Introduction

First off, hey all. I wanted to introduce myself before I started asking questions.

Background: I used to be a couch potato, weighed 315, and decided to lose weight. I'm currently 165, and I've been strength training the last 5 years. I've used barbells, dumbbells, kettlebell, and nothing has hit me like bodyweight training has these last 2 months. I'm in love with it. I typically follow a 6x a week program of full body alternating days of static holds, mon/thurs, pressing tues/frid, and conditioning wed/sat. I was looking to get foundation one after coming across btgb and most exercises being too advanced besides frog stance planch, tucked front and back lever, and tucked l-sits. I have read other books as well ranging from overcoming gravity to convict conditioning, and curious how foundation one will help me in my pursuit in body weight strength training. I'm leaving for the navy in March of 2014, one reason I started delving more into calisthenics, but my over all goals revolve around the planch, levers, and pistols for the time being. I do plan on advancing once I've built those up.

Currently I'm able to hold tucked planch 6-10sec, tucked front lever 12sec, advanced tucked back lever 6-8sec, and tucked l-sits for 30 seconds. I can complete 5x5 at 12lbs each leg for pistols, and working wall handstands daily.

Sorry if this is all over the place, I'm kinda just typing everything as I think of it.

I too got interested in GST after going through convict conditioning, which i used briefly before foundation. Although it motivated me immensely, CC didnt allow me to progress effectively, allowed me to ignore my weaknesses/technique and included no mobility. I agree with ewethestuff, buying foundation and applying its principles will probably be the greatest gain you'll make in bodyweight strength training.

Thank you both for the replies and encouragement. I went ahead and got F1 last night and will start on it tomorrow(Monday). I plan on using the 4 day template starting for the very beginning even though the exercises are pretty basic, not that that is bad, but the mobility is new. After I complete my basic training in March, that should be far enough away to complete at least half of F1,I plan on getting h1 and f2.

ewethestuff said:

Great story - always nice to hear about someone whose committed themselves to turning their body around

 

Do your homework on what the navy will expect from you, and take care of that first to save yourself pain - but once you have control over your workout schedule definitely get Foundation 1 and Handstand 1.

 

Foundation 1 is a total plan for making incremental and measurable gains in physical ability. It pretty hard to compare it to overcoming gravity or convict conditioning -- it's just in another league. It lays out exactly what to accomplish, in what order and how to get there in videos, photos and focus points. It will give you continual "oh s#it" moments, when you realize a weakness that has been holding you back for years that you've never even been aware of.

Also I wanted to add, I tried out coach's first book btgb, and between that and overcoming gravity, I see why he came up with the foundation series. Last week progressing from frog stance planch and advanced tuck back lever I tweaked my elbow and it's dropped all my training in half until it gets better.

So, thank you coach for the new series that allows an even better foundation before attempting these skills for bodyweight newbies like me!