What are your favorite F1 exercises?

In the midst of all the SL/PE1 and RC/PE6 angst here on the forum I thought Christmas would be a good time to share our favorite exercises, the ones we look forward to and enjoy while doing.

I myself love the cossacks and side-to-side squats. They were a complete impossibility to me six months ago but with steady training I can do them with ease now. The bottom position is also a great stretch.

Keeping the stiff leg windmills in my MN warm-up is giving me good results too, last workout I used a 16 kg dumbbell on the second set. My body reacts really well to that one.

What about you?

As i'm only on day 2! its hard to say. I have just finished my testing to see what levels i'm at. Suffice to say i have been extremely humbled! Its clear that a reliance on bench press over the years has resulted in a far stronger chest than back, hence HBP is the only exercise where i'm starting on PE2. The rest are mainly PE1 wk5-9, apart from SLS which is a pathetic PE1 wk 1! Just can not balance and get up! Hope to see good progress soon, but to answer your question, i'd say HBP

Big fan of the planche leans now that they are going somewhere :-)

Right now for me it's arch body hold. Did 4x60 yesterday and hopefully next week I'll finally be done with it all

Not making much progress on anything else so it feels extra good whenever I finish a week of abh

Second would be RC but I am dreading PE6. I remember doing that in pe class (but arms at 90 deg or so). The requirement for an A was 60 seconds. As soon as I got my A I was done lol. Most anyone did was 90 seconds and that guy was in incredible shape. 

I am determined to love FBAS no matter how much they try to make me cry.

Swivel hips

Elevated Planche Leans

Manna - PE1 - Tuck up

swivel hips and scap shrugs.

Scapula Shrugs are deceptively hard! It really taxes my shoulders. I assume i'm doing them right?

it's recently been ABH and windmills

anything related to PPT to fix my APT and the shoulder mobility i have a soft spot for.

Tie between:

• sPL/PE3<iM ... I forget that my stomach is resting on a stool, and visualise myself actually doing a sPL.
• Jefferson Curls ... Love feeling the back of the legs really open up.

My favorites are hollow body holds, arch body holds, and bent arm holds. Probably because I'm a glutton for pain and misery

Mobility-wise, it would be Jefferson Curls, German arm swings, and Xiaopengs.

Hollow body rocks...They're just fun. I'm not at 60r though.

Hollow rocks, xiaopengs, and the lat stretches

It's hard to choose a favorite! Arch body holds are a lot of fun because of the awesome change I've experienced in my thoracic mobility. Swivel hips have improved a lot so those are a lot of fun too. Basically anywhere I see improvement, lol.

Tables are cool, I can feel my elbows getting stronger. Push-ups are great, have seen some nice progress in the last month, hit 5 x 12 without breaking tempo yesterday. Going to add 1 rep to all the sets per week, I think that'll be a good way to finally conquer them.

kimura said:

Tables

They've been good to my elbows too, but especially the shoulders. Had to point my fingers out in the beginning, but not anymore.

Arch body holds!

...because i mastered them already!

Arch body rocks & the bridge progressions.

Initially, I didn't like the arch body holds&rocks because they always seemed to hurt my lower back instead of making it stronger. Once I focused on keeping the legs straight and holding the feet together, this changed completely. From that moment on, it felt like a real lower back strength exercise. I always look forward to doing those. Combined with the bridge progressions, my thoracic spine became a whole lot more mobile. A feeling I’ve never experienced in my entire life.

markp said:

Arch body rocks & the bridge progressions.

Initially, I didn't like the arch body holds&rocks because they always seemed to hurt my lower back instead of making it stronger. Once I focused on keeping the legs straight and holding the feet together, this changed completely. From that moment on, it felt like a real lower back strength exercise. I always look forward to doing those. Combined with the bridge progressions, my thoracic spine became a whole lot more mobile. A feeling I’ve never experienced in my entire life.

I would have to say I love all the integrated mobility exercises, especially the stiff leg windmill. When I first tried it I was completely humbled by the fact I was so zombie like and couldn't complete one rep properly. It dawned on me that I had ignored my mobility for the past decade, pretending I was fine. Now I can finally reach between my legs!

As for strength exercises it would have to be ABH. I am struggling with it and realise I am going to be probably on it for 6 months at least but every time I can hold it longer or my ROM increases, I know I am getting to where I want to be.

Twisting squats oddly enough after hating them in the beginning, they now are a staple in my warmup along with the knee mobility like skiers and inside squats. 

I'm getting great benefit from the exercises and integrated mobility, but I don't really "enjoy" doing it. what's great is the programming, progressions and the way it all seems to fit together. I was doing all sorts of different bodyweight programs, weight programs and just found myself grinding to a halt with various self inflicted injuries and a lack of awareness of how weak and immobile I really was. 

My shoulders have got better through the Xiopeng forwards and SLW, my hips are better through the swivel hips and even the hip circles.

My elbows are are better through the scap shrugs, (the stiff arm stuff seems to really help) hinge row and lat lean. My knees are better through cossack and twisting squats.

Anyway the favourite parts of my workouts is the end.

Not really an exercise, but my favorite part is the deload weeks 

Having challenged Jon the mutant with a race to the Manna, that'll be my favourite for 2014 (and 2015 and...)