That’s the goal of a new program from Jay and Andy Thornton:
Training as gymnasts our whole lives, Andy and I whole-heartedly believe that gymnastics-style body-weight training is more effective than any other type of fitness program currently on the market. No other style of training gives the same level of strength, balance, coordination, body awareness, explosive power, flexibility and overall fitness that gymnastics strength training does.
… I’m excited to announce that Andy and I have officially launched GymABstics- a 6-Month Strength & Fitness Program based upon the fundamental principles of gymnastics training, and designed for anyone interested in general fitness.
Each month, for 6 months, subscribers to the GymABstics Program will receive online access to the following:
GymABstics Warmup (5-7 min) GymABstics Workout (30-40 min) GymABstics Warmdown (5-7 min) GymABstics 6-Pack Workout (3 min) Nutritional Information Healthy & Delicious Recipes Training Tracker “Secret” Gymnastics Training Tips Suggested Modifications for the Exercises each week Motivational Emails directly from the Creators
check out – GymABstics.com ($24/month)
15 comments ↓
So following the Gymnasticbodies+PerformanceMenu craze besides the sometimes seen online coaching niche ( trainers providing workouts for a fee.
Some of it sounds cool, some of it sounds pandering. Man, oh man do I hate the 6min abs, abs in 20m/d niche.
I can give you an equally as valuable workout for free. Plus, with my scientific background, I know well enough not to have you doing repeated lumbar flexion movements as well as how to fix posture, alignment, and fundamental movement patterns. Save your $24 bucks a month or whatever!
And, I’m sure that these guys are nutritionists?
It says on one of their profiles that he is going to receive his MD in 2010.
Thanks for the post on the web site and I can appreciate the comments. The program is designed around the gymnastics strength exercises and training styles that made us successful as gymnasts. It comes from our personal experiences during decades of gymnastics training, as well as our experiences with gymnasts we coached in our post-competitive careers.
The 6-Pack AB burns that we offer are only a supplemental tool to be used throughout the month. The main workout each month is a 30-40 minute strength workout, and is coupled with a 5-7 min warmup/stretch and a 5-7 min warmdown for a total workout time of about 50 minutes each session.
Yes, Andy is currently in Medical School, set to finish in December ‘09 and receive MD in 2010.
Again, thanks for the comments. We’ll be posting some sample videos from the workouts on the site soon.
Jay
So, your experience as a gymnast makes you an exercise expert? Let me tell you, most of what gymnasts do in gymnastics is not good for the body at all for the general population. Unfortunately, the nature of the sport demands that the gymnasts train as such.
Look at your average gymnast, particularly females – anteriorly tilted pelvis, hyperlordosis of the lumbar spine, internally rotated humerii, forward shoulder posture (kyphosis), overactive hip flexors, adductors, inhibited gluteus maximus and glute medius, lengthened, inhibited hamstrings, poor ankle dorsiflexion ROM, and poor hip internal ROM due to constant “turn-out”. However, due to the weak glutes, in a dynamic situation, when the femur does internally rotate, it is not able to be slowed eccentrically and may be a factor in ACL rupture along with a valgus knee deformity.
Does your programming fix all of these things or exacerbate them? Typical gymnastics training is what gets gymnasts into this situation. So, how does your program avoid this?
The bottom line is this – I’m really tired of people packaging up some BS exercise package and portraying themselves as fitness experts. Your degree is in economics – not exercise science, exercise physiology, kinesiology, biomechanics, functional anatomy, physical therapy, or any other related field that I’d trust. And, an orthopedic MD is not an exercise expert, either. Don’t let the MD fool you, people. MD’s are good at what they do in the operating room, but they aren’t exercise specialists.
So, don’t try to sell yourselves off because one of you is in medical school. If it were PT school, I might be a little more apt to listen.
For men, the sport naturally gives a very pleasing V shape upper body. Legs are not as developed, but who looks at glutes other than wimmin?
Chris: I liked your comment. Keep it real. Keep it tough. Keep it content filled in the comment section.
Sad thing is I can’t find much to disagree on. But I LUBS me some of those posts that Jay put up on gymnast.com. Hmm…maybe if we kiss his a…foot, we can get him to give us the dirt on what went down when it folded.
Dish, Jay! Was it an anti-TCO move by TPTB?
Steve McCain told me there was a contractual disagreement between USAG (who own the domain Gymnast.com) and their advertising partner in California.
Gymnast may yet return, hopefully the old content too.
I think me power trolling the comments sections had an impact as well.
Chris,
Your comments are completely ignorant. Your attempts to sound intelligent are both obvious and pathetic, not to mention completely overshadowed by your inferiority complex. You know absolutely nothing about the program these guys have put together nor about their backgrounds and credentials; you sound ridiculous trying to pretend that you do. My guess is you are some physical therapy student who never excelled as an athlete and are jealous of those who did. I’d love to see your physique next to these guys and then let people decide for themselves who they’re going to listen to with regards to fitness.
Greg,
My comments are absolutely valid and correct. I am not a physical therapy student – although, I wish that I were because I’d be even better at making assessments. However, I do have a formal background in biomechanics and functional anatomy. Furthermore, I have spent numerous hours reading research related to muscular flexibility and strength imbalances and asymmetries.
Before you go running off at the mouth, you really ought to go listen to some legitimate fitness and health professionals speak. Go purchase or read some materials by Dr. Gary Gray, Gray Cook, M.S.P.T., Shirley Sahrmann, Ph.D, the late Florence Kendall, Donald Neumann, Ph.D, W.B. Kibler, Ph.D, James Andrews, M.D., & Kevin Wilk, DPT. Gary Gray and Shirley Sahrmann are truly pioneers in manual therapy. Kibler, Andrews, and Wilk are shoulder experts. Gray Cook created the Functional Movement Screen. Donald Neumann is a PT and functional anatomy expert from Marquette University. Florence Kendall was a pioneer in manual muscle testing. Go read some of the late Dr. Vladimir Janda’s work and his insight into the phenomenon known as the upper and lower crossed syndromes. Go check out Dr. Stu McGill’s numerous refereed articles on how bad lumbar flexion is on the spine as it creates a shearing force that may ultimately lead to a disc herniation. Or, do you have a clue how sit-ups and crunches contribute to the depression of the rib cage and exacerbate thoracic kyphosis?
Just because somebody looks good does not mean that they are truly fit and healthy. If you want proof, go manually test every bodybuilder.
I’m not jealous of anyone. I’m pissed off because people who have no formal education in exercise are marking a product when they have not earned that right. I have more education than these two guys put together when it comes to exercise science and I’m not even marketing myself, yet because I still have so much to learn from some of the leaders in the industry.
Physique means nothing. But, for your information, I’m in pretty damn good shape for someone who is 31 years old. I’m sitting on about 7% body fat and my abs are clearly visible. I’m not training for gymnastics so I probably don’t look exactly like a gymnast.
The bottom line is this – anybody who markets you on “get rich, get quick” in the fitness industry is probably bogus. Oh, they may shave a few pounds off of you by working you hard, but that does not mean that you are going to truly move and feel better. That does not mean that you’ve enhanced your movement quality. The better trainers/coaches advertise that their approach is a process with a more holistic philosophy behind it. They’ll get results, but they’ll do it in a progressional manner with a continued focus improving your movement patterns and fixing up any asymmetries and imbalances. This approach takes time, however.
That’s where training and strength and conditioning is evolving to.
Chris,
There you go again, spouting off all these names to try to sound intelligent when you STILL have no idea what kind of knowledge the Thorntons have or what their program is all about. I find it interesting that many of the names you listed were medical doctors when you just got through telling us not to “be fooled” by M.D.’s…they don’t know anything about fitness and exercise, remember?
Congratulations on your “hours of research.” It’s given you just enough information to sound like an ill-informed moron. If you had actually taken the time to investigate the Thorntons’ program you would see that their program centers around the very philosophy that you yourself are endorsing…a “holistic” approach that involves abs, upper body, lower body, cardio, and flexibility, along with nutrition guidelines. They’ve created a program that is six months long and appears to be anything but a bogus “get fit quick” scheme…in fact it appears to be about the most in-depth program I’ve seen out there. But you haven’t picked up on that because you’re too busy contradicting yourself and falsely accusing others of doing exactly what you’re doing yourself…pretending to be an expert on something that you’re not.
How come no one wants the wrestler body? Califlower ears and all?
Greg,
First off, except for James Andrews, all of the folks whom I identified have Ph.D’s, not an M.D. Dr. James Andrews just happens to be in a special case because he does all of the major elbow and shoulder surgeries for major league baseball players and runs a facility down in Alabama that does a lot of research on overhand throwing mechanics.
So, maybe you ought to take the time to actually look these people up. While you’re at it, go read their research and you might learn something.
Secondly, I know what I’m talking about and that’s why I have earned the right to criticize. I also have the advanced education that affords me the right to criticize. You obviously do not and neither do the Thorntons. That is my point. Just because you are a world-class athlete does not mean that you are an exercise expert. There is a science behind it.
Making a website full of calisthenic exercises and charging people $24 a month is something that I have a major problem with when you aren’t qualified to be doing so. As I said, it pisses me off because it’s an insult to the qualified individuals out there that dedicate their lives to training people and improving the fitness industry as a whole. Most hope for licensing someday to eliminate bogus trainers and these stupid ass fad programs like P-90x.
It’s interesting that you have such a problem with my comments, but the Thorntons have said very little. Why don’t you let them fight their own battles?
Whoever said I did gymnastics because it was GOOD for my body. It develops a lot of physical ability to let me do what I need to so in my real life so long as I am concerned with joint health and overuse issues.
As an athlete, there is a price for glory. Suck it up, buttercup. What a person does for fitness and for sport or completely different things.
I don’t lift heavy ass DL and BS because I want to be able to live till I’m 90 and not have some wear and tear on me. I like contact sports and throwing weights up and trying to catch them. If I wanted to play it safe I could go get some Lulullemons and do yoga. Right after I toss away my MAN card. I might as well add in some balance and swiss ball exercises so I don’t hurt anything.
I would easily say that 90% of the S&C programs in WAG are poor to crappy with very poor direction. I’d say that half of that are ok in MAG with perhaps not enough concern for healthy joints. Very much the grind.
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