Here we go, again

I started F1 last winter and then began H1 shortly after. I got bored and bewitched by flashy Crossfit. After 6 months of CF with no noticeable changes (I have a solidly mediocre baseline by CF standards) my wife finally convinced me to take a circus class. It was straps. Holy reality check. I thought a Kipping ring muscle up would mean something. Ha! Humbled and so sore, I realize that not only am I way too fat for my structure (190lbs at 5'7" about 18-20% bf) by I have NO real strength, meaning no ability to move my body.

So here I am. Retested all elements. Started today. I'm here for accountability.

F1 + H1 4x per week. 2 sprint or KB days depending on how I feel.

My focus right now is stripping weight through better diet and counting calories. I have a free app and I enjoy whole foods: my wife and I have a half grass fed cow in the freezer and we have a CSa. So I'm good there. The motivation for weight loss is in gaining a better ratio to make GST easier. I look forward to totally avoiding the iron since when I drop weight i go crazy if I see my numbers drop.

Also, I plan to work my straddle and pike stretches after my workouts.

Does this sound good? I'm superbly he'd and ready to make some progress. The straps class was a sharp slap in the face...especially when my instructor had to basically max effort press me into a support position. Embarrassing.

Thanks for reading.

Not "superbly he'd" but "psyched"

Haha, that will teach you

Looks like you've got a plan, welcome back, and have fun!

Yeah, arch holds and goofy straddle ups aren't very flashy, but when you get to human flags and manna then you really have bragging rights.

bombadil said:

my wife and I have a half grass fed cow in the freezer

Does this mean that half the cow's diet was grass or did the cow only eat half of each piece of grass?  

Welcome back and good luck

bombadil, i'm right there with ya.

even having a not totally run down body gave me some ego, as soon as i went into kung fu at 19, i couldnt do more than 10 reps for pushups...as in 10 was a max effort.

looking back, i've gotten some strength(compared to my baseline) and I have a feeling that once a pace has been set, the floodgates will open, so find your pace and never let it go

#highfive

Thanks guys. I feel more focused than ever before. Looking forward to making some progress and not getting sidetracked. On another note, down 10 lbs, mostly water I'm sure, biut handstand already feels way better. Is this the place to log progress?

you could make a thread dedicated to it, if you so wish. 

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/12682-beginning-f1-suggestions-and-more/

this is Federico's thread ^^^ and he very frequently post's form checks and progress reports

This seems like a good a thread as any.

Hi bombadil,

4 days of F1+HS1 + 2 days of sprints/KB's sounds like a lot. Take it easy and set a sustainable level of effort before you try something too aggressive or you're going to burn out again.

Perfect timing. Today was supposed to be designated for sprints and kb work. Seemed a bit tired, though not sore, after 2 days Ina row of f1 and HS 1, so I skipped the extra work. Thanks for the suggestion. Really want to avoid the burn out that I always push myself towards...slow and steady...

bombadil said:

Perfect timing. Today was supposed to be designated for sprints and kb work. Seemed a bit tired, though not sore, after 2 days Ina row of f1 and HS 1, so I skipped the extra work. Thanks for the suggestion. Really want to avoid the burn out that I always push myself towards...slow and steady...

Are you doing H1 4 times a week?  That's way too much volume for the wrist prep exercises...

I tried H1 four days a week for a cycle or so a while ago. When I switched back to two days a week I realized that I made better and more comfortable progress easing up on the volume.

I find I need to do the wrist prep stuff at least 3-4 times a week if I only do 1-2 nothing seems to happen. At one point I was doing them every day but I ha e figured about 4 times a week works best for me.

I have the H1 wrist series thoroughly mastered for 5x5, and am now having good results doing them 1x10 each during the general warmup of each training day.

I do H1 work twice a week. I feel like 3 times a week might be doable but I'm not certain I'd benefit. 4x per week would definitely be too much. 

Jon Douglas said:

I have the H1 wrist series thoroughly mastered for 5x5, and am now having good results doing them 1x10 each during the general warmup of each training day.

I've been mastering them without elbow flexion. E.g, the only locomotion comes from the wrists. It adds quite a bit of difficulty when you have to use the wrists to initiate the movement. I'm currently on week 5 of SE4 on all of them. 

Once I get up to 5x5, I plan to repeat that micro-cycle a few times before moving on to doing them with my feet elevated. 

Joshua Slocum said:

I do H1 work twice a week. I feel like 3 times a week might be doable but I'm not certain I'd benefit. 4x per week would definitely be too much.

I've been mastering them without elbow flexion. E.g, the only locomotion comes from the wrists. It adds quite a bit of difficulty when you have to use the wrists to initiate the movement. I'm currently on week 5 of SE4 on all of them.

Once I get up to 5x5, I plan to repeat that micro-cycle a few times before moving on to doing them with my feet elevated.

KeilaniG said:

how do you find the mobility for the FKP? any additional stretching?

I've found it has gradually improved over time.

Interesting...I have been doing HS1 4x / week after f1...maybe I should rethink this...

Took a hand balancing class and the instructor said I need to train handstand 5-6 x per week to make progress, so I considered 4x/week conservative. Hmmm.

Definitely experiment to see what works best for you. My take is that hand balancing can be worked that often, but working the mobility drills that often may be too much. Since the real work in much of H1 seems to involve improving mobility and strength in the new ROM, less volume is more advisable. Once you've perfected your handstand line you may be able to practice your balance that often. I know for me that's a long way off. Meanwhile, working full handstands before I have the ability to use perfect form is misdirected effort.

bombadil said:

Interesting...I have been doing HS1 4x / week after f1...maybe I should rethink this...

Took a hand balancing class and the instructor said I need to train handstand 5-6 x per week to make progress, so I considered 4x/week conservative. Hmmm.

Once you finish the PE's and move on to the SE's, increasing the volume would probably be beneficial. But for the initial work, which is mostly strength training, 5-6 times a week would be counterproductive. 

Joshua Slocum said:

Once I get up to 5x5, I plan to repeat that micro-cycle a few times before moving on to doing them with my feet elevated. 

I figured eventually these could be done in a handstand, and then after that with one arm.  My thinking is that handstands you're pushing 100% of your weight, with two arms, so 50% per hand, whereas with a one arm pushup stance you're pushing 70% of your weight, with one hand.

Joshua Slocum said:

I do H1 work twice a week. I feel like 3 times a week might be doable but I'm not certain I'd benefit. 4x per week would definitely be too much. 

I've been mastering them without elbow flexion. E.g, the only locomotion comes from the wrists. It adds quite a bit of difficulty when you have to use the wrists to initiate the movement. I'm currently on week 5 of SE4 on all of them. 

 

Once I get up to 5x5, I plan to repeat that micro-cycle a few times before moving on to doing them with my feet elevated. 

Yes, I'm doing them with straight arms