Starting Foundation 1

I will soon have completed my first week with Foundation 1. I’m doing core and legs on Tuesday and Friday and upper body on Wednesday and Saturday.

Starting out it seems rather easy so far. I really like the wind mill as a mobility exercise.  Anyone else doing it two times per week?

I will combine it with some CrossFit inspired workouts and I also add some extra leg training as at least the F1 seems to focus more on upper body/core.

Nice Tobias, welcome to the GB community!

Enjoy the first few weeks and let your body adapt to the exercises. It will get more challenging as you progress and the exercises are increase in terms of sets and reps  

Looking forward to follow your GST journey! 

have been looking through the exercises more and one of the things I really want to achieve is a strict muscle up. Is that something that will be part of foundation or is it an other part of the GB courses, or not at all covered?

progress wise first week is done. Some things have been very easy and some exercises are a bit tougher. Looking forward to week 2

Hi Tobias,

That's an awesome goal! You are definitely on the right path, the Foundation series will build the strength and mobility you will need in order to perform a muscle up.

Specific muscle up progressions are covered in the Rings course. Coach Sommer recommend to finish Foundation Four before starting ring work. Foundation Two at a bare minimum. Starting ring work without proper preparation can lead to serious injuries. 

Well done on completing the first week. The main focus in Foundation One is to build work capacity and prepare for heavier work later on. Enjoy the first 'easy' weeks and let your body adapt. Focus on form. It will soon get more challenging as your workouts increase in terms of sets and reps  

Still on it. in the beginning it was way to easy. But that par stopped faster than I would have thought.

Right now its always at least one exercise I struggle with one per session. The problem for me seams to be going from 6-9 reps to 12. First sets are easy but i generally fail to get all the reps in in set 3-4. What should I do in that case? Now I break and log it as a failure. Should in stead do as many as I can for the reminder of sets?

I have also started handstand now so I will probably do foundation 1-2 times per week and handstand at least one day. 

Hi Tobias, 

You are just experiencing the body adapting to new workloads. It can take time to acclimatize to new rep schemes. You definitely should be doing as many reps as you can for the remainder of the sets.

This will be the only way that you eventually build your work capacity to a sufficient level to progress further. 

Great to hear that you are integrating Handstand into your training. I would start with Foundation once per week. If you feel you are recovering well between workouts then you can look at increasing the frequency.

So I thought i should make a short update on the progress.

Lower body PE2 step 6, PE3 step 4 and PE3 step 4.

The first is hollow body rocks and is now at 36 reps. It is painful. The other two (side over arch and v-ups) are quite easy. 

Leg is rather easy and almost completely done

For upper body PE2 step 8, PE2 step 7, PE3 step 7

For pushup the, lactic acid in triceps is the problem but slowly getting there, Ground rows, looked through the technique tips today so will see what happens after slight technique modification. The plank is very easy will see if that changes.

Will update in a while to see how the progress is going.

Also want to say that the technique tip part is fantastic. 

Hi Tobias,

Thanks for your update.

Sounds like your training is going well. 

Feel free to post videos of your training, we'd love to follow your progress! It's also a great way to get tips and feedback  

So here is a summary video from today's core training. The hollow body rocks (0 - 0:40) was by far the worst. Last set (5:th) was a struggle. Hope it will be easier next time. The Side Over Arch (0:40 - 1:20) still feels a bit awkward (mostly to get good grip with my feet). The v-ups (1:20 - 1:40) are easy and if they look OK I think it should be possible to increase the dose quite rapidly. Mobility feels OK

Hey Tobias,

Thanks for the update. I have a few suggestions for you:

During the hollow body rocks, you are changing your hip angle and "crunching up" to generate momentum. Imagine you are in a cast as you do these. Your body must remain locked into position as you rock.

For the side overarch, press your hips forward a little more, so that your body is in a straight line. Also, do not allow your heels to lift off the ground. This will help isolate your arch to the trunk. 

For V-ups, reach past your toes. This will force you to sit up taller and improve your compression even more. 

Keep it up!

Thanks for the advice. I will keep still at this level and put more effort in to addressing those issues. will return when I think that my techniques a improved significantly.

Again, thanks a lot for the feedback! 

The conclusion from the feedback is clearly that I often think that I perform the exercises better than what I actually do.

So here is a video of my upper body workout. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I have recently modified my ground rows, noq my feet are further forward and therefore my body position is more horizontal. This has made the exercise much heavier and i will have to go down a bit more in reps. Still the first few reps is my best current form. Push-ups feel very easy in the beginning but recovery is to slow between rounds. The plank feels fine. step 8 at the moment.

Hi Tobias,

Thanks for the submission! Here are my tips:

For both your ground rows and push-ups, your back is very arched. What you want instead is zero arching through the back, especially the lower back. To achieve this, a posterior pelvic tilt is needed. Strongly engage your core, glutes, and thighs for the entirety of each movement. If you have handstand one, practice the iM drills after PE8 to develop more awareness and control of PPT. 

For both your push-ups and planks, focus on protracting more strongly at the top of each rep. My favorite cue for this is to, when you have fully straightened your arms, imagine there is a hot poker coming towards the center of your chest. Push "through" the floor in an attempt to lift your chest higher, escaping the burn. As you do so, you should feel your shoulder blades spread apart even further. At the top of each of these positions, you want to have a diagonal line running from your shoulder blades down to your heels. 

For your rows only, avoid turning your palms away from each other at the bottom of the movement. Instead, have them facing away from your head. Also, keep your feet together and focus on pulling all the way to your chest with the improved body line mentioned above.

I hope this helps! Keep cranking.     

Thanks alot for the advice. I have begun to address the arching but I think it will take some time. Really difficult, will repost once I think its gotten better. Will add in the iM drills suggested. Lots of things to work on, will be fun to address these weaknesses!

So I´ve been working on my poster tilt and I think I am now performing the exercises better. It has forced me to go back quite a few steps but it feels much better when I workout.

Here is the new version of my push up 

does it look OK? 

And this is how my rows look now. I am down to doing three but it felt much more controlled than last time. 

Any advice is as always greatly appreciated!

Great improvement Tobias! I have a couple of suggestions for you but you are making clear progress. 

For the push-ups, be sure your knees are totally locked and your quads are engaged. Also, more PPT and protraction are still necessary. If you have the Handstand One course, HS/PE9>iM, along with the mobility drills that follow it, are a great way to improve your control and awareness of your pelvic tilt.

I strongly recommend that course if you don't have it already. Otherwise, the cues are the same: tight glutes, strong core, and ribs down as they are in a hollow body hold. For protraction, continue emphasizing a strong push into the floor, as if you are trying to hollow out your chest. 

For the rows, cue I mentioned about dropping your ribs down is going to help you the most. 

Keep at it! You've almost got these dialed. 

Thanks a lot for the advice. I am currently doing the workouts like this. 

Monday and Thursday: Upper body

Tuesday and Friday: Handstand 1, core, lower body

I try to do the PPT iM from HS every evening. 

I also just got the stretch series and my goal will be to run through them in the evenings once per week. 

I also think that they have improved my body rocks 

I think they look better and at least they feel a lot more

I'd recommend posting a form check of your Incline push ups. In case you haven't managed the required PPT and protraction during Inclines then it's a lot harder to learn during Push Ups. I think of inclines as the exercise where you get a feel for protraction and PPT. Then when you have that correct body shape and technique it's easier to transfer to the Push Ups. Plus if doing Inclines isn't as taxing energy wise it gives you more energy to perfect the other exercises. As you have quickly learnt the volume and difficulty soon adds up. 

Excellent hollow rock improvement! The only tweak I suggest is getting your feet lower in the starting position. Increasing the angle of your thighs slightly, to about 45-degrees, will set them in the correct position. 

On 6/19/2017 at 4:05 PM, Everett Carroll said:

Great improvement Tobias! I have a couple of suggestions for you but you are making clear progress. 

For the push-ups, be sure your knees are totally locked and your quads are engaged. Also, more PPT and protraction are still necessary. If you have the Handstand One course, HS/PE9>iM, along with the mobility drills that follow it, are a great way to improve your control and awareness of your pelvic tilt.

I strongly recommend that course if you don't have it already. Otherwise, the cues are the same: tight glutes, strong core, and ribs down as they are in a hollow body hold. For protraction, continue emphasizing a strong push into the floor, as if you are trying to hollow out your chest. 

For the rows, cue I mentioned about dropping your ribs down is going to help you the most. 

Keep at it! You've almost got these dialed. 

 

You just gotta make everything harder, don't you?  Kidding of course, I learn a lot from watching form videos and one of these days I'll start posting some.  Just gotta spend a couple minutes learning how 

11 minutes ago, Malcolm Watters said:

You just gotta make everything harder, don't you?

That's my job!  

5 minutes ago, Everett Carroll said:

That's my job!  

While I have you here, I have noticed something lately and wonder if it's caused by these workouts and mobility.  

One of my favorite things to do is archery. My draw length (basically a measurement of how long you pull the string back) has always been 29" and at certain times even 28.5" has fit better.  Yesterday, I'm shooting my bow and I'm realizing I'm neeeding to move my head closer to the string or collapse my left arm a little to make it fit. What this means is I need more draw length.  So with all that said, is it possible with all the extra work and shoulder mobility to expand you wing span (arms out finger tip to finger tip).  Because it appears I have gotten wider at the shoulders or my arms grew longer.

Hey Malcolm,

Could be increased range of motion, broader shoulder, or a combination of the two. Pretty interesting either way. 

29 minutes ago, Everett Carroll said:

Hey Malcolm,

Could be increased range of motion, broader shoulder, or a combination of the two. Pretty interesting either way. 

Yea, I'm not sure what it is and it's possible it's just a change in my form but in the last year ive lost close to 30 pounds and feel like my arms and shoulders have definitely gotten bigger.  It's just when you draw a bow and anchor on a target, the string should just touch your nose and mine is now away a half inch or so.  Kinda cool if it's from shoulder mobility and added muscle 

I agree that the changes have made many of the workouts much tougher but the execution feels much nicer. I think that the main thing now is to train my nervous system to start doing the movement correct without me focusing on it. Now it is a lot that when I am focusing on protraction I loose focus on keeping quads and glutes tight. Will get there, right now I am still doing the workouts twice per week, but Im trying to do a few push-ups per day just focusing on the technique and they feel better and better. Also strong focus on PPT.

The changes have made me go back a few steps and here is my current level. I intend to update every month or so to track my progress. 

FL PE2/3, SL PE3/6 MN PE3/6 HBP PE2/5 RC PE2/2 sPL PE3/7 SLS PE5/4 HS/PE2/4