3 day splits?

[iwanttolearn]

Hey guys, I was just wondering if people in gymnastics work out everyday? Every other day? Is it like in weight lifting where you do 3 day splits or 4 day splits? And also do you work full body every time or do it like weight lifting where its separate muscles each day? Sorry guys I'm a beginner lol thanks in advance!

[Ian Legrow]

It all depends on body recovery. SOme people work out six times a day some people work out, most people here work out Mon, tuesday, Thur, Fri or Mon, Wed, friday. It alll depedns on how your body recovers and what you are looking to do.

[Daniel Burnham]

Splits are generally a training regimen found in bodybuilding. I think they became popularized by famous bodybuilders who did very large volume on a single muscle group while using substances to advance recovery. This high volume approach is also possible to some extent in experienced athletes. Full body workouts are considered a better alternative because it produces a larger response in the body without having to use any of said substances. The details of this can be pretty in depth and involve several physiological processes in the body.

Strength trainees including recreational gymnasts, powerlifters and olympic lifters should probably follow some sort of full body regimen. Another alternative is to do a push and pull day which is what I believe the WOD tries to do sometimes (it does however include full body days). However I have not been to a seminar so I do not completely understand the methodology of the WOD's.

A good example of a full body workout is the killroy template. This is a simple push and pull workout schedule that uses opposing forces as a balancing effect. I personally follow this methodology. You can find that thread on the forum fairly easily by searching. The WOD is also very good but may require some more effort on your part to scale correctly if you are a beginner.

As for the number of days I would suggest 3 or 4 days a week to begin with. More days be added later down the road as you train in order to obtain sufficient volume for gains. The former would follow as: Mon, Wed, Fri. Latter would be: Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri. In novices it is thought that you can recover and make adaptation from a workout in about 48 hours. This doesn't hold true for everyone but is a general rule of strength training. That means you can complete a full body workout and work the same muscles 48 hours later without overtraining and making good gains. There are some other considerations for connective tissue, but that is already covered some in the book and on this forum.

[Blairbob]

An Elite gymnast may end up training 6-7 days a week. Anywhere from 25-40 hours/week.

A Collegiate gymnast will probably train 5-6 days a week. They are supposed to be training under 25 hours/week.

Some gymnasts will do full body work whereas others might focus more. It will really differ from program to program and for a gymnast that only does some events versus all the events.

Killroy70 template is a full body program 4 days/week. However, it varies the work done in planes in the upper body (vertical, horizontal, inverted, combined pushing/pulling) and rotates legs exercises (unilateral, bilateral, glute/hamstring) and rotates core 5 different "families" of core exercises.

The GB WOD has days where upper body work hits all planes in the upper body or it focuses on pushing or pulling or dynamic or strength leg work or HS days. In one month, it goes through these type of workouts 20x in a month, so you might hit a workout 3-4 times in a cycle.