strength, control, and technique.