Professional gymnasts' approach to leg training?

Hey there, strong guys!

I'm currently writing a thesis about leg strength training for a gymnast. In that context I would like to evaluate on the existing methods of leg conditioning that professional gymnasts use. However I'm having a really hard time finding valid sources which describe such approaches. Does anyone know any articles, books etc. that could be helpful?

Thanks in advance!

I think it would differ from coach to coach but maybe you could look up the 2x bodyweight squat claims by the chinese?

There's also the story of Valeri Liukin not being allowed to do any maximal leg training or even ride a bicycle.. just loads of plyos, but I guess it worked.

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Well, yes, there are so many stories but very little valid data. I can find a massive amount of quotes about the chine double bodyweight squat requirement but no valid source

EDIT: Sick triple back tuck by the way. I suppose he wouldn't have had to plant his face in his knees in the landing, though, if he had had more maximal leg strength

If you watch, he literally lands in the tuck with no room to extend the legs. He needed more height or faster rotation to land with legs more extended, I'm pretty amazed that didn't hurt him. The guys today rotate faster, was this one of the first triple backs?

This was the first :twisted:

Joshua Naterman said:

If you watch, he literally lands in the tuck with no room to extend the legs. He needed more height or faster rotation to land with legs more extended, I'm pretty amazed that didn't hurt him. The guys today rotate faster, was this one of the first triple backs?

I think you're right. It was merely meant as a funny remark. But yes, the commentaters actually say that he was the first to do it.

Razz said:

There's also the story of Valeri Liukin not being allowed to do any maximal leg training or even ride a bicycle.. just loads of plyos, but I guess it worked.

This story, while true for some Russian gymnasts, is completely inaccurate in regards to Valeri's training.

His coach, Eduard Iarov, is an acquaintance of mine. A few years back, during a weeklong international training camp, we discussed his training of Valeri in some detail. Eduard believes in very hard, very heavy conditioning. A staple of Valeri's training was 1/4 squats with as much weight as he could handle. I do not remember the exact top training weight, but I do remember being surprised at the load. It was quite substantial.

Yours in Fitness,

Coahc Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

Razz said:

There's also the story of Valeri Liukin not being allowed to do any maximal leg training or even ride a bicycle.. just loads of plyos, but I guess it worked.

This story, while true for some Russian gymnasts, is completely inaccurate in regards to Valeri's training.

Argh my bad then, was sure the story was about Liukin, but I guess I thought of the wrong Russian gymnast. Thanks for the correction!

Coach Sommer said:

Razz said:

There's also the story of Valeri Liukin not being allowed to do any maximal leg training or even ride a bicycle.. just loads of plyos, but I guess it worked.

This story, while true for some Russian gymnasts, is completely inaccurate in regards to Valeri's training.

His coach, Eduard Iarov, is an acquaintance of mine. A few years back, during a weeklong international training camp, we discussed his training of Valeri in some detail. Eduard believes in very hard, very heavy conditioning. A staple of Valeri's training was 1/4 squats with as much weight as he could handle. I do not remember the exact top training weight, but I do remember being surprised at the load. It was quite substantial.

Yours in Fitness,

Coahc Sommer

Quarter squats would definitely have a direct carryover to punches, that's for sure. They always end up being outrageously heavy, we are all just super strong in that part of the ROM. One's ability to handle the spinal loading usually ends up being the limiting factor.

I watched this without the audio, I had no idea this was the first triple back!

I watched this without the audio, I had no idea this was the first triple back!

I heard there was another Russian gymnast who did it before Valieri Liukin, but Liukin was the first to do it in a World Championship and is therefore named after him. I also read from some where that Li Ning did one back sometime in the 1980s in a college exhibit.

Yeah I guess outside of competition a lot of crazy shit happens, that the world doesn't get to see.

Was Liukin competing on spring floor?

Vayzenshtat said:

Was Liukin competing on spring floor?

They weren't as springy years ago, if I was told correctly.

Alex Chubb said:

Vayzenshtat said:

Was Liukin competing on spring floor?

They weren't as springy years ago, if I was told correctly.

We still have some parts of a floor from 1970 world championship from Ljubljana and we use it for running part for vault It just litlle better then a grass

Razz said:

Yeah I guess outside of competition a lot of crazy shit happens, that the world doesn't get to see.

True. Some things are done almost simultainusly. Remember honma to swallow (few guys done it at one competition and it wasn't at the code of points yet).

I also heard Liukin wasn't the first one. I've done Molinari year or two before in training before he showed it on competition (we thought it would be the same, just like it is for L-seat variation).

I'm not a gymnast, but this year I started working my lower body from zero (never trained lower body before, just SLS, etc). I basically work with ATG squat and deadlift and now I've more than 150% bw in these two lifts, working to get 200% (I weight 59-60kg). My legs don't hypertrophied at all, of course they look much more muscular but not bigger. Work heavy my lower body (high sets and heavy weights and fast tempo, e.g. 8-10 sets x 2-3 reps) doesn't affected my body weight strength, on the contrary, my handbalancing look a lot easier, maybe because these lifts work the muscles of the trunk a lot.

Rafael David said:

I'm not a gymnast, but this year I started working my lower body from zero (never trained lower body before, just SLS, etc). I basically work with ATG squat and deadlift and now I've more than 150% bw in these two lifts, working to get 200% (I weight 59-60kg). My legs don't hypertrophied at all, of course they look much more muscular but not bigger. Work heavy my lower body (high sets and heavy weights and fast tempo, e.g. 8-10 sets x 2-3 reps) doesn't affected my body weight strength, on the contrary, my handbalancing look a lot easier, maybe because these lifts work the muscles of the trunk a lot.

That is muscular hypertrophy. I think you might be confused with the difference between the scale showing weight gain (or your legs getting bigger) and your leg muscles getting larger while the fat is slowly used for energy and disposed of. That second bit is what we would call recomposition, where you lose fat and gain muscle.

Hypertrophy is referring to the size of the muscle, not the size of the leg.

Your experience is a very good illustration of why people really shouldn't be worried about their legs getting too big. It takes a long time and hard work to make your legs big enough to be a significant hindrance to a full planche, for example, and if you're working your upper body strength properly at the same time you are just going to be that much stronger and still achieve planche.

yes yes exactly Slizz, you're right!

I forgot to say, you've made great progress! Keep it up!

I really liked that post Joshua. I have been focusing on lowering my body fat and increasing my leg strength with the tips you gave me before. The result is today I finally went back to tumbling and managed to overrotate on most of my flips. I'm getting so much more height that even I notice it. But my legs haven't grown an inch. There's less fat but they look much more muscular. It does make my handstands look extra ugly when I'm not in a good line though.

Alex Chubb said:

I really liked that post Joshua. I have been focusing on lowering my body fat and increasing my leg strength with the tips you gave me before. The result is today I finally went back to tumbling and managed to overrotate on most of my flips. I'm getting so much more height that even I notice it. But my legs haven't grown an inch. There's less fat but they look much more muscular. It does make my handstands look extra ugly when I'm not in a good line though.

Sweet! Glad to hear things are going well! Now to take advantage of that extra height with more twists and some doubles! :shock:

Well if you go to the club I worked at, you would see a lot of jumping or walking lunges, horrible bodyweight squats form wise. Some of the girls could do SLS but most were very partial ROM or do them with a rollup but can't do them without the roll.

Pretty lame really.