Solving your straddle up problems!

adimi24 said:

I can't even sit upright in that position. I can only have my legs half open and my back completely rounded and I still can't even stay in that unless I put my hands behind me to keep me up.  How am i supposed to work on this if I can't even get into a very simplified position of it?  

Touch the bottoms of your feet together AKA butterfly pose.  By the time you can touch your chest to your feet, you should be ready to start on pancakes.

Not directed at you in particular, but I find it interesting how few people really consider the concept of progressive stretching.  Like, they want splits, so they'll just keep doing splits, no matter how bad at them they are.  Never considering that maybe going butterfly, pancake, splits might make things a little bit easier....

For somebody like me, I've learned that I do not know what I do not know.  The information in the GB Foundations coursework is fantastic, but the information in these forums are disjointed and disorganized.  Given I do not know what I do not know, I would have to spend hours on end reading all the posts here hoping to come across for the needle in the haystack information that a) I would be looking for and b) that I am at a point where I can make meaning of that knowledge. 

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not bashing these forums.  They are absolutely wonderful, and I owe a debt to all the people that share here.  I hope to one day be in a position to help others in the same way.

I do see an opportunity for GB to organize much of the information.  From what I see in these forums, there is clearly a need.  I think that would be a huge value add to somebody like me that is just starting out in this journey and have a very cloudy picture of what I'm supposed to be doing.

KenW said:

For somebody like me, I've learned that I do not know what I do not know.  The information in the GB Foundations coursework is fantastic, but the information in these forums are disjointed and disorganized.  Given I do not know what I do not know, I would have to spend hours on end reading all the posts here hoping to come across for the needle in the haystack information that a) I would be looking for and b) that I am at a point where I can make meaning of that knowledge. 

 

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not bashing these forums.  They are absolutely wonderful, and I owe a debt to all the people that share here.  I hope to one day be in a position to help others in the same way.

 

I do see an opportunity for GB to organize much of the information.  From what I see in these forums, there is clearly a need.  I think that would be a huge value add to somebody like me that is just starting out in this journey and have a very cloudy picture of what I'm supposed to be doing.

We have a number of stickies as well as a F.AQ. for reference. Adding to those is as simple as using the report button or PM function to let us know. But if no one communicates these things, there will be a large chance that items get missed in the 150,000 posts on these boards. 

So we have to make a request for something to get stickied? That's good to know. I've always assumed that somebody with an official position would have taken that task on.

I'm surprised that things like some seemingly universal problems with certain elements, like HS/PE1-iM for example, haven't been stickied in bold.

Though to be honest, I don't think that stickies are the best way to formally present information. I think if all the posts where I learned something important were stickied, the first to pages of each section would just be filled with stickies!   Some way to collate the information would probably be more productive.

thecolin said:

So we have to make a request for something to get stickied? That's good to know. I've always assumed that somebody with an official position would have taken that task on.

 

I'm surprised that things like some seemingly universal problems with certain elements, like HS/PE1-iM for example, haven't been stickied in bold.

 

Though to be honest, I don't think that stickies are the best way to formally present information. I think if all the posts where I learned something important were stickied, the first to pages of each section would just be filled with stickies!   Some way to collate the information would probably be more productive.

Coach and I try to read the forums as much as possible, but there's simply not enough time in the day to read or address everything. That's why a report or PM makes a huge difference towards including items you feel as important.

The purpose of stickies isn't to cover every possible piece of information, but rather to address those types of questions that come up so commonly that everyone becomes sick of answering them. What's important beyond that is going to vary widely for each individual.

This is where tools such as search and tagging come in. Tagging is actually an awesome means for finding relevant information, but it relies heavily on the individual members of the community to do it consistently. *nudge nudge*

Cory Fair said:

 

This is where tools such as search and tagging come in. Tagging is actually an awesome means for finding relevant information, but it relies heavily on the individual members of the community to do it consistently. *nudge nudge*

I was thinking about that the other day. I wanted to start tagging my posts with specifics tags, but it's so easy to create tons of ambiguous and duplicate tags since they're not preset in the system.

Maybe we should come up with a convention for tags and sticky that?

Example:

TAG_NAME  |  PURPOSE

form-check   |  used for posts for which you want your form to be checked. Try to combine this with a movement tag from below.

mastery-check  |  used for posts for which you want your mastery to be verified. Try to combine this with a movement tag from below.

fl-pe1            |  posts related to front level prep element 1

fl-pe2            |  posts related to front level prep element 2

...

spl-pe1          | posts related straddle planche prep element 1

....

and so on

-Nash

I think common language is a problem with tags, like Nash said. Another problem is even if we some how all manage to agree and consistently use (doubtful!  ) a common system, you're still going to have to sort through a lot of stuff that may be irrelevant to get to those golden posts that really make things clear.

Forums are great for chatting. But if the community is going to be expected to present this information, I think a wiki style format or something similar seems to me the only functional answer for collecting and presenting information as a group.

I'd like to see a 'Save to favourites' feature, where you could save posts you found useful and arrange them into different categories.

Duff said:

I'd like to see a 'Save to favourites' feature, where you could save posts you found useful and arrange them into different categories.

It's true that you could just save your own links with bookmarks. But if it was integrated into the site like this, the most liked and favourited posts could be collected and possibly tagged as well as an easy way to present the most informative posts.

thecolin said:

Forums are great for chatting. But if the community is going to be expected to present this information, I think a wiki style format or something similar seems to me the only functional answer for collecting and presenting information as a group.

A wiki has been suggested before, and while I don't remember the specific reason why, I do remember the decision was made to go against it....

Remember that there's a reason the cues presented in the course material are so brief.  A beginner will suffer from information overload if they try to read everything about something before they even attempt it!  In this way I think the forum is actually quite a good way of presenting information.  Once you reach some kind of sticking point, you can request more information, and the collective memory of the community will bring forth and paraphrase everything relevant up till that point.

The only problem with this is when forum members disappear....

Bipocni said:

Remember that there's a reason the cues presented in the course material are so brief.  A beginner will suffer from information overload if they try to read everything about something before they even attempt it!  In this way I think the forum is actually quite a good way of presenting information.  Once you reach some kind of sticking point, you can request more information, and the collective memory of the community will bring forth and paraphrase everything relevant up till that point.

 

The only problem with this is when forum members disappear....

 

That was my original impression as well, and that's certainly part of it. But it has now been made clear that the forum is here to present information, not just a place to ask questions. As Cory said, the stickies are there to answer questions and address issues that aren't covered in the course but come up over and over again. The issue is simply how to best present that information.

I am a beginner now and I was a total newbie less than a year ago.  I think more presented material would have been valuable.  I have had that with other things, and I just re-read and re-read again and again.  In fact, there are things I still revisit years later and discover I have gained enough experience to be able to take in the same old text in a more evolved fashion.  This was m old experience with learning the golf swing.

If more information is not presented, I think I would benefit greatly from a wiki.

These forums are good, but what % of the GB Foundations 1 subscribers has read more than one post here?  How many have ready more than 10 posts here?  Maybe I am wrong, but I felt like I may spend more time here than the average bear.  Even with that much time, I catch that I know so little of what I really need to know to do things with the correct forum, maximize my progress, and reduce injury.

I have a day job and young kids.  Carving out time to do the foundation work has been extremely difficult.  I'm guessing I am not alone.  These forums take considerable time and they can easily take more time than the foundation work itself.

Like I said, I do believe a wiki would help me greatly.

KenW said:

I am a beginner now and I was a total newbie less than a year ago. I think more presented material would have been valuable. I have had that with other things, and I just re-read and re-read again and again. In fact, there are things I still revisit years later and discover I have gained enough experience to be able to take in the same old text in a more evolved fashion. This was m old experience with learning the golf swing.

If more information is not presented, I think I would benefit greatly from a wiki.

These forums are good, but what % of the GB Foundations 1 subscribers has read more than one post here? How many have ready more than 10 posts here? Maybe I am wrong, but I felt like I may spend more time here than the average bear. Even with that much time, I catch that I know so little of what I really need to know to do things with the correct forum, maximize my progress, and reduce injury.

I have a day job and young kids. Carving out time to do the foundation work has been extremely difficult. I'm guessing I am not alone. These forums take considerable time and they can easily take more time than the foundation work itself.

Like I said, I do believe a wiki would help me greatly.

I think that's always going to be the case with any skill though. Your experience of revisiting skills and finding little nuances which improve your performance of the skill is a never ending process IME,regardless of how much information is presented at square one.

Learning physical skills/learning to manipulate your body in space is an experiential process and an individual one as well. Written cues can be helpful, but nothing beats actually doing the skills and learning through the process of self discovery and trial and error.

That said, I like the idea of a Wiki, but worry a little about quality control. If anyone can contribute, add to, or change the material, how are we to know which information is from credible sources and which is not? I doubt that Cory and Coach have time to read through every Wiki on a regular basis and verify all of the information in them.

Keegan said:

 I like the idea of a Wiki, but worry a little about quality control.

As compared to material personally written by Coach, obviously it's inferior. But those same problems apply to the forum, anyone can give advice to someone asking a question regardless of their credentials.

thecolin said:

As compared to material personally written by Coach, obviously it's inferior. But those same problems apply to the forum, anyone can give advice to someone asking a question regardless of their credentials.

True, but hopefully other forum members will keep them honest by questioning any advice given that conflicts with their viewpoint.

Look, I know for a fact that certain cues should be left until more advanced stages of skill development.  (I'm thinking of handstand cues in particular here.)  If beginners are attempting to implement the advanced cues, they will simply either stall out or confuse themselves.  Either way, it's not the best advice for them.  If we attempt to collate a database with all the best advice in it, by definition it's going to include a lot of stuff that will confuse new people and lead them astray.

thecolin said:

As compared to material personally written by Coach, obviously it's inferior. But those same problems apply to the forum, anyone can give advice to someone asking a question regardless of their credentials.

True, but if something gets put into a Wiki, people generally consider it to be reliable information (even though they really shouldn't). My wife is a college professor and you wouldn't believe the number of times that students cite Wikis in research papers as sources of credible information.

Personally I think the idea of a tagging system is the best way to go. If you find something is helpful for you personally, you tag it with the appropriate PE abbreviation so you can easily find it later. If someone else is asking about the same topic/question, just go find that post and then copy and paste it into the new thread or copy and past the URL to the thread.

- For long term growth, people need "to have some skin in the game".  In this instance, that means using the search function.  As most people are working on only a handful of Foundation elements at a time, this is hardly an arduous task. 

- As has already been pointed out, stickies quickly get out of hand.  If something is truly exceptional, I will sticky it.  Otherwise it is best left to the search function.

As has been pointed out, appropriate tagging would streamline this process substantially.  

- The ability to designate specific posts as 'personal favorites' has merit and I will explore that concept further to see if it is possible on the forum.

- You may also create a bookmark folder wherein you keep the forum links to your personal collection of helpful posts.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

 

- The ability to designate specific posts as 'personal favorites' has merit and I will explore that concept further to see if it is possible on the forum.

 

 

That sounds great, thanks Coach.

While we're on topic, may I also suggest adding a 'search by thread title' option? When I for example seach for 'pushups', the first relevant thread is the seventh from the top.

Also, how does tagging help? Some threads not tagged with a specific keyword I was looking for came up before the ones that had the relevant tag.

Duff,

That's already an option. Click the cog to the right of the search icon to pull up the advanced search parameters.

Cory Fair said:

Duff,

 

That's already an option. Click the cog to the right of the search icon to pull up the advanced search parameters.

Thanks, I didn't know that existed at all. Very useful!

A bookmark manager program is an excellent reader-managed "personal favorite" feature. You can copy topic - even individual post - links into the software and organise your links into folders. I think this would be a much easier solution.

Apps like Instapaper work well for storing specific bits of information (not whole topics) and can be read offline and organised into folders etc