Calisthenics skills
18 skills, beginner to advanced. 18 of them you can film on a phone and get measured. No fake scores.
Skills by level
You can film18 of 18 skills
Beginner 5
- Push-UpThe push-up is the foundation of all calisthenics pressing. In calisthenics it's treated as a moving plank: your whole body holds a rigid straight line while your arms do the work.
- Bodyweight SquatThe bodyweight squat is the foundation of all calisthenics leg training and the base for the pistol squat later. The pattern is simple: sit your hips back and down to full depth, keep your chest up and knees tracking over your toes, and drive back up through your feet.
- Plank & Hollow BodyCore position is the secret engine of calisthenics, and the hollow body is its single most important shape — it appears in pull-ups, push-ups, handstands, levers, and the planche. Together with the plank, it teaches you to hold full-body tension in a straight line.
- Inverted RowThe inverted row (also called the body row or Australian pull-up) is your horizontal pulling foundation and the most important stepping stone toward a pull-up. You hang under a waist-height bar and pull your chest to it while holding a straight body.
- Assisted DipThe dip is a key vertical pressing skill, but the full version is hard — so you start with assisted or partial versions to build the strength and, crucially, the shoulder stability to do it safely. The first step is simply owning the top support hold on parallel bars: arms locked, shoulders down and stable.
Intermediate 5
- The Pull-UpThe pull-up is the cornerstone of calisthenics pulling and the gateway to muscle-ups, levers, and more. The secret most people miss: you pull with your BACK and shoulder blades, not just your arms.
- The DipThe full parallel-bar dip is a powerful pressing skill and a building block for the muscle-up. Building on the assisted version, you now press the full range with stable, controlled shoulders.
- Pistol SquatThe pistol squat — a full single-leg squat with the other leg held straight out front — is calisthenics' signature leg skill, demanding strength, balance, and mobility together. The keys: keep your heel planted, your knee tracking over your toes, and lower with control to full depth before driving back up.
- Hanging Leg RaiseThe hanging leg raise builds the powerful, controlled core you need for L-sits, levers, and front levers. Hanging from a bar, you raise your straight legs up under control — without swinging.
- Pike Push-UpThe pike push-up is your bridge from the push-up to the handstand push-up — it trains vertical pressing strength with your hips piked up high. From a downward-dog position, you lower the top of your head toward the floor and press back up.
Advanced 5
- Muscle-UpThe bar muscle-up is the iconic calisthenics skill: an explosive pull-up that transitions over the bar into a dip, finishing with you supported above it. The hard part is the TRANSITION — getting from above-the-bar pull to on-top-of-the-bar support.
- L-SitThe L-sit is your first true static-hold skill: supported on your hands with your legs held straight out in an L, body still. It demands serious core compression, hip-flexor strength, and depressed, locked shoulders.
- HandstandThe freestanding handstand is the centerpiece of calisthenics balance — a static hold where you stack your whole body upside down over your hands. The goal is a straight, stacked line (wrists, shoulders, hips, ankles) with small balance corrections coming from your fingers and wrists, not flailing legs.
- Handstand Push-UpThe handstand push-up (HSPU) is the king of bodyweight vertical pressing — pressing your full bodyweight upside down. Building on pike push-ups and wall handstands, you lower under control until your head lightly touches the floor and press back to a locked-out handstand.
- Pseudo-Planche Push-UpThe pseudo-planche push-up is the single most important bridge toward the planche. By leaning your shoulders forward PAST your hands with straight-arm intent, you shift your bodyweight onto your shoulders and train the straight-arm scapular strength a planche demands.
Insane 3
- The PlancheThe planche is the holy grail of pushing skills: your whole body held horizontal and parallel to the ground, supported only by your hands, arms straight. It demands extreme straight-arm strength in your front delts and serratus, with scapular protraction creating the 'shelf' your body rests on.
- Front LeverThe front lever is the king of pulling holds: hanging from a bar, you hold your entire body horizontal and face-up, straight as a board, using immense lat and core strength with straight arms. Like the planche, it's a straight-arm skill built through a leverage ladder — tuck, advanced tuck, straddle, then full.
- Human FlagThe human flag is one of the most spectacular calisthenics skills: gripping a vertical pole or bars, you hold your body sideways and parallel to the ground, like a flag in the wind. The secret is the opposing forces of your two arms — your TOP arm PULLS while your BOTTOM arm PUSHES — combined with huge shoulder,…