After 4 years, what i hope is constructive criticism.

I've been following this program quite diligently for 4 years now, and have been plateaued for really most of that time. (I've been trying to get to 5 sets of 15 pushups really since almost the beginning. I've been trying to get a single deck squat for more than 3 years, I still need about 3" of panel mats, etc.). 

Recently, I've started doing a number of other exercises to supplement the ones in the program. I've started to see some progress again for the first time since forever. 

I think that advice should be made front and center, particularly for people who don't have a real strong fitness background. 

I'll stay with it because I do think the exercises in the program provide a good back bone for a fitness program, but, at least for me, they aren't sufficient for progress. 

I will say though, the feed back on this forum is TOP NOTCH. Coach has wonderful people monitoring this. 

13 hours ago, PAUL DALY said:

I've been following this program quite diligently for 4 years now, and have been plateaued for really most of that time. (I've been trying to get to 5 sets of 15 pushups really since almost the beginning. I've been trying to get a single deck squat for more than 3 years, I still need about 3" of panel mats, etc.). 

Recently, I've started doing a number of other exercises to supplement the ones in the program. I've started to see some progress again for the first time since forever. 

I think that advice should be made front and center, particularly for people who don't have a real strong fitness background. 

I'll stay with it because I do think the exercises in the program provide a good back bone for a fitness program, but, at least for me, they aren't sufficient for progress. 

I will say though, the feed back on this forum is TOP NOTCH. Coach has wonderful people monitoring this. 

 

Hi Paul , i have checked your post's history, have you ever asked in the private forum for a form check of the pushup (for example) or asked for a suggestion about overcoming a plateau?

I have personally discussed different strategies for rows, for a pushup, for hollowbody position etc and they are still presented in the private section. have you consulted them?

Alessandro, thanks for your feed back. When I said the feedback is top notch, you're the number 1 person I had in mind! 

I have done a few form checks. I got a "good job" on the one's I submitted, or, in one case, a minor revision. 

I have posted once or twice about breaking through plateaus, and read a lot of other posts on the topic. 

The advice I got was essentially to be patient and keep following the program. One forum member sent me a DM saying "I don't want to post this on the forum, but the reality is, you really do need to shake things up a bit to break through a plateau". He was worried that view would not be appreciated on the forum I think. 

Happy to work with you though!

Just out of curiosity, but how far have you progressed in this time?

i have been doing the program for a year, and am still within the first exercise progression (at varying steps) for many of the exercises,  but this is due to my inconsistencies with training, and largely due to the fact that I have been dieting down from 274lbs to 216lbs since late July/early August, which is a pretty aggressive deficit.

that being said, I’ve borrowed a concept from coaches old book, Building the Gymnastic Body, whereby whenever I increase reps or move up to a new exercise, I give myself enough time to where it feels east before I move up again. So, moving up to push ups for example, dropped my reps back down to 3x3, and I hung out at this rep range longer than I wanted to - a few weeks where it felt too easy, before I bumped up again. But this was because I was familiar with this approach from Coaches other material, and haven’t seen it directly discussed in the foundations program... but this is a slow approach but I’m hoping and suspecting it will allow me to avoid some of the plateaus I see people discussing.

The reason I haven’t been consistent is largely due to a personal weakness for quick gratification. I have been completely consistent since August, finally, but I am constantly reminding myself that this is a program that will enable me to progress for decades to come. We have the rest of our lives to work out and I’m trying to approach diet and exercise as if it’s something I will be doing for the rest of my life. The end product of foundations is some really cool stuff, but it’s not like my life will get better once I can do a straddle planche, though my life will improve if I stay on the journey towards one 

On 12/12/2020 at 3:04 PM, PAUL DALY said:

Alessandro, thanks for your feed back. When I said the feedback is top notch, you're the number 1 person I had in mind! 

I have done a few form checks. I got a "good job" on the one's I submitted, or, in one case, a minor revision. 

I have posted once or twice about breaking through plateaus, and read a lot of other posts on the topic. 

The advice I got was essentially to be patient and keep following the program. One forum member sent me a DM saying "I don't want to post this on the forum, but the reality is, you really do need to shake things up a bit to break through a plateau". He was worried that view would not be appreciated on the forum I think. 

Happy to work with you though!

You can of course post your plateau...maybe we can find a solution! why not?! ;-)

5 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

You can of course post your plateau...maybe we can find a solution! why not?! ;-)

I'm not sure I know what private forum you mean. The form check forum?

11 hours ago, Adam Rosner 365999 said:

Just out of curiosity, but how far have you progressed in this time?

i have been doing the program for a year, and am still within the first exercise progression (at varying steps) for many of the exercises,  but this is due to my inconsistencies with training, and largely due to the fact that I have been dieting down from 274lbs to 216lbs since late July/early August, which is a pretty aggressive deficit.

 

that being said, I’ve borrowed a concept from coaches old book, Building the Gymnastic Body, whereby whenever I increase reps or move up to a new exercise, I give myself enough time to where it feels east before I move up again. So, moving up to push ups for example, dropped my reps back down to 3x3, and I hung out at this rep range longer than I wanted to - a few weeks where it felt too easy, before I bumped up again. But this was because I was familiar with this approach from Coaches other material, and haven’t seen it directly discussed in the foundations program... but this is a slow approach but I’m hoping and suspecting it will allow me to avoid some of the plateaus I see people discussing.

The reason I haven’t been consistent is largely due to a personal weakness for quick gratification. I have been completely consistent since August, finally, but I am constantly reminding myself that this is a program that will enable me to progress for decades to come. We have the rest of our lives to work out and I’m trying to approach diet and exercise as if it’s something I will be doing for the rest of my life. The end product of foundations is some really cool stuff, but it’s not like my life will get better once I can do a straddle planche, though my life will improve if I stay on the journey towards one 

variable. for example, I'm still working on 5x15 regular pushups and haven't gotten to pseudo planche pushups. I'm still on elevated deck squats. However, i've progressed to elevated planche bounce. (sorry, I've never learned the nomenclature, I can't tell you if this is Mn-Pe2 or whatever.) 

So the problem for you is completing the pushup 5x15 right? ok. the first step is having a form check.