Back to the Beginning

GB Community,

I have been training the GB system since March of 2014 starting with Foundations and Handstand 1 Series.

I added to my curriculum the three Stretch Series (Front Split, Middle Split, and Thoracic Bridge) in August of 2016.

I then added to my curriculum the Movement Series in January of 2017.

As of July 2017, I progressed to the following in Foundations and Handstand:

FL/PE12

SL/PE14

MN/SE5

RC/PE13

HBP/PE17

sPL/SE3

FLS/SE9

HS/PE12 

In July of 2017, I added the Handstand 2 Series and also decided to restart the curriculum. I am going through each skill in Foundations and Handstand at an accelerated pace. Once a week for a month I am attempting to perform step 3 (week 1), step 6 (week 2), step 9 (week 3), then a deload (week 4). I also, plan to perform step 9 three more additional times (week 4, 5, 6) and then a deload (week 8). In theory, this will allow me to complete each exercise in 8 weeks and ensure I am spending ample time on the mastery level workload. 

This is my first time posting here on the forum so I figured I would introduce myself (in terms of GB) as a prologue to further involvement I put into this forum.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the forum  

This sounds like a great plan, in my experience going back to refine the basics always help me advance further and improve my overall strength. I am looking forward to follow your progress

Hi Andrew, nice to see people with long-time experience with the program step up and share on the forum. I would be excited to see some form checks for motivation. 

It makes sense to restart from where you are in the progressions I think, many of those are ones where people get stuck for a long time. I like the schedule you are planning for this in principle. To make sure you don't lose gains already made, you might want to consider speeding up the journey back through the progressions by skipping (gasp!) some steps that are themselves progressions of later P/SEs, e.g. HBP PE1, FL PE1-PE2 or PE4, MN PE4-6...  

Pauline, thank you for your kinds and welcoming words. I am glad to hear someone shares my sentiment and it's nice to hear from a coach... all the way in Norway! In my mind, building a strong and resilient structure necessitates a strong and resilient foundation. That said, going back to refine and address any weaknesses in the foundation may be necessary time-to-time. Especially if they were not fully established at first or have not been focused on in the building process. 

 

Kai, I would certainly be up for posting some form checks. Which do you mean: exercises I was performing before I started over, or the ones I am currently returning to and refining? As for having trouble reaching mastery on some exercises, as I got further along it happened more and some I spent a long time on. Some I pushed through rather quickly, 12 weeks or shorter, and others took me over a year. Among many things, it helped me learn to discern when I was no longer progressing or plateauing but overworking the movement and missing key strength or mobility to master it. I did a lot of considering before I chose to start over: reading, thinking, discussing, planning, projecting, etc. and from what I have gathered through others and myself is that there is always something you can work on improving and that some of these deficiencies are necessarily addressed in order to move on to more complex movements and skills. Part of me was concerned about losing gains too. There are exercises I looked back at and thought they would not be challenging or stressing the system enough to elicit or at least maintain gains. With more thought and giving it a go, I am reminded that progress is a process that requires determination, focus, and grit. This means there may be times that require the humility to go back to the basics and discover weaknesses and deficiencies that are obvious or imperceptible and focus on the foundational movements with a new perspective on where you are headed and what you need when you get there. So far I have found ways to discover and address weaknesses and deficiencies, even with the simplest and most basic exercises and integrative mobility. I foresee this will continue on my journey of further progression. All that to say, I will probably stick with the progressions of each PE and SE as well as their integrated mobility. There will probably be some that seem less challenging, but I will seek to find ways to develop myself in each one. Thank you for your input. I appreciate your and other's considerations and perspectives. This type of community is what enhances one person's potential by contributing in many ways and I am grateful for it.

I am always excited to see form checks that are at or close to mastery level, and of the higher PE/SEs, there's not that many around. I feel I always pick up something useful from the corresponding threads, and it's motivating to see the results of people who have gone through the program.

It's my own experience that I have lost some strength or ability by getting too hung up in earlier progressions. When the progression is simple a leverage-reduce version (e.g. FL PE1-4) I think even Leo has advocated skipping it (HBP PE1 is another example). It's also worth knowing that you can maintain prior levels quite easily, and you probably have built up the work capacity to do that over your time training with GB.