Big Guy Gymnastics

While this isn't a legit training log, it's more of an overview of what I've done since I started. The seminar was both a very enlightening and humbling experience, and after speaking with several attendees about their backgrounds and training styles, I realized there was so much to learn from experiences and mistakes. Here are a small number of mine.

So big guys can’t do gymnastics. Well, we can sure as heck try! Speaking as one big guy to a small demographic of other big guys who have fallen head over heels for this style of training, I’d like to share my journey with you all. After all, you can never have too much information (because it makes your head heavier and that makes the front lever easier.)

I only really got interested in strength training (but at the time it was body building) in my first year of university. Due to sheer boredom, I decided that I would go down to my dormitory’s “gym†and lift some weights rather than just sit around all day. I started to really enjoy myself, and found myself there because I wanted to be rather than because I felt obliged to. Various searches on the internet led me to an interest in the old time strongmen; Eugene Sandow, John Grimek, Jack LaLanne and many others. All these men were intensely strong, and were capable of amazing feats. Sadly, I lacked a lot of the equipment they had, so I had to make do with one of the styles they used which I also had access to; gymnastics exercises.

Stumbling onto the Beastskills website, I started to teach myself how to do basic positions like the L-sit and handstand (albeit with atrocious form which I later and still am fighting to correct). At this point I was still extremely weak, unable to do even a single pull up, but I was undeterred, and continued to work. After a couple months of this, I stumbled onto the Dragon Door website, and was introduced to Coach Sommer’s progressions for the front lever and planche.

This is by far one of the best resources I’ve ever come across, not only for the myriad of information that Coach has provided us with, but for the advice and ideas that the community provided (most notably the weighted pull ups that slizzardman suggested a while back).

As far as my nutrition goes, I haven’t done anything special. No special supplementation, no special diet (although now that I can see my pancreas, that’ll probably be changing soon). I do tend to stay away from fast food, but I do have my moments of weakness.

There are many things that I've learned from these couple years, but the most important ones are the ones everyone already knows:

-Go slowly and steadily through the progressions, especially for flexibility. It's extremely easy to push too hard too fast and injure yourself, and if you do find yourself hurting, take the time to heal. It's not worth it to "be a man" and push through the pain.

-Be creative. The progressions are fantastic tools, and there is a lot more information on this forum than I could ever remember, but sometimes you need a little something to ease into the next progression or work a weak link to cinch up a position.

Thanks for taking the time to listen everybody, happy training!

Erik

Nice man! You've got some sick strength Hope to see you again in September!

Thanks man, but you're the one with the straddle planche! Earliest I might make it out is next May, so we'll see how that goes.

Guys, don't let Erik fool you. He's almost as strong as I am in FL. He's got a pretty sweet press handstand too! Not to mention a strong human flag and pretty good ring strength as well.

Those are things that a 6'6 180 lb guy can't do, of course, but don't tell Erik!!!

6'6"??? :shock:

Newguy said:

6'6"??? :shock:

Hence the title "Big Guy Gymnastics."

let's see. the things i remember erik doing:

straddle L

V Sit

Pike press HS

straddle FL

weighted chin of 135 lbs (ie me hanging on erik. he probably could've done more)

Reverse MU (negative) with a slight reverse muscle up at the top

OAC negative (almost there on concentric)

L Sit walk

... and the list goes on...

and yes , he really is 6'6' and yes he really is that skinny. You can see his pancreas. Btw, erik, what was your biosig body fat? Mine was 7.7% so I'm sure yours was lower

3.5% body fat.

So you guys really were right about the whole pancreas thing.

To quote Jeff, in response to a question about estimating Erik's bodyfat level: "Well... you can see his pancreas secreting insulin. What does that tell you?"

I think that was the funniest line the whole weekend to me!

No chance you walk around at 3.5%. Your bf has been underestimated.

I'm just going by what Jeff measured at the seminar.

Really, 3.5% body fat makes me feel like a chicken wing, but I don't have anything else to go on.

RatioFitness said:

No chance you walk around at 3.5%. Your bf has been underestimated.

You are wrong. I have seen Erik in person. There is literally no fat on him at all. He looks like a chiseled statue, complete with individual muscle fiber bundles. I am not trying to hype him up, but he is basically as lean as it is humanly possible to be. There are only a few guys I have ever seen around that leanness, and none of them were over 6% and none were quite as lean as Erik. He's leaner than Ido. Seriously.

slizzardman said:

He's leaner than Ido. Seriously.

:shock: :shock:

Razz said:

slizzardman said:

He's leaner than Ido. Seriously.

:shock: :shock:

Yea, I know! Hard to believe. It's not a ridiculously huge difference because Ido seems to hover at 6-7%, but it's definitely noticeable. Jeff made his comment for a reason!

This is my last comment on Erik's leanness, but I think it's a good one. Jeff had a hard time even getting skin folds to measure, and Jeff knows what he is doing.

Is there anything unhealthy about being lower 3.5% or lower BF as long as the person is muscular and well conditioned? Like, what kind of effects would it have on the major internal organs?

slizzardman said:

RatioFitness said:

No chance you walk around at 3.5%. Your bf has been underestimated.

You are wrong. I have seen Erik in person. There is literally no fat on him at all. He looks like a chiseled statue, complete with individual muscle fiber bundles. I am not trying to hype him up, but he is basically as lean as it is humanly possible to be. There are only a few guys I have ever seen around that leanness, and none of them were over 6% and none were quite as lean as Erik. He's leaner than Ido. Seriously.

If he gets that result on a DXA, then I will believe it.

It would be irrational for me to take your word for it that there is person walking around with no storage fat and only essential fat.

From where I'm sitting, the probability that the standard error in the equations used to estimate his bodyfat have underestimated his true bf% is greater than the probability that he only has 3.5% bf.

Come on guys, I didn't mean for this post to start a debate on whether or not I have less fat on me than Liu Kang, it was just meant to be a small reassurance that big guys can do this stuff.

Ratio, I totally get that you don't believe my body fat. To be perfectly honest, I was amazed when I heard Jeff's results from the caliper test, but it did kind of help me understand why you can see every single one of my ribs (plus a few organs).

Patrick Smith said:

Is there anything unhealthy about being lower 3.5% or lower BF as long as the person is muscular and well conditioned? Like, what kind of effects would it have on the major internal organs?

No, males only need 1-2% for health reasons. Basically, you need at least SOME bodyfat to provide fuel while you sleep or are just sitting around. That's according to my professors, apparently. My buddy told me about that last year when he was still in school! Poliquin found he couldnt sleep properly with less than 6, which apparently a fairly common reaction. Erik is clearly predisposed to lower bodyfat levels, he isn't on a terribly restrictive diet that I am aware of. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

At any rate, we have a 6'6" guy doing front levers and muscle ups and handstand presses. That's pretty awesome!

slizzardman said:

Erik is clearly predisposed to lower bodyfat levels, he isn't on a terribly restrictive diet that I am aware of. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Nope, no real regimen for my diet. I just can't eat a heck of a lot of fast food (like In & Out where the burgers sweat) or candy because I feel like crap afterwards. I've actually been trying to put on a bit of weight, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but if it'll help give me a bit of energy like Slizzardman was saying then it's a whole new reason to do so!