Introduction and a short movie

Hi!

My name is Patrik and I'm a new member of this great forum. I've actually been sneaking around here without registering for about 8 months, but now I finally decided to join. The biggest reason for me to join is to get the possibility to really thank Coach Sommer as well as everyone else at this site for providing their knowledge and their experiences. Thanks to you I'm in the best shape of my life in every aspect I can think of. Thank you!

Short about me:

I'm 27 years old from Sweden, height 189 cm, weight 86kg. Started working out at a local "globo-like" gym in 2008 without having a clue about what to do in there or why. Before that I had only been skateboarding for several years as a kid and done some occasional running. In 2009 I got introduced to CrossFit in which I first discovered olympic weightlifting and gymnastics (even though what they are calling gymnastics isn't quite what gymnastics is to me now).

After 1½ years doing mostly barbell lifts, some bodyweight skills, high intensity workouts etc. I found myself being more and more interested in pure bodyweight-movements. I wanted to be able to do all the incredible stuff like front levers, planches and backflips, although I thought that it wouldn't be possible due to the fact that I never got the chance to do gymnastics as a kid.

In the summer of 2011 I began to read everything I could about gymnastics and in october I had completely transferred over to this kind of training. It was around this time I started sneaking around here to see how other peoples routines looked like etc. During 2011 I also got the opportunity to be at a real gymnastic facility once a week, training together with a couple of former gymnasts. This is of course a great help as well.

From october until now I've been doing several kinds of gymnastic-routines based on the books "building the gymnastic body", "overcoming gravity" and also routines from the forums such as killroy70's and others. I've been reading about mobility, prerequisites, prehab, nutrition and I've been trying to focus my training around my goals (which has been really hard to define because I want to be good at everything).

This was supposed to be a short text but I guess I got a bit carried away..

Anyway..since a few years back I've been making some short trainingmovies in order to keep my own motivation up and to hopefully inspire others as well. I would like to share with you the latest of my movies, which only includes clips from oct 2011 up until now. Enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/44575301

I know I still have a lot to work on, especially with the arching in the handstand and the full extension during the backflip.

My intention is to continue improving with this kind of training for the rest of my life, and hopefully to be able to inspire and help others as well.

Thanks again!

Excellent video!

I've recently rekindled my interest in gymnastic style workouts and it's inspiring to see how far you've come. How long have you been doing a gymnastic? Are you entirely self taught?

I hope you keep up the great work!

Welcome, good to see some more Scandinavians here:) Great video!

Thank you for the responses:-)

I'm not entirely self taught. Once a week I have the opportunity to train with a group of former gymnasts in a "real" gym with apparatus etc. But the basic strength and statics I've learned from the books and the forum. Once I learned the mechanics of a backflip and dared to do it without a spotter I was able to practice it almost everyday on my own.

Hey, PatrikE! Welcome to the forums. 8)

Patrick/Patrike's UNITE!

Paradox said:

(...) Patrick/Patrike's UNITE!

eh? :?

Patrick Smith said:

Hey, PatrikE! Welcome to the forums. 8)

Patrick/Patrike's UNITE!

Shut up, Paradox, you're no Patrick.

It's been a while since I posted here now. I guess I've been too busy training

This could perhaps be my thread for posting updates and results of my trainingprogress.

Since my last post this summer I've continued my BTGB strength-training and I'm now focusing on ring series, bowers and yewkis.

I'm not able to do this full lay and full ROM just yet by I've gotten strong enough to start working towards that.

I'm able to do pike forward rolls to shoulderstand and straddle BL and FL in the series, half bowers holding the bottom position for 3 seconds, yewkis in tucked postion 3x5 reps.

I train 4 times a week with a 2 split kind of schedule. Less volume than I did before but with more complicated exercises. I also focusing more on handstand and l-sits at the beginning of every workout.

On my rest days I do something light like jogging, walking or just stretching. Besides that I just read and read everything I can about strength-training and gymnastics. And as I said before, the knowledge of this site and community is by far the best I've ever encountered.

I do the most of my workouts in a CrossFit-facility and for a couple of weeks ago I wanted to try some of their workouts.

This ended in new personal records in barbell lifts that I haven't done for like a year.

Deadlift 175kg (did 170kg when I lifted regularly)

Clean 100kg (did 95kg before)

Jerk 100kg (did 95kg before)

Front squat 105kg (did 95kg before)

I understand that better core stability will improve the deadlift, and handstand-work makes the jerk more stable, but the front squat??

Ghr and pistols ftw? I'm guessing core stability here too.

I'm gonna post some videos soon in order to get some feedback on technique and other tips.

Until then I give you my latest project, containing trainingclips from 2009 up until now.

Enjoy!

Nice vids, especially for your somewhat advanced age!

What did you do in the lead up to backtucks? Your lack of full extension makes me think that perhaps you were able to make yoursef "just do it" (maybe with a spotter and so on) and didn't go through a series of build-up moves to become fully disinhibited, am I right? Or please explain, either way!

Thanks

Thank you very much!

You are very right. To learn the backflip I had a coach spotting me once a week for like a year. The biggest thing for me was to overcome the fear of throwing myself up in the air. At one point I could do it with my spotter standing 3 meters away but if he went further away I couldn't do it. I guess I have found out a way to do a backtuck now that I know I land everytime.

I haven't done any build-up moves besides throwing myself backwards in the pit before getting spotted on the floor. This can also be shown in my front-tuck as well, I don't get the full extension, it's more like I dive forward into it.

Do you have any tips for build-up moves that can help getting that extension better?

I have good vigor (elasticity?) so if I can get the technique right I might be able to do some really nice tucks:-)

Lots of people these days have learned backtucks that way so I expect there are some guides around on how to straighten them out. I don't have any advice to give you, I'm afraid. Presumably you've tried them on a trampoline or tumble track, can you get a full extension then, with that much more air time to play with?