Beginning F1 - Suggestions and more

federicoC said:

Talked with my urologist (in Italy - to many of you will sound weird but he's at least one order of magnitude better than the ones I met in CH so far), we will perform additional exams. For the time being, no panic, it might have just been a single episode.

 

What about going all the way back to week 1 on the HBR and try to develop a slow rocking, so that I reduce the probability of feeling discomfort? Other suggestions?

 

I'm arranging my weeks and work to fit a newcomer, H1!!! I want to get my hands dirty with it now that it's some month I'm working on F1. My idea is to have 2 x F1+H1 days over the week and 1 x F7 on Sunday/ However, I'm also considering the 4 days split, the problem is that I'm not sure I will have the time for it. I'll think about and let you know soon. 

A flexible schedule works fine, you get in your workout when you can, obviously provided you have the discipline to use your time effectively. I remember Josh Naterman was doing 2-3x each element in a split or all at once around his lectures etc, and sounded like he was having good success.

Thanks for your input Jon,

do you think something like this might work? The advantage I see is that I would have more time for stretching, KIt is helping me a lot but I have to help myself in finding the time to do the work. After an F7 session I generally have little time and sometimes I feel like I can't focus anymore.

Sun F7

Mon Swimming

Tue Rest

Wed F1 (4 elements) + H1

Thu Swimming

Fri F1 (3 elements) + H1

Sat Rest

I confirm - given all considerations I made previously and my current workload - that I will proceed as I wrote above. I will familiarize myself with the first set of H1 exercises this evening and tomorrow I'll try out the session. 

I got new input from Kit as well, fortunately. Let me publicly tell how grateful I am to him for this.

This week is going to be mastery week, and I hope to get it for the scap shrugs/swivel. I will record them in one of the sessions and you will tell me whether I can move to the next level. I will also raise to 5 sets the ground rows, although I won't make it this round for sure.

Not decided yet what to do with the HBR. Options: going temporarily back to PE1, going back to week1 for PE2 and try to rock only very gently, drop it, going back to PE1 and maximize the hollowing. I vote for the least conservative and hence going back to week 1 and do a full cycle of this, with 2 x mastery sets of PE1 as warmup to keep the conditioning. Suggestions?

Yesterday I entered the mastery week. I then decided to start from ground zero with the HBR and try to develop some smoother and slower rocking. Actually, I realized that the way I perform HBH now as warmup is harder than what I was doing before. I hollow more and I'm not sure I would be able to keep this form for mastery. I decided to always perform 2x60" sets HBH as WU. Not sure it's the best strategy and I'm open to suggestions on this.

I also decided to clean up the tempo and avoiding grinding reps on all other exercises. This had the following effect:

> Scap shrugs 5x15 + swivel, I made a video and will post it soon. Hope matches mastery but it felt very good!

> HBP/PE2 - push ups - 15,15,12,8,8. As you can see, here I lost reps. I now quickly stop at each rep at the top and keep a slow tempo.

> RC/PE3 10,8,7,7,6

One thing I noticed is that in the mastery week it is (at least for me) better to perform 5 sets. For example, although I could not complete a 4x15r of push ups in week 10, I nevertheless moved to 5 sets in week 11 because this implies also increasing the volume and practicing the Im for the amount of reps required for mastery. Any drawback that you see of this?

I completed the WO with RTO support (2x), Hypers (slow tempo, 2x) and H1. Then, I practiced the new stretching routine Kit recommended to me. I'll open a thread parallel to this one in the H1 forum for discussing H1 related questions.

I went through a similar experience with BHBr. The more I PPT the harder they became. I spent 6 months on them, but they have made the straddle hold seem easy. So I am sure by cleaning up your technique the elements later on will become easier. I am now being more patient and getting the most out of each exercise.

I did the same as you with push ups. The extra volume seemed to help even if it was only 6 reps instead of 15.

Do you think my strategy of using 2 mastery sets of WU and slowly work through PE2 from the basics will work? My form on PE1 was matching mastery, I showed it different times. Would you instead step back to PE1? Here I just want to do whatever will allow me to do the exercise without feeling discomfort as I was experiencing two sessions ago (written above should you have missed it).

Thanks!

Mark Collins said:

I went through a similar experience with BHBr. The more I PPT the harder they became. I spent 6 months on them, but they have made the straddle hold seem easy. So I am sure by cleaning up your technique the elements later on will become easier. I am now being more patient and getting the most out of each exercise.

I did the same as you with push ups. The extra volume seemed to help even if it was only 6 reps instead of 15.

I had a similar experience with bent hollow body hold. Although I didn't follow the template and worked all the elements i could on a daily basis (broken clavicle over summer), I really focused on the tilt on the bent HBH - with that, I found yesterday's FL Pe 3 mastery 5 x 60 pretty easy and I was keeping my lower back on the ground at all times. 

I think you'd be best off to go back to Pe 1 FL and just focus on PPTing a LOT - then Pe 2 and 3 will come easily. 

federicoC said:

Do you think my strategy of using 2 mastery sets of WU and slowly work through PE2 from the basics will work? My form on PE1 was matching mastery, I showed it different times. Would you instead step back to PE1? Here I just want to do whatever will allow me to do the exercise without feeling discomfort as I was experiencing two sessions ago (written above should you have missed it).

Thanks!

I would do 1x60 of PE1 to warm up and then do 4x24 BHBr. Was this the level that caused no pain? As long as you have clearance from your specialist I would progress at the level that you could do without testical pain.

Thanks for your input! They are in slight contrast 

The level of no pain is not determined by the reps as far as I see but on the degree of smoothness of my rocks. The discomfort comes when I do not rock smoothly and tend to arch my lower back. This is a strength issue and I was also considering repeating PE1 from week 9 with the strongest hollow and see if I achieve mastery again. Best is if this Sunday I just make a video and show you the difference w.r.t. the previous form - no guarantees that what I do is correct so far.

I'll be happy to discuss this further.

Here is my video for evaluation of mastery on the sPL/PE1 element and Im:

Thanks!

Just slow down a bit the shrugs and you 're fine, keep caution to locked out elbows all the time!

 

Hip swivels look better, but technically the glutes are still coming off the ground. It looks very close though. I would do these as many times through the day as possible and you would most likely have them in a week.

Thanks, I can also consider to do another microcycle, if this is a concern - what do you say? I forget to mention that I recorded set number 5 (last set) of that.

Today some additional surprise came with F1. I really regressed on the ABH, I can keep a better arch but my performances are no longer comparable to what I was doing before. I decided also to struggle to keep myself as high as possible and not to sacrifice form. I did

>Warmup with GMs with bar and high reps, to loosen the hamstrings/glutes. Other recommended WU for ABH?

>ABH (target was 5x44s) 40s, 36s, 32s, 29s, 26s

>Tuck ups 5x15 felt strong. However, I don't know whether my compression is enough and I need to record it to get feedback. I can certainly say that I cannot keep my knees together, but this is because of my problem. In addition, I think tight hip flexors do not help here. With patience, I'll get there. Anyway, I first have to get a perfect windmill as well. On them my feeling is that I'm improving. Since today, after the last set I also try to reach the bottom position with no shoulder rotation and to stay there for some time to really actively stretch my body and get use to that position.

>Cossack, I could do a 5x20r (I will record them again). Feeling stable and strong. Overall good I'd say. Twisting squats are now done out of 2 steps and from next cycle I think I'm ready to get down to a single one.

Afterwards, I did again some GMs with bar only and then a test. I attempted tuck FL pull ups and adv. tuck FL pull ups. I could complete 3x5r of them without problems. My FL became more solid, easy to get into position and my pulling strength also increased. Before starting F1, I could do 3 reps without touching the bar with my knees or with my shin, and I had a 10" one leg FL.

Did then H1 and a long stretching routine as recommended by Kit.

GMs?

Edit: wait, nevermind.

I abbreviated Good Mornings with GMs. There are different versions of them, I generally do standing GMs, shoulder width stance, with arched lower back, more russian style than WSB.

I would try another mini cycle. You should get through the next level quickly.

I use to stretch my thoracic spine before ABH as it was making it harder for me to do. I didn't do much else as I wanted to save my energy for the ABH.

OK, then I will go for another minicyle and keep you posted. I want to move to PE2 soon, but I also have the feeling I can refine the last couple of cm in the swivel hips.

Another thing I realized is that it wouldn't really work to do F7, e.g. tomorrow. I still didn't recover fully from yesterday and doing all elements will be an overkill. I think from now on I will just proceed using the splits and try to maximize the quality. In this way I can have proper stretching routines, that at the moment are taking almost longer than my WOs because I'm really in the learning phase. In addition,  the CR method impacts on my recovery, my hamstrings are totally sore today, for example.

I'm sure with experience I will find a good schedule, I'm planning to see if I can manage a 4 days split, with the 2 H1 sessions spread in the days where I have more time (one along the week and one on Sundays),

Hi! Why are you always doing something that you can not perform yet? Like ABH (target was 5x44s) 40s, 36s, 32s, 29s, 26s.

Do you feel that you get better results when you can constantly see the target? I can feel that this would motivate me also to perform better.

Is there someone else that are doing this? And why this is better or worse way to train?

Thanks.

Actually, sadly, at the end of last cycle I was able to perform a 4x40s. I then required stronger arch, softer mat and a set of minor adjustments that led me to this ridiculous performance.

The other issue is that I'm changing too many variables at the same time. Now I decided to favor the splits over F7 and to increase my quality-oriented work further. This last minicycle has been a total failure so far, and today it's the last session so I think it's not going to get any better.

The important aspect is that I'm learning from my mistakes. 

federicoC said:

The other issue is that I'm changing too many variables at the same time. Now I decided to favor the splits over F7 and to increase my quality-oriented work further. This last minicycle has been a total failure so far, and today it's the last session so I think it's not going to get any better.

 

The important aspect is that I'm learning from my mistakes. 

Yeah be careful with that.  If you mess around with too many changes at once, you can have trouble identifying what the cause of any problems are.

I know, I will now stay put and try to understand whether it works.

Today I did F1, I just write down the stuff s.t. I can keep track of it easier

>HBH 2x60s. First set: strong hollow, solid. Second set: lost it after the first 30s. Of course I can complete 5x60s with the form I showed previously, but not with this new strong hollow for sure. I will stay with 2WU sets, s.t. I can see progresses (hopefully) on the second set.

>HBR 4x12r, just right. A single rock now takes about 2 times longer than previous one. When I finish the set, I stay in position to ensure I did not loose the hollow. For the time being, I will work up to 5x12r. The road to 60r with this form is...ehm...endless

>Dynamic frog stretch, straddle leg lifts (thanks Keilani, that helped me tremendously), 1 x Swivel hips

>Scap shrugs, 5x15r. Controlled, slow, tough. On the swivel hips, I felt solid.

>Incline PU, 15r. Im 15r

>Push ups, 15,15,12,9,8. No grinder, controlled tempo. Tough.

>RC/PE1 15r, PE2 15r

>Ground rows, 10,8,7,6,6. Good form, no grinder, felt finished. Looking forward to deload week.

Complemented with 2x4r ring pull ups, 2x10" RTO support

Kit's daily 5.

And I call it a day.

First deload session today.

>Warmup with GMs with bar and high reps, to loosen the hamstrings/glutes. 

>ABH 5x24s, felt solid and I think my true limit with correct form is around 30s, not more probably. Wondering how to approach the next weeks now. Probably need a video check to discuss it.

>Tuck ups 5x8, worked on compression. Need a video check from the side

>Cossack, 5x10r. Twisting squats out of 2 steps feel now easier and doable, ready for 1 step next cycle?

Complemented with GMs (20kg OL bar), hypers 2x10 strict form and Kit's recommended work. 

Next session will be tomorrow, most likely.

Today I did F1, sadly not time for H1.

>HBH 2x60s. First set: strong hollow, solid. Second set: lost it after the first 30s, as in the previous session. Needs video to show you what I mean. Coming soon.

>HBR 4x12r, just right. 

>Dynamic frog stretch, straddle leg lifts 5r, 1 x Swivel hips

>Scap shrugs, 5x8r. Cue: keep hands pressing into the floor at any time. Result: easier to keep arms straight.

>Incline PU, 15r. Im 15r

>Push ups, 5x8r. Controlled tempo. Easy.

>RC/PE1 15r, PE2 15r

>Ground rows, 5x5 easy, controlled tempo.

Complemented with 2x10" RTO support, 2x10r dislocations (1 x wide grip, 1 x my current best grip)

Stretching: piriformis and Kit daily 5.

Really not liked my last week of WOs. First of all, load at work became huge, and time for training approximated 0. Motivation was also quite low. I came to the conclusion that nothing was giving me a good tradeoff between time spent in the gym and work been done as F7.  In the end, all considered, doing the splits takes me more time than F7. Also in terms of feeling, F7 was amazing. Not the same with the splits. I lost ~1kg of BW, not good news. Now it's just time to finish some work and get back on track.