Foundations vs Handstands & Program Summaries

Hey GB Coaches,

I just finished day 6 of the fundamentals course.  On the sales page where it discusses the different courses, it is difficult to make out what each course real offers.

What strengths will we be working on for Foundation 1 vs 2 vs 3 vs 4?  What strengths will we be working on in the handstand courses?

Reason I ask, I am less worried about learning how to do a handstand than I am about getting a healthy, functioning, strong body. A little outline of what muscle strength and types of mobility will be emphasized with in each workflow would be great. Thank you

Well, F 1-4 basically practices the same things, but F1 is the first volume, which you'll start with, and F4 is the final volume before moving on to rings. Handstand 1 is equally important as the F series, and you'll actually get stuck at a certain level in F3 if you're not proficient in freestanding handstand. Ideally, you should train F1, H1 and H2 in parallel. 

And just to elaborate, the F series trains:

Straddle planche 

Front lever

Single leg squat 

Hollow back press 

Rope climb

Manna

Side lever 

A correctly executed gymnastic handstand is a demonstration of strong, healthy shoulders and some minimal balancing abilities (once you get there you'll realise that if your body parts are stacked upon each other balancing is actually relatively straightforward). You won't even start working on actual handstand practice until a couple of years into the program (for most adults), first you need to (re)build strength and mobility of your shoulders, practicing shoulder flexion and extension and straight body holds. Dislocates will make sure that you have both strength and flexibility in the full range. Plus, of course, you'll need properly conditioned wrists that can take your bodyweight.

And all this leads to handstand presses in H2 - for which you need a solid handstand to press to first... Once you can demonstrate a straddle press to handstand I think you will have everything that an "average" person needs for upper body health. Muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints all working in harmony. Idyllic, isn't it?

Hi Behan,

Very simple actually.  All of the courses are now grouped according to ability level and then further subdivided into mobilitystrength and skill training.  You simply choose the area, mobility/strength or skill training or both, you would like to focus on:

As a beginner, you should be focusing on Fundamentals, then segue into the Stretch Courses and Foundation One.  If you would like to include any skill work in your training, Handstand One and Movement One would be the appropriate choices.

Introductory - Fundamentals

Overall (beg to adv) - Stretch Courses

Beginner - Foundation One (mobility/strength), Handstand One (skill), Movement One (skill)

Intermediate - Foundation Two & Foundation Three (mobility/strength), Rings One (mobility/strength), Handstand Two (skill)

Advanced - Foundation Four (mobility/strength), Handstand Three (skill)

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Hi Coach,

after starting the Fundamentals and listening to some podcasts with you I have some questions and I am asking for some advice.

With my 45 years of age, living in Germany, not overweight but no sixpack either, a background of martial arts in my twenties and some weightlifting and crossfit experience the last year I am very aware of my zombie/beginner status. You mentioned that it will take a timeframe of 4 to 6 years to build a solid foundation with your materials.

I am willing to go this route, but in attacking this plan how is your opinion on:

- keep crossfitting while on your program?

- keep lifting weights and/or training oly while on your program?

- how much time per day/week ist neccessary to really improve

So far I really liked Crossfit and I would like to compete in my age group. I have been stuck on plateaus the last year - so I guess it was just natural, that I found my way to your materials. Also one of my goals next to competing is to develop some coaching skills to get more people in my age group involved in moving better.

I am really intrigued by your statements in terms of slowing down and (re)building a solid foundation. With my age there is always the focus on hurrying up to not lose any time. This will probably be the greatest challenge...

Thanks and all the best

Oliver

IME I have found that most people need to greatly lessen their number of crossfit workouts when they begin implementing GST.  The body only has so many resources to allocate.  Doing hard GST and hard crossfit are akin to attempting to run forwards and backwards at the same time.  

The good news is that in a few months time once the more egregious mobility issues have made substantial progress, life will become much simpler.

On the plus side, many people find that their performance on crossfit style workouts increases without their directly having to train them; simply as a side benefit of their GST.  Forum moderator @Mark Collins has some very good personal experiences with this that he has shared on the forum.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

It would be great if we had a prerequisite as to which skills one should have to be a beginner or advanced or whatever. I miss some skills in the fundamentals course and have the feeling I am not doing enough. I'm coming from working out in the basement with rings at home. Am able to hold a L sit or do ring dips and wonder whether I should add a course and which one to choose? I have no background in gymnastics 

Hi Jochen,

- All of the mobility assessments and skills in Fundamentals are beginning level skills.  

- Note also terminology specific to GST™, basic stretching and a daily limber are also all covered. 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

On 2 June 2016 at 6:00 AM, Oliver Hundt said:

Hi Coach,

after starting the Fundamentals and listening to some podcasts with you I have some questions and I am asking for some advice.

With my 45 years of age, living in Germany, not overweight but no sixpack either, a background of martial arts in my twenties and some weightlifting and crossfit experience the last year I am very aware of my zombie/beginner status. You mentioned that it will take a timeframe of 4 to 6 years to build a solid foundation with your materials.

I am willing to go this route, but in attacking this plan how is your opinion on:

- keep crossfitting while on your program?

- keep lifting weights and/or training oly while on your program?

- how much time per day/week ist neccessary to really improve

So far I really liked Crossfit and I would like to compete in my age group. I have been stuck on plateaus the last year - so I guess it was just natural, that I found my way to your materials. Also one of my goals next to competing is to develop some coaching skills to get more people in my age group involved in moving better.

I am really intrigued by your statements in terms of slowing down and (re)building a solid foundation. With my age there is always the focus on hurrying up to not lose any time. This will probably be the greatest challenge...

Thanks and all the best

Oliver

If your goal is to compete in Crossfit then I would set a goal of getting through all of the Foundation and handstand exercises once a week. I found that it was better to start my Crossfit workouts with Foundation or Handstand so I was fresh. I have also experimented with devoting one training day to GST only. At 46 you need to be careful with your overall volume. You will get most improvement with working out 3-4 days and devoting the rest of your time to mobility.

I found that my gymnastic training helped my Crossfit performance. However Crossfit really slowed my GST progress as I was always sore from the intense workouts. This will kill your progress with mobility as sore muscles are tight. I have found when I perform GST without Crossfit I progress 3 times quicker.

On June 11, 2016 at 10:23 AM, Coach Sommer said:

Hi Jochen,

- All of the mobility assessments and skills in Fundamentals are beginning level skills.  

- Note also terminology specific to GST™, basic stretching and a daily limber are also all covered. 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Yes, i feel great because of the stretch work, but wonder whether i should already add some "muscle work" like a H1 course? 

Hi Jochen,

Not quite right.

The correct order of development would be:

First - Fundamentals.

Second - Foundation One/Pro+ (F1/Pro+); making sure to follow the Pro+ follow along workout videos.  Note that fully 50% of the Foundation One curriculum is integrated mobility work.

Third - Adding GB Stretch courses once you are 2-4 weeks into F1/Pro+, are comfortable with the program and feel the need for additional mobility work.

Fourth - a few months down the road adding Handstand One (H1); if you feel the need for additional wrist and shoulder girdle mobility work and would like to add some skill training to your schedule.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

OK, got it - thank you