New to GB, coming back from elbow injury

[Katherine Goodrich]

Hi all,

 

I am new to Gymnastic Bodies and very excited to get started, but I was hoping someone could give me advice on whether to jump into F1 and H1 simultaneously or to start with one or the other.

 

As a bit of background, I took up olympic weightlifting two years ago. I was lucky enough to start working with an experienced coach in March 2013, although I was unlucky in finding him only after injuring myself in competition - partial tear of the distal biceps tendon, sustained in June 2012 (I attempted to save a SN that, in retrospect, would have been better lost behind). My doctor recommended physical therapy instead of surgery since the tear was less than 50%, so I did PT for close to 6 months before getting cleared to resume lifting.

 

My left elbow is pretty clearly a weak link in the chain, and I think it would be beneficial to start bodyweight training. I'm particularly interested in the idea that committing to it long term will help me develop connective tissue strength that I simply will never get by doing the rehab exercises I've kept up with (mostly biceps curls, cable machines - the program hasn't changed since I left PT, and I'm not convinced it's doing much at all). If I'm way off base here, feel free to jump in and tell me so!

 

I lift Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays (Fridays and Sundays doing the full lifts with my coach, Tuesdays on my own, mostly squats and assistance exercises that I can do unsupervised without inventing and practicing any bad habits). I'd like to take Wednesdays to start GB, see how the elbow tolerates it, and ramp up from there (conservatively!). My question is should I start with just F1 or just H1, or should I start with both in combination? Thanks much for reading through (I swear I tried to keep this short), and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

Best,

Katherine

 

 

[Mark Collins]

Foundation is perfect for your rehab as you do plenty of exercises that develop straight arm strength. These exercises develop the biceps like nothing else. With the snatch you need a strong bicep with a straight arm. It sounds like you have been doing some bent arm strength rehab. There is some really good progressions in rope climb that will develop this further.

I would do Handstand as well because you need a healthy wrist to help the biceps. Handstands will also help your Jerks as you develop a good powerful line between the arms and trunk. The upper traps strength that you will get from handstands and press handstands compliment olympic lifting as you need good traps to be a good lifter. H1 is also meant to be done alongside Foundation for maximum benefit.

[Katherine Goodrich]

Thanks so much for responding! I picked up both courses, and I'm really excited to get started - looking at just the beginner mobility exercises, I think this is going to be really beneficial (to say nothing of the beginning movements themselves!).