So “general activity” I can only assume is stuff like going on walks and hikes, playing sports, enjoying the outdoors, and so on. This will generally fall under the umbrella of cardiovascular exercise which is extremely good, and you should do
Resistance training is typically performed in much shorter bouts of intense activity. It’s very convenient in a gym, but you can do pretty much everything you need with the right setup (bench press is very similar to pushups, for example, which don’t require equipment.)
The biggest challenge outside of a gym is how to progress movements. For example, once you can do 50 pushups, how could you make it harder so that the movement would be appropriately challenging, and not take all day? And then another issue sometimes can be training the muscles of the back without equipment, typically done via pull-ups and rows.
But ultimately everything is doable! Check out the youtube channel “Hybrid Calisthenics”, he’s got a ton of excellent content aimed directly at this question. He also sells cheap gymnastics rings which handily solve the muscles-of-the-back problem, if you have somewhere to hang them from (even a tree!)
I mean, the limitation of calisthenics isnt the back, but the legs. Not to say there arent good leg exercises, but the legs are so strong that you have to get pretty creative pretty quickly if you want to keep progressing them.
The other thing I want to note is that a lot of people gravitate towards calisthenics because you can do it at home, and they feel uncomfortable in a gym, so they decide to try calisthenics rather than face their gym anxiety. And while this can work for some people, for most it will hamstring their progress since exercising alone at home is almost custom-designed to kill motivation and habit formation, and thus will stop people from staying consistent and getting the results they want. In addition, calisthenics progressions are often pretty big leaps, and it can be frustrating to be able to rep out 20 on one exercise, and then be shut down by the progression.
If you think that calisthenics is cool, or you dont have the money for a gym membership or equipment, or if there are no gyms around you, then go for it! But I would suggest you do your workouts somewhere other than at home (like at a local park) and that you try your best to meet up with others with a similar interest, as these are the things that will make the habit stick.
Another vote for checking out hybrid callisthenics. They also have a website with a basic routine including instructions and links to videos explaining all of the progressions for each movement that is free to use and a great resource for people who are new and need some direction.
A commercial gym is not necessary!
So “general activity” I can only assume is stuff like going on walks and hikes, playing sports, enjoying the outdoors, and so on. This will generally fall under the umbrella of cardiovascular exercise which is extremely good, and you should do
Resistance training is typically performed in much shorter bouts of intense activity. It’s very convenient in a gym, but you can do pretty much everything you need with the right setup (bench press is very similar to pushups, for example, which don’t require equipment.)
The biggest challenge outside of a gym is how to progress movements. For example, once you can do 50 pushups, how could you make it harder so that the movement would be appropriately challenging, and not take all day? And then another issue sometimes can be training the muscles of the back without equipment, typically done via pull-ups and rows.
But ultimately everything is doable! Check out the youtube channel “Hybrid Calisthenics”, he’s got a ton of excellent content aimed directly at this question. He also sells cheap gymnastics rings which handily solve the muscles-of-the-back problem, if you have somewhere to hang them from (even a tree!)
I mean, the limitation of calisthenics isnt the back, but the legs. Not to say there arent good leg exercises, but the legs are so strong that you have to get pretty creative pretty quickly if you want to keep progressing them.
The other thing I want to note is that a lot of people gravitate towards calisthenics because you can do it at home, and they feel uncomfortable in a gym, so they decide to try calisthenics rather than face their gym anxiety. And while this can work for some people, for most it will hamstring their progress since exercising alone at home is almost custom-designed to kill motivation and habit formation, and thus will stop people from staying consistent and getting the results they want. In addition, calisthenics progressions are often pretty big leaps, and it can be frustrating to be able to rep out 20 on one exercise, and then be shut down by the progression.
If you think that calisthenics is cool, or you dont have the money for a gym membership or equipment, or if there are no gyms around you, then go for it! But I would suggest you do your workouts somewhere other than at home (like at a local park) and that you try your best to meet up with others with a similar interest, as these are the things that will make the habit stick.
Another vote for checking out hybrid callisthenics. They also have a website with a basic routine including instructions and links to videos explaining all of the progressions for each movement that is free to use and a great resource for people who are new and need some direction.