lots of tension... frequency.. body through space movements.. explosive techniques.. more frequency.. plus they do weight train.. not much but, do perform.. i can tell ya if one were to do nothing but, various dips (wide and close) chins (wide, close underhand overhand ect) and do them two to three times a week with no other upper body movements, that person will develop a great upper body..
look at olympic rowing team. they row and row so you would THINK they would have huge backs and arms BUT in stead they are pretty small. and all their pulls are on the positive portion of the move with no negative resistance. while gymnasts who do mainly static holds and negatives have dense think muscular upper bodies.
i think that is living proof that slow negatives and time under tension is what builds muscles. NOT rep after rep after rep with no concentrating on the negative portion of the lift. slow and steady wins the race. no momentum.
-STEELE
They exhaust every avenue. They also have a ton of explosive movements and must use explosive force to counter that momentum also at times. The stretch on the muscles and the flexibility has to have SOMETHING to do with it. I mean, why would they ALL have phenominal upper bodies? You think its just a coincidence and that all gymnast have phenominal shape and genetics?
WHY is obvious, they are constantly using the muscles, with various forms of resistance/shock. But lets not also forget genetics, I can find you plenty of gymnast that don't have big biceps i.e. "Alexander Artemev" from US. Notice also many members of the same team have similar upper body builds but different sized/developed biceps? These guys are doing the exact same training day in and day out. Re-enforcing the role genetics even more.
look at olympic rowing team. they row and row so you would THINK they would have huge backs and arms BUT in stead they are pretty small. and all their pulls are on the positive portion of the move with no negative resistance. while gymnasts who do mainly static holds and negatives have dense think muscular upper bodies.
i think that is living proof that slow negatives and time under tension is what builds muscles. NOT rep after rep after rep with no concentrating on the negative portion of the lift. slow and steady wins the race. no momentum.
-STEELE
Good point, but I can think of many handicap/disabled people who have extremely developed arms that are just wheeling a wheel chair over and over. Also if you look at the calves of runners, they are never doing "slow and steady" movements for the development. Granted calves may be an exception due to limited range of contraction.
In all honesty if you're looking for one key area of training to credit where you think gymnast develop their biceps the most I would have to say its the explosive type movements, when pulling to gain momentum on events such as high bar, parallel bar, and still rings.
do you think theyre aliblity to develop this way has to do with the fact that they have to tax theyre fast twitch (for explosiveness) muscles and theyre slow twitch so theyre essentially training more fibers?
do you think theyre aliblity to develop this way has to do with the fact that they have to tax theyre fast twitch (for explosiveness) muscles and theyre slow twitch so theyre essentially training more fibers?
Its just a matter of volume and frequency. The body adapts to build itself in what you train the most. This is why specialization programs work when you eat enough calories.
You dont need accenuated eccentics, static holds, etc. Those are just ways to get more volume in and refer back to what I was saying about training different qualities. You can get big biceps with or without tools like that, but what matters at the end of the week is accumulated volume. The reason gymnasts use those particular tools is because it helps them at their sport. For a BBer, you can use those tools but its not necessary.
Chad Waterbury talks about the the Cirque du Soleil upper body, he analyzes it in this article. He went the route of explaining it with high frequency training while working the muscle with many different movements:
some have argued on here that those guys in the pics are not that developed at all. just lean and toned.
However, I don't think that the developement that you see has to do with specific training "movements" or holds per say.
Its simply the large amount of volume and frequency. Loads are always relatively moderate. there is no training to failure with repetitions but none the less it is hard training.
overload occurs through large amounts of volume per workout and and in many cases multiple workouts per day, increased density-short rests betweeen bouts of exertion and EXTREME frequency throughout the week. (NOT PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE in the form of weight). You will find the same to be true in legs of many speed skaters.
ALSO---KEY POINT---99% of all these athletes are training with a DUAL factor Theory Model. As Do all of the world record weighlifters.
They do not train using Single factor theory--IE---Train--Recovery/Grow--Repeat. that type of frequency and volume will have you overtraining fast if you follow single factor/supercompenstation model of training.
How tall are these guys 5'4" or 5'5".These guys must be looking at lee priest and and other short bodybuilders and saying,what are the special exercises these guys do to get such big biceps.
most of the dudes who get to the top levels of gymnastics are short anyway-- just the physics of movements sorta dictates that. mesomorphs tend to be short, so those guys are genetically predisposed to being more muscular.
same could be said for sprinters. to be good they have to be mostly fast-twitch. this will make it easier for them to add muscle.
why is it that so many people say this???? dante has never said that its the only way to get big, i think people get this attitude because it works for soooooooooo many people and they go around telling everyone they come across how great DC training is, and i quess people just get sick of hearing it... same goes with LBA's... honestly people just get sick of the thousands of people that have used it and have gotten excellent results and people get tired of hearing it I quess???? IM sorry when shit works people are going to talk about it...point blank
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.
.gif "IP Gear")
