The 10 Best Calisthenics Programs Which Bring Results in 2023

You’re looking for the best Calisthenics Program but, frankly speaking, there’s just too many of them out there. Where do you even start? What if you’re a total beginner and don’t even know all that much about Calisthenics exercise to begin with. How are you supposed to tell a good Calisthenics Program from a bad one? You won’t know until you try but with so many options out there, it’s hard to even pick a selection of good candidates. The answer to this conundrum is quite easy. Just let us be your guinea pigs instead! It saves you a whole lot of trouble (and money) as we find the best Calisthenics Programs in advance. We probably love Calisthenics too much, but that’s exactly what we did. Read on to find out the best Calisthenics Programs which bring results in 2023.

This is an extremely comprehensive article. For a summarized overview of the best Calisthenics Programs, consult our list below.

Program	Cost	Pace/Duration	Type	Rating
#1 Cali Move Complete Calisthenics	$239.99	95 weeks (lifetime access)	Incremental, intermittent bodyweight exercise	5/5
#2 VAHVA Fitness Warrior 20XX Method	$497.00	Your Pace	hypertrophic, intermittent bodyweight exercise	5/5
#3 Cali Move Body Transformation	$239.99	104 weeks (lifetime access)	hypertrophic, intermittent bodyweight exercise	5/5
#4 The Movement Athlete	$24.97/mo	Your Pace	Incremental, intermittent bodyweight exercise	4.5/5
#5 The Movement Trybe by Sondre Berg	$19.99/mo	Your Pace	Incremental, intermittent bodyweight exercise	4/5
#6 School of Calisthenics	£9.99/mo	Your Pace	Incremental, intermittent bodyweight exercise	4/5
#7 BarBrothers the System	£48.68	12 weeks (lifetime access)	hypertrophic, intermittent weighted exercise	3.5/5
#8 Body by Rings by Fitness FAQs	$95.00	18 weeks (lifetime access)	Incremental, intermittent gymnastic exercise	3.5/5
#9 Thenx Calisthenics App	Free*	Your Pace	Incremental, intermittent bodyweight exercise	3/5
#10 Dejan Stipke Workouts	€59,99	8 weeks (lifetime access)	Incremental, intermittent bodyweight exercise	3/5
*Free and paid versions available

What to Look for in the best Calisthenics Program?

First and foremost, our list of best Calisthenics Programs will only contain workout routines which work. We’ll review their set of exercises from a Calisthenics and a physiotherapeutically point of view first and foremost. If it doesn’t work, it won’t even be featured. That’s important, the exercises need to be effective, efficient, and safe. How those Calisthenics exercises are brought to you is a matter up for debate. This is how we formulate our list of best Calisthenics Programs, which ultimately make it and which we drop despite having theoretically correct exercises. More precisely, we look for the following:

Coaching

Very importantly, you need to be coached and instructed on what to do and how to do it. Preferably this happens through video material which depicts a professional showcasing each exercise. Without coaching, you’re left in the dark and a mistake once learnt takes twice the effort to correct. Many of the best Calisthenics Programs will feature full-length videos or even train-along footage where the professional will do the same exercise you are doing until you’re done. 

Progression

You’d like to know where you stand as a Calisthenics practitioner. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or an expert, some kind of metric by which you can measure your progress makes all the difference. Our brains are wired to seek out solutions towards progress. We are evolved to gain much satisfaction out of seeing progress. Without progress, you are biologically incapable of continuing on. This is why we like to see a progression system which looks at where you started and shows you how you’ve grown. The best Calisthenics apps also include a progressively more difficult workout routine to this.

Learning & Knowledge

Jordan Peterson said once that if you are not willing to be a fool, you can’t become a master. He also said that if you know why you suffer, it becomes many times more bearable. That is why you must learn about Calisthenics and understand what it is that you are doing. If you know what causes your soreness you can avoid making the same mistake in the future. Or, at least you’ll know what is causing you to feel sore and when it will be gone.

Inspiration

Last but not least, inspiration is vital. Calisthenics is as much a mental task as it is a physical one. The Calisthenics Program should be inspirational and inspire you to take up your Calisthenics routine time and time again. If it makes you feel like it’s an absolute slog, just another chore in the way of your daily routine, your mood will go down. You might think you can just persevere through it and that stoically taking everything that comes at you is the right thing to do. You’d be right, but know also that at the heart of perseverance lies loyalty. It is hard to remain loyal to something you don’t stand behind.

Why Following a Calisthenics Program Gives Better Results

Why following a Calisthenics Program gives you better results than going at it solo is an interesting question. We want to preface what we have to say about this with: we don’t know.

Sorry, but really, we don’t exactly know why following a Calisthenics Program is just plain better. By its very definition, following a program means that it isn’t fully custom tailored to your body and goals. In a perfect situation, you would decide on your workouts with such precision that it gives you the most optimal results. That would mean no workout routine would look the same and it would differ person to person. A preset program will always be a shade of a one size fits all solution. The best Calisthenics Programs sort of get around this by tweaking existing routines to better meet your needs. They’ll also perform an assessment of your current capabilities to better tailor your routine to you.

By every metric though, adhering to a preset program gives you better results. Why is that? We can hazard a guess.

Are you really that confident about your knowledgeability? A perfectly unique workout routine also assumes a perfectly rational actor who knows everything they need to know. Do you know everything about your own body, nutrition, muscle hypertrophy? How different exercises work and what their effects on your body are? What the appropriate resting and recuperation periods are for your muscles and regeneration rate? Most likely not even your physiotherapist would know exactly. 

At some point, a slightly tweaked Calisthenics Program is simply good enough to give you results. In almost all cases it is better than you simply guessing what is best. 

Secondly, it gives you structure. Calisthenics is 50% a mental exercise, trust us. Having that structure, one you can focus on, grab and hold on too, is so important. In the military they say: a bad order followed well is better than a good order not followed at all. We’ll make sure the orders you receive are good orders, the rest is up to you.

The 10 Best Calisthenics Programs of 2023

This is our shortlist of the 10 best Calisthenics programs of this year. The list consists of a number of online Calisthenics courses and Calisthenics apps. Some of these we’ve reviewed before individually, or they were part of a different list already. They’re now part of the master list of best Calisthenics Programs.

#1 Cali Move Complete Calisthenics

• Operating Systems: website
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: Starting at $47.99 per level
• Required Equipment: Pull-Up Bar, Dip Bars, Gymnastic Rings
• Cali Move Complete Calisthenics Review

Cali Move’s Complete Calisthenics Program is meant to be a beginner friendly way to build your body to a professional level. No previous experience is assumed and you can start even if you can’t complete a single exercise. Divided into five courses, all of which are included in Calisthenics Movement Program, this Calisthenics Program takes around 95 weeks to complete.

In those 95 weeks, you’ll be gradually taught how to do various Calisthenics exercises, focusing on shaping your body for strength, agility and stamina. Progress is very gradual and you can go faster or slower as you please. 

The instructional videos are crisp and clear and come narrated primarily by Calisthenics professional Alex Lorenz. Most know Alex as El Eggs, a social media presence of some renown when it comes to Calisthenics. He is also known by his trademark blue shorts which he always wears during his exercises. You can buy the same shorts separately via Gornation.

His lighthearted and positive take on exercises is a major boon when it comes to motivating you to do Calisthenics while simultaneously explaining what it is that you’re doing and what it is for. Calisthenics Movement blends motivation and learning into a fun, insightful experience.

#2 VAHVA Fitness Warrior 20XX Method

• Operating Systems: website
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: $497 one-time
• Required Equipment: Dumbbells, Kettlebells

If you think exercising can only lead to either lean and fast, or bulky and strong, then you haven’t met Samuli Jyrkinen and Eero Westerberg from the Finish VAHVA Fitness yet. Finland has long stood at the crossroads between East and West, embracing Western values and technology but always having retained their traditional, Finish hardiness they call “Sisu”. The Warrior 20XX Method is designed to instill into you that same hardiness the Fins are famous for and which stood the test of time. 

With your “Drill Sergeant” Eero, you will embark on a mission to shed any and all excess bodyfat and replace it with lean muscle mass that would make a Spartan warrior jealous. With decades of experience in MMA, Western and Eastern fitness and fighting styles and having served in the Finish armed forces, Eero is the man who can show you how. The Warrior 20XX Method can be best described as a holistic method, focusing on many different areas to get better results. 

Exercises are a combination of Calisthenics and martial arts, including the use of weights like Dumbbells and Kettlebells. They are accompanied by easy to follow, HD video clips and you will be following a preset routine. All you have to do is show the determination and grit to complete this Calisthenics Program.

#3 Cali Move Body Transformation

• Operating Systems: website
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: Starting $47.99 per level
• Required Equipment: Pull-Up Bar, Dip Bars, Gymnastic Rings
• Cali Move Body Transformation Review

The second entry by Cali Move on our list of best Calisthenics Programs is their Body Transformation program. Where the Complete Calisthenics Program lays the groundwork, the Cali Move Body Transformation program is meant to see you soar too new heights. The core objective is easy: to become the best version of yourself in as short a timeframe as possible. Which is contrasted by the length the program takes in its totality: 104 weeks. This is longer than then the more accessible Complete Calisthenics Program and is reason for us to place it just below our number 2. 

The Cali Move Body Transformation program looks, feels and functions much the same as the Complete Calisthenics program. With crisp and clear instructional videos and exercise lists, you can simply follow along day-by-day, week-by-week. You are less coddled and held by the hand, however than in Complete Calisthenics. The entry requirements are also higher, so you’re expected to know what you’re doing already. This program is meant for those who don’t want to be lectured, just be given their exercises to do that day and get on with it. You shouldn’t mind having to grind it out either and do so long term.

The results, though, can be quite spectacular, with an emphasis on building muscle, strength and skill. The first phase is the hardest, after that the Body Transformation program is sooner a grindfest, a continuous upwards line where your body keeps getting stronger and stronger. Like with all hypertrophic programs, pain is weakness leaving the body and you need a Pitbull mentality for the long run.

 #4 The Movement Athlete

• Operating Systems: iOS and Android
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: starting at $24.97/mo
• Required Equipment: Power Tower, Parallettes
• The Movement Athlete Review

The Movement Athlete is an immensely popular Calisthenics App, and that is literally an understatement. Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people use the Calisthenics Program of The Movement Athlete for their daily workout routine. We have previously rated The Movement Athlete as our number 1 best Calisthenics App as well.

The app is very easy to use and has a sleek design. All the information you need is readily available and easy to find. You are instructed via very in-dept video’s which show you exactly how to perform each exercise. Should you not want that, you can skip this step just as easily and just get on with your workout. The Movement Athlete is one of the only apps which strikes the perfect balance between being your coach while not coddling you all the time.

You’ll first do an assessment training, during which The Movement Athlete will determine your current level. It will then ask you for your goals and based on all this information it will custom fit a workout routine for you. You can tweak this routine to your liking at any time. From time to time you’ll do reassessments and the program will show you exactly how you progressed. It will then also recommend new exercises or harder variations of exercises accordingly. 

All the information for you to learn further is present within the app. Most pages are setup as two-tiered. The first page is an overview with basic information, should you wish to learn more there is a button there to proceed. This will lead to more detailed information and this is a common theme throughout The Movement Athlete. It keeps the app easy to use while still retaining a wealth of information.

The Movement Athlete talks to you on a personal level, takes your body type and current level into consideration and does it best to make your workout routine feasible for you to achieve. This is a great, inspirational way of getting people to keep hitting those goals and pushing further to attain new heights.

#5 The Movement Trybe by Sondre Berg

• Operating Systems: iOS and Android
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: starting at $19.99/mo
• Required Equipment: None
• Sondre Berg Movement Trybe App Review

Sondre Berg is the chubby and insecure teenager who became a Nordic god in the flesh. He scored high marks during our review of The Movement Trybe app. After discovering Calisthenics for himself and it changing his life, he decided to make it available to the public. With The Movement Trybe, you’ll be following the same routines Sondre Berg does. But it goes beyond that.

The Movement Trybe is a sleek and easy to use Calisthenics App which deceives with appearances. The clean outside hides a fully adjustable coach which is all you can expect from a personal trainer except being of flesh and blood. 

You are coached by Sondre Berg himself, who made all the exercise videos on the app. The videos and descriptions are very clear and easy to follow along. The videos run seamlessly until you’re done with the exercise. Should you become unsure that you’re still doing the right thing, you can just give the screen a peek and pick up where you left.

The Movement Trybe consists of training modules of varying levels of difficulty. The app uses progression tests to periodically see where you stand, especially in the beginning. It will then automatically suggest new modules or modules of upgraded difficulty to keep you on the right track. You can freely tweak these modules, swapping them out for easier or harder ones. You can also add entirely new ones to train a different skill. This creates a theoretically infinite number of workout routines.

The motivation to keep going comes from Sondre Berg himself. It can’t be described in words; you’ll have to see his demos for yourself. He is a jovial person and the expression on his face just shows he enjoys what he’s doing. Just what a Calisthenics Program needs.

#6 School of Calisthenics

• Operating Systems: website
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: from £9.99/mo
• Required Equipment: Power Tower, Gymnastic Rings

With not 1 but over a dozen Calisthenics Programs (or courses as they call it) to enroll in, the School of Calisthenics offers us the broadest range of Calisthenics available. Each course is specialized towards achieving a specific skillset, starting with basic techniques and strength building and all the way up to doing human flags, frog handstands and ring muscle ups.

Each Calisthenics Program is divided into multiple courses, spanning a number of weeks or even months. The video training is simple to follow and feature both men and women of varying degrees of physical strength. The courses are designed to be done by anyone, should you put your mind to it. 

You can buy each course separately without needing a subscription. Here the prices start at £50, which we find a bit on the steep side if you want to participate in multiple courses (which we imagine you would). For the best value for money, we suggest the V.I.P. Annual Membership because it gives you access to the widest assortment of Calisthenics programs while incurring an overall monthly cost reduction.

#7 BarBrothers the System

• Operating Systems: website
• Starting Level: intermediate
• Price: £48.68 one time
• Required Equipment: Pull-Up Bar
• Bar Brothers System Program Review

If you think you got it in you to become strong and absolutely ripped, the 12-week Calisthenics Program called the “System” is your calling. Developed by the BarBrothers, this Calisthenics Program is all about Pull-Ups and its many variations. The aim is to build muscle quickly and healthily, leaving you with the physique of a Greek statue. 

The program consists of 17 different fields and programs, from an introduction to starting your first exercises and working your way up to excellence. There are also areas about nutrition and how to optimize your bodily functions for the quite grueling training ahead of you.

For each week you can refer to a central workout PDF which details the entire course and each exercise you need to do. For every week there are video’s which showcase the individual exercises you will be doing.

The BarBrothers are known for their aggressive marketing techniques, approaching people via e-mail with promotions and offering affiliates a hefty commission (they offered us the same). We’re not primarily interested in your money as much as our dedication to seeing Calisthenics widespread. We’re mentioning BarBrothers here because the System does really work to get you that look so many men desire. The founders of BarBrothers, Lazar Novocic and Dusan Djolevic are immensely popular and are backed by many, many athletes globally. They refer to themselves as a brotherhood.

#8 Body by Rings by Fitness FAQs

• Operating Systems: website
• Starting Level: intermediate
• Price: $95.00 one time
• Required Equipment: Gymnastic Rings
• Body by Rings Review

The Body by Rings Calisthenics program makes full use of the versatile Gymnastic Rings. The 18-week course sees your body transformed and will have you attain many new skills you thought would be impossible to you before. Gymnastic Rings add a level of difficulty to your Calisthenics on top of doing regular old Pull-Ups and Dips. FitnessFAQ’s makes excellent use of them to have you do Calisthenics.

It isn’t for the absolute beginner and you’ll have to be able to do 5 Pull-Ups, 5 Dips and 10 Push-Ups by yourself before you start. You’ll also need a set of Gymnastic Rings if that wasn’t obvious already. Once you have these, you are ready for a bodily transformation.

You’ll begin rather easy and work your way up to ever more challenging feats. The program is easy to learn and has masses of video tutorials explaining and showing what they need you to do. You’re given some leeway in how many repetitions you perform, seeing as the Gymnastic Rings are in quite a league of their own. 

The first week is the worst. Small muscles you ordinarily don’t use are suddenly activated to keep the rings straight above or beneath you. After that you can expect some serious results, soon.

#9 Thenx Calisthenics App

• Operating Systems: iOS and Android
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: Free or paid (£9.99/mo)
• Required Equipment: Power Tower, Parallettes.

With a barebones UI, minimalist design and maximum content approach, Thenx is a Calisthenics app with the professional athlete in mind. That said, beginners can also make us of this app and use it as their Calisthenics Program to good effect. Despite the minimalism, each exercise comes accompanied with a clear-cut video example of what you need to do.

The program is modular and you can omit or add different exercises from your routine. Each Calisthenics Program comes in a beginner, intermediate and expert version. This allows you to just continue doing as you were, gradually introducing harder exercises to your repertoire and increasing the number of sets and reps.

Thenx is free and already offers you a lot without paying a dime. You get access to all daily routines already which are perfect for the beginning Calisthenics practitioner. The paid version gives you access to a number of technique guides and 9 professional Calisthenics Programs for the advanced and professional athlete.

#10 Dejan Stipke Workouts

• Operating Systems: website
• Starting Level: beginner
• Price: €59,99 one time
• Required Equipment: Power Tower, Resistance Bands, Gymnastic Rings
• Dejan Stipke Workout Review

Many will know Dejan Stipke from his Instagram page @Iamstipke. With hundreds of thousands of followers and more than 4200 posts on Calisthenics, Stipke is a giant in the realm of Calisthenics and body-building. But what fewer people know is that he also has a number of excellent Calisthenics Programs you can download and follow.

Jam-packed with information, hints and useful tidbits, the Dejan Stipke Workouts are sure to satisfy anyone’s Calisthenics needs. From the beginner just getting rid of that baby fat to the professional squeezing out that last percentage of gains, Dejan Stipke has a Calisthenics Program for them all. 

The e-books are easy to read and give you a workable routine to follow. You could print them out but each exercise is also linked to online video’s giving you instructions and showing you how each exercise is done. Although his English isn’t perfect (neither spoken nor written), the message Dejan has to share is of great value if you’re serious about getting a healthy and beautiful body.

Conclusions About Calisthenics Programs

We’ve presented you with an assortment of the best Calisthenics Programs. Following a Calisthenics Program has empirically proven benefits. They give you a workable, actionable plan to implement which is often just the push you need. A Calisthenics Program also fills in the gaps in your own knowledge about what exercises and what routines garner results. Lastly, working with a Calisthenics Program gives you something to look forward too, goals to set and achieve. That in and off itself is a huge morale booster to most. That’s very important because the body will not go where the mind isn’t already.

Is there an all-time best Calisthenics Program? Most likely not. Pick one, anyone you like and stick to it. If you like a diversity of techniques, a more comprehensive Calisthenics Program is the right option. If you’re just looking for building upper-body strength and keep it simple and light, an easier program will suffice. 

But far more importantly, STICK TO IT!