Moving to GST from conventional barbell training.

[Gregory Bland]

Hey guys, so a quick intro about me. I've decided to move over to GST from traditional barbell training (which I've been doing for 1.5 years- sedentary before this) for a multitude of reasons. Frankly, whilst barbell training has made me much stronger, I feel stiff, immobile (especially in the lower body and hips), slow and uncoordinated. Joint pain (which I only get infrequently mind you) is no fun, and if this is an issue at the young age of 20...I can't imagine how much it has the potential to get worse as I age. Basically, whilst getting a lot stronger, I have COMPLETELY ignored mobility in my training, and if anything, this has almost made my athleticism worse. Also, as far as I see it, if I can get stronger with either path, why not do it in a fashion that also allows me to slowly build awesome body control and overtime pick up a load of neat skills that look damn cool ! Always wanted to be able to do a hollow back press, for instance!

 

Anyway, my main concern, having looked through F1 and H1 is that I just don't see how the strength PEs will anywhere near maintain my strength whilst I let my mobility catch up...To give you an idea of where I'm at strength wise with barbells, I'll give you a rundown of a few key lifts-

 

Height- 6'0.5, weight ~78kg, bf ~14%

 

Bench press- 102.5kg 1RM

Strict standing OHP- 60kg*6/70kg *1

Deadlift- 200kg*1

Weighted chinups- BW+35kg *6 (deadhang)

Don't squat but I've recently added pistols and am currently doing BW+5kg for 6-7 reps per side 

Max weighted dip (just below parallel) -BW+60kg

 

Also more in the spirit of GST I recently added HeSPUs into my training (2months ago) and in that time frame progress from 3 reps to 10 reps (back to wall, no arch). As a side effect of my other training, I found out yesterday I can hold a floor L-sit for 30 seconds (haven't ever trained this directly though).

 

So basically, I don't want to lose my hard earned strength, so would it be permissible to set aside 1 day a week for a low volume high intensity full body weights workout whilst I get started on the F series and H1 to maintain my strength?