My Gymnastic-Bodies Experience So Far

[Josh Binding]

Hi there, the names josh.

 

I have always admired gymnasts for there strength and flexibility, I have always wanted to try it but never really thought it was possible for me mainly due to my size 6, 4 @ 220ibs. I just assumed it was for the shorter guys you see on tv and so on.

 

I previously use to lift allot of weights  the conventional dead lift,  squat, bench and military press with chins and pull ups thrown in. It got to the stage where I wasn't enjoying it so I decided to look around and found out about calisthenics and all the bar stuff you see on you tube  this lead me onto gymnastics at which point I seen someone point out a website called gymnastics bodies. I checked out the site and within a few weeks bought the book (parents did as it was my birthday).

 

I read through it a few times, looked on the forums and found the killroy template, at first it was ok but i struggled with all the moves in there most basic form. At this stage I presumed it was my weight, mostly my legs as they are naturally like tree trunks, how ever after looking around on the forum again I found the pre requisites and this changed my out look completely along with Slizzardmans youtube channel which was extremely helpful and inspiring since he is around my height.

 

 

With this I went onto design my first SSC - my initial times were not bad as I did do a month or two of the basic 3 moves below along with normal gym work though I have since scraped conventional gym work as it really does not interest me much anymore.

 

My first test on maxes were : GH 25s - Lsit tuck 40s - Hs wall stand 1m 10s

 

Below was my first SSC

 

pre req                                      Handstand hold wall      20s x 7

HH 3 X 20S                                Germanhang                13s x 7     Germanhang and L-sit where done as 

AH 3 X 40S                                L-sit                               20s x 7    a superset

RP 3 X 30S

PL 3 X 40S

PbS 3 x 30s

DH 3 X 30S

 

Strength work, all exercises done to 5 x 5 or progressing to it.

 

Monday - ring pushup wide, diamond push up, wide push up, body lever

Tuesday - Inverted curl progresion, normal dip, (deadhang, chinup hold for 5s slow negative repeat) 

Thursday - wide pullup, close pullup, Hs push up feet on box

Friday - SLS decline, NLC decline, body lever

 

My second SSC

 

 

maxes are : GH 1m - Lsit tuck 45s - Hs wall stand 1m 25s - L-sit adv tuck 15s - BL tuck 18s

 

Below was my second SSC

 

pre req                                      Handstand hold wall      30s x 7

HH 3 X 25S                                Back lever tuck             9s x 7     BL and L-sit where done as 

AH 3 X 45S                                L-sit adv tuck                8s x 7    a superset

RP 3 X 35S

PL 3 X 45S

PbS 3 x 35s

DH 3 X 35S

GH 1 x 30s

Lsit tuck 1 x 30s

 

Strength work, all exercises done to 5 x 5 or progressing to it.

 

Monday - ring pushup wide, diamond push up raised 20", wide push up raised 20"

Tuesday - Inverted curl progresion, normal dip, (deadhang, chinup hold for 5s slow negative repeat) 

Thursday - wide pullup, close pullup, Hs push up feet on box for 2 sets and HS against wall for 3

Friday - SLS decline, V-up tuck, Skin the cat

 

This my progress so far only in the first week of my second SSC, any advice and changes are welcome as I still lack understanding and I am constantly learning.

[Larry Roseman]

Great first post. A coach will probably give you feedback soon.

 

I'm a pretty big guy - though not your size.

 

I never did weights and my upper body was under developed compared to my lower body. So things

like planche and press to handstand are going to be 2x as hard as a skinny legged person. It's probably not 

impossible, but I think larger people have to be happy doing less and accepting many things take longer to develop, if ever.

Injuries are more of a concern so stay patient but persistent.

 

Good work so far ... it seems to be in the right direction generally speaking.

[Josh Binding]

I have made a few alterations, during my rest period when doing the strength work I will do my splits progression stretches, this is mostly due to cutting down on the time I am training for but feels good as waiting 2-3 mins between sets is a bit dull even with music.

 

I have also changed my hand stand strength work a little, I have changed it to 2 sets of 5 decline Hs against the wall followed by 3 set of HS push up with legs on the my box. That is on Thursdays.

 

I have also struggled allot with pull ups  in terms of reps am only capable of doing 5 sets of 2 reps in both wide and close grip, this is better than in my first SSC but is there any other method of helping me to increase my reps for pull-ups.

 

Any advice and tips would be much appreciated