Gymnasts train with weights ?

[Ivan Pavlovic]

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Does gymnasts usualy train with weights and why ?

[Brian Li]

Some don't, but I think many do use some weights for supplementary work.

[Alessandro Mainente]

I listened Coach said for 3 seminar that GST for upper body and olympic lifting for the lower is the most productive. i've started to use some OL with my kids..only a technique approach for now. i'm curious to see what's happen.

[Blairbob]

 With the DB, you can go for higher reps. This is used primarily to get more bloodflow into the joints for a therapeutic benefit.

 

A bunch of the guys at Berkeley used to do this afterwards. They weren't used for a primary focus.

JD Reive talked about doing BP at the OTC for a strength cycle at times. He didn't talk about them squatting or doing deadlifts though. We have heard of the Chinese doing squats to 2xBW but not what program they follow to get or maintain that.


Those dumbbells only look like #40 so it's not really that heavy for someone as strong as Yuri. Shoot, I can hammer curl 45's for 15 at the end of a workout (haven't tried any heavier).


I think the use of pulls or deadlifts/RDL's may be of some use for a lot of non Weightlifter athletes. Definitely I would advocate for the use of a push/power jerk. Not sure I would advocate for use of the split jerk because of the time it takes to develop it nor what you get out of it. Even used sparingly, you have to be concerned with the develop of muscle imbalances with the split jerk occurring.

With a snatch or a clean there is a risk of tweaking the shoulder or aggravating the elbow besides spraining or mangling the wrists.

 

One could advocate for the use of the muscle snatch but you can also just work cuban presses with DB. The Muscle Snatch does allows you to use heavier weights but you could do them from the hip instead of knee or floor to minimize momentum.

It really depends what you get out of them for the time you put into them besides the cost or availability of said equipment.

[Coach Sommer]

I listened Coach said for 3 seminar that GST for upper body and olympic lifting for the lower is the most productive. i've started to use some OL with my kids..only a technique approach for now. i'm curious to see what's happen.

I would not use this approach with competitive gymnasts.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Alessandro Mainente]

Why not? I remember that you said that a good reasonable program should be OL for lower body and GST for upper. so now I think that this could be referred to amateur GST guys, of course I'd like to have some pov on that. i've also seen some junior national members work on deadlift and front squat on power rack. they are all competitive. do you think they have to use less OL bases and more GST specific conditioning? OL could be counter productive?

 

thanks for your time.

[Deins Drengers]

Why not? I remember that you said that a good reasonable program should be OL for lower body and GST for upper. so now I think that this could be referred to amateur GST guys, of course I'd like to have some pov on that. i've also seen some junior national members work on deadlift and front squat on power rack. they are all competitive. do you think they have to use less OL bases and more GST specific conditioning? OL could be counter productive?

 

thanks for your time.

If I remember correctly then Coach said that the competitive Gymnasts have to be careful to not put too much mass on legs because every lbs that you dont use serves as an anchor. As for the leg explosiveness development the GST exercises and drills serve their purpose, as Coach said at seminars his athletes have out-jumped everyone. 

 

Another problem with that would be that it will take much time training Olympic lifting and elite gymnasts are training 30hrs a week already. Also the tax on nervous system.

 

In my opinion what Coach meant there that GST combined with Oly lifting is the sweet spot for us ( non-competitive athletes, adults, fitness enthuziasts) 

 

I think the goal for competitive world class/ olympic athletes is only one - To win the gold medal. And to prepare everything accordingly to achieve that goal. And to eliminate stuff that might serve a counterproductive way ( In example - building too much mass in legs or overall in competitive gymnasts)

 

That reminds me of stories about training camps where they would move pro athletes away from cities/families ( to reduce stress and other distractions ) and to focus only on one thing - your training to win the medal.

[Pasha Muravyev]

I feel like if the elite gymnasts use a different approach to maximize their performance in terms of skills/elements, and your personal main point in training is to achieve gymnastic elements (as opposed to a certain physique, etc...), then you should mimic the training of elite athletes. 

 

Since the goal of most people on this forum (from what I understand) is the pursuit of GST movements as opposed to any specific physique (although I might be wrong), wouldn't it be prudent to utilize a similar training regimen to that of the elite athletes? (the only exception being potentially more time-efficient exercises due to time constraints)

[Alessandro Mainente]

If I remember correctly then Coach said that the competitive Gymnasts have to be careful to not put too much mass on legs because every lbs that you dont use serves as an anchor. As for the leg explosiveness development the GST exercises and drills serve their purpose, as Coach said at seminars his athletes have out-jumped everyone. 

 

Another problem with that would be that it will take much time training Olympic lifting and elite gymnasts are training 30hrs a week already. Also the tax on nervous system.

 

In my opinion what Coach meant there that GST combined with Oly lifting is the sweet spot for us ( non-competitive athletes, adults, fitness enthuziasts) 

 

I think the goal for competitive world class/ olympic athletes is only one - To win the gold medal. And to prepare everything accordingly to achieve that goal. And to eliminate stuff that might serve a counterproductive way ( In example - building too much mass in legs or overall in competitive gymnasts)

 

That reminds me of stories about training camps where they would move pro athletes away from cities/families ( to reduce stress and other distractions ) and to focus only on one thing - your training to win the medal.

that truly makes sense, now i remember the thin relation between  excessive body mass and the decrease in the curve of explosive movement that Coach said long time ago. I apologize...sometime my mind does not store all the information. Thanks. 

[Deins Drengers]

I feel like if the elite gymnasts use a different approach to maximize their performance in terms of skills/elements, and your personal main point in training is to achieve gymnastic elements (as opposed to a certain physique, etc...), then you should mimic the training of elite athletes. 

 

Since the goal of most people on this forum (from what I understand) is the pursuit of GST movements as opposed to any specific physique (although I might be wrong), wouldn't it be prudent to utilize a similar training regimen to that of the elite athletes? (the only exception being potentially more time-efficient exercises due to time constraints)

This is why the foundation and HS series was created. It is made like a step by step guide to achieve certain elements ( F7).

As for mimicing the training of elite athletes - Be aware that Elite gymnasts have started at a young age when their bodies were not damaged and joints/connective tissue were healthy ( In this I mean before the long sitting at a flexed hip position at school , computer, work, cars and poor postures, low range of motion movements and less moving around in general ) The Foundation helps to reconstruct your body giving it the potential in all ways ( mobility, connective tissue health etc.) like when you were a kid and played outside, climbed trees etc.

As Coach said that the ABH is slightly harder than putting your socks on and it is the very basic body position and still many of us have huge problems of mastering it.

 

What im trying to say is that Elite gymnasts are prepared to do the big loads of work that they do. If we put an average adult with a somewhat decent physical background into elite GST stuff then  "It is not a matter of IF they are going to get injured but a matter of WHEN " (Coach Sommer ) and trust me me myself few years ago didnt even know that connective tissue conditioning even existed until I found that out the hard away and I mean ~8 months of rehab/prehab but now im back in track.

 

Some time ago I read some posts stating that after an individual completes the foundation series THEN he can start doing some more serious apparatus work.

[Alan Tseng]

The thing I've always wondered is why is upper body mass okay, but not lower body mass?

[Brian Li]

The thing I've always wondered is why is upper body mass okay, but not lower body mass?

More lower body mass makes GST skills harder since it moves your COM farther away from your shoulders. It is also harder to do acrobatic and tumbling skills if you have too much lower body mass. 

[Carmen Schult]

so basically they create an intended dysbalance between lower body and upper body in elite athletes for the sake of winning the medal?

[Christian Nogueira]

Unbalanced is relative to what you want to do I guess. 

 

A competitive gymnast doesn't want much lower body mass because the gains in max strength don't compensate the loss in tumbling capability and movement capability.

 

A strongman who needs to pull cars, etc, needs the that lower body mass in order to be able to develop his max strength to levels needed to be competitive.

 

It's relative.