This had to be posted!

[Philip Chubb]

There are absolutely some people who are born with the potential to be strong beyond what most people could achieve, all you have to do is ask Coach about JJ Gregory and a few others he has known if you attend a seminar. They still take time to build up skills, though certainly less than most people must.

There's no way to know what this guy can do until he gets up on some rings, but keeping in mind that he appears to be incredibly small, much like Yan Minyong is, and clearly in possession of some impressive strength, he would certainly have the potential to be great. In a percentile measurement of strength to bodyweight ratios, the smaller you are the higher that percent can go. Just look at ants. That doesn't mean everyone fits neatly into that statement, but as a general rule the smaller a person's overall bone structure is (height, lever length, shoulder width, etc) the less leverage they are going to have to work against, and this is what allows such a high percentile of relative strength. In ABSOLUTE terms, they can not compete with bigger men, and this can clearly be seen in the powerlifting and olympic lifting record books. The biggest lifts are by the biggest men, for the most part. As gymnastics is a sporting arena dominated by relative strength it is typically believed that the smaller you are the better a gymnast you will be, along with certain other anatomical measurements like leg and upper arm length, and for the most part this seems to hold true, although there was that 6'1 bronze medalist in floor last year!

We larger folk can still have a very impressive relative strength, and more than enough to at least do some simple advanced ring strength. I don't know about some of the combination moves, but Iron Cross at least is achievable, and that is no mean feat.

That is very interesting. Does that mean you are thinking this is something only achieved by people with a certain bodytype similar to the victorian? I am wondering if there is any hope for getting to this. Either way, I will try when i progress far enough. The worse that could happen is not being able to make it but getting stronger from it.

[Joshua Naterman]

Of course. Someone with my build will have an incredibly hard time with pommel horse, I am pretty wide and have enough meat on me to where I can not tough my hands together behind my back with straight arms, which is kind of required for good pommel performance. There are other people who will have a very hard time with ring strength compared with someone like me who is naturally thicker and stronger. That doesn't mean those people can't make good progress, it just means they probably won't be doing what I will as quickly, and perhaps will be limited in their upper level skill progressions. You just never know until you have spent several years working towards a goal how far you will get.

A lot of national teams that consistently perform near the top only select people with certain physical measurements. There is a good reason for that. The Australian rowing team wanted to win, and got a new coach. He immediately cut the entire team and had open tryouts. There was no rowing. The only thing he did was check to see who most perfectly fit the measurements HE wanted for an ideal rower. He selected the 5 most perfectly proportioned girls, none of whom had ANY rowing experience. This is unheard of in the rowing world, by the way. 3 years later they were world champions. When you are talking about being the absolute cream of the crop, physics is everything.

[Philip Chubb]

Oh I see what you are saying. I don't mean that he doesn't have the natural body type to accomplish this. I think he does. Small legs are perfect for a great strength to weight ratio. It is actually the reason I want my legs to atrophy a bit. (Hoping not to lose too much of my vertical however)

I meant that I don't think he woke up one day, went to a session with his crew, and busted out a one arm planche without some sort of training for the skill. His bodytype definitely makes it possible for him to do that though and a lot easier than the rest of us. Sadly, I have legs that are at the higher end of average. Makes things a bit longer but still enjoying the journey!

[Razz]

Slizzardman you just destroyed my dreams, I want 10cm off my height please

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Performers of certain circus disciplines, especially handbalancing and aerial straps, both of which are heavily upper body dominant, often want to carry as little weight in the legs as possible. I have heard of several cases where students have been discouraged to take up any activities which will increase the size of their legs. Even such extremes as "do not bike" and "do not walk up stairs if you can take the elevator". These are of course extremes, and not common within the community, but you do not need to look further than the chinese circus artists to understand why their handbalancers are children who weigh 30 kg and are doing 10+, 1 arm hs presses.

I also trained with Oleg Isozzimov once, a very traditional russian handbalancer who is technically excellent, and the legs of the guy was just ridiculous. He is a slender man, but he just has a couple of sticks for legs.

I am actually doing both aerial straps and handbalancing, and I am both a little heavy and have quite big legs for this combination of circus disciplines. Not that my 80 kg is that much, but when doing very heavy shoulder work, mainly either balancing or hanging from 1 arm for hours every day, you would like to be as light as possible from the waist down. However I am doing well in both disciplines, getting well into the 1 arm work on straps, and pressing 1 arm to hs and holding 1 arm flags with 4 kg from the ankles, so work is definitely more than talent.

As I mentioned, regardless of that guys legs, I am still SUPER impressed by what he is doing. I am sure some of the chinese kids could do this if they tried, but still amazing.

[Philip Chubb]

Handbalancer,

How big are your legs? And you are working on a one arm planche as well. Do you think someone with normal sized or even slightly bigger legs could get it?

[yuri marmerstein]

haha I hear you there. My legs are way too big and heavy, and I have regrets about playing soccer up until I was 18, doing heavy squats, and other acts that have made my legs as big as they are. They make what I want to get good at now a lot harder.

I remember back in the day I was really disappointed to find out bboy junior had atrophied legs.

It is very inspirational for me to see handbalancers who have some meat on their legs.

[Philip Chubb]

How big are yours? I had the same dissapointments hearing that about junior! Fortunately, I also watched Darkness who is pretty tall and Kujo who seems fairly average sized.

I also think you have to ask is one move worth your being able to jump? Lol

[Razz]

Yuri van gelder actually looks like he has huge legs and calves in some pics and vids.

[yuri marmerstein]

How big are yours? I had the same dissapointments hearing that about junior! Fortunately, I also watched Darkness who is pretty tall and Kujo who seems fairly average sized.

I also think you have to ask is one move worth your being able to jump? Lol

Haha, well I'm pretty sure I'll be doing handstands longer than I will continue jumping and tumbling around.

But the size of the legs has nothing to do with jumping power, jumping is a function of the nervous system.

In fact, almost all of the highest jumpers I've seen have had skinny legs.

[Philip Chubb]

How big are yours? I had the same dissapointments hearing that about junior! Fortunately, I also watched Darkness who is pretty tall and Kujo who seems fairly average sized.

I also think you have to ask is one move worth your being able to jump? Lol

Haha, well I'm pretty sure I'll be doing handstands longer than I will continue jumping and tumbling around.

But the size of the legs has nothing to do with jumping power, jumping is a function of the nervous system.

In fact, almost all of the highest jumpers I've seen have had skinny legs.

Aw man this is a dream crusher here. To think, I once sarcastically thanked my father for giving me the genetically small calf syndrome (Not sure what it is exactly called but I have smaller calves than most and they don't grow). Now I have to do it again without the sarcasm. Still hope to be able to do a one arm planche someday.

If your legs really are big Yuri, then your vids are now even more inspiring!

Edit: I have also decided I am going to press handstand from now on when I go up the stairs instead of walking....thanks guys....LOL

[yuri marmerstein]

thanks

haha i have skinny calves too, just big thighs. No worries though. Body type can be a blessing or a hindrance but by no means a barrier.

[Philip Chubb]

thanks

haha i have skinny calves too, just big thighs. No worries though. Body type can be a blessing or a hindrance but by no means a barrier.

You are quite right. Thank you! I will strive to reach my goal regardless of my body type then. Might just take a little longer.

[Gregor]

Yuri van gelder actually looks like he has huge legs and calves in some pics and vids.

The biggest legs has AL ALI ASI, despite his big legs he has very good rings (not as Gelder but still very very good)!!

Also very best vaulter (in my subjective opinion ofcourse) Ri Se Gwang is also very good ring performer (he can jump like Adam Malysz in Planica ).