How many people have completed Foundation? If there's any..

[Ron Roitman]

Just curious if anyone has succeeded to complete foundation course. 

[Ron Roitman]

Bump

[Murray Truelove]

Think there's only a handful who have gone through all 4. There seem to be quite a few members in F2 forum but the F3/F4 forms are quiet.

[Peter Smrek]

wait

[Mikkel Ravn]

Most people here are much older than Coach's former athletes, and much less talented as well. Personally, if I make it in less than four years (been at it for ~20 months), I'd be impressed with myself. We'll just have to wait.

[Alessandro Mainente]

I've completed F4 for RC, on HBP i'm at the last 2 elements of F4  FL i'm at the half of F4, manna I'm at half of F4 ,PL beginning of F3.

For SL and SLS i'm in F1   

[Alessandro Mainente]

Also Jon douglas , Niels from copenaghen, Zach, Daniel are quite advanced..probably more then me

[WadeWilson]

I'm gonna finish Foundation 1 soon, the only thing lagging behind are the Side Lever progressions. I mean they are tough as hell for me, but i'll get through. Can't wait to start F2

Edited November 13, 2014 by WadeWilson

[GoldenEagle]

The elements I am currently working on are in Foundation 2.

 

My left shoulder injury has stalled my progress in sPL and HBP.

[Jon Douglas]

Finished SLS, F4 Mn, SL, RC, F3 HBP, FL, F2 Pl.

Progress has been slow for the past couple months, assorted reasons, but I am on track call it consolidation improvements. My mobility and HS are way up too, which has been nice.

Niels is probably closest all-around right now AFAIK

[Briac Roquet]

AFAIK, the most advanced guys here are Alex, Daniel, Jon, Niels, Zach and Joshua (Slocum). Alex and Daniel's progress were set back by injuries but I believe once they're completely out of the way, progress will resume quickly. For instance, Daniel was very close to a manna before his shoulder surgery and I remember him mentioning he had a straddle planche on rings. Basically the two spots where people progress slowly.

With all that in mind, you'd just need Niels, Zach and Joshua (or others who know more than me) to tell you where they are, if you really want to know. 

[Cole Dano]

What you're asking simply is not a realistic question. Every adult coming into the program is doing so with their own unique background and set of weaknesses.

 

Weaknesses being the key word, since to my knowledge we've not had a single student walk in without some huge holes in their preparation be in regarding strength or mobility or other factors.

 

If there were a cap put on the program we'd be seeing lots of injuries or people dropping out of an otherwise very productive and healthful system simply because they couldn't keep up with an arbitrary set of demands.

[Ita Sha]

If you've already bumped it up... I'm really curious to know how you all (Alex, Jon, Zach, Joushua, Daniel....) have progresses since you've talked about it here almost a year ago.

 

Thanks! it will be very interesting to know. 

[Murray Truelove]

I think mobility is the biggest obstacle for most adults. If you took the IM's and replaced them with a short rest people would fly through the course.

For both strength and endurance I've mostly been able to follow the course as written but I've had months where my mobility hasn't improved at all.

It's also worth mentioning that the standards here are high, a push up without depression, protraction, flaired elbows and a saggy core is a lot easier.

[Jennifer Rodriguez]

Erik, you don't need to spend the entire 12 weeks on every progression.     Reread the course materials to see how to proceed when transitioning from one element to the next.       Best wishes on your journey!

[Cole Dano]

Nothing is being suppressed Eric.

 

I can't see Coach Sommer putting a time line on the courses as the variability from one student to the next is too much. It certainly can take 1.5 years or even more for some to get through. I don't see what the issue is there, the whole program is based on people working from where they are age wise, background wise etc.

[Timothy Aiken]

Some have spent 18 months on a single progression (ABH), while for many it only takes one cycle (such as with sPL PE3 after doing sPL PE2). The fact that this kind of variation takes place is the reason no estimate could or should be made on the time necessary to complete the course for an "average" that doesn't exist.

 

Personally, after reading the introduction to the courses carefully I found the programming intuitive and simple to implement. It took me a few cycles to have the rep schemes for everything memorized but that comes with any program. Also, as this thread has shown, there isn't a large enough sample size of people who have gone from F1 to F4 to make any sort of prediction for others just beginning the course.

 

I would see a time estimate as a distraction.

[Alexander Egebak]

Previous estimation was 2-4 years but it varies to much to put any trust into such statements. Only time will tell.

[Coach Sommer]

Erik,

 

Why in the world would I change formatting when people need to take the time that they need?

 

You are getting far ahead of yourself.  It will take as long as it takes.  Only your inherent physical capabilities, injury history and work ethic can determine how long your individual window of development will be.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Coach Sommer]

This is training; not hand holding. You can build your breaks in on your own.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Alexander Egebak]

I am talking about a change in the sense of something - anything - to break up the long term pattern.  That could be adding a "stretch week" every some week, or even a rest period now and then. You're the coach, I'll leave the details to you

The long term pattern is the most important one - your body (and your mind) will adjust to the regular demands of the training and this is where you will see progress.

 

Everyone is free to do whatever they like but it should still be discouraged to move outside of programming simply because people most often will shoot themselves in their feet. Sure, one can take one week off due to travelling or such matters, but it should still be underlined that taking a week off is NOT optimal as long as you deload correctly and do not train too many times a week.

 

There are separate stretching programs out there if you need any stretching.

 

Let me tell you this bluntly; there is no reason to not follow the programs as laid out, especially if you do not know why they are designed the way they are. They are not constructed to entertain people, but rather to have people progress their athletic abilities.

 

And, speaking from personal experience, the sooner one accepts the way things are right now and what needs to be done today, the easier will tomorrow and days, weeks, months and years after look.

[Coach Sommer]

If you are going to train with a National Teach coach, be prepared for a solid dose of reality.

Enough moaning, Erik. Go spend some of this angst positively by working up a good sweat.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Alexander Egebak]

No need for sarcasm coach. It was a pretty innocent suggestion from a paying customer. 

No need to show disrespect on your side. You are buying into a finished product, you are speaking with professionals, you have been hinted about that several times.

 

The sooner you accept the product for what it is, the faster you can enjoy the benefits of it

[Ryan Bailey]

Erik,

It appears everyone has been pretty obliging to your comments, especially Coach.  I've had coaches in the past that would have whooped my ass by now, talking the way you are. 

In regards to your wanting a "standardized... time to complete", you know we are working with humans here, not machines.  There is no time stamped anything involving human biology and time frames.  You say you have read the course material, so you know you are able to progress to the next element every next workout if you are successful.  If however, there are holes in our mobility or strength then we have to work at it and put in the time.  If we are too weak to progress through elements in a faster time frame,  than we only have ourselves to blame here... no one else. 

Ryan

[John Kiggundu]

I'm bumping this out of own interest. I would like a general debate of what to expect from the program, including what the coach himself thinks regarding the subject. It is possible I have missed many related discussions here, but I have the impression that the general duration of the programs are just not talked about. If that is the case, I dont understand why. 

 

Currently I am churning away on F1/H1, started fresh in June, and following the progression week by week. Judging by my progress, I dont see my self skipping any steps along the way. That means I will use my 12 weeks for each primary element, and for 5 remaining elements looking for a minimum of 60 weeks to finish F1 from my current status (unless there are major deviations from the 12 week cycles I have not realized in elements to come). So 15 months from now, or shall we say by christmas 2016, I can start on F2

 

I just dont understand why I had to figure this out on my own? Would it not be better just to give out an official time cap for all programs, speaking for the general immobile untrained adult student like myself? So the F1 will take me a year and a half to finish, starting from scratch? I'm cool with that, but not come clean about it from the beginning?

Erik,

 

I'd strongly caution anyone against demarcating some kind of expected time horizon for his/her completion of even F1. Doing so, as Cole indicated previously, might incline you to be more aggressive with completing some elements, or perhaps introduce some poor work habits, e.g., half-assing your way through difficult progressions (RC/PE6, MN/PE2, SLS/PE2>im, SLS/PE3>im come easily to mind) simply because you'll feel you've got to catch the last bus on the schedule.

 

With GST, there is no schedule and the buses arrive, predictably, on time, and never run out of fuel.

 

What's more, after you've done GST for a while (i.e., anything > 15 months) you'll realize how completely impossible it is for anybody to forecast your expected completion date -- even for something as elementary as F1.

 

Not even if you trained with Coach on an exclusive basis would he have the ability to forecast how long it would take you. There are too many variables that will cloud the picture but the primary reason why I believe it is impossible: GST is challenging and hard. It requires absolute dedication, repetition in training, humility in approach, and persistence in overcoming difficult exercises. 

 

Put simply it requires a lot of motivation to keep going, and a lot of honest training (not half-assing one's way through) to progress effectively. It is very difficult to forecast whether someone will continue to be motivated, and persist through challenge, and train honestly throughout.

 

So it is impossible to predict how long it will take them to complete the course. There are a few more reasons that I'll elucidate below.

 

1. Training Frequency.

 

Just about all the elements, but especially (at least for me) the FL, MN, HBP, RC, SL, are very sensitive to your not missing a scheduled workout for you to progress effectively, or for proper sequencing of your workouts depending on your deficiencies.

 

Have poor training habits? Your progress will stall. Get some injury that requires some time off (which is not at all improbable given the haste with which many of us try to attack some elements)? Your progress will again stall.

 

2. Impossible to tell how long it will take for your mobility to come through 

 

Just because somebody might have been a body builder, karate practitioner, etc., does not come anywhere close to their being prepared for GST.

 

A simple exercise like SLS/PE2 might take you forever to complete simply because of its integrated mobility which is absolutely demanding for most adults. I presume F2, F3, and F4, have a lot more challenging mobility elements simply because they are more advanced than F1.

 

SL has the ULTIMATE NEMESIS that I know of so far, (currently in F2) which is a strength element, but whose ultimate progress heavily depends on one's mobility in the thoracic spine area, shoulder area, and overall strength of posterior chain. This element alone, can last anywhere from 12 weeks to 1 year, to 2 years to master, depending on what mobility deficiencies you had prior to beginning GST.

 

3. Most Adults have had Injuries Prior to Beginning GST which Will Affect Speed of Progress in Some Elements

 

This is self-explanatory. 

 

So, I hope this helps you realize that nobody is deliberately stalling you or evading your question. You're simply asking a question that is impossible to answer.