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Hi! Sorry if this question is already answered elsewhere, I couldn't find it. So Coach talks about, how we need periods of overload-load-underload (Tim Ferriss' podcast). However in the programs (Foundation and Handstand), this doesn't seem to be the case. Rep/set-schemes in the programs get harder every week (except deload), until we are ready for mastery and a new exercise. Is the principle of overload-load-underload only relevant for advanced athletes? Or did I misunderstand something? Thanks! BR, Daniel

I purchased F1 back in March and I'm pretty sure Fundamentals wasn't available at that point, or maybe I just missed it. Due to inconsistency I'm not that far into F1. Would it be beneficial to do Fundamentals then restart F1?

To give you some background information: I am 21 yo judoka of 10 years, not competitive but rather striving for perfect judo and body control, with normal health and general judo-given body control that lets me pick up any sport on moderate level by watching the real deal. For example I can adopt table tennis, golf and football by copying the other players on the fly. I can do 10+ behind the neck wide grip pull ups and shaky one leg squats. The thing is I'm not too flexible by nature and have been searching for ways to fix that. I came across this site on a random thread about calisthenics when someone said that is just gymnastics with poor technique. I'm impressed by the quality and credibility of the material as well as the good support on this forum. Not to mention this sounds superior in every way to other possibilities. Yoga was never an option as I have no desire to get acquainted with its religion. I'm moving out and starting my studies this month. I have the complex's gym free for use and I planned to do basic strength and mobility exercises every morning leaving the evenings to studies and judo/jog and other interests. I have some questions: Do the courses of GB fit for daily (or 5 times a week) use? How does upgrading work? If I buy Fundamentals + F1 w/pro+ package and later upgrade to full Foundation do I get a $195 (the cost of F1 w/pro+) discount to the already discounted bundle price of $395? I don't think Fundamentals is really invaluable for me but if I can save $80 of the $99 and still get fully discounted later on I don't mind doing it. At what point down the F1-F4 exactly do I need actual gymnastics equipment like parallel bars or a climbing rope? As a Finland based student some $500-600 + 24% VAT is already a huge stretch even spread over four years. If I have to pay $150 extra a year just to have access to a gymnastics gym away from my apartment even F1 isn't worth my time. It won't fit my budget nor my schedule. Sure I get it, GB is a gateway to gymnastics and you're supposed to move onto equipment at some point but I don't want to pay for the local gymnastics gyms for lessons and stuff if I only need the space. What happens when I'm done with the courses I want to do? I have trust in your Behavior based progressing system but how are reviews done? As a language enthusiast I know the true power to control comes through careful reviewing of the known. Is there a way to truly backtrack your progress if I for example don't do anything for two years and later want to get back to my former form? Thank you for your time! I wish I can find a good product and a hobby through this place. You've got a neat site and some real authority to back it up.

Hello, I think after years of lurking i'm finally ready to bite the bullet. However, I have a few questions that i'd like answered to fully convince me. 1. How are these products formatted? ==Is there a daily session given? ==Can I train 5+ days per week( i pretend to train more frequently if possible)? ==How much time per day can I expect to give to doing my "homework?" ==Is there a lot of self assembly or is there a basically a list format for each day? ==IS ALL THE PREHAB INCLUDED (stuff like jefferson curls, cuban rotations,and whatnot)? 2. How do these programs fit together? ==Would one alternate between the two or would you do two separate workouts everyday? (i'm fine with the latter, btw) ==Is there any advice given on how to combine the two (since i imagine they are made to be done together)? ==When you write that " Front Lever, Straddle Planche, Side Lever, Manna, Single Leg Squat, Hollow Back Press and Rope Climb." are all included does that mean that all of these things are worked on in the same workouts or at least in the same week? I would prefer slow multi-faceted progress over focusing on just one or two at a time. 3. Time progressions ==I've heard that to fully do all the material included for the released Foundations packages it would take years, is this true? I REALLY LIKE that idea because that's probably how long it takes for the body to build all the passive structures in the body of an adult. I don't mind having to work for years to do it as safely and consistently as possible. The idea of paying for years of programming sounds really nice. Thanks a bunch.

G'day everyone, My question is really in two parts, so apologies for that to begin with. The first part is directly related to Carbohydrate consumption for F1 and H1 training program run over a 4 day split (with H1 supplementing the lower body days). Workouts normally last 40-60 minutes depending on the micro cycle. 1. So, does the suggestions/examples given by Joshua in 'Perfect Workout Nutrition 2013' apply directly to this type of training? Are the recommendations sufficient or too much? how much Carbohydrate would generally be required for a standard F1 2. I also wanted to post up the nutrition and eating plan my Fiancé and I are working on to support this question, and see what some of the big brains around here thought? Following Joshua Naterman’s advice (link), alongside reading Dr Bernardots Advanced Sports Nutrition book, I believe the following would be required for me (180cm, 70kg) and my Fiancé (154cm, 57kg) Callum (me) Daily Totals (includes the during and post workout numbers below) CARBS: 350 – 490g = 1400 – 1960 CAL PROTEIN: 100 – 110g = 400 – 440 CAL FAT = 998 – 398 CAL During Workout (F1/H1) CARBS: 30g POST Workout: CARBS: 60-90g PROTEIN: 30g Candice (fiancée) Daily Totals (includes the during and post workout numbers below) CARBS: 275 – 375g = 1100 – 1500 CAL PROTEIN: 80 – 90g = 320 – 360 CAL FAT = 722 – 282 CAL During Workout (F1/H1) CARBS: 30g POST Workout: CARBS: 60-70g PROTEIN: 30g Thanks everyone and keep up the great work in this awesome community. Callum

I am new here and I simply tried to find a thread regarding training twice a day, I am sure there is something but couldn't find it. So, what is GB's view on training twice a day, or splitting ones' routine into two shorter sessions a day? Also, instead of training F1 and H1 on different days, could these both be done in the same day, F1 in the morning, and H1 in the evening, without taxing the system too much or getting into over training? In other words, doing strength work in the morning, skill work in the evening, or the other way around... Is there anyone who has experience training in this way with these programs?

Hi, My name is Kenji. I bought the H1 and F1 starter pack and have been doing H1 for the past 3 months or so, and I am currently at the weighted dislocate mobility portion. I will also be doing the GB Seminar in Singapore this March, which I am extremely excited about. Introduction 27 years old, 5'9, 66-67kg, powerlifting background, did well enough in competition. My build seems conducive to powerlifting - long, thin arms and really thick legs. Historically, my shoulders are my weakest bodypart and I tended to have weaker pushing movements because of the length of my arms. Goals for 2015 - That said, my goal for 2015 is to hold a 30-second freestanding handstand anytime within that year. - My very lofty goal would be to perform one freestanding handstand push-up within 2015, or early 2016. I have tried doing F1 and H1 in tandem according to the templates, but could not due to time constraints - the volume and time of doing F1 in tandem with H1 really adds up. Choosing one to start with, I opted to do H1 first before I dive into F1 fulltime. After listening to the podcasts, the general consensus seems to be the need to build a foundation with F1 before all else. Should I continue on with H1 and do F1 after I get the handstand, or should I do the reverse and start with F1 instead? I will have a better idea of programming once I do the GB Seminar this March, but I'd like to already come into the event with the most conducive mind (and body) possible. Depending on the answers in this thread, I'll modify my training in the next 4 months to get the most out of the GB Seminar. I look forward to meeting you all, and I look forward to your feedback as well. Thanks and best regards, -Kenji

Is F1 even suitable for me? Hey there, I have a few concerns and questions regarding the GB online courses ( Foundation 1, first and foremost, as this is the starters-course). 1. Structural Integrity - Is variablility possible? Ive been having several issues or injuries with my body, that has to be continously be treated via exercises(Strengthening of stabilizing muscles, as well as the weakened musclew and specific stretching) that improve my structural integrity. Namely, the ones that i think would be affected most by exercises that arent tailored to my conditions would be shoulder issues( that are only coming when my push-pull ratio is out of order: i generally have to pull more than i push to remain healthy. ( and of course i have to do mobility as well as strengthening the shoulder-stabilzing muscles, like e rotator cuff e.g.). That appears to me is coming from my predisposition that my pec muscles are ( mostly determined by looks ) /appear larger than my back muscles, hence i have slightly winged scapula as well as slighty forward pushed shoulders. Quote of coach sommer: "Posted 13 February 2014 - 11:45 PM While some do indeed insist on such a ratio, GB does not. Yours in Fitness, Coach Sommer " Since this ratio ( of more pulling)! isnt used here, im worried that ill develop shoulder issues on the way. So: is it possible to adjust the program to the point that im more pulling? Im also wondering on the WAY: The program is tailored to the common guy that has the common postural prepositions: slouched shoulders/ kyphosis and anterior pelvic tilt/ weak glutes/ weak hamstrings, tight quads. How then is this program then fixing those imbalances. Heavy pike-stretching seems to be involved, more pushing than pulling etc.Im not trying to "hate" here, im just trying to understand how this program works. There might be some clues i dont get yet.... Maybe this program fixes those problems just in a different way i dont understand? If you do, please help me out! Returning to my personal issue: After all: To me, this program looks very fixed...or are there was given to address personal imbalances? The second problem im facing is the one with my patella tendinosis. Treatment that im following involves strengthening of the glutes, stretching of the anterior hip, quads etc. - basically fixing muscular imbalances that are caused by the sedentary lives nowadays. So basically: stretching the muscles that overtighten in modern sedentary lifestyle, and strengthening the "posterior muscular chain". And I dont see that f1 would do that for me: pike stretch for the manna: stretching the already weak hamstrings, Single Leg squat progressions without being coupled by posterior chain work ( for the lower body). This gives me the question: while this program may be great for people without any injuries or imbalances, im asking myself: is it even suitable for me? And if not: is it allowed/ does it make sense to chance it to my needs? Or would it then rather make much more sense to do a whole another program, suited towards my issues? As said:. I am worried that this program will help me with those progressions, but will worsen my knee condition by imterfering in the structural integrity of my lower limbs here. Also, another question: How would that extreme hamstring flexibility (build up in manna progr.) be influencing overall sportivity and danger of injury in track and field sports? I am, in school, in an intensive sport course, where we are doing some of the popular sports, also im a tennis player. I heard that extreme hamstring flexibility increases injury risk in such sports because of increased instability in those sports.. Also, several PTs tolr me that i am hypermobile and should stop stretching so much.i should focus more on stability work to stabilize respective joints. I hope youre seeing my dilemma... Looking forward to your input! Yours, Jonas

Hello all, I recently decided to take the plunge and begin the F1 & H1 courses. My current exercise routine includes climbing/yoga and I have many of the muscle imbalances common in amateur climbers (rounded shoulders, poor shoulder mobility, and tight forearms). Based on what ive read in the forums and in interviews with Coach Sommer I am excited to work on my joint strength and mobility to solidify a life long engagement in athletics. However I am a little concerned about over training and risking injury. I was hoping to do F1 3x week with H1 incorporation and continue to climb/yoga 2-3x per week. Does this seem like too much? I am curious how other climbers have incorporated the F series in their climbing routine. Any advice is much appreciated. j

I'm looking for the part of the forum where we get to give thanks to Coach Sommer and the amazing gift of his knowledge! I have always been into training. (I've lifted weights, done martial arts, yoga, climbed rock and trees. When I was a teenager I followed the Canadian Airforce exercise program. Which is laughable compared to Foundation 1) I always followed a boom and bust cycle in my training - I'd go super hard for a week, then be hopelessly overtrained and need a week or three to recover my appetite for more. I couldn't maintain progress without overtraining or injuring myself. When I got the Building the Gymnastic Body book a couple of years ago, I tried to follow the steady state training method, but didn't know what holds to train, or where to start and it all felt a bit random. That said, I went from only tuck front lever to brief front lever holds in only a few months and was really pleased. I'm four months in to Foundation One (and Handstand One) and I am SO pleased with the results! For the first time in my life I am training regularly and consistently. I have a structure to follow that makes so much sense, and has so much experience behind it. I have yet to miss a training day, and I look forward to each one. At 32 years old I have never felt so strong, so mobile and so happy in my body. (I've even started at the local gymnastics gym learning basic tricking skills) It's having other ripple effects - I'm finding I want to stretch, just because it feels good, I'm getting regular cardio because I can feel how much my body needs to 'keep the juices flowing' in the recovery days following a workout. In other words, my body is HAPPY. I just really wanted to let you guys at Gymnastic Bodies, and especially Coach Sommer, know that your training program has made a real difference to my life. I can only imagine how many others feel the same way. My cup floweth over with gratitude - F1 and HS1 are rocking my world! I'm looking forward to training in the system for the rest of my life. My commitment is to going slow and steady, reaching mastery and immaculate form at each level before I move on. I started at the beginning for each exercise, because I wanted the maximum time for each mobility component to do its work. And it feels so GOOD! You rock, Coach Sommer! Through your dedication to excellence, and to sharing the fruits of your quest for knowledge, you are bringing a whole new level of awareness, quality and effectiveness to the training of bodies around the world. My body thanks you - and so do I :c) (And I really look forward to attending a seminar next time you guys are in Australia)

Hi everyone, I'm 19, a student and joined the site in Jan 2013 looking for gymnastic stuff to help with Crossfit (good old crossfit huh?) but ended up never posting or really visiting. Anyway after stopping crossfit I've been looking for a new way of training and came back onto the site where I found the new Foundation series which I'm thinking of buying, but before I do I have a few questions hopefully that can be answered first.. 1. I had an ACL surgery last year and while I'm fully rehabbed and back into full sports (soccer) I'm wondering will the leg work in the program strengthen my muscles, ligaments and tendons in my legs to reduce the chances of injury again? And will there be enough legwork for this? 2. Will the programme have carryover and benefits to my sport itself? As I said I play football (Soccer to you) and so would hope any training will help me in the sport. 3. I know the course has a lot of mobility work, I'm just wondering if ankle mobility is included? I ask because I know I have poor ankle mobility which had been a problem previously with squat depth, and I know while there's leg work that the majority of the programme will be upper body focused? 4. Lastly, and a bit ashamedly, will the programme have a big effect on my physique? and is there general timeframes? I know it shouldn't matter, form follows function, a good body is a product of a good lifestyle and that but as a college student with a social life too looking good does come into it a bit... I know nutrition is probably the biggest factor in body fat but what kind of effect will the programme have on my muscles and body, especially being a 'foundation' programme? Cheers for any help/replies

School starts again in a few weeks, and I'm having trouble getting together a fitness regimen that will help me achieve my goals without being overly time-consuming. School is from 7:30-1:30, and I do not get as much free time as I would like to have due to large study requirements. In addition, my running coach wants to have me running 4-5 times a week once the school year begins. I have football (soccer) practice thrice a week, and I try and play everyday. It becomes necessary for me to have weighted leg work in my training regimen. As of now, my schedule looks something like this: Mon: football Tues:running. plyos. Wed: football. running Thurs: F1. running Fri: running. F1. Sat: running. football. F1 Sun: running. F1 Weighted leg work would probably be Hang Snatch, Power Clean, Split Jerk and Deadlift. I'll need to incorporate hip, knee and ankle pre-hab in my warmups I guess. Which begs the question: can mobility work be done between sets of lower body work? Because rest times should be long, but long stretch periods lower strength outputs. Sorry for the long post, but I really need help! Thanks, Aadil

Hi! I purchased F1 last night and am delighted with the product. However, I am having a bit of trouble figuring out how to fit it into my already active schedule. I am currently training for an international Athletics tournament this August, where I will be running the 1500m and be competing in Long Jump. I I do this every morning. I play football (soccer) at varying intensities with my friends each evening, for about 2-5 hours ( I know!) I would like to supplement my long jump work with some plyometric exercises. Should I do some senders work before or after my F1 workout? Should I do some weighted leg work for football? ( I am also playing with our country's football team at this tournament). Should I work out before or after my runnning? A little bit about myself: I am 5ft6in, around 130 lbs at bf% slightly above 10%. I used to exercise by combining weights and basic calisthenics for about 7 months, before I found this wonderful site Any and all help is appreciated

I want to share an awesome experience with everyone that I had today. To preface this, I want to say that I started F1 at the beginning of February. At this point, I was only able to do 3 sets of 1 rep for muscleups. Since then, the only muscleup up work I have done is a couple reps throughout the week before my workouts. Today, I performed a muscleup with 25lbs! This is a personal record for me and I am very excited. I fully contribute this success to following F1. More specifically, the RC/PE6 exercise. It has helped me gain a lot of pulling strength. This shows the Foundation series is highly effective.

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I'm doing F1 and H1 on M-Tu-Th-F, and was wondering if Josh's peri-workout nutrition plan would still be appropriate (warning: major elaboration below). I've never liked the idea of supplementing with protein shakes for several reasons: 1) I've always preferred the idea of eating real food, and 2) I always associated protein shakes with fat bodybuilders who only cared about being "huge" despite how ridiculous they looked. In fact, the main reason I got into GST in 2005 was because I preferred the gymnast ideal of being lean and muscular over the bodybuilder look. That being said, after looking into it today, I've come across at least a couple of references showing that supplementing with whey or skim milk (500 cc immediately post then 500 cc 1h after) not only increased lean mass, but also decreased fat compared to placebo or soy protein (here's the paper for the skim milk study http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/86/2/373.long). Despite the papers, old biases are hard to get rid of, so I have a few questions. As I said above, I work out 4 days a week (4-day F1 split each one followed by H1), but the workouts aren't *that* intense in that I don't sweat much, and though today I had trouble finishing my 9th pushup on my 4th set (I'm on week 6), my entire workout only took 25 minutes, and that includes H1 which I don't consider a strength workout (I'm on PE1 for everything except for HBP and RC where I'm on PE2). So on to the questions: 1. Given the short duration and only moderate intensity of my workouts, would the kind of supplementation that Josh advocates or that the milk paper used (1L of skim milk post-workout) be too much? My question really is whether it'll just end-up making me gain fat. 2. What do you think of that milk study? Is the protein and carbohydrate content of the milk relatively equivalent to Josh's PWO recommendations? 3. Rather than skim milk or whey powder, could I use ricotta cheese and fruit instead? Ricotta is made from whey, and I can find some that doesn't have funky ingredients such as guar gum etc... If so, how much protein should I aim for given my above workload? I weigh just under 150 lbs by the way and am 5'8" with about 10% body fat. 4. Coach's gymnasts are doing pretty well despite not supplementing. Is it unreasonable to think that I could get the same results by only using F1 and H1 without supplementing? Actually typing this question out makes me realize just how ridiculous the notion would be given their young age, and the fact that they train so much more than I do including rings, pommel horse, etc... Anyway, I think that's it for now. I don't mean to be a skeptic, it's just that I've never done this kind of thing before and don't want to make a mistake that I'll later regret such as taking waaay too many calories for the amount of work I do. In terms of other exercise I do, at the moment, I cross country ski a few times a week (anywhere from 1 to 4 hours/week), and only dream of being able to go back to training BJJ regularly (I had to stop once my son was born due to scheduling conflicts). Any response (even partial ones) is appreciated. Thanks, Dave