Meet Vitaluj Gumenij for this interview in his home-town Nikolaev, Ukraine.
He is a professional street fitness athlete, coach and entrepreneur who invented his own Workout Style Dance on Bars, started the street fitness gym Workout Style Lab and is the initiator of a show crew with the same name.
Name: Виталий Гуменный (Vitaluj Gumennyj) (VG)
City: Nikolaev
Sport: Street Fitness, since 2007
Career: Creator Dance on Bars, Workout Style Crew, Founder Workout Style Lab, Videographer
Personal Records: Weighted Pull-Up 22 reps with 32 kg, Human Flag 26 seconds
Moto: Workout gives me strength and energy
Interviewer: Daria Smetanko (DS)
Vitaluj, you are a well-known sportsman in your home-town Nikolaev where you inspired many teenagers to give up drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes and work out instead. How did it all happen?
Back in 2008 nobody in Nikolaev knew about this new sports street fitness. We came across videos, where athletes from the USA were doing exercises on bars. We started to repeat after them. Then we decided to organize meetings and work out together. That’s how we started Workout Style. It soon attracted 30 people. We were training a lot. And today we train in our gym Workout Style Lab and our unique way of street fitness is quite popular in Southern Ukraine.
What inspired you to create your own, unique style of calisthenics exercise?
Workout Style is a street sport. A lot of people like this sport, exactly because everybody can find his own and new style or exercise. Our guys did always like to carry out exercises with music. We combined it with elements from hip-hop and that’s how the new style came about. We called it Dance on Bars. Then I gathered a team of eight athletes and we created a show with it to travel around the world and show our style in different places.
Who works out at Workout Style Labs – mainly young people? Are there any middle-aged people too?
You will see young and middle-aged people come to our gyms. Many kids for sure. They are really good at it because it’s street gymnastics.
What is your secret to being successful with street fitness?
I think the result depends on each person. If you want to have a result, you need to be ready for the pain to get it. It also depends on the food and the discipline. After one or two months you can already get some good results. If you pull-up three times today, you can beat ten times.
How often and how long do you work out for yourself?
Usually, I train four times a week. It’s a mix of training in the gym with street workouts. Legs and shoulders in the gym and the pull exercises in street workout.
Can you give us a few more details about your workout?
I keep a good balance of rest and workout. Twice a week I try to make my legs – a lot of squats to keep them constantly in shape. The weak spot for many street fitness athletes is definitely their legs. People think that it is easier to make complicated elements on a horizontal bar with non-kicked legs. I’m trying to have nice proportions. Like Hannibal for King. He has millions of views on Youtube. He is one of the pumped up and handsome guys out there. After a variety of free squats, I do 15 reps for four deep squat variants with weight. Then I would make a wide squat with the weight. Then I do an exercise – attack, combining all four variants and a lot of weight. At the end of the training, I pump the lower legs, front and back. I will do exercises for the shoulders too mainly hand-stands. This is an excellent street fitness exercise to pump your shoulders. Press for the maximum number of repetitions with ten hand-stand variants. Between each variant, I rest for one minute. You can supplement it with rounds of different types of push-ups: a pyramid, a boat. The rest of the training concentrates mainly on the back – with exits on two hands, pull-ups on uneven bars. This program builds a solid base for any street fitness athlete and it puts you in a really good shape. I do such basic exercises twice a week.
You developed a great body. Did you take some pills to achieve that too? What is your attitude on this topic?
I think that it depends on each individual person. I know a lot of athletes, who take proteins regularly. And if people prepare for a contest, they want to be ready to win the prize. That’s why doping is used across the world of sport. And street fitness isn’t an exception.
Did you ever take something?
I tried protein – simple albumen, and BCAA amino acids too. But today I don’t take any sports nutrition. I don’t have a sponsor for it. But I try to be disciplined and keep a good diet eating normal food.
What are you eating?
A lot of carbohydrates in the morning with fruits and kasha (Eastern European form of porridge). Salads, curd, fish, nuts, seafood, and lentil for lunch. I don’t eat other meat.
Do you have another job besides street fitness?
I studied system administration. Today I dedicate half of my time to street fitness. I have always created videos about my workouts, and now I started producing different commercials for other people too. I develop my company VG Production for this.
You posted a few popular workout videos on Youtube. Why are you not posting more often these days?
I don’t have enough time to shoot regular videos these days. Perhaps, I will get back to them again soon. I still have two pages in Instagram though, where I post about my workouts and trips now. One is for VG Productions, and the second is my personal channel.
Did you ever think about quitting street workout?
I never thought about it even for a moment. Workout is a physical education for a healthy lifestyle. It gives me a drive, strength and develops an inner desire to win.
Did you ever work with a trainer?
I never had a coach. There were different people who helped me a lot though. Mostly my friends with whom I worked out. They taught me a lot of things and gave good advice. I learned a lot from traveling too. That’s how I shaped my programs. Based on sharing my experience and instinctive feelings. I combine all of this to improve my results.
You have 10 years of experience now. Do you professionally train other people as a coach?
Yes. I do personal training in Nikolaev and also in Dubai.
What do you think about Fit Drills?
It is interesting. I like the idea that the coach can publish his own programs. These are interesting tools and mechanisms for coaches to reach more people. I also like the idea that Fit Drills covers more than just one sport.
What do you recommend to people who want to start with street fitness workout?
Do not wait for the right moment and start practicing right now. Every man should be a real man and must reach new heights. Set goals and achieve them.
Last Updated: 11. October 2017 Andreas Schneider
Don’t miss the MOTIVATION video! Makes you jump up and do a few more push-ups!