Anna Wish Fitness

I see this mistake in almost all new (and sometimes well-established!!) athletes.

Hollow rocks should be a ROCK! Which means you need to make round shapes.

Doing the basics well transfers directly to your high level skills.

That's why we reinforce the basics in every warmup of our Base Gymnastics train-along.

Just 3 days a week of a 3 minute basics warmup + 15 minute skills and strength can be enough to transform your gymnastics.

Comment BASE and I'll send you some info!

Hollow bodies require you to crunch your ribs in, tuck the pelvis, and squeeze the quads and glutes to maintain the pelvis position.

We have to be able to make these shapes on the floor before we bring them up to the rig for kipping movements like toes to bar, bar muscle up and pull up.

The shapes on the floor and the shapes on the rig should be the same.

"Do I have to be that squeezed all the time?" YESSS... Until you don't need to be.

MOST athletes start out waaay too floppy when they learn their basic gymnastics movements. That means they overuse a "kicking" mechanic for their kip from the knees, and aren't connected from shoulder to toe.

That costs you down the line when you want to graduate from sets of 3 to sets of 10.

Once you've established really strong shapes with GOOD tension management, you can start playing around with YOUR optimal amount of tension to keep your movements consistent and easy without overcooking your muscles.

Tension in the glutes and quads allow you to control the entire lower body so you can prioritise creating power from bigger muscles.

Our follow-along gymnastics programming teaches a lot of tension management. Comment BASE below and I'll send you some info on how you can train with us 3 days per week, for just 15-20 minutes to improve your gymnastics tension.

When people tell me their kip swing is “too tight” or “not powerful” but they’re preventing their shoulder from moving smoothly through the kip swing, I always check to see if they’ve taken the “active shoulder” way too far.

We need *enough* engagement at the shoulder to be strong and connected to the bar. We should not be preventing natural movement at the shoulder from occurring.

Blocking shoulder movement robs from your ability to use big muscle groups like the pecs, lats and core from generating a full body, powerful kip swing.

Gym: Truehuscle
Edit: Johnny Clyde
Chick with the good hair: Kate Montgomery

When people tell me their kip swing is "too tight" or "not powerful" but they're preventing their shoulder from moving smoothly through the kip swing, I always check to see if they've taken the "active shoulder" way too far.

We need *enough* engagement at the shoulder to be strong and connected to the bar. We should not be preventing natural movement at the shoulder from occurring.

Blocking shoulder movement robs from your ability to use big muscle groups like the pecs, lats and core from generating a full body, powerful kip swing.

Try this wrist warm up next time you handstand!

Comment BASE and I’ll send you info on our gymnastics train along program 🤸🤸

Edit: Johnny Clyde

The straight arm pull is a key driver for the kipping toes-to-bar and kipping bar muscle up. So it's pretty important if you're learning these skills to train your straight arm pulling strength separately, Because pull-ups alone won't necessarily do the job.

if you think you need to develop your straight arm strength, comment BASE and I will send you some information on our Base Gymnastics train-along program 🤸🤸

It's a misconception that you need elite hamstring flexibility to do the toes-to-bar. In reality your hamstring flexibility will (in part) determine which shapes you make to do the toes-to-bar.

While a more compressed shape is often more efficient, it doesn't mean that you're out of luck if you want to do the toes-to-bar and you're in the tight hamstring club.

less flexibility requires more straight arm pull. More flexibility gives you options where you can either compress more or pull back more depending on the workout and your strengths.

If you want to follow a weekly program that helps you understand concepts like this, comment BASE and I'll send you some info on the Base Gymnastics train along 🤸

A wobbly handstand might not be because of your shoulders.

We need to create tension in the quads, glutes and abs so that we’re not dealing with excess wobbles when upside down.

Although I do think there’s such thing as too much tension, *most*  people are too floppy when they start hardstanding. That’s why it gets drilled hard first.

We can start with the plank and hollow body, where you can actually feel each muscle group switch on.

This is exactly how we train inside Base Gymnastics, our year-round follow-along program for crossfit and functional fitness athletes. Comment BASE 👇 and I’ll send you the link.