If you are tall or heavy don't lose hope - full planche at 202cm 102kg/6'7 225lbs and other feats by heavyweight calisthenics athletes

[thomaslowrens]

Are you too tall or heavy to reach advanced calisthenics moves? The answer is not so obvious, I've found that some moves previously thought impossible past a certain height/weight have been achieved by giants, I'll share some examples.

Based on some replies I got in the comments, I'll point out that it's very unlikely to reach the level of the outliers shown below because they have excellent genetics and some of them are on steroids (with at least one comment arguing that all of them are users), but the point is that the limit is much higher than many people expected, so someone smaller/with average genetics/natural has at least a tiny chance of reaching these moves, and maybe we'll see them done by even bigger people.

• Full planche: Jack Vinati, 202cm 102kg/6'7 225lbs, this is his Instagram page, currently his best hold was shown in this video where he also did an almost full range front lever row and one arm pull ups. He started calisthenics around 3 years ago and was coached by Alessandro Mainente, apparently in the past he was a pro basketball player who had to stop because of injuries.
• One arm front lever: Aziz Azizov, 195cm 100kg/6'4 220lbs, here is a hold with the body almost entirely in the horizontal plane. He's also got an almost straight full planche.
• Hefesto: This one is a later addition, Leco Extremo, 200cm 82kg/6'7 180lbs. Here you can see him hold an assisted Victorian cross, full planche, almost iron cross and he's the tallest I've seen do the hefesto. So you can see that tall and lanky/not very heavy for their height people can reach these moves. Is even this guy on steroids, for those who claim all of these athletes are?
• One arm pull up: Andrey Smaev is 185cm/6' and here his weight was 120kg/264lbs and he also added 16kg/35lbs as if it wasn't already hard enough. This man has monstrous strength, I've written about him here. However note that he admitted using steroids in a Russian interview, but he still has inhuman genetics.
• Nordic hamstring curl: Lance Kearse, 6'7 240lbs/202cm 108kg pro basketball player.

I'll add the tallest/heaviest athlete for more moves (hefesto, iron cross?...) if I find some good examples, any suggestions?

There's a page on Instagram dedicated to giving recognition to big and strong calisthenics athletes, Bar Giants. It doesn't include people who are shorter than 185cm (almost 6'1) so here are some mentions of shorter but heavy and strong athletes or others I haven't seen on that page:

• Vitaliy Feschuk 182cm 100kg/5'11 220lbs, he's one of the world's strongest streetlifters and he's got a full planche, Maltese, iron cross, hefesto, front lever rows and many advanced moves.
• David Nonemancher, 185cm 102kg/6'1 225lbs. He hasn't posted training clips recently, but in the past he showed a full planche and he's got strong legs too.
• Sebastiano Paitowschi, 191cm/6'3 and he held a full planche when he was 90kg/200lbs.
• Filippo Pici, he's around 90kg/200lbs and has big legs and can hold a full Maltese cross, I don't know his height but I don't think he's very tall, he comes from a gymnastics background as far as I know.
• Tyson Edwards, he's quite tall and heavy and has big legs but I don't know the stats. He's held a full planche.
• Vlad (Darkgod Nation), 178cm 90kg/5'10 220lbs, can do many planche and Maltese related elements.
• Later addition: @jc44, full planche at 188cm/6'2.
• Another addition: Olaf Kosten, full planche at 188cm 93kg/6'2 205lbs.

Now it's true that many of these are probably genetically gifted and some of them take steroids, but years ago it seemed unthinkable to see someone 2m tall hold a full planche, so it's hard to say what are the true limits of an individual, and I think moves like the human flag, front lever and one arm pull up are achievable at almost any height. If you are very tall, to reach some of those moves you'll probably have to avoid gaining a lot of mass in the legs and train in an intelligent and structured manner for years, but who knows where the possibilities end?

 

[jc44]

@thomaslowrens Hey was going to post something a bit more lighthearted but I'm seeing a few mildly depressing comments here.

I recently joined the 188cm (6'2) full planche club myself and I can definitely say without a doubt I had a heck of a lot of advantages. But I do think it's a lot more possible than people think. And (as far as I know) I'm definitely not taking any steroids.

I might just hang out here and answer some questions if people in the thread if people to want to ask any. I might not be a complete god of strength like some of the other people here but I'm probably easier to get a hold of!

 

[micjlane]

@jc44 That's so sick man! Congrats on hitting that full planche, it looks beautiful.

Gives me hope on some bwf movements.

 

[thomaslowrens]

@jc44 You are one of the tallest guys who reached a full planche, they should feature you on the Bar Giants page, I thought they'd already added you there.

If you want to share something about your training journey it would be very useful for many people.

 

[jc44]

@thomaslowrens I mean I don't really advertise myself so I'm not surprised I'm not on there to be honest. I guess thats also why I'm pretty sure the limits are much higher than people think. There are plenty of people like me that are just plugging away, training that nobody has heard about.

 

[dawn16]

@jc44 hi! just starting out, can you share some tips and exercises that you used that help you get to where you are?

 

[dawn16]

@thomaslowrens Im 2m, i can only dream of what these gods can accomplish hahaha

 

[thomaslowrens]

@dawn16 You can challenge your perception of your own limits and find what you are truly capable of.

 

[dawn16]

@thomaslowrens That's true. That's what got me into BWF, just cos everyone said i wouldn't be able to. I'm still far off but improving so yeah

 

[gberta]

@dawn16 I'm 1.98m and to be honest I don't worry too much about my size. I figure this stuff is difficult and it is meant to be difficult. Not impossible, but will be rewarding to get some of these skills down. This year I went from 106kg to 94kg which must help. In that time I've gone from 4 bodyweight dips to 13 dips with a 10kg plate between my legs. Even accounting for the weight I lost that is stronger in my book. Progress might seem slow but its all in the right direction.

 

[dawn16]

@gberta Dude impressive! Keep it up, yeah progress is slow but surely there, it's good that you realise! I've got the other problem, I'm too skinny. Went from 75kg to 87 in 6 months en got a lot of improvement as well, but slow... Keep going!

 

[ofavro]

@dawn16 There I can only agree. I‘m 2 centimeters shy of 2m and am happy to get 10 push-ups done.

 

[dawn16]

@ofavro Progress is always slow, but keep going and you'll get there. It takes us longer, but a well formed giant man beats a muscled dwarf any day

 

[serina1995]

@thomaslowrens While I appreciate what you’re trying to do, I think it’s important to recognize that possible does not equate to probable. The taller and heavier you are, the less likely it is you will be able to perform any of these moves. An analogy would be a person under 6 foot being able to dunk a basketball. It’s possible, but highly unlikely. That doesn’t mean people under 6foot can’t enjoy the game of basketball, just because they can’t dunk.

 

[johnleemushroom]

@serina1995 i'm 6 2 (188cm) and have been trying for the planche and front lever for the past 9 months. My gains on planche have been almost nothing, but on the front lever they have been ok. most days i love being tall, just not when it comes to callisthenics

 

[jmon]

@johnleemushroom I'm also 6' 2" and have been working for a year on planche. Still not there, I feel less like my shoulders will snap though. I've been weak for so many years of my life, my tendons will take a long time to build.

The referenced people are way outliers. Super high amounts of muscle with very strong ligs/tendons. I'm 100% no gear and only at 155lbs low body fat.

 

[dawn16]

@johnleemushroom 190cm here. Started planche 50 days ago
I can do a good adv tuck hold for 10-15 seconds now. Now my main focus is to do single leg planche and I’m getting there. Also I have real low back problems and I’m still trying and getting there and I know you can do it as well. Just stick to the right training and listen to your body. Good luck

 

[ratan]

@johnleemushroom I’m 6’4” and don’t work on planches, but I was able to do a ~10 second full front level. I was only around 175lbs at the time though which made it possible

 

[leobarros98]

@johnleemushroom Achieving cali skills as a tall person is more rewarding tho, because it's harder to achieve them.

 

[sister_diane]

@serina1995 Yeah, but for me (2.03m/100kg) it’s pretty nice seeing someone with my frame doing a planche. I thought it was impossible, as I’d never ever seen anyone do it. But apparently, if I really wanted it, it would be something that is achievable in theory.