Planing the week - best practices?

Hi @Alessandro Mainente  and Gb Team, 

after years on different programs i am back to GB - i started in the vacation, again, and loved it so much so i decided to stop my Crossfit and continue with GB again and stick longer this time.

During a normal week i used to work out 6 times a week - sometimes "only" 4 times - but most of the times about 6. I am 42 years old and doing sports in different kinds all life long. Every few years (i hink most of the time when i tried some kind of kipping crossfit movements) i ended up getting lateral epicondylitis. I consider my forearms a weak spot as i have relatively small wrists and forearms and als my neck- so i just recently started to give them some extra workouts. I once had a supraspinatus impingement in my right shoulder which never came back after going back to stretching and making it stronger.

I own all fundamentals, the HS and all the stretch series.

My goal is to stay whole body fit and healthy and not lose my breath and speed as i get older. Also i don´t mind looking good naked  I am perfectly happy the way i look - my main "problem" is that i look way fitter and stronger than i am and would like to match the Look withe adequate strength. At about 180cm i weigh approx 82kg.

As to my question - how should i schedule my workouts? Right now i am still stuck on:

Front Lever: Straddle Hollow Body Hold

Side Lever: Twisting Arch Up

Manna: Negative Hanging Leg Lift

HBP: Pushup First 3 of 15 are easy, than it gets too hard to have mastery form

RC: Ground Rows - the kill me!

SP: Single Arm Plank

SLS: Static Single Leg Squat

How long should a rest be between workouts or workouts of the same muscle group when staying in the categories Upper, Lower, Core?

Is there a benefit of adding the Deadlift and a Front Squat to the mix as the help improve overall strength?

Would you incorporate  1 or 2 "cardio" sessions for the purpose of overall health to work on speed and increasing capacity in the form of HIT workouts or would this not benefit my recovery?

Would you incorporate some extra work for the forearms and neck?

As i am still on early progressions i had days where i did Upper, Lower and Core in a row and it was ok, but i felt better with just 2 (eg core plus upper) in a row. 

How would you recommend a schedule?

Thank you very much for your input and your experience in working with other athletes

Jochen

On 9/5/2021 at 7:13 AM, Jochen Friedrich said:

Hi @Alessandro Mainente  and Gb Team, 

after years on different programs i am back to GB - i started in the vacation, again, and loved it so much so i decided to stop my Crossfit and continue with GB again and stick longer this time.

During a normal week i used to work out 6 times a week - sometimes "only" 4 times - but most of the times about 6. I am 42 years old and doing sports in different kinds all life long. Every few years (i hink most of the time when i tried some kind of kipping crossfit movements) i ended up getting lateral epicondylitis. I consider my forearms a weak spot as i have relatively small wrists and forearms and als my neck- so i just recently started to give them some extra workouts. I once had a supraspinatus impingement in my right shoulder which never came back after going back to stretching and making it stronger.

I own all fundamentals, the HS and all the stretch series.

My goal is to stay whole body fit and healthy and not lose my breath and speed as i get older. Also i don´t mind looking good naked  I am perfectly happy the way i look - my main "problem" is that i look way fitter and stronger than i am and would like to match the Look withe adequate strength. At about 180cm i weigh approx 82kg.

As to my question - how should i schedule my workouts? Right now i am still stuck on:

Front Lever: Straddle Hollow Body Hold

Side Lever: Twisting Arch Up

Manna: Negative Hanging Leg Lift

HBP: Pushup First 3 of 15 are easy, than it gets too hard to have mastery form

RC: Ground Rows - the kill me!

SP: Single Arm Plank

SLS: Static Single Leg Squat

How long should a rest be between workouts or workouts of the same muscle group when staying in the categories Upper, Lower, Core?

Is there a benefit of adding the Deadlift and a Front Squat to the mix as the help improve overall strength?

Would you incorporate  1 or 2 "cardio" sessions for the purpose of overall health to work on speed and increasing capacity in the form of HIT workouts or would this not benefit my recovery?

Would you incorporate some extra work for the forearms and neck?

As i am still on early progressions i had days where i did Upper, Lower and Core in a row and it was ok, but i felt better with just 2 (eg core plus upper) in a row. 

How would you recommend a schedule?

Thank you very much for your input and your experience in working with other athletes

Jochen

 

Hi Joches i'm trying to give you some guidance here but keep in mind that the more specific the request the more the personalyzed tutelage is the best option and also you need to try and adjust with the time while beginning with some best practices:

How long should a rest be between workouts or workouts of the same muscle group when staying in the categories Upper, Lower, Core? if you have 3 days of workout i suggest alternating 1 day of work with one of rest.

Is there a benefit of adding the Deadlift and a Front Squat to the mix as the help improve overall strength? strength is specific so if you practice deadlift you are not ng to improve front lever or planche. i would add that heavy leg sessions will decrease the nervous system response for a couple of days so they should be planned carefully.

Would you incorporate  1 or 2 "cardio" sessions for the purpose of overall health to work on speed and increasing capacity in the form of HIT workouts or would this not benefit my recovery? it depends on the type of HIIT, duration, average intensity, and starting level. it can have a general good effect but it can also increase the amount of fatigue.

Would you incorporate some extra work for the forearms and neck? only in the case of very weak forearms, neck or muscles imbalances.

As i am still on early progressions i had days where i did Upper, Lower and Core in a row and it was ok, but i felt better with just 2 (eg core plus upper) in a row. 

How would you recommend a schedule?  also here is personal, if you feel that the lower can be affected by the fatigue of the upper and vice versa you are fine to split them into 2 sessions. there is no a fixed rule.  i have worked for a long time doing everything 3 days a week. then i moved on 4 days a week doing one element 2 times, then i moved to 5 days a week doing something often probably because it needs more volume. if you can begin by doing an element at least 1 time, you can move to 2 times, and if it is too much doing 3 times in 2 weeks (the first week 2 times and the second one time). Rarely you can get the perfect schedule with the first attempt, with my students it can require 3 months.

Thank you very much for the detailed answer!

i guess i would just like to put in too much and it might be holding me back...

While i would love adding some HIIT and the squat and the deadlift i fear it would require me to add some more off days for recovery which means not perfectly hitting my GB workouts.

So i think i will try this schedule at the beginning and modify from how i feel:

Mon: Off day

Tue: Upper, Lower, Core

Wed: Thoracic Bridge, HS

Thur: Upper, Lower, Core

Fri: Front Split, HS

Sat: Upper, Deadlift, Squat

Sun: Core, Middle Split

Or would you not recommend starting that way and modifying on the go?

What kind of HIIT do you think in your opinion could be best integrated in the GB course to increase overall health and fitness?

Thank you very much

Jochen

7 hours ago, Jochen Friedrich said:

Thank you very much for the detailed answer!

i guess i would just like to put in too much and it might be holding me back...

While i would love adding some HIIT and the squat and the deadlift i fear it would require me to add some more off days for recovery which means not perfectly hitting my GB workouts.

So i think i will try this schedule at the beginning and modify from how i feel:

Mon: Off day

Tue: Upper, Lower, Core

Wed: Thoracic Bridge, HS

Thur: Upper, Lower, Core

Fri: Front Split, HS

Sat: Upper, Deadlift, Squat

Sun: Core, Middle Split

Or would you not recommend starting that way and modifying on the go?

What kind of HIIT do you think in your opinion could be best integrated in the GB course to increase overall health and fitness?

Thank you very much

Jochen

Hey Jochen, my suggestion is to make a choice....heavy squat OR heavy deadlift once a week in the last day of training of the week so that it cannot affect the following days.

You can consider to pain heavy squat with the IM of the leg GB course (from foundations) and eventually heavy deadlift with the single-leg squat progression from the foundation course.

For a general fitness level and in order to not affect the other session i suggest HIIT no more than 12-15', if you pass it consider that you are accumulating too much fatigue.

Thank you very much for your input!

Do you mean to pair heavy Squat with the IM of the leg course, i guess?

Great suggestions! Thank you!

Do you also consider Crossfit Metcons as HIIT and would you program them just like your suggested 12-15min HIIT session? Like e.g. - in 15min AMRAP of 400m row, 10 DB Snatches, 10 Burpees, 10 Wall Balls?

22 hours ago, Jochen Friedrich said:

Thank you very much for your input!

Do you mean to pair heavy Squat with the IM of the leg course, i guess?

Great suggestions! Thank you!

Do you also consider Crossfit Metcons as HIIT and would you program them just like your suggested 12-15min HIIT session? Like e.g. - in 15min AMRAP of 400m row, 10 DB Snatches, 10 Burpees, 10 Wall Balls?

 

Yes, i mean exactly that because heavy squat can be paired with a complementary work for the posterior chain exactly like the IM of the leg part in the foundation. the same is valid for deadlifts...i know that single-leg squat is more similar to squat but is "enough different". having variation is ok in order to avoid excessive fatigue.

Well, i consider HIIT in this case only with the aerobic component. it leads to less accumulated fatigue because it relies on the aerobic system and lower limb.

having HITT with muscles training is different because usually muscles are pushed to the limit of the failure and both glycolytic system, aerobic and ATP are stressed, of course, it requires more time to recover.

In order to avoid fatigue, i suggest running or jumping the rope.

Thank you very much!