Tall and Heavy

I'm 6'4 231lbs and overweight. I was wondering would I be able to do gymnastics simply for fitness and as an enjoyable pastime. Also how would you recommend I get started, i.e. what can I do in or out of the gym to gain strength I know about cardio and lowering calories to lose weight, Thanks.

Yes, one of my private lessons from 2004-2008 who also attended the adult class was roughly your size and a bit heavier. He merely did it for recreation and fitness. AKA fun from his regular tedious job besides the fact his daughter was in our team program.

To gain strength? Work out hard. Follow a program. Eat and sleep as best as you can to recover from working out.

If you want help, just say so. Please don't PM on this, just post it here because my PM box is always on the brink of being full.

I would need what equipment you have available, how much time you have to workout per session and how many times during the week, and what if any goals you have.

Do you have the GymnasticsBodies book, BtGB? It's kind of hard to follow the progressions in the book if you don't, but I'm sure you could either get it or I can come up with a program that isn't too advanced to need the book (aka pullup, pushup, dip, squat, etc - no fancy progressions).

Also, it's probably a good idea to get an idea of what you can do.

How many pullups in over or under grip. If you can't do pullups, maybe how many horizontal body row pullups you can do.

How many pushups you can do chest to deck or on knees if need be. Can you perform a dip on a set of dip stands?

Can you do a simple air squat? How many? Have you ever tried to do a barbell back squat or deadlift or overhead or bench press?

How long can you hang from a bar or rings or hold a regular front plank for?

Yes, you are too tall and overweight, gymnastics is not for you! :shock:

Okay, just kidding...

How old are you?

I don't think I am that qualified to offer advice on how to get started, but I can share how I started...

I am 49, 6'3", was 242 pounds last April, and recovering from shoulder surgery, achilles tendinitis, tennis elbow, etc...

I decided to stay out of the dojo for 3 months (April to June) and start on an SSC + basic FBEs. I measured my hold times for the prerequisites, and determined the sets/times for the SSC, I added other holds to it (Inverted hold, HeS, straight arm side plank, short bridge, candle, Lsit & straddle sit) under the same protocol. I did all sets of each exercise in a row with rest 50% of the set time (no super setting)

This took the best part of an hour.

After a short break & some food, I superset a push (push ups or dips, I am still waiting to do hand stands) and a pull (row or assisted pull up) with sets/reps varying from 3x3 to 10x10, rest between 2 and 5 min, and all variations in between.

I also seriously altered my diet with focus on 3 elements: I suppressed all fast carbs except peri workout; I diminished the size and increased the frequency of meals, and I am paying special attention to periworkout nutrition with carbs and proteins before, during and after workout.

I did this SSC + FBE for 12 weeks until early July, then went to Okinawa for training karate for 3 weeks; upon coming back, I have not restarted the next leg of SSC (but will soon), what I have been doing for the last month is 45 min kata every day; 3 times a week, deadlifts and ab work + 90 minutes in the dojo, alternating with 3 times a week walking 3Km, running 3Km (this has been a progression to rehab my Achilles) and a push and a pull with emphasis on volume.

I also do a ton of prehab/rehab work for wrists, Achilles, Ankles, neck, etc...

Results:

I went from 242 to 224 pounds between April and June (lost a ton of fat, but also lots of muscle in the butt and legs); since then, my weight is stable and per my visual estimate and skin folds, I am definitely swapping fat for muscle. I bought the nutritiming app, used it a couple of days, got a great visual of what, how much and when, but could not be bothered to input things every hour any longer!

My shoulders are much, much more stable - both the AC joint and the added benefit of a better scapular control and position.

My wrists are stronger

I did my first non assisted pull up around June 20

My upper body is overall stronger - I put on quite a bit of muscle on my back.

I lost mass and strength in my legs (I mostly stopped all leg work for 3 months), and lost strength in my abs, but I was on a regimen of tons of weighted sit ups prior to April... the hollow holds & Lsits did not quite make up for that.

Last but not least, my long term lingering injuries are getting way better!

So, here you got it... not advice, but how I started, what I did, & what results came with similar body measurement as yours, and maybe a bit more flight time.

Hi, thanks for all the advice you two, to answer a few of your questions I'm 19 and will be heading to university in a couple of weeks and hoping to join gymnastics and the gym.

I would like any help you could offer and I have plenty of time to exercise in the gym but looking for about an hour as often as need be.

I understand I can't be doing the same thing every day as I need time to rest and my goals are to lose body fat and gain muscle and strength.

I have all the usual equipment available in the gym such as Squat racks, pull up bars, dip bars, free weights, benches, all kinds of machines, boxing equipment and cardio equipment.

In terms of gymnastics, I believe they have all the necessary stuff for gymnastics and practice is on sundays for 3 hours and an intermediate and higher group also meets on Thursday for 3 hours.

For exercises I can and have squatted, benched, deadlift and OHP all with good form, I can't dip on the bars but I can do bench dips or do pull ups but I can do push ups,about 12, I've never tried a horizontal body row pullup I assume that's where I grab a fixed bar get under it and grab hold of it and pull myself off the floor while my feet maintain contact with the floor.

Is an air squat just a bodyweight squat because I am also able to do those for about 15, I've also never hung from a bar or rings so have no idea and I've never really seen how long I can hold a plank for. I apologise if I've not provided enough information there but I'd appreciate any help you can give.

I'm 6'5", 200 lbs (was 210 a month ago) and just started thanks to the advice of people on this board. Go for it dude.

I'm 6'2, 222 lbs at the moment and I can tell you that making the transition from where you are to where I am in terms of physique is totally possible. I'd expect a 2 year transition time for something like that, but that represents a completely new person in terms of what you can do.

For you, it is important to work on the basic bent arm strength (push ups, pull ups, the bodyweight bar rows you described, shoulder press, and standing biceps curls) and basic straight arm strength (straight arm plank, handstand).

For your legs, nothing can replace squats and deadlifts. I recommend splitting time between front and back squats, as well as stiff leg and "regular" deadlifts. Literally have the following split: back squat + regular deadlifts on leg day 1, front squat + stiff leg DL on leg day 2.

If you don't feel confident with that, just do whichever squat and deadlift you feel you do correctly for now. It's pretty easy to get into other stuff later on if you want to.

Remember, right now it's all basics!

For abs, hollow hold and controlled decline sit ups (eventually weighted) will be your most efficient use of time given what you have available.

If you have trouble with form on squats and deadlifts, I recommend you do arch ups and curl ups as per BtGB for sets of 10-15 reps, increasing the weight every time you can get at least 2 sets of 12-15 reps. Only increase to the point that you can still do 6-8 reps with good form. Doing this for 3 sets 3x per week will rapidly improve your ability to handle weight in the squat and DL if your back is the main issue. If everything is fine with your squat and DL, I would still do these back exercises 1-2 times per week.