Adding to F1

I just started Foundation One, and I'm wanting to add too it. I'm finding a lot of my hang ups are going to be mobility. For instance I can do the mastery for the push-ups, but have difficulty with the iM. I have difficultly with the flexibility not the weight. So because of this I want to add some body weight exercises (dips, pull ups) after my routine. I'm using a 4 day cycle for F1 and plan to add the exercises on Tuesday/Friday, so there are rest days after. For the deload week, should I just drop them completely? Thoughts, advice?

Thanks for the input,

Gym Kirk

Have you considered adding more mobility work to those days rather than strength work?

I would have thought that you should add the mobility?! I.e. Have dedicated stretching sessions which will enhance your iMs.

Dash it Jon Douglas! You got there first! 

If your strength is way in excess of your mobility then it makes sense to try and bring your mobility up as fast as possible. This is the reason im and PE are paired to avoid excess of one or the other, so my advice would be to throw in some extra mobility work after your workout

Jon Douglas said:

Have you considered adding more mobility work to those days rather than strength work?

Now that you say it, it seems obvious.

Gym Kirk said:

I just started Foundation One, and I'm wanting to add too it. I'm finding a lot of my hang ups are going to be mobility. For instance I can do the mastery for the push-ups, but have difficulty with the iM. I have difficultly with the flexibility not the weight. So because of this I want to add some body weight exercises (dips, pull ups) after my routine. I'm using a 4 day cycle for F1 and plan to add the exercises on Tuesday/Friday, so there are rest days after. For the deload week, should I just drop them completely? Thoughts, advice?

Thanks for the input,

Gym Kirk

If you feel that your strength is so far in excess of your mobility that the foundation work is not taxing you at all, then it's worth adding in some 'maintenance sets' to keep your strength up. This would typicially be 1-2 sets of exercises that you consider to be at your current level of strength, performed after you've finished Foundation work. 

Joshua Slocum said:

If you feel that your strength is so far in excess of your mobility that the foundation work is not taxing you at all, then it's worth adding in some 'maintenance sets' to keep your strength up. This would typicially be 1-2 sets of exercises that you consider to be at your current level of strength, performed after you've finished Foundation work.

Some of the exercises are difficult (like the whole side lever progression), but it's mainly core type things. I'm learning about the areas that I neglected. I don't find the larger muscle groups being taxed enough - arms, chest, legs. Looking at the progressions, I'm sure that will change as some progressions ramp up quick, but in the meantime maintenance sets sounds like a good idea mixed in with extra mobility. I might add a yoga class in the week. I have the p90x series, and always felt good after the yoga disc. I know I don't stretch enough. Im usually trying to squeeze my routines in between wife, kids, work etc. Seems like there is never enough time.

I do a couple extra sets of max strength work after my F1 workouts, but that's because my mobility is far in excess of my strength. 

F1 is enough for me at this point. Why dont you just do the program as designed until your moblity catches up. Gym Kirk if you can do more why not add 5 more pushups to each set or do them real slow. I wish I had the problem you have lol.

Would it be a bad idea to add a day 6 to the 5 day program?

Burtchell345 said:

Would it be a bad idea to add a day 6 to the 5 day program?

If you've been doing the 5-day program for a few months and feel that you would benefit from having more work, you could certainly try a 6th day. 

Awesome. I'm really used to 6 days a week, but I also thought about going to 4 days and using wed/sat for conditioning work.

Anything more than 4 days is probably unrealistic for me. I'm trying to get to 5 days, but with kids something always seems to come up. I appreciate all of the comments, and I think I have plenty of ideas. I think I will add a few max sets of push-ups or pull-ups in the morning before work. Add a yoga class and extra mobility and that should be good. I can always taper off when things start to get difficult. This is a great forum. Thanks again for your input.

I have done quite a bit of cycling through different schedules-- from 5/week to F7 (all in one day) 3x a week, 2x a week, splitting up 3x to 6 days a week and now very happy with continuing progress on the 4x a week schedule.

I don't advise jumping from one to other without spending 2-3 microcycles on it, unless you are struggling with the workload. Give it time to be sure whether it is stimulating you or running you into the ground XD

Generally I measured it by my deload week; if I felt like I was staggering towards it to get back on my feet I re-thought it. Currently feel a little impatient with the lowered volume; I can deal with that for one week though, and like the feeling of being very ready to get my teeth into the next cycle.