Integrating barbell work with Foundation

Hey all,

Before I began GST I was pretty dedicated to barbell work. Even now that I'm doing Foundation, there are three movements that I consider indispensable--at least to my own personal goals--and I'm hoping that none of them will interfere with my progress in the Foundation series. For me those three movements are deadlift, back-squat, and turkish get-ups (my personal favorite).

So, in addition to doing the six upper-body elements in foundation (I know many may disagree, but I personally prefer doing barbell work for my leg strength, thus I haven't followed SLS) on MWF, I also do TGUs on Mondays, deadlift on Wednesdays, and squat on Fridays. I always perform my Foundation work first, and then move on to one of these three. Will doing this inhibit my progress in Foundation?

*Bonus Question*

Is there much carryover from turkish get-ups to handstand work? It seems to me like the shoulder strength and stability required for TGU is very similar to that in handstand work. Also, though a little less so, the TGU at heavy weights requires a good amount of balance and control, particularly when done with a barbell. I know from experience that if I do TGUs and H1 on the same day, then whichever I do second suffers immensely from lack of shoulder extension. Just wondering....

Thanks for the help!

Hardy Evans said:

Is there much carryover from turkish get-ups to handstand work? It seems to me like the shoulder strength and stability required for TGU is very similar to that in handstand work. Also, though a little less so, the TGU at heavy weights requires a good amount of balance and control, particularly when done with a barbell.

I think there's a pretty good carryover, at least in regards to stability.  If you get to the point where you're stabilising your bodyweight overhead, that should help quite a bit with handstands.

That being said, handstands are closed chain and get ups are open chain, so there's a huge difference that will need to be overcome.  With a get up you're stabilising a weight in your hand, which is liable to move anywhere, whereas with a handstand you're stabilising your body over your hand, and the hand doesn't move at all.  Although they both require a lot of stability at the shoulder, in a handstand you need to master bodyline stability to a greater level than with a get up.

So while there's some carryover in regards to strengthening the shoulder, don't think it's a simple 1:1 ratio.....

(Hopefully Handbalancer will chime in if I got any of that wrong)

As to barbell leg work inhibiting your GST.....  Heavier legs are obviously going to make lever work harder.  They shouldn't make it impossible, however, you just need to be stronger to do it.  (Side note: I'd love to see someone run the numbers on bigger legs vs being taller.)  What I will say though is make sure you're working your SLS mobility work as well.  That joint prep stuff is fantastic.

If you want to simplify your workout (probably not!), you may have your TGU-cravings partially satisfied by going heavy on the stiff legged windmill, MN/PE1>iM. I'm at 32 kg now, and it feels very satisfying.

Ravn said:

If you want to simplify your workout (probably not!), you may have your TGU-cravings partially satisfied by going heavy on the stiff legged windmill, MN/PE1>iM. I'm at 32 kg now, and it feels very satisfying.

I found that increasing the weight on the windmills stopped me from being able to rotate it comfortably.  In my mind stiff leg windmills absolutely can be trained for heavy weight, but not with the technique we're supposed to use here.

Bipocni said:

I found that increasing the weight on the windmills stopped me from being able to rotate it comfortably.  In my mind stiff leg windmills absolutely can be trained for heavy weight, but not with the technique we're supposed to use here.

Oh, ok. Sorry for being blatantly silly.

Ravn said:

Oh, ok. Sorry for being blatantly silly.

Hey, you do your thing.  If you find you can increase the weight that high without sacrificing form, who am I to say it can't be done?

Deadlifts, Squats, Cleans, Snatches have an undeniable positive effect on my current GST.  This is probably because all of my current GST is focused on slow, controlled movement, whereas the barbell moves are slightly more explosive (squat and deadlift less so, but still). 

If I ever move into more explosive movement in GST things may change, but currently those big 4 barbell moves still add a lot of benefit in a workout to me.

As for the TGU, for me it was the other way around. Had not done one in years, then tried a TGU's with a full sized barbell +10kg a few months ago (thought it would be maybe a 1 rep max for me, I'm 77kg) and was surprised on how easily I was able to get up and back down.  So I can say the GST work itself worked wonders for moves such as the TGU, but I do not know the other way around.  It was one of those moves that I could forget about and not miss much.

Hardy Evans said:

So, in addition to doing the six upper-body elements in foundation (I know many may disagree, but I personally prefer doing barbell work for my leg strength, thus I haven't followed SLS) on MWF, I also do TGUs on Mondays, deadlift on Wednesdays, and squat on Fridays.

 

Why in stead of SLS?

You could still do SLS twice a week and do some other practice in non-GB days.

I'm currently running an upper/lower weight lifting split and do the F1 and mobility stuff after the compound lifts, then finish up with a few isolation exercises. I'm typically at the gym for around 2.5 hours and am pretty tired by the end but I'm still making progress in all areas.

I really recommend doing SLS, because its more than a squat, It is mobility and active flexibility and it has a lot of carryover to other elements IMO.