Calistree Review – This Calisthenics App Will Keep You On Track

I found Calistree one of the most refined and feature-rich calisthenics apps. It offers a great game-like experience to help beginners stay motivated and to develop a sustainable fitness routine. Calistree was made by Louis Deveseleer, an amazing guy who genuinely wants to help people achieve their fitness goals.

You may be searching for the perfect app to optimize your bodyweight training, and as someone who has tried many options, I can warm-heartedly recommend Calistree to anyone who wants to master bodyweight strength training. However, keep in mind that it does come with some initial learning curve. I’ll break down the pros and cons of Calistree to help you determine if it’s the right fit for your training needs.

What makes Calistree stand out

Since the needs of each athlete are different, there is no one app for everyone – this is why I compiled a list of the best calisthenics apps so that everyone can find the option that suits them best.

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Personalized Journeys and Skill Trees:

Detailed Customization: Calistree’s journey feature allows users to set highly specific fitness goals, whether it’s mastering a particular calisthenics skill like muscle-ups or improving overall flexibility. This personalization ensures that each workout is tailored to the user’s current level, goals, and available equipment. Users can choose different objectives, such as upper body strength, flexibility, or a specific skill, and the app generates a program that guides them toward these goals step-by-step.

Skill Tree System: The app organizes exercises into skill trees, where progress is visualized in a game-like manner. As users master simpler exercises, they unlock more advanced ones, similar to leveling up in a video game. This progression is both motivating and effective, as it ensures that users are developing foundational strength and technique before moving on to more complex movements. This system also makes it clear what the next step in progression is, reducing the guesswork in training.

Extensive Exercise Library:

Wide Range of Exercises: Calistree offers a vast library of exercises, covering a broad spectrum of fitness activities, including calisthenics, yoga, weight training, flexibility exercises, and more. This extensive library makes it suitable for users with diverse training preferences and goals, from beginners to advanced athletes.

Video Demonstrations: Each exercise comes with a video demonstration, which is particularly helpful for users who are new to certain movements or need a visual reference to ensure proper form. The videos are clear and concise, making it easier to learn and execute exercises correctly.

Comprehensive Progress Tracking:

Detailed Progress Monitoring: The app provides robust progress tracking features, allowing users to see their improvements over time. This includes tracking personal records (PRs), monitoring skill mastery, and viewing progression through the skill trees. The app automatically updates exercises with slightly harder progressions when a user masters a particular movement, ensuring continuous development.

Gamification Elements: The app incorporates gamification by awarding experience points (XP) for completed exercises, which helps users stay motivated. The skill tree and XP system make the progression feel like a game, adding an element of fun and competition to the workouts.

Custom Flow Creation:

Flexibility in Exercise Programming: Users can create custom exercise flows, which allows for combining multiple exercises into a single sequence. This feature is particularly useful for advanced users who want to create complex workouts tailored to their specific needs. For example, a user can design a flow that includes different pushup variations or integrates mobility exercises with strength training.

Adaptability to Different Training Styles: Whether you prefer circuit training, supersets, or more traditional workout structures, the app’s custom flow feature provides the flexibility to design workouts that suit your training style. This adaptability makes it a versatile tool for both strength-focused athletes and those who prioritize functional fitness.

No Ads and Generous Free Version:

Ad-Free Experience: Unlike many fitness apps, Calistree does not include advertisements, which allows for a more immersive and uninterrupted workout experience. Users can focus entirely on their training without being distracted by ads.

Fully Functional Free Version: The free version of the app is surprisingly robust, offering most of the essential features without forcing users into a paid subscription. This accessibility makes it an excellent choice for beginners or those who want to test the app before committing to the premium version. Despite being free, the app still offers significant functionality, such as journey creation, progress tracking, and access to the exercise library.

Offline Functionality:

Workouts Without Internet: Calistree supports offline usage, which is a significant advantage for users who train in areas without reliable internet access, such as outdoor parks or remote locations. As long as exercises are downloaded in advance, users can perform their workouts without needing to be connected to the internet. This feature ensures that your training is never interrupted due to connectivity issues.

Comprehensive Flexibility and Mobility Training:

Balanced Training Programs: The app doesn’t just focus on strength but also emphasizes the importance of flexibility and mobility. This holistic approach is particularly beneficial for calisthenics, where joint mobility and muscle flexibility are crucial for performing advanced movements safely and effectively.

Variety of Flexibility Exercises: Users have access to a wide range of stretches and mobility exercises, which can be easily integrated into their routines. The app also offers the ability to create dedicated flexibility journeys or include flexibility goals within strength-based programs.

Active Developer Support and Regular Updates:

Responsive Developer: One of the standout features of Calistree is the developer’s active engagement with the user community. The developer frequently interacts with users through forums and directly within the app, addressing concerns, fixing bugs, and implementing requested features. This level of responsiveness ensures that the app continues to evolve based on real user feedback.

Frequent Updates: The app is regularly updated with new features, improvements, and bug fixes. Recent updates have included enhancements like the “Time Attack” mode, which automates workout sessions to reduce phone interaction, and the introduction of “Experience Profiles” for more detailed tracking of progress across different fitness attributes. These updates keep the app fresh and aligned with user needs.

Calistree Developer Announcements and Updates

1. Experience Profiles Release

• Update: The introduction of Experience Profiles allows users to track their progress over time in key areas such as strength, flexibility, cardio, and balance. Alongside this, a new “Muscle Fatigue” section was added, which shows which muscle groups are currently fatigued from training and which are ready for the next workout.

• Reason: This update aims to provide users with deeper insights into their training, helping them understand how their body responds to different workouts over time. By monitoring muscle fatigue, users can better plan their training schedules to optimize recovery and avoid overtraining.

2. Program Generation Adjustments

• Update: Minor adjustments were made to the “Experience Profiles” and program generation algorithms to ensure that readiness values are more accurate and less conservative, which directly influences the difficulty of exercises recommended.

• Reason: Some users had reported that the app was occasionally too conservative in its readiness calculations, leading to easier exercises being recommended even after users had progressed. This update addresses those concerns by fine-tuning the algorithms to better match the user’s actual fitness level.

3. Skill Tree Revamp

• Update: The individual skill trees received a significant redesign, incorporating a new layout that includes difficulty indicators, progression arrows, and easier navigation through intuitive swiping and zooming.

• Reason: The skill tree is a core feature of Calistree, and this update was aimed at making it more user-friendly and visually engaging. The new layout helps users better understand their progress and the steps needed to advance to more challenging exercises.

4. Search Function Update

• Update: The search function within the app was unified and simplified to make finding exercises quicker and more intuitive. This update also improved the performance when editing program generation parameters.

• Reason: As more features were added to the app, the search function became cluttered, making it harder for users to find what they needed. This update simplifies the interface, reduces the number of clicks required, and speeds up the search process, thereby enhancing user experience.

5. Time Attack Mode

• Update: The new “Time Attack” mode automates workouts by guiding users through their exercises with minimal phone interaction. It plays exercise videos automatically, starts timers for static holds, and checks off sets as they are completed.

• Reason: This feature was introduced to address user feedback about the inconvenience of constantly interacting with the phone during workouts, especially in outdoor or high-intensity settings. Time Attack mode allows users to focus entirely on their training, making the experience more seamless and efficient.

6. Health Connect Fixes

• Update: Issues with Health Connect integration were resolved, ensuring better data management and synchronization with health tracking systems.

• Reason: Proper integration with Health Connect is crucial for users who track their overall fitness data across multiple platforms. Fixing these issues ensures that users get accurate and comprehensive data, which is vital for monitoring their fitness journey.

7. Favorite Exercises Feature

• Update: A “Favorite Exercises” section was added to the Custom Exercises and Custom Flows lists, allowing users to easily access and organize their preferred exercises.

• Reason: Users often have specific exercises they prefer to include in their routines regularly. This feature makes it easier to bookmark and quickly access these exercises, enhancing the app’s usability and personalization capabilities.

8. Workout Page Reorganization

• Update: The Workout page was reorganized and combined with the calendar for better clarity and easier navigation. The Stats page was made more visible, with plans to add more sections for detailed insights into training progress.

• Reason: The reorganization was intended to streamline the user experience by making it easier to manage and view workout history and stats. By integrating the calendar, users can better plan their routines and track their training consistency.

9. Color Themes and OLED Black Background

• Update: Different color themes were introduced as a PRO feature, along with a pure black background option for OLED displays.

• Reason: Personalization of the app’s appearance is important for user satisfaction. The black background option is particularly useful for OLED screens, saving battery life and providing a visually pleasing experience, especially during nighttime use.

10. Improvements to Skill Tree Navigation

• Update: Further enhancements were made to the skill tree layout, including more organic placement of nodes, curvy links with color-coded arrows, and improved navigation.

• Reason: These refinements were designed to make the skill tree easier to use and more aesthetically pleasing. By improving the visual representation of progress and connections between exercises, users can better understand their training path.

11. Audio Guidance Update

• Update: Audio guidance was enhanced to read out personal exercise notes during workouts, with a toggle option to enable or disable this feature.

• Reason: This update responds to user requests for more hands-free functionality. The ability to hear personal notes read aloud helps users maintain focus on their workout without having to check their phone, improving the flow of the session.

12. Exercise Duration Estimation Adjustment

• Update: The estimation for workout duration was adjusted to display the upper end of the range, with considerations to potentially show a range instead of a single value.

• Reason: Users noticed discrepancies between estimated and actual workout durations. By displaying a range, the app can better align user expectations with their actual workout experience, providing a more accurate planning tool.

13. Workout Auto-Advance

• Update: After completing a set, the app now automatically moves to the next exercise and reads out loud the details for the next exercise, reducing the need for manual interaction.

• Reason: This feature was introduced to further minimize the need for phone interaction during workouts, allowing users to maintain their focus and momentum throughout the session.

14. Sharing and Program Creation Improvements

• Update: Users can now easily share training plans and create Journeys based on sessions or programs they find within the app. Sharing options were simplified, making it easier to exchange routines with friends.

• Reason: The ability to share and discover new routines enhances the community aspect of the app. This feature was developed in response to user feedback, making it easier to collaborate with others and try out different training methods.

These updates demonstrate the developer’s commitment to refining the app based on user feedback and continuously enhancing the user experience with thoughtful new features and improvements.

Conclusion

Calistree is a robust and versatile app that offers significant benefits for calisthenics enthusiasts, particularly those with a clear understanding of their goals and some experience in bodyweight training. Its ability to tailor workouts to individual needs and its vast exercise library make it a valuable tool for progressing in calisthenics.

However, the app’s steep learning curve, occasional inconsistencies in exercise recommendations, and lack of wearable support are areas that could be improved. For athletes willing to invest the time to learn its features, Calistree offers a highly customizable and rewarding training experience.

These opportunities for enhancement don’t detract from the app’s overall value and potential; instead, they highlight the developer’s commitment to ongoing refinement and user satisfaction.