Calisthenics Are Back. This YouTuber Is Leading the Renaissance.

Happy (early) birthday, YouTube. To celebrate the site’s 20th anniversary, we present: The InsideHook Guide to YouTube, a series of creator profiles, channel recommendations and deep dives about the viral, controversial, unstoppable video-sharing giant. 

Like countless others who came of age in the early days of YouTube, there was once a time when Tariq Otuemhobe uploaded a video to the site on a whim, without thinking much of it. 

“I posted my first video in 2014, though it’s long deleted now,” he tells InsideHook. “I still had longer hair and was thinking about growing dreadlocks. I wasn’t really sure where my life was headed.” 

Otuemhobe didn’t have too much figured out at that time (fair enough, he was still in high school), and that uncertainty extended to his own physical fitness. Nine years ago, he started weightlifting out of a simple desire “to be different” — to find some self-confidence, to change his appearance.

That’s a common exercise entry-point for young men — looking back, it certainly applies to my own fitness journey — who find themselves dissatisfied with their bodies, and subsequently buoyed by early results. Still, over the years, Otuemhobe says, his approach to fitness “changed drastically.” He started to measure his progress in a different way: in terms of mental stability, resilience and consistency. He also started to train in calisthenics. 

These days, Otuemhobe is back on YouTube, but uploading with expertise and intention. His channel, STRIQfit, has 87,000 subscribers and offers over 1,000 videos in which he demonstrates all manner of strength-training progressions, from frog stands to reverse Nordic curls to pike push-ups. 

In recent years, a variety of social media accounts have proven that bodyweight moves can actually build a lethal mix of strength, mobility and flexibility. Mix in the impact of the pandemic (during which weights were notoriously hard to come by) and updated attitudes on injury prevention, and you’ve got yourself a calisthenics renaissance. 

Otuemhobe, who always felt that he was a “good teacher” and “really enjoyed arts and editing…but knew those [skills] wouldn’t provide a stable income in the long run,” has positioned himself at the forefront of this movement, with a balanced mix of beginner and expert content. 

Calisthenics Are Back. Again. 

You’d be excused for finding it odd that calisthenics is having such a moment online, considering the exercise model has been around forever. The word is of Greek origin, combining: kallos (beauty) and sthenos (strength). Over the centuries, calisthenics has been associated with gladiators, gymnasts and soldiers; in the late 20th century, it came to dominate physical education curricula. Who could ever forget the Presidential Fitness Test?

It’s fair to say that calisthenics seem a little boring in comparison to modern workout schemes like fast-paced HIIT, connected fitness machines or all those sexy run clubs. 

But calisthenics thrives in its own contradictions. It’s remained so attractive throughout the ages for both its simplicity and its difficulty. Its most famous moves — push-ups, dips, planks, handstands — are capable of building full-body strength without equipment and for free…yet they demand patience and proper form. 

What’s more, the practice is well-suited to home-workout tutorials, which have boomed in recent years, and saw their biggest surge since the VHS days during the pandemic lockdowns. The search term “calisthenics” has seen a massive rise in traffic in the 2020s; these days, it’s actually neck and neck with buzzy phrases like “HIIT” and “Zone 2.”

If you download TikTok today and jury-rig your algorithm for workout videos, you’re going to see some calisthenics content. But as Otuemhobe emphasizes, “Calisthenics has been popular on YouTube for over 10 years now.” He says that we’re seeing a substantial rise in the space on account of muscle-bound influencers who suspect (correctly) that there’s money to be made in performing shirtless moves online. 

“Making Fitness Simple” 

Otuemhobe, now 26 and based in Dallas, sells an e-book for beginners — intended to impart ideas that weren’t readily accessible when he started his calisthenics journey — and also maintains his own training app, but devotes the majority of his energy to making direct, digestible videos, which vary in length from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. 

“You take inspiration from other creators and see what people you admire are doing,” he says. “But personally, I try to keep things simple and avoid jargon that the average person wouldn’t understand. I think that’s what people like about my content — the simplicity and how refined it is for the average viewer.”

For instance, in a short video on how to perform clap push-ups, Otuemhobe advises trainees to turn their hands inward, as that’s the best formation for generating power; and if you’re a newcomer to the move, he recommends spreading one’s feet a bit further than expected. I felt humbled — yet edified — after watching that video. I’d struggled with plyometric push-ups in a workout class only a few days before. 

In a longer video from this past June, titled “Every Calisthenics Skill to Learn in Order for Your First Year,” which Otuemhobe considers his “first big win,” he starts with the benefits of hollow hangs, and works viewers all the way up to an explainer on the muscle-up, which is probably one of the most respected (and trickiest) moves in all of bodyweight strength training. The video is a foundational, visual text. A manual. It’s the sort of thing you can easily see a trainee bookmarking and returning to, over and over again. 

Some fitness YouTubers shoot their videos in a branded and uniform style. Think: dark, Equinox-esque studios with perfect lighting. But I’m not sure atmosphere is all that important (unless that atmosphere is lousy, to the point of distraction). After all, many successful accounts these days are shot in backyards, garages or public parks — and calisthenics experts have the specific benefit of dedicated outdoor gyms. 

Slick studios and slicker editing carry some creators pretty far. But in the world of wellness, a stamp of authenticity can be earned via steady counsel and expert exhibition. Otuemhobe offers both. He performs the moves he wants his followers to learn. He talks the talk and butchers the block. 

Still, training is hard, and doing it “in front” of thousands of people isn’t easy. “Running this channel has made me more aware of my limitations and what I need to work on personally,” Otuemhobe says. “There are days when I’m having a bad workout and can’t hit the skills or record the video I need to, which can be incredibly frustrating. But it forces me to re-evaluate where my workout routine or diet may be off. It’s truly a blessing to get paid to help people while maintaining my own fitness level.” 

For the Beginners Who Become Experts

For Otuemhobe, the knowledge that his videos “map out a clear path for progress” in calisthenics is enough to convince him that he “isn’t wasting [his] time on YouTube.” His content is primarily geared towards newcomers, though he puts out one intermediate video for every five beginner videos. 

Despite the recent notoriety of calisthenics, it’s still a fairly misunderstood style of training — even amongst people that you and I would consider extremely fit. As Otuemhobe points out, “There are people who can bench-press 225 pounds or squat 315, but struggle with full range-of-motion pull-ups…it doesn’t make sense to be able to lift more than your body weight, yet not control your own body weight.”

Others might think calisthenics is an exercise menu that can be sampled from a la carte, and added to an existing workout routine whenever the spirit moves you, despite the fact that it requires unilateral focus. And some just assume that if you practice calisthenics, you have weak legs. Well, check out these pistol squats. 

Recently, one of Otuemhobe’s followers donated 20 pounds, and commented, “This video is worth £500 to me. You gave all the exercises concisely, not trying to be funny, not wasting my time and treating the viewer as someone with intelligence. Keep up the good work. A million thank you [sic] for being real and honest in sharing your knowledge. Thanks!” 

At its core, STRIQfit is what hobbyist YouTube is all about. Not a generalist scrapheap of random wellness advice, but extremely specific training advice and demonstrations, regarding a concentration that will — if you stick with it — help you get stronger, in body and mind.