Pairing FSP/FBE to help upper body imbalances

[George Launchbury]

Hi all,

Following a recent discussion I have been thinking some more regarding other ways of pairing the FSPs with the FBEs to reach specific goals. This might be bringing up a weak body part/plane of motion, training around or coming back from injury, etc (...or be of use to our resident bodybuilders 8) ). This expands on my earlier thinking about which muscles are in use constantly and which alternate and get more rest, and should not be taken as a prescription - maybe an interesting idea to get some discussion going??

EDIT: The excercise choices could probably be better, but you get the idea?

TARGET: Anterior shoulder girdle

Planche (anterior shoulder girdle, biceps)

Press (anterior shoulder girdle, triceps)

TARGET: Posterior shoulder girdle

Front lever (posterior shoulder girdle, triceps)

Pull (posterior shoulder girdle, biceps)

TARGET: Biceps

Back lever (anterior shoulder girdle, biceps)

Pull (posterior shoulder girdle, biceps)

TARGET: Triceps

Front lever (posterior shoulder girdle, triceps)

Press (anterior shoulder girdle, triceps)

I guess one could also use the Integrated Training protocols for only one side of your FBE pairing to aid in bringing up weaker planes for those with limited recovery/time, etc. For example: I am weaker in my pulls than my presses, so might include a front-lever before my pulling exercise and just perform a straight FBE for my press.

Food for thought? ...or (as my daughter might say) crazy talk.

Regards,

George.

P.s. Please feel free to criticise ...I am quite open with the fact that I am just a passionate amateur, and not a professional coach with gymnastics-specific experience - and bow to the experience and knowledge of those who are.

P.p.s. This idea raises some additional interest for me in that I assumed that the back-lever/pull combo was for enhancing pulling strength and couldn't see why it wasn't a front-lever ...but the idea might have been to build up bicep strength for protecting the elbow, and enhances pulling strength by increasing elbow flexor strength rather than shoulder girdle involvement!?

[JoeS]

Very interesting. This could even become a way to combine gymnastics and weight training. Don't get me wrong, I love the FBEs but it's easier to measure your progress with weights.

I hope coach Sommer weighs in.

[George Launchbury]

...although obviously not quite as interesting as we thought!

[braindx]

My preference for posterior delts has now become manna work.