anyone finished F4 already? is it possible for a woman?

- Is there someone on the forum who finished foundation already and is not an elite gymnast? (F1-F4)

- Is it possible to finish just some elements or some elements earlier than an other? (For example manna    before hollow back press)

- Is it possible for a woman to finish F4? (No I do not plan on that  I am just asking out of interest!)

Thank you!

Ofcourse  it is possible. Altough It shouldn't matter anyways if you enjoy this kind of training

Some of the moderators on here are quite advanced -- Orench (from all the stretch series ) I know is close, Niels from (Sweden??) is, too, as are some others. From what I gather, Manna is typically the last element to be mastered, given that shoulder extension strength is uniquely uncommon amongst the lay people whilst pistol squats and rope climbs seem to have been mastered much earlier on. Everything is possible, women aren't exceptions to gaining strength. I just think it's much less culturally expected and accepted that they do -- which is utter bullshit in my opinion. I think you should plan on finishing F4, because who knows where you'll end up.

Only element that seems hard for women is the Hollow back press. I think I remember Coach mentioning women might need a (permanent?) spot, and the requirements for Level 3 seminars (HBP for men vs Chest Roll to HS for women) seems to validate my distant memory.

But then you go to Falsegrip's FB page or Instagram and you see Tori rocking her HBP progressions (Negative straddle HBP), so who knows?

 

Other than HBP, I've seen women do other elements. Even manna and planche.

katlinchen said:

- Is there someone on the forum who finished foundation already and is not an elite gymnast? (F1-F4)

- Is it possible to finish just some elements or some elements earlier than an other? (For example manna    before hollow back press)

- Is it possible for a woman to finish F4? (No I do not plan on that  I am just asking out of interest!)

Thank you!

 

Whether an individual can make it to F4 or not, there are tons of moves you can master.  I find Oona K very inspirational.  Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ychdzz6UEA

Definitely yes to the second one

Jon Douglas said:

Definitely yes to the second one

Thanks to all for the replies. I do not own F3 or F4 yet, but I can imagine RC and SLS should definitely be doable for a girl/woman as well as FL. HBP seems kinda hard. SPL ... hm, I have seen some of the acrobats doing it but usually with the hip kinda not parallel to the ground.

However, I have neither seen a girl or woman doing nor training for a horizontal manna except this video of the jamaican girl I guess everybody knows about.

I think it is such a cool move, it really stands out from anything else as it is such a typical gymnastics move. You often see guys attempting HBP or SPL but manna is so rare.

If I could wish for one move, it would be the manna, definitely! Maybe in my future life

However, has anyone see a woman doing a manna or training for one? Why is this move soo hard? Shoulders? Triceps? And why is there not a single woman doing it but so many guys in higher level gymnastics? 

Bro said:

Ok besides this one and the one of the jamaican girl. They are both very popular, although I think the one of the jamaican girl is better.

A manna is also used in Aerobics sometimes, but they just "swing" into it, which is totally different! I guess it is simply not possible to learn it as a woman unless your are some sort of gen freak like those two.

katlinchen said:

... I guess it is simply not possible to learn it as a woman unless your are some sort of gen freak like those two.

I'd love to prove you wrong, though you'll be waiting a very long time 

I'd love to prove you wrong, but I'd have to change genders. 

katlinchen said:

... I guess it is simply not possible to learn it as a woman unless your are some sort of gen freak like those two ...

 

You'll never know unless you stop talking about it and start working on it.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I have seen more women doing manna than men.

Pafke said:

I have seen more women doing manna than men.

 

You need to get out more.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks all for your input!!!

Okay so I have basically not seen a single woman doing it and wondered why that was.

I see HBP and SPL are simply pure strength moved and a little balance.

But what is with the Manna? Also strength of course but can it be compared to straddle press which is a lot about muscle memory?

katlinchen said:

Thanks all for your input!!!

Okay so I have basically not seen a single woman doing it and wondered why that was.

I see HBP and SPL are simply pure strength moved and a little balance.

But what is with the Manna? Also strength of course but can it be compared to straddle press which is a lot about muscle memory?

Mannas are also very simple and straightforward.

The issues arise from the fact that inexperienced people simply didn't understand what they were trying to strengthen and mobilize.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach, you say that around 75% of your athletes would develop mannas. I wonder why the other 25% failed to do so. Is that something you can comment on? Is it simply because they did not work as hard as the rest?

The 75% had mannas to my standards and the other 25% were in between Vsit and mannas.

Why some and not others? Primarily due to work ethic, attention span and a lower level of athletic ability.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Is 'athletic ability' referring to genetics or prior training? Or a mix of both?

from what i have gathered so far, athletic ability is how intuitive you are about movement. skill, basically. what is the skill to instrument ratio, in this case the instrument is the body and how we move it through space in relation to itself.

so it's like a mix of what you got and how you use it. i got some athletes whom arent very physically gifted but they are attentive to finishing their assignments with good form, they benefit from the programming. others focus on banging reps, not exactly caring about form, being under the impression that they are strong, so this is why i figured in mentioning it.

im not gifted but have kept myself accountable. if you got a good coach, a good sense of what to look at and focusing on honestly trying it instead of going "i cant do that" OR "oh yeah, i can do that" prematurely, the rest is letting your body do the work and recovery and tweaking accordingly.

having said that, Coach Sommer has a peculiar way of looking at physical prep ....so im curious as to what he considers athletic ability as well.

Coach Sommer said:

The 75% had mannas to my standards and the other 25% were in between Vsit and mannas.

Why some and not others? Primarily due to work ethic, attention span and a lower level of athletic ability.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

 

Thanks for the answer, Coach.

Coach Sommer said:

The 75% had mannas to my standards and the other 25% were in between Vsit and mannas.

Why some and not others? Primarily due to work ethic, attention span and a lower level of athletic ability.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

 

Thanks coach! I once read that you do also get stronger by training a certain move, but also the muscles remember how to do a certain movement and therefore you can use more muscle fiber every time you do it, is that right? For example, at the first few tries, you can maybe use 40% and as you progress you can use up to 70-80%. Is that true?

And is a manna more like a pure strength thing like an iron cross or more a repetition of the right movement kind of thing?

MrAl said:

Thanks coach! I once read that you do also get stronger by training a certain move, but also the muscles remember how to do a certain movement and therefore you can use more muscle fiber every time you do it, is that right? For example, at the first few tries, you can maybe use 40% and as you progress you can use up to 70-80%. Is that true?

And is a manna more like a pure strength thing like an iron cross or more a repetition of the right movement kind of thing?

Don't know for sure, but I think it is called "neuronal facilitation" or something. 100% usage of muscle would be a cramp I guess haha.

Just my personal opinion, but I do think this could be right when it comes to things like Press Handstands. One of my coaches wanted me to try a straddle press on a single rail (I guess it is called English Press or something) and I could not do it at all. After training for a few times I got it quite easily! By that time I could do around 4 continuous straddle presses in a row with arms shoulder width. Although I was then able to Pike through on floor as well as straddle press on that single rail, I still could not do more than 2 or 3 straddle presses in a row, which showed I haven't got any stronger but my body just learned to use more of the muscle.

I do think it is definitely different with planches, levers or HBP, although those do require some technique as well, they are also A LOT dependent on strength and can not be compared to press handstands. In my opinion, press handstands are all about technique. Of course you still need some strength most people can't even think of, but compared to Planches it s another world.

For manna, though, I do not know whether to put it more in the Planche/Lever/HBP category of strength or in the Press Category of a little strength and a lot of technique!

Check out the beam mount at the beginning     


Nothing compared to this but she is a girl

Nobody has posted the video of the handbalancer woman doing 10 manna dislocates in a row yet?