GET GYMNAST FIT
MOVE AND BEND FREELY
ANY AGE
You can develop a gymnast body at any age. In fact, my clients range from teens to seniors.
ANY LEVEL
My training approach is individualized and addresses the current needs. Any body is welcome.
ANYWHERE
Train online via FaceTime or Skype, in-person at my private studio or at a comfort of your home.
One might think that Gymnastics is all about handstands, iron crosses, backflips, full splits, and other difficult elements we often see on the TV during the Gymnastics championships. Whereas impressive, it is not what originally Gymnastics stands for .
First traced in ancient Greece, in Sparta and Athens, Gymnastics was considered to be a form of art or wisdom comparable to poetry, philosophy, music, geometry, and astronomy. The education of the mind and the body was combined into Gymnastics training. Only later on during the Roman times it became more formalized and was used to train men in warfare.
In the early 1800s Gymnastics was introduced in the US and since then has spread all over the globe as a form of holistic physical education encompassing the full spectrum of the human body’s fitness.
For example, in the USSR in the 50s-60s, Gymnastics was widely used almost everywhere. Factory workers would (be forced) perform some gymnastics exercises during their lunch break to boost productivity, in the military, young conscripts would dedicate a lot of time to training in a gymnasium, in kindergartens and schools kids would do some form of gymnastics between the classes.
Simply put, Gymnastics aims for the ability of the body to move and bend freely to live an active and pain-free life. And that is exactly what my primary goal is with all my students. Of course, anybody can push their abilities a bit further to continue learning more advanced skills of Gymnastics such as handstand, press to handstand, and the like. And even compete against other people in those skills, though now we talk about Artistic Gymnastics or Sports Gymnastics, the one you watch on the TV.
As you can see, there is no limit on who can do Gymnastics, because at any age, no matter how fit you are, you can always educate your mind on how to run your body to move and bend freely.
III STEPS TO GET GYMNAST FIT
FIX. Lower back, shoulders, hips, knees, and wrists. These are the body parts most susceptible to chronic pain and discomfort. Years of faulty movement patterns and compromised bio-mechanics cause limitations. To fix how the body moves, we need to fix how your body thinks. Your thoughts run your muscles. Fix how you think to fix how you move.
TUNE. A body rid of limitations is limitless. Now it's time to tune what you can do already. Walking, running, pushups, squats, and all. These are building blocks of a gymnast body.
IMPROVE. Expand your abilities. Learn basic gymnastics skills such as handstands, muscle-ups, l-sits, splits, press to handstands, and many more. The sky is your limit.
YOU WILL IMPROVE
Strength | Flexibility | Mobility | Coordination | Balance | Power | Stamina
During our sessions, we combine many aspects of Gymnastics training such as flexibility and mobility training, strength and conditioning training, balance and coordination training. We focus a lot on the mind’s ability to coordinate and adequately engage dozens of the muscle groups with the right timing, in the right sequence, and with the right exertion level to achieve fluidity and ease in any moves.
This is important because even if a muscle is well trained in isolation to lift a heavy weight, yet always being used by the central nervous system not at a right time and/or with too much activation while working in harness with other muscles, it produces more bad than good for your joints and connective tissue.
This is exactly the reason why with age we start having more back, shoulder, or hip pain. Nothing is wrong with the muscles themselves, but with how they are used by the mind. With a mostly sedentary lifestyle and occasional training of the muscles primarily in isolation, the central nervous system loses its ability to coordinate the engagement of multiple muscle groups at one time and starts relying on one or two strongest muscles creating imbalances in the skeletal‑muscular system leading to lower back pain, frozen shoulder or wear-and-tear damages.
That is why not only do we want to become stronger, more flexible, and mobile, develop better stamina and power, and be better coordinated and balanced, but also teach the mind how to use all those qualities in a perfect balance.
TRAINER MAXIM
A former Russian gymnast with a sport science degree and various certificates including certification by Canadian Fitness Professionals, TRX, Human Kinetics and others.
More than 15 years of personal training experience around the world, over 30 years in various sports amongst which are gymnastics (main sport background), crossfit, powerlifting, bodybuilding, and boxing.
Author of the unique training approach based on the Russian school of gymnastics physical preparation adopted for adults of any age and level.
A hundred plus 5 star google reviews. Please check them out here!
HOW IT STARTED
Born in the USSR. My name is Maxim. I am a personal trainer who was born to a typical soviet family. My mother worked at a secret factory producing electronic military equipment and the father, an undercover KGB operative. Just kidding, my father was a carpenter.
I started Gymnastics as a kid but switched
to competitive powerlifting at the age of 17 and moved to bodybuilding five years later. By 25 I found myself utterly frustrated with my physique.
I developed sever lower back pain after years of heavy lifting and completions. My gymnastics skills, strength, and flexibility were all gone. I was like an old tree, tight and immobile though massive and strong. Then I realized that I would rather be smaller, but able to move and bend freely, like a young tree. I turned back to Gymnastics. It was one of the best decisions in my life.
I am now 40 years old and my gymnastics skills, strength, stamina, flexibility, mobility, coordination, and balance are back. I can do interesting - one might say impressive - things with my body and my lower back problems are gone. I feel confident, strong, agile and look forward to every training session because Gymnastics is fun.
I developed a gymnastics based training approach (my students tell me a unique one) to help you achieve the same, because if I could do this, so can you.
My system is an adaptation of Gymnastics Strength Training that works for people of any age, experience, and fitness level. It is challenging but extremely effective and actually enjoyable.
Looking back at my 15 years of personal training and 30 years in the sports, I can say with confidence: what you can do with your body defines how you look and feel - not the other way around.
That is why I use my gymnastics background to unleash your body’s full potential. I want to give you freedom of movement, the joy of a great look and superb self-esteem coming from physical skills rarely seen amongst others. Honestly, it works.
Please, don't take my words for it. Check out my hundred + Five Star Google reviews. The people I have trained around the world have benefited greatly from my training approach.
Early 2000s. My gym in Russia. I'm the 20yo in the middle.
Powerlifting was my life after Gymnastics. 21yo.
Until I decided to take up bodybuilding. Never skip leg day. 22yo.
Back to Gymnastics training and still learning how to smile. 40yo.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
"More recently I have been dealing with a frozen shoulder and moderate lower left back pain most likely from weight training, which is what prompted me to seek out Max. In the 7 weeks we’ve been working together I can now do things with my shoulder I haven’t been able to do in 5 months and my back also feels 80% better! I have even stopped seeing my physio!"
- Angelica Yang
"Maxim continued his training on-line during the pandemic. I am amazed how he still has a full grip of my workouts at the comfort of my own safe home. Maxim has become even more precise getting my body aligned and strong . He misses nothing and watches you like a "hawk " with precise instructions how to perform his workouts. Highly recommend Maxim!" - Gabriele Brencher
"Maxim is very passionate about gymnastics and fitness. His definition of fitness is not only related to moves and skills during workouts. His understanding of fitness affects your daily life - how you stand, sit, move, work. He aims for a longevity (fitness) and gives good advice that can be easily integrated into anyone’s daily life." - Gabriele Bickel
ON-LINE
FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, Whatsup. You can be anywhere. We don't need a gym, we don't need equipment. We need a quiet place and a good internet connection.
IN-PERSON
For those who are based in Halifax or Dartmouth. However, you might find that on-line training is much more convenient and equally effective. Try it for free, I will make it count.
ONCE A WEEK
Even training one or twice a week will lead to significant improvements. Besides, you will always have a little homework to do.
My Gymnastics training approach is based mostly on body weight exercises, that don’t use a lot of equipment nor require a lot of space. If you have a quiet corner in your apartment, house, or your building’s gym we are good to go.
If you happened to have a pair of dumbbells or elastic bends we would definitely find a great use for them. And even better if you have a pull-up bar, but if you don’t we can absolutely manage without it.
Another advantage of my training is that you don’t really need a lot of spotting since there is no heavy bar threatening to crush your chest spoiling your personal best bench press. All I need is to observe you from a couple of angles to make sure your body parts are moving the way they are supposed to and provide you with very thorough verbal instructions. For that reason, I am as good on your phone/tablet/tv screen as in person.
Many of my students find this online gymnastics training via FaceTime or Skype even more effective. It teaches them confidence and to pay attention to the instructions. It also saves their time and makes it easier to fit the training sessions into their work schedules because we have more rescheduling flexibility since it doesn't involve any transportation.
An additional bonus of the online training is safety. No people around your coughing and sneezing, no wiping down the equipment after each use, no waiting for the equipment, and so on.
However, if you still prefer in-person one-on-one training sessions and look for a personal trainer in Halifax or Dartmouth, which is where my physical location is, we can do it too. Anyway, give it some thought, check my reviews, and Instagram, and get in touch with me. I always have a solution for any schedule and budget.