Question on additional training to F1 & HS1

G’day everyone,

I have a question regarding additional training, which I would consider inside the realms of gymnastics, on-top of Foundation 1 and Handstand 1 programming.

Firstly, I will give you a bit of background...

My fiancé and I have been physically active for the past decade (through Military training and sports – both of us having played at fairly high levels of touch football and AFL respectively). Without beating around the bush, we both consider ourselves fairly fit and conditioned. My fiancé is very interested in physical training and nutrition and has completed various types of training previously (weight lifting, endurance running, sprinting, cross-fit, etc) – oh, and he would kill me if I didn’t mention his despise for Crossfit (so I snuck that one in)! We discovered F1 around eight months ago and were very humbled to say the least (despite being above the average fitness of our Army peers).

We have dedicated our training program to look like the following (and are currently in our final micro-cycle prior to testing. Yay!):

Afternoons

Foundation 1 – As per the 5 day training template

(Mon / Wed / Fri)

            FL/PE1: Bent Hollow Body Hold

            sPL/PE5: Planche Lean

            HBP/PE3: Psuedo Planche Pushup

            RC/PE4: Elevated Row

(Tues / Thurs)

            SL/PE1: Arch Body Hold

            MN/PE2: Straddle Up

            SLS/PE2: Cossack Squat

Handstand 1 – Five days (Mon-Fri) at present. Once volume / intensity increases we plan on scaling this back to four or even three days.

            HS/PE1: Tripod

            All the associated hand exercises (level 1)

As you can see there is a fair spread of levels we are at. Some of them we could achieve mastery at, but were not confident in the form or felt we should probably train them anyway (such as SLS). We both think that if we are going to commit to a program for such a long time (and want to get the best result possible) then there is no need to rush.

Mornings

Unit Physical Training with the military four to five days per week (ordinarily circuit style work, involving weights, body weight, running, climbing, weighted load carry, etc). I am sure you can get the picture.

The question....

Now to my question... We enjoy exercising together on Saturdays, and recently started doing additional ‘gymnastics’ style activities. I was wondering if this type of additional training would be detrimental to our overall Foundation 1 work (which is our main aim and focus at the moment). As an example, here is what we did on the past two Saturdays:

-         5x5 ‘Skin The Cats’ into a German Hang.

-         5x10 second L-Sit hang from the rings, super-set with 5 ring dips.

-         5x10 leg raises on the rings.

-         Then some ring Pushups and some other various playing around stuff (minor in volume) as well as Iron Cross practice (straight arm hang on the rings, then moving the arms out to ~30 degrees before bringing them back in. A few sets of around 5).

-         We then normally finish with some 30 second sprint work on the rowing machine… because we are insane and kinda like it.

So, would these activities be detrimental? I recently read the forum post about starting with rings which basically concluded that ring work should be left until it is introduced in F2. However, we both enjoy L-Sit hangs and skin the cats and I cannot see any drama with them (skin the cats are probably good for our shoulder mobility if nothing else; and the L-Sits just feel great for core work). Provided we are recovering adequately, monitoring sleep and nutrition to sustain the activity and are not turning up sore and performing poorly at F1/HS1 (our main goal) then I don’t see an issue. However, after reading the ‘starting with rings’ thread I thought I would see what the general consensus is.

Perhaps stay away from some of the straight arm strength training for now and just focus on staying under the rings (IE: Skin the Cats), with the exception of L-Sits?

Thanks for sticking with me through this epic post. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Oh, and thanks for providing such a great community. It is awe inspiring to say the least.

P.S. – I am considering rolling out the blue mats and training tumbling, focusing on the basic drills (rolling) pointed out in this thread:

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/12961-beginner-skills-to-learnpractice/

http://www.drillsandskills.com/skills/Floor/Z

I think that would be a great way of developing additional skills, whilst being able to play around and generally have fun.

First off, you are doing all seven foundation movements for 5 days in a row? That is a lot of volume.

What do you mean when you say you have completed various types of training? When do you consider yourself finished with something like that?

Welcome to the forum 

gohei_ said:

First off, you are doing all seven foundation movements for 5 days in a row? That is a lot of volume.

What do you mean when you say you have completed various types of training? When do you consider yourself finished with something like that?

Welcome to the forum 

Thanks

What I mean is we have dabbled in various things in the past (including programs of lengths from 6 - 12 weeks. Each with different outcomes, such as increased Max Effort strength, endurance, muscle mass, decreased run times, etc).

No we are not doing all seven foundation movements 5 days in a row - we are doing it as per the F1 program for 5 days (I guess I should have been clearer - I edited the original post to reflect). It looks like this:

   Mon / Wed / Fri

FL/PE1: Bent Hollow Body Hold

sPL/PE5: Planche Lean

HBP/PE3: Psuedo Planche Pushup

RC/PE4: Elevated Row

+ Handstand 1 work

   Tues / Thurs

SL/PE1: Arch Body Hold

MN/PE2: Straddle Up

SLS/PE2: Cossack Squat

+ Handstand 1 work

Ah, I see 

Regarding additional ring training, have a read of this thread:

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/12968-where-to-begin-with-rings/

Ring elements will appear in the course at the point where you have built the necessary base to handle them without risk of injury. F1 is the starting point; I would pour your focus in to that if you wish to train more advanced ring exercises. This is exactly what I'm doing

Andy

Learning tumbling would be my recommendation.  Actually, I'd go one further and suggest you look into training parkour.

If you have access to a good coach, you could always learn the olympic lifts.

Edit: Oh, and I wouldn't recommend doing any iron cross training until you had a ring handstand, maybe a ring planche if you can wait that long.

It sounds like you're off to a good start. 

You're definitely going to want to cut the H1 down to about 2-3 times a week: it gets rough, especially on the wrists. 

Playing around on the rings is perfectly fine, but remember to keep it as play. If it feels like a workout, you're doing too much. Also take care with the german hangs, as they can be tough on the elbows/biceps. 

As foundation gets more intense, you may also find it beneficial to play around with doing it fewer times a week. Gaining strength is as much about giving yourself enough time to properly recover as it is about working out, and with all your other training going on, you're putting a lot of stress on your body. 

Thanks everyone