Best place to start for beginners

[Jason Gertelman]

I just started GST and I'm a little frustrated/disappointed. I'm 5'10, 250lb. I lift, do spartan races, just started BJJ, but I'm pretty inflexible and I thought this would be a good way to do that. 

But nothing seems to be for actual beginners, except for the Restore programs. 

Like, I thought Fundamentals would be the fundamentals to get loose enough to do a crab walk. Not just start right at crab walk with no modifications. 

Even the stretch series seems really advanced. The first thoracic session has rocking tables as a warmup! And ends with elevated bridges when I'd bet the average person can't do a regular bridge. And again, no modifications or scaled down versions. Nothing about what to do if you don't have the wrist/shoulder mobility to flatten your hands behind your head. 

Even worse, you can't even do the exercises without a stall wall. I've been in lots of gyms and never seen a stall wall and I'm definitely not shelling out the money to install one in my house before I start the program. In some cases, I'd guess you can get around a stall wall by using dumbbells or bars in a squat rack, but again, no mention of workarounds in the video. 

I'm perfectly happy to start with the basics and slowly work my way up to more advanced stuff, but that doesn't seem like what this program is about. It's just starting with--to me--pretty advanced stuff with no guide in how to get there.

At this rate, I'll probably cancel after a month because I have no guidance on what to do when I can't get into position for a stretch and no idea how to work my way up to it. 

But first I just wanted to check if I'm missing something. Is there somewhere better to start than Fundamentals or the Stretch series? 

Thanks

Edited September 17, 2018 by Jason Gertelman

[Alessandro Mainente]

Hi Jason, have you already checked the scaled variation of the stretch series that are proposed in the course page?

look at the top in the FITNESS label , click on it. then access the COURSE LIBRARY, then select your preferred course and then the second icon to the right. for the most of the exercises is proposed a scaled variation.

[Jason Gertelman]

Are you talking about the technique tips and scaling videos with the British guy? Honestly, those are useless.

Look at the ones for the examples I mentioned above. The rocking table scaling tip is just to widen your arms a little bit, but it’s still basically a full table. The elevated bridge is only scaled by lifting your legs higher but you’re still doing an elevated bridge.  You still have to reach over your head and flatten your hands on the mat and hold your body weight. Are these really considered basic entry level moves that you think most people can do?

Personally, I’d find this program a lot more helpful if you followed the DDP Yoga model where there are actual programs for beginners and helpful scaling and modifications.

[Alessandro Mainente]

The forum exists for this reason, a lot of information are shared here especially by mods in a situation like yours.

for the table, you can raise your arm compared to the feet so that at the end of the hips extension the hips are a bit lower than the shoulders.

in the case of the elevated bridge , if you can perform the handstand with back on the wall then you have all the strength to hold the bridge. if the problem is the pushing movement  at the beginning, you can try different ways:

-you can push to the headstand position with a wider grip and finish the movement with a normal grip;

-if you feel that you re unable to push probably you are not ready for specific bridge movement and you need to work more on the previous exercise. I suggest a daily work on the inverted cat.

i'm gonna end this answer by saying that there is no a perfect beginner or intermediate or advanced course. stretch series is structured as a progression of more harder variation. there are many many different parameters that are involved in the flexibility problem but there is no online program that can solve all of them.

 

[Antonio Alías Montoya]

10 hours ago, Jason Gertelman said:

Are you talking about the technique tips and scaling videos with the British guy? Honestly, those are useless.

Look at the ones for the examples I mentioned above. The rocking table scaling tip is just to widen your arms a little bit, but it’s still basically a full table. The elevated bridge is only scaled by lifting your legs higher but you’re still doing an elevated bridge.  You still have to reach over your head and flatten your hands on the mat and hold your body weight. Are these really considered basic entry level moves that you think most people can do?

Personally, I’d find this program a lot more helpful if you followed the DDP Yoga model where there are actual programs for beginners and helpful scaling and modifications.

Hi Jason, proceed this way,

1. Try to do the exercise. If you can t...

2. Try the scaled version described by the british gentlemen. If you still can t perform it...

3. Ask in the forum for a scaling option. The coaches or other trainers will help your for sure. If you still can t perform it...

4. Skip it and do the exercises that you can perform with good execution and good feeling. If it happens that you can t perform correctly around the 50% of the strech serie...

5. Forget about it, move to the restore series and with time start including some of the stretches from the strecht series.

An online program will never be as being coached by an experience trainer. When you do this program, you accept you have to learn to be your own coach, you accept to involve yourself completely, that in the end is the only way you will become flexible.

I ve been following the strecht series and yet there are many many exercises that I can t perform at all, while some other people were doing them from day 1. I will not say this program is complete in a 100% but I ll say that is the most complete program you will (probably ever) find.

I ve been angry ad frustrated also many times but if you really want to become flexible start thinking what you can do and ask exactly for the exercises you want to scale. If you are very far from a bridged where you need shoulder flexion, thoracic extension and hip extension basically, so then work on all of them separately: elevated cat for shoulders, seal for thoracic, vertical lunge for hips...

Good luck.

 

 

[Jason Gertelman]

Thanks for the response. This  is very helpful.