Adding Cardio & Endurance to F1

Hi Everyone,

I am currently working towards an audition at a performing arts school, which will happen approximately one year from now.  

For the audition, I have to able to do about 50 push ups, 15-20 pull-ups, HLRs, and a beep test (endurance cardio).  I also have to demonstrate a high level of flexibility and perform basic tumbling (front/back handspring, handstand, front/back tuck, etc)

I have read through most of F1 and it seems like a great strength training program to get me closer to being ready for my audition, and to assist in my gymnastics skill training.  I have been working with a personal trainer who has a gymnastics background, following his programs, but he has me on a body building style split with a few body weight exercises thrown in, which does not seem as in line with my goals as doing F1.  

My question is, is it possible to do F1 while adding in cardio work - if so, how and when should I add the cardio to the program?

Also, what would be the best way of adding the push up / pull up endurance training to F1?

Thanks!

Matthew777 said:

I have been working with a personal trainer who has a gymnastics background, following his programs, but he has me on a body building style split with a few body weight exercises thrown in, which does not seem as in line with my goals as doing F1. 

Ditch this guy.  Personal trainers like to stick within their comfort zone, which unfortunately is not in line with your goals.  I'm not saying he's a bad personal trainer, but he's not going to get you where you want to go.

It's hard to give you a good recommendation on how to best train for max pushups/pullups without you telling us where you're at now.  so how many pushups/pullups can you do?

Cardio is a tricky thing to add (at least for me, because I hate it!) you could go for a light run on your rest days, or you could add a run after your lower body sessions.

It is not just possible, but recommended to add cardio on top of Foundation. 2-3 cardio sessions per week would be good. You could do it immediately following Foundation or at another time of day, or on non-Foundation days. 

Foundation has plenty of pullup and pushup endurance training built in. There's no need to add it on. 

Thanks for both of your replies!  

Bipocni - I'm starting to agree with you regarding my trainer - I've been working with him for about a month, and although he can perform a press handstand I'm not convinced he knows how to get me to that level...  His recommendations for stretching/flexibility were also pretty poor.  Currently I can do about 20 push ups and 3 pull-ups.  I was able to do more at one time, but I'm coming back from a 6-month lay off from physical training / exercise of any sort.

Joshua - Thanks for the info.  I'll be starting F1 ASAP.

I do also plan to train H1, just can't afford it at the moment.  Ditching my trainer should provide some extra cash-flow. 

Joshua Slocum said:

It is not just possible, but recommended to add cardio on top of Foundation. 2-3 cardio sessions per week would be good. You could do it immediately following Foundation or at another time of day, or on non-Foundation days. 

Hi Joshua,

Please would you give a rough idea of a typical cardio session?

Thank you!

LateStarter@46 said:

Hi Joshua,

Please would you give a rough idea of a typical cardio session?

Thank you!

The simplest thing to do would be a 30 minute session of whatever cardio activity you like best: running, swimming, biking, elliptical machines, rowing, etc. Pretty much anything is fine, so long as it's something that improves cardiovascular health and doesn't interfere with your Foundation progress.

Joshua Slocum said:

The simplest thing to do would be a 30 minute session of whatever cardio activity you like best: running, swimming, biking, elliptical machines, rowing, etc. Pretty much anything is fine, so long as it's something that improves cardiovascular health and doesn't interfere with your Foundation progress.

I walk 8 miles a day. Is that enough or do I actually have to run. I don't like most cardio. Do deck squats count?

Murray Truelove said:

I walk 8 miles a day. Is that enough or do I actually have to run. I don't like most cardio. Do deck squats count?

Walking 8 miles a day will keep you in adequate shape. However, the more of that you run, the better. Cardiovascular exercise comes from keeping your heartrate up for sustained periods of time. Unless you're very out of shape or walking very very fast, it's unlikely walking raises your heartrate by much. 

Deck squats do not count as cardio. 

You'd have to measure your heart rate while walking to make sure whether it's 'proper' cardio.

Well it's effortless so I'd say probably not.... Damn.

Slow jogs are pretty effortless to me too, yet they're enough to qualify as cardio work. At 20 years old, you only need to get around 140 BPM for it to be cardio. Less as you get older. Best thing to do would be to get a heart rate monitor and adjust your pace accordingly.

For reference :  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Exercise_zones.png

Try jogging with your mouth closed.  I find it's an excellent way to keep pace and stop myself from accelerating into exhaustion.

I personally enjoy cardio and do cardio 5 x weekly for my main training. Foundation work is an add on for me for my strength training. This has worked great for me, and I think they complement each other very well.  If you like cardio training, do what you'd like. If you don't and you're just looking for general health benefits, probably adding in 30 minutes of easy jog for recovery, or if wanting a greater workout/metabolic training load add in some intervals.  3 days a week on top of foundation would be ideal.  The more you do, the more it may slow your progress in foundation, so if that's your main goal you should experiment with 1-2 days, and maybe just use cardio for easy recovery work.

You can Run Intervals (400 m., 800m. 200m.) or sprint (100m. and 50 m.). You can also use a jump rope for intervals or continuous work. Finally you can use some high intensity calisthenics after your foundation work lets say 100 burpees as fast as you can or minute drills. I do not think it will affect your recovery that much. Just build it gradually.

Check Ross Enamait from rosstraining.com for many cool ideas especially for conditioning.

Joshua Slocum said:

Walking 8 miles a day will keep you in adequate shape. However, the more of that you run, the better. Cardiovascular exercise comes from keeping your heartrate up for sustained periods of time. Unless you're very out of shape or walking very very fast, it's unlikely walking raises your heartrate by much. 

 

Well, for cardiovascular health all it really takes is a bit of walking. Anything more does reduce cardiac events, but not very much more (it's sort of a diminishing returns type thing).

For aerobic or anaerobic capacity, it's a different story. You could get into the whole high intensity interval vs long slow distance, which has been debated at least since the 1970s.

If I had to take a beep test, I'd damn well be running. If I walked 8 miles a day just to get around, I sure wouldn't be doing much else.

Question on the endurance aspect once again - I want to emphasize my endurance training, so would it be fine to add something like 3 sets to failure of both push ups and pull-ups at the end of my F1 workouts 3x per week - Once I hit my targets of 50 push ups and 15 pull ups I would only need to maintain those numbers.

EDIT - on taking a second look I see that pushups are a large part of early foundation training - so I could probably leave off the pushups for now.  I am interested to know about adding pull-ups, however.

Don't worry about push ups or pull ups they become a lot easier with the foundation work. When you are doing rope climbs pull ups will be so easy you won't bother doing them. Try endurance training that won't affect your foundation training.

Matthew777 said:

Question on the endurance aspect once again - I want to emphasize my endurance training, so would it be fine to add something like 3 sets to failure of both push ups and pull-ups at the end of my F1 workouts 3x per week - Once I hit my targets of 50 push ups and 15 pull ups I would only need to maintain those numbers.

EDIT - on taking a second look I see that pushups are a large part of early foundation training - so I could probably leave off the pushups for now. I am interested to know about adding pull-ups, however.

Ha ha, yeah it would be pretty insane to add extra pullups... With the warm-up and work sets, it gets quite intense.

Ok, gotcha  I will resist my urge to do extra pull ups!

Sorry, actually meant pushups...

Would extra pull ups be permissible?  Pull ups aren't a part of F1...  Just the different rows

Pullups may not be part of F1, but there's loads of pulling work. Of course you can add pullups, but don't overdo it or you may get golfer's elbow. There's also the issue that extra work eats away at your recovery, and may lead to slower progress in F1. Don't worry, if you're strong in pullups, you'll work through F1 RC progressions in no time and on to F2.

Cool, I wouldn't say I'm strong in pull ups, per say - I can do 3 good dead hang pull ups, but sounds like it's best to leave them alone for now until I've adjusted to F1 somewhat.  Thanks Ravn.

I used to be strong at pull ups (easily do sets of15 from dead hang with control) but RC pe6 is still killing me. Tried some pull ups the other day and barely made it to 10. so while doing f1 i have become weaker in pulling than I was before foundation but my endurance is better in my abdominals at least.

Doing F1 will certainly build a great foundation but it may not fit in with your required fitness goals. Will training F1 get you closer to those goals?  Probably.  Will you hit those goals doing F1?  Not sure.

The idea of F1 in my view isn't to have you hit specific endurance targets of those exercises.  Its a strength program and I for one cannot predict where you will be in a years time on F1 so it may be good to include it but you have to put some more targeted training to reach your specific goals.  F1 is building clear goals towards the foundation movements not excess amounts of push ups and pull ups though they may be a carry over.

In terms of aerobic training, probably go join a running club with a coach and training partners and do it 2-3 times per week.  If I had to give you ideas Id recommend a mix of training, from longer runs to intervals to shuttle runs as time progresses as a beep test is short turn around.  Some good training might even include a few reps of levels5-10/12 for a few sets with a handful of minutes rest to get you adapting to the demands.