Park Strength Blog

Check out my new blog, Park Strength. It's all about a group that does gymnastic strength training at Washington Park in El Segundo, California (and occasionally, the original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica). We will post our training plans, PRs, photos, videos, and plenty of information related to gymnastic strength training!

One Arm Handstand Down and Back Up Stairs

Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Tommy Kono (pictured here) is arguably the greatest olympic weightlifter the world has ever seen. He won gold medals in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics and was a World Champion every year from 1953 to 1959, setting world records in four weight classes along the way. He also was a successful bodybuilder, winning the Mr. World title and is a three time Mr. Universe winner. You may be surprised to know that he only trained 3-4 times per week (not per day), and no more than 90 minutes per work-out.
If you feel like you are over-training, or over-complicating your training (as I tend to often do), read this Interview with Tommy Kono. Also, read this article, On Constant Weight Training, by John McKean. These may inspire you to simplify your training routine. Your body may thank you for it!

Cirque Du Soleil Handbalancing

It really gets started at about 47 seconds. Includes a very slow muscle-up, several beautiful press handstands, a planche, a few one handed handstands, and some other mind-blowing feats of strength. The partner leg-curl at the end is also amazing.

Dominic Lacasse - Guinness World Record Human Flag

Another inspirational video of Dominic Lacasse setting a Guinness World Record by holding a human flag for 39 seconds

The King of Shoulder Presses

Back in the mid-90s when I was trying to get buff, I bought Big Beyond Belief, by Leo Costa Jr., which I still have but had pretty much forgotten about over the years. More recently I picked it up and started flipping through it again, finding some really good information in there. One such piece of info, is his neuro-muscular activation (NMA) level classification of exercises. Basically, it says that the higher the level of neuromuscular stimulation an exercise causes, the greater the muscle growth and strength returns will be. Using this information, I came up with the following hierarchy for vertical pressing exercises, going from lowest to highest neuromuscular stimulation:

1. variable resistance machine military press
2. fixed resistance machine military press
3. barbell military press
4. dumbell military press
5. handstand push-up on a stable surface (floor or parallel bars)
6. handstand push-up on rings

Going from machines to free weights is a big jump, and I think that another big jump occurs in going from handstand push-ups on a stable surface, to doing them on the rings. I kept this relatively simple, not bothering with the difference between seated presses and standing presses (and I feel that standing military presses are superior because they involve more balancing and stabilizing). Another thing I left out is the difference between doing handstand push-ups with your legs against a wall vs. free handstand push-ups (the free handstand push-ups are much more difficult and I believe cause more neuromuscular stimulation). In my opinion, the king of shoulder presses is the free handstand push-up on the rings (not pictured here, I couldn't find a photo of it!).

Pull to Inverted Hang Progression.

(Plenty of other gymnastic strength training at my new Park Strength Blog)!

This is a skill progression that I thought of a while back and have been working on and off. I'm pretty sure other people train this progression as it is somewhat intuitive, but I haven't seen it anywhere. I thought of it when working on the press handstand as something to work the opposing muscles in a similar way to help achieve muscular balance. Basically you start hanging upright from a set of rings or a bar and then rotate your body so that you end up hanging in an inverted position. The progression is to to move from the upright hanging position to the inverted hanging position in ways that are increasingly difficult and they are as follows:

1. bent arms, bent legs, bent waist
2. bent arms, straight legs, bent waist
3. straight arms, bent legs, bent waist
4. straight arms, straight legs, bent waist
5. bent arms, straight legs, straight waist
6. straight arms, straight legs, straight waist

Note that anything with straight legs can be done with a straddle or one leg bent as an intermediate step.


This is the starting position, hanging upright from a bar.


This is the end position, hanging inverted, which works better with rings! Note the starting position and the ending position are the same for each level in the progression


Here is an example of a bent arm, bent leg, bent waist pull to invert.


Here is a bent arm, straight leg, bent waist pull to invert.


Here's a straight arm, straight leg, bent waist pull to invert.


This is me me attempting a bent arm, straight leg (one bent), straight waist pull to invert. As you can see my waist is slightly bent. Also, I failed to get to the inverted position on this one (I'm tired today).

Finally, here is a video that demonstrates the straight arm, straight body pull to invert.