Leg Strength

[Samar Singh]

Hi,

Just wondering if gymnasts have as wonderful legs as they have upper body? If not, how to gain muscle mass and extraordinary strength in legs (by body weight exercises only)  while continuing to follow Gymnastics as Coach teach.

[Alessandro Mainente]

Bigger legs are a bit counter productive for a gymnast , they need to limit the lower limbs mass.

SImply you should work in the appropriate range of repetition and cycle the sets/reps schema depending on your goal through different phases on a year schedule.

It is not so easy to be explained with a couple of words.

[Toni Laukkavaara]

every muscle can be too big for a gymnast and hinder their performance, but there are apparatuses which require very high amounts of leg strength!

[Zachary Mitchell]

On 6/16/2016 at 9:11 AM, Alessandro Mainente said:

Bigger legs are a bit counter productive for a gymnast , they need to limit the lower limbs mass.

SImply you should work in the appropriate range of repetition and cycle the sets/reps schema depending on your goal through different phases on a year schedule.

It is not so easy to be explained with a couple of words.

 

So big legs run in my family, my dad a huge lower body and was completely nonathletic, and my legs are even bigger from my previous training

Will this provide extra difficulty executing more advanced gymnastic movements? Or can i simply build up more upper body strength to compensate.

[Alessandro Mainente]

You answered yourself my friend, you need to compensate with more strength in the upper  BUT remember that the legs are very important, they are the only one thing that will support your body for your entire life. so many guys forgive to train them in the calisthenics world, I think this is the worst thing to do.

[Luke Searra]

I would definitely second Alessandro's opinion here Zachary, definitely do not neglect your legs while trying to shift strength balance toward your torso. Don't forget the SLS (single leg squat) series in Foundations is a pretty cutting edge and non-conventional leg trainng tool.