To train or not to train? New member questions

Hello GB community! I'm new to GB and am loving it  Some background: I'm 35, currently live in Northern Ireland, worked at a 9-5 desk job all my life. For 7 years I've done rock climbing - as you can imagine with the desk job I had pretty turned-in shoulders, bad overhead mobility, poor overhead strength, and pretty constant lower back pain (although my pullup strength is reasonable - can do a strict MU and a few 10kg weighted pullups). As I moved to NI last year I discovered Crossfit and joined the club as means of meeting new people in the area. There I was encouraged to try to achieve something that seemed impossible - a handstand and a bridge, together with some other crazy things like olympic lifting skills. In the future I see myself moving away from the high-intensity heavy lifting that is a big part of Crossfit, and more to gymnastic skills which I'm finding very inspirational.

I came to GB specifically for the stretch courses, but decided to buy the package with Foundation and Fundamentals because they looked like they would help balance my body more effectively than Crossfit. Currently I'm doing Crossfit 5-6 days a week, doing their strength /gymnastics/metcon program at our gym 5.30 to 7.30am. Sunday is a rest day. And in terms of GB courses I spend an hour per evening on Monday - FS&MS, Mon+Wed+Fri - Foundation, and Tue-Thu-Sat - HS1.

The question that I have is - through the week, most days I'll have DOMs (in different areas, depending if it was "top" or "bottom half" day at Crossfit). Is it detrimental to do GB courses in the evening if feeling sore? What about stretch courses - can I do FS/MS in the evenings having done 2 hours of intense leg work in the morning? I'm worried that putting more stress on the "worked" muscle groups would make them tighter, or is that even possible?

Many thanks, Kat

HI katerina, first if you are completely new to GST fundamentals should be your primarily goal for now so that you can take confidence with basic position and understand limitation.  In the specific  fundamentals forum there is a post who said how much, how often...generally how to fundamentals. personally after a serious legs work a light stretch it is good so i would select from MS and FS the exercises to balance the legs work for hamstring, adductor and hips flexor. I prefer a dedicated day for all the stretch course.

Hi Katerina,

I totally agree with Alessandro. It really takes time and patience to rebuild the body.

To maximize GST gains, I cut/stopped other activities first and as I build strength and volume and then I slowly added extracurricular activities afterwards. In my experience, I finish all my Gymnastic Strength Training program first before I engage with other activities. Again, I am just sharing my experience. I hope this helps.

Regarding rebuilding your body, less is more. If you're feeling DOMS, that likely means that you're closer on the scale of having done more. Frankly, I would spend time (a few years) on GymnasticBodies and drop Crossfit full stop. Crossfit is largely the fitness and metabolic end of what GB develops and fixes in the body (range of motion, superior mobility, tendon and ligament strength and greater ROM). Without the precursors of ROM and mobility, you're likely spinning your wheels and asking for an injury down the line. Furthermore, once you're much more advanced at GB and all of its aspects you'll likely perform and progress much more smoothly with Crossfit. Just my two cents. 

From that point of view, if you're contemplating doing GB full-on. I would spend one month only doing Fundamentals as the two gents above me mentioned. It's simple; it's annoying; it doesn't seem that hard, I know, but spend time focusing on each of the day's lessons, and you'll be thankful for it later on. You can turn each day's lesson into a workout or progressively build up to a more solid workout by adding on each day's lesson to previous lessons. After that, I would take what you learned from Fundamentals (and any elements that still elude or challenge you) as a daily warmup/limber/check-in with your body, as you also go on to focus on Foundation 1+Pro + and the Stretch Series (Mon-Wed-Fri). Finally, I would add H1+limbering on Tues-Thurs.  After quite some time at this, you'll notice your body begin to catch up and feel healthier. Hope this is helpful. 

P.S. NO KIPPING PULLUPS (I kid, I kid)

@Leo Trinidad thanks for sharing how you started! I also quit everything to start GST. Not easy but it was obvious that it would pay back in the long run.

Katerina, "stuffing" too many training activities in your schedule is never a good idea in my experience. Decide what's important to you and prioritize accordingly. Either CF takes a back seat for a while, or you can prioritize CF and gradually build your GST on the side. OR go cold turkey like i did and quit everything. Be bold. Be brave. If you choose any of the above, you'll be gaining!

I also went all out with GST in the beginning to take care of deficits. I reduced climbing and running to approximately less than 15% of total activity for over a year. Now I enjoy those activities even more, thanks to having a more well rounded body.

Great advice guys, by the way Katerina I am a full time CrossFit coach and I agree with following Everett's approach and Eva's advice.

Thank you so much to all who have replied. Some thought-provoking insights. I'm inspired to hear the success and progress stories, with extra appreciation for the advice from CF coach Luke and a climber Everett. I'm keen to change the training strategy as you all suggest, to a much more focused GB/foundation/stretch one, which I will do at the end of September - as we have a team competition then and we're currently training towards that. Meanwhile its prob best to reduce CF to 3 days, to give more chance to the body to recover, and concentrate on mobility deficits on the 3 other days. PSYCHED! Looking forward to posting re progress, however long it takes

No Problem @Eva Pelegrin @Katerina Sourkova

before i totally stopped my weight training i was experimenting doing both GST and lifting weights. i became stronger because of GST that is why i completely stopped weight training to test my gains. so i tested my lifts once a month (bench, squat, deadlift) and clearly GST was the reason why my form was better, range of motion was better and of course heavier but easier lifts.

Actually Leo I injured a hip flexor which took around 6 months to recover. during this time I was forced to do only GST which I did - and after 6 months PRed every single lift.

nice experience Luke.  good thing to share here.

Thanks Leo

Our pleasure, Katerina.

Hi Guys,

I am almost at the end of my Fundamentals Course. I did the daily limber routine today. I certainly have deficiencies. Here are the deficiencies that the Daily Limber routine highlighted:

1. Straddle - I am unable to move from the hand to the elbows.
2. Butterfly - Unable to lean forward. My knees are off the ground.
3. Pike - Unable to reach forward with my chest. Tight back.

The only other workouts I am doing outside GB Fundamentals are with Kettlebells (Gobblet Squats, Turkish Getups and Swings) and playing the sport of Cricket on weekends (it's like Baseball. On the field for 5 hours) . Here are my questions:

QUESTION 1 - My main objective is strength. I am not trying to put on muscle. Can I turn off the Kettlebell training and focus solely on GB? When I was going through the fundamentals course, despite multiple repetitions or holds, it did not feel like a workout.

QUESTION 2 - How to fix the mobility issues I highlighted above? Should I do the daily limber routine everyday?

QUESTION 3 - How do you approach your daily exercises? What are your objectives?

Would appreciate your inputs.

Thank you,

Harsh

HI Harsh,

Glad to hear you are almost complete with the Fundamentals course. This course is designed to introduce basic movements in the body and help you gain more body awareness of where your focus needs to be. Many athletes continue to use Fundaments as warm up for their daily routines. Your next step is going to be Foundation One, this course will get your going with strength training and mobility work.

Setting your kettle bell training a side is a good idea. Since kettle bell work will continue to tighten you it will be a consist battle. GST will build you the strength you are looking for. 

You can keep up with the daily limber routine, you may also include the stretch courses into your training to speed up the mobility process. 

Time to take your training to the next level, Foundation One.  

@Katerina Sourkova @Leo Trinidad @Eva Pelegrin I have a similar experience…  I landed on the GB site to look for how to learn a handstand for my other activities. As I started to work on it, I realized how great it is and started to add one course after another… now, two months later,  I have all Stretches, 2 Handstands, and all 4 Foundations. As I was adding more GST into my schedule, I was taking out all the other activities (tennis, weight training, kettlebells, etc). I am only keeping my pole fitness, because it's a new passion and for that I found GST… they complement each other… It was hard at first to start giving up all the other stuff, but I am realizing how the GST is good for me, both to improve my strength, body awareness, flexibility, and also a nice side effect: the "coolness" factor  ha ha, doing these interesting things in the gym. Give GST a try of full attention, and then you will see how all your other things will improve as well. 

Thank you @Tanya Hill and @Suzanna McGee. I have got the Foundation 1 course.  I did all the workouts available to me except the ones which require the rings. I do not have the setup of the rings. What's the solution for that?

Hi Harsh, 

Definitely look into your options for adding rings to your workout area. The rings will be a big addition to your pulling strength. 

Harsh, I'd really recommend getting rings, too, as the rope climb section of foundations will really boost your strength. You can get reasonably priced ones, and they work just fine on a cheap doorframe pull-up bar, say. 

8 hours ago, Harsh Batra said:

Thank you @Tanya Hill and @Suzanna McGee. I have got the Foundation 1 course.  I did all the workouts available to me except the ones which require the rings. I do not have the setup of the rings. What's the solution for that?

I bought a simple pull up bar on Amazon to fasten in a doorway. Also I bought the rings on Amazon, and they are now hanging on my bar. I keep them permanently in my doorway, just push them to the sides when I don't use them. It looks kind of cool too  :-)