Today marks my one year anniversary of starting the Foundation program! I have charts and progress updates and everything, but first a word about my background.
I've been involved in martial arts since 14, including five years of travelling to various competitions. My training focused on technique and flexibility, not so much strength. That is, I spent most of my time working combinations and proper execution. As I only competed in light-contact divisions, strength wasn't necessary. If anything, extra muscle would just slow me down.
I turned 30 this year, and over the last decade I have stopped competing and focused on teaching. In general I was very active but never followed a structured program. I mention this just to show that I do not have a 'normal' background, and so my results are not typical. In particular, I am not hampered by mobility elements save for SLS progressions.
With that out of the way, look at this chart:
Every colour change represents moving onto a new element. The y-axis is number of workouts. Note that this is only my F1 progress, which is why HBP and sPL are lower than others: I've moved onto F2 for them.
Some notes:
FL progression started fairly easy, as I have a good core. I'm tall, though, at 6'2”, and moving my arms from by my sides in the early progressions to over my head has been an eye-opener. Best tip I've found is to stop when form breaks. Sounds obvious, but sometimes you think you're only eight rocks away, might as well bang them out. It's like banging your head against a wall. Just stop.
SPL progression has been easy for the most part. Part of my martial arts training included straight-arm planks on medicine balls, something I can do quite easily, and that carried over to these progressions. I was more worried about my wrists, as they got sore doing the leans and I really took it easy on them.
HBP shows that, yes, life gets much easier once you get past PPP
I have expressed my thoughts on Hinge Rows in the past. The RC progression really highlights the main drawback of karate training: we do absolutely no pulling. Doing the long, slow, controlled sets of rows is very taxing. My original goal was to finish all F1 by 2016, but if anything holds me back, it will be these RC.
Note that the first two sections of the SL include the old progression of ABH and ABR. I never finished ABR, so the yellow blip is really where I started. I'm taking time with the Arch-up variations, as I feel my lowerback is my weakest link. It certainly complained the most in ABR!
About a month after the stretch series was released something clicked and my form for Straddle-Ups improved virtually overnight. I also found them, by far, the toughest of the five exercises, though I start PE6 this week and that may change things.
I found the SLS so frustrating. I can kick through brick, I can balance on one foot all day, I can even do a decent SLS with a counter weight, but it took nine months to get through the first two elements. Indeed, those very kicks way have locked my ankles up in the first place.
Benefits I've experienced:
Muscle growth. I've never gained muscle before (not that I did anything besides pushups either, but still). No one will confuse me for a bodybuilder, but I now have shape in my chest and arms. Additionally, I've gone from roughly 160-165lbs over the last five year to 174lbs as of today. Bodyfat remains roughly the same, so that's somewhere between 9-14lbs of muscle over the year, probably my biggest increase since puberty.
In particular, the muscles under my armpit, I believe the serratus (?), have absolutely blossomed in the last six or so months.
Related, this is hard to express, but I feel solid, if that makes sense. I feel more sturdy, especially in the core area. It's almost like I'm denser.
Shoulder health. I didn't know I had tight shoulders until I tried some moves, especially in H1. Martial artists tend to spar hunched over, and that takes its toll over the years. I've dramatically improved here, an area I didn't know was a weakness.
Posture. It's almost like I gained an extra inch, my posture has improved so much. The last time I saw my mom she said, “You're standing ramrod straight.”
I have almost completely fixed my knee valgus while walking. This relates back to childhood, where I would run and jump normally but walk and squat with my right knee caving in slightly. I have to concentrate on it, as a lifetime of muscle memory is hard to erase, but I can walk straight now without any irritation.
Endurance and work capacity. I used to run for my workout. I would do 3k or 5k and stop, good job, day done. I now do 3k before every F7 workout, and I'm slowly upping the distance every month. Or, said differently, I'm now doing my old workout as the warmup for my current workout.
Flexibility. This started with Foundation but really sped up with the stretch courses. Probably my biggest improvement is my pancake, something we rarely did in my karate classes. I'm not on the ground yet, but I'm close!
Foundation has been the second best thing I've ever done for myself (karate being first, obviously ). In June 2017, I'm set to grade for my 4th-degree blackbelt, and I originally hoped to have completed all F4 by then. It might be a stretch, but it's still the goal. Here's hoping next year I have even more progress to report!