The Journey Begins

It's been almost 4 years since I last posted on this forum. 

I came across the Building the Gymnastic Bodies Book and followed it when it first came out, and developed great relative strength compared to other forms of exercise at the time. I was slowly reaching a planched front lever and back lever, and had developed solid ring handstands. 
 

After moving around and losing places to hang rings, I lost motivation and now am approximately 50 lbs overweight and out of shape. 

So now I'm giving it a shot again! 

I know that I have very decent regenerative capabilities, and after reading the book in handstand 1, I am looking into working the 4 day integrated week. I'm on week 1 for both handstand 1 and foundation 1. 

So far, my favorite part of the handstand 1, week one exercises are the wrist warm ups. I'm really looking forward to doing wrist push ups.

I'll adjust the amount I exercise based on my body's reactions. 

When it comes to my general strength, I can hold a handstand against a wall for a total of 2 minutes (3 sets of 45 seconds), 

Despite that, I plan on starting from the bottom to ensure that any supporting muscles get the proper strengthening and mobility.

My main question is: 

Between handstand one and foundation one, is one recommended more than the other in terms of frequency per week? 

If I'm able to physically handle the load, is it better to practice foundation one 3 or 4 days a week and do handstand one exercises less often?

(I realize that may sound like a lot, but my body recovers fairly quickly, and I imagine as I make effort to lose weight, the exercises will become easier lol.)

 

I'm interested in this topic because I recently crossed the 50lb lost threshold after a little less than two years (with ups and downs and starts and stops).

When I came across GB, a few months back, I read all I could and I found many instances in which the suggestion was "to lose the damn weight" before anything else. So I kept my head down giving priority to cardio and diet and I resisted the urge to get on F1/H1 until yesterday, because I couldn't wait anymore and I'm at about 13% bodyfat, so I think I can lose a little more weight while removing a little emphasis on the cardio work.

I feel like I did the right time investment of time to get back to a healthy weight and to a very good cardiovascular condition. I still did some basic bodyweigth strentgh training all this time, but it was not the number one priority.

What's the consensus? Is serious F1/H1 progress compatible with a 50lb weight loss prgram starting with very low endurance and work capacity (and so I was wrong waiting before starting F1/H1) or is it better to do like I did and get back to a reasonable shape (for a zombie, that is) first?

The exercises become easier, but then you do harder exercises...

Unfortunately, my original question was never answered... But here it is again, albeit put simpler.

I'm beginning from the bottom to ensure full mobility and proper use of muscles.

The handstand one course suggests an integrated schedule possibility of 4 days of handstand work, and 2 days of foundation one.

MT, TR F of Handstand one

W, S of Foundation one

Is it better for overall strength gain to follow this pattern, or could I decrease handstand one by a day and add a foundation one?

Or, in other words, can I do 3 days of handstand one and 3 days of foundation one and alternate days?

Say, by example:

M, W, F Handstand One

T, TR, S Foundation One

This past week I followed what the book suggests. I'd like to know if increasing Foundation One frequency would be better for improving them, or if it's better to keep them at 2 days.

It depends on how you recover from the workouts. I've read in the forum that it is better to start with a low volume scheme (example: 1 day F7 1day HS) and see how you recover from it. If you feel it is to easy adjust by increasing the volume (example: 2 days F7 1 day HS). Repeat until you percive the adecuate load. Consider it an experiment  to see which is the best combination of days that gives the best result. In my case I'm working Mon/Thurs F4( 4 of the foundation progression) and Tues/Fri F3. and depending on the time available during the week I do 2 days of HS. Hope it helps

Back when I did Foundation I did the upper/lower split, with H1 on one of those days... Forget which one.

No reason you can't do them both 3 days a week, but keep them on the same day. Do your H1 work before your F1 work.

A lot of people seem to do better on Foundation with less workouts, but I've found I'm the complete opposite. It really just depends on individual recovery ability. You'll probsbly have to play around with it a bit to find what works for you.

erikmckinley said:

Or, in other words, can I do 3 days of handstand one and 3 days of foundation one and alternate days?

Say, by example:

M, W, F Handstand One

T, TR, S Foundation One

This past week I followed what the book suggests. I'd like to know if increasing Foundation One frequency would be better for improving them, or if it's better to keep them at 2 days.

You can certainly do this, I have before, but you are getting into quite demanding territory with 3xF7 workouts a week and no rest days. I'd recommend starting with 2, or even 2 days of split and 1x F7, and monitoring your progress a little before trying that