Programming and Mastery Questions

Hello,

I just started Foundations One and Handstand One - this is my second week.  I've skipped some steps and/or progressions as some of the movements (including mobility) seemed super easy for me.  I feel that the steps I am currently at now are an appropriate level after having tested out various steps/progressions the first week.  Lower Body and Handstand still seem to be quite easy, so I'm still trying to find my actual starting point on those. 

I've read through quite a few forum posts about frequency.  It seems the general consensus is to stick with the original recommended weekly schedule, which seemed to be once per week for everything??  Quite honestly, the volume for the recommended schedule is extremely low for me AND I have not yet purchased the Stretch Series, so I'm not currently doing those.  I'm used to a LOT more volume (2 hours at the gym 5-6 days per week working mobility, strength (powerlifting and Olympic lifting), skill or accessory work and a metcon), so I had switched my schedule to include 2 days per week of Upper Body, Lower Body and Handstand and 4 days per week of Core.  I have not felt fatigued or any soreness of any kind from this.  Is this suitable for me if I'm not feeling fatigued or sore?

I also have a question about "mastery" and moving up in Progressions... Is it recommended to have my videos checked at the end of each Progression before I move up?  And if so, should I have both the exercise AND the mobility reviewed?

I AM looking for quality of movement for myself, so if lowering frequency, slowing down or taking steps back is the key, I'm fine with that.  I have been able to follow along with the videos, but I sometimes feel that quality of movement might be lacking to compensate for speed.  So, I'm guessing "mastery" is attained when I can complete the movement at the follow-along speed, but without lacking in quality?

Thanks for any help you can provide!  I really like the program so far!

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you for reaching out. 

I understand your concern with the workouts not being intense enough to begin with. Foundation One is focused on building work capacity and build a solid foundation for more advanced work later. The first few weeks feels pretty easy for many students, but the workouts will soon become more challenging as they increase in terms of sets and reps. I highly recommend to focus on form in the beginning. 

It's ok to jump a few steps ahead on exercises you can perform with ease. However I do not recommend to skip any progressions. It's highly recommended to submit a video review of your form when you reach mastery for a progression.    You will need to master both strength and mobility element before moving on, so please include both in your submission. 

As for scheduling, you are totally free to add another day of Foundation workouts. However, training core 4 times a week seems a lot and as your workouts are getting harder it may prevent you from progressing. I would recommend to let your body adapt to the exercises and do each of the workouts no more than twice every week. Keep this schedule for a couple of weeks and see how your body respond before adding another workout. 

Fatigue and soreness are not indicators of how 'good' your workouts are. If you are getting too tired and sore from your workouts, it means that they are too intense and you will need to back off in order to be able to perform in your next workout. 

Mastery is attained when you can perform the movements with good form in follow along speed. If you are ever in doubt, you can always submit a form check.

Don't worry about 'finding your actual starting point'. If you keep being consistent with your training and use the smiley system to log your workouts, you will soon be moved up to a level where the workouts will challenge you.

I hope this helped, feel free to reach out again if you have any other questions. I'm happy to hear that you like the program so far and I am looking forward to follow your training  

Dont worry. It will get a whole lot harder! 

I'd strongly advise to go back to the first progressions and submit form checks. As you have advised you want improved movement quality. The standard of technique for even the most basic of movement is high and the coaches want you to aim high and will push you. 

Theres a lot of people (me included) who have gone through the motions with the earlier progressions then realised later on (months and months later) that they didnt really perform it correctly and thats why they are struggling with a later progression.

And if you can do the movements, a form check wont hurt. 

I'm glad I found this thread. I had similar questions, as I was used to much more volume and intensity with my previous gym workouts (granted, they weren't programmed by professionals that knew how to create effective strength progressions, and I was using weights with less than optimal mobility--my results clearly came to an abrupt halt, which is one of the many reasons why I am here). I'm guessing there is no definitive answer for how much volume each individual should complete on a weekly basis, since there are so many factors at play such as body chemistry (hormone balance), diet, sleep patterns, genetics, etc., but I'm wondering if there is a maximum that we should keep in mind when deciding how much volume to incorporate into our routines.

I am about a month into foundation one, and so far I have kept with coach Sommer's recommended schedule and the only changes I have added are doubling the number of sets for upper body and lower body (e.g. for upper body doing 5x9 pushups, 4x12 rows, 4x12 snap shrugs, and then repeating everything for another round--including all mobility pairings). Based on what Pauline is saying is that we are free to add extra days, but more than two per week of any individual foundation workout is inadvisable because of our inability to recover from over exertion. I used to do between 12-16 sets per muscle group per week (loose reference because of compound moves and training of core), which is probably why I felt like I wasn't getting a full workout in just sticking with the programmed number of sets of 3-5 for each exercise. With what I am currently doing (8-10 sets per week, with the exception of the core training at around 12-16 sets per week) I seem to be making decent progress and getting some soreness (but not too much, covering after a day or two).

Is it correct to assume that we can safely double our number of sets, or double the number of days for a given workout, as long as we continue to make progress and are able to recover? If so, which is a more optimal choice, doubling sets or spreading out the shorter workouts and just increasing the frequency of them? 

Hi @Adam Hirshey,

The first thing you have to consider is if you are doing the correct form on all the exercises then if the workout schedule is too easy then you can consider on checking the old schedule: https://my.gymnasticbodies.com/f-schedules/ 

All the answers can be found in your Introduction Tab of your Course Login. I hope this helps. 

3 hours ago, Leo Trinidad said:

Hi @Adam Hirshey,

The first thing you have to consider is if you are doing the correct form on all the exercises then if the workout schedule is too easy then you can consider on checking the old schedule: https://my.gymnasticbodies.com/f-schedules/ 

All the answers can be found in your Introduction Tab of your Course Login. I hope this helps. 

I thought I looked at all the info on the login page, but I didn't see that page before. Those workout schedules look more appealing to me and also sound more productive than the current way I have been winging it. I will definitely start sending in videos of my form before moving on to the next progressions. Thanks for the pointer, this is very helpful.

You're welcome Adam.

Thank you for the replies!  I re-read the Introductory section.  I am not quite understanding...Would I post Mastery videos on the "Form Check" forum?  The "Form Check" forum states to just do one set of the exercise and one set of the mobility, or should I record myself doing the entire sequence (i.e. for HPB/PE1, would I record myself doing the full 5 sets of 15 reps with the 5 sets of mobility)?  Sorry for all the questions, I have tried to find answers on my own, but cannot seem to piece it together.  Thank you for your help!

Hi Jennifer,

You are welcome to upload a video to the Form Check forum or to Video Review. You do not need to film all of your sets. If you are doing 5 sets, you only need to film the 5th set.