Started by Bipocni, February 9, 2013 · 39 Replies · 14,388 Views
I present for your approval, the most advanced Rings element I've ever seen a woman complete:
I've also seen several rock solid L sits, and heard unsubstantiated rumours of a OAC.
I want to know if anyone has any proof of a woman completing a Front lever, Planche, Iron Cross ect..
I've heard it's impossible due to hormone levels, cross sectional muscle size ect.. but I don't believe it.
I know they don't compete in the rings, but SOMEONE must have done it right!?
There is a woman in my gym who trains rings. She can do a muscle-up, and nearly has a bent-body press handstand. And her press to Japanese handstand is as good as mine.
I have seen several women do MUps and straddle planches (not in person, but on YouTube).
I'm sure that it's more a case of not training these specific elements than anything else. I'm certain that there are biological limits to the level of strength women (and men) can achieve but just looking at the large number of very strong female weightlifters and circus/acrobatics performers, I doubt that the female potential doesn't include planches, crosses et cetera...
Vanessa Ferrari can do a straddle planche, and I've seen a number of female circus performers do a straddle planche.
Female handbalancers are incredibly strong. Personally, I am about as impressed with a one arm press to handstand as I am with a planche on floor or an iron cross. I've seen a number of different women on youtube who could pull off a strict muscle up. I've also seen handstand pushups, v-sits, straddle FL, side lever, and other impressive skills. Here are a few I was particularly impressed with:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV6BVd1ey9A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pihFuz2fYN0.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5jkjSF2VwP4
These are only a few examples of strong women, but there are plenty more out there. I agree with Michaël that most women probably don't train these, rather than that they cannot achieve them.
Oh yeah, also, this woman does several mannas in a row and then a high manna. At the end of an 8 minute long act:
Wow that is incredible. Well, that right there makes her stronger than I'm ever likely to be.
Hari_Seldon said:Oh yeah, also, this woman does several mannas in a row and then a high manna. At the end of an 8 minute long act:
Wow, just WOW! 
This 'calisthenics' girl from Russia/Ukraine can do slow strict bar muscle-ups, human flags and a half ROM OAC(she can also do long flexed one arm hangs). I guess this girl will be able to do a full OAC some day.
Most things are just as possible for women as for men. Of course, none will be as strong on rings as Chen Yibing, but neither will 99.9% of males. The female handbalancers are great examples of very strong women. Also the old school rings/trapeze/straps women. Try doing even 1 of the swings you see in this clip and see how your shoulder feels, let alone 100!(or 365 which is supposed to be the record). Most of the women who did the 1 arm swings would do 1 arm pullups as part of their training.
Yes, Arevik Seyranyan (two movies of her performing above) is super strong.
Another strong girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNiMbD94-tU
Handbalanecr, those one arm swings/giants, pretty amazing.
Somone was asking in some other thread about grip conditioning 
.
It's true that, for any given body size, the strongest woman will never match the strongest man, but there are plenty of women who put most men to shame.
When you consider that very few women actually train for strength, it's no surprise that we don't really have much of any idea what they are capable of.
My girlfriend is able to hold ~8s tuck FL now, and a year ago she could barely hang off of the pull up bar for 10 seconds. They do make progress more slowly than we do, but they move forward just like us.
Desi is a good example of what a pretty strong woman is... she's consistently one of the strongest people at the GB seminars, male OR female.
So what have you seen her do? Handstand pushups, elevators, iron cross?
Just curious, I'm digging the vids that have been posted so far. Keep it up guys!
http://www128.pair.com/r3d4k7/Chinups.html
I've yet to see any female do strap crosses or a back lever supinated or true planche.
There was a girl who showed me how to do a meathook at the gym when I used to train at GoldenBear.
Those one arm side/body lever thingys look like they a helluva lot strength IMO. Dunno. Might be like meathook, more technique than strength from what they look.
galina parfenov
Wow I have sen that picture before but I thought it was a guy! Didn't pay attention to the face
Desi is pretty strong in planche, front/back lever, basic ring strength, etc. Carmen Amara from GB is also quite strong
Any decent female aerialist can do a full rope climb as good as any guy. Like was posted, old school female circus girls would do ridiculous stuff like reverse meathook rope climb, one arm pullups were no challenge for them I'm sure
here is another strong female hand balancer
A few of the rec gymnastics girls I coach that I actually get to work strength with can do 10+ strict pullups(by my standards with tempo), proper tuck front levers, HeSPU on the wall, are on their way to full 5 meter rope climb. I haven't tried this but I'm sure at least one of them could hold a bent arm one arm hang. It's funny these kids come twice a week but are stronger than the higher lever competitive girls we have
The fact remains(as Josh pointed out) is that most women don't really train maximal strength
piotro said:Yes, Arevik Seyranyan (two movies of her performing above) is super strong.
Another strong girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNiMbD94-tU
Handbalanecr, those one arm swings/giants, pretty amazing.
Somone was asking in some other thread about grip conditioning
You know you're good when you only need one cane for your entire act.
I've never seen a one arm pike press before. That was amazing!
Sasha Pivaral is not tiny(not chinese girl size anyway) and she does some "big boy" hand balancing tricks like lower to crock, kick up from crock, and switches.
Nice on Yuri, I'm really impressed by this new breed of contortionists who also display fantastic strength.
One things for sure the backing band must trust her, shooting the arrow straight towards them like that. Crazy!
Here's an old school vid of a Dolly Jacobs doing plain ole' rings swings -
Bipocni said:So what have you seen her do? Handstand pushups, elevators, iron cross?
Just curious, I'm digging the vids that have been posted so far. Keep it up guys!
I saw her do foot supported back lever curls, starting with body horizontal. I was the only other person (besides Coach's guys) who could do these, and I think she made them look easier than I did. There might have been one other guy there who could do them, it was what... two years ago now or something?
Anyhow, that was pretty boss.
None of us have any idea what females are really capable of, because there haven't been any girls who have specifically trained for rings their whole lives.
Chances are good that the best males would always beat the best females, simply because of hormones and body fat, but the best females would accomplish things that most of us probably would not.
Handbalancer said:Most things are just as possible for women as for men. Of course, none will be as strong on rings as Chen Yibing, but neither will 99.9% of males. The female handbalancers are great examples of very strong women. Also the old school rings/trapeze/straps women. Try doing even 1 of the swings you see in this clip and see how your shoulder feels, let alone 100!(or 365 which is supposed to be the record). Most of the women who did the 1 arm swings would do 1 arm pullups as part of their training.
One arm swing to meathook.. brutal.
Joshua Naterman said:I saw her do foot supported back lever curls,
Can't visualize what you mean, is there a video of the move?
I took it to mean simply curling, but in a back lever. Sounds pretty beastly.
How well do women do on the Foundation 1 program? I assume it's something Coach would have considered when he developed the thing. For example, thanks to you guys I know that several women can do a straddle planche. Is that why the planche progression only goes as far as straddle, or is full lay really that impossible even for most men? But then, even with all the mindblowing stuff you guys have posted in this thread, I'm still having a hard time believing a full side lever could be done. But then, I have a hard time believing a side lever can be done at all....
Edit: or did you mean the back lever curls in BtGB? Which is more of a pull to a bent arm support. That's pretty crazy stuff. Anyone crazy enough to do their dips like that?
'For example, thanks to you guys I know that several women can do a straddle planche. Is that why the planche progression only goes as far as straddle, or is full lay really that impossible even for most men?'
If you can do 5 sets of 10s straddle planche one after the other, I'm sure you'll have at least a few seconds of full lay.
I guess it only goes up to straddle planche because it's only a foundation course...
Chris.
irongymnast said:Can't visualize what you mean, is there a video of the move?
It's basically the lower half of a foot-supported pelican.