F1 Monday Updates/Confusion with new interface (merged)

I just want to express my gratitude to @Coach Sommer, Coach @Jeff Serven, @Cory Fair and the WHOLE GBodies team for the continued pursuit towards excellence with the website and the forums, as well as the time and effort spent answering questions.
The new interface is looking awesome and seems to flow much better than the last.  Looking forward to even better progress.

48 minutes ago, Dorian Brown said:

I think you're overthinking it. Just do the work to the follow along video standards. You will advance until you can't anymore. You can't really cheat GST if you don't have the mobility or strength you will eventually get to an exercise you just can't complete. I have the entire series f1-f4 and just from peeking at f2-4 I can see the work gets very difficult. In comparison F1 is very basic. I think coach wants us to have good form but we don't need 100% amazing laser focused form on these basic exercises otherwise we will never make it to f4. After a certain point there are diminishing returns.

I kinda think of it like math. In school they want you to learn the basics of addition so you can move on to multiplication no so you can add 6 10 digit numbers in your head in a few seconds. Right now we are doing addition so just focus on learning the basics so you can move on to the fun stuff in f2 and beyond.

I think a lot of people are bent out of shape because it's a fairly big and unexpected change but it's only been live for a day. Why just take a deep breath and try it for 2 weeks. See how you progress and then bring up complains if you have them. I find the best progress is made through experimentation. The old way may have been good but maybe this is a better way, the only way to know is to try.

Nice analogy!

Also, we are encouraged to keep exercises we have mastered in our warm-ups, so we can always continue to improve on them even after moving on to harder elements. 

Truth be told, it is always possible to improve on motor skills (even ones we have performed, hundreds, thousands, or even millions of times) and to find ways to make things harder, so striving for "perfection" of these early PE's before moving on may not in fact be the best use of our time and energy.

Just my opinion though.

2 hours ago, Ralph Palutke said:

And this is exactly what bugs me so much right now. A few years ago the tone was a whole lot different. Everything needed to be executed EXACTLY like shown by coach's athletes.  Now it feels like a drop in perfection. For me it seems like the GB staff accepts mastery a whole lot faster, because so many students struggle to meet the real mastery requirement. 

If you've observed the form check threads, mods were always happy to let you pass provided you did the exercise well, even if it wasn't perfect. Perfection even in a basic exercise might take years.

I think this is a good move, they are keeping standards high, but not unrealistically so.

Dear @Coach Sommer,

Thanks for the awesome update!  Is it possible to 'reset' the progress of my workouts?  

I have been on a regrettable yearlong hiatus from training this program due to some life events/transitions.  I would like to begin again, properly, at the very beginning of each progression.

With the new format, many of the exercises simply start where I left off (i.e. at the beginning of Foundations 2 or towards the latter half of Foundations 1).  I'd prefer not to have to hit the 'sad face' week after week until I've reached the beginning.  Is there a work around?  Or am I missing something?

Obviously any one else with an answer please feel free to chime in.

Thanks!

8 minutes ago, Eric Bruenner said:

Dear @Coach Sommer,

Thanks for the awesome update!  Is it possible to 'reset' the progress of my workouts?  

I have been on a regrettable yearlong hiatus from training this program due to some life events/transitions.  I would like to begin again, properly, at the very beginning of each progression.

With the new format, many of the exercises simply start where I left off (i.e. at the beginning of Foundations 2 or towards the latter half of Foundations 1).  I'd prefer not to have to hit the 'sad face' week after week until I've reached the beginning.  Is there a work around?  Or am I missing something?

Obviously any one else with an answer please feel free to chime in.

Thanks!

It's very easy to reset, click on any workout on the dashboard and from there click on settings.

There you will be able to manage all the elements you have in your courses. Just set them all to PE1 & Step 1.

Having used Pro+, the new interface is awesome. Any change is going to be met with reluctance, but you have to admit the user interface is way more usable if you were starting from scratch as a new user. The technique tips are  right where you want  them when learning a new progression.  Glad we no longer have to enter in exact reps.

Will be interesting to see how the open format of the workout programming goes re: core, upper and lower. Looking forward to checking it out. Thanks  for the upgrade!

hey guys I was just blindsided by the new layout today and had some questions .

1) If I was about to master the 4 movement for Single leg Squat in the old system what should I do now? The new layout shows that deck squats are PE 5 for single leg squat, it seems they have added a lot of new movements to help people who are starting out but as someone who is now past these it doesn't help me at all . I really hope it doesn't this mean that I now have to buy foundations two in order to get back to where I was in these progressions. GSB always said that you would have the course for life if you paid for it but it seems that now some of the info that I had access to in foundations one I no longer can get? 

2) For rope climb when I now get "back" to hinge rows, I have already mastered these so should I just skip them? 

1 hour ago, Christina Mabrey said:

hey guys I was just blindsided by the new layout today and had some questions .

1) If I was about to master the 4 movement for Single leg Squat in the old system what should I do now? The new layout shows that deck squats are PE 5 for single leg squat, it seems they have added a lot of new movements to help people who are starting out but as someone who is now past these it doesn't help me at all . I really hope it doesn't this mean that I now have to buy foundations two in order to get back to where I was in these progressions. GSB always said that you would have the course for life if you paid for it but it seems that now some of the info that I had access to in foundations one I no longer can get? 

2) For rope climb when I now get "back" to hinge rows, I have already mastered these so should I just skip them? 

Hi Christina,

- The progression change to SLS was necessary in order to help the vast majority of F1 students succeed.  You will need to begin again from SLS/PE1

- Upon reaching them, Hinge Rows will need to have mastery demonstrated once again.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

5 hours ago, Ralph Palutke said:

5. With the follow along videos I realized I've executed the movements far to slow. However, I think I'm cleaner and more controlled than the follow along videos. Wouldn't it be even more beneficial to slow down? Maybe I'm overthinking things here and should just mimic the follow along videos.

I have the same issue. I had mastered the Hinge Rows at a fairly controlled tempo (like in the athlete video), and I found them pretty darn hard to do. It took me three months at that tempo.

Today I started doing the Incline Row with the follow along video, and it felt "too easy" and "too fast". My personal opinion is that when you slow down an exercise a bit to make it harder and more controlled will benefit you in the long run, because you need more strength and stamina to pull it off.

On the other hand, if you do the exercise fast and make quick progress, in GST you will eventually meet the limit of your abilities. There is no way to speed up a 30s Chin Hang So even if you "rushed" the exercises leading up to the Chin Hang and start the Chin Hangs being "weaker" than you could have been, you're going to catch up eventually, since cheating on a Chin Hang is not really an option.

16 hours ago, Coach Sommer said:

Hi Gojan,

They are still right there incorporated into the follow along videos.  IF that is the level that you are currently training at.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Ok, they are in the system :). Thank you.

I am working on F1/H1. Are F2 and further progressions rescheduled or reduced in length due to this changes in F1? Deck squats are affected, but what with others? Obviously that is the question for F2 forum but I am curious.

Thanks.

4 minutes ago, Niko Mailand said:

I have the same issue. I had mastered the Hinge Rows at a fairly controlled tempo (like in the athlete video), and I found them pretty darn hard to do. It took me three months at that tempo.

Today I started doing the Incline Row with the follow along video, and it felt "too easy" and "too fast". My personal opinion is that when you slow down an exercise a bit to make it harder and more controlled will benefit you in the long run, because you need more strength and stamina to pull it off.

On the other hand, if you do the exercise fast and make quick progress, in GST you will eventually meet the limit of your abilities. There is no way to speed up a 30s Chin Hang So even if you "rushed" the exercises leading up to the Chin Hang and start the Chin Hangs being "weaker" than you could have been, you're going to catch up eventually, since cheating on a Chin Hang is not really an option.

Hi Niko,

When I train athletes I do not use a super slow tempo.  Nor did I train the GB coaches this way.  If you would like to perform reps super slow, then do so.  

However be sure to not mark a workout as too easy until (and thus ready for progression) until all reps and sets are correctly performed.  Using a slower tempo does not change the reps/sets requirement for a particular element.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

11 minutes ago, Coach Sommer said:

Hi Niko,

When I train athletes I do not use a super slow tempo.  Nor did I train the GB coaches this way.  If you would like to perform reps super slow, then do so.  

However be sure to not mark a workout as too easy until (and thus ready for progression) until all reps and sets are correctly performed.  Using a slower tempo does not change the reps/sets requirement for a particular element.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I agree a 100 percent Coach, I do my best not to deviate from the tempo and form of the new videos. I just noticed that having done the movements just a little slower before and with the form as perfect as possible (for example the push-ups -- with chest completely down to the floor and controlled movement without using the momentum of gravity when going down) made the exercises feel a bit easier when done at the tempo of the follow along videos.

I think that there lies the main difference in doing something fast or slow -- if you do it slow, you can't use momentum and you are forced to use the complete range of motion, whereas if you do it faster, the momentum becomes more noticeable and the range of motion becomes smaller if you're not careful.

But not to be misunderstood, I agree that the exercises should be done in the same manner as in the follow along videos to prevent confusion and wrong form and tempo. .

Dear Coach Sommer,

I never used the old workout schedule! I always wrote myself a plan for one month/level every month...so i actually finished the old SLS/PE2 last week. What should I do know? Do I have to buy Foundation 2 to continue my workout?
I never had any problems progressing to the next level doing deck squats nor SLS/PE2.

I also prefer my way of writing a plan for the month instead of hanging out in front of my laptop during the workout. Now i can't see the different levels anymore so i'm not going to be able to make my plan.
I'm sure a lot of people appreciate the new workout schedule. Actually i have huge problems progressing in the RC, so thank you for adjusting the workout here!
But i really prefer just doing my workout without my laptop by my side the whole time. For me it is some kind of "freedom" to know what to do and what comes next...now i'm depending on my laptop and the internet!

What gets me is that, although I have been on here for a while and have not gone very far for my own lazy reasons, it was drilled in that there was a strength progression. Meaning that you can't get too strong to fast, or to put it more simply, you can't do a muscle up without being up to do a dip, and a chin and the transition in between. Now you are saying 'hey do as many as you like when ever you like'. Doesn't that totally contradict everything this was designed to do from the outset? Get strong slowly so as to avoid injury?

I am getting used to the new format, I don't love it, because I don't want to sit there and watch a video at the gym while I am working out. I'll persevere but I feel like the previous way this worked was so much better. 

@Bret Kennedy, there are still the same progressions as before. You can't do PE2 until you've done PE1. 

And with the old scheduler, people really had just as much freedom to do too little or too much; the main difference is that you used to be penalized for not adhering to your schedule. 

For instance, with the old scheduler you could set up your own custom schedule or apply a template. Your choice. Also, of the templates, a beginner could choose a split of F7 3 times a week. I mean, no one would recommend a beginner do F7 but it was an option.

Whatever you chose, you had to follow it 100% or the system wouldn't progress you. 

Now, you still have the same freedom. Do F7. Do a split. Do everything once. It's still up to you; you just don't have to commit at the beginning of the week (and then get penalized if you don't follow through). 

I just read through this post. You would swear it was the end of the world. It's change. As with the GB course its always for the better. Yes there are teething problems Cory and his team always sort it out.

PS.. Calm your tits people.  

@Samin Ishtiaq, I personally don't really WATCH the videos while I workout. I put the volume on max to be sure I'm keeping up with their tempo, and I glance at the screen ocassionally if I need to. 

I thought the same thing, but I also had issues with an algorithm telling me what was best on a given day then not really assessing any other factors. That's what a real (living) coach does, so I think that there is a lot more freedom here. Yes, you may have to think a little but essentially do what you can along the way and work "by feel"... A very valid process for excelling by the way....

We are essentially self-coaching, so we have to meet the technology halfway and develop some aspects of our plan on our own. I am optimistic about the new setup. Visually it's easier to work around, and since I've been doing GST,  the concept is already there, and I simply need to work from a lower to higher Set/Rep scheme. Not much mystery there. I know what the ultimate goal of each movement is, so when I'm able to do it, I'll simply move on.  We will see.

10 minutes ago, Samin Ishtiaq said:

There seems to be a line of thought in this thread that you *have* to watch the video to tick off your exercise. Someone earlier said that they used to watch the video before-hand and then do the exercise in their own time+space. (Personally, that's what I did too. I can't really watch a video while doing incline rows, but maybe some people have extendable eyeballs) But we still can do that, right? I can just check-in my smiley without the watching the video in real time?

Of course, if we want to really grock the form, then we could follow along to the video.

 

if you play the volume loud enough and have watched the video before then you can have their form in mind, while listening to them count off the reps and keep pace. That's what I do for elements where I can't readily look at my phone (certain mobilities or moves such as incline rows...)

Did the recommended days get removed? I was using those recommendations as my baseline before I start to create a customized schedule based on my time and recovery.

25 minutes ago, Nicholas Cooper said:

I just read through this post. You would swear it was the end of the world. It's change. As with the GB course its always for the better. Yes there are teething problems Cory and his team always sort it out.

 

PS.. Calm your tits people.  

LOL, +1. Even if the entire website was completely inaccessible, just do what you did last week and add a couple reps. It ain't that complicated.

13 minutes ago, Patrick Rentz said:

LOL, +1. Even if the entire website was completely inaccessible, just do what you did last week and add a couple reps. It ain't that complicated.

Guys, they have our best interests at heart. Speaking from personal experience of having things go awry, they want all of us to succeed and be able to get our workouts in. Know that, make due. File a question with support if it's seriously amiss, but otherwise think on what @Patrick Rentz just mentioned and get after it. 

19 minutes ago, Patrick Rentz said:

PS.. Calm your tits people.  

Stroking helps  

Several cases of First World Problemitis have been confirmed since the changes.

3 minutes ago, Greg White said:

Stroking helps  

Several cases of First World Problemitis have been confirmed since the changes.

 

Several? I dare say, every, mine included, lol. 

On September 19, 2016 at 3:46 PM, Coach Sommer said:

Hi Antonio,

Good eye.  That particular listing was overlooked by the programmers and will be removed shortly.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I like the new interface and "freedom" of arranging the workouts, but I also liked a few aspects of the pervious approach which are now missing:
Deload week - In training I've always been pushing my limits, going all-in every time all the time. Subsequently overtrained, got injured and kept on training through pain over and over for years. Now pushing 40 I finally started wondering why I can't reach performance, strength and skill levels I used to achieve (easily) not too long ago.
A recent torn supraspinatus that just doesn't want to heal and beginning arthritis put me completely in despair. 
That's why I started with GST.
The GB F1 schedule was the first time I consciously put in a deload week and feeling good about it - not like it's an emergency because I'm injured or sick.
Now I  need to keep track of this in my schedule myself. Sort of mark it in another calendar so I can keep track of my workouts.

The new interface doesn't show me days/dates I trained anymore. How do I know which day I did which exercises in case I didn't manage to perform the full set of 7 or want to do upper today lower+core the next etc? Again, now I need to keep an additional schedule myself.  
I also liked to list reps in detail so I could track my performance and see which set I would start to fail etc.
I suggest to add in a calendar function/sheet to help keep track of training days and workouts completed.

Single leg squad:
Actually kind of surprised it started off that easy. Just started F1 3weeks ago and already need to buy F2 now as deck squads are too easy...or should I crank out more reps/sets of the Hawaiian squads?  Add other prev. exercises from lower body to my routine? 


That being said, I love this training and after just a few weeks can already see results esp in terms of mobility and ROM.
Jefferson curl is amazing, those tables and shrugs doing a lot of good for my shoulders! I hope strength will catch up soon.

Thanks
Bas