Strength Increase and Body Fat Levels

[Singh]

Hi everyone,

 

I am new to this forum and am fairly new to Gymnastics Strength Training (GST). I picked up Coach's book BtgB not too long ago and had some questions in regards to strength and body fat levels. I have started out doing basic dips, pull ups, chin ups, body weight rows, etc., for about 5 weeks now on a  3X5 set,rep scheme with about 3-4 minute rests in between each set. Over the 5 weeks I have seen very minimal strength increase and was wondering is there something I am doing wrong?

 

The second question I had was in regards to body fat levels and effect on strength to body weight ratio - how important is body fat levels? I have gained about 10 pounds over the past few months (much from poor dieting and lack of exercise) and as a result, my numbers in exercises have gone down from what I was capable in the past (i.e., last year I was at about 8-12 pull-ups and now can only do about 6). I understand that excess body fat is dead weight that doesn't translate into strength, but given that I have been training about 5 weeks now should I not be able to still see a strength increase or is this excess body fat the main cause of my lack of progress?

 

Thanks for any advice and help, it is much appreciated!

[Jesus Rojas]

I think is such a short period of time to make some significant "gains" and also remember the more taller and heavier you are, it's more difficult to make progress, I mean the most taller and heavier sometimes expend more than a single cycle of 12weeks to move to the next progression. In the other hand, are you doing the exercises with perfect form ? Because some kind of lack of correct form could be holding you back. If you want to, you could post videos on the "Digital Coaching" section and the community can evaluate your form.