Getting Ready

So I asked for some help before I got H1/F1.  Well I got it and I plan on beginning H1/F1 next week and need to iron a few things out.

1)  Integration -  I am really confused on how to do H1/F1 together.  In F1 you can do 3,4,5 days of training.  I prefer the 5day.  However there are no recomendations for integration of H1 with this 5day approach.  Also, in F1 you never train all 7 skill in one session.  However when you integrate there is a 3day options where you train H1, then F1, repeat.  How are you guys doing it?

Hi,

1) The described scheduling options are doing Handstation and Foundation on separate days where you do all Foundation exercises on foundation days (the F7 option) or you can keep the Foundation schedule and just add Handstand 1 work before doing Foundation. One suggestion if you are using the 4 day schedule of F1 is to add H1 on monday and friday. 

Personally I'm doing F1 and H1 in four days and in all days I add H1 before doing the F1 exercises. Since I'm beginning at the first progression in H1 I find it doesn't impact recovery much. Your mileage may vary.

2) One or two sets not done to failure and resist the temptation of adding more if these sets start getting easier. You have to let Foundation do it's work. If it's impacting recovery or if your form isn't perfect, drop the extra work and keep foundation. Also don't go overboard on this, use it just for the really cool moves you're proud of.

3,4) You can always supplement the program with additional work. What's important is not to let it impact your recovery. Also, be mindful that F1 volume increases and can surprise you so the extra work may not seem like much at the beginning of the cycle but it'll be in the later parts of the cycle. Also, your H1 and F1 deload weeks have to be in sync, so conversely your extra work should also deload on the deload weeks. 

5) I'd try the 4 day schedule. I think none of the options are intrinsically best, it'll depend on your recovery and if you personally respond to more frequency. I'd resist the temptation to fill your free 1 and 1.5 hours with work just because you can though, you'll find that F1 sessions can be shorter than that. 

Hope it helps . 

dritar said:

Hi,

 

 

Personally I'm doing F1 and H1 in four days and in all days I add H1 before doing the F1 exercises. Since I'm beginning at the first progression in H1 I find it doesn't impact recovery much. Your mileage may vary.

 

 

Do you do all 7 F1 exercises on the same day or are you following the F1 4 day model where it splits them up?

 

 

personally, im following the 4 day split. 

monday, tuesday (rest on wednesday) thursday, friday (saturday and sunday, rest) 

I'm gonna buy a jump rope, so i can do that and run for cardio. I also do some swimming but not extensive, just going to the beach and doing some cliff jumps(which is uber fun) 

as for H1, im doing it the same days i am doing F1, but it is because my shoulder flexibility is so far behind. 

as soon as the volume in H1 starts picking up, they will be relocated to Wednesday, Saturday and sunday. 

I was doing a 5 day schedle for F1 and 4 day schedule for H1 but I needed some time to dedicate to starting Tai chi alongside my other martial arts practice and i don't want to stretch myself too thin until I can handle the workload and schedule mentally and physically, so i bumped it down to accomodate that and my busy work week. 

Hello jwalker497,

I do the F1 4 day split, so it's FL, sPL, HBP and RC Mondays and Thursdays, and SL, MN and SLS Tuesdays and Fridays. On top of each day I add the H1 work. The key is doing H1 before strength work. I can get away with this now because H1 isn't too tiresome yet.

If you look into H1 in the Getting started section, under "weekly workout schedules" this is all sucintly explained.

I was thinking of doing the 5 day F1 split where it goes

Mon/wed/fri = FL, sPL, HBP, RC and doing H1 work here before this.  Then also doing a few sets of maintenece stuff, this would be my Upper Body Day

Tue/Thu/Sat = MN,SL,SLS and then alternate Deads/Squats with cardio/running.  

IS this reasonable?  Like I said I prefer to go everyday for 1-1.5hrs.  

jwalker497 said:

I was thinking of doing the 5 day F1 split where it goes

 

Mon/wed/fri = FL, sPL, HBP, RC and doing H1 work here before this.  Then also doing a few sets of maintenece stuff, this would be my Upper Body Day

 

Tue/Thu/Sat = MN,SL,SLS and then alternate Deads/Squats with cardio/running.  

 

IS this reasonable?  Like I said I prefer to go everyday for 1-1.5hrs.  

This is reasonable plan. Note that you have laid out a very high volume program for yourself, so it's very important that you carefully monitor your levels of fatigue. If you don't feel refreshed and invigorated going into each monday workout, that's a sign you could probably get even more out of your workouts by doing fewer of them. Remember that training is a two-stroke engine. First you break your body down, then you give it time to build itself back stronger than before. The second step is the part where your muscles actually become stronger. If you don't do give your body enough time between workouts for second step, you're falling short of your true potential, and the extra workouts are a wasted effort. 

I would encourage you to experiment. Try a cycle with 4 workouts per week, and a cycle with 5, and maybe even a cycle with 3. See how you like each. Maybe you can handle 5, but you have more energy for other things during the week when you stick to just 4. Maybe doing only 3 workouts a week lets you progress just as fast as doing 5, and also gives you more time and energy to spend with the family or on other pursuits. Or maybe 5 really is the best for you. Whichever is the case, you can't know until you've tried. 

Personally I think it's too much volume. I like to have the two days rest on the weekends. If it's ok for you, you might want to switch doing H1 on the MN,SL and SLS days and move the Deads or Squat to the FL, sPL, HBP, RC days.

The reason I say this is because you're already doing leg work on those days and both deadlifts/squats and SL work are taxing to the lower back muscles in different ways and I don't think they combine in fun ways.

What maintenance stuff are you thinking of adding ? In any case, you should gauge your recovery as F1 starts increasing in volume.

I started doing F1 plus some pullups and back squats and I've decided to drop the squats as it was too taxing as F1 increased. It would've been nice to keep the back squats but one has to choose eventually.

Prior to this I was doing 6 basic moves.  

1 & 2) Vertical Push/pull:  HSPU variant superset with Pullups (Falsegrip),

3 & 4) Horizontal Push/pull:  Pushup variant superset with Row variant ie FL rows

5 & 6) Dip /Culr:  Russian or Ring or Single Bar Dips superset with Curl movement, rope climb, or pelicans, or inverted pullup

I just want to keep some basic maintenance because as important as this F1 work is, for the time being its not strength work like I was doing and I dont want to get soft and flabby.  So, I am trying to figure out a balance to do H1/F1 and some maintenance moves also want to keep working on muscleups.  

I was thinking I could do all Upper body components of F1 and H1 on the same day + some maintenance sets and then do all lower body components of F1 which would be SLS, SL, and MN + Deads/Squats and cardio?

Any ideas for a better setup?

The most balanced integrated schedule seems to be doing H1 and F1 3 days a week.  Also the are no integration optiosn listed that involve doing F1 and H1 on the same day. 

Also the book for F1 syas no giant sets so we do all 3 sets for example of one exercise and its mobility and then move onto the next exercise correct?

jwalker497 said:

Also the book for F1 syas no giant sets so we do all 3 sets for example of one exercise and its mobility and then move onto the next exercise correct?

it'll look something like this

Warm up(whatever time it takes you 5-10 min is okay)

WOD

PE(do for recommended sets and reps) (stop) (begin PE>iM) (stop) (return to performing PE at recommended sets and reps)

(take small break to drink water, shake it out)

(continue to next PE and PE>iM)

(finish WOD)

(get awesome during recovery time)

jwalker497 said:

Also the book for F1 syas no giant sets so we do all 3 sets for example of one exercise and its mobility and then move onto the next exercise correct?

Yup. For example, if you're on week 5 of HBP/PE1, your prescribed sets/reps is 4x6, so you will do:

6x HBP/PE1

10x HBP/PE1->iM

6x HBP/PE1

10x HBP/PE1->iM

And then move on to the next exercise.

Are you guys doing any FSPs or FBEs that you were previoulsy working on?  IF so, how are you doing it?

I did the below workout today and it felt pretty good.  The F1 part of it didnt take much time maybe 30min or so.  I am week 1 so keep that in mind.  Then I moved on to my old workout.  

So How does this schedule look? 

MON/THUR

F1 (FL, sPL, HBP, RC)

Muscleup Up transition (feet on ball) 3x5r

HSPU 3x5r,  supsets with 3x20s HS, 3x5

FG Pullup 3x5r,  superset with 3x20s AT BL

RTO pushup 3x5r, superset with 3x20s tuck plance

Tuck FL Rows 3x5r, superset with 3x20s 1Leg FL

Ring Dips 3x5r, superset with 3x20s RTO Support

TUE/FRI

H1

F1 (SL,MN,SLS)

Legs (alternate deads/squats) 3x5r

Abs 3x5r

WED/SAT

H1

MUP work

Cardio (alternate Swim/Ru) 20-30min

Which elements did you test out of and up to for the respective F1 movements?

The more advanced guys may have some feedback about your particular elements, but to me ...

Looks like a lot more volume than what many folks who are doing extra work have mentioned adding. Seriously ... 3 sets is a long way from 1-2 especially when you pair them with a static hold as well. I honestly think you are going to be short changing both of those workouts with that schedule, especially as the volume in F1 ramps up.

The point of the extra work is to maintain what you were worried about losing, but that is enough volume to gain in and of itself. IMO one set is plenty to do the former.

All of that said, only you know your body and if you are happy with your results then keep on with your plan. Worst case is the extra volume pushes you into injury land, more likely case (unless those elements are near your edge) is results come quite slowly as you are under-recovered, and best case is you make some good progress - same as with any training plan.

- Chris

I didn't test any elements of F1.  I just began at Week 1.  I have terrible mobility so I assumed it might be beneficial to start at the very beginning. For example Swivel Hips?  Man I am stiff as a board.  Anyway, Should I be testing?  

Since F1 didnt take very long and it didn't feel like a workout, it felt like a big Warmup, (I am not knocking it).  I decided to proceed as normal.  The whole workout took 1hr 15min approx. 

I usually do those 6 movements above and 6 equivalent FSPs - so how should I work this in?

If all of the PE1 mobility elements are difficult for you then yes definitely start there.

The initial weeks on PE1 are quite misleading as an overall picture of how the sessions will feel. As the above was what you were doing previously (minus the F1/H1 stuff) my suggestion would be to pare it down to 2 sets. As you get further in to F1 you may want to drop it down to a single set, but you can let your body be your guide there - just keep in mind those sets should be nowhere near failure.

- Chris

Yeah that's what Im thinking - as the work intensifies and time increases I will have to reduce my current workout to 2 sets and maybe just one.   But I am afraid that becuase my mobility sucks so bad that I may be doing this a while.  

If you are at the very beginning of F1, what kind of warmup do you do?

Also, how does my schedule look though?  I felt it was the best balance.  

If the week 1 F1 work feels way too easy, you should consider moving ahead to week 5 or 9. 

Doing Muscle-up work 4 times a week does not leave enough recovery time for the involved muscles. I would keep it at 2, given how much other stuff you've got in your schedule.

Most of my warmup time is spent doing drills from MWOD - it is making a noticeable difference. The mobility is what is sticking me at quite a few elements as well, and the few I am lacking strength on (like SL/PE1) is because I have recently opened up new ROM and now need to strengthen it.

Also, the strength-endurance aspect of many of the movements is a weak point for me - doing up to 5x5 of any of the movements in F1 is completely manageable for me, but 5x15 reps with basically 30 seconds between sets is quite taxing even at the PE1 level. That is why I look at your plan and have concerns - the strength is the easy part.

- Chris

Hari_Seldon said:

If the week 1 F1 work feels way too easy, you should consider moving ahead to week 5 or 9. 

 

Doing Muscle-up work 4 times a week does not leave enough recovery time for the involved muscles. I would keep it at 2, given how much other stuff you've got in your schedule.

Well, this was my concern going into F1 and I specifically asked this forum for some help in this regard.

Swivel Hips(as an example) are hard for me in terms of flexibility, really HARD in fact to keep good form and It might take me a while to master this basic move.  BUT they are easy in terms of strength.   Scapular shrugs, Incline pushups, etc, alot of what I did today, I wouldn't call strength training -  its stretching and preparation like the coach says.   So, if coach feels its an important step then I want to do this right and master it.   

 In the meantime, given that I am at the very beginning of this, I dont see why I couldn't incorporate some traditional strength work.  I get up way to early to go to the gym to just stretch and I could be stuck on this prep stuff for a long time, who knows, so I dont want to lose the progress I gained so far and at the same time, I dont want to skip ahead.

I am doing Muscleup that often based on FritsMB results and responses in my Muscleup Thread