4 Simple Gymnastics Drills For Strength And Mobility

Gymnastics strength training provides countless benefits to those willing to commit to the process. By focusing on bodyweight progressions, athletes have the opportunity to increase relative strength, strength endurance, mobility, proprioception, kinesthetics awareness, and more. 

Additionally, the intense full-body muscle contractions and significant time spent under tension lead to great gains in hypertrophy, lean muscle mass, and fat loss.

The Road to Gymnastic Success

The greatest benefit from gymnastics strength training is not directly related to either ability or physique, but rather to your mindset and approach. In the fitness industry, just as in life, it is all too common to encounter people who want instant gratification and immediate results.

“Stretching, high reps, and joint prehab. There’s no time for that,” they think. They just want to hold a handstand, climb a rope, or learn a back flip. The big problem, though, is that these people often end up injured, plateaued, or both.

Successful trainees are those who take gradual, consistent steps on the path towards long-term growth by prioritizing quality and mastery. Coach Sommer, the founder of Gymnastic Bodies, likes to compare this shift in mindset to the difference in maturity between a child and an adult.

"Successful trainees are those who take gradual, consistent steps on the path towards long-term growth by prioritizing quality and mastery."

A child wants things right away, and if a task takes hard work, discipline, or commitment, the child is likely to give up and shift attention to something new. As a person matures into an adult, they are more likely to realize the potential benefits of focusing on one task for longer periods of time, even if it does require significant amounts of energy.

Four Basic Gymnastic Strength Training Tests

Here are four basic gymnastics strength-training tests to get you started toward long-term growth. 

For many of us, modern lifestyle and one-sided training have stolen our ability to complete these relatively simple bodyweight tasks, so do not be surprised if these end up being a bit more challenging than you first presume.

1* Hollow Body Hold

The hollow body hold is a foundational position in all of gymnastics, and as such it is one of the first positions you should master. Begin by lying down on your back, with your legs outstretched and together. Completely straighten your legs by flexing your knees, and ensure proper form by pointing your toes as far away from your body as possible. Also reach your arms overhead, completely straightening your elbows and looking up towards the ceiling.

From this outstretched position, engage your entire anterior core by lifting your arms and legs off the floor. You should focus on pressing your lower back into the ground while squeezing your entire abdominal wall. Be sure that your shoulders are slightly lifted and your ribs are tucked in rather than protruding from your chest. Ideally your body shape should be smooth and round, almost like a banana.

Hold this hollow body position for a full sixty seconds. To ensure there is no cheating, use a timer, metronome, or stopwatch to count your minute. If you cannot hold the position with integrity for the full time, then you might need to start with a scaled version such as tucking your legs in towards your chest or bringing your arms down by your side.

2* Arch Body Hold

This is the complete opposite position as the hollow body. Where the hollow body works the entire anterior core, the arch body position will expose any weakness along your posterior chain. Additionally, many people are chronically tight in the front of their bodies, and the arch body hold will open up tight areas such as your chest and hip flexors.

"This should serve as a wake-up call for you to strengthen your posterior chain and stretch your chest and hip flexors."

To start, lie facedown on your belly with your arms outstretched overhead and your legs straight and together. As you can imagine, the goal here is to completely arch your entire body as much as possible, so lift both your upper and lower body as high as you can towards the ceiling. Focus on engaging your glutes and mid-back so you are not exclusively arching from your lower back.

If you are like most people who try to hold an arch body position for sixty seconds, you will begin to tremble, shake, curse, and drop to the floor before the minute has expired. This should serve as a wake-up call for you to strengthen your posterior chain and stretch your chest and hip flexors.

If necessary, break down the arch body position in a similar fashion to the hollow body hold by bringing your arms down to your side, bending your knees, or both.

3* Bent-Arm Chin Hang

So now that we have thoroughly tested (and trashed) your core strength, we move on to the bent-arm chin hang. The key phrase here is time under tension, as you will attempt to hold your chin over a bar for, you guessed it, sixty full seconds. Grip the bar with a supinated, underhand grip, and pull yourself as high above the bar as you can. Keep your legs together, make sure your body is not swaying excessively, and hold on tight.

"The key here is that training your strength endurance at slightly lower intensities builds more than just muscle."

If you cannot yet do a chin up, then this bent-arm chin hang might help you get there due to the amount of time you will spend holding on above the bar. If you cannot hold this position for any significant period of time, then you might need to start on an incline by holding onto a set of rings set approximately to shoulder height.

If you can already do strict chin ups, then you may be wondering why bother just holding the top position for time? The key here is that training your strength endurance at slightly lower intensities builds more than just muscle. Your connective tissue needs longer to adapt, and as such you should spend time mastering the bent-arm chin hang before moving on to more advanced (and potentially injury-inducing) pulling movements such as muscle ups and rope climbs.

4* Standing Pike Stretch 

Finally, you get to relax and stretch. The standing pike stretch will assess flexion through the hips and spine, and those of you with tight hamstrings might struggle a bit here. Stand up tall with your legs completely straight and knees locked out, and completely fold over forward, placing your hands on the ground as fully as possible. Your goal is to reach your hands behind your feet to the point where you can press your bodyweight up onto your toes.

"The standing pike stretch will assess flexion through the hips and spine, and those of you with tight hamstrings might struggle a bit here."

If this position is unattainable for you right now, then try doing a partner seated pike stretch. Sit up tall with your legs outstretched in front of you, knees totally straight, and have your partner gently push forward on the middle of your back. Inhale and exhale with your partner’s pushes, and reach your hands towards your feet, all while pressing the backs of your knees into the floor.

Conclusion 

In any endeavor in life, you get out exactly what you put in. Impatient, shortsighted efforts will yield incomplete and poor-quality results, if not long-term injuries. On the other hand, a consistent work ethic, when paired with world-class programming and coaching knowledge, will allow trainees to continue to experience progress for months and years on end.

Chris Garay

https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/4-simple-gymnastics-drills-for-strength-and-mobility

THE TRUTH - STEROIDS VS NATTY TRAINING - Rich Piana Explains Experience

This is always a controversial subject, Natural Vs Steroids and supplement use. Some great advice on training both on and off steroids, What are your opinions are steroids a good or a bad thing? Leave a comment below.

The Science of Developing Punching Power

There are many legends in the sport of boxing

The ones who get the most attention are usually the big hitters: Tyson, Foreman, Marciano, Hearns, Durán, and most recently Golovkin. Some sports writers and coaches would say that devastating punching power is a gift. Yes, talent does prevail, but the fact is that punching power can be developed, much more than you might believe.

Surprisingly few boxing coaches and trainers know the most effective ways to develop this power beyond hitting a heavy bag. Lifting weights is an obvious solution, but often the strength developed from heavy bench pressing doesn’t translate into knockout power.

1 – One reason for disappointing results with strength training to improve punching power is a lack of understanding of the concept of sport specificity. Using bands in simulated punching movements is a terrible idea, invented/promoted by people who have no clue on how to train. 

Bands provide the most tension at the end of a movement, and as such they will affect coordination patterns. More precisely, the bands decelerate the arms towards the end of a movement rather than the biceps; when the fighter goes back to trying to punch without the bands, often they decelerate too late or too early. Decelerating too late cause harmful hyperextension of the elbow, and decelerating too early reduces punching power, and give the opportunity to the opponent to serve you a McGregor special.

2 – Another type of sport specific issue is shadow boxing with 1-to- 2-kilo dumbbells. Yes, I realize Mayweather does this, but my opinion is he has become a champion despite using these weights rather than because of it. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people who will back up this statement. Let me explain.

In the 1970s, walking and running with dumbbells was a fitness fad. Due to a physics principle commonly referred to as Newton’s Second Law of Motion, the dumbbells increase the momentum of the arms and therefore force the joints beyond their range of motion. The fad faded away as people discovered that the ballistic exercise caused overuse injuries in their shoulders and elbows. So this exercise makes no sense for a boxer; using dumbbells in this manner increases the stress on the upper body (and on the lumbar spine as well, from the excessive torque such training causes) and adversely affects the fine-movement patterns of a boxer’s punches.

3 – What about spending extra time on the heavy bag to develop “Hands of Stone” like Durán? Yes the heavy bag does improve punching power, but it has to be used intelligently. First, a fighter shouldn’t use the heavy bag every day, as it places extremely high levels of stress on the shoulders. Here is scientific support from a review of research studies on boxing injuries published in the sports medicine textbook Epidemiology of Sports Injuries (Human Kinetics, 1996): “The second most common site of upper extremity injuries [the first being the hand and wrist] involves the shoulders. As expected, the repetitive and forceful delivery of punches is responsible for the relatively high frequency of extremity injury.”

4 – I prefer to focus on heavy bag training in the early stages of training, in what strength coaches would refer to as the preparatory phase. As a fighter’s competition approaches, I prefer that they focus more on double-end bags (which are attached to both the ceiling and the floor with tight coils). This type of bag snaps back rapidly when punched, simulating the action of an opponent and thus enabling the fighter to practice counterstriking and defensive movement skills. It also has less impact on the shoulder. In contrast, standing bags – although convenient because they don’t take up much space and can be moved – are generally heavy and stiff and convey too much impact to the shoulder. I must also mention that the week before the fight I like to stop all heavy bag work so that the athlete is fresh for the fight.

5 – Another mistaken practice is trying to develop punching power by training like a bodybuilder. Bodybuilders often perform their exercises with 12-15 reps, which not only gives them a “pump” in their muscles but also prolongs the time the muscles are under tension, which is critical to muscle growth. Research shows, however, that this increase in muscle bulk does not transfer well to boxing.

Support for this phenomenon can be found in a study by Dr. Andrew Fry published in Sports Medicine in August 2004, which looked at the muscle fiber types of bodybuilders, powerlifters, and Olympic-style weightlifters. Powerlifters in the study performed the bench press, squat, and deadlift in competition; weightlifters performed the snatch and clean and jerk. Dr. Fry found that the predominant muscle fiber type in bodybuilders is the slower and weaker Type 1, whereas the more powerful Type II fibers are predominant in the powerlifters and weightlifters. How do weightlifters and powerlifters train? Heavy weights and lower reps – in fact, weightlifters (the group that had the highest percentage of fast-twitch fibers) seldom performed more than three reps per set!

6 – In terms of what types of weight training exercises a boxer should perform…

… I believe squats are a great exercise, but full squats tend to add too much bodyweight and could move a boxer up a weight class. So what types of leg exercises are best for a boxer?

7 – For training the legs, I prefer to do split squats and lunges, as they better recreate the movement patterns that are used in a fight. I also like Romanian rhythm squats to develop explosiveness. With this exercise you alternate between 10 reps of the regular quarter squat and 10 reps in a quarter squat where you come up on the balls of your feet – you continue in this manner until you have performed a total of 50 reps.

8 – As for Olympic lifting movements, power cleans and jerks are great exercises for developing the muscle fibers used in boxing.However, these exercises are complex and should be taught by someone experienced in coaching these lifts; when beginners learn these exercises incorrectly, it is difficult to correct these errors as they get older.

9 – Although bands are not a good idea to use for simulating punching, they can be used with good results in many weight training exercises for boxers; likewise chains. For example, one of the best upper body exercises to increase punching power is the incline bench press. I would use chains on this exercise in the preparatory phase, and then switch to bands as a competition neared because their effect on the barbell in increasing eccentric (lowering) load is more sport specific to boxing.

10 – I would also combine incline presses with medicine ball work, a training method called contrast training, which is based upon the neurological phenomenon called post-tetanic facilitation (PTF). PTF refers to the training concept that a more powerful muscular contraction can be achieved if that contraction is preceded by a strong muscular contraction. For example, a boxer might perform a heavy set of three reps in the incline bench press with bands, followed immediately by about a dozen medicine ball chest passes. I find that although medicine ball training is overrated as a single training method, it becomes much more effective when preceded by heavy weight training exercises. I learned this from Charles R. Poliquin back in 2002 and applied it with excellent results since then.

11 – Another valuable exercise for boxers is the chin-up. Just as it’s important to train the primary muscle groups used in punching, such as by performing incline presses and dips to strengthen the pectorals, anterior deltoids, and triceps, it’s equally important to train the opposing (antagonist) muscles. I do several variations of chin-ups, but the key is to make the exercise progressively more difficult by performing them with additional resistance. Take, for example, Yuriorkis Gamboa, the 2004 flyweight Olympic champion and WBA super featherweight champion, with a professional record of 23-1 that included 16 knockouts. I got his upper body strength to the level where he was able to perform chin-ups with 55 kilos (121 pounds) attached to his waist!

12 –  It’s best to outfit your gym with thick-grip barbells and dumbbells rather than conventional weight training equipment. You can’t punch hard with injured wrists and hands, and working with thick-grip equipment is one of the best ways to strengthen these areas.

13 – Finally, it’s important for fighters to avoid long duration steady state aerobic work because this type of training will cause fast-twitch muscle fibers to behave like slow-twitch fibers. Energy system training is important, but the type of endurance a fighter needs is best developed with interval training, not steady-state aerobics.

A powerful punch is essential in boxing. By using the ideas in this article you will ensure that your training programs help fighters achieve the highest levels of physical superiority in the ring.

By : Strength Sensei - Coach Poliquin's  

http://www.strengthsensei.com/the-science-of-developing-punching-power/

Naudi Aguilar -- This is not CROSSFIT this is FUNCTIONAL PATTERNS

So cool to watch a fellow martial arts practitioner utilising functional body movement training. Using this system in his workouts, to rise above the rest in the competitive arena of the octagon. If all fighters trained is this dynamic way how different do you think the arena would be? 

Naudi Aguilar's philosophy is against Crossfit and in general traditional training systems, saying they do not function with natural patterns that the human bodies are design to do. Do you agree with him ?

Pumping iron: Lighter weights just as effective as heavier weights to gain muscle, build strength

New research from McMaster University is challenging traditional workout wisdom, suggesting that lifting lighter weights many times is as efficient as lifting heavy weights for fewer repetitions

It is the latest in a series of studies that started in 2010, contradicting the decades-old message that the best way to build muscle is to lift heavy weights.

"Fatigue is the great equalizer here," says Stuart Phillips, senior author on the study and professor in the Department of Kinesiology. "Lift to the point of exhaustion and it doesn't matter whether the weights are heavy or light."

Researchers recruited two groups of men for the study -- all of them experienced weight lifters -- who followed a 12-week, whole-body protocol. One group lifted lighter weights (up to 50 per cent of maximum strength) for sets ranging from 20 to 25 repetitions. The other group lifted heavier weights (up to 90 per cent of maximum strength) for eight to 12 repetitions. Both groups lifted to the point of failure.

Researchers analyzed muscle and blood samples and found gains in muscle mass and muscle fibre size, a key measure of strength, were virtually identical.

"At the point of fatigue, both groups would have been trying to maximally activate their muscle fibres to generate force," says Phillips, who conducted the work with graduate students and co-authors Rob Morton and Sara Oikawa.

While researchers stress that elite athletes are unlikely to adopt this training regime, it is an effective way to get stronger, put on muscle and generally improve health.

"For the 'mere mortal' who wants to get stronger, we've shown that you can take a break from lifting heavy weights and not compromise any gains," says Phillips. "It's also a new choice which could appeal to the masses and get people to take up something they should be doing for their health."

Another key finding was that none of the strength or muscle growth were related to testosterone or growth hormone, which many believe are responsible for such gains.

"It's a complete falsehood that the short-lived rise in testosterone or growth hormone is a driver of muscle growth," says Morton. "It's just time to end that kind of thinking."

Researchers suggest, however, that more work remains to be done in this area, including what underlying mechanisms are at work and in what populations does this sort of program work.

The findings are published online in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by McMaster University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Robert W. Morton, Sara Y. Oikawa, Christopher G. Wavell, Nicole Mazara, Chris McGlory, Joe Quadrilatero, Brittany L. Baechler, Steven K. Baker, Stuart M. Phillips. Neither load nor systemic hormones determine resistance training-mediated hypertrophy or strength gains in resistance-trained young men. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2016; 121 (1): 129 DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00154.2016

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712094259.htm