OT- chinese gymnists

[picantel]

Do not really like gymnastics but when flipping the channel I noticed the chinese atheletes. Those are some tiny guys with some amazing strength and huge biceps. Their biceps were almost abnormal given the size of the rest of their body. How many days a week would you have to work out on biceps to get those or do you think they just came naturally after awhile from all the work they put in.

[Taur]

I love gymnast because they prove that every book on bodybuilding and all "Experts" wrong.

1)They workout 6-7 hours a day
2)They work their upper body every single day.
3)They never lift heavy weights
4)They never do any of the core exercises
5)They try to keep their lower body as small as possible

They have no idea what Overtraining is.

[Beachman]

Originally Posted by Taur

I love gymnast because they prove that every book on bodybuilding and all "Experts" wrong.

1)They workout 6-7 hours a day
2)They work their upper body every single day.
3)They never lift heavy weights
4)They never do any of the core exercises
5)They try to keep their lower body as small as possible

They have no idea what Overtraining is.

Um... they never do core exercises?!?

[Marius_Ursus]

Their core training consists of gymnastics training, and a lot of them actually rarely do any resistance other than gymnastics like the floor presses, hand stands and rings exercises. I believe the large biceps are a result of all the statice opposing muscle work they have to do. I mean, look at an iron cross. That move requires equal tension on the all the muscle of the arms to acheive a stable position.

I like mixing in "gymnastics" style work. Performing a freestanding headstand was the hardest my abs have ever been hit. I'm still working up to a handstand, and I'd love to be able to do some of those slow-motion floor press body lifts.

[BuckSpin]

I caught them on the rings a few nights ago. Insane strength. I swear one of them did what can best be described as a "human airplane" on the rings with his arms out almost straight as wings and his torso PARALLEL (or damn close) to the ground.

[Guff]

I know NOTHING about gymnastic training, but I did see video of them lifting weights.

[snoack]

Originally Posted by Marius_Ursus

Their core training consists of gymnastics training, and a lot of them actually rarely do any resistance other than gymnastics like the floor presses, hand stands and rings exercises. I believe the large biceps are a result of all the statice opposing muscle work they have to do. I mean, look at an iron cross. That move requires equal tension on the all the muscle of the arms to acheive a stable position.

I like mixing in "gymnastics" style work. Performing a freestanding headstand was the hardest my abs have ever been hit. I'm still working up to a handstand, and I'd love to be able to do some of those slow-motion floor press body lifts.

I think I might start doing a headstand.

[Marius_Ursus]

Originally Posted by snoack

I think I might start doing a headstand.

If you're serious about it, the best advice I can give you is to go slow. When I first started out, I'd go too fast sometimes and end up coming down really hard on my back.

[jawter]

Originally Posted by Taur

I love gymnast because they prove that every book on bodybuilding and all "Experts" wrong.

1)They workout 6-7 hours a day
2)They work their upper body every single day.
3)They never lift heavy weights
4)They never do any of the core exercises
5)They try to keep their lower body as small as possible

They have no idea what Overtraining is.

A gymnist will never win a BB'ing competition, they lack the mass, definition and symetry that is required.

While we can draw some insight from a gymnists training it would be foolish to think that they prove every book on bodybuilding wrong, only an un-informed person would make such a statement.

[mrtwister007]

Crossfit is probably a scaled down version of some of what they do. I've been doing crossfit the past 6 weeks and can see more change in my body than I have in years of traditional weightlifting.

[taf1968]

Originally Posted by mrtwister007

Crossfit is probably a scaled down version of some of what they do. I've been doing crossfit the past 6 weeks and can see more change in my body than I have in years of traditional weightlifting.

I don't know much about Crossfit other than some videos that I have seen . . . but I've seen some "ring work" in there. Rings are phenomenal for building upper body. I was a gymnast in high school and I was never in better shape than I was back then. There is a night and day difference between doing dips on a set of dip bars and doing them while supporting your own weight on a set of rings (the rings move in/out/back/forward and if you get off balance you'll lose it). It takes so many more stabilizer muscles to do the same movement on rings. That kind of goes for that sport in general . . . it hits the whole body.

Most of the gymast build comes just from doing the event training every day. Practice is like a continuous core exercise that alternately emphasizes upper and lower body to varying degrees depending on the exercise they are working.

[Minotaur]

I'm totally awestruck by gymnasts. Someone gave me a tip a long time ago about a simulated iron cross workout...

Take the cables of a cable crossover with your arms outstretched to your sides and push down until your hands are at your sides, then control the weight back to the starting position, and do reps.

I tried it.

[Taur]

Originally Posted by Beachman

Um... they never do core exercises?!?

Yes core exercise.

Bench
Squat
Dead


I have never seen a gymnast step up to a squat rack and say "load it up"

[Taur]

Originally Posted by jawter

While we can draw some insight from a gymnists training it would be foolish to think that they prove every book on bodybuilding wrong, only an un-informed person would make such a statement.

Prove me wrong!

Show me a single book or a quote from an experienced trainer who is saying that in order to build mass and strength you should work the same bodypart every day for 6 -8 hours per day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.

[taf1968]

Originally Posted by Minotaur

I'm totally awestruck by gymnasts. Someone gave me a tip a long time ago about a simulated iron cross workout...

Take the cables of a cable crossover with your arms outstretched to your sides and push down until your hands are at your sides, then control the weight back to the starting position, and do reps.

I tried it.

Without actual rings suspended off the ground high enough, that's probably as close as you can get to simulate that movement in a gym. It took me probably a good year before I could actually do an iron cross and hold it long enough to get "credit' for it in a meet.

We used to do "cross pulls" at the end of our workouts . . . you are already dead tired and your muscles are like rubber. But you get up on the rings and support your weight. Someone holds onto your feet to spot you--then you lower down into the cross position and hold it for a few seconds and then pull the rings back down to your sides to the start position. Kind of like the pull up machines that you can add weight to and make it easier to do. We'd do a few sets of them. Talk about DOMS. Ouch!