Getting Lean and Mean

[Scott Caron]

Yep.  My ultimate goal is to hit and stay at around 5%, so as to make equilibristics as easy as possible given the leverage disadvantage of my long limbs.

[Joshua Naterman]

Yep.  My ultimate goal is to hit and stay at around 5%, so as to make equilibristics as easy as possible given the leverage disadvantage of my long limbs.

I know this is going to fall on deaf ears, it always does, but here I go anyways:

 

Do not worry about 5%. For one thing, you will not be able to maintain it, no one does. However, the important thing is that you are going to have absolutely NO IDEA what your body composition will be when you are at your peak performance. It might be 9% body fat, or it might be 12%, or it might be 6%, and you will never know until you get there. The world does not bend itself to your will, and neither do your genetics. If you let them, however, they will work hand-in-hand with you to bring you to your true peak. Don't fight them, allow them to guide you to a place where you are happy with what you see in the mirror and happy with your equilibre performance.

 

I am not suggesting that you stop focusing on getting leaner, or that you should ever stop reaching for higher goals. I am suggesting that you simply get yourself to 10-12%, maintain it for 4-6 months, and then see how you feel about getting leaner.

[Scott Caron]

"No one does."  

 

...except every one of my friends who is a professional acrobat, or bboy.  All of them between 5-7% all the time.  

 

Current goal is 10%, ASAP, because it will make me so much lighter on my feet, which will have the effect of putting less strain on my joints, making dancing way more fun again, and make my current level of strength go that much further in relation to my mass.

 

I will continue to post updates on my stats every 2 weeks when I get my bod pod check in.

 

Meanwhile, it's all about the daily effort and eating right.

[Joshua Naterman]

5-7% is a big range, and you're talking about mostly small guys. I'm not suggesting you don't try it, I am simply suggesting that you may find you prefer 7% or 8%. Maybe not, who knows? It is a bad idea to be married to a number before you know what it means for your body, personally. That tends to cause a lot of issues later on if it turns out to not be the right thing, and I would prefer that you protect yourself from that. If 5% is the magic number for you when you get there, then that's awesome! If not, I don't want you to be stuck in a rut over not feeling good at the "magic acro/equilibre body comp" or whatever.

[Joshua Slocum]

Don't worry too much about the number. Keep in mind what your real goal is: getting lighter and stronger. Whatever BF% makes you feel light and strong, whether it is 10%, 15% or 5% is quite frankly irrelevant. Your goal should be to start collecting healthy eating habits. If you eat good food and exercise regularly, you will lean up without any effort.

[Scott Caron]

Actually, my professional acro friend (currently on Broadway right now) is 6'2", 200 lbs at around 5%.  Guy is a beast.  Super long lean perfectly sculpted muscles.  Because of his height even the Chinese Acro Master told him "You will never do handstand pushups."  Now he can do like 6 or 8 of them.  He is also a one armed master and his big act is handbalancing on a rollabolla stacked 5 high.

 

My other mentor is Iron Monkey, who is maybe 5'7" at most but is as broad shouldered as I am. 

 

Just making a note of counter examples that give me hope.

 

I get your point though. I came to the 5-7% number because that is what pro-gymnasts are supposedly at, as are my pro friends.  It seems to me that because of my size and strength-weight ratio, it behooves me to get as incredibly lean as possible while getting as ridiculously strong as possible.

 

In the meantime, I'm pretty far off from being in danger of anything aside from the pies and pizzas my roommates are leaving out on the counter with hand-written notes saying "Eat Me!"

 

So far I am on target, saving such indulgences for the weekends...

 

Don't worry too much about the number. Keep in mind what your real goal is: getting lighter and stronger. Whatever BF% makes you feel light and strong, whether it is 10%, 15% or 5% is quite frankly irrelevant. Your goal should be to start collecting healthy eating habits. If you eat good food and exercise regularly, you will lean up without any effort.

Well...actually its a LOT of effort.  The good news is I have designed my meal plan to be both filling and tasty, so I actually look forward to eating them.  Its funny because when I carb up on weekends and eat my comfort foods on my cheat day, I get all gassy and whatnot and really look forward to getting back to my clean food during the week.

 

 

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

What Joshua is trying to tell you The Giant, is that neither you, nor him, nor me will ever be jockeys! It is all about expectations management.

Make your peace with it

[Scott Caron]

Maybe I'll never be a jockey, but I at least have a shot of being an acrobat and possibly breaking some world records...

[Daniel Burnham]

Maybe I'll never be a jockey, but I at least have a shot of being an acrobat and possibly breaking some world records...

I wish you all the best. Please take before and after pictures. That low body fat at that size naturally would be insane awesome.

[Joshua Naterman]

Maybe I'll never be a jockey, but I at least have a shot of being an acrobat and possibly breaking some world records...

I too wish you the best. Stay focused and you will become far more than anyone would have ever dreamed. Before and after pics would be extremely awesome.

[Scott Caron]

Thanks guys!  Took some before pics already and will be taking new ones each month.  Next set of pics and progress update in 2 weeks!

 

In the meantime I have some questions about getting started, but that is a post and topic for a different section of the boards...

[Joshua Naterman]

Updates? How are you doing, Giant?

[David Creekmore]

Updates? How are you doing, Giant?

Probably shouldn't necro this thread, but there is an important lesson here for me.  

 

I've been an amature around professionals in the circus/acrobat community for a few years and it's VERY tempting to set my standards according to their achievements, statistics and practices.  

THEY, the pros, more than anyone have been clear to me that that would almost certainly be a mistake to do that.   Not everyone can perform at the highest levels and even those that do might not do it for long.  As a hobbiest, which I most certainly am,  (even if an obsessed and dedicated one) I will burn out or get frustrated if I don't manage my own goals and expectations.   And then what's the point?

I love that you and Daniel earnestly wished the OP good luck and I hope he is achieving what he wants.  

Personally, I know that setting those kinds of targets and expectations would be counter-productive for me in my practice.  I have to find the spot where I push myself hard but still enjoy the process.  

[Scott Caron]

Hey guys!

 

@Joshua: so sorry...somehow I missed the notification from your post last July.

 

Thank you for your post David.

 

Progress... has been tricky.

 

I would say my issue number one is consistency.  When I'm consistent, I get results.  However I really struggle with this.  I did not grow up an athlete, and I lack that level of discipline and tolerance to pain.  I have fallen on and off the wagon several times, but I *am* making progress.

 

I will say that while I love the GB programs, I discovered they weren't a good fit for where I'm currently at.  I also tried to bite off more than I can chew.

 

I ended up getting a personal trainer, who is a handbalancer and student of the inimitable Steve Atlas.  

 

Which is not to say that the GB programs aren't top notch...they absolutely are!  However there is no substitute for experienced one-on-one hands-on acrobatic training.

 

I've also come to realize that with my size I am in uncharted waters...the cruel fact is that I have a lot of weight and leverage disadvantage to overcome.  Even the easiest exercises were too hard.  On top of which I have a couple old injuries and muscle imbalances.

 

So what my coach helped me do was dial in EXACTLY what I needed to do...he also helped me pick just enough exercises and progressions to not follow my classic pattern of taking on too much and then collapsing.

 

My current program is as follows:

 

- Wrist warm up (a modified version of the GB wrist work)

- Hip Warmup

- Some squatting/mobility exercises to reclaim my hip mobility and build strength in my feet, ankles, and knees, from the old knee injury.

- Inverted (body parallel to the floor) rows on the rings, knees bent and feet on the floor. 5 straight arm shrugs to warm up, followed by 5 sets of 5 (up, hold for 1, lower for 4).  In between each set, hold upper support hold on rings for 20 seconds

 

Actually I've progressed a bit...I now do reverse row sitbacks...at the top of the row, I turn the rings in, keep them at my chest, and sit my hips back, hold for 2, then raise my hips back up to the table position, and lower for 4.  More about these later.

 

Some days after this I might do chinups...usually 5 sets of 1.  Full chin up, hold for 5, lower for 10.

 

Next is line work.  2-3 circuit sets of hollow body (45 sec) bridge, cobra, or tight arch (45 seconds), then side-elbow planks (30 seconds each side).

 

After this I do wall-handstands.  Face and chest walked in to wall, perfect line, hold for time.  Currently my max hold is about 1:20, but I typically do 8 sets of 45 seconds after a set of 10 wall-handstand shoulder shrugs to warm up.

 

I finish with 5 sets of 5 pushups, with as perfect form as possible, lowering for 4, pausing for 1, pushing up for 4, then hold hollow body plank at top for 5 seconds.

 

Every 3rd or 4th workout I deload, doing same reps but half sets.  I've found I need more recovery time than I'd like to need, and so I do 2 workouts per week, sometimes a third if I feel recovered.

 

I'm still working to get consistent on the cardio, but that's usually 3 times per week for 1 hour on an elliptical do progressive interval training.  I'm about to do a big push and step cardio up to 6 days per week for the next 10 weeks.

 

Nutrition wise I've been doing a cyclical ketogenic diet, which seems to work well for me, and gets me leaner when I stick with it.

 

As for results, in just a few months following this protocol I put 7 pounds of muscle on my frame while simultaneously dropping 3 pounds in fat.  I'm about 27% now instead of 30%.  Progress!

 

Also, when I started with my coach I could not complete one chinup...the reverse row chin-ups are like holding the top of a chinup and it got me there!  Now I have a beastly chin-up with my 300 pound ass...I go from a deadhang slowly all the way to my chin way above the bar.  Pullups are still harder but I'm getting my chin closer and closer to the bar by "greasing the groove" several times throughout the day.  When I started I could barely hold a deadhang, but now they are easy! Handstands used to tweak my right shoulder (old dislocation) but now not at all.  I started my wallstands with my hips piked and balls of feet on the wall (L-stand) and was afraid to get my chest and face to the wall...it felt really freaky.  Now...I am fearless when I walk in and touch my nose and my pointed feet, and am starting to play with switching feet off the wall, and finding that "floating" balance point feeling.

 

So...getting there!  Building the foundation and really settling in to the fact that my heaight and body type mean it's just going to take longer.  A lot longer.  But I was always in it for the longhaul anyway.

[David Creekmore]

 But I was always in it for the longhaul anyway.

 

 

Ha, I'm glad I posted then!  

The long haul is key isn't it?  

 

I'm more in the flying and static trapeze community than the acrobatic one.  But it's taken me quite a while to build the foundation.  I don't get very good instruction on conditioning, they mostly teach skills.    

I've found GB helpful so far but I haven't gotten very far.  I like the programming though, and it's really helped me identify weakness in my hip flexors and compression.  I'm already applying that to my trapeze and static trapeze training.  Feels great.

It's been less helpful correcting a big muscle imbalance in my pull up (Left side much weaker than right.)  I'm sure it will eventually, but I'm going to have to tackle it on my own because I need results faster.   

It's fantastic having an application for the strength and mobility though, right?  I LOVE that.  I wouldn't be half as strong or flexible if I were doing it just for health or physique.  

Glad you are enjoying the ride.