The UKCO currently run regional and national competitions for 4 different disciplines within calisthenics: Power, Endurance, Statics and Freestyle. We’re going to have a look at what each discipline entails and the athlete profile it may suit.

Power

3 lifts: Bar Muscle Up, Weighted Pull Ups and Weighted Dips

For each lift, the athlete performs the most amount of reps they can without leaving the bar. The score is the total number of reps achieved throughout the 3 lifts. 

For men, the pull ups are 30kg and dips are 50kg.

For women, the pull ups are 15kg and dips are 20kg. 

Both genders complete bodyweight bar muscle ups.

Athlete profile: 

• Good endurance with moderate additional weight 

• Excellent technical ability and form

• Sits in an average weight category to have the best advantage

• Loves to be in control and chases perfect execution with attention to detail

Endurance

Endurance competitions have a pre-determined set which is completed in the fastest time possible. The set is released a few months before the competition allowing athletes to be familiar with the movements. The movements themselves are chosen from available options in the rulebook, including movements such as muscle ups, pull ups, dips, pullovers and pistol squats. 

Male and female have different sets to complete.

Athlete profile:

• Master of bodyweight movement, for a lot of reps!

• Has a serious engine 

• Would tend to suit lighter athletes due to it being predominantly bodyweight, but there are weight categories so the heavyweights aren’t too disadvantaged. 

• Loves a high heart rate, cardio-heavy workout

Statics

Statics competitions are similar to gymnastics. Athletes perform a variety of different holds, each scored on their difficulty and execution. Holds have to be a minimum of 3 seconds long to be counted. For judging purposes, holds are categorised into push or pull with extra points for combinations and an athlete aims to perform a variety of moves to fulfil each judging criteria.

Athlete profile:

• Ability to generate great power for dynamic moves

• Patience of a monk, most moves take a long time to master

• Tend not to be the tallest of people. Whilst defying gravity is every calisthenics athlete’s ultimate aim, sadly physics matter when it comes to lever length

• Loves showing off, statics always draw a crowd

Freestyle:

The showstopper of calisthenics competitions, freestyle combines the control of statics with dynamic movement sometimes seen in parkour. Athletes use momentum to swing themselves around the bar in various patterns, whilst throwing in static holds to show off their control. Scored similarly to statics in that the difficulty and execution of each move is taken into account in the scoring.

Athlete profile:

• Nerves of steel. Freestyle is not for the faint-hearted

• Patience. Like statics, the moves take a long time to learn

• Ideally loves a crowd as freestyle will always bring in the spectators!

• Loves the feeling of freedom and getting into a flow-state