These guys are blowing my mind. They’re a NY based group that goes out to public parks and playgrounds to do their workouts on the pull up bars, parallel bars, monkey bars, etc. And they are getting fantastic results. Lot’s of muscle ups, wild chin/pull up variations, and other gymnastic-esque goodness. I love it! It’s inspiring me to dust off my old goal of one-arm chins. (Real one-arm chins, of course.)
They’re helping to prove my theory that if you want to look (and be!) truly muscular and powerful, train your lower body like an Olympic weightlifter, and your upper body like a gymnast.
Here’s a few vids:
Don’t forget to check out their blog here.
[hat tip: Fitness Black Book]
“that if you want to look (and be!) truly muscular and powerful, train your lower body like an Olympic weightlifter, and your upper body like a gymnast”
This could be pure gold right here. As someone who transitioned from powerlifting to olympic lifting I have seen my upper body loose muscle mass and some strength (excluded the traps). I have a free day during the week when I could train but my lower body is toast from lifting; which has brought me to researching gymnastics and reading “Building the Gymnastic body”. I’m gonna get a set of rings in my garage and do work on a parallel bar at the park.
Do you have any literature you can shoot my way on this topic of combining olympic lifts with gymnastic movements?
Sadly there isn’t much on the combo of Olympic lifting with Gymnastics. Of course, CrossFit talks about it, but their modalities are all wrong for building true size and strength. They are basically all conditioning – which is great for what they do, don’t get me wrong – but it isn’t what we’re after.
The best resource online that I’ve found for body-weight training is http://www.DragonDoor.com
I’ve been doing some of this kind of training again recently myself – as an experiment – and I’m really liking the results. BTW, I also feel less pain in my shoulders when I’m regularly doing dips, push ups, and pull up variation.
Here’s what my upper body work is looking like:
4 sets of Wide Grip pull ups supersetted with either Push press or dumbbell overhead press. (I don’t count reps on the pull ups. I figure it’s best to just do whatever I can do, and stop with a few reps left in the tank.)
4 sets of “commando” (mixed grip) pull ups supersetted with one-arm push ups.
4 sets of close-grip chin-ups supersetted with dips. I find dips to be very easy, so putting them after all of that makes a difference.
I’m doing this (or some variation on this) 3 days a week.
And if I still feel like it, I add in some other work for the upper body – like reverse rows, barbel rows, incline press, etc.
I think someone who wasn’t doing heavy O-lifting 5 days a week could do more, but that’s getting to my limit. I still have to hold heavy snatches and jerks above my head for singles, over and over and over … I’m trying to figure out just what combo of the two will provide the best results.
Try it out and tell me how you feel.
I’m even thinking of adding in some work to get me towards being able to do a front lever and a the “true” planke (with feet off of floor). Now THAT would be some gymnastic coolness!
Check out this article at Dragon Door about those exercises:
http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/229/
Pretty awesome.
Awesome stuff. The link is actually what I used but in book form to build a program for myself last night. I broke it down into two days a week with a work out consisting of one static hold movement, two bodyweight movements, and a core movement. I really like the progression method the guy lays out in the book, not sure if he goes into detail in the link.
Hopefully none of this will get it the way of my O. lifting. I flirted with a day of powerlifting and ended up burning myself out relatively quick.
He does go into the progression of the Planke and the Front Lever, but that’s it. I’m guessing he goes into far more in the book.
I’m actually thinking of cutting my upper body days to 2 days a week. I’ve been doing 3, but I think that’s starting to add up to too much, given that I’m doing no less than 4 days of O-lifting, sometimes 5.
Striking the balance is hard. But, I do notice that sticking with (mostly) bodyweight work for the upper body is helping in terms of recovery. And like I said before, it’s easier on my joints.
The two types of workouts are so different that they are largely not stepping on each others toes.
Oh, and I know what you mean about adding in Powerlifting. It’s way too close. I can heavy deadlift once in a while, but that’s about it.
Amazingly, one of my most promising lifters is a record holding Bench presser. He does 5 days a week of either bench or assistance work for it, THEN comes in and does 5 days a week of Oly lifting. He’s making amazing progress and should qualify for Junior Nationals this year.
Of course, he’s only 18 years old, and has the recovery capacity of a mule. I don’t have either of those luxuries … Oh, to be young again!
Great blog post, and great comments to follow it!! 10/10
“if you want to look (and be!) truly muscular and powerful, train your lower body like an Olympic weightlifter, and your upper body like a gymnast.”
What a fantastic quote. I’ve honestly never put the two together before. Can’t wait to try it out.
Thanks Cian,
It always seemed to me that Olympic weightlifters have at least as big a legs as most natural (non-steroided to the gills) bodybuilders, and that gymnasts had at least as big upper bodies as natural bodybuilders … but these groups were also highly functional, unlike most bodybuilders.
So, I figure, if you want to look big and buff, but you also want to be able to do stuff, combining Olympic lifting with gymnastics moves seems like a match made in heaven.
Oh, Cian,
I checked out your site, looks good. Good luck up there in BC with your business. Always good to see another coach doing well here in the North West!
The fact that you played Gaelic football is just cool … Here’s to engaging in ancient sports!
Thanks Nick!
I guess I never thought about being able to do the gymnastic style workouts with a “heavy” lower body. Inspirational videos followed by inspirational training concept.
Thanks for the kind words. I’m just after moving here from Ireland so I’m still just in the start up phase. Any chance you’d know of any top notch people, in any related field, in this neck of the woods???
If you want a cool Gaelic (Irish) sport you should also check out Hurling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmzivRetelE
Although some of my Irish counterparts might make fun of this Americanized video it does a good job showing the basic concept of the game. Although I played Gaelic football, I have to admit Hurling is a little more bad ass. Both sports are still completely unprofessional in Ireland and are played nation wide. If there is an Irish community in your area I can guarantee you’ll find a team if your interested.
How about combining Gymnastics with Olympic weightlifting with Hurling!!! Now you’ve got your self a program!!!
Just found this article… the idea of training the lower body like a weightlifter and the upper like a gymnast is an interesting one. Hope you had a good birthday Nick.
Thanks, Rob! I did. And ya, it’s an idea I keep toying around with. Basically, do high frequency for both, but keep the intensity down for the upper body (no heavy one-rep maxes).