Why do Men's Gymnasts have such Big Biceps? 

Why do gymnasts have large biceps Answer: Because they use them Great analysis *claps*

Gymnastics coach here, firstly gymnasts use almost exclusively body weight conditioning. It’s important to remember that most of the gymnasts in this video started gymnastics very young, sometimes three or four years of age. As a coach I don’t have my guys touch weights until they are at least 13 years old, but they will start doing body weight strength training the first day they start gymnastics. We have specialized workouts specifically for the skills in gymnastics. Gymnasts do not train to get a particular esthetic result, we are looking for the strength to do the necessary skills. For instance I have level 9 gymnasts at my gym who have been training to get a cross for over two years now but they are no where near the required strength yet. About once a week we do “ring strength” where I give out conditioning for the skills you see on the rings this is mostly cross pulls, dips, muscle ups, and press handstands. There are some things you can do with weights to help your rings, but very few gymnasts actually do them, and too much weight training can harm your rings. Most of the strength gymnasts develop for the rings is from doing strength training on the rings. Gymnastics is a completely different sport to something like body building so it’s very hard to compared the two. The most important difference in my opinion is that the gymnasts body is a side effect of the training and is never considered a goal during their career. We also train to use the full body in most of our strength training, so isolating is not really seen when working out. You’ll see gymnastics normally break their workouts down to legs, arms, and core. They will then do body weight workouts to develop these parts of the body. Pommel horse is also mostly core with some triceps. I could go on for a while about this, but I’ll stop before this comment gets any longer. I don’t mean to be rude or disrespectful but this video clearly doesn’t have a good understanding of my sport so it might be better to do more research and then reupload otherwise this is really just spreading misinformation.

Why are baseball players good at throwing balls?

In this video: RU-vid Bodybuilder discovers olympic athletes

Those guys are basically Tarzan all of them.

Only rings I do are Onion Rings :(

Why would this even be a question. Look at literally everything they do as gymnasts. Kinda need those arms.

Being able to hold those "weird poses" (like the Iron cross, Planche or Maltese) is what gives gymnasts big arms and shoulders because those skills are really intense on those muscles. They train to achieve and perform these type of skills and the side effect is that they get this muscular physique. I'm a gymnast myself btw

Not just biceps, but triceps and shoulders.

Bodybuilders arent gonna incorporate gymnastics regardless of its effectiveness because the could never throw around their overly muscular bodies.

Answer: They do 5 hours of training, 6 days a week.

Difference between gymnast biceps and body builder bicep is first has functional muscle and the other has aesthetics only..

Thier workouts are almost entirely arms and shoulders its crazy

I've been lifting for 37 years. Competed bodybuilding and powerlifting. The one thing I learned. If you want aesthetically pleasing muscle hypertrophy it is all about time under tension. These guys experience extreme time under tension. Powerlifters do not and generally have a completely different development. When I switched my training from 5x5 to 5x12, I built a physique. Peak, bellies and denseness.

You can tell he really researched well, especially since he barely knew what any of the exercises were called, didn’t even know a damn planche

Iron cross and maltese hit the biceps really hard, started training those skills a year ago and my biceps mutated

A lot of these gymnastic men, have better builds than a lot of actual body builders.

Gnarly amounts of discipline. My bro owns a gymnastics center. It's crazy. Lil kids walking around on their hands, six packs and lil dudes doing flips off of spring boards. It's a trip.

2:33 looking like Randy orton

The double front biceps pose hanging from rings is actually easier than making that crucifix, the horizontal belly down plank is one of the hardest positions to do, it all has to do with leverage, the further your hands are away from your body the harder a static position gets. For this sole reasson you will see that gymnasts especialy on rings are very short, with short arms, on average they are 5'3" or 1,6m. Yuri van Gelder, a top gymnast on rings from the Netherlands, is only 5"3"where the average dutch male is 6'1". This short lenght enhances the muscular look they have, especialy the arms. For a 6' male most of the routines these top athletes do would be impossible, the force needed having the same proportions as the 5'3" athlete between lenght, arm lenght and muscle size goes up proportionaly for arm lenght but by the third power for the proportional larger body (and thus muscle size), so it is 1.125x for the longer arms but also 1.43x for the bigger body. this means the 6' athlete, being 1.125 times as tall must be 1.6 times as strong to perform the same routines, but this means there is a mismatch between muscle mass which is 1.43x more and needed strenght which is 1.6x more (1.125x1.43), so there is a physical disadvantage. Yuri van Gelder weighs 63kg /139lbs, while that 6' male having similar body proportions had to weigh 101kg/222lbs, the extra muscle mass needed to be 1.6 times as strong would raise his weight even more, and so there is a point where a human is too tall to overcome this physical disadvantage

I don't really watch the olympics either but this is an interesting discussion

0:26 404 triceps not found

5:15 this one is a machine...look at his left eye :)

They have the best physic of any athlete in my opinion.

High reps and muscles under tension for long periods of time. That is a recipe for size and shred. Look at a woman figure skaters legs. My Dad has never worked out but he has changed tractor tires for 40 years. That steel belt reinforced rubber is stiff. If you try and make a pry faster than the rubber will flex your bar just jumps out. It can take 30 seconds of constant tension with slow movement to move the tire iron 24 inches with your hand to move the bead of the tire 2 inches. Between that and swinging a 12 pound hammer on a 2 foot long handle Dad is big and strong and in good shape. He is still a beast and he is 65 years old. I guess in the end there is no way to look like you work hard without working hard. If you want to be big and strong earn it. When you have a tire that weighs 500-800 lbs. and you bend over and stand it up then roll it over to the machine and push it up the side of the rim that will tie in with total body strength. I have seen him squeeze pliers so hard that the handles broke. Not many guys his age are still being called big guy by a lot of people. He has earned his size and strength. He loves to eat meat, potatoes, green veggies and drink milk.

Why does Nick have such a big biceps? Is he secretly a gymnast?

When they hang from the rings like that, I feel my shoulders popping out.

Core strength as well in all of these moves. Mega core strength

Their arms would look insane if they brought the triceps up to match the biceps.

Keep in mind many of these guys are about 5'4. Gymnastics is a sport that selects short muscular or short mesoporphic types. How guys 6'0 or over in gymnastics? But one thing for sure, chins/pulls build bigger arms.

When I was in high school i had the pleasure to meet "The Lord of the Rings", Jury Chechi, italian gymnast and gold medalist at Atlanta '96. Very short man but Jeez was he jacked!

Gymnasts are usually pretty small, so it looks even bigger

Male gymnasts also have well defined latissimus dorsi muscles. They do a lot of static exercises to strengthen the muscle groups and move into dynamic exercises which are usually a part of the routine that is performed. I think it's an awesome workout.

The thing you did not mention was straight arm leverage. That is the thing that most other fitness people are not incorporating and could benefit from. Yes they also do rope climbs and weights. But you should search the term straight arm leverage to get a better understanding of whats going on.

An easy answer: Gymnasts (especially on still-rings) use biceps really really much to keep their arms safe and powerful in locked out position. - I'm just a Calisthenics athlete, but my training routine is almost static-skills (on rings, bars) and i know that. - You guys just go on the rings and do Dips exercise with fully locked out on top. You will understand that.

and football players have extreme legs and disproportionate to their body for "Angel Di Maria", He is thin as stick but he got legs like wow.

I did gymnastics and we never really used weights other than ankle weights for abs sometimes and dumbbells for preacher curls if we needed to strengthen our elbow ligaments. We developed muscle because we used them so often. We practiced about 12-16 hours a week on skills. For olympians it’s 30-36 hours. I also believe that because there are a lot of power movements to move us up, around, through the air, etc., and under control with good form, that we have very well developed type II fibers along with developed stabilizer muscles that may not be trained as well as only weight training might. The bicep also helps contribute to shoulder flexion, and swinging on both bar events, rings, and pommels require changes in shoulder angle while under full body tension, so that probably helps develop the arms too, despite the arms being straight. Straightened arms and body also increase the radius which adds more torque, meaning more force output is needed to do the same movements, yielding greater results.

I’ve been using rings for years they are great for bicep contraction

The elite gymnasts I know.... including an Olympic bronze medalist, do not work out with weights at all... I’m wondering where you got that information from?

There was this girl in my 6th grade class who was INSANELY STRONG compared to everyone else, even the boys. We later found out that she took gymnastics her whole life

T-POSE

Do a video on UK Rugby players build. I like that look.

bicep curls are completely overrated. Pullups and rings work is what I do now for biceps

I simply do pull-ups with different hand variations-and already I see a difference. Biceps sore af for days if you do enough. I did like 8-12 sets of 6-8 reps. Squeezing and holding and focusing only on my biceps to do the work instead of my back and the lats still gets work. It works!! 👍🏾👍🏾

Thicc bois

*Likes before watching*

5:11 when you flex so hard you bust blood vessels in your eyes

Yeah man I bet these guys could do 50-100 pull ups in a row. Crazy development.

No, they don’t do any bodybuilding routines. Bodybuilding and strength classical training they decrease their skill. Also, they have a lot of core strength. Instead they train up to 6h/day, 5-6 days/weeks. Ok, I talk only from perspective of Romania gymnastics team, in US could be different.

*They Skip Legs Day And Do The Biceps Instead :P*

Gymnastics was really good to me, and I just quit a few months ago and started wrestling. Gymnastics got me a pretty lean physique and really helped me out in wrestling

On gymnastics arms do all together: big volume, long time under tension, high intensity, high frequency, explosive movements, functional and non functional movement, that's why they are so developed

nick I wanted to say as a still ring athlete myself one of the things we do that other athletes don't is something called straight arm strength. in all of the static holds we are required to have completely straight arms and people think it unloads the weight from the bicep but its actually the opposite look up exercises for a movement called the planche and try them yourself you might fall in love and you will definitely feel your biceps in a way you haven't felt before! love your content keep it up!

That Jonathan Horton guy has thos eluimarco peaks on a dailyyyyyy

From my one season as a gymnast, working only Still Rings, I can honestly say that as a very slender guy, this event and the training behind it, definately built me up. Some training involved were hand stand push ups on parallel bars (w/ a spotter) and up against a wall, along with standard push ups or bench pressing, and other weight lifting that would focus on similar movements. Also, gave you great abs as well. I was very toned, lean and fit at the end of the season,and the babes liked it as well. Love Still Rings, P-Bars, and Floor Ex the best when watching the Olympics.

Do pull-ups, LOTS of them...and in a variety of grips...you’ll get those guns! 💪🇺🇸💪

Nick bro you're killing it with the uploads. This channel is what got me interested in bodybuilding and I'm so thankful for you

Right on! Their pound for pound strength is out of this world too!

VOLUME! Moderate weight (for them) and practice everyday. Basically nucleus overload!

Wow these guys are jacked. They cant be on any peds bc they probably get tested. Really impressive

Check out Nile Wilson's RU-vid channel to see how a current world class men's gymnast trains

Love the diversity of your topics man! You’re killing it this week

Hey Nick, Love the video. Just wanted to clarify something. I know that some of the high level gymnast do use some weights, but I would venture ti say that the majority of their development comes primarily from bodyweight training. My daughter was a state champion at 12 years old, and everywhere we went people would comment on her muscular developemnt, and her best friend, had even more of a build than her. Talking to the coaches, I asked about some of the older girls and the boys. It was explained to me that most coaches discouraged weight training because of a fear putting on muscular weight that would hinder movement ( the lighter the better). The other thing is even at 11, my daughter was training 4 hours a day 5 to six days a week, so there was no time for weight training, and the upper level gymnast were already there training when we arrived. It's pretty embarrassing to hear, 40 year old dad's standing around talking about how they'd love to built like there 11 and 12 year old daughters

Great video again Nick 💪

Great topic! However please do note that a lot of these moves (iron cross for example) are extremely demanding for your tendons (especially bicep). Take it slow and follow the progression to let your tendons get used to these positions.

Want to give serious answers to the questions... ask a gymnast before making this video.

Awesome info Nick!

Love your videos Nick. First series that I can watch over and over again and I believe it is in large measure because you are authentic, direct but fair and balanced whenever you review a subject. Awesome Job! Now, this gymnast thing...if you look at male Olympic Gymnasts, you will see that these world class "functionally" trained bodies/athletes share many proportions and aesthetics with classic body builders (not necessarily today's mass monsters). These guys are truly in amazing shape!! To be fair, gymnasts are usually quite short, so not sure how that impacts muscular development (I suspect it helps). Any way, kudos again on your videos Nick...keep it up sir! Terry

NICK- I was in the Army from the time I was 18 and I did so many pullups my arms got to 18 3/4 inches WITHOUT lifting weights... so it's possible!

Straight arm strength.

The thumbnail literally gives us everything we need to know lmao

I have been doing street workout (calisthenics) sice I was a kid. I'm still doing it, but I train at the gym as well. From my experience I have to say that "secret" of the big biceps calls hammer curl. Doesn't matter if you are using the rings or the bar. Any pull up that works like a hammer curl will help you develop your biceps. This is why gymnastic guys have big biceps. The big part of movements that they perform on the bar or ring its a hammer curl equivalent movement.

You could have looked at different holds such as the Maltese, planche, iron cross, Victorian cross, and handstands to better understand the muscle groups utilized.

Gotta be eatin all them clen chickens bro

The more interesting question is, why do the grow given they are trained 7 days a week? Over and over again! Are they not overtraining?

Thank you for this video... it improved my mood this morning

As a general statement, pullups will always beat curls for developing big biceps. Gymnastics, specifically, opens the shoulder joint up quite nicely too, stretching the bicep at the upper insertion. The most basic premise is this- Pullups, and stretching your shoulders/pecs/biceps from a hanging position. Do both.

Blaha is right. Weighted chin ups all day baby!

Nice video. Consider adding ring dips in addition to ring pullups. For the iron cross, which you called a crucifix, is chest strength. Not bench press chest strength, but the ability to not rip apart while holding the iron cross. Another important aspect for nearly all men's gymnastics is extreme core strength.

I really like and love your videos Nick.. greetings and keep going with this enjoyable content..

Recently used rings for the first time. Pure full body strength and stamina to the test. I wish I had gotten into them sooner as even just the grip and wrist strengthening benefits from a few short routines altered my overall experience.

Could also be nucleus overload since they are probably practicing there ring routine almost everyday

This was an interesting topic, thanks!

LOL. i can't remember the last time i saw a less informative video. love how this guy seems like he just noticed men's gymnastics for the first time in his life, LOL lol.

Also the core. Those dudes have a bloody iron core.

-Elite Olympic tier genetics -Training everyday since childhood -Lots of volume = muscles.

Doing hefesto/back lever muscles up on rings, one arm pull ups, and pull ups/weighted pull ups really works the bicep.

The crazy way these use the upper body so much, whole lot of work

Oddly enough pummel horse flairs etc uses WAY more technique and flexibility. You would be surprised how little energy gets taken from your arms

A lot of it has to do with their isometric exercises involving extreme straight arm tension. I do some ring workouts, and doing type writer pull ups, for example, is extremely stressful on my biceps and elbow joints. You can then get an idea as to how they build such mass in their arms after doing all that for hours every day.

I plan on becoming a pro gymnast later in my years. The floor routine is a grounding experience.. Rings are incredibly important to me and It's crazy how it develops physique in these guys.

Straight arm strength, I know it sounds weird, cause when the arms are fully extended you would expect the triceps to be working instead of the biceps, but its actually simple physics. Take a look at the Iron Cross: what does gravity wanna do to your already fully extended arms? It wants to hyper extend them and basically break the elbow joint, and since we wouldnt want that to happen, the Biceps are forced to fully activate even though they are on their weakest position. This provides such a huge stimulus for growth to the biceps that they end up getting huge. Combine this with the fact that they do a lot of volume with all the routines practice and the result makes sense.

3:58 that guy looks like randy orton

Nick’s strength and gymnastics

I was on crutches for 6 months after a severe lower body injury playing hockey. At the end a gymnast friend of mine commented on how big my arms and shoulders had gotten. I knew they were getting stronger to compensate but when I really gauged it they had grown over 1.5 inches. My arms are not "big" but after 6 months basically walking everwhere on my upper body......they BLASTED OUT. From 15" to almost 17. Nuts how the body makes thise jumps.

If you take a close look at the typical training of a gymnast, you'll see that the big difference with any other "weight lifter" is in the isometric principle, the gymnasts make a large use of. Their pull-ups last - each - 6-7 seconds, with at least 5 secs in isometric equilibrium. This explains why they are able to keep static postures for a long time (on the rings, mainly): their bodies are conditioned to use ALL muscles involved in the effort, in a "resistance" isometric coordination. Therefore, as well as the other muscular groups, their biceps are accustomed to explosive force AND isometric resistance. Most apparently, this shapes their biceps the way you observed.

They are short and they build that muscle over 10 years. Watch some junior gymnasts. They have only a little more muscle compared to other kids their age, but they are shredded.

also pommel horse take alot of wrist strength too. but thk u for this video u reminded me that my dad used to do this before i was born and he was good at it and showed me how to do some b4 when i was young AF in 1984...ah memories..thk u nick.

I’m probably gonna add a couple of straight arm flagpoles into my routine as well

Really interesting topic. I’ve always wondered this myself.