Weekly Templates and test mastery

Hello again guys!

I've been trying to find the answer in the forum but I failed. I'm on F1 and H1 and so far it's not too much demanding. I've been doing some kind of gymnastic stuff for many years.

1. What's the standard template for my situation? F7+H1 3 times / week? I'm doing foundation 4 days + H1 days and I find it quite easy.

2. Next week I'll do step 9 in several exercises. If first day of the week I try one I master it, next training day of the week do I have to move on next progression? or do I have to complete all week, then deloaded week and finally do the mastered test?

Thank you very much!

Hola compadre, 

1) The schedule is entirely up to your preference/lifestyle. If you go to your dashboard > workout scheduler, you can select which ever split works best for you. See options in photo below. If you search the forum, there are many post where people share their experience and preferences in how they split their workouts.

2) I would highly recommend that you first video yourself in each exercise and when you think it looks good, post a form check. Let the coaches determine when you achieve mastery. This will insure you’re not missing out on any important cue/s and help you progress more efficiently in the long run. I’ve seen a bunch of lamenting post like: “oh, I’ve been doing this wrong all along...” Don't be one of those. Also, a coach might be able to spot a mobility deficiency early on, in which case you can lateralize (add more work on the side) for your particular issue. I know, because I have many issues myself, haha.

Saludos!

Gracias Eva! 

But I meant if there's a standar template people do. Maybe is too much the F7+H1 3 times a week or it's totally ok? It takes me one hour and a half. 

Thank you! 

Sergio, 
I would separate F7 from skill work with HS on different days to spread the love and because eventually you'll want to add Press Handstand too – all of which are push/shoulder demanding. I do the following:

F7: Mon-Wed-Fri*
HS + pHS: Tues-Thu
Thoracic Bridge: Tues
Front Split: starting next Thu (just upgraded to the full Stretch series)

* Sometime I move my Fri F7 to Sat because on Thu evenings I teach a stability ball class (get home super late, wake up super early and if I'm feeling tired-sore on Fri, I'll work on core and spinal mobility that Fri and I give myself an extra day before I hit F7). Hope this helps.

Good advice. There are many things to do. LOL. 

Gracias Eva! 

Hi Sergio!

Personally I perform F7 on Monday and Friday and HS on Tuesday and Thursday, and sometimes Wednesday too, depending on how sore I'm feeling. I usually try and do the Stretch Series On Monday and HS days.

You should take into account that I've been progressing to this schedule and it's what fits my present lifestyle and recovery process. If I'm too busy with work or family I'd rather sacrifice the strength trainning rather than the HS or stretch modules.

Yours in soreness.-

Thank you Mikel, so I realize the best is the one that fits with your personal schedule and your ability to recover. 

But I'd like to know what template uses coach Sommer with his athletes... 

Thank you! 

Hi Sergio,

What schedule an elite level athlete uses has little bearing on your own current training.

However for curiousity's sake (as long as you do not attempt to implement such a schedule of your own):

Allan currently trains 6 days per week.  4 of those days are twice a day workouts.  He does general conditioning 4 mornings a week with specific ring strength training another 4 afternoons a week.  Thus he conditions 8 times a week in total.

A gymnastics workout however is far different time wise from most adults as our workouts are usually 3-4 hours in length; not the common 45-60 minutes of most adults.  So by glancing at his schedule, Allan appears to train 10 times per week.  But when we look at the number of total hours he trains compared to the average adult's one hour workout - Allan's 30+ hours of training per week would be 30+ workouts in comparison.

It is important to remember that the majority of his time is spent on technical skill training and acquisition; not pure conditioning.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thank you Coach! I couldn't even try it .

By the way, I also found in the forum additional information about this topic:

On 9/4/2016 at 10:48 PM, Eva Pelegrin said:

Sergio, 
I would separate F7 from skill work with HS on different days to spread the love and because eventually you'll want to add Press Handstand too – all of which are push/shoulder demanding. I do the following:

F7: Mon-Wed-Fri*
HS + pHS: Tues-Thu
Thoracic Bridge: Tues
Front Split: starting next Thu (just upgraded to the full Stretch series)

* Sometime I move my Fri F7 to Sat because on Thu evenings I teach a stability ball class (get home super late, wake up super early and if I'm feeling tired-sore on Fri, I'll work on core and spinal mobility that Fri and I give myself an extra day before I hit F7). Hope this helps.

I was checking the post again... 

Eva I find very demanding on push/shoulder demandind (as you said) your schedule. It's 5 straight days with pushing exercises, how do you feel about it, is it not too much on that pushing movement?

Thank you!

As Coach would say "not exactly." 

First of all, I’m probably not a good person to ask. You have to understand that I’m coming back from a 6-8 months training break. My body is soaking up the training and eager to regain some basic strength. I tend to compare myself to the volume and level I was performing in the past. Like you, I was climbing rope, etc. Honestly, I probably fall in the category of thinking I’m not doing enough. Luckily, I can get back to speed rather quickly, so It’s not like I’m starting cold from zero. Donde hubo siempre queda.

That being said, I’m not doing any other activities right now. Foundations is my priority and M-W-F work perfect for me. Tues/Thu are dedicated to HS and TB/FS, respectively. At the beginning, the HS elements are very low volume. At least, in comparison to how I used to train HS (4-6x/week for 1+hr). My shoulders feel great! I’d say my upper traps are what feel most sore or catching up right now.

I’m actually feeling fully recovered on a daily basis. In fact, now that I’m starting to feel more like myself, I’m already daydreaming about adding Tumbling + HS on Sat (which I just purchased). See what I mean? I have to coach myself to sloooow down because I know myself too well – not to mention I have a host of past injuries to babysit. 

Also, keep in mind that I have gradually evolved my schedule over the course of 3+ months:
F7
F7 + TB
F7 + TB/HS
F7 + TB/HS + HS
F7 + TB/HS + FS/HS

Saludos!

"El que tuvo, retuvo" 

I didn't know your situation. So when you are doing RC again and more advanced pushing exercises, will you keep that template or will you have to reduce it because you're increasing intensity? 

Any other opinion? 

Thank you Eva,  I hope you are on the top again soon. 

Ánimo! 

I think my template is going to continue to evolve organically as I develop more work capacity and improve recovery. I don't foresee "reducing" my template, on the contrary, I want to expand it. I have a lot of work to do! I expect the intensity of F7 to increase with time. 

My rule is I only introduce ONE new thing/habit per week (and not every week). If I can perform it for 2 consecutive weeks AND I like it, it stays. Simple. 

I started by just sticking to F7 M-W-F. I wanted to try everything, but I waited. Instead, on my free time, I would look at the course materials and try one element here and there of the next course I was going to take. Once F7 was on autopilot, then I introduced the TB course on Tues AM. Surprisingly, I could perform all the elements pain-free (except the thoracic pulls), but it was taxing and still feels like a strength workout on the last bridging elements. 

After a few weeks, I added HS on Thu AM. Tested it out. Can I do it? Can I do it again the following week? It stayed. A few more weeks passed and I introduced HS on Tues PM. Two weeks ago, I started the FS on Thu after HS. 

There’s no reason to wait for introducing the stretch series. It seems to be where many are lacking. In my case I wanted to prioritize strength, as I’ve always kept my mobility going. I'm starting to feel I could do more, so today, I played with some of the Tumbling elements. Not a formal session, but I already know it will stay. After the tumbling, I’m looking forward to trying the Middle Split soon!

I’m sure there are other ways to do it. I just know that with my schedule, I have to plan ahead and do one thing at a time. Or I accomplish none! So far my brief experience with the FS has been more like a welcome recovery. It really doesn’t tax me as much as the TB. I can see how in the future I may end up sticking the FS and MS after a F7 day. Hopefully this gives you some ideas to apply to your own situation.

Btw, if you haven’t seen it, take a look at Jon’s post. Lots of pearls and wisdom here: 

Intersting point... I've always thought you can't manage that intensity/volume but you say if you build it little by little you can. Very interesting. 

Thank you again Eva!

It can certainly be done but where you are right now will determine what is the right volume. It's no good if you are always fighting to recover. I pay most attention to my last workouts in the 3rd week of a cycle, and the first ones in the 1st, after deload. How I perform on those, and to a lesser extent how I feel (including perceived level of exertion) is a pretty reliable indicator in my experience