Demonstrating Mastery

Just a question about progressing. Does the effort required to 'demonstrate mastery' matter a great deal? For example: I just did the week 11 workout for PE1 for FL, sPL, HBP, and RC and my shoulders are completely shot (in a good way). Should I progress on (provided I complete the mastery sets for MN, SLS, and SL), or should I wait until the mastery sets are easier? 

hehehe, that's a great question...

I don't know the official stance on that, but my understanding is that mastery should come with grace and ease, each and every time, no matter what the circumstances are.

If you must be perfectly rested, well fed, not stressed, having a good day and in a good mood to be able to perform perfectly, then it is not mastery.

It is not saying that you must be able to perform after a night out and too many beers, but maybe you should?

To me the reason is that if you must force it to "pass", it will catch up with you & bite you in the butt sooner rather than later, when you either overtrain & stall by following the next progressions that might be a tad too advanced for your current level...

In any case, it doesn't really matter, you will learn something either way.

If you have doubts whether or not you really master the element, you probably don't. Doing a 4 week cycle beginning at week 9 might be a good idea. Afterwards, you will most likely really master it.

What the guys above said - and also be worth bearing in mind that initial testing is going to be a little different than if you'd been following the program proper. I would think the key is that the form and tempo were just as good for the last rep as on the first.

You would normally have to perform the mastery sets successfully multiple times during week 11 (though only once for MN/SL/SLS on three day schedule), and you wouldn't suffer so bad with DOMS if you'd ramped up to it over previous 11 weeks.

NB: I'm presuming that 'in a good way' simply means post-workout soreness and not actual pain.

if you were able to meet the requirements (prescribed number of sets, reps / time, tempo) without additional rest (using just IM exercises as active rest) and the form was good (have you recorded yourself to check the form ?), it means you've passed. No one said it should be easy. When you advance, you'll use earlier progressions as a warmup (but with lower rep ranges / time) - then it should be moderately difficult only.

I've made my week 11 test yesterday as well (FL, sPL, HBP, RC) and felt totally wasted afterwards ... in a good way ;-) I blame lack of higher rep exercises in my training recenty :-)

If all the points above, form, rest etc were met and the movement was challening but not difficult (ie: there was a chance you were going to fail) then you're good. If you're in doubt try and repeat them, if you can do it two weeks in a row meeting all standards I would say you're good.

Just be a stickler for details, I can tell you for testing that the standards will be high and attention to detail will be emphasized. Do the same for your own training.

75 reps of push ups with minimal rest (active rest, I'd say) with grace and ease... I think that as long as your form and tempo during the exercise are well, will be OK.

For instance, RC/PE1 was easy, but HBP/PE1 was hard, but I completed the reps with required tempo/form. 

The funny it's how our weak links stand out. One of my weak like it's pressing, for sure.

Adriano Flo said:

75 reps of push ups with minimal rest (active rest, I'd say) with grace and ease... I think that as long as your form and tempo during the exercise are well, will be OK.

 

For instance, RC/PE1 was easy, but HBP/PE1 was hard, but I completed the reps with required tempo/form. 

 

The funny it's how our weak links stand out. One of my weak like it's pressing, for sure.

I have a combination of extreme mobility and strength disparities. I can do pistol Squats for reps starting from a sit on the ground, but the Swivel hips in sPL mobility totally kicked my ass, i can't bend them down farther than 45degrees. it's actually quite funny, but now i can see where things started going through the cracks! after a session of the exercise prescribed in each WOD, when I go to do my Workout finishers, wall extension, dislocates in both grips feel a LOT smoother. what I'm wondering is what iM we can continue doing to do maintenance as we go through the PE progressions. 

I'm super excited for Liquid Steel™ coming out!  

KeilaniG said:

I'm super excited for Liquid Steel™ coming out!  

It's not coming out. It is being integrated into the Foundation courses. 

Hypothetically, The Dynamic Physique and All Muscle, No Iron will compose their own courses once enough people have mastered the Foundation.

Hari_Seldon said:

It's not coming out. It is being integrated into the Foundation courses. 

 

 

Hypothetically, The Dynamic Physique and All Muscle, No Iron will compose their own courses once enough people have mastered the Foundation.

used the wrong terminology. the project Coach and Kit are doing for stretching, i am excited for

Do we need to show on the forum mastery of each PE? Or only ones for L.5 and L1?

You don't need to show anything.

If you want to achieve forum rank, you need to pass the mastery tests for level's 0.5 and 1. For each level, you must show a videos of yourself performing a mastery-difficulty set of every exercise at that level. 

So to pass lvl 0.5, you need 7 videos, each showing you doing a mastery set of PE3/IM3 for a different exercise. 

How do these level tests work, what do they cost? I think it would be perfect for me to keep my technique up to par since I have no one else but myself as a judge otherwise.

It has not yet been announced. 

Tomas Johansson said:

How do these level tests work, what do they cost? I think it would be perfect for me to keep my technique up to par since I have no one else but myself as a judge otherwise.

We are working on the final details for this. Information will be out soon.

Thanks, looking forward to it.

Thank you Hari_seldon, for the information. I've asked exactly about that!

Tomas Johansson said:

How do these level tests work, what do they cost? I think it would be perfect for me to keep my technique up to par since I have no one else but myself as a judge otherwise.

Wait, you need to pay for the rank or testing?   Can someone clarify this? 

If you want to test out and recieve a ranking you will need to pay for the video review. Details are not released yet as far as i know.

Hari_Seldon said:

... If you want to achieve forum rank, you need to pass the mastery tests for level's 0.5 and 1. For each level, you must show a videos of yourself performing a mastery-difficulty set of every exercise at that level ... So to pass lvl 0.5, you need 7 videos, each showing you doing a mastery set of PE3/IM3 for a different exercise ...

This is incorrect.  ALL of the exercises for a particular fundamental at that level must be demonstrated.  The strength chart on shows the final requirement for the sake of brevity.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

This is incorrect.  ALL of the exercises for a particular fundamental at that level must be demonstrated.  The strength chart on shows the final requirement for the sake of brevity.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Well now I'm confused. That's the opposite of the answer I got in this thread: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/9950-level-tests/

So to achieve level 0.5, one must have videos demonstrating mastery of all of the following:

The level test will require mastery of all of the preceding elements as well as the final element for that fundamental listed on the strength chart.  Only the final element required for each fundamental's level has been listed on the chart for the sake of clarity and brevity ... Yours in Fitness, Coach Sommer

- My quoted post above clearly indicates that every exercise for a given fundamental's level must be performed.

- The GB ranking and the GB Certification are extremely comprehensive and mastery of all the materials for a given level are required.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

The level test will require mastery of all of the preceding elements as well as the final element for that fundamental listed on the strength chart.  Only the final element required for each fundamental's level has been listed on the chart for the sake of clarity and brevity ... Yours in Fitness, Coach Sommer

 

- My quoted post above clearly indicates that every exercise for a given fundamental's level must be performed.

I misunderstood what you and Nic were saying in the previous thread about this topic. So it looked like there was a contradiction. Now I see that I had simply incorrectly interpreted what was said before. 

For mastery, is 30 seconds too long of a rest between iM and the next PE?

You don't get any rest. Move immediately from the iM to the next PE, and from each PE to the iM, until you have completed all five sets of PE's and iM's. 

Got it.