Starting with Foundation 1 - What to add next?

Hi there, first off I started the fundamentals program and thrive a few months ago to try and deal with some muscle tightness issues and weight loss goals.  I fell off that for a bit and I'm back now and signed up for the foundations course.  When I started a few weeks ago I was frustrated by how short the workouts are, but I have come to understand and appreciate the value of starting at the beginning and only progressing once a movement is mastered.

That said I am trying to be, as another poster put it, as effective and efficient with my time as possible.  I currently do Core and Upper Body M/W/F, and Lower Body Tu/Th/Sa.  I find that doing Core and UB on the same day gives me a good workout (without rushing or compromising form) in the time I have mentally assigned to working out (30-45 mins) so I don't feel the need to add anything there.  The LB workouts are extremely short at the moment, so I was wondering if I should add another program to be more efficient with my time.  I realize that when this workout gets longer I will have to make schedule adjustments.

First question is am I setting myself up for failure doing each workout 3x a week?  And if not, would I be better off adding a stretch program or handstand 1?  I find the cost prohibitive so I don't want to add them all at once, but I can justify adding one more right now.  I see H1 is a prerequisite for Foundations 3, but the stretch courses are corequisites, so I don't know which would be better.

I don't want to rush things too fast, but I don't want to waste any time either.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks

Graeme

Hi Graeme, 

Glad to hear you're back to GST! In an ideal world, you'd be performing all 8 workouts you see on your dashboard once per week. For now, I suggest picking up the stretch courses as soon as you can. Those are your best next step as mobility deficits are what most commonly slow progress. The skill courses like handstand and movement can come in later. 

For your weekly schedule, I suggest reducing your Foundation workouts down to 1 or 2 times per week. This will allow you to adapt to the stretch course(s) and protect against overtraining. Carefully monitor your recovery and stick to a given schedule for at least one month before making any changes. 

Thanks Everett, I appreciate your feedback!

Getting any mobility issues sorted out early and often should be a first priority, so I second the above.

From personal experience if I had to start over and only get one, I would get one of the stretch courses, preferably Middle Split first if you can't get them all at once.

I find that my hips were my first stumbling block (Swivel hips and straddle ups), then hamstrings and pike compression with front split (which is also worked with MS pancakes, needed for later exercises), and then shoulder extension/thoracic mobility for handstands/ and later manna progressions.

Start Handstand1. The majority of gymnast's shoulder muscle(Deltoids and rotator cuff muscles) development comes from handstand training.

Unless you know you need to stretch more, then get the stretch series.

23 hours ago, Trevor Lewis said:

Getting any mobility issues sorted out early and often should be a first priority, so I second the above.

From personal experience if I had to start over and only get one, I would get one of the stretch courses, preferably Middle Split first if you can't get them all at once.

I find that my hips were my first stumbling block (Swivel hips and straddle ups), then hamstrings and pike compression with front split (which is also worked with MS pancakes, needed for later exercises), and then shoulder extension/thoracic mobility for handstands/ and later manna progressions.

Thanks Trevor.  This sounds like me exactly (swivel hips are quite limited at the moment).  I think I may look at the middle split course, and then add on from there.

Thanks to the other responses as well!