How long must I train to see some real hypertrophy?

ive been doing bodyweight exercises like the front lever, back lever, iron cross, planche, human flag, one-arms dips, one-arms chins, one-arms pushups, manna and so on for about 6 months now, and even tough i have increased my strenght a great deal and increased about 1 centimeter around my upper arms, i unhappy with the slow rate of hypertrophy. i almost manage to do back lever, front lever and iron cross now, but have a long way to manage the other exercises.

is it normal to grow only 1-2 centimeters around my upper arms in a year when doing bodyweight exercises? it could be that im eating too little, but after what ive heard, gymnast dosent eat too much ether.. i weigh about 75kg and are 180cm tall. i eat about 120g of protein a day from meat, fish, nuts, milk, cheese and so on + a lot of vegetables and some fruit.

sorry my bad english

you've managed to learn all of that in 6 months?

ts00nami said:

you've managed to learn all of that in 6 months?

no, i almost manage to do front lever, back lever and iron cross.

If you want to be bigger, you have to eat more.

I dont know your level of nutrition expertise but maybe reading more about it will help you And it looks like you could need some more protein aswell

it's kinda weird to 'be almost able to do an iron cross' as well as front and back levers since they are way easier, besides strength exercises produce muscle rather sluggishly but it's quality muscle which is worth the time :>

ye need to check out your diet and/or supplementation, ye won't grow unless ye eat and sleep well

If you're training for hypertrophy specifically, you will want to train like a body builder. This can still be done with gymnastics exercises, but the rep ranges will be different.

If you would like to see hypertrophy along with improvement gymnastically, you will need to consume more calories. A general rule about protein consumption and muscle building is 1 g per pound. At 75 kg, you should be consuming around 165 g of protein.

Chris, many find an iron cross easier than a full front lever, in gymnastics terms they are both rate as B difficulty skills.

ts00nami said:

If you're training for hypertrophy specifically, you will want to train like a body builder. This can still be done with gymnastics exercises, but the rep ranges will be different.

If you would like to see hypertrophy along with improvement gymnastically, you will need to consume more calories. A general rule about protein consumption and muscle building is 1 g per pound. At 75 kg, you should be consuming around 165 g of protein.

Chris, many find an iron cross easier than a full front lever, in gymnastics terms they are both rate as B difficulty skills.

you mean i should do more total reps to build muscles?

You'll have to use easier variations so you can do more reps (5-10), longer static holds, and less rest.

trianglechoke7 said:

You'll have to use easier variations so you can do more reps (5-10), longer static holds, and less rest.

Are you saying this Rep-range per set?

i'm sayin that when u're doin' strength the hypertrophy is really slow, it's up to you if you want to build mass or strength and gymnastics isn't the perfect tool for building bulky mass, if you want hypertrophy with gymnastics you gotta be patient and eat and sleep well, eating and/or supplementation is usually very underrated and it's actually a key factor in growing

i have doubled the total reps performed for every exercise. now im doing about 20 total reps per muscle group, which should be closer to hypertrophy training according to many bodybuilders. maybe i just did too little total work..

ts00nami said:

If you're training for hypertrophy specifically, you will want to train like a body builder. This can still be done with gymnastics exercises, but the rep ranges will be different.

If you would like to see hypertrophy along with improvement gymnastically, you will need to consume more calories. A general rule about protein consumption and muscle building is 1 g per pound. At 75 kg, you should be consuming around 165 g of protein.

Chris, many find an iron cross easier than a full front lever, in gymnastics terms they are both rate as B difficulty skills.

Front lever is an A, actually. Since 2004.

And I agree, front lever is much easier than cross.

Just so you know, the total number of reps for hypertrophy specifically is 35-50 or so. 20-35 is really a mix between strength gains and hypertrophy, so if you are really interested in growing fast, you're going to need to do 35-50 reps per muscle group per workout, so 7-8 sets of 5-6 reps would be more along the lines you'd want to work. The important thing is total work done, so don't try to do all of those sets with the same resistance level (in gymnastics terms, the same step in the progression like say straddle front lever rows) if it's beyond your ability to perform with good form with no more than 3 minutes rest between sets. And for size, you are going to want to concentrate on being very specific with your rest times and reducing them by 10 seconds or so each workout until you get down to 90s or less. Only then should you raise the resistance level.

braindx said:

ts00nami said:

If you're training for hypertrophy specifically, you will want to train like a body builder. This can still be done with gymnastics exercises, but the rep ranges will be different.

If you would like to see hypertrophy along with improvement gymnastically, you will need to consume more calories. A general rule about protein consumption and muscle building is 1 g per pound. At 75 kg, you should be consuming around 165 g of protein.

Chris, many find an iron cross easier than a full front lever, in gymnastics terms they are both rate as B difficulty skills.

Front lever is an A, actually. Since 2004.

And I agree, front lever is much easier than cross.

i still feel that iron cross is easier than front lever, but thats me.

slizzardman said:

Just so you know, the total number of reps for hypertrophy specifically is 35-50 or so. 20-35 is really a mix between strength gains and hypertrophy, so if you are really interested in growing fast, you're going to need to do 35-50 reps per muscle group per workout, so 7-8 sets of 5-6 reps would be more along the lines you'd want to work. The important thing is total work done, so don't try to do all of those sets with the same resistance level (in gymnastics terms, the same step in the progression like say straddle front lever rows) if it's beyond your ability to perform with good form with no more than 3 minutes rest between sets. And for size, you are going to want to concentrate on being very specific with your rest times and reducing them by 10 seconds or so each workout until you get down to 90s or less. Only then should you raise the resistance level.

hm okay. maybe i will upgrade the volume a bit more. im currently resting about 30 seconds between sets

i still feel that iron cross is easier than front lever, but thats me.

Are you doing the cross on short straps?

For me is much, very much harder cross. I can do sometimes a full front lever but the cross is for me some years of training far away.

Make sure that the only reason you are doing 4-6 reps and not 13 reps is because you physically can't do it. You are going to get absolutely no benefit from doing low reps if you are artificially keeping the numbers down. the number of reps per set should be dictated by your ability in the movement being practiced, not by you saying oh, i've done 6, i'll stop now. when you are training correctly in terms of being in the low rep range because you are unable to do more than 6 reps you should find yourself needing more than 30 seconds of rest.

edit: If you're doing iron cross on short rings, it most certainly can be easier than front lever. Try it on 10 feet strap length, it is completely different. Both become harder, but front lever is far easier. On straps hanging off of a pullup bar even now with little practice I can do 75-80 degree iron cross. With long straps I can barely do 45 degree RTO support.

As other said doing an iron cross on short straps doesn't mean you can do it on the competitive length rings - long straps rings.

And if you are not completly at 90° it's realy not an iron cross and sligtly bent elbows are much more easier then completly straight.

One more thing, if you can do an iron cross that doesn't mean you can do a front lever or vice-versa. Due to wrong working on element, not enough work, and rarely your case.

I did a front lever sooner then back lever due to better feeling in muscles, iron cross at first attempt, simmilar for nakayama, in first try honma to cross, but for azarian I needed 3 month time, for maltese 2 years (E), back roll to maltese (F) half year, for azarian pike press to inverted (D) one year. so you can't generilized what is for some one easier, and once you can do both, can be an element for wich you needed 2 years easier then the one for wich you needed half year....

your love is like baad medicine

halluites said:

your love is like baad medicine

Is this mentioned to me? :roll: because I don't understand what did you meant...........

Gregor said:

halluites said:

your love is like baad medicine

Is this mentioned to me? :roll: because I don't understand what did you meant...........

just kidding

thank you for your ansert above. could you show me a pic of your biceps?

Gregor said:

As other said doing an iron cross on short straps doesn't mean you can do it on the competitive length rings - long straps rings.

And if you are not completly at 90° it's realy not an iron cross and sligtly bent elbows are much more easier then completly straight.

One more thing, if you can do an iron cross that doesn't mean you can do a front lever or vice-versa. Due to wrong working on element, not enough work, and rarely your case.

I did a front lever sooner then back lever due to better feeling in muscles, iron cross at first attempt, simmilar for nakayama, in first try honma to cross, but for azarian I needed 3 month time, for maltese 2 years (E), back roll to maltese (F) half year, for azarian pike press to inverted (D) one year. so you can't generilized what is for some one easier, and once you can do both, can be an element for wich you needed 2 years easier then the one for wich you needed half year....

I do them with straight arms, but the rings are not hanging from straps bur ropes.. i took a picture. the rings are hanging on a doorway bar:

what do you think about this?

Those are what we call short rings. Additionally, they are both anchored to one spot, which makes it even easier. If you use two separate ropes and separate them by around 20 inches, you will immediately feel the difference. Because the two straps are anchored to the same point, the rings are constantly pushing the arm into the shoulder socket. This is like a built-in brace, it makes everything much, much easier.

I'm not trying to be insulting, just telling you exactly what is going on.

slizzardman said:

Those are what we call short rings. Additionally, they are both anchored to one spot, which makes it even easier. If you use two separate ropes and separate them by around 20 inches, you will immediately feel the difference. Because the two straps are anchored to the same point, the rings are constantly pushing the arm into the shoulder socket. This is like a built-in brace, it makes everything much, much easier.

I'm not trying to be insulting, just telling you exactly what is going on.

ok.. dont know how i can change it since i only train at home