GST Junkies

We had a good question from one of our listeners, Nick, in regard to training on holidays.

The main topic of the conversation is training on holiday, and the hosts share their personal stories of training while travelling. They discuss the importance of avoiding overtraining before a holiday and the essential equipment to pack for training on the go.

They also share a travel hack for packing carry-on luggage. The conversation ends with a discussion about airport security and the structure of training on holiday. In this part of the conversation, Erdi and StreTch discuss training on holiday and the benefits of taking time off.

They also explore different approaches to training while travelling, including adjusting programs and finding creative solutions. They emphasize the importance of maintaining consistency in training and the potential for improved performance after a break.

They also touch on the challenges of finding training partners and communities in remote locations.

Finally, they discuss how to manage training when going on holiday mid-phase. They provide insights on how to gradually return to training after a break, emphasizing the importance of not overdoing it and considering individual factors.

They also highlight the benefits of training in the morning and having a structured training schedule. The conversation concludes with a discussion about their plans and where listeners can find more information about them. Takeaways

• When going on holiday, adjust your training based on the type of trip and the resources available.
• Taking time off from training can be beneficial for recovery and overall well-being.
• Maintaining consistency in training is important, but it's also okay to prioritise rest during holidays.
• Finding training partners and communities can enhance the training experience while travelling.
• Managing training mid-phase may require a gradual reintroduction to the program and adjusting volume and intensity. After taking a break from training, it is important to gradually ease back into it to avoid overcompensation and potential setbacks.
• Training in the morning can help establish a routine and ensure that it gets done before other activities and distractions arise.
• Having a structured training schedule can help maintain consistency and prevent time from being eaten up by other activities.
• Stretch Rayner is launching Vitality Beyond 40, a health coaching program focused on nutrition, stress management, and gut health.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Settling in Sunshine Coast

03:13 Challenges of Finding a Rental in Sunshine Coast

06:19 Training on Holiday

13:10 Training Stories While on Holiday

18:32 Avoiding Overtraining Before a Holiday

23:20 Essential Equipment for Training on Holiday

28:00Travel Hack: Packing Carry-On Luggage

30:31 Airport Security and Intimidating Experiences

31:07 Structure of Training on Holiday

36:22 Benefits of Holidays

43:32 Adjusting Training During Holidays

48:24 Training with Others

53:35 Training in Remote Locations

59:46 Managing Training Mid-Phase

01:03:45 Returning to Training After a Break

01:06:23 Importance of Training in the Morning

01:07:23 The Benefits of Having a Structured Training Schedule

01:09:24Wrap-up and Future Plans

The debate about quality over quantity in the fitness industry, including gymnastics strength training, stems from differing perspectives on how to achieve optimal results and prevent injury.

• Quality Advocates: Emphasize the importance of proper form and technique during exercises. They argue that performing fewer repetitions with correct form is more effective for building strength, preventing injuries, and promoting long-term success.

• Quantity Advocates: Argue that volume and repetition are essential for skill development and muscle adaptation. They believe practising movements more frequently, even if it means occasionally sacrificing perfect form, helps improve overall proficiency over time.

Are you quality over quantity or quantity over quality?

Erdi and Stretch share their experience and insight.

Ultimately, the debate between quality and quantity often comes down to finding a balance that aligns with individual goals, abilities, and preferences. Both aspects have their merits, and a well-rounded approach that considers both quality and quantity can be effective for overall fitness and performance.

Welcome back to another episode of GST Junkies.

This month, Erdi and Stretch share some less well-known flexibility secrets.

There are loads of great tips in this episode that you can experiment with in your own flexibility training.

How the environment you train in can impact your flexibility progress.

Some different flexibility methods:

• Reach to Target
• Ballistic (or pulsing) stretching
• Bent-Joint to straight Joint (example is bent-knee to straight leg squat to pike)
• Bent-Knee to increase hip abduction as it takes tension out of the gracilis
• Super Set Agonist Ant-Agonist Muscle Groups (Tailor pose & Quadrupedal Hip Abductions)Contract-Relax-Agonist-Contract (CRAC) method

Along the way, we talk about pike flexibility, middle splits flexibility, shoulder flexibility and a lot more.

Today’s episode discusses some key concepts around training more advanced gymnastics skills.

Having a few basics is essential before you start chasing the more advanced skills. What are the basics? Once you've got the basics, what's next? A strong pull-up and dip often lead to the goal of muscle-ups.

After you achieve a muscle-up, you can move on to goals like forward and backward rolls.

Another common goal is the press to handstand. So, are the prerequisites? Some people are strong but not flexible. Others are flexible but not strong. Do you need both?

A lot of skills require a list of key attributes. Flexibility, strength, movement awareness, balance, coordination, etc... All of this can be very taxing on the mind. Instead of trying to master the skill and all of its attributes at once, can we find a clever way to remove certain attributes so we have less to focus on?

When aiming to build the strength required for skills, are eccentrics enough?

What about concentric and isometrics?Our experience with handstand push-ups and the one-arm chin-up.

The journey towards gymnastics skills is neverending; once we unlock a certain movement, it typically opens the door for a whole new level of skill.

Can you touch your toes?
If not, you'll want to listen to this episode of the GST Junkies podcast, where Erdi and StreTch talk all things pike flexibility.

We cover:

- Why should you work on your pike?
- As an "unflexible adult", where do you even start?
- Why core compression strength and pike flexibility go hand in hand.
- Lengthen then strengthen or strengthen then lengthen?
- Using gravity to your advantage.
- Jefferson Curl's prerequisites
- Different flexibility methods and ideas.
- How long before you can perform a perfect pike?
- Overstretching and injury
If you're an adult gymnastic skill seeker that wants to improve your flexibility, you'll want to listen to this one.
Happy Pike Training.

This week, Erdi and Stretch share their unique stories and training philosophies, explaining how they got into gymnastics strength training.

They have worked with clients face-to-face in London, opened gyms, and now moved their business online.

Their journey has led them to where they are today.

They delve into why they choose to train GST, the values they uphold, and the aspects of their lifestyle that have influenced this style of training. Discover who they enjoy working with and what they love about training.

All the answers are here.

As an adult, mastering the skill of balancing on your hands can prove to be quite daunting. 

Overcoming the fear of being upside down, falling, and failing is the first challenge in this journey. 

Building the necessary strength and flexibility to maintain a freestanding handstand is the next step. 

But where does one begin? 

For those new to handstands, it’s crucial to avoid the common mistake of trying to kick-up and balance in the middle of the room. This approach can impede progress and hinder advancement towards your goals.

Instead, it’s important to take a step back, let go of ego, and focus on building a strong foundation of strength and flexibility. 

Wondering where to begin? 

Check out episode 5 of the GST Junkies podcast for helpful tips and insights.

Unlocking new gymnastic moves requires strength, flexibility and skill.

Often we see people sticking to a specific style of training. If you enjoy training strength, you may need to get stronger to unlock a particular gymnastics skill.

So, you continue to build strength and train the skill.

If you enjoy flexibility training, you may need to get more flexible to unlock a particular gymnastics skill.

So you continue stretching and training the skill.

But what if the shortcut to unlocking the skill is the element you need to practice?

Erdi and StreTch share how gymnastic skill seekers can often make fast progress by switching focus.

You may not need to train to unlock the skill, which we call free gains.

In this episode of GST Junkies, Erdi and Stretch take about flexibility training.

What led both of them to start doing more flexibility?

Why has it taken so long for the fitness industry to adopt flexibility training?

What about the "research" around flexibility making you weak, slow, and more prone to injury?

Is it true?

Or is it BS?

What are some of our favourite flexibility methods?

Where should beginners start?

How to include more flexibility in your existing training?

Flexibility training frequency and volume.

All in all, it's a general introduction to flexibility training.

Enjoy.

You'll get a lot from this episode if you're a gymnastics skill seeker looking to get your first chin-up or looking for some training ideas to increase your chin-up strength.

In this episode, Erdi and StreTch talk about:

- Why do chin-ups and pull-ups?

- How they got their first chin-up

- Arching or Hollow Body Chin-ups?

- Progressions they use to help online students get their first chin-up

- Isometrics chin-up holds

- Eccentric Chin-ups

- Pause method Chin-ups

- Partial rep Chin-ups

- Should you use a band for chin-ups

- Thoughts on kipping 

- Accessory work

- Shoulder stability with external rotator and lower trap work

Happy chin-ups

What are your gymnastics strength and flexibility goals?  

Are they SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely)?

In this episode StreTch and Erdi share:

- Their current strength and flexibility goals.

- The importance of setting training goals.

- Motivation and sense of direction.

- Breaking bigger goals down into smaller milestones.

- Not putting all your eggs in one basket and looking at the bigger lifestyle picture.

- Embracing failure.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Happy Training.