Trial of lower frequency training

David Creekmore said:

The thing that would make this hard for me, is that I really have to group shoulder work together, to time with my other activities.  The alternating pattern would make that hard. 

I'm only just starting, and if I find 4x/week difficult, I'd consider F7 2x/week.  I'm pretty sure I have the work capacity for it, but finding 2.5 hours in a weekday regularly is challenging.

David, F7 should most definitely not take 2.5 hours. It should be no stretch to finish in 1.5 hours. With low rep elements you may even be able to do it in 70-80 mins, however if you're on early elements and a lot of 5x60 it will take 90-100 mins. I wouldn't combine H1 w/ F7 IMO.

MT Nordic said:

David, F7 should most definitely not take 2.5 hours. It should be no stretch to finish in 1.5 hours. With low rep elements you may even be able to do it in 70-80 mins, however if you're on early elements and a lot of 5x60 it will take 90-100 mins. I wouldn't combine H1 w/ F7 IMO.

 

 

Yeah, thanks.  I guess I'm a little slow as a beginner.  I look at videos still sometimes in between exercises and spend time thinking about form.  But I was also factoring in warm up and stretch, shower and time to get back to the office.  I'd still need a 2 hour block start to finish I think.  

 

I prefer the F4 in theory, but scheduling physical therapy for my shoulder 4x and all the skill work 3x  is getting complex.  If my body can handle it, F7 2x might be the way to go.

 

F7 takes 70-80 minutes with high reps work. I did it for some time.

Now I'm doing 3xweek F1 and 2xweek H1 + one cardio session (or two).

 

Interesting experiment Mark. Keep us posted, and all the best.

I'm on 3x week for about 3 weeks now. After first week i had so much energy that during the sPL warmup with PE1 i've banged 21 reps with ease, then banged 5x30s with PE5. But still not mastered that (Need more PPT and lean over here). And other part of the training -> FL, HBP and RC were more fun too. And i still had some energy to "play" with some advanced elements  

Yesterday I did SLS SE2. I was meant to do week 5, but I felt so good I went and did week 11 with 5x30 seconds. I also got 5 negative HLL for the first time.

So far so good. It feels strange doing less and progressing quicker.

Mark Collins said:

Yesterday I did SLS SE2. I was meant to do week 5, but I felt so good I went and did week 11 with 5x30 seconds. I also got 5 negative HLL for the first time.

So far so good. It feels strange doing less and progressing quicker.

Surprising, isn't it?

I wonder if you guys can help me with my schedule, at the moment I'm effectively training 6 days a week: 4 days of Fa/b, 1 day of H1 and 1 day rock climb with H1 at the end.

I find that I can cope with the volume of training but life often gets in the way and I have to shuffle the days around and might end up training 5 days in a row (though one of those might just be H1).

I'm thinking of moving to 3 days of F1 something like:

Mon: climbing/H1

Tue:

Wed: Fa/b

Thu: H

Fri:

Sat: Fa

Sun: Fb

What do you think?

Well, I'm on this boat from today. Just for the sake of the experiment. 8 microcycles and we will see the results.

 

Thanks for this topic!

Adriano Augusto said:

Well, I'm on this boat from today. Just for the sake of the experiment. 8 microcycles and we will see the results.

 

Thanks for this topic!

don't forget to report back on your experience.

Weather's been better so I've started to do more biking and playing random sports. I think I'll try a 3 day/week schedule with you guys. Always felt like certain jumps would be too hard with only 1 day of work for them but who knows. 

Yeah, me too. My A day is progressing much quicker than the B day, so maybe I'll try doing one A day and two B days per week also.

SL/PE2 and SLS/SE2 mastered this week. 3 days a week is going great. It has also helped I haven't done any Crossfit for nearly 2 weeks.

Mark Collins said:

SL/PE2 and SLS/SE2 mastered this week. 3 days a week is going great. It has also helped I haven't done any Crossfit for nearly 2 weeks.

 

!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Edit: Just to elaborate: If the assumption that Crossfit is one of the most exhausting workouts to do is correct, then I suspect your F progress would rocket along without it compared to doing both.

I too am going to try the 3 day F1 protocol, but it's still going to be 5 days of GB...3 days F1 + 2 days H1

 

I managed 4 days F1 alone no problem, but with F1 + H1 I ended up missing too many H1 workouts for one reason or another; hence the reason for my change in schedule.

 

Still, I am going to practice those elements that I need to practice the most (which in my case are MN PE1 and SL PE1) on days I'm not scheduled to do them via F1.  This will help with the weekly volume on these exercises even though the intensity will be diminished somewhat.

I'm jumping aboard this train as well. I've been stuck in some elements for a while now. Working harder has helped certain exercises, but others are caught at the same roadblocks, only with more failed sets. I swallowed a mouthful of ego when I started Foundation, but I'm still finding bits stuck between my teeth...

I know that this is blasphemy,  but I stretch out a training cycle to 5 weeks.  It is not that my muscles can't recover, but my nervous system gets totally fried (and since working out is not my priority in life this is not ok).  I also feel the extra time gives my body to adapt.  I have made great progress with this the past several months.

 

Week 1

M - F1 4 movements

T - Tricking

W - F1 3 movements

T - H1

F - F1 4 movements

S -  F1 3 movements

Su - H1

 

Week 2

M - F1 4 movements

T - Tricking

W - F1 3 movements

T - H1

F - Off

S - Off

Su - Off

 

Week 3 (Same sets/reps as week 2)

M - F1 4 movements

T - Tricking

W - F1 3 movements

T - H1

F - Off

S - Off

Su - Off

 

Week 4

M - F1 4 movements

T - Tricking

W - F1 3 movements

T - H1

F - F1 4 movements

S -  F1 3 movements

Su - H1

 

Week 5

M - Off

T - Tricking

W - Off

T - Off

F - Off

S - Off

Su - Off

 

I time my off time with stressful times in my life.  For example, the deload week corresponds with my finals in college.  I also play pick up sports on my off days and I have a physically demanding job.

Your program looks great...with the exception of the week completely off at the end.  no load is very different than deload.  I think you are really compromising your gains with a week completely off.  Deload and mobility should keep you fresh, not fry your nervous system, and allow you to build the next block without having to backtrack a little.  I don't doubt you are making progress in this fashion, but i do think you'd make better progress if you altered it just a little .

MT Nordic said:

Your program looks great...with the exception of the week completely off at the end.  no load is very different than deload.  I think you are really compromising your gains with a week completely off.  Deload and mobility should keep you fresh, not fry your nervous system, and allow you to build the next block without having to backtrack a little.  I don't doubt you are making progress in this fashion, but i do think you'd make better progress if you altered it just a little .

I just finished week three, and I managed to do all of the work that I struggled with last week only this time I barely broke a sweat.  Looking forward to passing 5 or 6 of the movements next week. .

 

It is not that I can't do anything on my off days, it is just that I don't tell myself that I have to.  Looking back at last deload though, I did not train.  Instead I cleaned my apartment from head to toe, courted the fairer ***, caught up with old friend, made the majority of an art series that will probably be exhibited in the coming months, and read several books for pleasure.  I regained my appetite, yet lost weight, and came back stronger and more refreshed (both physically and mentally).  It is amazing how much time and energy training consumes!

 

You are probably right, I would make better progress if I did more sessions, but if you really bust your ass when it matters good things are going to happen regardless.  I am sure that as I progress through Foundation I will have to adjust things as things become technically more difficult.

Reason I ask is due to the practice of OAHS, it's not physically demanding but I need to concentrate a lot (I'm actually able to recover physically on these days). I would like to hear any comments about training foundation twice a week (haven't done it yet)? 

 

My current schedule:

Mon F7

Tue Handbalancing (OAHS)

Wed Handbalancing (OAHS)

Thur Handbalancing (OAHS)

Fri F7

Sat Rings (only maintaining skills, no training) + tumbling

Sun Off

It works very well for me, although I prefer Mon/Thurs to Mon/Fri

Thanks for the feedback

If you're doing F7 2 x weekly, that's actually the same as the 4 days split training.  I bet the majority of users here are only training each exercise twice weekly.

MT Nordic said:

If you're doing F7 2 x weekly, that's actually the same as the 4 days split training.  I bet the majority of users here are only training each exercise twice weekly.

It's the same in terms of training the same thing 2ce a week, but personally I found a marked improvement doing 2xF7 as compared to the 4 day split.

Jon Douglas said:

It's the same in terms of training the same thing 2ce a week, but personally I found a marked improvement doing 2xF7 as compared to the 4 day split.

Are you doing anything on the other days?

Jon Douglas said:

It's the same in terms of training the same thing 2ce a week, but personally I found a marked improvement doing 2xF7 as compared to the 4 day split.

Jon, question, so basically the 4xH1&2 is feeling more like active rest and the bulk of what's going on during the F7 is not so bad due to the added recovery? how do you feel at the end of a workout? (F7 specifically)