8 months of progress

I just cant get over this guys progress.  I wonder how much strength is talent and natural and how much is produced through training. Sometimes, I think Im just not cut out for this stuff, especially when I see someone get resuslts like this.   DO you think there had to be prior experience or something else?

The thing is, GB is never about getting the results in fastest time possible. It's always about looking at the long term

I was more curious of how much of his results were the result of natural talent strength whatever you want to call it as opposed to hard work as I often wonder if I am even capable of producing this level of strength.  8 months seems Awfully short to attain some of those sills based on my reading and research.  

Also, I wasn't examining different methods or approaches but since you mentioned it.  I agree that GB is the best long run option and definitely the most in depth program I've found, however, As a 37yr old, I am not training to be a Ring Specialist or Gymnast, I just want to be as strong as I can be.  So I often go back and forth between best methods to get me to my goals.  My goals are not an azarian or victorian or whatever crazy elite guys do, my goals are Straddle Planche, 90* pushups, Full Levers, etc.  I would call them intermediate Ring Strength.  Thats my goal.  Who knows if I will ever achieve them - but as a consumer and a person who understands how precious time is, I often wonder if there are more efficient yet equally safe methods out there.   

At the end it says "8 months bodyweight training", so no, he's probably by no means a beginner in strength. But who cares? He is not you, nor is he me. Watching these kinds of vids on youtube used to give me an itch to go out and try something radical, but really, it would just detract from the consistency I'm putting into the F-series. My progress may not be as fast as I'd like, but neither is it slow.

Patience really is a virtue, because it allows you to focus on your goal and not being distracted.

Plus at 37 (I'm 38), your number one priority should be to remain injury free. That implies conservative judgment, and subsequently precludes a race to the finish line. Slow and steady wins the race.

How's your Foundation progress?

This is really crazy! But I bet he has done something before that, like weight lifting or so. My brother does some weight lifting with is friends about twice a week for an hour. He started a year ago or so. He doesn't really take it serious, eats mostly sweets and doesn't do any cardio, but his body is amazing. Although he was chubby as a child. I asked him to try some of the F1 stuff. He could easily do planche push-ups and dips, and even mastered the hollow back press, although he had never done it in his life before.

But his core is super weak, or better said his compression, he can't do an L-Sit on floor.

So I think that if a guy is strong from weightlifting, it is definitely possible in 8 months. I think this guy has very strong shoulders/arms compared to core. He can do the HBP easily, but the straddle planche only for some seconds!

I can relate.

I've been used to making small incremental quantum leaps prior to GST and always thought i was ahead of the curve from having dealt in sports. the reality is the following: what you bring, is what you favor, what you favor is not always proper form(locked elbows, ribs in, open shoulders, open hips, arch integrity while squatting)  is something that comes to mind, when I think of (how slowly) I'm making progress.

the mistake I used to make was to leave my observations at that point and not look for more depth. the reality is that we don't know how to quantify another cultures experience(to keep it on a macro scale, because we also don't know how to assimilate inter-personal data like a computer and make specific numerical comparisons.) living situation or lifestyle and chalk up our "superiorness" through your own system. 

that's when I started feeling human again, i was weak, un-informed, essentially a rookie, through the value system of another persona. what gave me solace was that I was seeing videos of children doing things that I as an adult could not do. then realized that I was the one being immature and in psychologic terms, insane, since I was expecting to attain the same results with....a different methodology. 

I really needed to chill. the shot to my ego was worth the clarity gained from knowing that I couldn't reach these goals without someone who's been there before. even now, sometimes I ask circles of knowledge for advice and red flags always come up because they also don't look for more depth and (an inexperienced rookie) like me can actually show them a thing or two. (funny enough, something I can relate to now and am patient with now, because I understand that I asked some pretty simple questions when I first came here, yet surprisingly needed validation, if i didn't want to do what was prescribed.) 

to sum it up: don't worry about others, because you're not them. get to know your situation first, deconstruct everything, look in every nook and cranny, ask questions(and yes, this includes the one's we think are silly.) and most importantly, put them to the test and experiment. 

I represent a Nutrition company + a Sunglass/RX company(Nutrilite and Oakley, respectively) and for years, i used nothing but Oakleys. they have 48 lines of resolution, lenses corrected at all angles, but I never drew a comparison because I never used anything else. until I did and felt the splitting headache that sunglass was creating, i didn't give Oakley's Technology the respect it deserves. same thing with the Nutrition supplements company, it wasn't until I read Josh Naterman's forum posts and topics on nutrition that I didn't realize the error I was commiting. we value service and giving the best service we can give in a competitive market(100mi x 35mi) and the reality of the situation is that even though my body has made changes beyond what i thought I could interact with, others continue hating on my meager, rookie, methods. I will continue telling people that eating whole foods and ONLY then looking to supplement to fill in the cracks that our culture or lifestyle can't fill with a product that is relevant and convenient for their situation. people complain about the sales going down, when all I can do is stand back in awe at how certain individuals who gave my advice a shot and felt the change for themselves for their health. the loss in sales is worth that and more. 

get to know yourself and get to know others. you can only trust actions and posting a video on "look we made this strong person, stronger" only pushes real potential customers away(or at least the one's that can bring about a positive change, this is my opinion) I'd be more impressed with a video like this, a person who's a dead end case, giving others a concrete timeline they can look forward to if they put in the work necesary.

your ego may need validation, but remember that you wouldn't go to a non 24/7 business and complain that isn't open, if you saw the schedule, right? the reason people don't have this kind of experience with fitness is because.....where's the bodies schedule? when can I and can I not, synthesize protein to muscle tissue to the degree, I wish? why must I rest? why must I sleep a certain amount? these are the questions that would (hopefully) spark someone to investigate and pay more attention to what their doing because the body IS doing it's job, which is what every antenna is designed to do. to take in a signal and allow the signal to send a message to parts of your body for it to adapt.....if you don't like the adaptation, it's as simple as changing the signal. 

my 2c. nothing is absolute here and as always, im open to accepting new POV's and refinements to my capacity to observe....because then I can give a better service...and that's what I'm about.

jwalker497 said:

I just cant get over this guys progress.  I wonder how much strength is talent and natural and how much is produced through training. Sometimes, I think Im just not cut out for this stuff, especially when I see someone get resuslts like this.   DO you think there had to be prior experience or something else?

 

He may have had some weight training background, but regardless 8 months for those skills/exercises demonstrated in that video is not out of this world unless that person is very very tall and heavy.

How long have you been training for those skills and what is your height and weight Jwalker?

I am 5'9 and 170

5'9 and 170 lbs is unfavorable for the levers, but is not extremely difficult to achieve in within a year for most people of that height and weight I think. Most people having trouble with the levers are people who are 6+ ft tall and 200+ lbs. I know that most people who are 5'5 and below can easily attain those skills in less than 8 months.

B1214N said:

5'9 and 170 lbs is unfavorable for the levers, but is not extremely difficult to achieve in within a year for most people of that height and weight I think. Most people having trouble with the levers are people who are 6+ ft tall and 200+ lbs. I know that most people who are 5'5 and below can easily attain those skills in less than 8 months.

So "the smaller and lighter" the better concerning levers?! What about planches? Never heard of that but sounds logically!

I am 5'3'' and 110lbs, will a planche be easier and faster to learn for me compared to a guy who is 5'8'' and 180lbs? But the guy would be much stronger, wouldn't he?

katlinchen said:

So "the smaller and lighter" the better concerning levers?! What about planches? Never heard of that but sounds logically!

I am 5'3'' and 110lbs, will a planche be easier and faster to learn for me compared to a guy who is 5'8'' and 180lbs? But the guy would be much stronger, wouldn't he?

 

The planche is a lever too and yes it will be easier for you than for someone who is taller and heavier and also someone who has more mass in the lower body. The guy who is 5'8" and 180 lbs will require more strength to hold a planche due to more mechanical disadvantage, so if he/she can hold a planche too then he/she will have more absolute strength compared to you.

Well put B1214N, I was struggling with how to put that without turning it into a gender war :-)

he definitely did something athletic before those 8 month. you´ll never squat 2xBW ATG with only bodyweight-training so i´m guessing he used to do olympic weightlifting before and/or some martial arts giving his pancake flexibility.