Gymnastic Bodies Programs Review

Screenshot of the entire thread with comments:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzRp-cLiZDUJVVc1SVBxdE82QmM/view?usp=sharing

Screenshots, with formatted text:

https://i.imgur.com/dEBvUNW.png
https://i.imgur.com/YvNiKde.png
https://i.imgur.com/UAil5fc.png

The Complete Review of Gymnastic Bodies Programs

To get this started, I’m going to say that this review isn’t from your average fitness consumer who decided to give GB a try for a few months. Far from it. I was a loyal forum member since 2011, moderator, and lead Coach for Online Certifications. I have followed GB from the very beginning since BtGB, shit…I even have the ancient DVDs still. I have progressed through a very large amount of GBs programming besides that damn manna. If you are curious where I’m at in my training, feel free to look up ‘zmadness17’ on IG. Currently working my way out of 3x3 of full HBPs to the glorious 5x5. Am I the best in GB, far from it. But you can bet your ass I have progressed much farther than most, especially coming from a non-gymnastics background. Take note as I said ‘was’ in the above listings, I am no longer involved with GB. My original post was going to be more spiteful than constructive, but in the interest of protecting those still stuck on the inside, I will spare that part of the post.
For those curious as to why I am no longer with GB, I was demoted from a moderator position for because I didn’t post on the forums for a few days early this summer. For those of you who know me, you will find this laughable. It was a petty excuse. It came down to a sales driven response time on posts on what, quite frankly, was a train wreck of a program to being with (Fundamentals). There was more and more put pressure on moderators (who volunteer their time and experience) to be a slave to the forums. The forum has now been shifted to coaches who are more the faces of GB, those with lots of Facebook and Instagram presence, but with severely less experience than the old crew. But enough of that for now.
Lets get this review underway starting with Fundamentals. Oh boy…what can be said about Fundamentals besides its sloppy cut and paste formatting, poor/lacking form focus points, and horribly rushed roll out. I know there have been many corrections since then, especially coming from GB Coach Wesley Tan based out of the UK, but the initial product was a mess. And the corrections made feel like they have just been spliced in as the result of the avalanche of customer complaints and refund requests. I have heard from many people bitching about the formatting of Fundamentals and the painfully slow method of presentation. The course is dispensed in about 5 minute video chunks each day, and must be unlocked each day to view. The course has what look like fitness models demonstrating remedial exercises with a Cheshire grin, and little explanation. Followed by more videos, the tacked on repair videos with Wesley, and then finally a ‘quiz’ that my pet dog could solve. It’s understandable why people gripe, but not completely out of the overall scheme of GB with it’s emphasis on forced compliance and no thinking. I for one would be pissed too if I paid for Fundamentals only to have a lame ass “Brain Game” rather than getting to do any kind of actual GST workout. Fundamentals, in theory, is a nice way of exposing many weaknesses in general mobility to the public, but this was a move largely to counter GMB’s “Elements” course and of course capitalize on the income from Tim Ferris followers. The product was rushed out to coincide with the airing of his podcast with Coach Sommer. The content of Fundamentals is not enough to justify the annoyance nor the price point of the course. Knowing that many of the elements covered in Fundamentals are “Animal” movements, your time is better spent on YouTube or some of the old school guys like Pavel or Enamait. Even basic flows from the likes of Ido and other Capoeira movements will tell you exactly where your movement ability lies. Bottom line: Save your money on Fundamentals and look up on Youtube: Animal movement exercises & wrist prep.
Foundations: Yay Foundations. Now we are getting to the meat of the GB world. The in/famous core of everything that the rest of your workouts, form, and function will follow. Foundations is structured to work you through 7 progressions leading up to what Coach Sommer call the fundamental GST elements. Each elements progression is broken down into many, many steps. Each step will have a strength exercise that helps build to the big element, and an integrated mobility drill to be performed after each strength set. Sets are done back to back with no rest other than the time it takes to do the paired mobility. The program itself is actually split into four parts. Foundations 1, 2 3, and 4. All seven progressions are started in Foundations 1 and as you move forward you need to purchase the next course, or buy them all from the get go. Foundations is a very good program besides one glaring dark spot; the paired mobility. Now I am NOT saying that the paired mobility exercises are bad. Quite the contrary. There are however some show stopping elements very early on in Foundations that either should not have been placed there or have no impact on the element being trained. Swivel hips is a perfect example of this, the first mobility drill of the straddle planche progression done after scapular shrugs Swivel hips are done seated on the floor by swinging both knees to one side until they touch the floor, and then to the other side. You can’t let your butt lift form the floor while doing it. I know people with great overall hip mobility who can’t do this perfectly. The thing is, I have yet to see any impact on people’s planche progression because they could not master Swivel Hips…period. All your medial glute work needed for straddle planche will start to be addressed in the very next element. Besides working the medial glute mobilities, you will not even begin to use that developed strength until you go much higher up into straddle bent arm planches and single leg planche/half lays. It’s a good thing its being developed so early on, but to have Swivel Hips stop you from all of your progress is just stupid. Hinge Rows…dear god the endless posts on Hinge Rows. Hinge Rows were developed out of necessity because some poor bastards out there had problems with doing a god damn ground row. What it turned into was a battle to ice skate uphill and nitpick every little detail on something that had less of an impact on your actual pulling strength, than it did create the most cases of paralysis by analysis I have ever seen. Tight rotators aside, this movement is more of a cluster fuck than anything I have ever seen. If you haven’t been stretching your whole shoulder girdle prior, loading that stretch certainly isn’t going to help most people. Not to mention the coordination needed to to a wide arm row pull up thing and assisted sit up at the same time. Staying within the confines of F1, the ever most infamous Straddle Ups. Requiring a good degree of flexibility, active strength, compression, and core control; all packaged in your 2nd element. “GG bro” is all I have to say on this. Elbow Side Plank Twist. This should be fairly straight forward, from an elbow side plank, rotate your torso towards the floor. A common place with GB now in that there are too many “official” interpretations of one move with little to no official clarification. Us moderators were often left guessing what ‘correct form’ even was. Cole mentioned to me that Sommer said do it one way while in Stroud, yet until then we were all thinking it was done another way. To make matters worse, the corrected way was very technically challenging to the point that almost no one could do them right. Again why make it so needlessly difficult as the 2nd element in a long progression? Pseudo Planche Push Ups are the last example I’m going to cite. Being a member of this board, I’m going to assume you know what they are. They are the 3rd element in the progression after incline push ups and push up. They should really be placed further down the line somewhere like right before Korean Dips. Expecting people to maintain an active planche lean during a push up is beyond making sense if you haven’t even worked on your planche leans yet which most people starting this haven’t in the program as is. Still in the long run, this is one element that I cannot stress focusing on and getting right enough. Even if you push it to later in your programming when it’s more appropriate. Moving beyond these examples of early roadblocks in the F series. The program is very good. if you can think for yourself. And sticking with it can help you learn how to think for yourself. Knowing that you cannot incrementally jump on your planche progressions every week is a good thing to know. Knowing how to adjust your time or reps if you cannot complete something. Knowing your body is the most important thing. Know what you are capable of, know your capacity, and above all, know your form/position. I learned without a spotter or Coach by simply filming myself and comparing my videos to the BtGB videos. I learned horizontal form on my Back Levers by placing a string between to cheapo lamps from Walmart. Slower progress, sure. Better awareness and control, absolutely. If there is any program you should buy from GB, it should be the Foundation series, with the above noted cautions. Do not over complicate your training. It is by far more beneficial to be more consistent and simple, than complex and over analytical (IT’S A FUCKING PUSH UP FOR FUCK SAKE!!!) Remember and focus on the purpose of the element. Never lose sight of that. Your toe point does not halt your plank progressions. Alex from Italy has a good rule of thumb to follow for Mastery: 1 set of 200% is a good indicator of Mastery; for those of you struggling with bent arm chin holds. The only element which Sommer tested myself and Yuri on at full 5 sets was one arm planks. No rest, no mobility, just switching arms until 5 sets of each was complete…that was brutal, but achieved. That is no longer necessary, nor is super setting tuck, straddle, and V ups. Most people are in this for a good fitness program and nothing more,not looking to be National Champions or Olympians. So don’t beat yourself up if you don’t follow the programming perfectly or if you get injured in some way. No one is immune to injury, period. Thinking you are is asinine.
The Handstand courses: Excellent preparation but not your only source of all things handstands. Yuri Marmerstein’s book is an excellent resource that covers a lot of things that H1 does and more. The mobilities covered in the Handstand courses are amazing, but again, if you are strict on following the programming, you will have your wheels spinning for the better part of a year if not more, stuck on dislocates, which the course expects you to do at just over shoulder width before ever being able to attempt a free handstand. Very good to continually work on, but not a necessity for handstands. The biggest problem I have with the Handstand courses are the lack of explanation of balance. The GB method transitions to balance using forearm supported handstands, that is forearms against a floor pommel. If you are in the forearm support and DON’T know you are only using it as a spot check…you are going to be in for a hell of a time when you begin freestanding.
One hidden gem that exposes a lot of GB seminar material are the products from Coach Keith Pettit. While not as plainly laid out as GB material, Coach Keith’s stuff still shows amazing progressions, including the body line material GB claims as it’s own (it’s not, it’s bog standard gymnastics) and a single course isn’t above $18. Coach Keith’s credentials are good enough to rival Sommer’s any day. Look guys, this stuff isn’t proprietary; it’s just not been heavily exposed until these guys released their stuff.
My take on the Handstand courses is it’s a good buy if you use it along with outside sources. There are a lot of good drills that you will continue to reference for a long time. The wrist prep is by far a gold mine in itself, but has been shown elsewhere. For example, Yuri’s wrist video explains it along with many other excellent stretches he came up with for a fraction of the cost. For as cheap as Yuri’s seminars are, your money is better spent on someone more humble and less egotistical. Your first GB seminar day is spent by Sommer talking about himself, his money, and influence, winners do X no matter what and…blah, blah, blah.
Next GB course up for review is the good ole Rings course. The mindset of GB is that you should have a large amount of F2-4 completed before the rings course. But now I hear they are offering a Rings seminar and dream machine at Awaken to fast track people?! Huh. The rings course is what you would expect it to be. Various support holds, pushing, pulling, back lever work, minor swinging. Considering the course, keep this in mind…kids in gymnastics gyms routinely work on the rings at early ages (5+). Don’t be a stupid shit on the rings and you won’t get hurt. Simple as that. Work your support holds, do your pushups, turn your rings out, and you will see the benefits. Save your money and look for material elsewhere.
Stretch series This is a bag of mixed nuts. The course is treated with brute force and with a workout feeling to it. To say that it “blows Kit’s stuff out of the water” is whistling Dixie. The series works for some people, others, not so much. Seth aka Manbun.gst posted an interesting pic on his IG account of his progress on middle splits…or severely lack thereof after ~6 months of GB stretch. Seth is a great guy and I know he is very diligent on his routines, so I know he didn’t skip any sessions. But for GB to say this is the only stretch course you will need is bullshit. My body absolutely hated the high stress of the Stretch series. This is where guys like Kit Laughlin, Craig Mallett, and Emmet Louis excel; again, for a fraction of the cost if not for free. Considering the asking price for EACH of the 3 courses, this is a definite pass. There are more than enough free/low cost resources on the internet for you to figure out how to stretch effectively.
Movement Course Nice try, but no cigar. Shitty cues if any cues are even given at all. Another rushed program. You can’t learn tumbling by a 10s video clip with no explanation, and even the usually clear GB programming is completely missing here. Find a basic tumbling class near you and save yourself the headaches. As basic as GB makes it seem, tumbling is something you want good feedback and coaching on as you can develop piss poor habits quickly. If you are HS savvy enough, add some animal movements/cart wheels combined going in/out of handstands.
*Online classes with Pro + * Dear god. I am going to be a bit salty on this one, but only on Pro +. I developed a new Online Coaching Program for GB and was even given the green light from Sommer to have Cory implement, only to have it hamstringed literally the very next day because Pro + was supposed to be the end all be all of automated algorithms, ensuring no student would ever again be stuck in their program. We all see how well this progressed, students are still stuck and confused… It blows my mind that GB invested so heavily into thinking students were struggling with just numbers concerning sets and reps. They highly underestimate the human element, be it through lack of education, misinformation, or ignorance, people don’t just know how to make training decisions for themselves. An automated program, with a mediocre interface is just not going to be enough to get students through their training hurdles. A lot of the real word problems with Pro + are basics interface issues, like people just not logging their workouts, or finishing some sets and not others. Pro+ should be making this easier and not pretend to be an automated coach in a box.
Losing my Online Coaching Program literally over the course of a night was bullet dipped in shit that put me down for GB. The Online Classes portion of the Pro+ package is another cluster that shows you the lack of quality control that GB has produced. One example being the Online Classes now introduced students with a THIRD variation of form on a lot of the elements, furthering the confusion on what is “right” for GB standards. The first standard being that in the course video, the second that is shown in the recently tacked on explanatory videos, and now a 3rd and usually by far the sloppiest form show is in the online classes. Any exposure to Awaken is more about the glamour of the models who are always smiling. This program is no different. The pace of the online classes is suddenly much quicker than shown in the core demo videos and the standard GB student is not ready for it, so with that came serious form degradation. It was “assumed” that you perform at the pace of Online Classes with GB Mastery form…which, hilariously, isn’t displayed in the videos…yet it’s coming from the “Mecca of GST” “the Only Master Affiliate”. Skip this bullshit entirely and save a lot of headache.
Almost done and moving on with Thrive. If you have a safe place you need to be to comfort yourself from “bad things” Jeff Serven, author of the Thrive program, will pinpoint that right away. This is one program that a lot of people have been seeing impressive progress with, along with myself. Even though my diet was beyond the basics of Thrive I, the interaction with Jeff led me beyond even what I thought was a solid part of my routine. The process of making proper eating a habit is spot on here with Thrive. Jeff also actively replies on the forums and will dig out information on something weird if you post it. He has toned down his early going harshness some (as much as a genuine former SEAL can) and does an excellent job getting to everyone’s post. Everyone knows how to “eat well”, but sometimes you just need something to follow just like your fitness routine. This is a greenlight program in my book and look forward to the release of Thrive II.
Lastly the Seminars These used to be worth the high cost of admission. Back when Sommer was still an active Coach and still had the same student oriented drive toward his teachings. It’s a different ballgame now where your first day is him just talking and talking and talking. Talking about his money, his power, his business. Talking about how he bought his Porsche with cash. About how GB is going to make $xxx this year. For people just being exposed to Sommer, they will eat this shit up without question. He has a cool rhetoric upon first experience. For those that paid to train their asses off…sorry you spent your money on that, a poor man’s Tony Robbins imitation. In between all the talking, at the level 1 classes, you will be beaten with HS stick drills and endless body line cues. Hollow shape and planche form. Some press HS, but not a lot. Stretching and more stretching. While these are all very important things, is it worth your $1k + travel to do?…well…that’s up to you. There is little depth to be found, little to expand on what’s presented in the courses. The seminars certainly aren’t what they use to be that’s for sure. Anyone who attended the seminars in Arizona will know those were the golden years of GB. That is where we were exposed to the beginnings of Foundations, but a more brutal yet more complete version. At that time, I remember grinding towards mastery of 5x15 Kip extensions, only to have them dropped to 5x5r. Bent Hollow? What the hell is that? Either you were strong enough for straddle and full or you weren’t. You were split according to ability, where we were at the highest group playing with rings like crazy. Going over tumbling, Hungarian series, Yuri taught the HS modules…I mean, this shit was good. Operating on a “continuing education” model of pricing, where you would get 75% off your fourth seminar, 50% off your 3nd, etc… These are the notes I still keep around as they have barely evolved, even from the Masterclass seminars. A few new drills here and there, but nothing that isn’t exposed in course material. What you pay for is the eye of an experienced Coach, but your personal time under that eye generally won’t be much. What that is worth is up to you. The people you meet will probably be your most memorable part of the seminars.
As salty as I am towards GB at this point, I hope that users understand this was built up over damn near 9 years. Being a student of the original book - Building the Gymnastic Body, to an eager seminar attendee, to a GB zealot desperate for GB “praise”, GB Mod, to a beaten Director of Online Training (you should see some of the “affiliates” horrid tests)and still became affiliates anyways due to payment, Awaken Lvl 2 Coach, and finally, now to a man free from the GB system.
I hope these insights and anecdotes will help guide people on their purchasing decisions when comparing different programs. Currently in the works is a collaborative effort to start a new forum from former burned GB members. It will be what a forum should be. Information from skilled and experienced people where we embrace all different modalities of training. No word yet on when this will be launched, but know it will come. Be consistent and keep training, no matter under who’s material.
-Zmadness17