Greetings from Australia

Hi Gymnastic Bodies crew,

My name is Brent and I'm excited to get started. Over the past year, I've been following Tim Ferriss' content in the 4-Hour Body and I first came across GB about 2 months ago listening to Tim's podcast with Coach Sommer.

I just turned 35 and my intent for getting started is to do the work at this age as insurance for the Brent of the future. 

Currently, I have a 20 min morning workout routine that I will now substitute for the GB workout.

As I am from Australia, I'm not so sure that the gear recommendation locations apply for here. Can anyone recommend where to find a chin-up bar, dip apparatus and rings here in Australia?

I look forward to connecting with you and if you read this and have any tips, then post away. I'd love to learn from you.

8 hours ago, Brenton Crowley said:

Hi Gymnastic Bodies crew,

My name is Brent and I'm excited to get started. Over the past year, I've been following Tim Ferriss' content in the 4-Hour Body and I first came across GB about 2 months ago listening to Tim's podcast with Coach Sommer.

I just turned 35 and my intent for getting started is to do the work at this age as insurance for the Brent of the future. 

Currently, I have a 20 min morning workout routine that I will now substitute for the GB workout.

As I am from Australia, I'm not so sure that the gear recommendation locations apply for here. Can anyone recommend where to find a chin-up bar, dip apparatus and rings here in Australia?

I look forward to connecting with you and if you read this and have any tips, then post away. I'd love to learn from you.

Hey Brenton welcome aboard, are you searching for a door frame bar or a self-supporting bar?

4 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Hey Brenton welcome aboard, are you searching for a door frame bar or a self-supporting bar?

Thanks, Alessandro! I don't think any of the doors frames I have in this house are compatible as they don't have a protruding part that the device can be placed upon. I'm renting so I can't mount anything either. 

Could you explain what you mean by a self-supporting bar? Is that like a standalone piece of equipment? 

11 hours ago, Brenton Crowley said:

Thanks, Alessandro! I don't think any of the doors frames I have in this house are compatible as they don't have a protruding part that the device can be placed upon. I'm renting so I can't mount anything either. 

Could you explain what you mean by a self-supporting bar? Is that like a standalone piece of equipment? 

hey brenton yes..standalone...something like that:

standalone example

On 9/7/2021 at 5:59 PM, Alessandro Mainente said:

hey brenton yes..standalone...something like that:

standalone example

Great, thanks Alessandro. It's helpful to see a visual of the equipment. As luck would have it, a friend has one of these that's currently serving as a wetsuit dryer

I'm about halfway through the first week and I'm about as flexible as a dead tree. Lots of growth potential ahead, but I'm wondering if getting some kind of massage, like a deep tissue massage, through the hamstrings and calves will help with mobility. 

Do you have any thoughts or recommendations on this?

12 hours ago, Brenton Crowley said:

Great, thanks Alessandro. It's helpful to see a visual of the equipment. As luck would have it, a friend has one of these that's currently serving as a wetsuit dryer

I'm about halfway through the first week and I'm about as flexible as a dead tree. Lots of growth potential ahead, but I'm wondering if getting some kind of massage, like a deep tissue massage, through the hamstrings and calves will help with mobility. 

Do you have any thoughts or recommendations on this?

Well they can help in the acute phase but in the long terms the effect of mobility work is what can give you cold flexibility and improvements because it works directly on reducing brain inhibition,

On 9/9/2021 at 7:05 PM, Alessandro Mainente said:

Well they can help in the acute phase but in the long terms the effect of mobility work is what can give you cold flexibility and improvements because it works directly on reducing brain inhibition,

Thanks for your insight. Yes the brain has had many years getting too comfortable with unhelpful habits.

I'm curious to know, are there any recommendations on measurements I can take to record progress over time? I would be keen to take monthly check-ins to track progress. But I'm not entirely sure what I can measure. Any suggestions?

21 hours ago, Brenton Crowley said:

Thanks for your insight. Yes the brain has had many years getting too comfortable with unhelpful habits.

I'm curious to know, are there any recommendations on measurements I can take to record progress over time? I would be keen to take monthly check-ins to track progress. But I'm not entirely sure what I can measure. Any suggestions?

Progress is not constant and it can be affected by a different factors. I suggest tracking the progress monthly BUT without expecting the same amount of progress month after month.

2 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Progress is not constant and it can be affected by a different factors. I suggest tracking the progress monthly BUT without expecting the same amount of progress month after month.

I get that it takes time. I'm here for the long game and I'm here to embody the identity of a healthy body. The question was more about suggestions for what I can track. In other words, are there common ways to measure flexibility and mobility? I can measure muscle size. I can measure mass. But neither of those tell me about my mobility over time. 

22 hours ago, Brenton Crowley said:

I get that it takes time. I'm here for the long game and I'm here to embody the identity of a healthy body. The question was more about suggestions for what I can track. In other words, are there common ways to measure flexibility and mobility? I can measure muscle size. I can measure mass. But neither of those tell me about my mobility over time. 

THe easiest way is taking the most common range of motion, shoulder flexion and shoulder extension, the pike position, seated straddle position and eventually the half front split (it means lying on the floor with a straight leg and the lift one of them with a locked knee as much as you can).