Do not pass go, do not collect $200

I've been training with GB for a number of years now, but the other day I came to a crushing realization: I had been cheating myself the entire time. I have been so focused on the ultimate end goal (being able to perform the end elements) that I had subconsciously lacked focus on the individual PEs and SEs. My progress had stalled in Foundation 3, and out of frustration and just for giggles, I decided to take a break from what I was doing, and go back to test mastery on Foundation 1 elements....I failed. Sure I could do all of them, as long as proper and strict form wasn't considered, and that highlites my problematic mindset over the last 3 years. I was rushing to make progress at the sacrifice of form, and therefore proper development, and my ego was at the forefront of my training.

So here I am, announcing "Hi, my name is James, and I've been cheating myself for the past three years." I'm going back to basics, back to PE1 on all foundation and handstand elements, and I'm going to make damn sure I get mastery before progressing on any exercise. My ego is bruised; bruises heal and eventually go away, but the hard knock lessons will remain in order to fuel determination and serve as a reminder that it's ok to fail, it's what you do in the face of failure that separates the champions from the charlatans.

It will be interesting to see how the strength you have nonetheless developed accelerates your progress. You should thrive from here on out. Well done.

I think we all start wanting to rush to the end but miss the full benefit of not getting the most out of every exercise.

Jon Douglas said:

It will be interesting to see how the strength you have nonetheless developed accelerates your progress. You should thrive from here on out. Well done.

Thanks Jon. I'm patiently eager to find out.

Mark Collins said:

I think we all start wanting to rush to the end but miss the full benefit of not getting the most out of every exercise.

Couldn't agree more. Here's an example: I can easily do 50+ push-ups per set, or so I thought; today I focused on doing push-ups with strict form, making sure shoulders stayed depressed the entire time, full protraction at the top, shoulders over hands, good external rotation, elbows close to the body, minimizing scapula winging during ascent and decent...and I only managed 4 good reps with perfect form. It's humbling to say the least.

" My ego is bruised; bruises heal and eventually go away", if i were you i would just keep the ego bruised and keep training with correct form

After nine months into foundation I started counting with a metronome instead of in my head, and quickly realized I had been counting to 60 in about 40 seconds. So I had to restart almost everything and re-master, which took a long time. But glad I'm doing it correctly now.

Yea 3 years of improper form will do that to you.

While i agree with mastering every element with proper form before moving on, i don't expect you to be at perfect mastery level if you stop training a certain element for months at a time while working on upper level elements.

For example working upper level Rope climb progressions, i still warmup with 60sec PE6, but given the fact that i haven't done 5x60 in quite sometime i don't think ill be at "mastery level" for that element on any given day at any given time.

Have i not truly mastered PE6? Who knows? Should i go back and test mastery

for every past element pe1-6 after mastering pe7? What exactly is the goal here?

A legless rope climb or pe1-6 at any given time??? 

Just my dois centavos

James Green said:

I've been training with GB for a number of years now, but the other day I came to a crushing realization: I had been cheating myself the entire time. I have been so focused on the ultimate end goal (being able to perform the end elements) that I had subconsciously lacked focus on the individual PEs and SEs. My progress had stalled in Foundation 3, and out of frustration and just for giggles, I decided to take a break from what I was doing, and go back to test mastery on Foundation 1 elements....I failed. Sure I could do all of them, as long as proper and strict form wasn't considered, and that highlites my problematic mindset over the last 3 years. I was rushing to make progress at the sacrifice of form, and therefore proper development, and my ego was at the forefront of my training.

So here I am, announcing "Hi, my name is James, and I've been cheating myself for the past three years." I'm going back to basics, back to PE1 on all foundation and handstand elements, and I'm going to make damn sure I get mastery before progressing on any exercise. My ego is bruised; bruises heal and eventually go away, but the hard knock lessons will remain in order to fuel determination and serve as a reminder that it's ok to fail, it's what you do in the face of failure that separates the champions from the charlatans.

Hi James,

I'd like to humbly disagree with your harsh and quite critical assessment of your training. We're only human and none of us is perfect, and this is a long process, where mistakes should be embraced not shunned, and looked at as "teachable moments" not opportunities for exposing shame. Sure, treating the Foundation as a race against Usain Bolt is not exactly the most effective thing to do. Realizing that we've erred and having a willingness to correct our errors is 100% better than entrenching bad habits and sticking our head in the sand like an Ostrich does.

Regarding your decision to re-test all elements, may I kindly suggest that you consider the following alternative?

I'm sure you know which elements you truly mastered, and which ones you didn't quite master but checked off the box anyway? Why don't you just try to go and redo those elements that weren't truly mastered, while you include the ones you mastered (but had some difficulty with) in your warmup?

I have followed a strategy of including the elements I had difficulty mastering in my warmup, and have had noticeable improvement in all of them from doing so. I have had the opportunity to learn nuances that I'd probably not been aware of at the time I reached mastery.

To give you some illustrations, I always try to do about 64 incline pushups after my RC/Pe6 workout. The incline pushups don't fatigue me as much as ordinary pushups would, but they still help me maintain some kind of "pushing strength" as well as continue to develop my neurological connections, so that my muscles don't atrophy from lack of use. (Though I'm still doing PPP so I don't know if that should be a big concern on my part.)

Another series of elements that I always include in my warmup on SLS days are inside squats, deck squats, twisting squats, skiers, cossack squats, and side to side squats. I pretty much do all these on my SLS days and my form is a lot more "correct" compared to where it was when I was at mastery on all those elements. I don't just "warmup" per se, but I try to do them with correct form, by returning to the focus points from time to time and ensuring that I'm doing them properly. So it's not just a strength or alignment issue, but I think there're "learning" issues that deal with neurological connections that occur when we do some of the elements frequently.

But if you're convinced that returning to F1 for everything is the way to go, then by all means do so. But good luck with RC/Pe6 and HBP/Pe2, FL/Pe5, and FL/Pe6. I'm sure those are going to be a lot of fun.

From listening to sharings from athletes/coaches performing at the highest levels in their field and from my own experience, an advice that stuck with me is: No matter what your level is in any sports, keep going back to the basics. Keep refining the basics while continuing to progress.

Logically, the more foundations have been rushed over, the more it will be useful to re-focus on the beginning elements to a higher extent (which for you might mean completely starting over the training as a beginner if your inclination is so).

But the principle of continuing to refine applies to anyone, adding to the solidity of the advice to warm up with previous elements. The degree will vary from individual to individual depending on their previous training and other factors. Balance is key in everything in life for long term progress and general wellbeing.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the replies and advice. First time running through foundation I didn't utilize the forums as a source of information and experience, and that turned out to be a mistake.

I think the thing that convinced me to go back to the beginning was discovering weaknesses in my HBP, FL, and sPl training, and realizing that it was due to lack of preparation, strength, and alignment from previous PEs and IMs. For instance, in HBP and sPL training, I never focused on depression and protraction when performing any push-ups, or planch lean type exercises. As a result, my strength and range of motion when depressed/protracted is far too low to be able to perform more advanced exercises where this is crucial. That is but one of many examples. Throughout my training I have been focused on reps or time held, at the sacrifice of form, and on more than one occasion, totally skipped an IM simply because I found it too difficult. With me, it hasn't been a case of almost achieving mastery and moving on regardless, but more of a case of not coming even close, fooling myself into thinking I had, and then progressing to the next.

Couldn't imagine going through chin hangs again, I hate the single set of 60s I have in my warmup.

Reminds me of the idea that "you have to slow down to go fast".

I agree with Atticus, that it's a very human thing to have done. We all like making progress.

One thing that changed for me recently, which I wrote about in another post, is my idea of what progress is exactly. In my GB journey, I've learned that progress is not just numbers, but improving form as well. If my numbers go down, but my form improves, that's still progress.

Well done on getting honest with yourself about where you're at... I find that's an ongoing process for me, in GB and life in general!

Cam

Cameron Williams said:

Reminds me of the idea that "you have to slow down to go fast".

 

We have a saying the military.  Usually used for shooting drills, but it applies to many other things.  "Slow is smooth.  Smooth is fast."