Technics100-
I’m not at gymnast or Chris Heria level at callisthenics or anything, but can give some tips.
Basic principle for progression is to do an easier form of an exercise and when you Increase the number (whether reps or time) to a satisfactory level, do a harder version and so on. I’d say 20-30 reps or 20-30 second hold is a good range to get to for most exercises before trying a harder version.
You’ll find guides on pull-up progressions, pushups, planche progressions, front lever progressions and so on. Even the basic gymnastic progressions are incredibly hard, so it’s good to get a decent amount of body weight scaled strength first.
Lower body is pretty neglected in comparison, due to them already being relatively stronger compared to arms.
For calisthenic techniques having lighter legs makes it quite a lot easier!
Gymnasts have strong legs too, but in contrast to static strength and time under tension for the upper body, lower body is very explosive and plyometric.Key starter moves to work on:
Upper body:
Pullups / chin-ups
Dips
Push-upsCore:
Leg raises
L sits
Ab rollerLower body:
Body weight squats
Pistol squats
Jumps, box jumpsEquipment that’s useful to have:
Pull-up bar
Resistance bands
Push-up bars/paralettes
Gymnastic ringsKettlebells are a whole other thing, but great for adding weight and functional muscle recruitment. I like how they train your muscles to fire contract in a coordinated way, which is great for martial arts power generation.
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Acliff
Deadlift and squats make my lower back quite sore at the moment, otherwise I'd be doing deadlift/squat/hip thrusters.
My main sport is Taekwondo, and have built up pretty strong abs, quads, hip flexors. Calisthenics/gymnastic strength type work has built up arms, chest, lats, but lower back seems to be a weak point at the moment.
I've done GTG for chinups/pullups to increase reps and strength endurance, so would be breaking up the swings into probably 4 sets of 50 reps spread throughout the day.
This would be on top of 6-8 hours of fairly intense TKD training, couple of bike rides/runs, and random bits of calisthenics dotted throughout the week.