Get Gymnast Fit

Good day everyone!

I just would like to share my response to a question I was asked as to “why would I put skill training almost at the end of a session?”

Skills are definitely hard elements to do. Especially at the beginning, when we are still learning them.

And that is why skills are not something you just “jump into.” Even If you do them right after a quick warm-up, the body simply isn’t ready. The nervous system hasn’t been primed, the muscles aren’t fully coordinated, and the mechanics won’t flow the way it should.

It’s like asking a singer to go on stage without warming up their visualization of the concert’s flow (refreshing the memory on which part comes first with what intonation, with what emotional emphasis, transitioning into what other part and so on) even if the voice has been lightly warmed up — it just won’t sound right.

When we train, the early part of the session is about preparation. We need to wake up the central nervous system, get blood flowing, and run through the small technical pieces that make up the skill. These little pieces teach your body how to coordinate movement, keep the joints safe, and make sure oxygen and nutrients are being delivered where they’re needed. We also need to refresh the memory on any correctional movements (especially if those corrections are relatively new to our perception) we are working on (spine alignment, shoulders position, etc.), otherwise the skill might fail due to misalignment or the shoulders jammed.

Only after all of this is done does the body become “ready” to perform.

That’s why skills belong almost at the end of the session. By that point, the body is tuned, the nervous system is firing at full speed, and everything works together in a smooth, coordinated fashion.

Then, even the hardest elements — planches, iron cross, handstand presses — don’t feel brutally hard. They flow. If a skill feels like a struggle, it usually means some body parts aren’t doing their jobs, forcing others to overwork and compensate. Or the focus is misplaced. Or perception of the movement isn’t quite right. But when preparation is done right, the skill feels light, clean, and natural.

So don’t rush to the “main show.” Build the foundation first, and let the skills shine when the body is fully prepared.

And only when you train your skills to the point of fall automation, then you can come to the gym, warm up lightly, and play with the skills. It’s like for me, It’s super easy to speak Russian in the middle of the night after just being awoken, but if I had to speak English in the middle of the night after just being awoken, that would be a different picture. 🙂

Have a wonderful day everyone! Enjoy your weekend and may the patience be with you. You will need it for the upcoming Monday video.🙄🙂🤝

Cheers,
Maxim

4 days ago | [YT] | 58

Get Gymnast Fit

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope you are ready for a well deserved weekend! I just want ot share something with you. I'm often asked about my own trining plank. Here it is.

Monday, Thursdays - I train at my home studio and do around 70-100 drills of different purposes. Though typically one set each 15-20 reps or 30 sec depending on a drills. I dob't rest much between the drills, just the time it takes to grab a band or small weight or relocate in the gym to do another drill, typically 10-30 sec. Otherwise it is just do one after another. A home session would typically take 2 t o2.5 hours.

Tuesday, Friday - I go to a commercial gym in my neighbourhood to lift some weight. Those sessions are less sofisticated. Before each sessions I'd sped 15-20 minutes on tread mill doing intervals or steady running. I would typically do 2-3 sets, 10-15 reps of each exercises.

Every 2-4 month I would change or trick the contect of my home and gym sessions depending on my needs of body corrections, recovery, golas, and skills I want to work on or maintain.

Apologies for the drills names, those are not commonly known or "official" names. They are mostly of a discriptive nature so that I can understand what my intention was when I was writing the program. And sometimes only I can understand what that or another drill is about. So for many of you the name won't make sense, but at least you can get the general idea of a structure 🙂

I have yet to make a video on how to structure a signal session. I promise It is on my list.

Have a great day everyone!
Maxim

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1 week ago | [YT] | 71

Get Gymnast Fit

Good day everyone!

A small thing to share. I understand that my videos are long and require paying attention in order to grasp the material. Admirably, many of you like it and are willing to do it. For that, I am absolutely grateful! I am also grateful for the time you allocate to watch my videos. I know it's not easy to find that time with all the other things going on in your lives. Thank you for doing it! And thank you for your trust to me as well. I do not take it for granted. I take it with a great sense of responsibility. I mean it.

Therefore, I have decided to post once a week on Mondays to give you an opportunity to catch up with already posted videos. 150+ long videos since the last fall when I started the channel. I think many of you still have something to watch. Plase, give the older videos your attention as well. It's good for the channel and hopefully will be good for you!

Have a wonderful day everyone!
Спасибо всем!

Maxim

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 154

Get Gymnast Fit

Morning my friends,

I hope your day is starting well. I am just curious if you have questions or thoughts on the latest video on the tailbone extension. Please feel free to ask or share. I just think that the tailbone extension topic is extremely important for many skills and our spines health. I also know that it might often be not as intuitive to do as we would like it to be. So what do you think?

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 35

Get Gymnast Fit

Morning my friends, I just uploaded a new video.

It would really mean a lot if you gave it a slightly longer watch when you have a moment.
Or even leve a quick comment - just a wave 👋 or handshake 🤝 or a few words. 
It helps more people see it by telling YouTube that it's worth showing -
especially when comments come in shortly after it’s posted.


These videos take a lot of time and heart to make — and your support really keeps it going.

Here’s the new one 👉 https://youtu.be/qcHKZR0dWOo

Thank you, truly.
– Maxim

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 30

Get Gymnast Fit

It’s not only me who is watching your form when you train with me.

Dr. Masha — PhD in Stretch Science, Stress Psychology, and Advanced Human Emotion Purrsuasion

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 88

Get Gymnast Fit

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I just want to share a couple of frequently asked questions about Jefferson Curls, Back Bridges (Backbends), and Crunches — all of which involve spinal mechanics and deserve careful consideration.

⸻

Jefferson Curls

This exercise involves progressive spinal flexion under load, typically with a barbell or dumbbell. While it may appear to improve mobility, it places eccentric stress on the paraspinal musculature — particularly the erector spinae group, multifidus, and deeper segmental stabilizers like the rotatores and intertransversarii.

The problem lies in asking these muscles — which are primarily designed for spinal stabilization and postural support — to act as prime movers in a lengthened, mechanically disadvantaged position. Initiating concentric contraction from an end-range flexion under load increases the risk of disc herniation, ligament strain, and long-term instability.

Recommendation: I do not advise incorporating Jefferson curls in general training unless under highly specific, therapeutic conditions — and only with exceptional control.

⸻

Back Bridges / Backbends

Bridges involve active spinal extension, requiring concentric contraction of spinal extensors across all three regions:

    •    Cervical: primarily splenius capitis and semispinalis cervicis
    •    Thoracic: erector spinae, especially longissimus thoracis
    •    Lumbar: iliocostalis lumborum, multifidus, and quadratus lumborum

This makes bridges a valuable compression-based strength drill for posterior spinal chains — if executed with segmental awareness. The danger arises when lumbar extension dominates and the thoracic and cervical spine remain passive. In such cases, we see excessive facet joint loading, compromised disc spacing, and shear stress — all of which are contraindicated for individuals with stenosis, spondylolisthesis, or disc bulges.

Recommendation: Can be beneficial, but only if spinal extension is distributed evenly across the entire column and performed with active engagement and preparatory mobility.

⸻

Crunches

Crunches isolate the rectus abdominis, a muscle responsible for spinal flexion from the pubic symphysis toward the sternum. While crunches can strengthen the anterior abdominal wall, their movement pattern promotes segmental lumbar flexion, increasing intradiscal pressure, particularly in the L4-L5 and L5-S1 regions — already the most vulnerable zones for herniation.

In cases of existing lumbar pathology (disc protrusion, annular tears, or central canal stenosis), this repetitive flexion can aggravate the condition. That’s why many institutions — including the U.S. military — have phased out crunches in favor of isometric core drills like planks, which enhance spinal stability without compromising disc integrity.

Recommendation: Useful in moderation and for targeted strengthening, but should not form the foundation of core training. Emphasis should shift toward stabilization-focused strategies that recruit the transversus abdominis, internal obliques, and multifidus in coordinated synergy.

⸻

I break down the collaboration of core and spine muscles in my Spinal and Core Mechanics videos on the channel. I am planning to do a couple of videos on the those elements. My apologies for being slow to produce them.

Check out these videos for more info on spinal stability and the core work:

Spine Mechanics: https://youtu.be/72TbloAX0eQ?si=IVBJU...
Core Mechanics: https://youtu.be/Ssp5rNjCnnI?si=EtbWz...

Have a lovely day everyone!
Cheers,

Maxim

1 month ago | [YT] | 31

Get Gymnast Fit

What’s my current training plan?
People keep asking, so here it is.

Right now, I’m working through 58 drills — both single and compound — all packed into a 2-hour window. I usually do 2 sets of each, moving almost non-stop from one to the next. It ends up being a solid cardio session, too.

I start with correctional and body awareness drills, then move into core, back, hips, and combinations of those regions. Toward the end, I hit skill-strength drills like one-arm holds, planche preps, and iron cross progressions. I wrap up with 15–20 minutes of boxing for cardio.

But here’s the key: 
Each drill carries cues from the previous one. I’m not just training isolated muscles — I’m building a system that remembers and reuses the mechanics I just worked on. That’s how we build real functionality and skill.

By the time I’m into the advanced drills, I’ve got a checklist of internal cues to keep everything working together — organically, as one unit.

Cheers everyone!
Maxim

1 month ago | [YT] | 56

Get Gymnast Fit

Hey everyone!

I thought I’d share one of my answers in the comments regarding the squats.

Lately, I’ve been talking a lot about hips, knees, and external rotation in squats — and one great question came up:

“Why would we try to rotate the thighs internally if we’re supposed to externally rotate them?”

Great question. And I get why it sounds contradictory — like we’re doing two opposite things at the same time.

Here is the logic. Back in gymnastics (at least how we did it in Russia), we had drills like:
“Raise your arms up, while at the same time try to bring them down — but prioritize the upward movement.”

Why? Because engaging the antagonistic muscles against the main movement keeps the joint stable from the other side like an anchor holding a boat.

Same principle applies to the hips in squats.

As you externally rotate and abduct the thighs (knees out), you also apply two subtle internal cues:
• a sucking in of the legs to wake up the hip flexors
• and a mild intention to rotate the thighs internally to bring in the inner thighs

You’re still prioritizing the external rotation — but those internal cues balance the action.
They keep the pelvis in a neutral tilt and ensure the femur can move freely inside the hip joint — so your glutes, IT bands, and their ilks can safely bring the knees wide without pulling the pelvis into a wink.

Skip this balance, and the outward-pulling muscles might drag the pelvis into a posterior tilt. That shuts down hip mobility, rounds the spine, and weakens the squat.

It’s a tricky idea, I know — and I haven’t made a full video on this just yet. But we’re building up to it. One piece at a time.

Cheers,
Maxim

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 39

Get Gymnast Fit

Hey guys, the day has come.

After 35 years of observation and experimentation, I’m finally ready to share this discovery with you.

I can now confidently confirm — without a shred of doubt — that BLACK HOLES ON EARTH DO EXIST.

Let me explain.

Ever since I was a kid, I’d pack my gym bag — clothes, gear, and always, a simple bottle of water. That bottle has always been the last thing I put in the bag.

Observable phenomenon : every single time I reach into my bag to grab the water… it’s gone.
I dig around — left side, right side, bottom… nothing.

Eventually, I start pulling stuff out just to find it… right there at the bottom.
Exactly where I thought it would be — and yet somehow, also not.

And so, based on decades of repeatable, real-life testing, I am prepared to publish the following conclusion:

———

All gym duffle bags are quantum portals.
They operate on the same principles as quantum mechanics — objects inside exist in multiple locations simultaneously until observed.
Only when you pull everything out does the missing item collapse into a single, observable location.

———

Please confirm or deny this theory based on your own field observations — I’m submitting my findings for peer review next week.

Thank you for your support.
(And keep an eye on your water bottle.)

2 months ago | [YT] | 46