Very interesting article on weights vs bodyweight:

J

johnnyg2008

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On an unrelated note... something i find interesting about this article is how it mentions that to make bodyweight exercises progressive you can decrease the leverage..... well if i apply that to weights it's like saying chest flies is a progression of dumbbell bench press of the same weight because of the decreased leverage yet on this site everyone dismisses chest flies as far inferior as dumbbell bench press....
 
Thats a great article. Chest flies are a good exercise when used properly.
 
bench press and chest flies are two different exercises, they target different muscles. You shouldn't first do bench, then "progress" to chest flies.
 
Some of the dudes in that had some solid arms...doesent seem possible without some kind of curls. I reckon they used steroids for them arms
 
Curls are gay. These athletes are putting their muscles under constant tension, unlike most of us.

A few of my favorite parts.

T-Nation: Wait a sec, these guys with the killer biceps don't do barbell and dumbbell curls?

Sommer: No, not a single one! In fact, their amazing biceps development isn't the result of any kind of curling movement at all, but primarily due to the straight arm leverage work which they do on the still rings. The straight-arm work is enormously difficult and puts tremendous strain on the biceps resulting in incredible growth. The key to success is being able to approach these exercises in a safe progressive manner.
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One of my student’s, JJ Gregory, far exceeded my own modest accomplishments. On his first day of high school weight lifting, JJ pulled a nearly triple bodyweight deadlift with 400 pounds at a bodyweight of 135 and about 5’3" in height. On another day, he also did an easy weighted chin with 75 pounds, and certainly looked as though he could've done quite a bit more. We’ll never know for sure because the cheap belt I was using at the time snapped.
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Many know of his reputation for incredible strength endurance records; for example, he performed 1000 pull-ups and 1000 push-ups in one hour and twenty three minutes! What they may not know is that Mr. LaLanne was also an accomplished gymnast
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:eek2:

I've seen many gymnasts capable of planche push-ups do double bodyweight bench presses on their first attempts. Conversely, I've never seen a weightlifter capable of doing a double bodyweight bench press even come close to a planche push-up initially.
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It's interesting he says the bicep grows from straight arm work primarily....

This seems to be different to the principle of a bicep curl (or any weight exercise) where u contract the muscle and then lower the weight.... the straight arm work is just constant tension and constant contraction....

Obviously both lead to muslce... i just find this article (and the other articles on that site) fascinating... i think the guy has a book coming out.

I'm trying the planche progressions myself... only takes a few mins at the end of every workout, i suggest others try it (the front lever progressions are also good to do i think).

Wish i could post this article in the weight training section so more people could see it.
 
I really want to be able to do a frog standing thing without the knees supported on the elbows. and then go from there to a handstand, then back down a gain, and repeat for reps. that has got to be pretty hard on the abs and isometricly on the shoulders.
the problem now is balance. I have the strength to hold myself in the frog for a long time, but I tip forwards or backwards all the time :p
 
I think its more accurate describing it for the same exercises. Lateral raises for example, straight arms would obviously be harder than if your arms were at right angles.
 
Has far as body builders not being able to do some kind of bodyweight exercise is because they never did it. Muscles have memory thats why it gets easier to do exercises that you have performed lots ... I dont think that any one can do 1000push/pull-ups each in an hour, I would have to see it. But gymnist are easily in the top 5most overall athletic than most sports positions But it is something to try and to put in your bag to keep the muscles guessing

DMWC
 
dmwc said:
Has far as body builders not being able to do some kind of bodyweight exercise is because they never did it. Muscles have memory thats why it gets easier to do exercises that you have performed lots ... I dont think that any one can do 1000push/pull-ups each in an hour, I would have to see it. But gymnist are easily in the top 5most overall athletic than most sports positions But it is something to try and to put in your bag to keep the muscles guessing

DMWC
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Muscle memory actually has more to do with fast movements, where proprioceptive information is not fed back into the system (open-loop system). The majority of exercises (excluding parts of some plyometric, power, and olympic type exercises) are actually closed-loop, meaning that proprioceptive information (positional/exertional) is fed back into a system to correct the movement.

Most exercises generally become easier because of increases in muscle capacity to do work (muscle development) and because the nervous system becomes more capable and efficient at activating larger amounts of muscle tissue. Muscle memory instead becomes crucial to gymnasts in the actualy events, which his why gymnastic learning is est aided by actually performing an entire movement (spotted) instead of learning movements in parts.

As to the topic of the article, most body weight exercises are close-chain kinetic movements (distal portion of the body is fixed in space), which work a good deal more of the supporting musculature (ie. bigger biceps).
 
as well as load,stretch is an important part of hypertrophy,for example seated curls done with the bench slightly inclined give the bis more stretch,as does dumbell bench compared to bb-bench,so a lot of the work done by gymnasts contains stretching the muscle.
 
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