@@GeekClimber Damn, this was very unexpected. Yeah, I just finished my first semester of statics so problems like this are still very fresh in my mind. Also, something I wanted to mention is the pulling strength in the FL position. Most people have a great drop in strength in that position because it falls under horizontal pulling moves, while most people practice only vertical pulling (pull-ups). Doing more body rows at the adequate progression (elevated legs for you I'd say) will definitely improve your strength in this area, though I wouldn't say it is essential for the FL. Also, you exaggerated it a bit when you brought the Victorian cross into the conversation. It is, of course, an incredibly difficult move which only a few people can do, but it is a move done on the rings, we are focusing on the bar here. On the bar you can at most do a close(touch) FL (staying at the top of a FL pullup) which is basically a FL at an angel of almost 0, as hard as it gets. The good news is, if you Google FL pull-ups you will see much a whole lot of people doing close FL holds (as opposed to Victorian crosses), you can even find a good amount of people doing full Victorian crosses on parallel bars. There isn't a 100% translation between the skills of course, but close FL holds and low angel FLs are of similar difficulty imo so I'd say the FL is still very much achievable for you, don't give up!
GeekClimber is awesome. when he’s explaining things in front of the camera he’s constantly trying to grab holds with his hands. That’s how you know he’s a climber at heart.
Just a thought I had whilst watching this video and your previous one. You mentioned how having a jacked upper back makes it easier for popular calisthenics TH-camrs to achieve the front lever. One thing you could try is simply putting on a backpack with some weight in it or attaching some weight to your upper back (weight vest maybe). This way you would have more "upper-body mass" which should make achieving the front lever easier. If you trained with this weight on your upper back and achieved the front lever, then it would support your hypothesis that it's not a lack of strength but simply due to your body dimensions (i.e. length of limbs and current distribution of muscle) which makes the front lever near impossible for you/your body type. Food for thought I suppose, either way, great video!
Extra muscle mass is a benefit though as you can use it for more strength, extra weight through a backpack might not be as its passive weight and might just be as big a disadvantage as the angle. Would be interested to see the result of this anyways.
@@callum5752 You're right that the extra muscle mass would be of benefit however then it's just "be strong, and don't be not strong". You're right it's just passive weight, but the idea is that the added mass would change the centre of gravity such that the required angle would fall into the "achievable" region. Hence it would be theoretically achievable (or much more achievable).
Sounds ridiculous but could you not somehow strap some weight to a helmet you are wearing as the further distance from the centre point would mean you'd have to add less weight to change the angle (than a vest)? To prove the angle theory correct....
I literally had this same thought watching the video. Not only would it change his center of gravity so that the ideal angle is achieved, but it would also give him major bragging rights against all the “be strong, don’t be weak” people. Like, “Oh, you do front levers? How cute. I do WEIGHTED FRONT LEVERS.” 😁
This kind of math is very low effort to me. Additionally, are you training 24 hours a day? Why don't you do some math instead of playing video games when you aren't training during the day?
Well i don't think he can't achieve the front lever becuase of his short arm, he just need to be dedicated to his training and yes it will take him time like everyone else, average person needs a 1 year to achieve front lever, no excuses please
Yo this geek dude trained years and years, failed, and yet studied and again trained again and again for one arm pullups, and succeeded. I wouldnt dare say he didnt train hard before giving up on front lever. Just because you trained well dont say he didnt and is just making an excuse. I understand why he is mad at you.
I love seeing you getting better at this whole youtube and business stuff, I'm gonna look into 5bar and order some to try it out! Good luck with the training!
Given one of the reasons you mentioned was the lack of upper body mass, have you ever thought of using a weighted vest only loaded at the back/ or possibly a backpack to see if you hypothesis works? It should come easier if your math is correct.
I just found your channel yesterday and I've binged watched a dozen or so of your uploads. I love your channel. You're super relatable and genuine. I enjoy the documentation you've done of the journey to achieve the most difficult calisthenic positions and the math you put in to describe them.
One tiny adjustment you can do to make the actual front lever easier is extend your fingers, e.g. 3-finger open-hand on a hangboard. It increases your effective arm length. Of course, the position is a quite a bit more strenuous on the fingers now.
It's awesome to see this. Especially adding other variables for the easier progressions! It could go to a whole different level by considering some of the internal biomechanics too. For instance considering attachment points of muscles so that a muscular force can be calculated to produce the same torque. A few millimeters of difference could mean a lot more muscular force is required.
Geek climber hit us with the maths and physics then make us premium proteins bars for reasonable price. Damn what more can you ask for much respect from a 21 yrs old physiotherapy fellow Hong Kong student, Keep on the great work Geek.
FL also heavily involves triceps long head, rear deltoids and scapular muscles. Adding complimentary exercises targeting these muscles at the end of your FL routine will speed up your progress guaranteed.
Regarding the centre of mass location of the body segments, there are more accurate estimations taken from regression data that are typically used in the literature for this kind of analysis, e.g. Dempster 1955 or you can use volumes such as truncated cones to represent the segments, such as the Yeadon inertial model. I know this is more work, but actually when the outcome angle can vary by only a few degrees before becoming problematic it does make a real difference to use them.
I like comments like yours. I haven't looked into the references you mentioned yet, but do you mind giving us a quick idea on how far off is the uniform distribution assumption compare to Dempster 1955 and the Yeadon inertial model?
@@GeekClimber it depends on the segment, off the top of my head I think the torso is around 55%, however, normally the legs are divided into 2 sections as the thigh can be up to twice as heavy as the shank. I also thought about your training regimen for the front lever, counter intuitively perhaps the best method for progression for you could be to add weight to the upper torso using a weighed vest allowing you to train at a more optimal angle, and slowly remove the weight over time thus reducing the angle progressively.
In terms of upper v. lower body mass actually magnus mentions this briefly in one of his videos where is concerned about the muscle gains he is making as he is training to be on a celebrity TV show in Norway. He refers to is ‘fat legs’. He trains mostly upper and obvious has significant upper body mass and can do this position but also as mentioned likely has a body for it. You gain muscle mass (which leads to weight) in the muscle you are training for size and to some degree those that you are training for strength and endurance to a lesser degree.
Instead of the math and the dexa scan you can simply search for a comfortable way to support your body (that isn't too thick) and hold your hands directly over the point that supports you. Move it until you find the point at which you are ballanced. Remember this point, measure the angle or just use arcos(distance to shoulder/length of the arms) to get it. This is surely easier and maby even more accurate.
I understand probably not all ur audience likes this physics and math heavy videos but oh the part that does for sure loves it!! Hope u keep bringing these from time to time, even if its not that frequent. Keep up the good work :)
As an alternative to an expensive Dexascan, you can simply lie down on a bar with enough balance and thus find out the center of gravity of your body. This reduces the calculation of the arm angle to a geometrical problem.
Absolutely loved this video, combining physics and math with calisthenics feels refreshing compared to other videos out there, would definitely love to see more videos with this style.
I am not sure if I will continue making this style of video, haha. When I post a training video, people unanimously like it, but for a math video like this, there are a lot of people who don't like it and keep commenting the equivalent of "train hard, be strong, don't be not strong".
@@GeekClimber Well, if any opportunity arises in the future, and you see it fit to post a video such as this with physics and math involved, I'm sure many people included myself would definitely check it out and enjoy it. Nevertheless, both types of the videos you publish are entertaining and very well produced. Keep it up and I hope you meet your goals for 2022!
@@GeekClimber Thanks for making this video. youtube lacks of videos discussing sports with maths and physics, which are the most reliable base for discussions.
Having shorter arms causes less effort in the shoulder to hold a type 3 lever and compensates the difficulty of producing force at a difficult angle. It would be almost imposible if you had super long arms and also a lower center of mass, but that's not your case. If you want to get stronger at a specific angle you have to train that specific angle, front lever propedeutics are not going to help you gain strength for the full front lever because they work other angle, that's why a pulley system attached to your center of mass is the most effective way to train statics skills.
Shorter the arms the harder it is, true, but still not impossible. Right now I'm doing front lever on my wrists as I'm working on going from the front lever to the muscle up move.
you should just do your front levers protracted it’s like having longer arms. Also slowly raising into the front lever like you were doing in your last video is really hard I think if you enter the front lever in a easier way and not protract a ton you’ll get really close
@@vallenthorpe6495 From what I know, you are forced to apply force on stretched shoulder position, like balancing on the rotator cuff. Also, your lats and back muscles are in a weaker position and more unstable. Usually, you should push against gravity as much as possible, protract in planche, retract in front lever and elevate in handstand. It is more something I feel than really something I can explain. As long as you are actively pulling your shoulderblade as much as you can and you don't rest on your joints, it should be ok.
You can find your centre of gravity just by finding your balance point lying across a bar. Considering that you'd be holding onto the bar it would be an accurate simulation of your weight distribution during a front lever.
Thanks for the Great and educational video ! Just hoping there would be similar videos with regards to the maths and physics required for other calisthenics movements such as the planche. Great job again!
Also if you would team up with frinksmovement i am sure you could create such high level in depth break downs of calisthenic skills, that would be insane :D
3:10 Fulcrum is wrong, arms do not originate from the head, but shoulders. The head acts as counterweight to lift your legs even. See Adam Ondra's climbing style (dynamically uses his long neck). Great video tho.
the statement "jacked upper bodies make FL easier" is confusing to me. the upper body is underneath the shoulders so its actually an obstacle? I mean the pivot point is the shoulder joint. So every mass over the shoulders (neck, head...) is making FL easier but not the upper body. The strength it generates is important not the size. Am I right? mechanis weren't my best subject...
Big upper body will still shift the mass further up towards the shoulders. Imagine you have skinny body and Center of mass is below the hips. Get a big upper body and this can now move to above the hips, closer to the shoulders. Basically any additional mass above your center of mass will help.
@@callum5752 but now imagine you have skinny legs and upper body but a huuuuge neck and head - I think I get your point. You mean it's easier with a big upper body rather without it. ye I think so too... but technically it would be even easier if you do necktraining all day xd
@@KazBrekker158 yeah it could be. But remember a big back will not only move your center of mass but it will give you a stronger pulling power. Even better you can grow an Afro xD
Now I have to try the front lever with a heavy helmet on xD Very good video :) Would buy your bars when and if there is an European supplier in the future.
Full Front lever here (PR of 7 sec) Working on front lever pull up [cataloged on my youtube channel] Stats: 6ft 185 lbs, can do a full nordic curl so I dont have chicken legs (not massive though) ~ 49-51 deg from doing some measurements just now I'm certain you can acheive it, I love the analysis you did regardless
As real scientists we want to test our hypothesis. So you should add some weight to your head (or shoulders). That should provide enough of a counterweight to "simulate" the different center of gravity of your body. You could do the same with the planche. Add weight to your head and it should allow you to hold a planche with a less extreme angle from your arms to your body.
Still going to say: Achieving the full front lever is either a supplementary goal to your climbing, in which case it will be useful to try, regardless (or even in spite of) of whether you reach the full front lever. But your goal seems to be views, in which case I understand focussing your resources on other things. No one should ignore gaining a little more muscle mass though. Even Adam Ondra gained 7Kg(!) to improve his all round climbing ability. And age is absolutely a non-factor in this, I'm 47 and have had enormous benefit from adding some muscle to my frame. Stay geeky, stay climber!
@@pablolagos9713 He can only help people if he gets people to watch the videos, and helpful videos get more views. Still the almighty algorithm rules. My point is that training front lever is much more useful to climbing than 'achieving' front lever. Stopping because it's too hard doesn't make sense in that scenario.
I track my planche and front lever progress by the assist torque needed to do the move, which on horizontal moves is pretty simple to calculate. Distance * Force = Torque.
I'm curious about one thing, if the achievable-ness of front lever is determined by the angle, then how come straight arm touch is possible? It's basically holding a front lever with 0 degree angle between arm and body with straight arm. I mean, even if you have super jacked upper body and "chicken legs", if the angle is what determines the difficulty, how is it possible? I don't mean to be negative, I like your videos
@@bob-uj4vn I think you are talking about horizontal angle between arms and torso, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in the video he talks about the angle between the arms and the torso in the vertical plane, and is influenced by the length of the arms (or how much distance between hands and shoulders). In the vertical plane the hands and shoulders are at same height, so the angle between them is 0
@@lunyxs7085that angle would also be influenced by how much you are pulling your arms towards your body ie transitioning towards the straight arm planche. .
You can still achieve it with building a great hypertrophy back (since the other 2 variables are constant) to reach as close as possible to 52+ degree.
Yes, I agree, but I am really not down to change my diet to eating a calories surplus. I think I will make a video in the future with wearing a weight vest or a heavy helmet just to prove a point.
@@ericconnor3728 yes but even though that the weight is reducing the lever, its additional weight, making the difficulty comparable to the initial conditions
@@GeekClimber Please do! That would be a great demonstration for everyone who is not that math savvy... like... not myself.. no no... for sure.. i am very good at math and have totally understood everything in this video!
@@GeekClimber Many sources say that a small surplus is enough to build muscle (something like 200-300 calories surplus per day, with 0.7 - 1 grams of protein per pound of lean bodyweight). Since you are already both lean and strong, you might need a calorie surplus to build more strength and muscle? In fact, since your videos indicate that you're getting stronger, you might already be in a calorie surplus without even knowing it. If that's the case, continuing to work out as normal may be enough to achieve bigger muscles.
Listen, the front lever is probably one of the hardest and most advanced things you’ve ever trained for so for anybody, it will take time. Especially when you’re choosing not to build muscle, which is recommended to anyone trying to learn skills. Due to this, it will most likely take you much longer than most people to get it but that shouldn’t make you think you can’t do it just Bc you’ve plateaued. If you’re willing to try and learn it, accept that it’s going to be a long term goal for you (1+ years for a clean 5s hold possibly) if you continue without any calisthenics conditioning or muscle building
i'm no math whiz, but this doesn't seem to paint the full picture. sure the angel data for optimal positioning makes sense, but what about leverage loads. the further the load that is away will always be harder than a load closer to the body. it takes more strength to bear weight the further it is away from your base joint. Thats why false grips make front levers easier. utilizing a false grip essentially makes your arm shorter, thus easier to hold power
for example, extend you arm out straight forward and lock it out. then have someone either push down or up at your wrist. then do the same at your forearm. it will be much more difficult to resist force at the wrist than the forearm
There's nothing wrong with someone telling you you are too weak and need to get stronger. guess what, that can be changed. you know what you cant change, the length of your arms
I feel like something would be missing in the overall atmosphere of the videos if you'd ever change your microphone 😂. Jokes aside though, as always a great video. Thank you for all your insights on the topic.
Maybe you could try wearing a weight vest or helmet. Also, using some stick with a hook as an arm extender may work. That would probably be better than traditional regressions since it's more specific and closely mimics an actual full front lever
It’s tough to measure the angle of the front lever from a phone camera as slight distortions and perspective can cause inaccuracies. The recording device in the shared clip was slightly lower than the shoulders. This causes the measured angle to be smaller than actual. It should be level to demonstrate angle accurately.
The upper parts of the legs is probably much heavier than the lower part, so wouldn't these calculations underestimate by probably quite a lot the angle ? As the weight of the legs should be what has the more important impact if I understood well your calculations. All to say, It would be interesting to compare this calculation with real data on someone who can do a front lever, because maybe the way you simplify is too much, as the result must be fairly precise. Good luck with your training !
Hey geek climber, would it also work to take a picture of myself doing the full front lever with assistance from a resistance band and then mesure the angle between my torso and my arms in the picture?
I'm not watching this yet, just wanted to add this in case you decided to give up on the FL: there are people that can do the "touch front lever" where you have your arms bent and get to the bar holding yourself in the FL. if you achieve an FL with a shorter moment arm/higher angle in general you're inherently closer to the touch FL because you're working a harder move. Also for strength building: I found FL raises to be more efficient at the learning how to do the movement than just holding. Doing the progressions you're currently on while not allowing yourself to swing, and going through a number of raises made me progress rapidly from the tuck FL to a straddle FL. Also have the one arm pull up under my belt so I'm reasonably comparable, but I definitely have different moment arms/weight etc.
Usually a big fan of your videos but I have disliked your last two videos. First, I feel these conclusions are not rigorous. If your conclusion is based on a very precise answer (i.e. you say 52% is optimal), then your estimates and assumptions going into the equation need to be very precise as well. As others have pointed out, your assumptions are significantly imprecise (e.g. the thigh is much heavier than the calf yet you assume equal distribution). Math aside, I also dislike these videos as they reflect a change in tone of your channel. Initially the videos were along the lines of “look at what I, an average climber, am able to accomplish through hard work/discipline” and viewers left feeling encouraged. These latest videos give the opposite feeling. As many people have said, front lever is really hard and might take you longer than you expect.
Interesting, have you tried to solve torques to estimate effort to produce as well ? Regarding this angle issue, you should have the same problem with the planche, shouldn’t you?
I tried working this out myself and I believe the force required to preform the front lever is your weight divided by tangent of the theta required. I thought of it like a right triangle where your weight is the vertical side, the force you need to exert is the horizontal side, and the hypotenuse is the tension in your arms.
Since I'm one of the first to comment, there's a very real chance you'll read this comment. In that case I would like to give you my sincere compliments for the content you publish and I wish you even more success!
Depends on your personal goals. If you want to get good at FL and don’t care for strong legs or aesthetics then dont train them. Otherwise you can train them.
I you want to train effectively, then start learning correct biomechanics and anatomy, instead of applying physics, because it seems that you are lacking a bit in that department.
Bro i said this multiple times but i ll say it again. Build more muscle to support your skills, just start eating in a slight surplus and train more hypertrophy but of course train your skills as well. (Strength sets first and Hypertrophy after).
Was about to order a few 5-bars with the free shipping promotion. Though there is still a shipping cost added after I place an order above 35USD. I assume it is because I order it to Denmark. Maybe a good idea to address that it is only for US orders.
head = head + neck; arms shouldn't go to finger tips but to mid grip; your assumption that legs are uniformly distributed is a very bad approximation (you're moving a lot of thigh weight far away drastically skewing your center of mass calc). I very roughly measured my center of mass with an assisted front lever (with a force helping under the bar) and it sits a little above my resting arm (to mid grip) so my hanging angle will be a little greater than 45°, but not much :(. I will keep trying!
Doesn't this just mean that we should focus more on upper body hypertrophy? Frinksmovement's video did correlate weighted pull ups and other weighted exercises with front lever success, you are already doing weighted exercises by the looks of it.
It means nothing at the end of the day, knowing how hard something is has no bearing on achieving it or not. Keep training, prioritise raising your weighted pullup as much as you can. Exact numbers needed will ofcourse differ from person to person. It doesnt matter, get stronger untill you can do it. This is not a couple month thing, It'll take a while, but in the process you will learn alot about training and become freakishly strong. Trust me, when you can hold a front lever properly, you have a very unique strength that not alot of people can match.
Yes. I actually made a video discussing the optimal body types for calisthenics earlier. The ideal body type is the gymnast body type, high upper body mass, and low lower body mass. But again, I have no idea how people control the extra calories eaten to just go into the upper body and not go into the lower body. Really need someone to explain this.
@@GeekClimber I think it would require you to not train legs, and only upper body while eating at a calorie surplus. You would gain fat on your lower body and part muscle and fat on your upper body. Then you would continue training to maintain muscle mass while you lose weight to get rid of the fat you gained on both your upper and lower body, leaving you with a more muscular upper body, and similar if not the same legs as before. Just would take awhile.
@@simondehaas6460 If this video is right, it also means upper body training pulls double duty. Not only does it make you stronger, it also contributes to increasing the mass of your upper body. That means ANY upper body exercise contributes to front lever progress.
@@GeekClimber See what I mean with the 'optimal trait for... so therefore I'm not good at..' argument that I find deeply counter to everything self improvement should be about? If you cant understand how a body builds muscle why advertise yourself as a smart trainee. The way people control where carolies go is by training surtain muscle groups more then others, thus the body will build muscle there and weightdistribution will change. If you do nothing but skip leg day and hit biceps all day then yess you will be top heavy. The body needs calories (energy) and protein (building material) to repair muscle damage sustained during training. A process called supercompesation takes place where the body overbuilds the muscle to prepare it to handle bigger load. this is how you get bigger and stronger.. It's a kindergarden concept in the strenght training world and the fact you dont have a grasp on it makes me scared you broadcast your oppinion on training to such a large audience. I strongly recommend you to check out this video by natural hypertrophy that explaines all the basic conceps of strength training: th-cam.com/video/8ELQ2XZgpls/w-d-xo.html Good luck
Amazing to see! I quit my studie but I remember allot of the stuff that I read I'm extremly pumped to calculate this with my own body now 😂 But price is always a setback amazing video (I also gave up on the front lever for finding it to difficult but seeing some calisthenics atheletes do it with more mass and lenght as me is really motivating. Sitting here at 1.89meters 87kilos's)
Watching a statics lecture by a software engineer climber while eating dinner, what a time to be alive.
I remember you! You are the only one in the comments section who understands the math immediately without needing this video.
@@GeekClimber Damn, this was very unexpected. Yeah, I just finished my first semester of statics so problems like this are still very fresh in my mind.
Also, something I wanted to mention is the pulling strength in the FL position.
Most people have a great drop in strength in that position because it falls under horizontal pulling moves, while most people practice only vertical pulling (pull-ups). Doing more body rows at the adequate progression (elevated legs for you I'd say) will definitely improve your strength in this area, though I wouldn't say it is essential for the FL. Also, you exaggerated it a bit when you brought the Victorian cross into the conversation. It is, of course, an incredibly difficult move which only a few people can do, but it is a move done on the rings, we are focusing on the bar here. On the bar you can at most do a close(touch) FL (staying at the top of a FL pullup) which is basically a FL at an angel of almost 0, as hard as it gets. The good news is, if you Google FL pull-ups you will see much a whole lot of people doing close FL holds (as opposed to Victorian crosses), you can even find a good amount of people doing full Victorian crosses on parallel bars.
There isn't a 100% translation between the skills of course, but close FL holds and low angel FLs are of similar difficulty imo so I'd say the FL is still very much achievable for you, don't give up!
@@GeekClimber heyyyy please make a tutorial on how to do the double jump please!!!
Hold on to your papers
@@РођакНенад dobro razmišljanje, Nenade
GeekClimber is awesome. when he’s explaining things in front of the camera he’s constantly trying to grab holds with his hands. That’s how you know he’s a climber at heart.
Just a thought I had whilst watching this video and your previous one. You mentioned how having a jacked upper back makes it easier for popular calisthenics TH-camrs to achieve the front lever. One thing you could try is simply putting on a backpack with some weight in it or attaching some weight to your upper back (weight vest maybe). This way you would have more "upper-body mass" which should make achieving the front lever easier. If you trained with this weight on your upper back and achieved the front lever, then it would support your hypothesis that it's not a lack of strength but simply due to your body dimensions (i.e. length of limbs and current distribution of muscle) which makes the front lever near impossible for you/your body type.
Food for thought I suppose, either way, great video!
Extra muscle mass is a benefit though as you can use it for more strength, extra weight through a backpack might not be as its passive weight and might just be as big a disadvantage as the angle. Would be interested to see the result of this anyways.
@@callum5752 You're right that the extra muscle mass would be of benefit however then it's just "be strong, and don't be not strong". You're right it's just passive weight, but the idea is that the added mass would change the centre of gravity such that the required angle would fall into the "achievable" region. Hence it would be theoretically achievable (or much more achievable).
@@ziarehman5879 Hopefully we get a video to draw the conclusion :D
Sounds ridiculous but could you not somehow strap some weight to a helmet you are wearing as the further distance from the centre point would mean you'd have to add less weight to change the angle (than a vest)? To prove the angle theory correct....
I literally had this same thought watching the video. Not only would it change his center of gravity so that the ideal angle is achieved, but it would also give him major bragging rights against all the “be strong, don’t be weak” people. Like, “Oh, you do front levers? How cute. I do WEIGHTED FRONT LEVERS.” 😁
This Guy is so much dedicated to prove that he will never be able to do a Front Lever Instead of actually training for It...
This kind of math is very low effort to me. Additionally, are you training 24 hours a day? Why don't you do some math instead of playing video games when you aren't training during the day?
@@GeekClimber Oh no, math is very very far from my field of study. Not a big video games player either but good try :)
We asked for this type of video, and this is his job. Why wouldn't he?
Well i don't think he can't achieve the front lever becuase of his short arm, he just need to be dedicated to his training and yes it will take him time like everyone else, average person needs a 1 year to achieve front lever, no excuses please
Yo this geek dude trained years and years, failed, and yet studied and again trained again and again for one arm pullups, and succeeded. I wouldnt dare say he didnt train hard before giving up on front lever. Just because you trained well dont say he didnt and is just making an excuse. I understand why he is mad at you.
I love seeing you getting better at this whole youtube and business stuff, I'm gonna look into 5bar and order some to try it out! Good luck with the training!
Geek Climber must’ve listen to his math teacher when he said “You can use math in the real world!”.
Given one of the reasons you mentioned was the lack of upper body mass, have you ever thought of using a weighted vest only loaded at the back/ or possibly a backpack to see if you hypothesis works? It should come easier if your math is correct.
I just found your channel yesterday and I've binged watched a dozen or so of your uploads. I love your channel. You're super relatable and genuine. I enjoy the documentation you've done of the journey to achieve the most difficult calisthenic positions and the math you put in to describe them.
One tiny adjustment you can do to make the actual front lever easier is extend your fingers, e.g. 3-finger open-hand on a hangboard. It increases your effective arm length. Of course, the position is a quite a bit more strenuous on the fingers now.
Nice, glad you're not quitting on your front lever, try those suggestions out, totally
Yeah, I resumed training for the front lever. Hopefully it will work out!
It's awesome to see this. Especially adding other variables for the easier progressions!
It could go to a whole different level by considering some of the internal biomechanics too. For instance considering attachment points of muscles so that a muscular force can be calculated to produce the same torque. A few millimeters of difference could mean a lot more muscular force is required.
I WORK AT THAT DEXA SCAN LOCATION!!!!!! Love your content. We would absolutely love to have you back:)
He came here to Geek and to climber, and he's all out of Climber boys. Very informative video!
Best comment ever
Geek climber hit us with the maths and physics then make us premium proteins bars for reasonable price. Damn what more can you ask for much respect from a 21 yrs old physiotherapy fellow Hong Kong student, Keep on the great work Geek.
FL also heavily involves triceps long head, rear deltoids and scapular muscles. Adding complimentary exercises targeting these muscles at the end of your FL routine will speed up your progress guaranteed.
Regarding the centre of mass location of the body segments, there are more accurate estimations taken from regression data that are typically used in the literature for this kind of analysis, e.g. Dempster 1955 or you can use volumes such as truncated cones to represent the segments, such as the Yeadon inertial model. I know this is more work, but actually when the outcome angle can vary by only a few degrees before becoming problematic it does make a real difference to use them.
I like comments like yours. I haven't looked into the references you mentioned yet, but do you mind giving us a quick idea on how far off is the uniform distribution assumption compare to Dempster 1955 and the Yeadon inertial model?
@@GeekClimber it depends on the segment, off the top of my head I think the torso is around 55%, however, normally the legs are divided into 2 sections as the thigh can be up to twice as heavy as the shank. I also thought about your training regimen for the front lever, counter intuitively perhaps the best method for progression for you could be to add weight to the upper torso using a weighed vest allowing you to train at a more optimal angle, and slowly remove the weight over time thus reducing the angle progressively.
In terms of upper v. lower body mass actually magnus mentions this briefly in one of his videos where is concerned about the muscle gains he is making as he is training to be on a celebrity TV show in Norway. He refers to is ‘fat legs’. He trains mostly upper and obvious has significant upper body mass and can do this position but also as mentioned likely has a body for it. You gain muscle mass (which leads to weight) in the muscle you are training for size and to some degree those that you are training for strength and endurance to a lesser degree.
The gymnastics exercise 'victorian cross' is basically a front lever with a 0 ° angle and it is still possible.
Instead of the math and the dexa scan you can simply search for a comfortable way to support your body (that isn't too thick) and hold your hands directly over the point that supports you. Move it until you find the point at which you are ballanced. Remember this point, measure the angle or just use arcos(distance to shoulder/length of the arms) to get it. This is surely easier and maby even more accurate.
How?
Wouldn't that mean you would need to be able to planche first?? Lol
@@tanboi1105 lie down on your back on something like a foam roller placed on the ground horizontally.
Or use a resistence band
I understand probably not all ur audience likes this physics and math heavy videos but oh the part that does for sure loves it!!
Hope u keep bringing these from time to time, even if its not that frequent. Keep up the good work :)
As an alternative to an expensive Dexascan, you can simply lie down on a bar with enough balance and thus find out the center of gravity of your body. This reduces the calculation of the arm angle to a geometrical problem.
Bros proving with math that i am not strong but lucky 😭
I love how you analyze calisthenics statics and make it look so simple with maths, 10/10
your mathematical effort to get this is incredible, well done!
your content has been crushingly good lately. Keep it up! You keep bringing the heat video after video.
This is next level Calisthenics
Can you do this, for full planche? This type of videos really helps to know where the focus of effort might be put in.
Absolutely loved this video, combining physics and math with calisthenics feels refreshing compared to other videos out there, would definitely love to see more videos with this style.
I am not sure if I will continue making this style of video, haha. When I post a training video, people unanimously like it, but for a math video like this, there are a lot of people who don't like it and keep commenting the equivalent of "train hard, be strong, don't be not strong".
@@GeekClimber Well, if any opportunity arises in the future, and you see it fit to post a video such as this with physics and math involved, I'm sure many people included myself would definitely check it out and enjoy it. Nevertheless, both types of the videos you publish are entertaining and very well produced. Keep it up and I hope you meet your goals for 2022!
@@GeekClimber Thanks for making this video. youtube lacks of videos discussing sports with maths and physics, which are the most reliable base for discussions.
Nice video, it helps so much if you understand the science behind the exercises you do
Having shorter arms causes less effort in the shoulder to hold a type 3 lever and compensates the difficulty of producing force at a difficult angle. It would be almost imposible if you had super long arms and also a lower center of mass, but that's not your case. If you want to get stronger at a specific angle you have to train that specific angle, front lever propedeutics are not going to help you gain strength for the full front lever because they work other angle, that's why a pulley system attached to your center of mass is the most effective way to train statics skills.
This is amazing what a video I love this stuff and it definitely sets you out from other channels
Shorter the arms the harder it is, true, but still not impossible. Right now I'm doing front lever on my wrists as I'm working on going from the front lever to the muscle up move.
Dont feed the bashers. I appreciate your effort on explaining the math involved on the exercise!
you should just do your front levers protracted it’s like having longer arms. Also slowly raising into the front lever like you were doing in your last video is really hard I think if you enter the front lever in a easier way and not protract a ton you’ll get really close
Just watch: how to enter a Frontlever, by Micha Schulz
Protraction is dangerous in front lever, you dont need to be fully retracted, but at least in neutral.
@@mwkibomiazawa1003 how is it dangerous?
@@vallenthorpe6495 From what I know, you are forced to apply force on stretched shoulder position, like balancing on the rotator cuff. Also, your lats and back muscles are in a weaker position and more unstable. Usually, you should push against gravity as much as possible, protract in planche, retract in front lever and elevate in handstand. It is more something I feel than really something I can explain. As long as you are actively pulling your shoulderblade as much as you can and you don't rest on your joints, it should be ok.
You can find your centre of gravity just by finding your balance point lying across a bar. Considering that you'd be holding onto the bar it would be an accurate simulation of your weight distribution during a front lever.
Thanks for the Great and educational video ! Just hoping there would be similar videos with regards to the maths and physics required for other calisthenics movements such as the planche. Great job again!
Also if you would team up with frinksmovement i am sure you could create such high level in depth break downs of calisthenic skills, that would be insane :D
Excellent breakdown. This explains why it seems to be taking me forever to get the front lever
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS CONTENT! 😁
This is very helpful. Thank you, Mr. Climber.
3:10 Fulcrum is wrong, arms do not originate from the head, but shoulders. The head acts as counterweight to lift your legs even. See Adam Ondra's climbing style (dynamically uses his long neck). Great video tho.
Thanks for the statics refresher!
the statement "jacked upper bodies make FL easier" is confusing to me. the upper body is underneath the shoulders so its actually an obstacle? I mean the pivot point is the shoulder joint. So every mass over the shoulders (neck, head...) is making FL easier but not the upper body. The strength it generates is important not the size. Am I right? mechanis weren't my best subject...
Big upper body will still shift the mass further up towards the shoulders. Imagine you have skinny body and Center of mass is below the hips. Get a big upper body and this can now move to above the hips, closer to the shoulders. Basically any additional mass above your center of mass will help.
@@callum5752 but now imagine you have skinny legs and upper body but a huuuuge neck and head - I think I get your point. You mean it's easier with a big upper body rather without it. ye I think so too... but technically it would be even easier if you do necktraining all day xd
@@KazBrekker158 yeah it could be. But remember a big back will not only move your center of mass but it will give you a stronger pulling power. Even better you can grow an Afro xD
@@callum5752 my Dream Look = big back, huge neck and a bigass afro
@@KazBrekker158 I look forward to your front lever world record 😂
My abs were too week🤣 but now l can hold one for 3ish seconds!!!
Now I have to try the front lever with a heavy helmet on xD Very good video :) Would buy your bars when and if there is an European supplier in the future.
Full Front lever here (PR of 7 sec) Working on front lever pull up [cataloged on my youtube channel]
Stats: 6ft 185 lbs, can do a full nordic curl so I dont have chicken legs (not massive though)
~ 49-51 deg from doing some measurements just now
I'm certain you can acheive it, I love the analysis you did regardless
Have you tried getting stronger though?
It's very easy to give up when you plateau especially when you find out that your body is not gifted for a move
He for some reason doesn't want to eat better and build muscle. I think it's for his rock climbing
keep making content like this and you will have me for a true listener,and I will order some bars from you
Cheers
As real scientists we want to test our hypothesis. So you should add some weight to your head (or shoulders). That should provide enough of a counterweight to "simulate" the different center of gravity of your body.
You could do the same with the planche. Add weight to your head and it should allow you to hold a planche with a less extreme angle from your arms to your body.
Still going to say: Achieving the full front lever is either a supplementary goal to your climbing, in which case it will be useful to try, regardless (or even in spite of) of whether you reach the full front lever. But your goal seems to be views, in which case I understand focussing your resources on other things. No one should ignore gaining a little more muscle mass though. Even Adam Ondra gained 7Kg(!) to improve his all round climbing ability. And age is absolutely a non-factor in this, I'm 47 and have had enormous benefit from adding some muscle to my frame. Stay geeky, stay climber!
I don’t really think his main goal is views bro, he always gives us some tips about the things he has learned so he can help us out.
@@pablolagos9713 He can only help people if he gets people to watch the videos, and helpful videos get more views. Still the almighty algorithm rules. My point is that training front lever is much more useful to climbing than 'achieving' front lever. Stopping because it's too hard doesn't make sense in that scenario.
@@joolsgrommers1466 I see what you mean now, it makes sense
I track my planche and front lever progress by the assist torque needed to do the move, which on horizontal moves is pretty simple to calculate. Distance * Force = Torque.
I'm curious about one thing, if the achievable-ness of front lever is determined by the angle, then how come straight arm touch is possible? It's basically holding a front lever with 0 degree angle between arm and body with straight arm. I mean, even if you have super jacked upper body and "chicken legs", if the angle is what determines the difficulty, how is it possible? I don't mean to be negative, I like your videos
You mean 90 degree angle?
@@bob-uj4vn I think you are talking about horizontal angle between arms and torso, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in the video he talks about the angle between the arms and the torso in the vertical plane, and is influenced by the length of the arms (or how much distance between hands and shoulders). In the vertical plane the hands and shoulders are at same height, so the angle between them is 0
@@lunyxs7085that angle would also be influenced by how much you are pulling your arms towards your body ie transitioning towards the straight arm planche. .
Very interesting video, good stuff.
You can still achieve it with building a great hypertrophy back (since the other 2 variables are constant) to reach as close as possible to 52+ degree.
Yes, I agree, but I am really not down to change my diet to eating a calories surplus. I think I will make a video in the future with wearing a weight vest or a heavy helmet just to prove a point.
@@GeekClimber thats a great idea! noone will be able to say that you are too weak since the weight just makes you heavier.
@@ericconnor3728 yes but even though that the weight is reducing the lever, its additional weight, making the difficulty comparable to the initial conditions
@@GeekClimber Please do!
That would be a great demonstration for everyone who is not that math savvy...
like... not myself.. no no... for sure.. i am very good at math and have totally understood everything in this video!
@@GeekClimber Many sources say that a small surplus is enough to build muscle (something like 200-300 calories surplus per day, with 0.7 - 1 grams of protein per pound of lean bodyweight). Since you are already both lean and strong, you might need a calorie surplus to build more strength and muscle?
In fact, since your videos indicate that you're getting stronger, you might already be in a calorie surplus without even knowing it. If that's the case, continuing to work out as normal may be enough to achieve bigger muscles.
Listen, the front lever is probably one of the hardest and most advanced things you’ve ever trained for so for anybody, it will take time. Especially when you’re choosing not to build muscle, which is recommended to anyone trying to learn skills. Due to this, it will most likely take you much longer than most people to get it but that shouldn’t make you think you can’t do it just Bc you’ve plateaued. If you’re willing to try and learn it, accept that it’s going to be a long term goal for you (1+ years for a clean 5s hold possibly) if you continue without any calisthenics conditioning or muscle building
There are people out there that can do front lever pulls and holds, angle for that being between 0-10 degrees.
I can do a 5 second front lever it took a while and a lot of work never give up guys if you want it never stop
Geek climber is the type of guy you ask to make your math homework👌
i'm no math whiz, but this doesn't seem to paint the full picture. sure the angel data for optimal positioning makes sense, but what about leverage loads. the further the load that is away will always be harder than a load closer to the body. it takes more strength to bear weight the further it is away from your base joint. Thats why false grips make front levers easier. utilizing a false grip essentially makes your arm shorter, thus easier to hold power
for example, extend you arm out straight forward and lock it out. then have someone either push down or up at your wrist. then do the same at your forearm. it will be much more difficult to resist force at the wrist than the forearm
There's nothing wrong with someone telling you you are too weak and need to get stronger. guess what, that can be changed. you know what you cant change, the length of your arms
@@stevenvu1925🤡
Try front lever on a ledge climbing hold. It adds a bit of length to your arms through finger/hand extension.
I feel like something would be missing in the overall atmosphere of the videos if you'd ever change your microphone 😂. Jokes aside though, as always a great video. Thank you for all your insights on the topic.
Bought 3 orders of 5bar. Excited to try it out!
Now I know why I can’t front lever : My sport teacher wasn’t good at maths
You should do more of these mathematical videos. Perhaps you could even turn it into a series.
Maybe you could try wearing a weight vest or helmet. Also, using some stick with a hook as an arm extender may work. That would probably be better than traditional regressions since it's more specific and closely mimics an actual full front lever
This makes the equation Maths + Physics + Biology = Calisthenics feels right.
Could you make a video on an iron cross math? I know that the longer your arms the harder. But is that basically it?
It’s tough to measure the angle of the front lever from a phone camera as slight distortions and perspective can cause inaccuracies. The recording device in the shared clip was slightly lower than the shoulders. This causes the measured angle to be smaller than actual. It should be level to demonstrate angle accurately.
The upper parts of the legs is probably much heavier than the lower part, so wouldn't these calculations underestimate by probably quite a lot the angle ? As the weight of the legs should be what has the more important impact if I understood well your calculations.
All to say, It would be interesting to compare this calculation with real data on someone who can do a front lever, because maybe the way you simplify is too much, as the result must be fairly precise. Good luck with your training !
My cousins calves are bigger then his quads 🤷♂️
@@NikA-wr6px perhaps so, but I’m guessing his thighs are still bigger where they attach to the pelvis than where they attach to the knee
Good job geek
Hey geek climber, would it also work to take a picture of myself doing the full front lever with assistance from a resistance band and then mesure the angle between my torso and my arms in the picture?
If the assistance band is attached to the bar and is vertical, I think this should work
@@Daniel-nl3ug it is always attached to the bar) The question is where it is on your body
This video cracked me up - seemed Geekclimber just sent his first G12😂 Personally, I normally train with tau=90, but only sending G3 these days.
Good engineering approach.... Congrats!!!! 👍👍👏👏👏
I'm not watching this yet, just wanted to add this in case you decided to give up on the FL: there are people that can do the "touch front lever" where you have your arms bent and get to the bar holding yourself in the FL. if you achieve an FL with a shorter moment arm/higher angle in general you're inherently closer to the touch FL because you're working a harder move.
Also for strength building: I found FL raises to be more efficient at the learning how to do the movement than just holding. Doing the progressions you're currently on while not allowing yourself to swing, and going through a number of raises made me progress rapidly from the tuck FL to a straddle FL.
Also have the one arm pull up under my belt so I'm reasonably comparable, but I definitely have different moment arms/weight etc.
Usually a big fan of your videos but I have disliked your last two videos.
First, I feel these conclusions are not rigorous. If your conclusion is based on a very precise answer (i.e. you say 52% is optimal), then your estimates and assumptions going into the equation need to be very precise as well. As others have pointed out, your assumptions are significantly imprecise (e.g. the thigh is much heavier than the calf yet you assume equal distribution).
Math aside, I also dislike these videos as they reflect a change in tone of your channel. Initially the videos were along the lines of “look at what I, an average climber, am able to accomplish through hard work/discipline” and viewers left feeling encouraged. These latest videos give the opposite feeling. As many people have said, front lever is really hard and might take you longer than you expect.
Is there any chance to see the middle split video in the future ?
Hi, did you ever build the tool to automate the calculation? If so, would love to use it!
On the extreme side - some people do the victorian cross which has an angle of 0.
Though very few people have this strength
Interesting, have you tried to solve torques to estimate effort to produce as well ?
Regarding this angle issue, you should have the same problem with the planche, shouldn’t you?
I tried working this out myself and I believe the force required to preform the front lever is your weight divided by tangent of the theta required. I thought of it like a right triangle where your weight is the vertical side, the force you need to exert is the horizontal side, and the hypotenuse is the tension in your arms.
you just have to get stronger bro
Is this the same for back lever?
Since I'm one of the first to comment, there's a very real chance you'll read this comment. In that case I would like to give you my sincere compliments for the content you publish and I wish you even more success!
I read all my comments! I might not be able to reply to all of them, but I surely read all of them! Thanks for your best wishes!
yes but height and weight of lower body makes a way bigger difference than arm lengh so youre good to go
Thoughts on the saying not to train the legs to achieve the FL?
Depends on your personal goals. If you want to get good at FL and don’t care for strong legs or aesthetics then dont train them. Otherwise you can train them.
I made it to 4:18. I think that's an achievement.
Thanks For the vid
I you want to train effectively, then start learning correct biomechanics and anatomy, instead of applying physics, because it seems that you are lacking a bit in that department.
Someone know if he made that website?
Bro i said this multiple times but i ll say it again. Build more muscle to support your skills, just start eating in a slight surplus and train more hypertrophy but of course train your skills as well. (Strength sets first and Hypertrophy after).
Great video
Why isnt he at million subs yet? :)
Do the same with the planche pls !
Was about to order a few 5-bars with the free shipping promotion. Though there is still a shipping cost added after I place an order above 35USD. I assume it is because I order it to Denmark. Maybe a good idea to address that it is only for US orders.
Thanks for the reminder. I just updated the website. I hope to expand to Europe if I can get some initial success locally here in the U.S.
head = head + neck; arms shouldn't go to finger tips but to mid grip; your assumption that legs are uniformly distributed is a very bad approximation (you're moving a lot of thigh weight far away drastically skewing your center of mass calc). I very roughly measured my center of mass with an assisted front lever (with a force helping under the bar) and it sits a little above my resting arm (to mid grip) so my hanging angle will be a little greater than 45°, but not much :(. I will keep trying!
A better approximation for the legs would be to go down only 1/3 of their length extended: that's shaping them like a wedge.
your channel is sooo fuckin dope man. i hope u get more subs and love ♥
Doesn't this just mean that we should focus more on upper body hypertrophy? Frinksmovement's video did correlate weighted pull ups and other weighted exercises with front lever success, you are already doing weighted exercises by the looks of it.
It means nothing at the end of the day, knowing how hard something is has no bearing on achieving it or not. Keep training, prioritise raising your weighted pullup as much as you can. Exact numbers needed will ofcourse differ from person to person. It doesnt matter, get stronger untill you can do it. This is not a couple month thing, It'll take a while, but in the process you will learn alot about training and become freakishly strong. Trust me, when you can hold a front lever properly, you have a very unique strength that not alot of people can match.
Yes. I actually made a video discussing the optimal body types for calisthenics earlier. The ideal body type is the gymnast body type, high upper body mass, and low lower body mass. But again, I have no idea how people control the extra calories eaten to just go into the upper body and not go into the lower body. Really need someone to explain this.
@@GeekClimber I think it would require you to not train legs, and only upper body while eating at a calorie surplus. You would gain fat on your lower body and part muscle and fat on your upper body. Then you would continue training to maintain muscle mass while you lose weight to get rid of the fat you gained on both your upper and lower body, leaving you with a more muscular upper body, and similar if not the same legs as before. Just would take awhile.
@@simondehaas6460 If this video is right, it also means upper body training pulls double duty. Not only does it make you stronger, it also contributes to increasing the mass of your upper body. That means ANY upper body exercise contributes to front lever progress.
@@GeekClimber See what I mean with the 'optimal trait for... so therefore I'm not good at..' argument that I find deeply counter to everything self improvement should be about? If you cant understand how a body builds muscle why advertise yourself as a smart trainee. The way people control where carolies go is by training surtain muscle groups more then others, thus the body will build muscle there and weightdistribution will change. If you do nothing but skip leg day and hit biceps all day then yess you will be top heavy. The body needs calories (energy) and protein (building material) to repair muscle damage sustained during training. A process called supercompesation takes place where the body overbuilds the muscle to prepare it to handle bigger load. this is how you get bigger and stronger.. It's a kindergarden concept in the strenght training world and the fact you dont have a grasp on it makes me scared you broadcast your oppinion on training to such a large audience. I strongly recommend you to check out this video by natural hypertrophy that explaines all the basic conceps of strength training: th-cam.com/video/8ELQ2XZgpls/w-d-xo.html Good luck
Amazing to see! I quit my studie but I remember allot of the stuff that I read I'm extremly pumped to calculate this with my own body now 😂
But price is always a setback amazing video
(I also gave up on the front lever for finding it to difficult but seeing some calisthenics atheletes do it with more mass and lenght as me is really motivating. Sitting here at 1.89meters 87kilos's)
You could do the same content for the planche 💪🏼
Can something similar used to determine is a full planche is possible?
Very very interesting