Fat aspiring gymnast - questions

[pantheist462]

SO, obviously I need to focus on cutting right now. Unfortunately gymnastic equipment and gymnastic coaching is not practical at the moment. I live in Portland, Oregon and there are hardly any gymnastic centers around. The only gymnastic center close to me doesn't even have any male equipment for insurance reasons (that makes me quite angry). So the only practical thing in front of me is iron at regular gyms. There's not much I can do gymnastically right now. I'm pushing 30+% bf right now. About 210 5'9" 21 years old . Wide shoulders mesomorphic build. My question is: I'll obviously make strength gains while lifting weights in a cut. How much gain is too much that it will interfere with my future gymnastic goals? I plan on being in regular gyms and lifting a lot of iron (squats, bench, shoulder press, curls, dead lifts, lat pull down etc. etc.) with cardio on top. What exercises in the gym will contribute the most towards my gymnastic goals? What mistakes could I make that would screw me over in this year or so of cutting as far as gymnastics in the future? What can I do when I dont have access to equipment or a gym? I'm incapable of a deck squat right now which is REALLY discouraging...extremely discouraging. Anyways, answers to these questions and additional advice is much appreciated. Thanks

[swarovski]

1. lose weight through a good nutrition plan and a regular (3 times a week) met-con training. Interval training or fartlek. Staircase, rowing and rope jumping are very good alternatives.

2. master prerequisites, you don't need any equipment for those but a pull up bar and 2 chairs.

3. focus on handstand, L-sit, HLL and FBE starting from push ups and rows making it progressively harder, not adding tons of reps.

4. read up the stickies in the forum, knowledge is everything.

You won't achieve much carry-over from weight training to gymnastic feats. Your upper body tendons and ligaments won't grow as strong as you'll need, full ROM strength is what you have to pursue.

YOU CAN SET UP YOUR OWN FULLY EQUIPPED GYM WITH JUST A PAIR OF RINGS AND SOME FLOOR SPACE!!

1st rule in training: HONESTY

don't kid yourself or anyone else, where there is a will there is a way. Athletes don't make excuses. You don't need a gymnastic facility or a top end coach as you're not going to become an L7 gymnast, you're going to use their strength training modality, not to learn the skills, but to improve your fitness. This what this program it's all about.

[LaughingTiger]

Welcome to the boards. Like Swarovski said, you can start training for gymnastics now. I'm 38 years old, 5'9", and weighed 225-230 lbs a month or two ago. I'm a big guy, but I have an athletic build. There are actually a few good gyms that I could train at where I live, but the times for adult classes or open gym don't work for me.

At first I also saw the lack of a gym as something that would hinder me and I also became discouraged. As I spent more time on this site, looking at the vast knowledge available on the internet, and watching youtube videos, I became encouraged. At the moment, I do the majority of my training at my office. The equipment I use at the office is a table, an equipment cart, and a chair. At home, I have a door frame pull up bar, some gymnastic rings, and a 20 lb weight vest.

Weight lifting is fine for exercise, but you need to get used to supporting your weight. For a while, I avoided handstand work because it was too tough to get into a handstand and hold it for much time. I burned too much energy kicking into a handstand and after multiple tries, my shoulders would quit on me. I learned to use my equipment cart, chair, bed to scale handstand work and make it easier. I also decided that at this point, walking up the wall into a handstand is better for me than kicking into one.

The board is full of great posts that have lots of information. If you have a question that hasn't been answered, there are a lot of knowledgeable people who will assist you. Keep encouraging yourself, when you feel discouraged/disappointed. You might not be able to do a certain thing now, but with work you can achieve those things in the future.

[Gerald Mangona]

You're never too fat or too tall. Google Bert Assirati...240 lbs...supposedly could do one-armed chins and such. Ridiculous.

I do understand, though, the frustration you're having. The key is to find exercises and SCALE THEM to your abilities. If you can't do deck squats, just stick with normal body weight floor squats. If you can't do enough floor squats, stick your butt on a chair and just get up from there. Etc. etc.

Good luck!