10 Moves For A Gymnasts Body
Gymnasts have some of the most admirable and functional physiques among all athletes. Rippling abs and the ability to launch ones body around in a feat of gravity defiance and superhuman ability is something I am attracted to.
Generally speaking, the majority of the population, you and I most likely among them, just don’t have the time and dedication to achieve the peak performance that a competitive gymnast reaches and maintains. We are talking about a full time job to get to that level. But there is definitely a cheat sheet.
We can get close to the white buffalo of looking and moving like a gymnast does. We just have to mimic some of their entry level movements and techniques and employ what Tim Ferriss coined the minimum effective dose, in order to attain our closest version of gymnastic bodies.
Now I’m not talking burpee backflips, pike summersaults, round-off back handspring pikes and manna…yet. We can get to that at some point if you wish. But, lets start with an attainable routine to employ that will get you maximum benefits at a reasonable small expenditure. Don’t be mistaken, these movements are not easy, they will just give you amazing return on physical investment, bang for your buck, as they say.
What equipment do I need?
Not much at all.
The beauty of a lot of gymnastics style training is that the vast majority can be done at home without much equipment simple using a manipulation of bodyweight to create the challenge. For the movements below however, I would recommend picking yourself up a set of gymnastic rings (I prefer the wooden variety as the plastics seem to slippery) and a set of parallette bars at the very least.
These bits of equipment come with an endless repertoire of functional movements to perform on them. In fact, if you were to ask most gymnasts what basic pieces of equipment they use that would give the most far-reaching benefit, they would say these two. I’m 100% sure of it.
So give me the gymnast body already!
Well, here are the Movement Guru’s 10 best basic gymnastics movements for you to add to your routine that will be sure to have a lasting and long term benefit to your body awareness, physique, mobility and functional movement capacity. You really cannot lose if you perform these on a daily basis.
1. L-Sit or Straddle Holds
2. Ring row
3. V Snaps
4. Ring Dips or Ring Pushups
5. Skin the Cat
6. Jefferson Curls
7.Pistol Squat
8. Straight leg bench hops
9. Hanging Leg Raise
10. Tuck Front Lever Holds
But I don't think I can do any of these!
Each movement definitely has a scaled version. Meaning, if you find it easy and can pump out reps all day with perfect form, you can move forward to a more difficult movement. If it’s too hard on the other hand and you find yourself unable to get your limbs to do what you had in mind, there is a more attainable version of every movement.
Check yourself.
Remember, the aim isn’t to bang out half assed repetitions of these movements, we are aiming for quality over quantity - a distinct, mindful control of each rep that gives you that maximum reward I was talking about earlier. To explain further, I mean slow down your reps rather than doing them as fast as you can and feel every bit of it instead.Perhaps your range and repetition decrease by half but the gains will triple!
The principle behind this is not only Time Under Tension, Eccentric Muscle Contraction or negative work (link to amazon biomechanics for dummies), but creating a quality mind-body connection too! What the hell is that? Put simply, to be able to move in a way that you once weren’t it is extremely important to develop the communication pathway between the brain and the body, or neural pathways, if you want to speed up the time it takes you to truly comprehend the movement and break the gap that exists between knowing what you want to do and actually getting your body to do it by engaging (or relaxing) the right areas.
Keep your mindful practice going and the results will flow like the animal mover within you!
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