Which "Foundation" to buy

I am looking for advice on which of the "Foundation" packages (1,2,3, or 4) would be a best buy for me. Here is my current situation:

Wrestled in highschool. Got good foundational strength there but nothing as focused as some of the basic gymnastic prep work.

Just finished up my first year of college where I am doing club gymnastics. Everything is good there. I have alot of basic skills on most of the elements with a few more moderate skill on the rings. No injuries or pain or anything yet. I weight train also and have recently (past two weeks) been having knee trouble but it doesn't have to do with gymnastic type training.

I am unsure which "Foundation" to buy because I obviously have a decent, though probably uncomplete, strength and skill foundation. But at the same time I realize takling more advanced skills will require body prep and other skills that I might not be aware of. I would much rather build a better foundation and avoid injury later.

Also, is it possible to get adequate information from just the forms here.

Thanks for any help.

It's always recommended to buy Foundation One. One person on the forums, I believe his name is Joshua, started F1 when he had a Maltese on the rings, and still discovered areas of weakness. If it turns out you can in fact go through all of F1 already, you can always get a refund.

If you're having knee problems than F1 is where you should start. The mobility drills are part of Coach Sommer's knee prehab series, which he uses with ALL his athletes. F2 has the second half.

Buy F1, look how much strength you really have by testing every progression out in several workouts. If you can achieve the "mastery reps" by default, even in the highest progression, you should refund F1 ( you can do that, within 30 days!) , buy F2 and see how that goes.
But really, most have to start down there at F1 again.

The methodology of Foundation is to find and eliminate weaknesses. You can't find weaknesses if you don't check for them. So start with F1. 

I don't own foundation (yet), but I would also recommend F1. I say so because F2 has F1 as a prerequisite, which means you have to master F1 before F2, so how can you know if you're already a masterer of F1 without buying and trying it?

I used to think that I could achieve a solid, perfect form on all the goals of Foundation series by myself (with no gymnastic background, personal gymnastic coach by my side, etc,.) but after realizing just how ugly form the best of the best calisthenic (street workout) experts on youtube have, I recently swallowed the truth and am going to buy F1 when I get my money in 2 weeks. Hopefully I can afford H1 too.

It will take many years (6+) to master Foundation series, but if there's any other way to a straight beautiful front lever, to a manna, or even just a 10sec straight body handstand, then go ahead and tell me.

F1.

Paulizdaman said:

I don't own foundation (yet), but I would also recommend F1. I say so because F2 has F1 as a prerequisite, which means you have to master F1 before F2, so how can you know if you're already a masterer of F1 without buying and trying it?

I used to think that I could achieve a solid, perfect form on all the goals of Foundation series by myself (with no gymnastic background, personal gymnastic coach by my side, etc,.) but after realizing just how ugly form the best of the best calisthenic (street workout) experts on youtube have, I recently swallowed the truth and am going to buy F1 when I get my money in 2 weeks. Hopefully I can afford H1 too.

It will take many years (6+) to master Foundation series, but if there's any other way to a straight beautiful front lever, to a manna, or even just a 10sec straight body handstand, then go ahead and tell me.

I recommend the Foundation series too even if you can master the 7 elements yourself since it is much more than just mastering those 7 elements, but I don't agree with all of your post. How do you know that you can't achieve any of the 7 elements with solid form by yourself if you haven't even tried and are basing that by looking at what others (street workout) achieved? I would also like to point out that you are in fact wrong that the best of the best street workout guys have horrible form at any of the 7 elements in Foundation. It is true that the majority in street workout have ugly form, but there are some that do focus on good form and do achieve that. 

It also shouldn't take 6+ years to master the Foundation series for most people. Some gifted people can probably even master all of Foundation within a year.

Well, I can only speak for myself. I have done bodyweight/calisthenics for 4 months and haven't really gotten anywhere. I injured my right elbows and some sort of rib injury too. I also workout in a bodybuilding gym where everyone curls for the girls all day long.

So basically, I am clueless on my own. I could try even more, spend like a year or 2 but I don't know if it's worth it.

Everytime I type back lever, I see bad form being practiced by pretty much every street athlete. When I type manna, I never see it being performed by street atheletes. I am sure some street workout guys can do them perfectly, but these are rare and are probably influenced by gymnastics.

Ok thanks I get it. F1.

Paulizdaman said:

Well, I can only speak for myself. I have done bodyweight/calisthenics for 4 months and haven't really gotten anywhere. I injured my right elbows and some sort of rib injury too. I also workout in a bodybuilding gym where everyone curls for the girls all day long.

So basically, I am clueless on my own. I could try even more, spend like a year or 2 but I don't know if it's worth it.

Everytime I type back lever, I see bad form being practiced by pretty much every street athlete. When I type manna, I never see it being performed by street atheletes. I am sure some street workout guys can do them perfectly, but these are rare and are probably influenced by gymnastics.

You probably were training something that you weren't ready for which caused you to get injured and not progress as a result. The Foundation series is your best bet of course especially after your recent experience and being clueless on your own.

I've been training GST on and off for about 4 years and have achieved the static strength holds of BL, FL, V-sit, PL, SL, and maltese all with good form by myself with some tips here and elsewhere. I did have a little weight training background a solid base of basic calisthenics before getting into GST though.

You are not looking at the best of the best in street workout in your back lever searches. The best of the best have solid malteses and planches and back levers are very easy for them. I can name at least 10 street workout athletes that are very good. They are indeed influenced by gymnastics since they train GST elements. I've never heard or seen of a street workout athlete achieve a manna, but that is probably because they never trained it or focused on it. I do know of one guy that has what I call a "true" inverted planche which is basically a laid out manna, but he has severely disproportionate legs otherwise it would be impossible for a normal person to achieve.

graehlap said:

Ok thanks I get it. F1.

lol