How To Know Your Limits?

First, I want to apologies for my grammar and spelling mistakes, my English is not so very good, and to thank you for your patience.

Gymnasts are usually short people, somewhere between 5’4 (163cm) and 5’8 (173cm); they have professional training and they are able to achieve almost all known gymnastics skills. How can regular person know what skills is he able to achieve?

For example, I’m 6’1 (185cm) and I train one to two hours per day in gym, alone. I can hold back lever for 10 seconds, front lever for 5-6 seconds, L-sit for 30 sec… As you can see, these are all easy gymnastic skills. Will I ever be able to hold planche on floor or iron cross? Will I ever be able to do OAC? And what about even harder skills like maltese cross and planche on rings?

mrpraktic said:

How can regular person know what skills is he able to achieve?

You try. Coach thinks that Iron Cross is definitely achievable for the fitness enthusiast and Vassily (Ashita on GB, VassTheSuperSaiyan on YouTube) is 6'0 and has immense planche strength. So I think those two are achievable with hard work and good training.

OAC too. John Gill is 6'2 and Achieved some very awesome things, including a butterfly mount and inverted cross. He didn't have maltese or planche on rings, though.

So there is hope for you yet (and me, since I'm only an inch shorter! )

VassTheSuperSaiyan is not 6'0. I remember him saying that he is 5'6".

I don't think Crosses are affected by height as much as horizontal skills like planche and maltese. It's mainly the length of the arms although taller people usually have longer limbs.

I have personally never seen anyone 6 ft or over have a full planche or maltese, but I believe it may be possible to some really tall freaks of strength. So don't give up and you will get really strong from training it even if you don't achieve it.

B1214N said:

VassTheSuperSaiyan is not 6'0. I remember him saying that he is 5'6".

...and I remember 6'0. I sent him a message on Facebook.

I enjoy training, and I will train whenever I can and whatever I like. I will gain strength and I will be healthier. But it is much easier to train when you know that you will be able to achieve your goal, not only “half of your goalâ€. I want to have a full planche. I think that my chances are low because of my height. But if someone (person who knows about gymnastic much more than me) tells me: “You can do itâ€, it will became easier to train. Power of will is great, but it needs incentive.

I'm going to take an unpopular stance here...

mrpraktic said:

But if someone (person who knows about gymnastic much more than me) tells me: “You can do itâ€, it will became easier to train. Power of will is great, but it needs incentive.

Anyone who tells you that will be dishonest (with good intentions) - they can't know what's possible for you. Knowing that, how can it truly inspire you?

I teach certain things, not gymnastics of course, and I can never bring myself to give that sort of encouragement - I think it leads to a lot of disappointment, frustration and real self-esteem issues down the line when the impossible remains that way. We can not do anything we set our minds to, unfortunately, and it's healthier not to become obsessed with goals that might be beyond us. Worship of outstanding athletes provides lucrative marketing opportunities but harms a lot of people, and it's important not to get too caught up in it all. By all means, try your best, but don't put all your eggs in one basket or anything.

Just try to progress as quickly, cleanly and securely as you can and at least then you'll get as far as you ever could have. Who knows, maybe you'll get further than you expect. Maybe as you go along you'll see that you "could" achieve what you want, but it would require unacceptable sacrifices on your part, and make an informed decision not to push for it. *shrug*

There are gymnastics skills I am confident I will achieve, some I think I might, some I think I definitely will not. Time is against us, as well, of course. Me thinking that I definitely will never achieve x, y and z doesn't slow my progress towards them, because they're on the same road as a, b and c, just further along, and I'm going as fast as I can already.

This is going to sound incredibly corny, but in grade school I remember one of the posters saying: "shoot for the moon, and land in the stars."

stefanhinote said:

This is going to sound incredibly corny, but in grade school I remember one of the posters saying: "shoot for the moon, and land in the stars."

haha yes, very corny, and astronomically dubious - but often quite good advice. One just has to remember that one has a limited number of "shots" in life, so we have to choose carefully where to aim them for best effect.

Thank you for your honesty. That's what I'm looking for. I just want to hear from some gymnast or coach what are my REAL chances. I do not like answers like “Nothing is impossible†and “With a lot of work you can achieve everythingâ€. I want to hear how many tall (above 6’) people can perform complicated gymnastic skills.

mrpraktic said:

Thank you for your honesty. That's what I'm looking for. I just want to hear from some gymnast or coach what are my REAL chances. I do not like answers like “Nothing is impossible†and “With a lot of work you can achieve everythingâ€. I want to hear how many tall (above 6’) people can perform complicated gymnastic skills.

I should clarify that I'm not a gymnast or a coach or involved enough in the sport to answer that - so don't take anything specific from my post.

How old are you, out of interest?

22. And one more thing. I am not obsessed with achieving skills. I am curious. I will train skills that I like, no matter how hard are they. If I achieve them…. great, good job. If not, never mind. I enjoyed the journey. But it would be nice to approximately know your limits.

mrpraktic said:

22. And one more thing. I am not obsessed with achieving skills. I am curious. I will train skills that I like, no matter how hard are they. If I achieve them…. great, good job. If not, never mind. I enjoyed the journey. But it would be nice to approximately know your limits.

Out of interest, is this sort of thing for personal entertainment/satisfaction, or do you have designs to "perform" in some capacity one day?

Personal satisfaction. Someone likes to draw, someone likes to dance.... I like to train. And my greatest satisfaction is when I achieve my goal. I do not intend to compete or perform.

mrpraktic said:

Thank you for your honesty. That's what I'm looking for. I just want to hear from some gymnast or coach what are my REAL chances. I do not like answers like “Nothing is impossible†and “With a lot of work you can achieve everythingâ€. I want to hear how many tall (above 6’) people can perform complicated gymnastic skills.

Here are some videos of relatively tall people doing planche push ups:

pinoyako said:

Here are some videos of relatively tall people doing planche push ups:

Have you read their heights somewhere or are you estimating them based on their proportions? It can be very hard to tell when no one else is in shot.

I also wanted to ask that. When I was a kid, I thought that Sylvester Stallone is over 6'0. My girlfriend still thinks

Rik de Kort said:

...and I remember 6'0. I sent him a message on Facebook.

I can promise you, you are incorrect. He is 5'6 and 160 lbs. I have a chart on the average height and weight of a few bodyweight enthusiasts to see the correlation between height/weight and level of difficult skills completed (inspired by David P. Willoughby's book Super Athlete).

Also for the OP in my chart there is no body doing a planche at 6'0, doesn't mean it's not possible as the amount of people that are 6'0 or above doing body weight training is small to begin with. I would also like to add that while there are no maltese and planches, that I know of, there are people that have done Iron Crosses and Inverted Crosses at 6'0 which makes sense since you are not making a lever with your body length in those moves.