What would you recommend me?

Hello everyone,

 

I apologize if this has already been answered but I am looking for a (well) fundamented opinion.

 

I am 36 years old and have started crossfit about 10 months ago. I have some background in kung-fu and swimming and I have some overall mobility for someone who has never been a competitor in any sport. Nevertheless, I have some joints that are "a bit more rusty" than others. Also, and very important, I am always looking for ways to improve.

 

Presently, in my crossfit workouts there are 2 things I, personally, consider I could vastly improve: mobility and gymnastic movements. I have browsed for some time the website and the information on the different courses available.

 

I would like to know what you would advise someone like me and why or even if you find that GST can help me in any way.

 

Also, I have 1 or 2 specific questions about the courses but I have no idea where to address them. Can anyone help me with this as well?

 

Thank you in advance for any contributions.

so, if you just started there's some things to know, basics that sometimes get overlooked. these are mine:

1. what are you training for? you can say "fit" due to not having a more specific answer, but if what you are looking for is specific, specific preparation will need to be niche if you want it.

2. how realistic do you want to be about the answers? this isn't meant as a slap in the face, sometimes i have proposed goals like "I want to finish such and such goal by such and such time." sometimes we try to take on goals that usually work best in months, happen in much shorter time spans. this can work with particular goals like establishing habits, etc but not if it involves the biological. meaning, if your goal has to do with gaining strength and mobility, your shit out of luck if you want that planche right now and can't even hold a plank. YES, it will come together but are you going to be assisted by a coach? will it be following the courses? will you be at least attending seminars?

the number one goal you should have right now, independently of what system you undertake is move safer. this doesn't mean to move with minimal ROM. if you want to develop a healthy squat, full mobility is what the doctor ordered. we can't negotiate that, ya kno? too many people try to and i'm only stating it to save you and anybody else who will see this frustration.

tldr; ask questions but know that ultimately, you have to get your feet wet a little and some of that will feel very differently than what it sounds like. if you read something, don't just do it and look at yourself in a mirror. film it. you won't improve what you expect to improve, you'll only improve what you do, so develop an eye for how you do things. having a coach with you will help a lot, especially one that does not negotiate their standard and can pick up anatomical cues. I could say I got to where I did without a coach, but that would be a gross exageration. Coach Sommer, Cory, Mark Collins, Jon, Zach, Alex and everyone who has posted their experiences here have helped me a bunch. so looking through the forum on a chase for golden eggs is a worth while venture. the Course Forums are a gold mind for beginners. if you can make it to a seminar, that would be THE best catalyst to save you months if not years of frustration. like me with front lever PE's and shoulder dislocates.

Simply put, if mobility and gymnastic movement are what you want to improve, GST is exactly what you want to be doing. That's the definition of GST.

Usual answer here is get the Starter Pack. Strength and mobility from the ground up.

What are your specific questions?

First of all, thank you Keilani and trw for your contributions.

 

My goal, if I can say I have one, is to gradually become better all around. From my background of martial arts, I found out that what works best for me is to find pleasure in my training. I found out that looking to ever perfect my technique and only after that looking for results (whether they may be in number of repetitions, loads I can move, etc) is the approach that keeps me motivated and taking pleasure in my training. This means that when I train I try to be with my best focus in what I am doing at that moment so that time is not wasted.

 

Regarding time, I have no problem in taking longer to get to a specific movement (e.g. a strict muscle-up). In fact, I prefer it if it means that I am going to perform it safely, injury-free (I hate to "damage" myself due to poor technique). My problem is, which direction should I go? For example, consider this scenario. Presently, even though the coaches at the crossfit box I train can all do muscle ups, I feel they just know how to do it the way they do it, as if they don't really know the movement. So, if someone comes along whose body moves a little bit different, instead of helping that person learn how his/her body can perform the muscle up, they will try to teach how they themselves do it. But most of the people training there are not kids anymore and already have movement patterns that need sometimes to be corrected or compensated. Was I able to put it clear? (the muscle up here was just as an example)

 

I live in Portugal (forgot to mention it in the first post) so it's not easy for me to get to a seminar. I would really love to attend one but for now it is a little out of reach. Maybe in a near future. Also, to the best of my knowledge, there are no GST gyms here or anything close to it. You either start as a child or there are no classes for adults. So, I will have no coach to assist me. I can only have what I take with me from classes, videos, articles and the feedback I can get from a friend training with me or my own proprioception.

 

I understand what you advise regarding courses. Myself, I started thinking also of the starter pack but then I realised that maybe I was trying to be too quick about it. As I already train in crossfit, maybe the mobility (stretch series right?) would be the best to start. What do you think?

 

My specific questions:

- do I need access to a gymnastics facility to be able to follow the courses or a crossfit box would suffice (in terms of gear I can access, there, to rings, pull up rack, some plyo boxes, a couple of rowing machines)?

- do the different lessons/sessions have specific schedules or I just have to follow a certain order according to my own progressions?

- is there a way to get some feedback from the gymnastics bodies team for example by supplying with a video?

 

I think this about covers my questions. Regarding contents I obviously understand I will need to subscribe to a course and try it out for myself.

 

I hope I was able to answer everything.

 

Once again, thank you for your help.

 

Best regards

In regards to your questions:

 

1) No. Most of us don't have access to a gymnastics facility. Many of us train at home, myself included. Many of us train at normal gyms. Many of us train in parks. Crossfit box will do just fine.

 

2) Courses have a very clear schedule as far as reps and sets. There is some variation allowed in training frequency, meaning if you want to train 2x, 3x, 4x a week, that sort of thing. Depends on your personal recovery abilities and lifestyle. But that never changes the fundamental routine, which is entirely laid out for you. Basically the course tells you everything you need to do, you just decide when and how often.

 

3) Absolutely. Form check videos are posted in the private forums all the time, plenty of feedback there. In fact it's recommended to do so.

 

Sounds like you'd fit right in here. Coach's material is all about mastering basics for safe and injury-free training. In all likelihood you'll be able to knock our a few good muscle-ups by the time you've reached the halfway point of the Foundation series, and the kicker is you won't even have trained for it. That's because the program is designed so that you can't make it through without progressively fixing weaknesses and deficiencies you aren't even aware of yet, nevermind the ones you already know about.

 

The stretch series are great if your primary concern is getting more flexible. However, you said you wanted to improve gymnastic movements as well, and the stretch courses don't train that. I recommended the starter pack because it will. The Foundation and Handstand courses are filled with mobility training as well, it's an integral part and it will improve your mobility even without the Stretch courses.

 

Some other forum members train Crossfit alongside Foundation, although many of them found they had to decrease the amount of Crossfit for recovery. A word from one of them might be hepful if you're interested in integrating the two.

Again thank you trw for your help and explanation.

 

You covered exactly all of the points I had.

 

Best regards