Forget the bench

Yummy-mummy triceps dips on park benches aren’t just less effective, they put you at risk of shoulder injury too. Use some parallel bars instead. Lower until your elbows are at 90 degrees to work through a full range of motion and boost triceps, chest and shoulder growth.

Count on your reps

Make your goal something you can do – 10 pull-ups, a muscle-up – not what you can see. By the time you reach it, you’ll look like someone who can do that anyway. Concentrating on aesthetics can become counterproductive as your perception of your body changes; the goalposts move.

Don't grip, grasp

Maintaining a hold with your thumb sat on top of your fingers – not curled next to your palms – increases the strength and muscular endurance of your forearms. And because your forearms are usually first to fatigue, this new power lets you work harder on filling out your T-shirt.

Call for band aid

If you’re a recent initiate to the calisthenics club, don’t jump straight into muscle-ups or you risk injury. Break up complex moves into stages and practise each individually. A resistance band turns any horizontal bar into an assisted pull-up machine. It’s a whole lot less embarrassing than dislocating your shoulder.

Throw in the towel

Something to wipe down slippery-when-wet bars is handy. But a towel can also supercharge your grip strength. Loop it over, take an end in each hand and do five chin-ups. This upgrade will boost your bench press when you retreat to the warmth of the gym come winter.

Stick it in neutral

Swap standard pull-ups and chin-ups for a ‘neutral grip lift’ – just as effective, but kinder on your wrists and shoulders. Hang sideways from the monkey bars, palms facing each other, and pull until your shoulders graze the bars to hit your back and biceps in one rep.

Suspend disbelief

Get yo' ass off the grass and head to the bar. Whether it's from a climbing frame or a swing set, hanging moves work your abs through every plane of movement. Perform leg raises and window wipers to hit the core muscles your crunches will never reach.

Have less impact

Your joints aren’t made to withstand concrete, which means power boosting plyometrics could wear them down. Perform your squat jumps and bounds on the rubber matting around park equipment to burn fat without feeling the fire in your knees.