Including gymnastics training while on specific athletic training

[Julie Migli]

Hi,

I am currently training 5-6x a week with specific programming from a coach for fitness and the sport of Crossfit. My goal is to become proficient and comfortable with many of the gymnastic moves required but often taught poorly for the sport of fitness. My coach OPT is super supportive of my including GB in my training but my question is really how and when to implement it? Is anyone else out there on additional training and also is it advisable to start at the very beginning even if there is some level of ability in many of the moves?

Thanks so much,

Julie.

[Mark Collins]

Hi Julie,

I have done Outlaw and Comp WOD with Foundation and Handstand. I initially did the gymnastics before work. I don't like exercising that early so I did the gymnastics at the start of my Crossfit workout as by the end it was too hard.

Get F1 and H1 and test yourself as you will be surprised at how hard some of the standards are. In terms of frequency you will need to experiment to see what you can cope with. If you find these too easy you will change your mind by F4 and H2.

OPT is obviously one of the best coaches in Crossfit so you can discuss with him how to incorporate GB into your program.

[Julie Migli]

Thank you so much for your in put.. OPT is an amazing coach and we spoke Friday about me pursuing GB and he suggested I feel it out and perhaps could find other athletes in the community who could offer guidance. I am a Masters athlete at did relatively well in the OPEN.. I was 12th worldwide until the 4 Master qualifiers were presented and the Muscle ups reared their ugly head again and cost me a DNF. Frustrating as it was my pursuit of being more skilled at body weight and gymnastics goes way beyond CF . I want to become a well rounded athlete and high volume kipping pull ups , hspu always end up costing me.. I've been working (not diligently) on getting a MU forever! I did 1 group class with Carl Paoli and attended a few adult gymnastic classes in my town but aside from that my exposure to gymnastics training has been minimal at best. I was thinking of implementing the Foundations into my current training on a 3 day schedule.. Wondering if this is too aggressive? I've already purchased the course so trying to figure it all out.. Thanks for any feedback!

[Mark Collins]

Sorry to hear about missing out on the games. 3 times a week is a good start. Have you got H1 as well? It has some really good wrist exercises that have helped my false grip.

I found my kipping pull ups improved without training them as the Foundation exercises made me move more efficiently.

As Coach has stated, get to the rope climbs and you will get muscle ups. The range of motion with these is full so they are a lot harder. Rings one has the correct progressions for a muscle up. In particular the false grip exercises are intense. It is not ideal to do these yet, but if it costs you a place in the games I would do it. Just be careful not to get injured.