FL PE 1

4x48s here. Sorry for the bas angle the mobility is cut out. 

-  Been struggling  with this stage for about three weeks now.  Been training core  three days per week usually Monday Wednesday Friday.  Im yet to take a planned deload  as the fall along workouts haven't scheduled one.   on the last set I felt my lower back began to live slightly off the floor, as I approached failur. 

-  wondering

1)  should go back to a easier progression? 

2) Keep grinding away?

3) Deload?

4) Increase frequency of core training to 4 or 5 days per week? 

Hi Ryan,

I suggest reducing your Core workout volume to one or two days per week. Try this for a month and see how you feel. As a general form tip, look down with your chin moved towards your chest. Please do also upload a brighter video and one that includes the iM next time. This is one of those difficult movements that sometimes needs a little extra attention but will help you tremendously in the end. 

On 12/11/2016 at 4:12 PM, Everett Carroll said:

Hi Ryan,

I suggest reducing your Core workout volume to one or two days per week. Try this for a month and see how you feel. As a general form tip, look down with your chin moved towards your chest. Please do also upload a brighter video and one that includes the iM next time. This is one of those difficult movements that sometimes needs a little extra attention but will help you tremendously in the end. 

- Here is my 5x36s FL PE1. I reduced volume down from 5x48s as I kept failing on my 4th and 5th set (lower back lifting slightly off the ground). My sets got broken up because I had to double check the amount of sets I was preforming, during the time I couldnt remember if it was 4 or 5 sets. Anyways... 

- Also note that I am not doing the paired mobility for as it tended to aggravate my elbows. Waiting for my elbows to become more resilient before reintroducing that paired mobility.  Any recommendations on some paired mobility that doesn't involve loading the elbows would be great. at the end I play around with swivel hip making sure my rest period didnt succeed 30s.  

- Also i reduced my training frequency to mon thur. Although training has been inconsistent the past three weeks due to concussion from skiing and then getting the flu coming back into training I do feel stronger. I will keep you posted on how the two days per week works out. 

- Also last question. how close to failure do you want me or beginners training and how frequently should we aim to increase the level of volume? 

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

11 hours ago, Ryan Segervall said:

Also note that I am not doing the paired mobility for as it tended to aggravate my elbows. Waiting for my elbows to become more resilient before reintroducing that paired mobility.  Any recommendations on some paired mobility that doesn't involve loading the elbows would be great. at the end I play around with swivel hip making sure my rest period didnt succeed 30s.  

Try cat cow on your forearms instead. Keep the same knee position and just drop down to a forearm support. 

11 hours ago, Ryan Segervall said:

- Also i reduced my training frequency to mon thur. Although training has been inconsistent the past three weeks due to concussion from skiing and then getting the flu coming back into training I do feel stronger. I will keep you posted on how the two days per week works out. 

While you get back in the swing of things just ease in and perform each workout once per week.

11 hours ago, Ryan Segervall said:

- Also last question. how close to failure do you want me or beginners training and how frequently should we aim to increase the level of volume? 

Based on this video, I suggest selecting 'Too Hard' and dropping back a step. You began to compensate towards the end by pulling your knees in to your chest. Don't push it to failure. Ideally the workouts won't feel super taxing. Use the smiley face system as it will advance you appropriately. Just be honest when selecting the smiley and all will be good. Each step should feel easy before you advance. If you are regularly pushing to near failure then you need to back off on intensity. 

On 1/10/2017 at 8:22 AM, Everett Carroll said:

Try cat cow on your forearms instead. Keep the same knee position and just drop down to a forearm support. 

 

-  I use some mats to elevate my shoulder girdle to  simulate the exercise as if I was placing load on my hands, rather than my  elbows.  felt a little awkward, but I'm sure you use to it ( should be able to revert back to normal cat cow in approximately 4 to 6 weeks) 

On 1/10/2017 at 8:22 AM, Everett Carroll said:

While you get back in the swing of things just ease in and perform each workout once per week.

-  how long would you like me to keep training for once a week?  feeling very refreshed at  this moment after a long week of rest leading up to today's training session. Would like to switch to training twice a week, but will do as you think best. 

On 1/10/2017 at 8:22 AM, Everett Carroll said:

Based on this video, I suggest selecting 'Too Hard' and dropping back a step. You began to compensate towards the end by pulling your knees in to your chest. Don't push it to failure. Ideally the workouts won't feel super taxing. Use the smiley face system as it will advance you appropriately. Just be honest when selecting the smiley and all will be good. Each step should feel easy before you advance. If you are regularly pushing to near failure then you need to back off on intensity. 

-  I bumped down a notch from five sets of 36 seconds to four sets of 36 seconds.  Based on this training session I feels I got up up down again, felt my lower back begin to creep off the floor at the end of my fourth set as I reached failure.  

 let me know your thoughts, and anything I can improve on. 

Thanks!

Hey Ryan,

Nice cat cow setup! That is a good modification. 

13 hours ago, Ryan Segervall said:

how long would you like me to keep training for once a week?

Spend at least 4 weeks on a weekly schedule before making a change. I first made that suggestion in early December so you should be fine adding one more Core workout if you choose.

13 hours ago, Ryan Segervall said:

felt my lower back begin to creep off the floor at the end of my fourth set as I reached failure.  

Keep selecting Too Hard when this happens. If you are beginning to fail towards the end then the workout is too difficult. 

27 minutes ago, Everett Carroll said:

Spend at least 4 weeks on a weekly schedule before making a change. I first made that suggestion in early December so you should be fine adding one more Core workout if you choose.

- considering my training was relatively inconsistent over the holidays I will continue training once per week for the next three weeks. Then jump to training twice per week on a Mon Thur split. 

Sounds like a good plan Ryan. 

So I've been pretty much stuck on FL PE1 4x24s for about 3 months now. I can get through the 4x24s without having to  hard at all but when I try for the next progression of 4x36 no matter how hard I push I reach absolute failure with about 5-6s left in the last set and the lower back lifts off the ground. I was thinking taking a baby step in between these two progressions would be a smart move. I am considering jumping  to a 4x30s for the next while. Thought I would run it by you to see what your thoughts are. 

@Everett Carroll

Yes you could try that also, it is something that i do when I find the 12 second jump up too much. Also you could try the rest pause method - try looking that up as it helps with plateaus. Keep working it, I am only on pe5 after nearly 11 months and feel it will take me a long while to complete 5x60 on this particular progression too. Think of every session as writing a page in a book as coach Summer said, and at the end of the year you have a big book , as opposed to writing a book in a day.

@Marcus Patterson

rest pause being once failure is reached take 10-15s rest then jump back in and keep cranking till you reach total time under tension that is perscribed for that session? 

I will give the 4x30s a go for now.

And Im totally with you on the long term perspective. Trying to remain as patient as possible. At the moment the 4x24 seems like its too easy to ellicite overload but 4x36 is just slightly out of reach. 

ill keep taking it one day at a time and hopefully a year from now ill be nearing in on PE5 

That is just it. In this case however if you are only doing 30 second sets, take the very minimum pause required, which could mean just a few seconds to allow you to finish the set. See how you get on! It maybe just what you need to bust the plateau.

8 minutes ago, Ryan Segervall said:

rest pause being once failure is reached take 10-15s rest then jump back in and keep cranking till you reach total time under tension that is perscribed for that session?

My understanding of RP is that the rest time should be used get plenty of oxygen on board. I know that bodybuilers tend to gauge the rest time by the time it takes to inhale x amount of deep breaths. 

Hi @Ryan Segervall,

I know how this feels. I have felt this when I was starting Foundations. What I did was in the last few seconds, I held my knees with my hands and activated everything I have to maintain the shape. This really helped me finish the exercise with the correct shape. But of course this counts as a fail but helped my body neurologically to fight and get that shape. I have skipped progressions before and thats why I have always moved back to Foundation One. Keep refining the basics and your body will adapt to it. Keep cranking. Good luck

1 hour ago, Greg White said:

My understanding of RP is that the rest time should be used get plenty of oxygen on board. I know that bodybuilers tend to gauge the rest time by the time it takes to inhale x amount of deep breaths. 

I guess it depends on how hard the exercise is and what you still have remaining in the set. When I use this for hollow body holds I find just a few seconds can work if I don´t have long left to hold.

36 minutes ago, Marcus Patterson said:

I guess it depends on how hard the exercise is and what you still have remaining in the set. When I use this for hollow body holds I find just a few seconds can work if I don´t have long left to hold.

True. On the last set, when I fall short of the required reps, I tend to take 8 to 10 deep breaths (15 to 20 secs) and go for as many decent reps as possbile, even if this takes me beyond the required rep count. This helps add a little extra volume.

If i dont hit required reps in the sets before my last set then I'd use RP like you describe.

@Greg White @Marcus Patterson

Thanks for all the insight guys! I will give the 4x36 a try with rest pause on my last set. On my last set ill stop and taking in several deep breaths for 10-15s time when I reach absolute failure (usually around the 30-34s mark) then jump back in for another max hold of at least an additional 6s. 

Set1: 36s

set2: 36s

set3: 36s

set4: 30s RP then 6-10s

6 hours ago, Ryan Segervall said:

@Greg White @Marcus Patterson

 

Thanks for all the insight guys! I will give the 4x36 a try with rest pause on my last set. On my last set ill stop and taking in several deep breaths for 10-15s time when I reach absolute failure (usually around the 30-34s mark) then jump back in for another max hold of at least an additional 6s. 

Set1: 36s

set2: 36s

set3: 36s

set4: 30s RP then 6-10s

I would say you won't need 15 secs to hold for 6, probably more like 5 seconds. Try it and see , you will know straight away if you rest too much or little. Good luck!

so ive been doing the rest pause for almost 4 weeks now and I cant say I've seen much of any improvement on this exercise. I still fail at the same time (30s) on the 4th set. 

I am thinking of regressing down to 4x30s and incorporating some extra sets throughout the week to grease the grove. The extra sets throughout the week will be spaced out by 15 minutes, as this is what is recommended by pavel tsatsouline. 

Any thoughts or advice are appreciated. 

Hey Ryan,

What is your weekly workout schedule looking like now?

2 hours ago, Everett Carroll said:

Hey Ryan,

What is your weekly workout schedule looking like now?

Mon/Thur : F4 ( RC, HBP, FL, SPl)

Tue/Fri: F3 (SL, SLS, MN) 

wed: front split

sun: middle split 

attatched bellow is my HRV over the past month.

Some things to note: I came back from an exhausting week long back backing trip on the 2nd of april and then also detoxed from caffeine for 12days, and continued to train the same split. HRV was in the toilet for the first week and I decided to deload the second week of april (9th-15th) to try and give the body a chance to finally recover. 

This week (april 16-21) HRV has been increasing throughout the week so this tells me that I am able to recover from this intensity, but ideally I would observe the trends for another week to make sure. 

There were a lot of variables floatinbg around for the first two weeks that definitely hindered recovery (cumulative fatigue from my trip, and caffeine detox, as well as some diet adjustments). This also could very well explain for my lack of progress on FL, however I have seen good improvements on all my upper body lifts (RC, HBP,SPl) so it leaves me a bit puzzled. 

and if you are not familiar with HRV (heart rate variablility) here is a link that will help explain what it is. Essentially just a great way to track recovery, the higher the number the better recover, 10being the highest. 

https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/02/heart-rate-variability-testing/

https://www.t-nation.com/training/heart-rate-variability-training

there is also a ton of other information out there on the topic that can help further explain it. 

I started this training split (3/14) 

week long trip (3/25-4/2)

Hey, so after further analyzing my data I found a really helpful graph that plots my fitness to fatigue over time (CTL &ATL Training Load graph) . According to the data My fatigue is outweighing my fitness at the moment. Obviously this is not ideal for making good gains and preforming optimally.

I am going to regress down to a three day split MWF and see how it goes.

If I am still showing signs of excessive fatigue 2-3weeks from now I will regress down to a 2day split. 

also Ill post a form check of 4x30s on monday so we can see if there are any form mishaps. 

Smart move Ryan. I was going to suggest reducing at least the frequency of your core elements to once per week. 

On 4/23/2017 at 1:32 PM, Everett Carroll said:

Smart move Ryan. I was going to suggest reducing at least the frequency of your core elements to once per week. 

Everett, Just letting you know I decided to dial it back big time this week and let the body fully recover as it seemed like I had been running in the red for quite some time. Reduced volume by 50% and switched to a MWF alternating AB split. I will get back to you next wednesday when I train this exercise again with full volume. Im interested to see if I will be any closer to reaching 4x36s 

here is 4 sets of 36, 36, 36, 36, 30. 

Thought I would check my form and I notice the hollow body position is almost a bit excessive and I think im getting wayyy to much spinal flexion. Thought I would check in. 

Also question on how you would recommend busting through the FL plateau. 

In the above I was going to keep working 36,36,36,30 for another 2-3 weeks and then give 4x36 a try. But I was also thinking about regressing back to 4x24s and adding on additional sets upwards of 6x24 to get total equivalent time under tension as the 4x36s. was wondering what way is recommended. The jump from 4x24 to 4x36 has been really tough to obtain over the months. I consistently loose my hollow position ever so slightly on the last 6 seconds in my 4th set. 

Thanks, 

Ryan