Training each Element Once a Week

I am currently doing F7 Monday and Thursday with H1 on Tuesday and Friday. When I first started doing it after moving from the F1 3 day split I found it OK but now about 7 weeks into I am finding it a bit much both physically and mentally. I find the Thursday session is just not as good ie not hitting the reps I hit on the Monday so I was thinking of various solutions bearing in mind I can only really do F1 on Monday and Thursday. 

1. Scale back everything I am doing ie drop back a few weeks. 

2. Do a mini deload on Thursday ie work at say 70% of Mondays workload.

3. Split it ie F1a on Monday and F1b Thursday.

I am inclined to  #3 but my reservation is that I will only be training each element once a week hence the topic title. Its not one of the official  suggested programs but I wondered if anyone is doing anything similar and if it was successful.

I don't really like the idea of #1 as I think I am plateauing on too many elements and I think I will run in to the same walls again after losing what I have worked hard to gain.

Number 2 seems like all I would be doing is ticking a box to say I have completed training twice a week on all elements.

If you have time on Tuesday/Friday, why not do something like this:

Monday/Thursday: 5 Foundation elements.

Tuesday/Friday: H1, 2 Foundation elements.

That way you get to train everything twice a week, but never have to do F7 all in one go, which I agree is really horrible.

What's wrong with the 3 day split and HS T/TH?  

Jennifer said:

What's wrong with the 3 day split and HS T/TH?  

(Which I am also doing very productively)

I play football on Tuesday evening and sometimes Saturday afternoon and am loathe to give it up as I get a real buzz from it. It keeps me competitive and it's great for the heart. However it is quite draining so I like to take a day off after as it can be quite punishing on the legs so I really don't feel I could do SLS properly the day after. So it gives me 4 days to play with and hence my current schedule. Maybe there is room for manoeuvre somewhere so maybe Salivanth is onto something there and if I wasn't doing the football I would definitely do the 3 day split as per Jennifer and Jon.

Oh to be a dilettante !

You could do a 3 day split and do H sessions in the morning (assuming you work out in the evening). I currently do this with my climbing/yoga and haven't had any problems.

Mon: H1 (morning) Fa (evening)

Tue: football

Wed: rest

Thu: H1 (morning) Fb (evening)

Fri: H1 (morning) Fa (evening)

Sat: football

Sun: rest

I find I can control the intensity of H1 a lot easier than F. If I know I'm going to have a tough session later I make my H1 about mobility and work with a lighter or fewer sets.

Thanks for the input, it gave me some great idea's. Interestingly enough it doesn't look like there is anyone who advocates the once a week workout although I thought I remember seeing it in the H1 program suggestion. The search function didn't help much either.

So what I will do is go back to the 3 day schedule on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday but just doing SLS on the Monday only as I am getting plenty of leg work in elsewhere and then I can have H1 on Wednesday as I normally feel pretty frazzled after football training and then H1 again on the Friday as I can have plenty of recovery to smash a few goals in on the Saturday football match. I took a GPS tracker out to a match one afternoon and found that I ran in total about 8.4 miles so its pretty gruelling.

You will find that the best productive way is what works best for you.

take a reasonable amount of time and begin with a test. eg. 3 months and use a pre defined split. take note of all your progress in therms of reps and sets, your fatigue, your recovery etc.

then switch for 3 months to another split and take note of the same parameters.

from the result you will find the most productive schedule.

from my experience you need to train at least 2 times/week the same element.

alex87 said:

You will find that the best productive way is what works best for you.

take a reasonable amount of time and begin with a test. eg. 3 months and use a pre defined split. take note of all your progress in therms of reps and sets, your fatigue, your recovery etc.

then switch for 3 months to another split and take note of the same parameters.

 

from the result you will find the most productive schedule.

from my experience you need to train at least 2 times/week the same element.

Hi Alex, so in this case, would you then suggest F7 two times and one of them with half volume? The total volume over two weeks would be the same as 3 day split but each element 2 times instead of 1,5. 

Thank you:)

I'll show you here how I manage my week on 6 days

monday -> pl, fl, HBP, RC 

tuesday -> H1, H2

wendsday -> SL, sls, manna, r1

thurs -> same as tuesday

friday -> same as monday

sat -> same as wends

as you can see I do not train one element more then 2 times a week

Ok thank you, is there a drawback to longer but less intense sessions? Say you want to do F7 and HS all in one session?

That's what I do. The only drawback is that it can be pretty mentally taxing; when I'm done I usually jut want to eat something then go to sleep.

Ok, so no problem with breaking down the muscle to much under to long time or something like that?

tfeal said:

Thanks for the input, it gave me some great idea's. Interestingly enough it doesn't look like there is anyone who advocates the once a week workout although I thought I remember seeing it in the H1 program suggestion. The search function didn't help much either.

I have been experimenting with once a week training and have made my best progress with it so far. The only exercise I was not doing this for was bent arm hangs. I was doing these daily. Last week I decided to try them once a week and added 20 seconds to my second set. I also do crossfit x3 times a week so there are other factors affecting my recovery. I have tried every schedule and found once a week to be the best progress. It is strange as in my mind I want to do x5 days a week, but my body likes once a week. I also had a 3 month cycle where I did Foundation twice a week with very little Crossfit.

As you are playing football 1-2 a week this will reduce your ability to recover from GST. If you go to once weekly make sure you push every exercise to your limit and do not hold back. As long as you progress weekly I don't think the frequency really matters. If you can finish F4 with once a week training think of how much extra time you will have in the week.

This is my current schedule:

Sunday- rest

Monday- HBP, SL, H1

Tuesday- SLS, Crossfit

Wednesday- rest

Thursday- sPL, FL, Crossfit

Friday- rest

Saturday- RC, Mn, Crossfit

The F1-3 day split (M/W/F) + HS (T/TH) taxes my body pretty hard and I am seeing progress with this.  I push myself to the limit with the exercises while striving to maintain proper form.  Frankly, based on the amount of rest, stress level and daily non-exercise activity in my lifestyle, doing more GB than this was too much.

Edit: I also jump rope two to three times / week

Mark Collins said:

I have been experimenting with once a week training and have made my best progress with it so far. The only exercise I was not doing this for was bent arm hangs. I was doing these daily. Last week I decided to try them once a week and added 20 seconds to my second set. I also do crossfit x3 times a week so there are other factors affecting my recovery. I have tried every schedule and found once a week to be the best progress. It is strange as in my mind I want to do x5 days a week, but my body likes once a week. I also had a 3 month cycle where I did Foundation twice a week with very little Crossfit.

As you are playing football 1-2 a week this will reduce your ability to recover from GST. If you go to once weekly make sure you push every exercise to your limit and do not hold back. As long as you progress weekly I don't think the frequency really matters. If you can finish F4 with once a week training think of how much extra time you will have in the week.

This is my current schedule:

Sunday- rest

Monday- HBP, SL, H1

Tuesday- SLS, Crossfit

Wednesday- rest

Thursday- sPL, FL, Crossfit

Friday- rest

Saturday- RC, Mn, Crossfit

That's great Mark. I think I will go with F1 once a week split over 2 days, with H1 on another couple of days until the football season ends in about 3 months and then possibly adding some more volume.