It's a matter of preference, but I find lifting weights to be way more fun. And you can progressively overload - something which you will struggle with when doing only bodyweight workouts. And there's so many different methods to use that it's impossible to get bored from lifting weights. I only ever use B/w lifts every now & then as lockdown made me sick of them! Haha. Although you can get a fantastic stimulus from a Push up & Pull up Superset.
I know. What I meant is you won’t get the training stimulus required to develop a bulky muscular physique from calisthenics alone. It’s also true that you can develop solid core strength with weightlifting, particularly from heavy barbell squats. Still, it won’t be comparable to core strength you can develop from calisthenics.
Both are great. When it comes to lifting, it’s important to differentiate between compound and isolation training. All the lifting work I do with fighters/athletes are compound lifts and I only touch isolation exercises if there’s an obvious muscle imbalance or rehab to be done. Functional lifting over everything else in my book but control of bodyweight must take precedence before this progression.
Lifting by a damn landslide and there is no argument against it-other then things like cost or the ability to do it at home and enjoyment.
Neither. They are just different tools and it depends on your goals. Lifting heavy has never been considered essential for boxing training. Due to the endurance component of boxing 1 rep PRs would be fun but how they directly translate to the ring isn’t good. Lifting medium weights all different body parts is good just to have a strong body. It’s important fighters have that strength to wrestle at times in the clinch and explosive power in the legs. Calisthenics is excellent for mobility not raw strength like weight lifting but being able to maintain coordination and balance threw many different planes of the body. I am a big fan of all these methods. Like most things in life there isn’t a clear answer and it’s best to add a little of each and have balance. Kelly Pavlik had a big emphasis on lifting with chains and swinging a weighted bat, he did his strength training at the famous Westside Barbell in Cleveland which is probably the best power lifting gym in the world. I used to train with some Olympic sprinters. One was the best in our country and probably top 20 in the world. He only weighted about 70 kgs. Skinny as could be. I made fun of him saying I could rag doll him anytime. Later on I got a chance to do his weights session. Guy was a monster benched 120 for reps very powerful on legs movements and his workout was long and taxing. It was something like 3 sets of 3 different exercises and do that 5 times and that was a mixture of heavy compound lifts, dumbbells and some calisthenics. It was a marathon I struggled but got to see how real athletes train. His program was written by our Institute of Sport. He did weights maybe once every 1.5 weeks.