beginner workout?

hi everyone this is my first post hopefully with many to come. My fitness goals don't include competing but i find the physique and strength of gymnists to be my personal everest and hope to accomplish this within the next couple of years. that being said should i start wods right away (i am planing to get the book i'll start there with the wods) of should i get more into shape first then start? right now i am 5'10" 175 lbs i have around 11% body fat, max weights include curl:50lbs 1-2 reps, bench:225lbs 1-2 reps, squat:i haven't calculated yet somewhere around350-400lbs. 400 in less than a minute. don't really run long distance so i don't have a mile time. any help would be awesome like i said i am a beginner when it comes to gymnastics training moderate when it comes to weight training.

Thanks

Jeff J.

Welcome,

First off I have very little experience with weightlifting so I dont know how your strength will carry over to rings/gymnastic stuff. Some of the other guys will be able to advise you on that side more. As far as starting out you should find most answers in these threads:

http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5265

http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1957

Do you have rings yet or access to them? They aren't essential but will make most of the exercises prescribed much more accessible.

Good luck, Mic

no i don't have any rings but i plan to get the book and ring package once i find a job. i just moved to north carolina for school and need to find a job then i can spend money again. thanks for the thread links.

Ghost, in the meantime, you should see about making your own set of rings. They aren't great but they'll work.

Google on the net. You'll need an oven to warp pvc unless you can find a ring at a boat store. Small straight pieces about the size of your hand work for a ring replacement but don't really allow for MU but work for virtually anything else.

Making a set of parallettes out of PVC is pretty cheap too.

Don't expect a lot of carry-over from weightlifting. What I mean by that is, just because you're between intermediate and advanced in weightlifting doesn't mean that you can jump into intermediate to advanced bodyweight skills.

The biggest lesson I learned was that workout programming using bodyweight strength training is COMPLETELY different from conventional weightlifting. For this reason, it's advisable to follow things that have been laid out for newbies like us, such as the WOD and the killroy70 template.

First step is to get the book. Nothing on this forum will make sense without it. You can begin working on the planche, L-sit and handstand progressions with only things you would find in your house (two chairs facing back to back to make parallel bars for scaling the L-sit). If you have a pull up bar in your house, you can start working on the front lever, and if your flexibility is slightly above average, you may be able to do a back lever on the bar as well.

When you get some rings, you can follow the killroy70 template (second link from Mic) to start off with, and build some decent bodyweight strength before you attempt to delve into WODs. You could just go straight into WODs I guess, but I don't think you'd understand just how much you have to scale them down until you know what it's like to do some of the skills in the WOD.

Eventually, with enough understanding of the exercises and their effects on the body, you can make your own workouts. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get that second part and pretty much wasted the last 2 months because I was working out too hard. Don't make my mistakes. Do more research than I did before you venture down that path in a few months. Start with this excellent writeup from braindx of this forum:

http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2010/03/t ... ining/#bw4

Good luck!

I have had the same problem, rmandawg1, when I ended up programming for myself and doing FSP+FBE's at around 70-85% of max. Crash and burn.

Thanks everyone for the advice i think i have got a little more handle on where to start, also i plan on building the parallettes blairbob like you said i was going to make those any way even when i got a job instead of buying them.

Blairbob said:

I have had the same problem, rmandawg1, when I ended up programming for myself and doing FSP+FBE's at around 70-85% of max. Crash and burn.

Same problem with WODs or making your own program like KillRoy70?

I didn't have that problem doing the WOD currently or when I have done it other cycles. Sometimes the ring strength troubles my shoulder but it rarely overtrains me even with sub par fueling, hydration, and rest.