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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 19, 2015 - 10:36am PT
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I know little about levers of different types other than my own weak attempts, but this fellow certainly seems to get into some incredible positions!
I'd love to read some thoughts of others here. Tami? I know Timid Toprope does this stuff all the time, but it looks way hard to me!!
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Mar 19, 2015 - 10:52am PT
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John Gill was doing that sh#t fifty years ago. With mountain boots.
And he didn't need those earbuds for aid, either.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 19, 2015 - 11:07am PT
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BWA HA HA hahahaaa!!
Ghost, you're just jealous.
Speaking of chiles, I've got some good starts indoors, and some little bitty ones too. Early Jalapeno, a couple kinds of Habanero, Black Pearl, Poblano, Chervena Chujska (never heard of 'em before) and some Hot Lemon. I've got some Thai plants that overwintered also. Fingers crossed.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Mar 19, 2015 - 02:37pm PT
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What Ghost said.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 19, 2015 - 03:08pm PT
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Yeah like you guys aren't impressed with Frank's moves!
He does a ton of stuff beyond levers that would apply to climbing. Pull-ups, various mantles, side pulls etc.
I betcha Gentleman John has something nice to say!
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Mar 19, 2015 - 03:50pm PT
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Have you seen what the fellas are doing these days on still rings?
I dunno. What I saw was a bunch of guys who don't seem to know that lycra was already over twenty years ago. And lycra with tube socks? What a bunch of losers. They'd get laughed out the door at any climbing gym.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Mar 19, 2015 - 03:54pm PT
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Just wonderin' if he does anything useful with all those muscles?
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Mar 19, 2015 - 04:22pm PT
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Medrano does some cool calesthenics but the gymnastics guys are in another league in both strength and coordination.
Modrano has nothing special going on in the lever department and almost never holds 'em. But kudos for doing them with shoes on, which adds some difficulty, and he does have an interesting lever done palms up. The handstand press out of a planche is nice, probably his hardest trick, but again nothing special compared to the ring guys. He doesn't ever seem to do his one-arm pullups all the way up for some reason. His forte is stringing together interesting calisthenic routines involving fun and surprising combinations and sure, he is stronger than 99.9% of the athletic world.
Lynne, do you think climbing is more "useful" than calisthenics?
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L
climber
California dreamin' on the farside of the world..
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Mar 19, 2015 - 04:33pm PT
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I wonder if the ladies of Stuportopo have been enjoying Frank?
What say girls?
Frank's muscle definition is pretty amazing, I've got to say. Like one of those anatomy charts you see in biology class. And some of the tricks he performs are...well...simply incredible.
But overall, aesthetically speaking, I sort of felt like I was watching a Praying Mantis in lime green Nikes trying to figure out which end belonged in the air.
If you know what I mean. :-)
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 19, 2015 - 04:39pm PT
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I dunno. What I saw was a bunch of guys who don't seem to know that lycra was already over twenty years ago. And lycra with tube socks? What a bunch of losers. They'd get laughed out the door at any climbing gym.
Ghost is certainly feeling froggy today!
Great comments gang. This is what I was hoping for. Not an Earth shattering thread, but the dude is pretty badass it seems to me.
She said Praying Mantis trying to decide which end belongs in the air, heh heh...
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Mar 19, 2015 - 05:01pm PT
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Frank Medrano is fabulous. He has carried non-gymnastic bodyweight exercises to new levels. Some of his tricks are not that hard, but he does them stylishly, like "walking" up invisible stairs or sliding his hands back and forth across the bar while suspended from it. Kudos to this young guy!
The still rings ruined my shoulders, but they were great fun. However, men's gymnastics has changed quite a bit from where it was 60 years ago when I was learning stunts. Not only are the moves quite a bit harder but the physiques of the gymnasts have changed.
John Beckner was the top male American gymnast in the mid 1950s, and he was over six feet tall. Very sturdily built but not what you see today. These days male gymnasts are usually about 5'2" - 5"6" and they are quite a bit more muscular than in my time. Hence the moves you see in that video that would be incredibly hard for a six footer, if not virtually impossible. But I've learned to never say never!
In the video the move called an "inverted swallow" was called a "Victorian" or "Victorian cross" previously. I came up with the idea about 55 years ago and tried hard to pull up from a front lever, but could only hold the position at most a second. At 6'2" I really didn't have a chance.
Where you see the gymnast rolling from below into a swallow and a cross was a move I think I saw an American competitor doing in Bartlett Gymnasium at the U of Chicago just prior to the Pan American Games in August of 1959. I couldn't believe how light he seemed.
At that time the hardest thing I could do was something now called an "elevator" from a front lever: from a hang pull straight body through a front lever continuing inverted into an handstand. At the time it went beyond the C category (A,B,C) into new levels of difficulty, although I learned it from a alumnus of the U of C team and saw it done by several athletes. It's probably considered moderate now, maybe a D move - like a 5.10, which was pushing new levels in the 1950s.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Mar 19, 2015 - 05:41pm PT
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Just to clarify a bit, if I had all that strength and fitness going for me I'd get out doors and have fun. I guess some people just like working out indoors. Go figure. We're all created differently. I'll take mediocrity and play in the sun, wind and rain. :)
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 19, 2015 - 06:46pm PT
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Thanks John. I was so hoping you'd see this too.
I win the bet with myself, John said nice stuff!
Lynne, I was thinking the same thing when I saw Franks indoor routine.
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WBraun
climber
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Mar 19, 2015 - 07:56pm PT
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Frank looks kinda weak.
He should work out more ....
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Mar 19, 2015 - 08:20pm PT
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Frank has got some style prolly invoked from the urban gymnast doing gymnastics and dance moves off of car hoods, flagpoles, and handrails and such. AKA, The Environment. It's quite skillful and entertaining:)
But if you want to add some adventure to ur environment. Then you got to step up to The King's Throne;
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 20, 2015 - 07:37am PT
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Eeeewwwwww!! Now I'll have that stuck in my head!
Scary Bulgarian women? I thought it was mostly the East German gals that went for beards....
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Mar 20, 2015 - 09:01am PT
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"I need a women about twice my size"
A women of nobility( inbred ) gentility,( still feminine ) and Rage! ( suffering from steroid abuse)
It. Takes all kinds, not that I go that way but the song is the best for pointing out
I Need A Miracle Every Day, to much of every thing and the dynamite thing too.
Also in - When I Paint my Master Piece. The women full of muscles, line?
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 20, 2015 - 10:59am PT
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I need a West LA girl, already know what I need to know....
Name, address and phone number lord, just how far to go!
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LongAgo
Trad climber
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Mar 20, 2015 - 06:14pm PT
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Lynn said:
"Just wonderin' if he does anything useful with all those muscles?"
Somehow I think he has found many uses for those and other muscles and all his sensuous movements, well beyond gymnastics. Think so?
Even Longer Ago
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Mar 20, 2015 - 08:00pm PT
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He doesn't ever seem to do his one-arm pullups all the way up for some reason (rgold)
I think he might have better orthopedic advice than you or I may have been exposed to, Rich. At 78 I find that if I do more than three (normal) pull-ups in "official" style - chin well over bar - I experience pain and discomfort in the connective tissues of the elbow. So I don't pull up that high, only to eyeball level when doing my customary ten as a warm-up for the horizontal ladder. And over the years, as I continued doing one-arm pull-ups until about 2007, I gradually reduced the degree of contraction. The result being that I am still in pretty fair shape for suspension exercises even though my shoulders have no cartilage.
I'm curious if any of the older climbers on this site - other than Rich and myself - do bodyweight exercises (particularly suspension, but not climbing moves).
And as Tom mentions above, bodyweight calisthenics can be a practice in themselves and not necessarily done as training for another sport.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Mar 20, 2015 - 08:15pm PT
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John, I have to confess to using wrist straps in my dotage, which allow me to substantially relax my grip while doing pullups. I actually started doing this quite a while ago, after suffering more or less continually for 20 or 30 years from varying levels of epicondylitis (mostly medial). I imagine my elbows are pretty much all scar tissue at this point.
That said, I'm still pulling hands all the way to upper chest---probably dumb but old habits die hard...
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2015 - 09:14am PT
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This is the money, having some of our best talking about these issues.
I'm impressed that you guys are doing suspension exercises. I have some elbow and shoulder trouble, but nothing extreme.
And me at a youngster's 54, it's motivation that's hard to come by when the nice chairs out on the patio beckon.
How the hell do you guys do it!!??
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Mar 21, 2015 - 09:33am PT
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I think John has explained it: we find it kinda fun. And this is also the answer to Lynne's comment about Frank's muscles not being put to good use. If he's having fun---and the playfulness of his routines certainly suggests that he is---then I'd say his muscles are being put to as a good a use as any other athlete's.
I've certainly cut way back---I always leave at least two rest days between any pullup/lever sessions. I'm still gainfully employed with a long commute, so sometimes I only manage one upper body session per week.
My shoulders hurt on and off. I do dumbell presses to try to keep things from falling apart there.
A pinched nerve in my neck sidelined me for ten weeks recently, and I'm just ramping up again. Man do you lose strength fast at 70+ when you don't do anything!
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Mar 21, 2015 - 09:46am PT
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No Grateful Dead! Survival ha fun words to string together .is how they do it
Although I may be wrong in the case of both men they may tell if we can figure what to ask?
The very rgold and Jgill were both the standards that we of your age aspired to
The jstan needs to chime in then I will have seen the trifecta and will use it to motivate me.
I have joined a gym ,
When some asks after Donnini I say he is the Hannold type freak the Lucky schnook!
one in ten thousand get his DNA mix and most waste it in pursuit of the useless.
Drinking away fitness, basketball and such, . . . . Ho wait ??
That is what my father defined climbing as and he was the first to tie me up and throw me off a rock, I think he meant well and was trying his best.
Most of the rest of us need to study and follow The masters of fitness and mental acuity.
Jgill and rgold.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 21, 2015 - 01:15pm PT
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I agree Gnome.
I play basketball with my kids, but not hard. My daughter is varsity and my son is JV, I have to be careful trying to compete with all that rubbery youth!
They are both doing more body weight cals now, so that is helping to get me going. Just playful games with them. If I start thinking of it as work, forget it.....
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jstan
climber
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Mar 21, 2015 - 08:01pm PT
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Jgill and rgold
Indeed, it was that to which we aspired.
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LilaBiene
Trad climber
Technically...the spawning grounds of Yosemite
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Mar 23, 2015 - 06:08pm PT
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Y'all just made my day. ")
3 months post-surgery and I eeked out a mile in the pool yesterday. There's hope yet!
Handstands by summer!!!
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Mar 26, 2015 - 07:37am PT
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BUMP FOR THE MUTATION, MOTIVATION!
Some are built for speed, some for comfort,
Came a Time for me when I had to choose;
Real Buff or Cream Puff,
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yanqui
climber
Balcarce, Argentina
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Mar 28, 2015 - 06:37am PT
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Tami: was this the handstand video? This one got passed around on my FB links the same day. At any rate, I don't think it's Frank (maybe he just posted it). I don't who it is but the routine is pretty incredible.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Mar 28, 2015 - 06:50am PT
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YES The Trifecta and a nice routine of floor exercises,too!!
Doing my Tai chi at the pond in the cold.[Thats mouse from merced hangin' out]
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harryhotdog
Social climber
north vancouver, B.C.
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Mar 28, 2015 - 09:12am PT
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Elbow problems were mentioned previously depending on how high you raise your body.I am also a youngster of 53 but have been doing chin ups regularly since I was 15. I have found for me the neutral grip takes away most of the stress on the elbow that a pronated grip causes even though the pronated grip most replicates a climbers movement.
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