Hello all,
My name is Russell and I live in Portland, OR. Im 6'3" and weight about 195 with a 13% BF (so says the awesome new Fred Meyer body fat/BMI machines). My background in fitness is a couple marathons, some climbing (mountains, not rock climbing..) and general weight lifting. My first GB experience was through You Tube when I saw some impressive feats of body weight strength and the up-loader recommended the GB website. I tried an L sit the next day and could barely get my ass off the ground. That's when I knew these guys had some serious functional strength.
I want to mainly thank the coach, his assistants, moderators and everyone on GB for helping me view exercise in a completely different manner altogether. Through everyone's posts there is little to guess about how to go about certain exercise progressions, equipment and anything else health related. It has helped me tremendously over the past 6 months or so when I started to take things serious.
So far everyone here has helped me achieve a 15 sec L sit, multiple bar and ring muscle ups with good form and also tucked planche variations including adv frog without knees on elbows. My flexibility has dramatically improved. My weaknesses, fitness wise, have been addressed whereas before I would work exercises to specifically cater my comfort level. As an example, last time I benched since implementing the GB program was 5 months ago and I managed 225 for maybe 3 reps. After only some planche progressions I banged out 275 for 4 reps. Not that bench press is a benchmark for strength but I thought that was a testament to how well body weight exercises can help with traditional workouts.
All in all this website has a wealth of information and I thank everyone on the forum, especially coach with his direct and efficient approach to fitness, for helping me along the way. Even if I didn't post I was learning.