Many of the skills are done in traditional gymnastics, but I don't care to limit myself to gymnastic skills only. If I like a skill, I'll post something about it.

Whatever you like. They're your goals. That said, try to work in some sort of logical progression. (Elbow lever before one arm elbow lever, handstand before handstand pushups).

As many as you can handle in your training routine. 3-4 is usually a workable number. If you try to train too many at the same time, you will lose focus in your training.

Lots of wholesome foods - fruits, vegetables, lean meats (beef, chicken, fish), eggs, nuts, cheese, whole grains, water, and green tea. I try to avoid foods that are heavily processed and contain white flour or white sugar. I still eat junk food, but keep my diet clean a majority of the time.

I drink whey protein shakes throughout the day. During my workouts, I drink a 2:1 carb to protein shake with waxy maize and whey protein. To that workout shake, I will also add 5-10 grams of creatine. I take varying levels of vitamin A, C, and D, zinc, magesium, multi-vitamin, fish oil, and melatonin.

I have to repeat the point though that supplements are nothing without a solid diet. Get your diet in line before you start worrying about every new supplement under the sun.

I've researched and tried them all, and have thoroughly enjoyed each and everyone. Like weight training or gymnastics, they all deal with control and mastery over oneself - mentally and physically. So despite what may seem like totally dissimilar interests, in the end they just become different paths to the same goal, so I'm not terribly distraught that I can't work on them all. In the end, there's only so many hours in the day!

 

Kujo and me, a lifetime ago, back in my breaking days.

 

Power Tower/ Pullup bar

For skills like the one arm chin, front lever, and back lever, a bar is essential for training. I picked up a door mounted pull up bar for $15 from a sporting goods store, then later bought a used power tower for $25 on Craigslist. The power tower is an old Gold's Gym version.

Be careful of weighted pull ups on a door mounted bar though - too much weight and the bar will come crashing down. If you need a beefier pull-up bar, check out Delta Fitness for a solid, wall-mounted one.

 

Power Tower (left) and door-mounted chin-up bar (right)

Rings

These are such a fantastic piece of equipment for a variety of exercises, and essential for skills like the iron cross and muscle-up. If you've never done exercises on the rings, then you're in for a big surprise - everything is harder to do. I got mine from Ringtraining.com. Since the original design pictured below, Tyler Hass has released several updated versions, all top quality.

Parallettes

These are designed to replicate gymnastic parallel bars to help you perform a number of different exercises. You can use PVC, metal, or wood and build some bars to any dimensions you want. Here's an easy online guide to making your own.

A fellow trainer, Tom Brose, also gave me the following instructions for building a great set of parallettes:

Supplies

One PVC pipe 10 feet, 1 1/2" diameter

Four elbow connectors

Four T-joint connectors

Eight end caps

PVC pipe glue

 

Construction

Cut the 10 foot pipe into the following sections:

    Two 2 foot sections

    Four 8 inch sections

    Eight 5 inch sections

If you've done it right, there should be no leftover pipe

 

The 5 inch sections are the feet, the 8 inch sections are the vertical legs, and the 2 foot sections are the part where your hands go. Take a look at the picture and it's pretty easy to figure out where everything goes.

When gluing everything together, I recommend starting with the feet and legs first. They just make a "T" and require no adjustment. Glue the elbow connectors to the 2 foot sections next. You can then press the elbow connectors down against a hard floor to make sure they are lined up at the same angle. Finally, glue in the legs to the top and adjust quickly to get the legs lined up parallel before everything dries.

There you go, a nice set of parallettes that should work well for your training.

 

Weightlifting belt + chain + carabiner + weights

I never use a weightlifting belt for abdominal support, but I do find it useful for strapping weights to me for weighted dips and chin ups. Chain from a home improvement store, a carabiner from a rock climbing store, some weights, and you're all set. Where to find weights? A yard sale, newspaper ads, or a used sporting goods store - there is ALWAYS someone selling their weights.

If you're really loading on a lot of heavy weight, then I suggest investing a bit more for a quality dipping belt. I've used Ironmind's Dipping Belt with great success. I found the previously mentioned weight belt/chain combination to break when anything around 100 lbs was added. The Ironmind belt has comfortably held double that with no signs of stress. The difference is amazing. Again, highly recommended if you're moving heavy weights.

(Ironmind dipping belt, Belt being used for a 180 lb (81.6kg) dip)

 

Stretch Bands

I've got some surgical tubing and a physical therapy band in the picture above, but you can either buy some - Iron Woody Bands or cheap bands from Perform Better - or just pick up some old bicycle tubing from a bike shop. These bands can assist you with skills like pull ups, planches, and iron crosses.

Iron Cross Band Assist

 

Sledgehammer

Levering the sledgehammer around is an amazing exercise for your wrists. The sledgehammer is cheap and the difficulty easily adjusts, simply by moving your hand along the handle. I use to have a link to an outside page describing a host of sledgehammer levering techniques, but it has unfortunately be taken down. If you have a good site, let me know!

Grippers

I'm not talking about the cheap foam grippers you may have squeezed before. These are heavy duty grippers and they are STRONG. When I first started working the one arm chin, I found my grip needed to be much stronger to hold myself on the bar. Enter the grippers. I recommend the grippers from Ironmind or Weightlifter's Warehouse. And of course, head over to The Gripboard for more grip training advice then I could possibly type here.

- Will having a certain body type help you get these skills faster? Yes. Should you give up because you don't have the body of an Olympic gymnast. Hell No.

    Here's a picture of Bert Assirati.

    This guy weighed 240 lbs (~109 kg) but was able to do three one arm chin-ups, as well as an iron cross. And as you can see by the picture, he was also quite an impressive acrobat!

    And here is Jim Holloway.

    This guy is a rock climbing legend, and at 6'6" (~198 cm) is a good foot taller than most gymnasts. Yet, he is recorded as having held a front lever for 20 seconds, possibly a minute.

    What excuse can there be after seeing guys like this??

Overwhelming responsibilities away from the computer. Trust me, it bothers me as much as it bothers you.

    I generally find that skills requiring more balance than strength (e.g., handstand, headstand, elbow lever) respond well to frequent training while giving oneself adequate rest between repetitions. I feel they can also be worked for several consecutive days without adverse consequence.

    For skills requiring quite a bit of strength (handstand pushups, the flag, the back lever, etc), some find that frequent sub-maximal training while staying as fresh as possible will work for them. This is often referred to as "greasing the groove" and would have a person doing a couple repetitions of an exercise several times throughout the day for several consecutive days. This may or may not work for you depending upon your schedule.

    If you do all your training at one point in the day, I would suggest working these strength skills for a smaller number of repetitions and giving yourself adequate rest between each set to recover. This is the classic formula for strength building. You'll also want to alternate rest and training days to let your body recuperate.

    Of course, combining skill training with any other sort of physical activity is going to change how you set up your workout.

    Whatever you decide, record your training and make notes on your progress. Use this to evaluate your program and change things if necessary. For any training program, give it time to show results. Don't jump from one training routine to another to another. And don't hold off training while you try to find the perfect workout routine. Just get out there and start training!

I change my workout plans throughout the year, but you can check my twitter and main page posts to get an idea. I like to incorporate barbell training (power lifting and olympic lifting), as well as gymnastic and bodyweight exercises.

No, I also lift things.

(an easy 335 lbs.)

    As I've said before, I feel that bodyweight training and weight training complement each other very well. I've gotten the impression that some people feel they have to choose between one or the other. Or that one is superior to the other. I hate to see a divide in two types of training that will both ultimately improve your body.

    Take a look at classic strongman Eugene Sandow. Here was a guy who looked extremely powerful, could hoist a ton of weight, yet was agile enough to be able to backflip.

  

    Can you develop a powerful body with only bodyweight exercises? Sure - Olympic gymnasts are the perfect and most oft-used example. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be afraid to combine training. I like deadlifting and I like handstands; both are fun and make me stronger.

This webpage is devoted to bodyweight strength training, acrobatics, and gymnastic skills. It spawned from a previous blog where I wrote about my training and posted tutorials.

My name is Jim. I'm about 5'7" (~170 cm), around 185 lbs (~84 kg), and currently 29 years old. I've been involved in both bodyweight skills and weight training for well over a decade now. I feel that the two complement each other very well.

I was on a gymnastics exhibition group - Gymkana (link) - for two years in college. We'd practice traditional and non-traditional gymnastics and then put on shows at local area schools to promote healthy living.

I'm a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and currently work as a Personal Trainer in Washington D.C. Feel free to contact me (link) if you'd like to schedule a training session.

I wanted to share what I've learned and help those with similar interests in strength. I called it "Beast Skills" because the page deals with those skills which seemm impossible, or "beastly" - one arm chin-ups, handstand pushups, planches, etc. It's a catchy title that stuck.

I honestly can't recall how long it took for all my skills. Several days to several months to several years. And even when you "get" a skill, you can always work to make it stronger.

Instead of focusing on how long it should take to get a skill, just look for any sort of progress and build upon that. And don't forget to enjoy the journey.

Perform a chin-up with 2/3 of your current bodyweight for 2-3 reps and you're close. Start working on the one arm progressive exercises now.

No. I can't write all my visitors free programs, so here are some guidelines -

Learn the handstand first and foremost. In acrobatics, the handstand is fundamental.

Next, learn some sort of pressing and some sort of pulling skill - handstand pushups or one arm pushup, and one arm chin-up or front lever.

Work on a lower body skill and midsection skill - pistol, and ab wheel or l-seat

Work each skill several times a week. Keep a workout notebook and record your progress.

Try each one out and you'll figure out which is easy and hard.

Try the progressive exercises for each one and you'll figure where you stand and how much more you need to do.

Check the seminar tab on the left of this page -

http://beastskills.com/seminars/

or check the FaceBook page for first word!

http://www.facebook.com/BeastSkills

I would love to be able to "take a quick look" at everyone's training program, but if I did, I wouldn't have time to train myself or my own clients!

General advice to nearly everyone who emails me with this request -

1. do less exercises.

2. focus on one goal.

3. stop jumping around from training program to training program.

Perhaps in the future, but not now. Check out the Beast Skills FaceBook page for the closest thing to a forum you'll find here.

There are already many well-established forums online that will cover any training interest you have. Give these great ones a go:

http://gripboard.com/

http://www.rosstraining.com/forum/

T-nation

Crossfit

American Parkour

As of December 30th, 2010. My best lifts are as follows. Note 
that some might not have been updated for some time:

Back Squat: 415 lbs - training
Front Squat: 335 lbs
Deadlift: 500 lbs - trap bar training, 500 lbs - straight bar 
competition (sumo)
Clean and Jerk: 115 KG - competition, 125 KG - training 
Snatch: 85 KG - competition, 90 KG - training
Weighted Chin-up: +160 lbs
Weighted Dip: +180 lbs
Overhead Press: 220 lbs
One arm overhead dumbbell press: 105 lbs - I don't max this 
too often, but managed to press the Beast Kettlebell first 
time I touched it - http://www.flickr.com/photos/crossfitignite/4335979920/)
Bench Press: 300 lbs - competition, 305 lbs training