Training to stay lean and gain strength

[SlavikHavik]

I figure theres gotta be something that the gymnasts and sprinters know/are doing that I dont/am not doing.

Ive talked to some of these guys, and even though there only at an amateur level, there all incredibly lean. Especially some of the gymnasts. Beyond that, alot of the guys that dont compete anymore dont even watch what they eat. Not to say they eat like shit, but certainly not a diet that would keep you lean.
My first thought would be that being lean would help you be succseful at gymnastics, and for that reason, all the gymnasts you see are lean. But if you go to an amateur club, youll notice that even the kids who are well below competing at even the provincial or state level are all really lean. Which is more you can say about most kids there age.

And if you think about the sprinters Im sure the last thing these guys are trying to do before a meet is "cut down" when they need all their strength, and need to peak. Beyond that, they continually get stronger, and stay incredibly lean.

Theres got to be something about the way these guys train that keeps the body that lean.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

I'm just gonna throw my 2 cents in here for whatever it's worth.

Generally speaking, gymanstics is very anearobic and they practice several days a week for a couple hours at a time I think. Right off the bat they are stimulating alot of muscle and strength developement and the amount of exercise they do burns ALOT of calories. Also, to be a successful gymnast you have to be short and lean basically. The taller and thicker you get, the heavier you get the harder it is to do the strength moves. You don't see any 250lbs guys doing iron crosses and not many 200lber's either.

Sprinting is about as anearobic as it gets imo so they build mass from it and it revs up their metabolism. Also most sprinters hit the weights a couple times a week on the compound exercises as far as I know.

Hard to say what all these guys eat , but some may eat whatever and stay lean while others have a super strict and precise diet. I'm willing to bet that many sprinters AND gymnasts are on steroids for recuperative purposes so they can train more, not so much to get bigger, but get stronger.

Just guessing on that though.

Are you not lean? If I remember you weigh 200lbs and can do a planche? If I'm correct that's pretty sick. And you're like 5'10-11". You gotta be fairly lean with some decent muscle to pull that off.

Do you just want to get ripped? What's your diet like? It's all in the diet whether bulking up, maintaining or cutting down.

I just started to get very serious about my diet and every thing I eat and how much I eat because I need to harden up, but not so much cut down, just solidify what I got over the next 6 months or so.

Post up your diet bro.

 

[SlavikHavik]

I'm just gonna throw my 2 cents in here for whatever it's worth.

Generally speaking, gymanstics is very anearobic and they practice several days a week for a couple hours at a time I think. Right off the bat they are stimulating alot of muscle and strength developement and the amount of exercise they do burns ALOT of calories. Also, to be a successful gymnast you have to be short and lean basically. The taller and thicker you get, the heavier you get the harder it is to do the strength moves. You don't see any 250lbs guys doing iron crosses and not many 200lber's either.

Sprinting is about as anearobic as it gets imo so they build mass from it and it revs up their metabolism. Also most sprinters hit the weights a couple times a week on the compound exercises as far as I know.

Hard to say what all these guys eat , but some may eat whatever and stay lean while others have a super strict and precise diet. I'm willing to bet that many sprinters AND gymnasts are on steroids for recuperative purposes so they can train more, not so much to get bigger, but get stronger.

Just guessing on that though.

Are you not lean? If I remember you weigh 200lbs and can do a planche? If I'm correct that's pretty sick. And you're like 5'10-11". You gotta be fairly lean with some decent muscle to pull that off.

Do you just want to get ripped? What's your diet like? It's all in the diet whether bulking up, maintaining or cutting down.

I just started to get very serious about my diet and every thing I eat and how much I eat because I need to harden up, but not so much cut down, just solidify what I got over the next 6 months or so.

Post up your diet bro.

Yeah i just read your post over on the Diet board.
I finished a CKD 7 weeks ago. It went great, easy diet to follow man. I mean your eating cheat foods all the time. Ground beef, steak, sausage, bacon, Eggs, Cheese. Haha, man i used to grate cheese ona small plate, and melt in the microwave, so it came out as a sheet of cheese over the plate. Then wrap it around some bacon. Greasiest thing ever, but the diet worked great. I got down to around 8-10% BF depending on who you ask. The pics somewhere over on the Pic board.
Its just not the sort of diet you could train on effectively. I didnt lose any strength, but i didnt gain much anyway. And it kind of plays with your head, you dont always feel right on it. I wouldnt want to do it for life.

My diets not very steady right now. In terms of how much i get. Between school and everything else money is tight.
But my main foods are
Lean Ham
Chicken Legs or whole chickens - they arent very expensive so i usually take the skin off and rinse/cut off the fat
Eggs - have four every morning
Yams - Usually have these whenever im hungry.
Brown Rice - If i get tired of yams
Tuna - sparingly.
Canned Peaches - half a can of these or pineaple every day
Canned Pineaple
Frozen Blueberries - have a cup in the morning
Then before bed I have 250 ml's cottage cheese, and a spoon of peanutbutter.

Im not sure what my ratios are. they arent very consistant though

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

All I know is if you want to be in total control of your body and performance you gotta know exactly how many calories you are taking in and the ratios.

When I bulk I don't worry about it too much and just EAT ALOT, but when I want to harden up or seriously cut then I get anal about it.

 

[Royster]

you also gotta realise that the people that are good at sprinting or gymnastics, are naturally leaning towards the fast twitch dominated musculature, and tend to be mesomorphs (if such a term actually exists). They got it all set to be lean and strong (apart from all the hard work they put in).

 

[SlavikHavik]

you also gotta realise that the people that are good at sprinting or gymnastics, are naturally leaning towards the fast twitch dominated musculature, and tend to be mesomorphs (if such a term actually exists). They got it all set to be lean and strong (apart from all the hard work they put in).

Your right, and thats what i was saying about the olympic athletes. At that level its hard to say. At that level, everyones been filtered out. So if being lean is a factor, then you would only see lean individuals competing.
But the interesting thing about those sports is that anyone who puts in a half decent ammount of time training in them will get lean. regardless of what level. So even at a regional track or gymnastics meet, everyone you see competing there is going to be sub 10% BF. And at those are open competitions.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

Good point.

Any one competing at even amature levels is probably genetically better built than your average guy walking around. But not neccesarily. Some of these people may have been training since 8th or 9th grade. Years of that kind of training will build you up and lean you out.

 

[Akerstei]

alright.. i was a competitive gymnast for seven years. first off, the training is completely different. for the most part, you move your bodyweight around as opposed to an external, supplemental object (dumbell, barbell). in any training routine, your body adapts to what it undergoes. this is the whole reason for lifting heavy weights for hypertrophy. but when you manipulate your bodyweight in quick movements as well as isometric holds, your body never knows what it will go through next - it's a surprise, essentially. it has to be as lean as possible in order to move effectively and in any patter you want it to go through. excess fat would not facilitate these movements and manipulation. this is different from weightlifting in which the heavier and larger you are, the easier it is to move more weight. moreover, when your body goes through the same or very similar movements, it adapts because it knows what it will most likely go through in the future. therefore, to train or look like a gymnast, you should be doing mostly bodyweight exercises for speed and numbers; isometric holds while maintaining more and more advanced positions; and very heavy resistance work - maxing out in three reps so as not to build extra, unnecessary mass. diet can be important, but i will not get into that now because i've seen similar results without excessive dieting and attention to nutrition.

 

[OKLAHOMA STATE]

At my prime (freshmen year of college when I played FB) I was at 6-7%. Ate anything I wanted too (though I did try to stay away from junk food).

Its all genetics. I was always ripped and defined. Most D1 skill position players (scholarship players) could never touch a weight in their lifetimes and they would still be muscular and ripped. RW McQuarters (CB for the Chicago Bears now) was in my freshmen class at OSU. He had never seriously lifted weights in his life and at 180 pounds he could bench almost 300 pounds as an 18-year old.

 

[SlavikHavik]

At my prime (freshmen year of college when I played FB) I was at 6-7%. Ate anything I wanted too (though I did try to stay away from junk food).

Its all genetics. I was always ripped and defined. Most D1 skill position players (scholarship players) could never touch a weight in their lifetimes and they would still be muscular and ripped. RW McQuarters (CB for the Chicago Bears now) was in my freshmen class at OSU. He had never seriously lifted weights in his life and at 180 pounds he could bench almost 300 pounds as an 18-year old.

seriously, i mean no offense.
But its nothing new that pro athletes have great genetics.

What we were talking about is the fact that the amateurs in these sports seem to stay lean even though there not in a caloric deficit. And frequently eat like garbage. Genetics maybe. But the fact that close to 100% of the people who participate in gymnastics, at any level are in great condition tells you that the training must be having an effect on them.
Of course its going to build up muscle. But bodyfat is a different issue.
if Body composition is all about calories in vs out. And hormone levels,
And these guys are building muscle and staying around or below 8%. There must be something in there training thats impacting this.
Or does is it just that we only understand body composition based on hormone levels and calories in/out. Because there happens to be alot of knowledge on those two topics on the board.
Is there another factor that allows these guys to do what they do.

You know within sports, the ammount of knowledge someone has about a particular issue changes, even though they can be applied to different ahtletics.
For example.
Powerlifters know alot about training
Wrestlers know alot about recovery
Bodybuilders know alot about nutrition
Track athletes know alot about flexibility training.

My guess is theres a body of knowledge that would answer this question, that people in the bodybuilding/powerlifting community havent learned about yet.