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Hey guys, I am starting the intermediate one program, and I have been weight training for two years now. Should I choose the easiest progression that I cannot do, or the hardest progression that I can do? For instance I can do about 13 wall supported headstand pushups, 15 dips full rom, and 6 ring dips full rom, but these progressions are way ahead of pseudo-planche pushups - which I find it challenging to do 10. Thanks, Madhav

Hey Im Jon-Kenneth from Norway. Pleased to meet you all. Im totally new to bodyweight training, i always been on the heavy side and lifted alot last 2 years and gotten some nice injuries. Im planning on going away from weightlifting and commit fully to bodyweight training / Gymnastic. I have read the guides on the account page. I think i understand everything. Im starting at Intro to go back to Basics , only thing im wondering. I see i can add mobility / rehab to my Schedule. Is there some "guide" on this page saying when you should or shouldnt? I was just thinking some easy all around mobility together with Intro , segment 1 program, 1 - 2 days a week. Also doing some long slow steady bike work for easy cardio, not sure if that will have a big "effect" on the training. Thank you for tips/answers, cheers.

Hello, I am brand new to the program. I have been thinking of joining for a long time and have now taken the first step. I very much would like to begin but I have a big problem. Equipment. I have no rings, straps, or bars. I don't know where/what to get or how to install it. I am very motivated to begin but fear that because of my lack of knowledge of these pieces of equipment it will stop me dead in my tracks. I am 6'1'' 190 LB. If someone can be my guild past this barrier I am sure I will stay with the program for years. Thank you

Hello everybody, I am new here and just bought the yearly subscription. first off, I want to apologize in advance for the spelling and writing error, because English is not my first language. Here's a little background I am 30years old and always have been an active person. I started training when I was about 15 years old doing mostly push-up and chin-up in conjuction with player soccer and doing karate on and off. At 17years old I started lifting weight. At about 20 years old, I started doing Muay thai and Brazilian Jiujitsu full time while working a desk job and still weight training 3 days a week. 2 years later, I stopped practicing martial art because my shoulders always hurted and i was tired of being in pain everyday. I continued weight training on and off until this day but had always needed to stop training my pressing movement from time to time because of shoulder pain. From 25 to 28 years old I have been very serious in the obstacle course racing sport and had some podium finish until I hurt my left adductor wich still give me pain if I squeeze my legs together, squat heavy or lunges in a deep hip flexion. I have been trying to fix my shoulders pain for the past 8years by myself and tried many different physical therapists, osteopath, chiropractors and massage therapist without much success. I have been working as Security guard in a High security psychiatric hospital for the last 8 year and need to stay strong and fit for my job. I am 5 feet 8 inches tall and weigh 165 pounds. My ''high'' level sport objectives are behind me. My main objective would be to cure my pain and be able to practice whatever physical activities I want to. I did a couple of the fundamental video and did the ''restore shoulder''. I think my focus should be about fixing my poor shoulder mobility, but I dont see how 2 or 3 exercise for the shoulders, practiced only 1 or 2 times each week is barely enough to add significant gains in shoulder mobility. Even with the added ''restore shoulder'', how can exercises holded for 5 or 10sec be sufficient to improve. Am I missing something. I would like to know ''classes'' recommandations and/or programming advice. Any input, tips, and experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Pascal

Hi there! This is my first post although I joined in the beginning of the year from fundamentals, foundation, stretching series, handstand 1, etc and built from there. I did this for 3-4 months but for one reason or another I gave up because...I dont know, perhaps impatience. I just went back to weights and then gave up after that. Now haven't been doing much anything since summer. Just I don't know really. Life got the best of me and I lost motivation. Thinking about upgrading so I have all of the programs. I figured maybe the invesment will help motivate me to really committ. Long term! I think I also got a little overwhelmed last time. I found the stretch series to be far too advanced for me. So this time i'm thinking of taking that lighter (maybe doing half the workout or half the time and reps). Or maybe just replacing them with movement course or just more mobility. I'd also like to combine it with weights somehow maybe a few times a week. I do want to put on muscle. Would appreciate if you have any suggestions so I get my head and body back in the game. Maybe you can point me in the right direction with resources, forum posts, books, videos. Anything that can help me figure this out. I think my weakness is the mental aspects of training. Stop hoping for short term results and commit to this properly. I just want starting training again. November 1st is when I begin. Anyways, good to get my first post out there. It only took me 10 months! Maybe this will also help keep me on track. To connect with likeminded people and contribute to the community. So yeah. I'm Markus, 34, from Finland, musician. I'm here to train and kick ass and be a positive force! Huge respect and love for y'all

Hi all, I am intending to start doing gymnastics in the near future, ideally towards the end of this year. I have recently begun doing calisthenics and trampolining (emphasis on the word "recent"; I have actually only attended trampoling once), and wonder if you think this combination will enable me to develop the necessary muscular strength and flexibility to start gymnastics with a lower risk of injury and a faster rate of advancement. My intention for doing gymnastics is to develop muscular size, strength, flexibility, endurance, and maximise overall physical health. I have a weight target and some strength targets. I currently weigh about 10 stone 11 pounds, and am an 18 year old male of perhaps 6 feet in height, with fairly big bones (wrists, elbows, knees etc.); aside from the bone weight, most of this weight is lean muscle. Evaluation of this body: my calves are strong, but my thighs are relatively weak (something I imagine will need to be altered for gymnastics performance); my upper body is relatively weak (I cannot perform a single unassisted pullup yet, though I am close; I cannot perform a planche, though I am able to balance all of my weight upon my hands with them placed on the floor behind my back; I can perform bodyweight dips, also). My ideal weight target is 13 stone; or else, 12 stone - whichever weight is the best for the balance of qualities described (I myself am not concerned with aesthetics, though since I am sure my future partner is, it is of course relevant! If you have even seen "American Psycho" with Christian Bale, or Brad Pitt in "Fight Club", this is the sort of size range I would be aiming for...). That sums up the weight targets; as for strength targets, I would like to be able to perform unassisted flips (e.g. backflips), handstand pushups, one legged jumps (leaping to a significant height) etc. Any advice you can offer to me, whether general, or specifically aimed at the targets I have expressed, would be appreciated. Thanks, Chanti.

Should i keep the natural curve of my spine on this exercise? I have understood this that i should press my lower back to floor completely, and after i while i start to shake visibly. I can still hold the position, i can breathe and talk. My core just shakes uncontrollably.

Hi, I'm a newbie and I've just done Fundamentals. I want to progress to the foundation course, but am worried about the time commitment and potential cost/difficulty of buying and using kit. i don't mind putting time into a workout, but I need to fit it around work and family and so far 30-40mins has been my max. The FAQ says there are some 60 min sessions. Are there many? Could I feasibly put these at weekends? Also we have a small house with little outside space. Will I need to get a rope and or rings? Will this mean a 5 minute jog to the park first to hang kit from a tree (sometimes in rain/snow/the dark). Im really keen to keep going (fundamentals is really only a basic intro and I want to see improvements), but I need to know if there is going to be a huge commitment needed. cheers matt

New to GST but been active my whole life (crossfit, yoga, running and swimming). I love the concept of this program. I've started out with foundation course and will probably add handstand soon. My question is, I am starting with the step 1 of each exercise and am wondering if I need to progress this slowly to build joint health or if I am able to do a lot of the step 1 exercises at mastery level already if I can do that now to get a more challenging workout? The deck squats and the hinge rows are the only two exercises that I can't do to mastery yet. My ankle mobility is tight because of a few marathons I've run and the hinge rows are mostly awkward, I've only done regular ring rows before. If anyone knows of any other good ways to get mobility back in my ankles please share. Can I move to higher steps in the movements I have mastered or do all of them need to be mastered before moving on? Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.

Hi guys. Working on my front uprise!...help and tips on how I can master this!!?? Video is my progress so far. this HTML class. Value is http://youtu.be/aQ2qUCdljpo

Well, hello there! My name is Simone, I am 20 yo and I come from Milan, Italy. This is my first time writing in this forum but I am definitely planning on actively joining the community and learn a lot from it! I was a former martial artist practitioner (Shaolin Wushu) and I have been practicing artistic gymnastics for 5 months right now. When I left Wushu, which was a difficult decision, I followed a certain desired that was deep inside my mind and I decided to try gymnastics. As my new journey started, I knew all the difficulties that an adult practitioner has to overcome (funny how 20 yo is basically an old one for gymnastics! ). But I also think that there's nothing like hard but smart work , followed by perseverance and patience. So I am slowly getting to beginners skills and drills on the gymnastic apparatus (h bar, p bars, vault, floor etc). There it goes my decision to take the handstand challenge (H1) ! In this months I learned a lot about this exercise, listening to everyone's advice in the gym but I am willing to upgrade my knowledge and execution about it. I have a great hip mobility due to my past years but I lack of upper body strenght and mobilty. This is probably the reason why I can hold a good handstand on the floor for just a few seconds, followed by the slow drop to a somersault. I am saying "good" because my coaches often tell me that I have a great line (ALWAYS followed by the most heartbreaking sentence: you should have started 15 years ago ) I am looking forward on slowly gaining the necessary strenght and mobility to perform it, respecting all the right execution canons. SO, I wanna thank you if you read the whole post!

Hello there, I've got 3 questions about gymnastics. My training split looks like this: Gymnastics: Monday, Thursday and Saturday Stretching: Wednesday and Sunday Cardio: Tuesday Leg conditioning: Friday Should I stretch 2x 2 hours a week (Like above) OR stretch 15-30 min and then do my gymnastics training? If I want to focus on gymnastics, should I stop with the Cardio and leg conditioning? I mostly do cardio for my health and legs to balance my body out. And last of all: What are the basic skills I should master that will improve my performance on all 6 apparatus? My list right now is: Planche - Handstand - Iron cross - Front lever. I would appreciate the help. Sincerely, Sebastiaan

Hello Everyone. I decided to purchase Foundation 1 after a few months of following the GB Facebook page and stumbling upon some podcasts and YouTube interviews this week with Coach Sommer. I literally just purchased it today and will be doing the PE1 Initial Assessment on Saturday. Will start the Foundation workouts on Monday. Anyways I have some confusion trying to figure out if I'm making the right selection of programs. I did see that Coach Sommer posted about the curriculum but I didn't see anything about the "Stretch" program in there specifically. I want to make sure I succeed in this and have the right selection of programs from the get-go. Does Stretch integrate with other programs or should it be taken as an independent program?

Hi guys I assume this may have been asked before but I couldn't see anything. Is it possible to do the Foundation from home? The reason that I ask is because lately I've been struggling to get to the gym. I live in a small flat so couldn't load up on equipment. It's be great to hear from anybody who has worked out from home. Thanks!

I would love to try Gymnastics Bodies. I'll buy Foundation One and Handstand One if it makes sense. My issue is that I'm impossibly inflexible and always have been. As a kid in Kindergarten I couldn't sit cross-legged. As a ten-year-old with baseball dreams I tried for months to learn to squat like a catcher (proper squat with heels on ground) and never got anywhere. As an adult I religiously did yoga for a couple of years and improved precisely zero. I've had two different personal trainers over the years tell me that the only clients they had who were less flexible had metal parts in them! If this program requires people in the second percentile of flexibility or better to achieve results, well, I'm in the first percentile. I feel like a dyslexic entering a speed-reading program. Yet, I know that for me it's probably more important than for everybody else to maintain and improve my mobility and strength, to the limited extent possible, so that I'm not stooped over at age 80. But I'm already 53 and I'm not stooped, though I not surprisingly also have some lower back degeneration -- not a ton but I'm not on a good course the way I"m going. SO, anybody have any experience with this or any thoughts of whether this program is either perfect for me or just out of my league?

Hello there guys I'm from Philippines, so I'm sorry if some of my grammar is wrong. Ok, so I'm new here... in this kind of field. I'm really interested in gymnastics since this last two months and I really want to learn it. It amazed me to see people how physically fit they are and it inspires me a lot. I'm 16 yrs old and quite chubby I weigh 57kgs. I'm not that flexible enough and I can't do handstand(I feel that my shoulders are poor ), and I'm now training myself to do the splits and push-ups. I'm asking for your advices guys to help me reach my goal to have strength, balance and flexibility. I want to know what is your diet, how/what do you exercise and how many times in a week, and how long is the progress. I'll be very glad with your advices for sure. Thanks a lot guys.

Hey guys, I am a complete beginner here and was wondering if it would be ok/beneficial to do the mobility exercises (all of them from Foundations) on a daily basis? This would be regardless as to what movement I was training but as a pre workout...thoughts?

Hey Guys! I'm Eric, I just wanted to say Hi. I found this forum after hearing Coach Sommer speak on Barbell Shrugged. I have always been a proponent of gymnastics (would have killed to be a gymnast when I was a kid), and bodyweight strength. However, until recently I never realized the importance of mobility. I started following KSTARR and MobilityWOD which has helped me be pain free and move so much better, which has led me to pursue "gymnastic" movements. I've always been a strong lifter, but I want to improve my body weight skills. I also do a lot of weightlifting, as well as powerlifting and a little crossfit thrown in. My warmups often include Handstands (against the wall), handstand pushups, l sit holds, and a few other "gymnastic" movements. I would love to be able to do a strict muscle up, or 20 and I am actively training for it. (chest to bar pullups, rope climbing and a ton of rowing). I am a bigger individual, 6'3 and 225 pounds at roughly 10% bodyfat. Am I at a disadvantage being as "big" as I am? Am I ever going to be capable of multiple strict muscle ups? I'd love to be able to do more, including handstand walking, and eventually an iron cross, as well as a ring muscle up to handstand pushup, is that realistic?

hello guys, I really hope you can help me here, as I am a bit impatient and desperate. I am a 21 year old girl, I am 162cm and weigh 110lbs. I always had a passion for tumbling, when I was young I thought you would need ages to learn a backhandspring and just very few adult people can do it. During puberty I discovered gymnastics and tumbling as a sport, I never heard of it before as we used to live in a farm and all I did was playing outdoors. But I was too shy to ask someone if he knew a gym or tumbling class and as me and some of my friends were homeschooled, there was no oppurtunity to learn it, so I stretched for myself and watched tutorials on youtube. Last year I started studying and moved to a city. I joined a recreative tumbling class as well as an acrobatic class and the teacher didn't believe me I have never done anything like this before! I lean fast and I am quiet strog for a beginner, maybe because I love it so much! I am working out since 7 months! Here are my current skills: Oversplits of 10cm very good back and shoulder flexibility (I can put my head through my legs) 4 pull-ups 35 good form push-ups 5 hanging leg raises 20 sec straddle lever support on floor 7 sec L-sit on floor press handstand against wall or with a little tiny jump walkovers cartwheel one-handed cartwheel roundoff I know that sound like nothing, but it is so much fun to me, I could tumble and do stretching and conditioning all day round! Now my question: As I am a student and don't work, I could spend 4 hours of training a day, 2 in the gym (that's all the offer) and stretching and conditioning at home. The thought of could have been starting at an earlier age and could have been a lot better then, makes me so sad and angry! But this is my passion and I don't want to give up, I won't make it to the olympics but that's not what I want. I just want to get good for myself, to have fun in the gym and be able to do some impressive skills. I have set myself some goals and now want to ask you, if it is possible to achieve that at my age and if so, how long it would take to achieve it (I know you can't tell - just approx!) Strength: 10 pull-ups 20 hanging leg raises (will these two exercises enable me to climb a 15 ft. rope in L-position?) straddle to press handstand on floor V-sit on floor Skills: Tic-Toc Hold a normal handstand as well as in a split position front/back handsprings front/back tuck round off - back handspring - back tuck front/back handspring stepout back handspring layout' maybe a twist side aerial front aerial I don't want to do bars, beam or vault btw, I am just in tumbling, although I have some of the skills. Do you think my dream is possible? And if so, in what amount of time will I get it? I know you can't tell, but i will work really hard! I would do anything to get to this. Would you recommend one of the Foundation's? Does one of them cover my goals? I hope you can help me!

Hi everyone, I'm 19, a student and joined the site in Jan 2013 looking for gymnastic stuff to help with Crossfit (good old crossfit huh?) but ended up never posting or really visiting. Anyway after stopping crossfit I've been looking for a new way of training and came back onto the site where I found the new Foundation series which I'm thinking of buying, but before I do I have a few questions hopefully that can be answered first.. 1. I had an ACL surgery last year and while I'm fully rehabbed and back into full sports (soccer) I'm wondering will the leg work in the program strengthen my muscles, ligaments and tendons in my legs to reduce the chances of injury again? And will there be enough legwork for this? 2. Will the programme have carryover and benefits to my sport itself? As I said I play football (Soccer to you) and so would hope any training will help me in the sport. 3. I know the course has a lot of mobility work, I'm just wondering if ankle mobility is included? I ask because I know I have poor ankle mobility which had been a problem previously with squat depth, and I know while there's leg work that the majority of the programme will be upper body focused? 4. Lastly, and a bit ashamedly, will the programme have a big effect on my physique? and is there general timeframes? I know it shouldn't matter, form follows function, a good body is a product of a good lifestyle and that but as a college student with a social life too looking good does come into it a bit... I know nutrition is probably the biggest factor in body fat but what kind of effect will the programme have on my muscles and body, especially being a 'foundation' programme? Cheers for any help/replies

Hello Im going to write down the program i maked. And im curiouhs what people think about that? Any tips etc. All the critque will be helpful. I dont know what to do if I should do the Foundation series. I see people that get AMAZING resutls but do they just really only follow the Foundation series or they do more traning ? Warm up: 1.General warm up 2.Wrist streches + wrist excercises from coach sommer 3.Scapula routine by ido portal 4.Shoulder band warm up by Gregor a gymnastic bodies member that he took from Jordan Jortchev 5. FSP L-sit(low) Planche lean German hang Wall hs Straddle l sit (bent legs) I do FSP 4 times a week. When im mastered all these moves 3*30 i going to start on F. lever, B.lever and planche work Session 1 1.HSPU negatives 5 second 5*2 A1.Row XR bulgarian 5*5 supersett with A2.Push ups XR 5*5 In the end of the session i always do one rehab/prehab exccercise for shoulder like cuban rotation og band pull Light streching 15-20 minutes Session 2. 1.strict MU on rings 5*2 A1. False grip L-tuck(working toward L-sit) Pull ups 5*3 A2.Dips rings 5*3 I throw in som rope climbing in the end if feeling good Light streching 15-20 minutes Session 3 General upwarming Squat routine by Ido portal 1.Pistol squat 3*14 rep A1.Shrimp squat 5*3-5 rep supersett A2.Leg raises 90 degree A1.GHR 5*3-5 supersett with A2.Straddle L-sit lift 5*10 Streching legs 30 minutes I do session 1 and 2. 2 times a week and legs 1 time. I have one day a week i do Just the warm up. Little more flexibilty work and light streching the whole body. What do you people think about the program?

Hello to everybody! I am 16 years old, and I am really eager to start wtih this type of workout. I have Building the Gymnastic Body book. but still have some questions unanswered. Considering that I have access to minimal equipment (dip station and pull up bar), I need a routine to start with. I am pretty much a beginner, and this are my current stats: Push ups in a row: 28 Wide pull ups(about 130% of shoulder width): 7 Narrow chin ups: 9 Dips: 4 Squats: 45-50 Situps: cca. 40 I am 202 cm tall, and just 84 kg.. If someone can give me a routine template that I can start with, I would be grateful.

Hello GB community, I am brand new here and have always been interested in strength training. After reading many of the forum posts about F1, H1, and BtGB and hearing about the results that accompany the training/workouts, I decided I am definitely going to begin here. I have decent strength and a weight lifting background. That being said, I have no experience at all with gymnastics or any of the movements involved (I'm sure no flexibility either) and was wondering which of the three guides (F1, H1, or BtGB) I should begin with. Also, what equipment is essential to progressing in the program? Any advice on the matter is welcome and greatly appreciated as well as any other general tips. Thanks!

Hi all, Really appreciating this amazing forum. I started using rings a few days ago. Coming into my first training session, I presumed a 60s-70s support on dip bars meant I could support on rings for at least a few seconds. After 3 x 20 min sessions, I think my best has been a half-second before I shake out. Just checking this is pretty normal? Are there some good work-ups to a stable support? In the meantime, I have rings between hips and knees, and practicing support with knees bent and toes dragging lightly on ground behind me. The legs take off just enough weight and instability for me to hold for a few seconds, so my rotators have some resistance. I’m gradually putting less and less force through the ground. I’m also trying to understand the mechanics of why - on a stable surface - I can still hold a support “rings out†(fingers pointing behind me) easily? Is it because on a stable surface I can just push force out-and-down diagonally – while on rings, I can only push down, so instead the arms have to produce torque to hold the shoulders rotated externally? Loving the new experience. The contraction I’m feeling in bicep, forearm flexors and esp elbow tendons just supporting half my bodyweight is more intense than anything done in a few years of free weight training. Really exciting.

Hi to all of the athletic community ! As a beginner I am trying to design my training schedule. I woul like to design an Integrated training with a Steady state training cycle. I have trouble to associate some things I read in the book. _______________________________________________________________________________________ "Training day 1 could be a curl variation, day 2 could be a row variation, day 3 could be a pull-up variation, training day 4 could be a MPPu variation and training day 5would begin the rotation again back at curl variations" "For upper-body work, focus on CPPs, or pair a curl with a dip, a HSPU with apull-up and a pushup with a row or a MPPu with a MPPr; although anyvariation of p u l l / p r e s s would be acceptable.Leg work should be alternated with a core exercise." 1/ Pair a curl with a dip... I am not sure of what it means: Do I have to do 3 dips followed by 3 curls, take 3 min rest and do it again 3 times ? (and it will be done for Day1) Do I have to do 3x3 dips (with rest between sets) and then 3x3 curls ? _______________________________________________________________________________________ 2/ Integrated training: "To perform integrated training, take your basic strength workout that youhave designed and pair it with either your simple hold static work or theappropriate embedded static work. The static strength work will be done immediately preceding the basic strength work. A short rest of 30-60 seconds between the static work and the basic strength work is fine." "For example Embedded back lever work will be paired with each day's pulling variations.Embedded planche work will be paired with the pressing variations.Front lever work will be paired with the leg variations.L-sit/Straddle L / o r Manna work will be paired with the core variations." This is where I totally get lost... Do I have to do an embedded back lever, take a 30 sec break, do 3 dips, then 3 curls and repeat the whole thing 3 times after a 3 minutes break ? Do I only have to do back lever with pulling variation on day 1 (it is an example) ? I absolutely don't know how to associate the Basic strenght training with the Static hold... I want to thank the people who will take the time to read and answer this article. I tried to be as accurate as possible. My deepest apologies for my poor english understanding.