Overweight but curious

Dear all,

I am collecting info for a friend of mine who is quite overweight but who really likes my rings/pull up bar setup and wants to start following Coach Sommer's programs (and who wouldn't). Because he's a man, and I am not, and because he starts off overweight, and I wasn't, I have trouble saying something useful and relevant to him. I don't want to just express beliefs, as these can be very different from first-hand experience.

Could the gentlemen on this forum please post their experiences of beginning gymnastics training for an overweight guy.

He is about 5'9", 240lbs, 31 yo. He doesn't seem to have great strength, just a normal guy. He can do about 10 ok pushups, but can't do a pull up/chin up at all.

I would appreciate if you describe which exercises you started with, how overweight were you, how much did you practice daily, which progressions worked for you, and what, if any, equipment you had at your disposal.

Thank you.

it will all start from here:

This is a little lesson explaining the effects that nutrition and exercise have on each other.

I. Diet modulates weight.

II. Exercise modulates body composition.

1. Nutrition quality will improve how fast you lose weight (and improve health).

2. Exercise intensity will improve how fast your body composition changes.

Everything can be derived from these sets of statements.

extract from:

http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/08/t ... -exercise/

if he doesn't change his diet and lose ALOT of weight there's no bodyweight strength training possible imo.

at his stage I believe a simple circuit training is all he needs to get started.

5 rounds of

1min cycling (at his weight running wouldn't be wise for his joints)

5 pushups

5 rows

10 sec hollow

add 1 round every week and tell him to do it for 8-10 weeks 2 times a week. Real changes are only possible in the long run.

scale everything to the appropriate level, lightly challenging.

I started being 94 kg at 1,70m. Not fat but quite overweight, Also no strenght at all, not a single pull up or push ups. ( not that I am super strong now but things are improving steadily

Best bet is begining with paleo diet ( robb wolf's book) and then follow one program 3-4 hours a week, BTGB( maybe more dificult till he loses some weight but I did it this way and is a lot of fun), starting strenght, pavel's power to the people, etc... He will lose weight and change body comp, increase strength. It has changed my live, I am not going back! . But if he is not self convinced , if something didn't make click inside him, no amount of testimonies, or goodwishes will make him change.

If he has allready decided he doesn't need them either...

omegant said:

But if he is not self convinced , if something didn't make click inside him, no amount of testimonies, or goodwishes will make him change.

If he has allready decided he doesn't need them either...

I completely agree with you there. Really wanting something makes the impossible possible. As for the paleo diet, I'll look into it, thanks. Which exercises from the BTGB worked for you when you were overweight? Are you still doing BTGB now? How did your weight change, and how would you describe your progress on BTGB progressions? (specific examples would be really useful here)

Thanks again for your advice.

Initially I used my own template, this was a big mistake as I have lost lots of time. The best bet is follow a good program as this is paramount if you want to keep having gains along time. My biggest gains have been following the WODs(Six months so far because Of growing family). At the begining you have to change all multiplane or advanced movements for rows, kneeling pushups or even wall HeSPU, the most important part is getting enough repetitions to follow the prescribed repetition range and tempo. Initially I was too focused on doing full pullups or dips, and of course was smoked in to pull ups.

At first following the WODs was very intimidating, seemed very advanced, And they are if you follow them as prescribed.But changing the exercices to easier ones (even the easiest possible)in the same muscle group will make

it very easy to follow ( still very hard work) and finally it only took 10 extra min a day thinking how to substitute, this was just the first month, the second month I only had to adjust further down the intensity of the exercices to keep the repetition range.

My current strength is not impresive at all but since I restarted WODs(3 months) I am looking into advance tuck FL for example or aiming to have a muscle up before the end of this year. I really feel I am improving steadily from

month to month.

About weight loss, if he starts with paleo diet and is pretty strict for

3 or 4 months I'll say is pretty easy to

lose more than 30 pounds if he also exercices at least 3 times a week. Now I am not super lean but below 20% bodyfat, I could be leaner if I had more consistency... but I know how to loose fat now so every time I want to be leaner I eat paleo more strictly and that is! ( recently I added intermitent fasting ala lean gains and it works for

me , although it is not for every body. First is better cleaning out your diet)

If starting with the GB training is too much to jump into at first, maybe following Pavel's power to the people or starting strenght programs will help him gaining lots of strength and loosing fat preparing him for BTGB. ( I was very happy starting with BTGB as it is a challenge and a skill not just "weightlifting")

I'm 37(will be 38 next month.) I'm 5'9" and don't weigh myself much, but I usually weigh between 225 to 232 lbs. My frame is muscular, but I know I'm not in the single digits as far as body fat percentage. Being heavier can certainly make some body weight exercises harder, but it doesn't make them impossible.

After a period where I didn't do chin ups and pull ups in a while, I had to rebuild my strength/endurance in doing them. One thing I did was jumping chin ups; Another thing I did was 1 rep pull ups throughout the day. I also did dead hangs. After a while, I was able to do chin ups, pull ups, HLLs from my pull up bar.

As far as rings, just getting into support on them is a great way to start. Once he gets to a point where he isn't shaking on them and can support his weight, he can try dips. If his grip is strong enough, he should be able to get into inverted hang. This could lead to tucked 360 pulls.

I find it's easy to gradually build strength. One thing I see that greatly limits some of what I can do, is my not being very flexible.

If your friend wants to do body weight/gymnastic type work, it's possible. If he wants to lose weight that's great, but it shouldn't keep him from starting his journey now.