Specificity in Skill Strength Training for Acrobatics
by Flosha, 18.04.2025 - 20.04.2025
Please note: This article is a work in progress, isn’t finished and is bound to change.
You become better at what you train and internalise it in the way you train it. You will as well internalise bad patterns if you keep practicing them. From this fact follows that it is absolutely essential to practice, as far as possible, from the very beginning in the most technically correct way. For this reason a good coach is necessary to teach and instill solid technique.
This is the simple rule of specificity: You become good at what you do. When you do it badly you will become good in doing it badly. The same applies to strength. The more specific your strength training is to your required or desired skills, the better you will become in performing them. Therefore we are aiming to make all (or as much as reasonably possible) of our training specific to what it should eventually enable us to do.
The strength requirements and skills of base and top partners are different due to their different roles in the sport. Therefore this article will be concluded in these two subchapters:
But before we deal with the specific preparation of the partners and their differences, we will have to clarify some general terms and principles. If we understand these we can then show how these principles can be applied in the specific preparation of the partners. Before reading this article, please read “Strength & Mass in Acro”.
Basic Strength vs. Skill Strength
When we are speaking of “Skill Strength” we are not speaking of Skill Training. Skill Training is simply practicing acrobatic skills. Skill Strength Training is doing skill-specific strength exercises to become stronger in the skills.
To explain the difference: One may have the goal to achieve the “Planche” (Horizont). For doing so he will need to constantly practice specific positions that are reasonable to do at his level (e.g. practicing the Tuck Planche). This can be understood as skill training. But the skill itself, the Full Planche that he aims for is yet way too hard to practice and just from holding the Tuck Planche position he won’t make much progress towards the Planche. He recognises that he has to become stronger and that his muscle mass may not suffice. Thus he will start to build muscle necessary for the Planche, such as by practicing weighted push-ups or incline bench press in a mass cycle (or several ones if necessary). These exercises are not too specific to the planche, because they do not replicate the same shoulder angle and direction of force output, but they are easy to train and build a big part of the muscles involved in the Planche.
After (and to some degree simultaneously) to having build more mass he will work on expressing more strength through this mass (“using more of his potential”) through basic strength exercises, such as, in this case, again: Weighted Push-ups or Incline Bench Press, which is the second step. But now with a strength focused programming, strength rep range, intensity, volume, speed and rest.
After (and to some degree simultaneously) he will then focus on expressing this strength in skills through skill strength exercises, such as variations of Planche Push-ups, which would be the third step.
But one thing has to be understood: If he is strong enough for the planche, so strong that the planche is easy to him and he has enough mass to hold it consistently and for long and if this is the only or the hardest skill that he wants to do, then there will be no need whatsoever to do any more mass building. He doesn’t need more mass and in gymnastic skills it can be detrimental to the execution of his desired skill(s) if there is too much. If, e.g. he then gets heavier legs, the planche will become much harder or suddenly don’t work anymore.
If the mass is build and if sufficient, it will be enough to preserve it through sufficient nutrition and through sufficient usage of strength.
It is totally possible to not approach the training in this way of cycles for Mass, Strength and Skill Strength. It is simply a way that has been proven to be effective and is currently recommended by some experts in the field. But all of these exercises in their different rep ranges, speed, rest times etc. could also be done simultaneously. E.g. you could also have a mixed mass + strength programming, where you work in more of a mass building fashion a few days a week and more in a strength building fashion on other days. And depending on if one of the two is currently of higher relevance for your situation you may put more focus on one or the other (e.g. have 80% of your training be mass focused and 20% strength or vice versa). And if one already has enough mass he has no need in wasting time on building more and can only do strength or skill strength training.
If more specificity is always good, why would one not always train the skills themselves for building the necessary skill strength?
It is possible to replace all or most basic strength exercises with skill strength exercises in order to have the highest specificity in training. The problem with this approach is that many skills (such as, to stick to our example, the planche or planche push-ups) are very hard on the joints and are not as easy to use and sustain without injury when practiced all the time, compared with regular exercises (such as weighted push-ups). In our example: Doing all the horizontal pushing strength by practicing Planche Push-ups will not be reasonable for many people because it will strain there wrists too much. The wrists or the shoulders or the elbows may give out before the muscles are really worked. Therefore, in case of the Planche, as well as in many other cases, it can make sense to not use the skill itself as the strength exercise of choice, even if that means less specificity. Because the slight advantage of a higher degree of specificity, in this case (and in case of many partner moves as well) does not outweigh the higher injury risk. If one is injured due to practicing everything at highest specificity, it’s of no use.
For some people it may be practical and can be done if one is very advanced in his level of preparation and can handle it. Therefore as a general rule we can say: Only using skill strength exercises for strength training is not for beginners, it is for advanced athletes with enough preparation. But if this preparation is given and if it can be done safely and sustainably - it is the eventual ideal and the preferred way in order to train with more specificity for excellent skill execution.
Specificity in the Preparation of Bases
The skills that the bases have to master primarily, are tempos and landings/catches in diverse positions for dynamic, and mounts, motions and holds in diverse positions for balance.
In Acro we have the advantage that many movements/skills that the bases have to perform are very similar to basic weightlifting exercises; it is therefore rather easy to turn the strength training in the preparation of the bases into skill strength.
To just make a few practical examples: Almost any kind of mount and dynamics in pairs is either related to a squat, a press, a push-press or a hinge and the necessary strength for it can be build by practicing related lifts. Other, more rare lifts, mostly done by mixed pairs, also include Upright Rows, Swings and such things as One Arm Snatches. A few examples:
- Podsechka is basically Front Squat and Push-Press.
- Cannonball, depending on the technique used is a mixture of kettlebell swing and upright row.
- Any kind of dynamics on feet to hand is an explosive push press.
- Wraps are a hinge combined with a sort of swing, bicep curl or cheat curl, frontal raise, etc.
It’s all basic strength and thus quite easy to train very specific.
Specificity in the Preparation of Tops
Tops, just like handbalancers, aim for a light build, especially light legs and strong, but lean upper bodies. They have to train their legs to some degree to develop enough explosive power for dynamics for jumps and for the safety in landings, but with little external weight used. Their training can and should be very specific. They have to become efficient at handstands, different motions and shapes, so they have to practice all these motions and shapes, do lots of handstand endurance, stability and technique training. In some ways the training of tops is easier and more straightforward, since almost no equipment and no weight is needed apart from canes and ancle weights and maybe some resistance bands. But it is more technically complex and requires more technical knowledge to teach them these skills correctly and develop correct lines.
In this article I wanted to give an overview of how to approach specificity in acro skill strength in general and what is even meant by it; for concrete, practical application of these principles, you may refer to my “Categories of Training”, where practical examples and exercises for each training category will be given (work in progress).