Returning to foundation

Hi everyone. I recently returned to foundation after about a 6 month hiatus. I stopped my foundation training for a number of reasons. My progress on most of the elements was very slow  and I was still stuck at at either PE1 or 2 for most elements. Combine boredom of the monotony of working the same elements for a year and a half plus the stresses I had from my job at the time, and that led me to leaving the GB forum and my foundation training for a while.

 

During my 6 month hiatus, I spent time doing some traditional bodybuilding workouts, but I also started incorporating a lot of mobility exercises, various crawls, etc. I took some crossfit workouts that had a great exercises, but I changed the volume since some of the crossfit volume is terrible and will lead to injuries (what kind of training program starts off with 400 lunges per leg with 0 progressions and incremental increases in volume to that point?!)

 

Anyway, over my 6 months, i enjoyed my hiatus. I enjoyed the variety of these other workouts, and there's part of my vanity that can't resist a body building style chest workout. But it's that very point that led me back to foundation. I know that left to my own devices  without a structured program, I will end up with several weak or even broken links in the chain. For  me, I need the structure of foundation plus the accountability of the GB forum. Even though I don't post very often, I know that my fellow forum members will hold me accountable in regards to form, and amazingly unheard of for a place on the internet, everyone here actually has your best interests in mind when they post a reply to your topic.  So that's why I came back.

 

 

The success story, which is the main reason for my post, is that I retested mastery on elements yesterday and was shocked to have achieved mastery on three elements SPL/PE5, MN/PE1, SL/PE1 (though this did' surprise me with the recent SL revisions). Plus I was just shy of mastery on FL/PE1 and HB/PE2. I had kept most of the foundation elements in my workouts for maintenance or for warm up, but for the most part I was not working more than 1 set of each element, and I certainly wasn't working the same volume for those elements as the foundation program. 

 

Several changes in my life and training patterns that may have attributed for jumps in mastery without specifically training towards them:

 

-My hiatus from foundation coincided with the second most stressful point of my life thus far (the most stressful being architectural thesis project 5 years ago). Since then, I have changed jobs to a less stressful firm.

 

-I've been eating more. I'm closer to ectomorph in body type. I've always been a hardgainer, so i've been making sure I'm eating enough protein after training. 

 

-my glutes. Prior to leaving foundation, i don't think i ever paid attention to activating my glutes in any of the exercises. They were just there. 

 

-the semi crossfit workouts may have helped with my endurance in general. I wasn't working hard enough previously with foundation, and that's a criticism of me, not foundation. But I think the crossfit workouts did help me maintain and improve my endurance, which may be why I was able to push through and master several elements. I am not in any way suggesting that crossfit is the path to success. quite the opposite.

 

-i may just have been more motivated. I finally listened to the F1 webinar (which was awesome by the way! keep them coming!) and i took to heart what Coach said about not working hard enough. When I was testing mastery, i kept that in mind and tried to imagine what it would be like if Coach was standing there pushing me. I think in the months leading up to my departure from foundation, i was just going through the motions. Sure I was doing the workouts and the reps for each week, but I was distracted by my job, and in each workout i didn't have the mental energy to really pay attention to form and the technical aspects of these movements. 

 

So that's my return/success story. I'm excited to return to the community. 

You quit foundation once, it might happen again so keep that in mind anyways gl

korija said:

You quit foundation once, it might happen again so keep that in mind anyways gl

Well when I say I quit foundation, I put it on the back burner. As I said in my first post, I kept a lot of the movements in my workouts as warmup. I knew how beneficial the exercises and mobility were, but the focus of my workouts was on something else. And only having to do one set of each movement for a while versus trying to grind out 5 sets I think allowed me to focus on form and technique. Whereas before I may have been reinforcing bad form while grinding out 5 sets. As I said above, there were a lot of factors contributing to my lack of progress with foundation, and while at the time I was frustrated with foundation I've since realized that my lack of progress in foundation had nothing to do with any fault of foundation.

I'm not suggesting that quitting foundation is the way to victory (I can hear yoda now: to succeed at foundation you must quit foundation ). I think I benfited from the mental break and a change in workout for a few months, but dipping my toes into body building and crossfit workouts only proved to me why GST and foundation are superior from holistic stand point. I think I needed to go down the body building and crossfit paths if nothing else to reinforce that that isn't the path I want to travel. That said, I may throw in the occasional crossfit or body building workout every few weeks just for variety.

Welcome back!

 

If it helps keep your sanity, don't throw out the bodybuilding/crossfit work you enjoy so much.  It might slow you down your foundation progress a little from a pure foundation life....but quitting slows down your progress even more.  Have one day of BB/CF work a week, or do a set of bicep curls at the end of your workout, or 50 double unders as your cardio.

mhodges said:

I need the structure of foundation plus the accountability of the GB forum. Even though I don't post very often, I know that my fellow forum members will hold me accountable in regards to form,

Damn straight. We don't screw around.

Jon Douglas said:

Damn straight. We don't screw around.

Did you see that 4 page thread on opening doors?

Bipocni said:

Did you see that 4 page thread on opening doors?

Yes. It was appropriately systematic, in-depth and objective, and I stand by it.

mhodges said:

I know that my fellow forum members will hold me accountable in regards to form, and amazingly unheard of for a place on the internet, everyone here actually has your best interests in mind when they post a reply to your topic.  So that's why I came back.

 

 

We care for each other no matter what level we are at!

What discussion is this? Have I been opening doors incorrectly?

Bipocni said:

Did you see that 4 page thread on opening doors?

While D1 might be easy for you, some of us have really been struggling. After 2 micro cycles of the first PE's I find I no longer kip through the pulling stage and that my form has improved substantially.

Sven Ravnstag said:

What discussion is this? Have I been opening doors incorrectly?

Probably. 

Murray Truelove said:

While D1 might be easy for you, some of us have really been struggling. After 2 micro cycles of the first PE's I find I no longer kip through the pulling stage and that my form has improved substantially.

Don't worry if you stay too long on a certain stage. D-series is not about jumping ahead to the most difficult movement you're capable of. It's about systematically identifying and eliminating weaknesses. The most difficult door you're capable of opening is irrelevant when determining where to start: heck, I was able to open the doors to the white house and found several areas in D1 that I still needed to work on. Everyone should begin by testing themselves on the first exercises of D1. If you can demonstrate that you're good enough to open a certain door and its paired mobility drill to the course's standards, then you move on to the next exercise/mobility pair.