How far can taller people get with GST?

Obviously someone who is 6"3" will progress much more slowly than those under 6 feet, but how far can a person who is 6"3" go?

Check Forum member Erik out:

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/page/index.html/_/everyday-champions/everyday-champion-erik-r125

sensfan15 said:

Obviously someone who is 6"3" will progress much more slowly than those under 6 feet, but how far can a person who is 6"3" go?

As far as they are willing to push themselves I would think. You've basically covered the biggest stumbling block with the idea that taller people would simply have a more difficult time than someone like myself with a smaller stature simply because of the length of the limbs and naturally heavier body. Progress in gymnastic training appears to be a matter of persistent effort and time. Assuming you just keep working, in a safe way, the taller individual should be capable of achieving the same things.

Erik Bowling said:

As far as they are willing to push themselves I would think. You've basically covered the biggest stumbling block with the idea that taller people would simply have a more difficult time than someone like myself with a smaller stature simply because of the length of the limbs and naturally heavier body. Progress in gymnastic training appears to be a matter of persistent effort and time. Assuming you just keep working, in a safe way, the taller individual should be capable of achieving the same things.

That's a very egalitarian ideal, but it's simply not true. Longer limbs carry a mechanical disadvantage. That said, for most people, self-discouragement will be much more of a limiting factor than hard physical limits. Even at 6'3, you can go really far. John Gill, at 6'2", learned an inverted muscle-up and a butterfly to support:

http://www128.pair.com/r3d4k7/Climbing&Gymnastics2.0.html

John Gill was 6'2'', you can see a list of his GST feats in the like above.

Jim Holloway was a 6'6'' rock climber who could hold a 20 second front lever.

Alexander Shatilov is 6' and has placed well at both the Beijing and London Olympics. The hardest element he performs on rings is an inverted cross.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw5W5SUgJEs

Kristian Thomas is 5'11'' and can perform an iron cross and a full lay planche on rings.

The examples go on and on. There's at least one guy on youtube who is over 6' and has an iron cross, which I've heard people say is impossible for anyone over 5'8". If you work hard and dedicate enough time, you will have a lot of success in GST. You won't be putting together routines like Yuri van Gelder or Chen Yibing, but most of these skills are obtainable for a hard-working individual. 

Hari_Seldon said:

That's a very egalitarian ideal, but it's simply not true. Longer limbs carry a mechanical disadvantage. That said, for most people, self-discouragement will be much more of a limiting factor than hard physical limits. Even at 6'3, you can go really far. John Gill, at 6'2", learned an inverted muscle-up and a butterfly to support:

 

http://www128.pair.com/r3d4k7/Climbing&Gymnastics2.0.html

Frogive me, but it doesn't really seem like you and I have a different point of view on the subject. We both said that the biggest limiting factor would the height given the longer limbs which would make everything exponentially harder. Both of us agree that this, while being a disadvantage, can still be worked with. It would seem that the taller individual would simply have to achieve a much greater level of strength relative to the shorter person. The point I was trying to get across was that the taller individual would have to put in more effort to be frank. I believe the fact that taller individual have done quite a few movements that would be considered nearly out of reach because of their size would be evidence of that.

sensfan15 said:

Obviously someone who is 6"3" will progress much more slowly than those under 6 feet, but how far can a person who is 6"3" go?

You can't change your size, and how far can you go does not make sense unless you do get there...

So the question really is: How far will you go?

........ Nobody knows yet, but we'll be watching and cheer you up on the way!

Start today!

Erik Bowling said:

Frogive me, but it doesn't really seem like you and I have a different point of view on the subject. We both said that the biggest limiting factor would the height given the longer limbs which would make everything exponentially harder. Both of us agree that this, while being a disadvantage, can still be worked with. It would seem that the taller individual would simply have to achieve a much greater level of strength relative to the shorter person. The point I was trying to get across was that the taller individual would have to put in more effort to be frank. I believe the fact that taller individual have done quite a few movements that would be considered nearly out of reach because of their size would be evidence of that.

I think we're essentially in agreement. I was just noting that the absolute limits for a shorter person seem to be farther out than the absolute limits for a taller person, because when both of them have trained to their absolute limits, the shorter person's advantage shows through. One short person has a Victorian, no tall people do; several short people can do an azarian to maltese; no tall people can.

Note that this is largely an academic discussion; I don't think anyone on this board is yet approaching their physical limits, so no one should be worried that their size will disqualify them from future progress.

Hari_Seldon said:

I think we're essentially in agreement. I was just noting that the absolute limits for a shorter person seem to be farther out than the absolute limits for a taller person, because when both of them have trained to their absolute limits, the shorter person's advantage shows through. One short person has a Victorian, no tall people do; several short people can do an azarian to maltese; no tall people can.

Note that this is largely an academic discussion; I don't think anyone on this board is yet approaching their physical limits, so no one should be worried that their size will disqualify them from future progress.

I'm agreement on the basis of what the absolute limits seem to be. Particularly when discussing very advanced skills. I'm no expert by any means but my understanding is that the Victorian is extremely difficult and rare. The transition from Azarian to Maltese would require incredible strength from a tall individual to overcome the length of their limbs without question. My argument would simply be that taller athletes would most likely never train to begin with because of the mindset that gymnastic training is out of their reach. Training for and failing is one thing. But never attempting is entirely different. I would think more tall people would fall into the never tried category; hell most people would probably fall into the never tried category when it comes to Gymnastic Strength Training™.

I think that everyone here will just about crap their pants with delight when they achieve their 10s straddle planches and front levers.

Everyone who keeps training will hit those marks, and that's not the end of the road, or even close to it, for any of us.

Let's take the worst case scenario, though, and say that some of us never move very far beyond straddle planche and full lay FL.  Is anyone here seriously going to be upset about that?

Anyone who sees you bust those out is going to think you're a fitness god. Even people in the know will look at you and say "Nice!"

So what would be harder on the upperbody,  A tall person with skinny/average legs, or a short person with huge bodybuilder legs?  Like 5'8

Joshua Naterman said:

I think that everyone here will just about crap their pants with delight when they achieve their 10s straddle planches and front levers.

My pants are quite intact, thank you very much 

Though if I ever do a 10s manna, they might be in danger...

My philosophy has always been that I know I won't ever make it to the Olympics. It's just not going to happen. I just want to see what I can do with the body and the time that I have. I've gotten and lost full ROM handstand pushups five times, got my full layout FL for three months and lost it (back to straddle now), built to ten full minutes in a wall run, built a fairly solid side lever and am closer to a manna than ever before. I didn't write any of that to brag, I'm just pointing out that five years ago, I'd have thought all that was impossible, and I've only been doing it for a short time.

I am quite tall, and that puts me at a disadvantage to achieve higher level things like malteses and victorians, but I guess in the end, what I really want to see is just how long it will take me to get it. There's no better feeling than being told you can't do something because you aren't built for it, then looking them in the eye and doing it.

Once again, don't want to sound self-aggrandizing, just sharing my thoughts. Best of luck in your training.

Joshua Naterman said:

(...) everyone here will (...) crap their pants (...)

I certainly hope not!

I'm almost 6'1, ranging between 95-100kgs (footy player build, not overweight) for the past few years (hoping to get leaner and be at perhaps 90-95kgs). So its great to see someone like Erik who is, albeit it lighter than me, is much taller and mechanically disadvantaged achieving great things.

I wont even be mad at crapping my pants WHEN I get my straddle planche.

I am not very tall(5'10) but if I were something like 6'3 I wouldn't consider it a weakness at all but would mostly see only the good sides of it: it is way more inspiring and impressive to see a tall guy performing tricks you only see short guys performing, plus if a tall guy is able to do levers, he must be really strong.

Push it to the limit

Walk along the razor's edge

but don't look down, just keep your head

and you'll be finished

Open up the limit

past the point of no return

You've reached the top but still you gotta learn

how to keep it

I'm 6'4 and 20 years old, just started F1 and H1, I'll let you know in 5 years;)

Look at it this way.

If you're taller, you'll just get more mileage out of the beginner courses. You can get by on a mediocre ring setup (such as a freestanding pullupbar with rings attached) for much longer, as well. Not only that, once you can hold a legit planche, you should be able to walk into any weight room and out bench press the majority of gym rats there. 

In terms of absolute weight, you should always be able to hoist more than a similarly skilled shorter person. For example, if both you and a 5 foot 6 guy could hold a 20 second front lever, you'll be much, much stronger.

It will take you a longer amount of time, sure, but your physique will be most impressive once you get there. Check out some of the success stories and you'll see what I mean. 

It's unlikely that you'll ever be able to do the really advanced stuff, but as long as you aren't planning on competing, who cares? 

The argument about less equipment is totally valid! Fundamentals seem to get forever . So  cool training with less equipment for a longer time

1.87cm here ( also 92kg, that may be the cause that fundamentals get forever   )

At 1.87cm Pagio you'll have all the levers in no time! lol

I guess by "no time" you mean something like a year at least but im ok with this

pagio said:

I guess by "no time" you mean something like a year at least but im ok with this

Given that the timeline for achieving some of the more advanced moves is 6+ years, one year is 'no time' 

.

Arto said:

As a 5'4" tall person, I can't help but chuckle everytime I see someone complaining how tall they are here. I would be glad to be a bit taller.

LOL - well said!

There is not much that can be done about either case anyways........