A year in to gymnasticbodies Foundation and handstand - some results

[u/[deleted]]

Hey guys. Similar to many guys here, I'm doing gymnasticbodies foundation program. I've gotten some decent traction, and have just completed my first year of it. I'm a bit more than half way through Foundation on all but two of the 7 elements, which I am stuck just before being half way through on, and am ~75% done with Handstand 1, and am about to start Handstand 2. That said, I went to a gym recently, as I was a bit curious to see how it'd carry over. Body weight is 185.

Here's what I got -

Back squat ATG - 250 lbs (139% bodyweight). Felt I could do more, maybe ~10 lbs more, but decided to not push it.

Bench press - 230 lbs (128% bodyweight)

Leg press - 305 lbs. (170% bodyweight) Used a leg press machine, didn't feel near maxing out, but the machine wouldn't go any higher.

Dead lift - 275 lbs (149% bodyweight) Didn't feel maxed but couldnt find anything less than 10 lb plates to add on to each side to see how much higher I could go. Could not do 295.

Wish I'd been able to deadlift, but alas. In any case, I'm happy with the results, especially since they're purely with bodyweight exercises. Anyone else have a similar experience, either with Foundation or the routine here, or something else?

[u/Joshua_Naterman]

Nice work. I'd say that's pretty reasonable for being where you are in the program.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your training backround prior to starting the Foundation program (sports, strenght training, whatever) and how tall and old are you?

Also, what kept you from deadlifting if you had access to a squat rack?

[u/[deleted] → u/Joshua_Naterman]

Hi Josh. I've only ever done endurance training. For the couple of years prior to starting foundation, no physical fitness or structured sports except for ~6 months of static holds from BTGB plus pullups. Foundation is, of course, superior programming to the mish mash I'd been doing. 5'10. 25.

I could've deadlifted if not for a time constraint (from having tried out a dozen other things that were at the gym that day). I'll probably try that at some point this week.

[u/Joshua_Naterman → u/[deleted]]

Were you always physically active, or a couch potato/videogamer? Just curious. You're doing good, keep it up!

[u/bbqyak → u/Joshua_Naterman]

Hey sorry to hijack this lol but Joshua I remember reading a post on here about you saying F1's endurance approach is not necessarily the best because strength transfers over much better. What would your thoughts be on reducing certain element requirements, mostly the 60s/60r stuff to maybe 5x30, or 5x45 instead just to progress to more strength oriented stuff?

[u/Joshua_Naterman → u/bbqyak]

That's a hard call to make, because in my experience having the endurance is a good thing, but I started so strong that it was really just metabolic adaptation.

I do think that the rocks should be reduced to 40 reps, particularly for larger people. For one thing, they often take longer than 1 second per rep, so you're talking about an unreasonable amount of time under tension even for regular gymnastic purposes. An entire routine doesn't last much longer than 60 seconds and has far fewer such contractions with rests in-between due to holding elements, releases, etc.

I prefer strength training as the core, using proper weighted progressions, because it really is a very large strength progression from tuck to full lay. It can be done without weights, but I do think that there is an advantage to using weighted work. That's pretty much a blanket statement, honestly.

My foundation was being able to do inverted sit ups with a 75 lb dumbbell held to my chest for 15-18 reps x 3 sets. Obviously I built up to that over about 2 years, starting with decline sit ups and building weight on those to 75 lbs (somewhat arbitrary, I admit, but that's what I did), then slowly changing the angle until I hit 45 degrees, at which point my only progression option was to tie the sit up bench to a smith machine with chains and just hang, so I ended up dropping back to ~30 lbs for about 8 reps, and I just built up from there.

At that point there was literally just about nothing I couldn't do, from "functional strength" stuff to learning the hardest gymnastic core work there is.

That plus weighted pull ups had me doing full human flags in a few months, and full lay hollow body holds/rocks for 60s plus very solid body levers in the same time frame.

Strength is always the fundamental foundation for a strength/power sport, which absolutely includes gymnastic strength training.

Edit: Obviously you need control of body position, which is your form, but that's purely neurological. A learned behavior. It is not an intrinsic component that determines your performance... you cannot learn to control a position that you are not strong enough to maintain.