Newbie Help

Hi

After working with the fundamentals course I went and purchased Foundation 1, Stretch Series, and Movement+Handstand.

I've got a 6 day recommended workout schedule and just finished my second week.

I don't feel entirely sure of whether or not I am doing the daily workouts appropriately, and I would hate to spend time and energy spinning my wheels.

I would really love to have 5 minutes on the phone, or skype, or whatsapp, to ask the million tiny questions I have. Any takers?

Hi Patrick,

Welcome to the GymnasticBodies community!

The best way to ensure that you are doing your exercises right is to submit form checks. You can submit these in the forum or the video review service. Either way we will provide you with feedback on your form. 

We do not have a telephone service, if you have any further questions feel free to ask here or submit a support ticket. We'd love to help you getting started. Please let us know if we can assist you further  

I couldn't agree more! I've read all of the posts on the introduction section and while it answered some of my questions it also brought up others. I wish there was an option to get 2 or 3 calls of say 10 min in length when you buy the full bundle (foundations, stretch, HS, Movement). As it stands here are some questions I have (I'm doing the 6 day workout schedule):

1. If I want to make faster progress on Handstand should/could I train more frequently than 1x a week? Same for Upper and Lower Body? 

2. My thoracic bridge is pathetic and while I've made progress I still can't take my hands off the ground for hip taps. My mobility is "ok" so it's clearly strength. How can I improve my push strength (which Coach says is usually weaker than pull strength) without over training? If the simple answer is patience that's fine too. 

3. When does weighted mobility come in? I'm still on F1 and PE1 for most movements. So if it comes in later I'd get it. I'd just like to know I'm not ignoring/missing something that could improve progress. 

4. Are there elements of middle split and front split that can be done daily or more often? Coach warns not to do front split more than 1x a week but my hammies are super tight and I feel like I should be able to stretch them with some focus for than 1x a week  

Thanks for the help!

Ethan

Hey Ethan,

Welcome to GymnasticBodies! Rather than offer a phone service, GB offers this amazing forum where you can post questions, search to see if some have been previously answered, and submit videos for review as often as you'd like. Hopefully I can help with these:

1. Yes, as long as your recovery allows. When adding workouts to your weekly schedule, you want to do so gradually and methodically, in order to ensure you are still making progress and not overly fatigued. I prefer to make one change at a time.

In an ideal situation, students would begin by training each if the 8 available workouts once per week each, or at least gradually work towards incorporating all of them into their week. If that's not feasible for you right now, then doubling up on other workouts is totally fine.

Here's how I suggest going about that: pick one workout to add in a second time each week (HS, Upper Body, Movement) and stick to that new schedule for at least 4 weeks. Assess your progress, ensure you feel recovered, and if all is good and working fine, you can stick to that new schedule or repeat the process with a different workout. If you regressed, plateaued, or simply don't feel as good, then back it off and return to the old schedule for a time.

Remember that sometimes, less is more. Everyone recovers and responds differently which is why it can take some time to discover what works best for you. 

2. Patience is the answer. Your upper body foundation workouts and the stretches in your stretch series leading up to the bridge will prepare you for the more difficult exercises near the end of the series. There is a lot of information in the TB Stretch subforum and, for future reference, we prefer to keep course specific questions in those specific sections. 

3. Weighted mobility is integrated into your upper body, lower body, and core workout iM progressions already. Exercises like the Stiff Leg Windmill from your core workout are considered weighted mobility. 

4. I'll be vague here since this is the Foundation One subsection, but 1x per week for each stretch workout is the recommended limit. You can, however, incorporate some of the positions that you need extra work on into a light, daily limber. These positions should not be held for very long (no more than half of the time you perform them in the stretch routine) and the intensity should be very low. Just going through the motions on a regular basis can be a great way to improve your flexibility even more. Just be wary of doing too much; for most people, the stretch courses are plenty!

I hope this helps! Looking forward to answering any follow-up questions you might have. 

Wow! Thanks. This is great. I know it was a bit of a potpourri of questions/topics. Huge help.