Ep. 84 - The Original Iron Sport: Gymnastics

Before there was powerlifting, bodybuilding, weightlifting, and strongman, there was the iron game, and it all overlapped. Before that, there was the physical culture movement. During this era, you couldn’t find a strongman or woman who didn’t do hand balancing, calisthenics, or tumbling as a part of their training. Gymnastics has a long history, but today it is its own sport and embedded in some national sport systems to build a foundation for young athletes‘ careers. Further, it’s a major component of CrossFit. Finally, you ever see the delts on a gymnast?? In today’s episode, we explore these relationships, roles, the history of Gymnastics, and the new evolution of sports science within it. To do so we’re joined by Eric’s 3DMJ teammate Andrea Valdez, a former gymnastics coach and young gymnast who has returned to the sport as an adult, and Dr. Dave Tilley who is leading the modern, evidence-based charge in the sport.

Om Podcasten

Iron Culture was started by Eric Helms and Omar Isuf, now currently hosted by Eric Helms and Eric Trexler with Omar as a returning guest, as a means of exploring the world of physical culture and attempting to distill a unified philosophy of lifting and to help listeners find greater meaning from the iron. The lifting community has become fractured over the last ~70 years and this Podcast will attempt to explore the fundamental threads that unite these different tribes. The Podcast focuses on dispensing practical, useful information to the listener, bouncing from history, to philosophy, to contemporary lifting culture issues, to science. This can range from teaching the audience about lifting, programming, nutrition, supplements/PEDs and the history of lifting culture. The format includes casual conversations between the two hosts on a variety of topics, discussions with a panel of experts and interviews with authoritative figures in the lifting community.