Converting the Foundation & Handstand routine into a daily workout

Hi everyone,

What do you think would be the optimal way of combining the various elements together for a week long daily workout? For example:

Monday - HBP & RC

Tuesday - FL & SPL & HS

Wednesday - SL & MN

Thursday - HBP & RC

Friday - FL & SPL & HS

Saturday - SL & MN

Don't fix what ain't broke:

Monday: FL, sPL, HBP, RC

Tuesday: MN, SL, SLS, HS

Wednesday: cardio

Thursday: FL, sPL, HBP, RC

Friday: MN, SL, SLS, HS

Saturday: cardio

Joshua, that's mine to a T except I typically jump rope like I'm running in place on your aerobic day and I start my Foundation cycle on a Saturday.

Patrick Smith said:

 

Hi everyone,

 

What do you think would be the optimal way of combining the various elements together for a week long daily workout? For example:

 

Monday - HBP & RC

Tuesday - FL & SPL & HS

Wednesday - SL & MN

Thursday - HBP & RC

Friday - FL & SPL & HS

Saturday - SL & MN

Sunday - Rest

 

What do you think?

 

Say you run 5 miles in a week, you could run 1 mile for 5 days, or 2.5 miles in 2 days, which is going to make you better at running 5 miles?

I don't see a good reason why a variation 6 day split is going to be less effective than a 4 day split. I've been breaking out MN and SL from SLS. I do a little more leg work on SLS days, with a decent amount of stretching, and I have full strength to take on SL. Cardio (if I do it) happens on MN and SL days.

I've tried both the 4 day split, and 6 day (described above), and neither approach yielded fast results. However, I have noticed that I improve the fastest on the first exercise of the day. The first exercise gets the most energy and effort before the same muscles are pre-exhausted from other work. That's my rationale behind it anyway, and I'm able to work harder with shorter workouts. This is all subject to change at some point.  

Either way, I thought I was in decent shape before starting F&H. Apparently, that was false.

Joshua Slocum said:

Don't fix what ain't broke:

 

Monday: FL, sPL, HBP, RC

Tuesday: MN, SL, SLS, HS

Wednesday: cardio

Thursday: FL, sPL, HBP, RC

Friday: MN, SL, SLS, HS

Saturday: cardio

Hi Joshua,

Not trying to fix anything here, really. It's just a matter of workout intensity that I'm trying to maintain. I like to push myself to my limits in every workout and in every exercise, but as curtisfer mentioned, longer workouts make it more difficult to do so. And the only cardio I like to do is play tennis, swim, fight, and do complexes...

I'm about to start this routine:

Monday - FL, sPL, HBP, RC + mini-workout

Tuesday - HS, any cardio/sports

Wednesday - SL, MN, SLS + squats

Thursday - HS, any cardio/sports

Friday - FL, sPL, HBP, RC + mini-workout

Saturday - random stuff, chin up challenge, etc.

It's one of the official combinations of HS and Foundation. I'm just curious how F7/HS would be broken down into a daily workout since I remember reading something about it here before.

Patrick Smith said:

... It's just a matter of workout intensity that I'm trying to maintain. I like to push myself to my limits in every workout and in every exercise ...

The only thing your proposed "constantly pushing it to the limit" approach is good for is a non-ending stream of guaranteed injuries and helping your doctor make his car payments.

If World and Olympic Champions are unable to train daily with this type of intensity, what makes you think you are any different?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

If you're worried about not making progress on all the exercises equally because you wear down through the workout, then working capacity is what you need to build (gradually). As others have stated this is best done with a few intense sessions and adequate rest. If its really not just a patience issue for seeing progress, then you actually need more rest and not to spread out the exercises. Try taking joshua's schedule and dropping 1/2 cardio or moving to the 3day/week schedule like your doing but with less cardio and extra. 

However, if you're worried the first exercise you work on each workout is the only one you actually progress in (and that's not just a perception issue) you could try rotating what you do first.

Example:

Week 1 Monday: FL, sPL, HBP, RC

Week 2 Monday: sPL, FL, HBP, RC      

Week 3 Monday: HBP, sPL, FL, RC    etc....

Coach Sommer said:

The only thing your proposed "constantly pushing it to the limit" approach is good for is a non-ending stream of guaranteed injuries and helping your doctor make his car payments.

If World and Olympic Champions are unable to train daily with this type of intensity, what makes you think you are any different?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Hi Coach, 

Don't worry, I haven't been wasting my time on the forum. What I mean by "constantly pushing it to the limit" is working as hard as a I can while maintaining the form & exertion parameters you and forum moderators describe in threads like "How to when to stop a set" and so on. I'm not running myself into the ground.

As I said, I'm not really seriously considering such a routine as I like the official routines offered by the website. However, I vaguely remember a discussion here about how it would best be done, and I couldn't find the discussion, so I felt like starting a new one.

This is a good question though. Generally, I am torn between a 3 Day split like  Bent Arm, Straight Arm, Legs and a 2 day split like upper lower.  Doesn't Ido Portal proposes a Bent Arm, Straight Arm Split, Legs type of split? 

jwalker497 said:

This is a good question though. Generally, I am torn between a 3 Day split like  Bent Arm, Straight Arm, Legs and a 2 day split like upper lower.  Doesn't Ido Portal proposes a Bent Arm, Straight Arm Split, Legs type of split? 

Question is what does a beginner do on a straight arm day while being productive and not hurting themselves?

Daniel Burnham said:

Question is what does a beginner do on a straight arm day while being productive and not hurting themselves?

Can't they do alot w/o hurting themselves?  Off the top of my head, here are a few

Devon- You might be right about perception, but a rep count and timer are pretty good indicators of progress. Building capacity certainly makes sense, but when your career is demanding during the week, smaller bite size efforts in the evening feels like the best approach to manage energy and recovery while still being able to put in a decent effort. I don't know Patrick's situation, but personally, I hate feeling slightly worn at work the next day after a higher volume GST effort the night before. I save my full volume efforts for the weekend.

As for rotating the exercise order: I've experimented with that too. HBP after RC, SPL, H, and FL is a fantastic finisher! Terrific muscle pump.

Coach Sommer said:

The only thing your proposed "constantly pushing it to the limit" approach is good for is a non-ending stream of guaranteed injuries and helping your doctor make his car payments.

If World and Olympic Champions are unable to train daily with this type of intensity, what makes you think you are any different?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Ever since the post about people not working hard enough, I've been close to pushing myself to the limits pretty much every workout

I'm kind of interested too but more for scheduling reasons. I have some time nearly every day but only a certain amount. 30 minutes, 5 days per week is easier to schedule than 60 minutes 3 days per week.

Hmms said:

Ever since the post about people not working hard enough, I've been close to pushing myself to the limits pretty much every workout

I've been doing that too. I've also been told not to push to failure every workout which is what I end up doing.