Had the pleasure of teaching the first gymnastic-focused class at CrossFit Milpitas yesterday. The turn out was big, which I was expecting for the first class. It was pretty awesome to see everyone so interested in improving their bodyweight strength and kinesthetic awareness through gymnastics.
I’ve always been an advocate of regularly working in bodyweight movements on top of your strength conditioning because it not only carryovers to weightlifting movements, but it increases stability and power output in the joints, especially your shoulders and midsection. Here’s an example of one of the most elite team of weightlifters utilizing gymnastics in their regular training:
Chinese National Weightlifting Team training
If you’ve seen Liu Xiaojun’s world record performance at the 2012 Olympics, then you know how impressive these guys are. Personally, I’m always working lever holds/releases, handstands, L-sits, weighted pull-ups, and weighted dips as much as I can throughout the year. Before I came into weightlifting, I spent a lot of time trying to master basic bodyweight movements and it helped me a great deal throughout the years I’ve been weightlifting. I began with very stable and strong shoulders as a result.
My personal records:
- Weighted dips: 180lbs
- Weighted ring dips: 138lbs
- Weighted pull-ups: 145lbs
Strength development for bodyweight movements can also be very tough. It takes time and a lot of effort. I always stress the importance of eccentric loading in the beginning for people who are already adapted to some kind of training. Then some more isometrics and weighted exercises. Hopefully I’m able to get the class to adopt this simple philosophy rather than using bands. It gets you nowhere! Or if it does, it’s a looooooong process. More on this later.
Anchored Body 