Starting the Gymnastics Bodies program - need help!

Hi everyone,

I am a 25 year old, with very little strength, decent body composition and i am about to start a routine based on the book. I have structured it like this, according to the book:

BASIC STRENGTH ROUTINE

Monday - Upper Body Press - Push Up Variation

- Upper Body Pull - Row Variation

- Core - V-Up Variation

Tuesday - Upper Body Press - Dip Variation

- Upper Body Pull - Pull-Up Variation

- Core - HLL Variation

Thursday - Upper Body Press - HSPU Variation

- Upper Body Pull - Curl Variation

- Core - Lower Back Variation

Friday - - Upper Body Press - MP Press

- Upper Body Pull - MP Pull

- Core - Oblique Variation

Saturday - Core - Straight Body Variation

In addition to all this, I will be doing Static Position holds 5-7x/week for the basic variation of the L-sit, straddle L, Manna, Back Lever, Front Lever, Planche. So it will be as according to the book, something like 10 sets of 6 seconds for each. Starting with the first/very basic variation.

I will also be doing basic core exercises like Bridge, side bridges and reverse crunches 3-4x a week.

What do you think guys? Is it too much? Have i got it correct? I do plan on adding leg workout soon.

Also, I have a question. How many reps do I do for the basic strength routine. in the book it said 3x3 or 3x5. for something like push ups, i can definitely do that. I can do at least 25 push ups (25-30 is my max). Ive always wanted to be able to do 50-100 push ups. But from this routine, it looks like since i can do 3x5 basic push ups, i should now progress to the harder variation and forget the basic version. am i correct in assuming this?

My goal is to gain as much strength as possible while minimizing the muscle gains. I don't want to gain weight and I dont want to look bulky at all. I know you will always gain some muscle mass, but minimizing it as much as possible is the goal!

Thanks for helping me out everyone, really appreciate it and very happy to be part of this community!

Hi Anthony,

Welcome. Your basic strength routine looks ok. I have found it useful to superset the push and pull elements, and then superset the core and leg elements.

3 x 5 is the right number of sets / reps, you are correct to move to a variation where this is difficult with good form. That said, don't ignore the steady state cycle described in the book to solidify your gains before moving to the next progression. There are more than enough variations to challenge you, and by the time you can do 3 x 5 planche pushups on rings, I would say that you won't have much problem doing ordinary pushups!

Don't underestimate how difficult the FSP's are, and the toll they will take. Personally I find that performing all 6 FSP's every workout is too much for me, so I do L-Sit, Handstand, Front lever one day, and alternate Manna, Back Lever and Planche the next. I also only do the FSP's on the workout days

The best advice that I can give you, is to not be too eager to progress too quickly, but concentrate on good form. Progress will come surprisingly swiftly, and forming a goodbase now will make every harder variant easier.

It would be a better idea to do SSC with the FSP rather than the Killroy70 version of 5-10reps@low hold times. Why, because generally those low hold times are way beyond 50% of max capacity and they burn you out fast. As well, you would have to use longer rest periods leading to longer work out times.

For the FBE, I do 3-5 reps which tend to be at 50% of max. Lately, for a week I tried doing all 4 planes in one day. I'm still playing with this idea and whether I crashed because of too much effort or too little food/sleep/water. I don't think it's the brightest idea, but I'm willing to explore it mainly to see if/how it's doable. It was akin to assisted Mu for 5r, HeSpU for 3, Pullups for 4, russian dip assisted for 3, 5 bulg ring rows, 5 bulg ring pushups, 3-5 (I cant remember) invert pullups (curls). 3 rounds of each, the push/pull supersets by plane for 3 rounds. 45-60s rest. Mind you these are all around 50% of max.

I like the partitioning of the planes of push/pull, though I prefer MU on mondays than fridays because I am tired by Fridays as the week rolls on.

I do like what you did with rotating the ab exercises around. Right now, I do body levers in the WU after hollow holds before L and Straddle-L sits. I used to do hollow/arch, and L/straddle-L at the end as finishers but there is a tendency to leave them out if I run out of time. I was leaving them out so I would not be as fatigued doing the lever work on rings.

I played with doing about 5-10 reps of each of the lever for short hold times, warming up with tuck, adv tuck, straddle, 1/2 lay, lay but honestly it might have been what led to burnout and injury. It seemed to be fine at the time but I won't do it again, unless I'm just warming up for a ring routine performance.

The steady state cycle says to only move to a new variation after 8-12 weeks. I think thats far too easy for me? Like, I can definitely do 3x5 Standard Push Ups, I can do far more than that, so for this one, wouldnt it be wise to just move on to the next variation?

Also, if you can EASILY get 3x5 of any variation of any exercise, doesnt that mean its time to move onto the harder variation?

Also, I wanted to do 3x3, as this was also an option in the book. But what do you think? I just dont want to gain muscle mass (or at least minimize it as much as possible) and I know the shorter the reps the more focus there is on strength (Much like olympic weightlifting, where they only do short reps).

One more thing, do I do reps fast or slow? As I am more interested in the strength gains, I have been told (from strength training/powerlifting/olympic weightlifting) that doing reps fast is the best way to gain strength and avoid endurance muscle fibres from growing (which occurs when u do things slow).

If you're in the 3-5 reps, you're pretty far from gaining size due to hypertrophy. As you get stronger, and if you are eating, your muscles will get bigger, especially cross-sectionally. What would be worse would be to work the 10-20rep range as that is the preferred ranges for hypertrophy. 3x3 or 3x5 is very similar, especially in a steady-state. I'm at the point in my SSC that the reps are just load, possibly underload. This is ok.

Gaining some muscle mass is necessary to become stronger.

Use the book and test which variations you can do. 3x5 pushup would be ridiculous to start at for you.

The problem about a linear program for BW is that your connective tissue does not heal/grow/regenerate as fast as your muscles. So eventually you'll break and it won't just be a matter of CNS overload.

The GB WOD uses a fair amount of different tempos. Bare in mind, in gymnastics, much of the time you have to move through a ROM or position slowly or with a hold.

However, it's easier to recover from concentric work than eccentrics. Honestly, I use 313 or 225 most of the time. 3 up, 1 hold, 3 down or or 2 up, 2 hold, 5 down.

Hi Anthony,

What I meant with the SSC is to pick the variant that is difficult but achievable at 3 x 5, and do not deviate from this during the SSC. So for the example of pushups, where you are already reasonably strong, choose a more advanced variant e.g unstable ring pushups, or pseudo planche pushups for example, whatever is challenging for you. So, you will do for example 3 x 5 pseudo planche pushups as that element in your SSC, even if that becomes easy for you in week 4, stick with it. Start your SSC with the most advanced variant you can do 3 x 5 of with good form but a struggle, and then don't move to a harder variant until your next SSC.

It doesn't sound like you have "very little strength" if you can do 25-30 push-ups. I don't know what other numbers you're posting. But I'd agree, you're probably not superman - yet.

The lean non-bulked up look is definitely more in today for men, contrasted to other times. However, women

still want men that look athletic - and I guess many don't mind big guns and shoulders. The pecs you won't have to worry

about getting too large. The abs should turn out nice though they have a lot to do with BF.

I'd be curious how your program goes ... can you file reports every now and then?

Best,

FIN

P.S. My understanding is that fast reps are typically used for power/explosviness. Lighter weight / different rep range.

But maybe we're talking about two different things.