If there are 6 exercises for each foundation movement/hold in each foundation. Coach Sommer has taken this concept to it's pinnacle in his.

Solidworks 2005 free download full version windows 7. It happens every four years. Bodybuilders and fitness buffs around the world marvel at the physiques of the male gymnasts competing in the Olympics. Those huge, muscular arms!

Those broad shoulders! Those tiny waists! Those sexy, tight buns, like two bowling balls in a satin pillowcase.

Uh, um, let's move on, shall we? And then we all think the same thing: 'Hmm, wonder how those guys train? What kind of weight training do they perform?'

Well, the answers may shock you. T-Nation recently sat down with Christopher Sommer, a gymnastic coach who's responsible for building many of those amazing physiques you see on TV.

T-Nation: Coach, let's get started by talking a little about who you are and what you do. So, who the heck are you and what the heck do you do? Coach Sommer: I'm a former competitive gymnast and for many years now my primary focus has been on preparing athletes for the USA Junior National Gymnastics Team. Currently I run the men's competitive program at the Desert Devil Gymnastics National Team Training Center. T-Nation: Okay, every time the Olympics roll around, bodybuilders and fitness buffs go monkeynuts over the physiques of the male gymnasts. What's the biggest thing about their training that would surprise most gymrats?

Coach Sommer: That their training is comprised almost entirely out of bodyweight exercises. T-Nation: Wait a sec, these guys with the killer biceps don't do barbell and dumbbell curls? Coach 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. T-Nation: What do you mean exactly by straight-arm work? Coach Sommer: By straight-arm work I'm primarily referring to the classic strength positions on the still rings (iron cross, planche, maltese, etc.) and the connecting movements between them. Raj Bhavsar performing an iron cross in the 2004 USA Championships Straight arm work basically means moving the body without the advantage of bending the joints. Essentially then, by increasing the length of the lever, we greatly magnify the intensity of the exercise. A case in point would be a cross pull (basically a straight arm pull-up where the arms pull out to the sides) compared to a regular pull-up.

The bodyweight is the same in both cases; however, the cross pull is several orders of magnitude harder than the pull-up, resulting in significantly higher strength and muscle gains. Now consider that I had one teammate in college who could hold an iron cross with 60 pounds hanging on his feet and you begin to get an idea of the incredible strength of some of the high level gymnasts. By the way, this same gymnast had an upper body that was incredibly large and ripped! T-Nation: That's impressive. I've heard stories that these athletes can lift a surprising amount of weight in the deadlift and other lifts, even though they never train these lifts. Is that true?

And if it is, how's that possible? Coach Sommer: Gymnastics training does indeed build incredible strength. For example, I was not a particularly strong gymnast, yet I was able to do a double bodyweight deadlift and weighted chins with almost 50% extra bodyweight on my very first weight training attempts.

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. Why gymnastics training results in such high levels of strength is still unclear. My personal opinion is that the secret lies in the plyometric nature of the movements.