Building The Gymnastic Body - Negative Review

Well, I bought Coach Sommer's book Building the Gymnastic Body and read it all in about 45 minutes. I was hoping to find a lot...but what I did find can easily be found for free on the internet.

My disappointment began on page 6 when I found out that I was being given "the basics" and 4 other volumes were required. Wow, I just paid $60 bucks with shipping for basics? So I am expected to pay $300 (roughly with shipping) for 5 books total, when it should have been all in one book? Comparative books about training in other modalities don't come in volume, they are in one volume, many in multiple editions as information/styles change. I felt as if I just threw my money away.

Coach Sommer, you are a smart man, but I for one am disappointed in the 1/2 inch book I got at that price. I feel cheated. For something that was so long in the making, and with the current economy, I wish I had spent my money elsewhere. :cry:

I have been reluctant to buy the book before the others are published. I don't have the money, so I am considering the future when looking over options. I will eventually like to get rings and have a complete program for conditioning. Thanks for the review, because "positive" reviews get posted a lot, but constructive "negative" reviews offer the best in finding a way to improve on something.

I just felt like sharing

Sorry, but i do not agree.If it where so easy to find on internet, extraordinary reaction that causes the article on dragon door will not be ocurred.Training concepts are new and original and can not be found, anywhere else; only in this forum or in the book.

Putting together all the volumes, the price would be exorbitant

Well your negative review wasn't really about the book, but about your expectatives about the book. Yes we all find and agree that it would be better everything in one book and now, but the fact is that the book is innovative in some aspects and the exercises may be you can find them on internet but not the aproach of them and progressions, and of course if you have been here for a while, you get familiar with a lot of exercises Coach has posted.

The book is not about reading (yes you can read it very quickly), is about exercises, about how to progress on them, and of course, to do them, and this is where you must spend the time.

And about the basics. Yes it's about 'basics' exercises for a gymnast, but hey, if you can do (i can not ) a manna, full ROM headstand pushups on rings, straddle planche pushups, full front lever pull ups, and some erbs and bowers, yes you are all right, it's really basic for you :wink: . It's basic beacause the progressions start at an easy level for almost everyone, but the top of the progressions i think are really advanced.

I also would like it includes handstand presses and all ring stuff, but that's the way it is and we will have to wait a bit, and may be when the others book arrive we will have a 'basic' strength to achive those advanced exercises. If you rate the book about what is not in the book, yes it may be dissapointing, but it you rated about what it is in the book i think the things changes. We have been waiting for 'THE BOOK' so long that yes, i agree with you that i was disapointed when i new that it will be in some volumes.

So, without expectatives, i think the book is great. With the expectatives of 'THE BOOK', yes is somehow dissapointing at first look, but when you puts your hands on it (i mean starting to do the exercises not just reading them) it gets much better.

About the price, yes it could be cheaper specially for thouse who have expensive shipping rates, and specially if we thougth we have everything in just one book.

For me the book is great :!: I found there exercises, wich I completly forgot abou it and I'm using them for my kids conditioning.

And if my kids 9 and 10 years of age think it's hard (yes it's bascis), then it's hard. And don't forget they are probably more advenced then most of here (for example 10 year old kid, could hold a stradle planche).

One word about basics what is basic?????

It's all basic including iron cross, for rings....

When you buy something it's a wise idea to read the description on the page before you hit "add to cart". I just had a look at what is displayed on the product page for the book, and it's all there. Including a table of contents. It delivers exactly what it promises. Maybe you're just annoyed that the nearly 200 exercises were not secret, and it still meant you were going to have to spend a long time working very hard to get the results like everyone else?

EDIT: Increasing performance is not about having more exercises to do - It's about doing the right exercises, properly, with an intelligently structured approach appropriate to your current abilities.

I loved the book, and will be first in the queue for the remaining volumes.

George.

The Table of Contents in the online store book overview specifically lists everything that is covered in this volume. There are no surprises as to what is contained in this volume; even the families of movements and the pages devoted to each subject are listed. As noted in the link above, and as been mentioned numerous times throughout this forum, Building the Gymnastic Body is solely concerned with the development of basic strength.

And, no, you have not seen most of these variations nor are they available anywhere else in the world, unless you are already a very advanced gymnast. And even then, the majority of these movements will be new or unfamiliar, as Gregor (a world calibre ring specialist and a National Team member for his country) has already pointed out.

when it should have been all in one book

The simple fact of the matter is that Gymnastic Strength Training™ is far too complex of a subject to be adequately covered in one regular size volume; as anyone with any expertise in the field would quickly recognize. As most people have no interest in reading a 1,000 page book on gymnastics strength conditioning :shock:, it is necessary for the information to be divided into subject specific volumes.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

To the orignial poster:

My thoughts are exactly the opposite! The sole reason I came to this forum and went on to buy the books etc was because I couldn't find hardly ANY solid info about how to go about such training (and coach is very helpful). For a start the progressions are gold since I wouldn't of had a clue how to progress through the family of movements correctly. I mean sure you could keep on adding weight to an exercise but this isn't quite the same as moving through these progressions. Secondly, whilst I personally feel the program design section could have been slightly more detailed, it is once again an excellent resource. If you read the steady state, I don't believe there are many other programs out there that incoporate such ideas. Infact after reading it I tried to search for similar periodization models etc and couldn't find any, so I don't know about you but I wouldn't of known when to correctly progress along and this is completely original.

In short in my opinion this is an excellent book and there is no way I would of known what to do regarding training in this way!

I read the table of contents, thanks.

I won't be buying the other volumes, its overpriced to say the least.

You are completely wrong Coach Sommer, people are interested in reading one 1,000 page volume versus a 5 x 200 volumes. There was much anticipation, and this is a let down. There are people with over 40 years of experience in many other fitness-related things who can put it all in one book. To try and pander to your own superior "knowledge" is arrogant to say the least. I can tell you I'm an expert in my own occupation, and I wouldn't be so glib.

I do find it funny that basics for gymnastics are often covered in seperate volumes...you mean to tell me in a basic book about gymnastics you only elude to another book on handstands? Seriously?

Do a simple Google search all over the internet and you will find the progressions.

I have to disagree as well. This volume is just about basic strength, nothing more nothing less. And for me this volume is far from being "basic." I think having everything in one book would make it hard to digest and the physical size of the book would be an inconvenience to say the least. I regularly take my book to the gym because everyone always asks me about my conditioning program. The 200 or so pages seems to be the perfect size, and I cant wait for the other books to come out!

I think you were expecting this book to be the perfect workout book that contains all of the secrets in gymnastics conditioning. This would of course be impossible, even for all of the upcoming volumes combined. I am sure the complete volume will contain a treasure trove of knowledge that will be unmatched in the world of conditioning books but the "secrets" I think you were looking for have to come from your own experiences in training your own body and mind. The one 'big' secret that I have learned so far in my journey is. . . "patience, consistency and hard work prevails" in other words, from Gregors sig, "work is more than talent!!"

Coach Sommer said:

The simple fact of the matter is that Gymnastic Strength Training™ is far too complex of a subject to be adequately covered in one regular size volume;

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I totally agree Coach. I dont even think you could cover everything in 20 books. There are some things you need to learn by just going out and giving it a try. Handstands would be the perfect example, no matter how many books you read about them you will never learn to balance on your hands without extensive practice and insight about how your own body works.

-Ricky

niftyvt said:

in the world of conditioning books but the "secrets" I think you were looking for have to come from your own experiences in training your own body and mind.

You won't get any REAL secrets,because there isn't any just maybe "secret details" for elite gymnasts...As for general population, gymnastics is to complex sport to have it all in a one book. I read a book just for a rings and it's to comlex to comprehand for normal not whole life in gymnastics guy.

niftyvt said:

The one 'big' secret that I have learned so far in my journey is. . . "patience, consistency and hard work prevails" in other words, from Gregors sig, "work is more than talent!!

Yes, but WORK and a TALENT is an EDGE

I too have the opposite view of the original post in this thread. I paid $44 for the book and $4.80 for shipping. When I just looked on the site it is still available for $44, so I am assuming the extra cost is for additional shipping was based on your location. In my opinion this book gave me exactly what it was advertised as, a book to develop strength using a progression of gymnastic moves. I did not assume that this was a book about everything you wanted to know to become an elite gymnast and I probably would not have made the purchase if it was an all inclusive volume. I have bought several fitness books and I feel that I received a very good return on my investment with this book.

When I first read the book my first reaction was to be overwhelmed with the amount of exercises and trying to understand it all. As I began to develop my workout plans, I began to understand, that I did not need to understand everything in the book at once. I only needed to understand the exercises that were pertinent to my current abilities. The table of content and the index in this book are outstanding for quickly referencing where an exercise is located in the book. I really appreciate the extra time to develop this index and layouts.

My current approach is to workout 3 times a week using gymnastics. I have a sheet with the different categories, basically the table of contents, and the progression for each exercise groups. I list each grouping and the exercise that I can currently do and maybe the next hardest exercise in that group. Each week I try to work through the entire sheet doing at least one exercise from each of the groups. For example upper body pressing, I list pushups, dips, HeSPU and MPPr and for pushups I list XR and XR Bulgarian. So for a week I would do one exercise from each grouping.

I feel the best feature of this book is the simplicity of the progression of exercises from one level of strength to another. In all sports, what makes coaches successful is their ability to take something complex and simplify or break things down into their basic components. I feel what has made Coach Sommer so successful is his ability to simplify this progression into very easily understood steps. I believe what I have purchased is a book that describes, how to progress from the most basic move to a progressively harder move. This series of progressions may take any where from months to several years to obtain the top progressions. By my way of thinking, $44 for a book that provides at least 5 years of progressive strength training is a very good deal.

My only complaint is at age 55, is that this book is 25 to 35 years too late. I appreciate the work that has gone into this book and the knowledge that has been shared. I feel for me that this book has been one of the top values that I have received for a fitness book. I wish Coach Sommer good luck on his future books and continued success with his gymnastic coaching.

A grateful old beginner gymnast,

Bob Burns

gdmvproxy said:

To try and pander to your own superior "knowledge" is arrogant to say the least. I can tell you I'm an expert in my own occupation, and I wouldn't be so glib.

This, however, is not constructive.

Bob44 said:

In my opinion this book gave me exactly what it was advertised as, a book to develop strength using a progression of gymnastic moves.

Good. That is the mark of integrity. Thank you for stating it that way.

Bob44 said:

I feel the best feature of this book is the simplicity of the progression of exercises from one level of strength to another.

Constructive. Thank you.

Bob44 said:

I believe what I have purchased is a book that describes, how to progress from the most basic move to a progressively harder move. This series of progressions may take any where from months to several years to obtain the top progressions. By my way of thinking, $44 for a book that provides at least 5 years of progressive strength training is a very good deal.

In this vein, I agree. Also, I think that the book (knowing this forum and coaches articles/essays) is your coach. Add the videos and I should be getting a visual and written coach straight from the school of Coach Sommer

That and this forum is a wonderful resource where Coach is willing to answer questions and discuss workouts. Thanks Coach for that, I will (like I said) be purchasing the book when I can afford it.

@gdmvproxy

So, bearing in mind...

• 
  [*:2jsqvft6]You read the table of contents before buying the book, and knew what it covered...
  [*:2jsqvft6]You knew what it didn't cover...
  [*:2jsqvft6]You knew how long the book was.
  [*:2jsqvft6]You knew the price of the book, and the shipping charges

...and you bought it anyway, even knowing all this. I fail to see how you could be disappointed by getting exactly what was described, and at the exact price you were told it was going to cost and happily paid.

I am starting to think you have some other agenda.

gdmvproxy said:

To try and pander to your own superior "knowledge" is arrogant to say the least. I can tell you I'm an expert in my own occupation, and I wouldn't be so glib.

Which I'm guessing is nothing to do with strength and conditioning, or you'd have wowed us with your credentials already.

Regards,

George.

PS: You're not, by any chance, about to publish a 1000 page book entitled Everything you need to know about gymnastics, pieced together from what you found on Google, are you?

George said:

PS: You're not, by any chance, about to publish a 1000 page book entitled Everything you need to know about gymnastics, pieced together from what you found on Google, are you?

Ok, I had to laugh reading that. I can't count how many times [Random Gym Member] has come up to me, Men's Health and Internet Knowledge in hand, and tried to argue the finer points of training. No slight to the first poster, I just found the quip funny.

As far as the original post, I don't think there was a need for hostility. A large part of the reason a lot of the first book is already available to us here (note I said here, not "online" in the broad sense) is because there was a significant time gap between the announcement of said initial book and its shipment from the printing house. Coach was kind enough to share a lot of that information (and more) to us eager beavers in the GB community. Had he said "too bad, just wait for the book to come out" and given us nothing in the interim your argument would have zero ground to stand on. Quite frankly, the information in it is both unique and valuable. Go back and re-read it: there is so much between the lines of the printed words.

As a side, I paid $350 for my Poliquin level 1 Theory, which contained significantly less new information to me than this initial book on basic strength. That's not to mention seminar costs, my initial training certifications + study materials, etc. I don't think your complaint of paying less than that for all of the books is valid. That said, while we don't expect to always agree with each other in this community, the attitude we take when disagreeing is important. Disagree with open-mindedness and politeness if you would.

i always cringe when i read equations like "200 pages for 44 usd = overpriced"... when i think about how long it will take me to complete HALF of the exercises im shown to work up to, these 44 dollars have been well spent.

think of gym fees: a part of your gym fees pays you a trainer - think of how much you learn by an average gym "trainer" over the course of 44 accumulated trainer dollars. my guess is that the book will hold up pretty well.

probably, there are many guys like me, who always were amazed and floored by gymnasts abilities, read coach sommers article, had some eye-opening gains in strength and bought the book when it came out. what the book did to me (and, i guess, to a bunch of other guys with a similar backstory) was put a lot of these beyond-human feats in a realistic perspective: given time, method and dedication, pretty average me can reach some of those things, insane as they may seem to be (even mannas :shock:)!

while i, personally, wouldnt have minded a one-volume-solution either (im a book nut, though), i really appreciate the modularity that several books offer.

Even if all the progressions, exercises, etc., were widely available, you couldn't have done what Coach did any cheaper. I seriously doubt anybody could find it all, compile it, organize it, and then design the programs or routines or steady state cycles, or whatever, for the price. You could have gone and worked at McDonalds for a day and made enough money to buy the book, but you certainly couldn't have put it all together in one day.

We're all interested in ALL of the material. All 1000 pages. Who cares what format they're in. One book, five books, fine with me. I've invested way less money in Coach's book, DVD's, rings, and other equipment I've built in order to do the exercises, than all my friends who have gym passes, and I've had way better results.

If you're still peeved about the price you paid, you could sell it on eBay.

Coach, you did a great job, and I think it's safe to say the majority of us couldn't be more pleased.

Thats was its called a troll dont even pay attention to him

I think the book is spectacular, and as the owner of many training books, it is one of, if not the most important that I own.

I'd be interested to see what % of the book the original poster can put together using the internet.

It actually shows how good the book is ...since so many people came to it's defence!

Indeed.

I would also like to refine my earlier statements about purchasing BtGB.

The price is not too much. The Forum is an additional resource to the program that the book outlines for those who buy it. The forum becomes more applicable as a resource once the book is being followed. This makes it a training program with online support. I have to save up for the book because that is how my wife and I do things. I just don't have enough right now, but once I save up for it, I will invest in the GB program by buying the book because that is only fair.

I will do my best to follow this. I want to support the program. If I find it cheaper on ebay or craigslist or somewhere, that may save a few dollars. Yet, this is not what we should do. Buy directly from Coach and support the continuation of the program.

This is how we can encourage a GB community. IMHO

Where else could you find a book that breaks down these gymnastic skills into such manageable progressions? And they're a whole lot of fun, too! Just because you can read the book in an hour doesn't mean there isn't a lot of content. There are enough progressions in this book to keep me working for several years! The videos are a tremendous resource when trying to learning the more dynamic exercises. At the back of the book there are half a dozen workout plans. So many ideas that I actually got confused trying to sort it all out. How can you say the book is lacking content? I don't know where else you're going this wealth of information. Having this forum to discuss specific questions is an enormous benefit. I don't have any regrets about my purchase. Like someone else said, if you don't want the book anymore, sell it on ebay. I'm sure it will go quickly. What is the benefit in being critical? At the very least you could have been constructive with your criticism. The real evidence in the value of this book is all the support shown for Coach Sommer.

Some people just don't know or cannot fathom how complicated gymnastics training is. Especially with those who come from outside the sport. I'm sure yoga is somewhat like this as well ( somewhat on a smaller scale ).

I would have liked there to be some basic handstand stuff in the handstand section since there was a handstand section. However, some of this stuff has been on the front page and forum. Many basic handstand progressions are all over the internet like doing a handstand stomach to wall or kicking up to a handstand against a wall as well as doing headstands. Perhaps showing what a basic press handstand is would have sufficed but in developing the press handstand, too many drills are necessary and it would then be necessary to go into them.

Considering that hand-balancing is itself an entire discipline, it makes sense to dedicate one book towards mastering the handstand. As well, the first book was to lay the groundwork for everything else, a Master book so to say. Kind of like how in DnD there is the Gamemaster book with all of the basics and then the other modules and add-ons and such.