F7 three times a week

Has anyone experimented with this higher volume?

shughes89 said:

Has anyone experimented with this higher volume?

I'm doing it, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday.

I have. Good fun but a bit too much for me at this stage; just too many things to be improved. After a microcycle or two found my feet dragging in workouts-- getting through them, but no snap in the spring, and gains slowed right down. Much more productive for me doing a bit less.

I might be able to handle it better now, but it doesn't fit my schedule at the moment. It'll have to.wait for me.until.i tick.more streams off

I was doing it but it was too much for me, when I changed again to 2 times per week gains start to happen, I gain more muscle mass, I went from 62-63 to 65-67kg and broke the stagnation in some elements. Sometimes less is more.

There is a trade of with intensity and volume. Some people respond well to high volume, but need to not push as hard each set. After a trial of a 4 week cycle you will be able to tell if this frequency is right for you.

I made major improvements in my ABH and Deck Squats when I started Foundation 5days a week (not F7, but still high volume).  These particular exercises were all first circle, so they were done often but at low volume each workout.  That might be the ideal way to deal with mobility issues: more often, less intense.

Once my mobility got up to snuff, I had to abandon the 5day approach, as the added volume became too much.  If I get stuck in the future, though, I'll think about adding it back, at least for those exercises.

I tried F7 several times before I was able to stick with it. I'd start out, feel great for a week or two, and by week 3 I'd be dragging and scale back to two sessions a week (skipping wednesday usually).

Scale back if you need to, but don't assume that not being able to do it now means you'll never be able to. I'm about to compete a whole cycle of F7 three times per week, haven't missed a single session (or even rescheduled) and I feel great.

That said, my recovery variables are dialed in close to perfect currently, and there's no way I'd be doing so well if there weren't. Sleep 9+ hours per night, an hour daily meditation, lots of easy mobility/foam rolling on off days, and significant focus on quality and timing of food intake.

For me these things make all the difference. Be sure your attention/dedication to recovery matches what you put into your workouts. If your ability to optimize recovery is limited for whatever reason, there's no shame (and much widsom) in scaling back your training volume to reflect this.

When this happens, I like to be sure that it's structured and calculated based on consistent feedback over time, and not just about how I'm feeling (lazy!) on a given day.

Happy experimentation!

I am doing F7 3 times a week as I find it benefitial to me. Handstand work is also added in beginning of the workout.

At first it was hard but now I have spare energy left. What I find funny is that while my work capacity is great (with respect to having an easy time with little rest in between exercises and having a high exercise volume) my progress on endurance elements are very hard. Maximal strength comes easy, strength endurance does NOT.

I guess we are all different

Zach Armijo said:

Better gains and recovery for me on F7 2x/week with higher supplemental work on "off days". I'm loving it. Easy to manage with my time constraints.

I'm curious as to what your higher supplemental consists of?

Alexander Egebak said:

... Maximal strength comes easy, strength endurance does NOT ...

 

At the F1 level of strength, you do not yet have any 'maximal strength' of note to use for strength endurance.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Zach Armijo said:

Very high rep sets(15-20r range) of HLL, Body Levers, Kip Extensions,  Free Standing HeSPU, Wide Swinging RTO supports, Bucket Circles, HS wall Runs(3+ minutes...for now), Cast Wall Walks, PPPs. 

 

That's SOME of them. It's easy to super set a good amount of them. Most will severely lack the capacity, strength and endurance to accomplish such and keep it supplemental work. These are done on my "off days" as i can knock them out fairly quickly and don't need much of a warm up. 

It is important to remember that Zach is much more advanced than most of you and his 'supplemental' work is currently far beyond your grasp.  

Zach, this would be more appropriate in the F3 & F4 forums.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

At the F1 level of strength, you do not yet have any 'maximal strength' of note to use for strength endurance.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I have SLS, single bar dips, pull ups, L-sit and headstand, but I am sure that do not amount to much still

Coach and Zach,  Thank you very much for keeping the "supplemental" info on the F1 forum.  As a progressing F1 student, it is awesome to see what the superstars like Zach are capable of.  It inspires me to know that what I am doing right now will definitely lead to strength and mobility beyond what I previously thought was possible.  My plan is to work even harder within the system!  Still doing a 2 day split, but work capacity is improving on a weekly basis. F7 will happen in time.  I'm enjoying the process of continuous improvement!

Finishing F4 is probably the equivalent of a blue belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu.

shughes89 said:

Finishing F4 is probably the equivalent of a blue belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu.

True.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer