Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength by Steven Low (2011-11-12)

The book felt a little expensive at fifty dollars ($43 on amazon), and it's not even a hardback (Compared to Becoming a Supple Leopard hard cover for $28). But it's over 500 pages, the reviews are great, people on /r/bodyweightfitness seem to really love it, and /u/eshlow is around helpfully answering questions with a positive attitude, so I decided to buy it. After making my way through most of the book, I'd say it's worth much more than what I paid for it. The book isn't just about gymnastic movements; it's almost (see Other thoughts below) an all around workout companion. He spends chapters discussing why and how to develop a balanced routine, and the various ways to go about doing so. He talks about goals and having a plan; strength vs endurance. He talks about programming, what a beginner should follow all the way up to programming for people at the level of competitive gymnasts. He talks about programming for more experienced individuals, and what they can do to continue making progress (daily undulating periodization, heavy/light days, other variations). He talks about problems people have, possible workarounds, and expectations if you have other commitments. There's a chapter on rehab and how injuries affect you and what you can do about it (see a doctor! before it gets worse!). He spends time talking about diet, supplements, and other factors like sleep at the end of the book. If you're serious about fitness, you probably already know most of what is covered in the main text portion (or not; I learned acetaminophen is not an anti-inflammatory). The rest of the book (more than half of it) is devoted to the appendices. He covers sample programming for all levels: what a beginner might cover, an intermediate routine, an advanced workout, and all levels in-between. Another appendix is devoted to the progressions. Here he details the entire progression series from basic movements to full mastery, and explains what each step requires. There's also a quick reference chart to see the progressions at-a-glance. I find Overcoming Gravity to be a very useful reference book. I pick it up all the time to ensure I'm doing a movement right. The progression chart is very helpful, especially with the lateral comparisons in difficulty level (e.g. overhead press vs headstand pushup). It's also helpful to know what to do next (so I can L sit, now what?), or at least, show different options, and it's useful to see what movements can lead to (e.g. leaning dips to maltese). The real value for me is the detailed explanation for each step of every progression, and to a lesser extent, all the material covered in the main section of the book. Pros - Covers all aspects of routine building for all levels (main text), and most related topics - Quick summary progression chart - Detailed explanation for every step of every progression (and a few bonus items) - Author is experienced (gymnast) and knowledgeable (physical therapy) and available (/r/overcominggravity) - All topics are covered in detail (this isn't a short book) Cons - Photographs are low quality - Type-setting is sub-par - Lack of editor is very apparent, grammar mistakes galore, constant use of "we" - No footnotes. Mentioning relevant scientific studies would have been helpful. Other thoughts - Gymnastics work is somewhat lacking regarding leg progressions. This is mentioned in the book, and it's suggested that barbell training be pursued for legs and it's never really discussed again. This is perhaps one of the only things keeping this book from being a "complete" workout guide for a bodyweight-focused routine. - There are several egregious editorial mistakes ("If they are to be used consistently through a mesocycle be careful look for plateaus that as they may develop early because of the extra toll on recovery." p76, "Unlike the front lever, there are many different exercises that help develop the front lever..." p358) and many minor ones throughout the text, but the information contained therein is accurate and congruent with the current scientific understanding of strength training. - If I had a friend interested in learning gymnastics type movements I would definitely recommend this book.

Overcoming Gravity was (assumedly) written to fill the void in quality bodyweight / gymnastics training literature. A lofty goal, but one that many members of the fitness community had been waiting with bated breath to see accomplished. Although many books have been written in the realm of bodyweight / gymnastics training, they have all been fatally flawed in one regard or another: scope of content, not understanding core audience, or fundamentally flawed information. Overcoming Gravity manages to avoid these major pitfalls while presenting a wealth of information. The major drawback seen in this book is simply due to the self-published nature of it: there are consistent typos throughout the book. Despite this flaw, the style of writing is lighthearted and personal, which still allows the reader to quickly and enjoyably flow through the content. This style helps additionally in that the reader can actually understand what's being read without excessive amounts of going back to review. This is no easy feat to accomplish with information that is this dense. One might also consider it a negative point that there is no discussion of lower body training in this book, though the author and fellow readers have been quite clear in promoting it as solely an upper body training guide. The static holds and dynamic movements in OG are demonstrated with digitally drawn mannequins. While this decision might have been partially fueled by time restrictions or logistics, it works. Each position and movement is demonstrated in way that is easily recognizable. The explanations accompanying each exercise are detailed and clear. Most importantly, the actual process of going about constructing a training routine is written with the utmost attention to detail. While the author provides various sample routines for different skill / strength levels, he adheres to the "teach a man to fish" school of thought; no facet of creating a proper program is overlooked. To top all of this off, a very common roadbump in gymnastics-style training is addressed: injuries. General prevention and rehabilitation methods are discussed but are also accompanied by a quite extensive list of injuries that are commonly associated with training in this manner (of course with corresponding instructions on fixing and preventing the issue). I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in acquiring upper body gymnastic strength skills OR anyone who is looking for general strength and muscular development in the upper body.

Mmm. Let's see here. This book is a very comprehensive work on the subject of building your upper body strength through gymnastic movements and body-weight progressions. If you wish to build a body that you are the master of, this book is a giant leap in the correct direction in terms of learning what your body can do. However, the book doesn't stop there! Which would have made it an excellent reference in terms of upper body-weight training (With a gymnastic slant). The author has also gone into great detail about the process behind muscle building, why you should train at a specific set/rep/rest time, and how to put together your own program to progress through these movements at your own rate and pace. There's such a wealth of information packed in here that it can be a little overwhelming, but if you take the time to read through the book and absorb what's being given to you, you'll come away knowing something new. =) Furthermore, the author continues to aide others both seasoned and new to the fitness world by being very active in the online community. He is extremely helpful to anyone with questions, so not only are you getting an excellent book, but you have the option to get some top notch customer support as well. ;) He is constantly open to discussion on the contents of the book with regard to what can be improved, changed, updated, etc. The information in this book continues to grow and evolve because of how active the author is. It's truly wonderful for those new to fitness such as myself. =) For a bit of an anecdote: I'd just started looking for a body-weight training program, and was getting ready to start Convict Conditioning. However, I happened to read a thread about the author of this book doing a little Q&A session. Reading through the thread really helped, to me, show that the author actually cared. It seems, to this guy anyways, that he really wants to help you if your goal is to release the gymnast inside. That's what really pushed me into getting the book. That and the manna. I mean, seriously. Who doesn't want to do a manna? So, it basically boils down to if you're new to fitness or looking to dive into the world of gymnastic body-weight strength training, this book will serve as an excellent jumping off point, as well as the next two or three steps down the road. All depending on your own dedication, commitment, and motivation. =) The one minor con that most readily comes to mind is very minor grammar errors sprinkled throughout the text. But putting aside the pedantic gnome in all of us, you can easily overlook the small errors in grammar that creep up. Certainly no reason to look down on this book.

Overcoming Gravity is by far the best book on the market that details how to program your fitness routine to achieve high level gymnastics movements such as the planche, iron cross, and front lever. Unlike other related books such as Chris Sommers, Building the Gymnastic Body, which was extremely weak in its programming explanation, and movement tutorials,and constantly stated that information would be coming in later installments. Instead of this, Steven takes the reader through a detailed learning experience that outlines the principles of strength training, injury prevention/ rehab, flexibility ,and mobility training all pertaining to higher level body weight training. And also teaches the reader how to relate these key concepts to program for the novice, intermediate, advanced, and elite athlete with guidelines that are clear and precise. The programming chapters are unbelievable! Unlike related literature and the dozens of internet tutorials claiming to provide quick 6- month tutorials to obtain skills such as the planche. Steve breaks down the physiology of the movements, explaining how muscle length and various positions influences the difficulty of a skill. He also provides detailed charts that take your max static hold or max reps of a movement, and break it down into recommended sets, reps, that allows you to compare your static holds, eccentrics, and concentric to make keeping your training volume much easier, and training more efficient! Overcoming Gravity also provides the best tutorial and detailed step by step progression for movements such as the basic handstand to the iron cross. Aside from the wonderful content, Steven presents the information in a " No BS" fashion. The text is not overloaded with useless information. But instead he presents the facts, as well as his own personal experience in an easy to read fashion. I did not find myself constantly needing to take breaks with this book, instead I found the text very to-the point and enjoyable. This book is a must have for anyone who is training in gymnastics, or is a fitness enthusiast like myself with an interest in training higher level body weight movements.

This book basically summarized a few years of my college education... the tips that it also provides is very helpful when it comes to training for specific skills If it had a higher budget it would be a much more visually pleasing textbook but it does the trick. i would highly recommend this regardless of if your really into gymnastics or not. i am a MMA fighter and this book has helped improve my guard defense, attacks, and escapes, you just need to figure out how to apply it in the right context, so dont just buy this in hopes to INSTANTLY improve your skills. There are small things that get you thinking and its up to you how to apply it, I bought this textbook with a concept of how I intended to apply this to my MMA game before I even bought it, after purchasing, I discovered more tricks to improve my game. my only issues are as mentioned before, I wished that there was a sightly higher budget on the production of the book because as it is a very good read, visually, there is much to be desired. in addition, I wish there was less on the systematic development on the training and more information on improving the skills themselves, I already have an education in exercise program design... and that subject consumes MUCH of the textbook and then there is a nice thick pinch of information on tips to improve your skills and how to progress from beginner to advanced positions.

Before I give my opinion, a little apologize if I wrote something that is not correct because english is not my native language. I will try to explain why I give 5 stars to this book, and I will also try to be objective. First, I give this rating compare this book vs other bodyweight strength based books, and not because Overcoming gravity is a perfect book from different points of view, but that observation we can apply to any book. Interesting enough, it seems that books about bodyweight strength always have lots of attention, and audience always want more about that topic. There are lots of bodyweight strength based books, but the most popular is Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline , Never Gymless by Ross Enamait, Convict Conditioning 1,2 by Paul Wade, Building gymnastic bodies from Coach Sommer, etc. Every one of this books have specific philosophy that comes from author, they are motivated and interesting, and have progressions for most popular exercises. Why this book Overcoming Gravity is different, and what to expect ? Compare to most other books, this book share the knowledge and specificity with book Building the gymnastic bodies, and this is about gymnastics exercises not only for gymnast, but for any fitness enthusiast and everyone no matter age, to improve strength in a way they never do before, and learn some specific gymnastic skills. But here is the catch. Compare to basic only exercises like pushups, squats etc., this road is very hard to accomplish, and progressive exercises from pushups to planche pushups for example is not that easy, and for most people does not yield results they expected, or the process is very slow, not to mention injuries. When people start to complain about that, on the surface comes information about preparation, rehabilitation, properly programming, and some prerequisites that you must learn first, and lots of other stuff that you can read in forums, but it is very time consuming to close that puzzle, so we want this in one place, or at least most of it. Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low comes in the game with that thing in mind. Coach Sommer start the revolution, his book is ok, but he missed this,(ok, this is first book, he said there will be second edition), and suddenly this book comes out, and bring the light. The question is : Is it enough ? It will never be when it comes to training and skills, so relax, don't expect perfection. This book is huge. Steven Low try to incorporate lots of informations, and it is obvious that he put lots of effort and heart into this book. Almost everything is here, preparation, rehabilitation, charts to find where you are, tables about how many reps, sets for concentric, eccentric, isometric work, but the most important this book will teach you how to properly put together exercise programs, and what to include based on your goals, and also many and the most popular exercises and explanation on how and when to progress. For every topic in this book, it is possible to write another book based only on that topic. This is also advantage and fault at the same time, because there will always be people who can tell that one book that combine so many things and informations at the end fall short. I dont care, there is no perfection. We all want that in one place, so here it is. At the moment you will not find not even close that kind of information in other strength based books. Because of this, Overcoming gravity is the best at the moment. My reward to Mr Steven Low, and full recommendation for this book.

I have been a long time follower of Steven Low's blog [...] and an avid student of gymnastics and bodyweight training. My favorite thing about the book is the progressions. Often times I find that many other authors have progressions that are too fast or difficult to follow. But in Overcoming Gravity, the progressions are in much smaller steps which allows for the reader to pick up at his or her ability easily and immediately begin developing their strength. This book does not require that you must already have a foundation in gymnastics or bodyweight training which makes it a fantastic resource for beginners, but beyond that, it's also an amazing resource for even advanced gymnasts as the progressions continue on to even the most demanding movements like inverted crosses or elevators. Overall, it is a plethora of information, almost too much information to retain from a single reading. But that shouldn't stop you from using it as a reference tool. If you're debating between buying Overcoming Gravity and Building the Gymnastic Body, Overcoming Gravity is the definite winner. It is more in depth, more complete, and easier to follow as well as actually implement. I started playing around with the various progressions the first day the book arrived. My brother started following the planche progressions the week after Christmas, and he's already close to holding a straddle planche in less than 2 months. If you purchased Building the Gymnastic Body and felt you were left hanging by the lack of programming discussion, this is your solution as well. Steven Low does an excellent job of thoroughly covering programming to the point where you can build your own routine without requiring the assistance of a coach. The book covers so much ground it's remarkable. There is physiology, injury prevention, injury rehab, skill development, program design, nutrition, lifestyle, and so much more. This book is probably the best book on fitness and health that I have read in the past year, maybe even longer. Definitely something you'll want to add to your collection.

This is hands down one of the best strength training books I've ever read, and when it comes to bodyweight upper body training easily the best. The author has clearly spent a lot of time both training, and researching, the subject. A lot of bodyweight training books just have some simple progressions and training plans. This book is not like that. Steven Low does not lay out programs, but instead teaches the reader how to construct their own, based on goals, scheduling and ability level. This is a much more time consuming process, but you'll benefit a lot more. In addition, the book has a great series of progressions for a whole host of exercises, along with detailed explanations and a great chart of the different levels. The book contains an excellent section on rehabilitation for common injuries and a detailed explanation of how to construct a warm-up. By the time you have read through the 500+ pages you will be able to take your training into your own hands, and not need to rely on pre-set routines. While the book is fantastic there are some small flaws. The first edition could use a good proofreading as there are many typos. The book uses drawings to show the different gymnastic moves, but some pictures might have been beneficial (though, it would also have taken up more pages). For true beginners and individuals with modest bodyweight goals (achieving a lot of push ups, squats, etc.) will likely not benefit too much from this, as it will be both overwhelming and overkill. There is also no content on lower body training as Steven believes that that is best handled with weight training. If your goal is to learn more about bodyweight training and gymnastics training then I highly advise this book. It's long, rich, and detailed. Additionally, the author operates a wonderful website ([...]) and is incredibly helpful on the forum.

There is virtually no better piece of literature written on the topic that this book covers. I have used it to program many routines that have proved very effective for myself. It's concise enough given the overwhelming amount of information in there. The injury prevention (prehab) and rehab section is fantastic also. A+, this book is the real deal if you are serious about calisthenics.

I've always had great respect for gymnasts and what they can do with their body's, but since buying this book i think they're super-human! I've always thought i'm pretty strong as i've been weight training for 10 years and always been quite good at body weight exercises like pull-ups, press-ups etc. But! since buying this book and doing some of the basic gymnastic moves, i've used muscles that you can't train with a pair of dumbells and they're very hard. Gravity is one hell of a workout, because that is what you're pushing against to acomplish the routines in this book. As the book's title says, this is a systematic approach so it starts with the basic moves and then builds up bit by bit to the advanced (super-human moves), which means anyone can bennefit from buying this book. You get detailed pictures and written descriptions of every routine, of which there are loads. EQUIPMENT - If you want to try and replicate all the routines in the book then you will need to purchase some gymnastic rings (i got mine on amazon) a good pull-up bar - one which you can get your body over the top of and a set of paralell bars. The paralell bars may sound a bit extreme, but these arn't the olympic size ones that need to be bolted into the floor, i got some which are about 1.5 meters high and 2 meters long. I needed to purchase all these as the nearest gymanstics centre is 100 miles away and i don't have a good park anywhere with bars etc. RESULTS - Since purchasing this book i've hardly used my weights, apart from some specific exercises which help strengthen the body to acheive certain routines from the book. Although i don't train just to look good when i'm at the beach, the results you get from bodyweight training like a gymnast are amazing. You know what gymnasts bodys are like, very ripped, amazing abs, big shoulders-(men) slim waist etc. I've been using this book for several weeks now and although i was in good shape before, i'm starting to see more definition on my whole upper body and my abs are popping out like never before! The reason for this is because alot of the routines you're engaging all your muscles at the same time in away no weights routines can emulate. FUN - It may sound stupid but learning these routines and trying to advance to the harder routines is alot of fun, hard work and very tiring but alot of fun and much more enjoyable than pumping iron for 90 minutes. Put simply this book is a MUST buy for anyone looking to improve their strength and conditioning.

“Overcoming Gravity” ist ein umfassendes Buch, das sich auf Eigengewichtsübungen und Gymnastik konzentriert. Es bietet detaillierte Informationen und Trainingsprogramme für anspruchsvolle Übungen. Ich schätze die systematische Herangehensweise und die wertvollen Ressourcen, die das Buch bietet. Das Buch kann für Anfänger sehr herausfordernd sein, man muss dran bleiben. Dafür bietet das Buch aber auch schöne Progressions und Möglichkeiten, die harten Übungen zu vereinfachen.

Este libro es fundamental si se quiere aprender y practicar Calisthenics. Dada la naturaleza de este tipo de ejercicios, empezar a practicarlos sin una base teórica puede inducir a lesiones. Este libro muestra la correcta progresión y ayuda a evolucionar más rápidamente.

Il libro fornisce le conoscenze e le schede pratiche per la preparazione di un allenamento a corpo libero, progressivo, dalle basi al livello avanzato. E' un libro di molte pagine, impegnativo, va studiato. E' in lingua inglese, pertanto è necessaria una buona conoscenza della lingua per apprendere al meglio i concetti.