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Started by Smartest_Smarty, July 6, 2014 · 55 Replies · 17,884 Views
Dear all,
I want to start men's artistic training, i'm almost thirty but in good physical condition. I know I have to start with the basics, but need to find somewhere where I could progress through the levels, and aim to get to an elite level if possible.
Does anyone know of anywhere in London UK where I could train?
Thanks in advance.
Start talking with the staff at the nearby gymnastic gyms and don't be surprised if they turn you away, because you are "Too old."
hey smartest_smarty!
Good to meet you here as well, I think this suits you much better than chalkbucket!
I want to tell you (because I read the whole thread on chalkbucket), that GymnasticsBodies is definitely the way to start for you.
For gymnastics, and in MAG much more than in WAG, strength - the right kind of strength - is very important as nearly all of the events require tremendous upper body strength.
GymnasticsBodies offer Foundation Courses as well as Handstand Courses, Movement and Ring Courses.
For beginners, they start with Foundation One (there are 4 in total!).
There are 7basic strength moves and you will be working towards them with Foundation: Front Lever, Straddle Planche, Single Leg Squat, Manna, Rope Climb, Hollow Back Press and Side Lever.
When you have finished Foundation Four, you will have all these skills. For Press handstands (I read that you want them as well), you will have to buy the Handstand Courses, but I have to say that I got my press handstands with Foundation Courses only, because it makes you strong in the right way.
Of course, for competing you need to check local gyms and ask for some training possibilites and start learning the basics first.
Focus on them a lot, I know some people who struggled with a good Round-Off or Kip for several months up to 1-2 years, because those are really complex movements, which just come to you if you train them regularly!
Good luck
So, you are looking for coached sessions? If so, speak to Talacre, they used to do coached adult sessions
katlinchen said:hey smartest_smarty!
Good to meet you here as well, I think this suits you much better than chalkbucket!
I want to tell you (because I read the whole thread on chalkbucket), that GymnasticsBodies is definitely the way to start for you.
For gymnastics, and in MAG much more than in WAG, strength - the right kind of strength - is very important as nearly all of the events require tremendous upper body strength.
GymnasticsBodies offer Foundation Courses as well as Handstand Courses, Movement and Ring Courses.
For beginners, they start with Foundation One (there are 4 in total!).
There are 7basic strength moves and you will be working towards them with Foundation: Front Lever, Straddle Planche, Single Leg Squat, Manna, Rope Climb, Hollow Back Press and Side Lever.
When you have finished Foundation Four, you will have all these skills. For Press handstands (I read that you want them as well), you will have to buy the Handstand Courses, but I have to say that I got my press handstands with Foundation Courses only, because it makes you strong in the right way.
Of course, for competing you need to check local gyms and ask for some training possibilites and start learning the basics first.
Focus on them a lot, I know some people who struggled with a good Round-Off or Kip for several months up to 1-2 years, because those are really complex movements, which just come to you if you train them regularly!
Good luck
Thanks a lot, I actually posted on here before I posted on the other forum!
Don't know whats happening on there, theres a lot of arguing between people!
Wasted energy in my opinion.
I'll have a look at the courses, but I also need to find somewhere to train.
piotro said:So, you are looking for coached sessions? If so, speak to Talacre, they used to do coached adult sessions
Thanks, i'll check them out, but the link you posted is for kids. I see they do adult classes but hopefully they teach to intermediate/advance levels.
Quick question, if I use one of the training programmes, what if you are already doing a few other activities during the week.
Will it still be ok? I don't want to give up my current activities. But would like to also train towards the skills I mentioned.
Also do these courses cover, back levers, muscle ups and reverse muscle ups.
What about iron, Maltese or inverted crosses?
Smartest_Smarty said:Quick question, if I use one of the training programmes, what if you are already doing a few other activities during the week.
Will it still be ok? I don't want to give up my current activities. But would like to also train towards the skills I mentioned.
What kind of activities do you refer to? Recreational sports, running, biking, etc. is fine, though if it's another strengthening program
you should give it since the GB courses is a complete training program.
Smartest_Smarty said:Also do these courses cover muscle ups and reverse muscle ups.
What about iron, Maltese or inverted crosses?
The courses do cover every one of these, however prerequisites is to complete the entire foundation series (f1 to f4), before starting them
Thanks for the reply,
Yeah just general things mainly yoga and some jogging.
So after i complete levels 1-4 there's more courses for crosses, and muscle ups etc? What about the back lever?
Cross, Maltese, Inverted Cross, Reverse muscle-ups, back lever are all after the foundation series
Smartest_Smarty said:Thanks a lot, I actually posted on here before I posted on the other forum!
Don't know whats happening on there, theres a lot of arguing between people!
Wasted energy in my opinion.
I'll have a look at the courses, but I also need to find somewhere to train.
So true, just wasted time that could be used for training instead 
Smartest_Smarty said:Thanks for the reply,
Yeah just general things mainly yoga and some jogging.
So after i complete levels 1-4 there's more courses for crosses, and muscle ups etc? What about the back lever?
Yes, after the Foundation there is the Ring Series, which trains towards more advanced skills.
And paralell to Foundation there is the Handstand Course, the first one helps you to achieve a free standing handstand (I guess 2 minutes) and the second one is for press handstands!
I don't know, but I read somewhere on this forum that it is not recommended to learn a back lever if you haven't done gymnastics since you were a child, because it gets you easily injured (shoulders I guess).I
I think that is the reason why it is not included in the Foundation Course.
Anyways, many people I know say it is easier than the front lever and they also learned the back lever starting training at age 18+, but I can imagine how hard it must be on the shoulders! So maybe this would be a risk not worth taking...
Ah and for your "other" activities. Just do them. I train gymnastics 3-4 times a week for a total of 10 hours. We don't do a lot of conditioning, mostly skills work, plyo, sprints..
If you want to do any other strength stuff, just do the Foundation Work and after it you can play around a little with press Handstands or V-Sits or whatever. I actually think that just doing Foundation has improved my press handstands, as my shoulders and everything got a lot stronger!
I think yoga is definitely fine as well is jogging and biking. But I guess once you start seroius gymnastics training, you won't go jogging a lot anymore, because you will be sore all the time!
A good tip for gymnastics is when you just train the basics at home.
Do Handstands, Handstand Snap Downs, Handstand Pops, Cartwheels and tons of Round-Offs at home. Run into with a hurdle (long and low hurdle, never jump up high except you are going for a tuck) , do it from a stand and do it from the KNEE - this really helps you to generate the right kind of power and basic are always good!
You can check out some youtuber who make really useful gymnastic tips in my opinion:
Like these:
Good luck and keep us updated!
Thanks for all your help.
I appreciate it
I'm thinking of doing the foundation series, and I then saw that the rings course does cover a back lever as well
I wanted to know, would it be ok to do the hand stand series at the same time as foundation?
Yes, it I also recommended to do so. Although one can work handstand one without foundation but probably not the other way around.Smartest_Smarty said:I wanted to know, would it be ok to do the hand stand series at the same time as foundation?
https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/12862-the-gymnasticbodies-roadmap-and-curriculum/
At your age, truth is an adult class is pretty much the only option.
Adult classes tend to be fairly mixed in level, often even mixing men's and women's. The Coach needs to make the classes work for everyone. This means that getting started can be a bit frustrating, but stick it out. Be proactive with the coaches once you've attended for a while to prove you are serious.
The other thing which is very important to realise is that adult classes very rarely put much focus on strength. Get hooked up with the Foundation and Handstand courses now and make that your priority.
Thanks.
One more quick question. The answer is probably YES, but good to get opinions from people doing gymnastics.
I want to have great flexibility, and strength but also good muscle size and definition.
I know going to a gym and lifting weights gains muscle size and definition, but can I realistically build good size with gymnastics, or will I just become thin, lean and flexible.
Flexibility and strength are important and thats why I want to train this way, but I still want to have some lean muscle mass.
Smartest_Smarty said:Thanks.
One more quick question. The answer is probably YES, but good to get opinions from people doing gymnastics.
I want to have great flexibility, and strength but also good muscle size and definition.
I know going to a gym and lifting weights gains muscle size and definition, but can I realistically build good size with gymnastics, or will I just become thin, lean and flexible.
Flexibility and strength are important and thats why I want to train this way, but I still want to have some lean muscle mass.
Google images of gymnasts and decide for yourself
Hi,
Mainly you see olympic gymnasts which have done this their whole life.
I'm late 20s, and starting from now, if I go through all the courses this site has to offer, do you think it will build an aesthetic muscular body?
The gymnast who have incredible bodies have eaten a certain way and trained in a certain way their whole life. If you're an adult and wanting to see quick physique changes, your best bet would be bodybuilding style training. But of course you can get kind of ripped by GST, however not nearly as fast and efficient as bodybuilding. But GST is not about appearance, the appearance is just a nice side effect from dedicating your whole life to it.
Thats what I thought!
It's similar to callisthenics workouts, which build quite an aesthetic appearance. It just takes longer than going to a gym and lifting weights.
Another quick question.
Will the GST courses enable me to do one handed pull ups?
Smartest_Smarty said:Another quick question.
Will the GST courses enable me to do one handed pull ups?
Extremely likely, although it is not explicitly part of the courses. Several people have gotten oap from the rope climb work without specific training; I'm en route but not quite there myself
Hello all,
Can someone tell me please:
How long is the overall programme. Foundation 1-4? how many years?
Is it possible to combine any of foundation 1 and 2 at the same time?
Whats the most effective way to complete the whole course, in the most efficient time?