Just starting out foundation 1

Hey guys hope you all well

I just have a couple of questions regarding foundation 1 and my progress through the course since starting it last week.

Ive been doing my own "self taught" bodyweight training for 3 years so have a certain level of strength (albeit without as much mobility) that  I've built up over this Time.

In now aware that By doing the course I'm going from many strength reps during a week to very very little,  but I wanted to leave my ego at the door and to give the course my full respect from day so I'm completely ok with that .

 I've just finished my first week and understand the course changes each Monday dependant on my smiley face inputs.  I've heard there is a possibility of altering workout difficulty settings .

Based on this 

Am I right in saying that "not" increasing difficulty (and therefore not  missing any steps)  is how the course should be done so no stone is left unturned so to speak and  anyhow if I felt like I needed to increase its difficulty how would I know how much to increase it by without detriment to my development. That being said i can't see how increasing difficulty is even an option at all as it would mean you would miss steps right??? 

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on why it is an option 

Many thanks in advance for your replies  and thoughts on this 

Hi Leigh it is an option if you are feeling that you can move on and you can do that by changing some option form the settings menù on the right. Be careful on that because reaching a standard on both PE and IM it is something that must be judged by Forum coaches or Coach before moving on. So if you feel yourself stronger you can increase the difficulty but post a form check before attempting a intensity increase it is better. perform wrong reps it is not recommended.

Thank you very much for your help with this question 

kindest regards 

hi, I am in a similar position to leigh. for instance I have just started f1 and find the lower body elements to be particularly easy. I have a question about mastery, in the introduction coach mentions that if you are not testing mastery you cannot progress more than one step per week. I cant find any option on the website for testing mastery, is this just done by posting videos and being assessed by the coaches?

Hi Tim,

Mastery of a movement is demonstrated by completing step 9 with proper form and tempo, while also completing the mobility with adequate range of motion. Using the workouts in the workout planner, you will be progressed throught the mastery step. 

The option to post videos for feedback is a useful one to keep yourself honest and objective,  as well as possibly point out aspects that you may not have realised were a focus of the exercises until you've spent some time with them

Thanks guys. I'm still not totally clear about mastery though. This paragraph is what inspired my original question:

GymnasticBodies has a system of standards called mastery for how to program an exercise and when to know when it's appropriate to move to a harder progression. Each standard of mastery has been broken into smaller pieces of programming called "steps." So for example if you cannot do Step 9 (Mastery), you would start on whichever previous step in the programming best reflects your ability. The workout scheduler has an option to figure this out automatically. By choosing "Test Mastery" you will get a placement test. If you pass (make sure to log your workout) it will give a harder progression test; if you fail it will automatically assign the best step for you to work on.

It mentions an option to automatically figure out the step which best reflects your ability by choosing "test mastery" and doing a placement test. that sounds really good but I can't seem to find that option anywhere on the website. 

With the above in mind guys how do I know what the level 9 strength and mobility exercises are. Where do I find them on the course as I was under the impression i could only see the current workouts that I'm on. 

Level 9 it is not a specific exercise. 

Every exercise has the level 9 (or step 9) that correspond to the final mastery, e.g. a push up variation has a 5x15 as a level 9. if you click on the setting button on the right of the course page you can select the step where you can start.

Leigh and Tim,

They are not new exercsies. Step 9 is simply the final set and rep scheme for that exercise. This step is called the mastery step because when you complete it, you then move on to a new exercise progression. There is no longer a "Test Mastery" option. The new workout planner now handles that for you automatically. 

Leigh, each exercise you do has 9 steps - increasing reps and sets until step 9 which is the 'mastery,' basically the sets/reps you need to be able to do to then move onto the next exercise for that movement, with 9 steps for that, too. The current interface automatically takes you through those steps. The 'test mastery' setting you're tefering to was part of an older system.

If you want to see what mastery will be for any movement, go under lessons and progressions instead of available workouts; there you will see the different exercises the program will take you through, as well as the sets/reps you will need to be able to do to master each and move on. 

Ok cool, test mastery no longer exists. That answers my question thanks everyone.

Yeah thanks guys much appreciated