Which F course is the "fastest" to master for you?

when i bought F1 I was able to do all of the exercises exept the dips, which I got some days ago! then I bought F2. and wow, this seems so much harder! i actually thought that the strength that you will have by F2 would be in F4!

So my question to those who mastered F2 already or are working on it...

1.)How long did it take you to finish?

2.)As you will already be pretty strong by F2...do you think some of the goal elements can already be achieved? because 5x30secs tuck planche is a lot and maybe you can do some secs of straddle planche already!

3.) What do you think, which of the F courses is the "easiest" and "fastest" to achieve? Is it possible that it will get extremely hard after F2, especially for a girl?

I could imagine that after F2 progress may lack, be very very slow, or at least not as easy as it was with F1+F2.

I think of this because in my gym there are some girls working really hard since they where children (they are good but not elite, training 18hrs a week and do a lot of conditioning) and all of them have probably the strength of F2 plus press handstands, but are definitely not stronger than F2!

Thanks in advance!

I've tested mastery on a lot of f2 elements and they were a breeze in comparison to f1..... Ims till working f1 now because my endurance sucks but I think I should be finished most of the elements in f1. By the third quarter of the year and then f2 hopefully mostly done by the end of the year because I know I can already breeze through most of the exercises there. No idea about f3 or f4 but f4 final mastery is going to be intense..... Also I think by the time you start f3 you may have already achieved something close to the end goal like you said 5x30 seconds tuck planche with that Im as rest.... I'd be surprised if you didn't have a couple second straddle planche.... I don't think it is the same for all the exercises though... Depends on the individual I guess. I'm positive I'll have the front lever by the end of f2 though As I'm not that far off ATM really.

Some individuals have higher endurance but not much absolute strength --> They will make faster progress in F1.

Others perform better on lower reps --> They will have a hard time with F1 but will easily go through F2.

There is no absolute answer

Always surprising to me how low the work capacity of most adult beginning GST students is.

15 reps in a single set of these basic basic exercises does NOT qualify as endurance work.  70-100 reps per set; yes.  But 15 reps?  Not even close.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

More surprising than the lack of mobility ?

They are nearly all equally hard.  You may find you can slip past a few strength exercises in foundation 2 but the mobility may stop you.  

I personally have more fun with lower reps but that doesn't mean that it isn't killer.  I have shed a fair share of tears while training hollow back presses. 

dritar said:

More surprising than the lack of mobility ?

touche.

Admittedly sometimes working with the zombie-like-mobility of adults makes me feel like I am trapped inside a Jerry Lewis telethon.  (6 months to learn swivel hips?!?)  

Maybe I should just roll with it and move to france.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

touche.

Admittedly sometimes working with the zombie-like-mobility of adults makes me feel like I am trapped inside a Jerry Lewis telethon. (6 months to learn swivel hips?!?)

Maybe I should just roll with it and move to france.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Having struggled with this and shoulder mobility elements from H1, are we just doing it wrong?

I feel like I'm following F1/H1 properly, and I'm so close to getting H1 IM:2, which is miraculous considering where I started but it has taken me months.

Fortunately it doesn't take as long to regain what was lost. I hope to pass ABH in a year (this June), having spent 27 or so years never ever doing this exercise.

Murray Truelove said:

Having struggled with this and shoulder mobility elements from H1, are we just doing it wrong?

I feel like I'm following F1/H1 properly, and I'm so close to getting H1 IM:2, which is miraculous considering where I started but it has taken me months.

I was just about to reply how the thing that held me back the most was my mind and learning to RELAX, I made a thread about HSPE2 iM and thought I had almost mastered it but I was looking so hard for something that would make it easier and thinking too much. The other day for no reason at all but to stretch I picked up a bar, standing, I flexed for a reps, then switched to the back, did a few reps, and thought.. huh.. that was easy. Shoulders were retracted, didn't lean my neck forward.. thought huh... I can do it no problem, now I just pick up the bar and I know I can do it. Took me a while but I bet I could do it for a long time, I was just too tense and thinking about how I couldn't get it right.

MattProulx said:

I was just about to reply how the thing that held me back the most was my mind and learning to RELAX, I made a thread about HSPE2 iM and thought I had almost mastered it but I was looking so hard for something that would make it easier and thinking too much. The other day for no reason at all but to stretch I picked up a bar, standing, I flexed for a reps, then switched to the back, did a few reps, and thought.. huh.. that was easy. Shoulders were retracted, didn't lean my neck forward.. thought huh... I can do it no problem, now I just pick up the bar and I know I can do it. Took me a while but I bet I could do it for a long time, I was just too tense and thinking about how I couldn't get it right.

I'm so close (10cm maybe) for this. It's even my party trick when I want to demonstrate that my friends need to work on their mobility.

I just know it's taken me months.

Coach Sommer said:

touche.

 

Admittedly sometimes working with the zombie-like-mobility of adults makes me feel like I am trapped inside a Jerry Lewis telethon.  (6 months to learn swivel hips?!?)  

 

Maybe I should just roll with it and move to france.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Oups I am presuming that the jokes about France are on me (sorry my English is far from perfect).

If so, I think that the best I can do to not bring shame upon my country is to shut my mouth and work hard on my obvious lack of strength (especially lower back...) and mobility !  (stretch 1 will be a great help)

I will get that skinny body close to his full potential even if it takes me years !

Not at all. My comment was simply an American play on words as the old Jerry Lewis movies were more popular in France than here in the US.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

And Jerry was not exactly considered athletic.

Thank you both for your input ! I have learned something today

Coach Sommer said:

touche.

 

Admittedly sometimes working with the zombie-like-mobility of adults makes me feel like I am trapped inside a Jerry Lewis telethon.  (6 months to learn swivel hips?!?)  

 

Maybe I should just roll with it and move to france.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Please, do move to France and open up a gym near my town. 

Switching back to the topic, this is my personal experience with F1 and F2...

Before foundation I had done only standard weightlifting in the gym, plus some kettlebell and functional training, but never spent time on stretching and mobility. So I started with a decent strength/bodyweight ratio, good legs strength and an average (or perhaps lower than average) mobility.

I've found F1 elements generally not demanding in terms of strength, but some of them challenging in terms of mobility (ABH, MN 2-3), some in terms of endurance (the 60 reps rocks), all requiring strong focus on form. Only two (planche leans and PPPs) for me were also demanding in terms of strength.

Conversely, I've found many F2 elements more demanding in terms of strength (RC, SLS, FL, HBP, sPL), but not so much to hinder my progress as much as my mobility issue with SL and MN.

I think the explanation for this is that before F1 I was generally training with less attention to form, very limited stretching, very few static holds, low reps (6, 8 or 10). So I found many new things in F1! 

The consequence of this is that, having started in Sep '13, my SL and MN progression are still at early F1, while FL, RC, SLS at mid-late F2, and sPL somewhere in the middle. Still, in FL I'm more comfortable with body levers rather than 60 reps rocks!

It think to finish F2 in April for RC and SLS, within 1 year for FL, HBP and maybe sPL, but don't know about SL and MN. I expect however that as soon as my mobility improves, I'll be able to catch-up.

Concluding I guess than 1 year should be enough for F1+F2 unless you start from scratch, but it also depends on how consistently you can train and several other factors...

EDM said:

Switching back to the topic, this is my personal experience with F1 and F2...

 

Before foundation I had done only standard weightlifting in the gym, plus some kettlebell and functional training, but never spent time on stretching and mobility. So I started with a decent strength/bodyweight ratio, good legs strength and an average (or perhaps lower than average) mobility.

 

I've found F1 elements generally not demanding in terms of strength, but some of them challenging in terms of mobility (ABH, MN 2-3), some in terms of endurance (the 60 reps rocks), all requiring strong focus on form. Only two (planche leans and PPPs) for me were also demanding in terms of strength.

 

Conversely, I've found many F2 elements more demanding in terms of strength (RC, SLS, FL, HBP, sPL), but not so much to hinder my progress as much as my mobility issue with SL and MN.

 

I think the explanation for this is that before F1 I was generally training with less attention to form, very limited stretching, very few static holds, low reps (6, 8 or 10). So I found many new things in F1! 

 

The consequence of this is that, having started in Sep '13, my SL and MN progression are still at early F1, while FL, RC, SLS at mid-late F2, and sPL somewhere in the middle. Still, in FL I'm more comfortable with body levers rather than 60 reps rocks!

 

It think to finish F2 in April for RC and SLS, within 1 year for FL, HBP and maybe sPL, but don't know about SL and MN. I expect however that as soon as my mobility improves, I'll be able to catch-up.

 

Concluding I guess than 1 year should be enough for F1+F2 unless you start from scratch, but it also depends on how consistently you can train and several other factors...

Thanks for your detailed answer!

Hm, I guess everyone has something that is limiting. For me, Manna and SLS are definitely the easiet of all, whereas I am stuck at HBP in early F1 and also the pull-ups kill me

Thank you!

That is funny.  You are the exact opposite of me.  HBP and RC have been easiest, and Manna the hardest.  I think sometimes the early mobility elements are tough for us zombies, but you do them, and the time pays off.  Murray, when you pass H1PE2iM you will not have any more mobility troubles in H1.  You will fly through.  For me, I spent some time on iM of PE1 and PE2, then cruised to PE10.  Now just a little more endurance strength and i expect to cruise again to the SE2-3 range.  Funny how we all have our stumbling blocks.  I guess I would say F1 is the hardest, because once you've made it through F1, a lot of the mobility issues are settled, and now you can  just focus on the strength, which moves much more linearly.  

MT Nordic said:

That is funny.  You are the exact opposite of me.  HBP and RC have been easiest, and Manna the hardest.  I think sometimes the early mobility elements are tough for us zombies, but you do them, and the time pays off.  Murray, when you pass H1PE2iM you will not have any more mobility troubles in H1.  You will fly through.  For me, I spent some time on iM of PE1 and PE2, then cruised to PE10.  Now just a little more endurance strength and i expect to cruise again to the SE2-3 range.  Funny how we all have our stumbling blocks.  I guess I would say F1 is the hardest, because once you've made it through F1, a lot of the mobility issues are settled, and now you can  just focus on the strength, which moves much more linearly.  

Same I am still doing MNpe2, but am on the last elements of SLS, RC, HBP  now in F2, active flexibility is probably most guys weakness.

Mm. Sometimes mobility issues run deeper than you think too; its taken me getting onto the harder mobility elements, which are a fair workout in themselves, to force correction from my body. All through F1+2 I was able to compensate with good flexibility, but the ease i feel moving now that active flexibility, some weird loaded stretching roms and much better activation and shapes are achieved is incredible. Sometime in the last month i started to 'feel' strong, and that I've eliminated most of the knots preventing my moving efficiently. Ive a long way to go of course, but the body feels integrated and working towards the same goal rather than fighting itself.

Training with this feeling is definitely not a chore it's no easier than when I started, but there is real joy in it

In the last week I have started working on working flexibility under load for most of my stretching. Using a heavy bar with MN/PE2im and HS/PE1im previously gave my great active flexibility in the pike position and dislocates, that I think I could straddle stretch with a heavy bar and achieve active flexibility this way. Maybe even the side splits. I can't find any info on active stretching with heavier weights but so far it seems valid.

MT Nordic said:

That is funny. You are the exact opposite of me. HBP and RC have been easiest, and Manna the hardest. I think sometimes the early mobility elements are tough for us zombies, but you do them, and the time pays off. Murray, when you pass H1PE2iM you will not have any more mobility troubles in H1. You will fly through. For me, I spent some time on iM of PE1 and PE2, then cruised to PE10. Now just a little more endurance strength and i expect to cruise again to the SE2-3 range. Funny how we all have our stumbling blocks. I guess I would say F1 is the hardest, because once you've made it through F1, a lot of the mobility issues are settled, and now you can just focus on the strength, which moves much more linearly.

I'm so close with H:IM2 - maybe a couple weeks till I've got it. Considering where I started (using a 2m dowl, I couldn't lift to shoulder height) but it's taken 9 months. I just wondered if I did something wrong or whether it can simply take months to regain mobility.

Looking at the next progressions I'm expecting to fly through them by comparison.