Day 1 Clarification

Like many of the others, though a little late, I am also here via the Tim Ferris podcast.  Just got the Fundamentals, and again like most here, was humbled just trying crab and ape briefly during a work break.  Years of lifting, running, stretching have resulted in a tight, immobile body with shoulder, back, neck (and so on) pain.  Other issues (broken collar bone and ankle, not at the same time, years ago) that have reduced strength and movement in my left shoulder and ankle also plague me.  Hitting 44 years of age this year, and while have always been able to maintain my weight around 185, this stiffness and lack of joint mobility issue has really made a difference in everything I do.  Looking forward to seeing where things go.  Already encourage by reading through the forums and looking forward to getting home this afternoon and giving crab and ape a full turn.  Thanks.

Just finished Day 1 and definitely need to keep working on the crab position and movement.  The modifications for this in the additional video are very helpful.  The ape was not too bad, but still needs work.  Looking forward to see what Day 2 brings and continuing to work on crab & ape. Thanks for a wonderful program!

The first two days have shown me that I am weak and inflexible in many areas. Will we eventually be given exercises or stretches to remedy this, or is the purpose of the program to point these out and then we are expected to find ways to improve on our own?  Perhaps the examples themselves are supposed to help with the inflexibility and should be done daily?  I am just struggling with what to do with the new found knowledge I have about my areas of weakness.  Day three was better as it was obvious that these stretches will help with my wriest mobility, day one and two seemed less obvious as to how to improve. 

1 hour ago, George Andrews said:

The first two days have shown me that I am weak and inflexible in many areas. Will we eventually be given exercises or stretches to remedy this, or is the purpose of the program to point these out and then we are expected to find ways to improve on our own?  Perhaps the examples themselves are supposed to help with the inflexibility and should be done daily?  I am just struggling with what to do with the new found knowledge I have about my areas of weakness.  Day three was better as it was obvious that these stretches will help with my wriest mobility, day one and two seemed less obvious as to how to improve. 

Hi George,

Good question.  Fundamentals illustrates to you previously unsuspected mobility and strength deficits which you were not even aware that you had.  The reasoning behind this is simple, you must first realize that there is a problem before you can even begin considering how to correct it.  For many of you I could have described your probable deficiencies until I was blue in the face, but until you encountered them on your own, you would not have been properly motivated to begin to engage in the work which will be necessary to correct them.

Foundation One/Pro+ in combination with the GB stretch courses are where we begin to focus strongly on resolving the recently discovered deficiencies.  The follow along F1/Pro+ workout videos will be especially helpful for this as they teach proper form, proper R.O.M. (range of motion) and proper tempo - all simutaneously.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I'm loving reading this!  Tim Ferriss podcast led me here. As a 44 year old 'athletic' dad who mountain bikes, lifts weights yadayada, I certainly think myself as superior to my fat bellied work mates. Then on day 1 I'm ready with wife and kids to show them my new program and the crab exposes the fact that I've done about a zillion more pushups than ever been in this position! As I struggle to get my butt up to something that resembles horizontal but instead looks like a giant trembling V....... I freeze in that position.....and I'm meant to walk along?? Take one of these wobbly pillars away baby and I'm going down! In week 2 now of exploring and just discovered this forum. Middle age man mateship! Come on old boys, lets do this!

1 hour ago, Steven Gilmore said:

I'm loving reading this!  Tim Ferriss podcast led me here. As a 44 year old 'athletic' dad who mountain bikes, lifts weights yadayada, I certainly think myself as superior to my fat bellied work mates. Then on day 1 I'm ready with wife and kids to show them my new program and the crab exposes the fact that I've done about a zillion more pushups than ever been in this position! As I struggle to get my butt up to something that resembles horizontal but instead looks like a giant trembling V....... I freeze in that position.....and I'm meant to walk along?? Take one of these wobbly pillars away baby and I'm going down! In week 2 now of exploring and just discovered this forum. Middle age man mateship! Come on old boys, lets do this!

This stuff is brilliant to hear. Trust my experience as a reasonably accomplished 20-something athlete when starting here, and seen hundreds of people come and go on the forums, GST *will* humble you at some point. If you're strong, mobility tends to crush the ego. If you're flexible, you start to wonder whether it would be so bad if you were strong and stiff after all. And at some point most people have to choose between facing their current position objectively, which Coach will point out with excruciating detail and accuracy, vs. Living the dream on how good they are in the narrow areas they have put their training time into previously. 

I have certainly been guilty  of this, perhaps more than once depending on how you count it facing up to what's in the mirror and what needs to be fixed means you can get started immediately on progressing those things, rather than wasting time spinning your wheels. It's hard for the tread on the tyres of reality to dig in on facts that aren't there

GST. The scientific method of physical training

Welcome aboard. You'll go far.

Thanks for the post Jon. You could say 'living the dream on how good they were.'

There's a lot of talk here about the desk lifestyle leading to us middle age boys being stiff and not mobile. I'm not a desk jockey, but an outdoor worker and I lead a very active life. Heck I ran over the Westgate bridge in Melbourne doing two 17.5km Sun Superuns when I was 10 and 11!  What happens to a lot of guys my age, (44) is that you reach goals, hit plateaus then get lose motivation. I lived in a construction camp for 3 years and a lot of us got as big as we could in the gym, then the next step was either supplements or steroids. If you didn't want to do that, you got bored as you were now just maintaining. I got to this point, so decided on a new goal, cycling. Over time I watched my legs grow and upper body get skinny until I hurt my back. So back to the gym...... stretching throughout all this was....well....not really done much...

I see GB as a new challenge. Bodyweight strength and mobility and something that transfers to leading an active life without my body snapping half again. I just went on a 4 day dirt bike ride with other older blokes and want to keep up with the kids. (Made my son tap out in a wrestle the other day, but that snapped a 5 wrestle losing streak for me). I want to keep doing fun active stuff. That's what motivates me. We're in a stage of life where our wife will love us if we're fat and stiff or toned and stretchy, we just need new goals and challenges to stay positive about life, to switch off from work, and to feel proud when we look in the mirror with the shirt off.

Thanks for the welcome. Now I must go I have a stiff bear to attempt......

Hiya Coach!

 have a structural issue: I have extra-long arms so, in Ape, I cannot extend my arms straight down in front, without raising my buttocks. The only way i can do ape with a straight arm, is to have my arms about few inches out in front. I just physically do not have normal size arms, my arms are about 3" longer. I hope this is not going to affect my ability to progress in the course....

On 12/05/2016 at 3:23 PM, Tam Nguyen 179062 said:

Thanks for the clarification. Is it possible to start the Foundation exercises alongside the fundamental exercises? 

 

Thanks

On May 13, 2016 at 0:58 AM, Coach Sommer said:

Hi Tam,

My preference is for you to get your GST feet under you first before delving into Foundation One.

In the past this was not the case and too many people struggled with their entry to Foundation One.

 

To ease this transition that following has been implemented:

1) Fundamentals; the new GST onramp program.

 

In addition to Fundamentals, the following have also been added to the already outstanding content of Foundation One:

2) Technical videos have now been added to Foundation One for each of the 42 preparatory elements and each the 42 integrated mobility elements of Foundaton One.  These videos range in length from approx 1 minute to 3 minutes in length and cover each element in depth.

3) F1/Pro+ generated custom follow along workout videos based upon your current Foundation One progress.  Let me repeat that.  Pro+ generates daily custom F1 workout videos based solely upon your current progress thru F1.  There is literally no other program like it in the world.  The potential workout combinations which can be generated are well in excess of 10,000+.  

This backend complexity however has nothing to do with each of you.  As far as you are concerned, Pro+ simply generates custom workout videos for you to follow the GB instructors thru; rep for rep and set for set.   All with correct tempo, all with correct form, all accompanied by technical assistance and coaching.  As your strength improves, the Pro+ follow along workouts automatically generate new content for you to follow along with.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Can't wait to see this in action. This is pretty impressive sounding 

Thanx coach.
My GF recently purchased this course for me as a bday present as she saw me continually browsing your website and not making up my mind whether to join or not. I think its the best present i've ever had lol I have recently started working in an office environment, before this I used to do crab walks quite easily, didn't realise how much sitting on your ass can affect you so much in a negative way, i found day one quite challenging, cant wait for midnight so i can find out whats in day 2.
 

Did we ever get an answer on if we're supposed to be adding each day's exercises together, or doing only the exercises specified on that individual day? Thanks!

You only need to do the exercise for the given day. If after that you feel like revising exercises from other days, particularly those which you found harder, that is perfectly fine, but you don't have to. Alway remain focused on what you do: better to do little with attention than performing a lot of exercises with poor form.

36 minutes ago, Guido Franchetti said:

You only need to do the exercise for the given day. If after that you feel like revising exercises from other days, particularly those which you found harder, that is perfectly fine, but you don't have to. Alway remain focused on what you do: better to do little with attention than performing a lot of exercises with poor form.

Well put

Thanks Jon!

Hi Geir from Norway 43 years old. Love the program this is just what I need im to stiff. Could keep the position in the crab but walking was hard.

Would it be ok to still do my normal workouts together With this program.

2days chins,push ups,squat,swings 3 day easy runing

Looking foorward to this

Thanks coach

On 5/16/2016 at 4:59 PM, Rhaya Jordan said:

oh what a crowd of zombies we are!  That said my nagging neck pain seems a little better after one session deeply pathetic mutated crab.  I'm hoping that's a taste of a new freedom to be had at the end of the deep humiliation that is day one.

Rhaya,

It's great to hear that you are already experiencing relief from neck pain so early on in the course. Hopefully this gives you some hope as to what is possible with even just a small amount of consistent movement. It gets better I promise! Keep it up!

Hi Coach Sommer and everyone,

Can you tell me if the Stretch Series would help me move any better through the fundamentals. Like everyone here it seems, day 1 was very hard.. i'll keep trying of course but it seems that it's not only strength but mobility that is hindering me. So, if I went through the stretch series at the same time will this help me with the fundamentals or am i just going to get to day one of the SS and realise that I'm screwed there too??

For sure stretch series  helps a lot in your daily movement and especially in everthing concerned with GST.

New to this program so I was wondering if there is a place to explain how to navigate/use the forums? What is the + quote  for?   How did some people get a picture to go along with their posts. I will be 60 soon so this tech stuff is a little confusing. lol

How will I even know if someone answers.

Hey Coach,

My question is regarding other training that i do. i go the gym 3 times a week to workout, is it ok for me to continue working out while doing the fundamentals ?

Is there anything I should watch out for ?

Another question is regarding Ape, My back was rounded while i held the position if my clenched fists were on the floor with me having to lift my fists of the floor to straighten my back. Should I prioritise having a stright back over having my fists on the floor ? Thanks.

Thanks

Muzafar

You should be fine going to the gym while also doing fundamentals. However, I suggest prioritizing Fundamentals and putting everything else on the back burner. 

For Ape, you still want about 20% of the weight on your fists. Just work on squating lower and straightening your back over time.

Is it practical to splay the feet at a wider angle to gain depth in my ape squat? 

it happens because you have tight achilles. it is fine, try to actively push the heels down into the floor.

So Day 1 was humbling for me a bit - I did okay with the movements.  What was humbling was that I thought I was in decent shape.  I run 30-40 miles a week and try to do some stretching/lifting most days at lunch.  Then I got into the crab position while at the gym - in the group exercise room where there are mirrors on every wall - and what do I see but a gut sticking up in the air that I didn't realize was even there.

I also had one guy who was in the room ask me "What, are you training to be a Gorilla?" to which I replied - "Sort of."