“Jesus H. Christ, Larsen!” you’re probably exclaiming in horror. “Gymnastics? Why don’t I just wear a man-corset and sashay myself around the town square while I’m at it?” But before you swear off fitness forever, angrily storm off Return Of Kings, and go hang out with the “migtows,” allow me to explain why I am bringing this ancient sport to a website explicitly for masculine men.
I am fully aware that, yeah, gymnastics are kind of fruity-particularly rhythmic gymnastics and floor routines. But since those last two things suck, I will never be showing you them. Instead, this article will be the first of several articles discussing various techniques involving the bars and rings. And while those are still a bit effete, I will ask you to ignore that gut feeling for a moment.
“But why?” It’s simple: if you’re on a budget, there’s no better way to build awe-inspiring strength. Take a look at this front body lever:
The amount of total body strength you need to pull off a maneuver like that is nigh mythical in our age of weakness-indeed, your average Olympic class men’s gymnast is quite capable of deadlifting twice his own bodyweight, in addition to having world-class levels of agility and dexterity. Such strength and dexterity is also needed to use the pommel horse or (my favorite) the rings.
Just to make something clear, I am not an Olympic class gymnast—I’m 6 feet tall and I currently weigh 210 pounds. Even when I cut the fat and get to my absolute leanest, I’m still somewhere around 175-180 pounds. Clearly, a career in elite level gymnastics is not in my future. With that being said, I feel that I have been made stronger by my use of gymnastic training (mostly referring to the static positions that represent the fundamentals of the sport), especially since I have unfortunately been laid up these last few months. And there is no reason that you couldn’t use these equally as well.
One of the most basic techniques, a fundamental primer in developing the core strength for future endeavors, is that of the L-Sit and it’s sister, the V-Sit. I have briefly discussed these in a previous article, but today’s article will go over each individual step to attaining these difficult maneuvers.
The L-Sit
Before you start training the L-Sit, you will need parallel bars or something that can approximate the parallel bars: Paralletes are great if you have them (I don’t, and I doubt you do either), but two chairs or even one chair with arm rests will suffice.
The first step in the L-Sit series is the knee raise: Securing yourself with your hands on the parallels, lift your legs up and off the ground as seen in this picture of Thomas Inch, who I have referenced previously in these pages.
The second step is the straight diagonal leg hold: Keeping the legs straight and down, lift the buttocks off the chair while also keeping the feet off the floor.
Note: This image was taken from the second convict conditioning book
The third step, the N Hold, is the first step where you are flat on the floor. Sit down on the floor, plant your hands by your hips, and push off them. You can keep your hands flat or your use fists—I find that the flat hands are a little more difficult for the hip flexors, but the fists allow you to get your feet higher and thus work the abs harder. I would recommend doing both.
As is this picture
From here, you can try doing the true L-Sit. If you can’t, try to extend one leg and keep the other bent, and gradually unbend that leg. Once you have achieved that, it is time to try the true L-Sit: Sit down on the floor with your legs fully extended in front of you. Plant your hands down hard by your hips, and push through. Keeping your legs straight, lift them up off the floor.
Yours truly. I couldn’t have you people thinking I was incapable of doing an L-Sit.
You will likely not be able to hold this for very long-just a couple of seconds is acceptable for beginners.
The L-Sit is a technique you’ll likely not see amongst the curlbros in gyms-mastering it will make you stand out in your training establishment. But should you want to advance further, there are options-namely, the V-Sit.
This is me holding a V-Sit while hanging from a bar. While I can hold this for 30 seconds, I admit that I cannot do a V-Sit on the floor. But thanks to the very helpful book Building the Gymnastic Body, I know the intermediate steps:
Once you have mastered the L-Sit, you are likely capable of doing the V-Raise. This is essentially a sit-up where you bring your legs and upper body up simultaneously, making the body look like the letter V.
When you can do that easily, try to hit the V-Sit: Start in the L-Sit, and slowly pull your legs upward until you have hit the V-Sit. I can hit a higher range of motion than the standard L-Sit, but the true V-Sit still eludes me.
Conclusion
With these techniques, you can develop truly functional core and hip flexor strength, and form a good base for both weightlifting and future gymnastic techniques
Read More: How To Work Out The Lower Half Of Your Body Using Isometric Exercises
Convict conditioning is one of the best fitness books i have read. Even thought i have my doubts of some facts that are there, i would recommend anyone who is interested in fitness to get a copy
I concur!
Larsen, this is my favorite of your articles to date. This was really awesome.
I see a lot of guys with a ton of rap power get on the rings and realize there is a whole other set of muscles to start working. I have neglected doing this stuff and you have inspired me to start.
As a side note, I just left my national chain luxury gym with 30 city locations, spotless conditions, awesome amenities, spa etc that is filled with hot women today and joined a local barbell club filled with raw power and testosterone. First day I got the tour and there were two guys near a squat rack going back and forth on squats well over 400. It is owned by some former olympic power lifter. It is bare bones, in a converted warehouse.
I was telling Unabashed that it is the first time in years that I was in a gym and felt like the smallest guy in the room. I don’t remember the last time I felt that twinge in the back of my head on a gym floor when you are surrounded but people who are repping up with your 1RM 6-8 times at what looks like about 6 RPE but it is fucking exciting.
Thanks for the compliment.
I was the same way with dips, I could do weighted dips no problem then one day did them on rings and struggled hard, my arm kept shaking out to the side like I was having a seizure while trying to stabilize. Once I move into this little house I’m welding up a structure to attach rings off of since most gyms don’t cover those types of things.
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The shaking is real! Cool plan for the house.
I’ve always believed that bodyweight exercise trumps weightlifting. Primarily because for me, true strength is your ability to move your body. Being flat on your back lifting doesn’t quite impart the same ability. It has its place though.
I will say that the primary reason undo weight lifting is that I honestly love it. I get a rush and a feeling from it that is like a high. For that reason body weight would never cut it.
But I will also say that you can do body weight stuff all day and the raw strength one gets from deadlifts bench and squats will allude you forever.
I agree with your first but not your second paragraph. I have fought powerlifters (in Muay Thai) and those guys are stuck to the floor like an fly on fly paper. They hit hard no doubt but they are constantly punching the air while I light them up like a Christmas tree.
I’m not saying this to brag but rather to illustrate the many forms of strength there are. In my opinion, you will create far more practical strength from bodyweight training because that’s what you will use in a fight. My fellow team-mates (who lifted weights) would describe my strength as “gorilla strength”. You can’t get that and remain mobile if your focus is power-lifting.
Agreed. Very different strength. i have seen videos of absurdly strong powelifters lose arm wrestling matches to guys half their size.
But for me, for my life, having been someone who has done a lot of different things, there is a raw strength I feel that I get only from heavy lifting.
Quite right. There is more than one path to enlightenment.
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What type of body-weight exercises do you do?
Bridging, push-ups, pull-ups, hanging leg raises. Pretty standard stuff, nothing crazy.
Dunno why dudes hate on gymnastics. I’ve incorporated those hanging V-sits into my workout. N-Holds are still beyond me, but I’m getting there.
As an avid gymnast, I wholeheartedly agree with this article. Gymnastics gives you strength and utter confidence. As a plus, it produces the most harmonious body for both men and women.
Impressive
NBC decided that the USA didn’t need to see any of this sort of sport in 2016 ; Male gymnasts seem to have a fluidity to their motion that female gymnasts tend to lack.
Looking at the female Olympic gymnasts though, I have reservations about the “harmonious body for women” part. Maybe they’re just an example of what happens when gymnastics is overdone?
Male gymnasts also seem to have their growth stunted, measuring in between “Horse Jockey” and “Jose Altuve/Scott Caan”. Though, again, perhaps that’s just the result of overdoing it at too early an age.
You are right about their height but you can not be too tall for gymnastics. I am quite tall for it (189 cm) which is why I was never able to develop beyond the amateur level. I would rather be something like 175 cm max. You get a lot more flexibility and strength per body weight at this height.
As for the women, yes right again, their breast do not develop but to me their posture is preferable to let’s say a fashion model. The gymnast walks with a swagger, the models walk like they are drunk and about to throw up on you. I do like when a woman stands straight and looks solid on her feet. Majority of women look like cripples, posture wise. Also, the gymnast women radiate health and happiness which to me is the biggest turned on.
You can tell a lot about the health of a woman (and a man too) by checking her posture standing up – both legs straight up, slightly apart, core and shoulders up.
If you want a healthy woman fro your future children check her posture … and her teeth, of course. LOL
http://www.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/beijing-2008-olympics-us-womens-gymnastics-team_usatsi_3121191.jpg
Legs are nice.Traps on some are way overly developed. Elite female athletes who train vigorously can cause Osteoporosis in their bodies. The intense Training can alter Hormones and stop Estrogen production, and bone scans of a 17 yr old girl can resemble the bone density of a 65 yr old woman.
http://mapofmedicine.com/osteoporosis-risk-female-athletes/
That doesn’t surprise me. With women being known to be as much as 10x more likely to incur knee injury then men, I’ve always wondered if hardcore gymnastics was a one-way ticket to joint problems at an early age.
The lack of estrogen could explain why so many don’t look their age…I have no doubt that China flat-out lies about its gymnasts but other countries have a similar “appearance belies posted age” problem.
The problem is inadequate eating rather than the exercise. Young girls are always on some sort of restrictive diet.
I don’t think gymnastics stunts your growth so much as larger men cannot do elite level gymnastics
That’s another conclusion that can be drawn from the abundance of sub-average height elite male gymnasts.
It’s off-topic, as I doubt any reading this are concerned about stunting their growth, but I wonder how many boys training to be elite gymnasts literally grow out of it vs how many don’t grow due to the training.
That’t the answer. At the elite level every sport has a body type that has an advantage over mere mortals. Micheal Phelps arms are very long and his hands and feet are huge. Top level baseball players tend to have eyesight way better than average. Wayne Gretsky had really good peripheral vision so he could seemingly make backwards passes without looking.
I was not training to be an elite level gymnast, but I was on the gymnastics team in junior high school. Then I grew out of it.
I also used to race motocross, but I grew out of that, too. These are both sports that smaller men have the advantage.
They just choose shorter men because it’s easier to turn their whole body around. Chimps and gorillas are kings of gymnastics and they’re only 5 feet tall
Same with basketball, BB doesnt really make you taller they just choose genetically tall men to play
Altuve/Caan for the win. Nice image there
Growth stunted? The way that basketball players have their growth magnified?
No, that’s not quite the same deal.
Unless we’re talking a psychosomatic component, being hugely into “bakka ball” wouldn’t make kids grow taller than normal.
However, high-impact & high-weight exercises are said to potentially stunt growth, which is why serious powerlifting is advised to not be done by adolescents.
Gymnastics is full of hugely high-impact and high-weight/stress exercises and I expect that anyone who makes it to the elite level has been doing those from a very young age.
Obviously I am being sarcastic. Think about it.
Said by whom?
To see an Elite Gymnasts Routine in person, must be amazing.
The Nightwish song ain’t bad either, too bad they chopped it up.
“As a plus, it produces the most harmonious body for both men and women.”
One of the chubby, short-haired SJWs on my Facebook feed complained bitterly during the Olympics that female gymnasts have to wear feminine outfits and do dance moves during their floor routines. I hope that she and her ilk never achieve their goal of stamping out feminine beauty for good.
Might think gymnastics looks gay. Until one of these dudes kicks your ass.
And we wouldn’t need to do these things if kratom was still legal.
Good points here Mr. Halleck.
Pay no attention to the people who criticize gymnast’s ability, or the sport as a whole. I used to feel that way as well. Its an odd thing, with eccentric movement. I didn’t see how it would have any carryover or purpose.
Its kind of like hearing Jimi Hendrix play guitar for the first time. It may seem cool but not technically impressive to a person who’s never picked up a guitar, or played a different instrument all your life. Then, you try it out to see if you can imitate his style, just to find out how full of shit you were.
Only when I saw what gymnasts were capable of outside of gymnastics did I realize their athletic edge. I had heard about pro football players trying gymnastics and martial arts training, and commenting on what an advantage it was.
When I started sticking to more advanced free hand work and (trying) some principles of gymnastics in high school, I saw a huge improvement in my athletic performance.
I didn’t think it would be better than weight training, so I never phased it out. And in truth it wasn’t, I needed to be as big and strong in that sense as I could be. But holy shit dude, it was an incredible edge.
I felt more powerful, better balance and control, and I remember a lot fewer injuries when I was trying it out. I still do free hand work, but gymnastics as a whole just isn’t for bigger dudes, as stated in the article.
Augmenting your training with some principles of gymnastics is worth the risk.
Guys who do gymnastics tend to have crazy muscular bodies.
Serious question. Being a martial artist, I have decent functional strength and can hold these poses for a bit. However, when my core begins to get tired from certain exercises like these, planks, ab wheel, etc. my reproductive juices spill out unless I stop. Is there a way to prevent that?
You jizz yourself doing planks?
…yes. I looked it up actually, it seems like it happens to other people too. Pretty inconvenient, as I can’t work out at full intensity
That’s very peculiar. Perhaps you should seek a urologist, or some other kind of specialist.
It isn’t too rare, I think. Genetic, probably. Not harmful, just bothersome
Yeah, Google shows forums with guys talking about it. One guy said, he works out with intensity up until it is just about to happen, then he stops until it pass’s , and then he continues his workout, he said he’s had it for many years, and using the stop go method has helped make it better.
Hmm. That sounds like edging which can cause cancer, apparently. Everything causes cancer.
Living is the biggest killer known to man.
Try KRATOM
Do you have a hard on when you jizz?
I go to my niece’s gymnastics meets with my brother some weekends and one day I tried the rings out. My abs and shoulders were sore for the next few days and I lift regularly. I have nothing but respect for gymnasts. In Europe, gymnastics is much more common.
I’ve had mad respect for male gymnast (can’t say the same for the female oompah loompahs). They carve impressive physiques with exceptional strength without pumping iron. I adapt some of their moves in my own calisthenics to have a decent looking body for an old man. And, I don’t ever have to visit a gym to build and maintain it.
I think we live in a gym-rat meathead culture that is continually selling products, supplements and memberships rather than admitting that something as simple as bodyweight training is exceptionally effective.
Iron cross
One arm chins
Full Plache push ups
Handstand pushup
Front lever
Back lever
Maltese
Muscle ups
L sit/ L sit pull up/ L sit dips
V sit
Manna
Front lever rows
Iron cross pull outs
Elevator
Inverted cross
Flags
Planks
Full plache straight arm progression to handstand
Various progressions bent/straight arm
Ect ect.
Plenty of strength can be gained in gymnastics.
Swimming and doing gymnastics are the two best exercises for your body. In my opinion swimming has the edge on gymnastics b/c of cardio
I don’t know anyone that looks down on male gymnasts. They’re the most buff guys this side of powerlifters.
In another life I would have been a male Gymnast.
Are any of ROK’s readers really dumb enough to think that male gymnasts are somehow unmanly? I only wish I had the strength to do an iron cross on the rings.
I agree, come on, give the reader a little more credit. We are extremely open minded and this is a topic that you don’t even have to try hard to see the author’s point. Strength and flexibility go hand in hand. Hell, one could argue in today’s modern society flexibility is more important in strength because when you really need to lift a heavy item in day to day life?
Flexibility is always good. Mine has gone down quite a bit since I stopped doing yoga. Male gymnasts have a lot of raw strength too, to go with their flexibility and dexterity. It’s a pretty awesome combination.
I dunno, I brought the subject up in a conversation with some friends and they all accused gymnastics of being “gay”. I don’t know if they read ROK, though.
Gymnastic will help balance your body. A balanced body will aid your nervous system to be optimal. An optimal nervous system is everything, meaning great health, massive energy and increased happiness. So anything that supports your nervous system to become stable is recommended, in this case gymnastic.
Parallettes are dirt cheap and a program like Tacfit Barbarian will smoke you in no time. It’s especially good for combat athletes.
Does someone here really think that gymnastics are unmanly? Ancient Greece anyone? Sparta anyone?
This, unmanly guy?
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/02/18/12/003071AA00000258-3452756-image-m-69_1455798758189.jpg
Probably beta males that never picked up a weight or did a pull up. The ones that think every well developed man using steroids
I don’t consider gymnastics to be unmanly.
Though I’m not so sure about the manliness of the Ancient Greeks as I’m under the impression that if they were brought to the modern Olympics somehow, they’d all be Olympic divers…
Thank you. I am trying them right now!
Gymnasts are some of the strongest people around they also have impressive physiques and I’m pretty sure they will get a lot of respect here at ROK. Incorporating some of their training methods into your routine is a great idea especially for your core. That being said, always remember what your goal is, if all you want is an aesthetically pleasing body bodybuilding workouts are the way to go.
How is gymnastics effeminate? When did that ever happened? Gymnastics is advanced calisthenics, street thugs and prison inmates build their body with gymnastics. Martial artists and boxers do gymnastics. Marines and paratroopers need to do gymnastics to scale obstructions like climbing mountains and such. Sounds like more of a useful pursuit than body aesthetics
Prison inmates build their bodies with gymnastics?
I was under the impression that they spent their time getting ripped pumping taxpayer-provided iron, that prison nowadays is just a government-funded powerlifting academy for adults.
gay
I’ve been lifting since I was 16 (Now I’m 22) but I never felt the control and strength that gymnastics give it to me in only a few months, I recommend it to everyone no matter the age or fitness level.