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Floor 1

Training Manual

Floor 1 Training Manual

©2014 Gold Medal Bodies, Super 301, Inc, Ryan C. Hurst, Jarlo L. Ilano, PT, MPT, OCS, & Andy Fossett

All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced for review purposes, but other reproduction requires written permission from Super 301. Please contact us at GoldMedalBodies.com for more information.

The information in this document is presented in good faith, but no warranty is given, nor results guaranteed. Since we have no control over physical conditions surrounding the application of information in this book the author and publisher disclaim any liability for untoward results including (but not limited) any injuries or damages arising out of any person's attempt to rely upon any information herein contained. The exercises described in this book are for information purposes, and may be too strenuous or even dangerous for some people. The reader should consult a physician before starting this or any other exercise program.

When purchasing products from Gold Medal Bodies / Super 301, the purchaser understands the risk associated with using this type of product, and the purchaser understands the risk associated with following instructions from related products, and agrees not to hold Super 301, its agents and/or representatives responsible for injuries or damages resulting from use without proper supervision.

This course and its authors accept no responsibility for any liability, injuries or

damages arising out of any person's attempt to rely upon any information contained herein. Consult your doctor before beginning training. Be sure to follow all safety and installation instructions included with your equipment carefully. The authors and publisher of this course are not responsible for problems related to the equipment you use to perform these exercises.

Please be sure to thoroughly read the instructions for all exercises in this course, paying particular attention to all cautions and warnings shown to ensure safety.

If you experience acute injury or persistent, chronic pains, consult a licensed health practitioner. Nothing in this document can be considered a substitute for qualified medical advice.

CONTENTS Course Expectations 5

Using the Manual and Videos 6

After School Special: The Ryan Hurst Story 8

A long, long time ago, on a planet far, far away… 8

Gold Medal Bodies Genesis 14

Purpose of the GMB Curriculum 16

Chapter One: Floor Training Theory 19

Floor 1 Protocol for Practical Fitness 23

Chapter Two: Balancing Warm Up, Work, & Restoration 25

Warm Up 25

Restorative Movements 26

Floor 1 Warm-Up 27

Floor 1 Cool Down Stretches 28

Chapter Three: The Exercises 29

Fundamental Exercise Form 29

Correct Breathing Principles 35

Floor One Stretching 37

Floor 1 Exercise List 44

Key Points 45

Working the Program 48

Autoregulation 49

Assessing Your Effort & Technique 51

How to Progress 54

Bare Minimum 55

What To Do If You Get Stuck 56

Some Closing Thoughts For Those Just Starting This Whole “Exercise” Thing 57

Floor 1 Program Outline 59

Training Phases 59

Program Overview 60

Chapter Five: Miscellany 61

Outroduction 74

INTRODUCTION

Congratulations and welcome to GMB Floor 1!

Floor 1 (F1) is a program designed to improve your total Body Control.

Specific exercises in a progressive plan will increase your strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility. All leading to the goal of performing a routine that demonstrates your newfound skills and abilities.

This bodyweight-only training program provides step-by-step daily instruction in everything you need to perform impressive skills such as handstands, rolls, jumping, and arm balancing stunts.

In this course, we will lead you gradually from your current level and abilities and show you a strenuous, but fun, method of learning some serious gymnastic skills.

Floor 1 Training Manual �4

With correct practice and due diligence, you will move your body through a variety of calculated motions, and in the process develop high levels of strength, grace, and poise.

These detailed programs were designed to take you from the most basic starting point to impressive skills that you will hardly believe you can do in just a few short months.

From warm-up, to the main program exercises, to the cool-down, you will be engaging in serious training for serious results.

Course Expectations

In all of our GMB courses, we emphasize the development of particular movement skills.

You will start with fundamental exercises that build a base level of strength, then move on to component level movements that incorporate a variety of angles and torques to use those new base strengths in different movement patterns, then finally on to the chosen skill routines themselves.

This is most likely very different from your current training regimen, whether it be primarily for cardiovascular or muscle endurance (running, rowing, circuit type work, etc.), or strength training with different tools (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc.).

With these methods, you generally work a few movements and progress via weight, volume (reps, sets), or density (amount of work in a given time), and these are all very valid methods of training.


However, our methods have been proven to work for us and our clients as well, so we ask that you give our training protocols a fair trial and follow the programs in the course for their duration.

We promise you’ll be glad you did!

As with any new exercise movement, you’ll most likely feel a period of awkwardness when you first start, and that’s okay. It just means that your body is experiencing a very new stimulus, and that is just what you need to invigorate your mind, body, and spirit.

This will take you forward to remarkable gains in strength and athletic performance.

Using the Manual and Videos

This manual outlines the course programming with all of the details for implementing a training schedule, how to progress through the exercises, and key points in performance. We also outline the general theory behind the course and how it all fits together to meet your goals of practical strength and mobility.

We’ve designed the manual to anticipate as many of your questions as possible with as straightforward instruction and detail as possible. We hope that you will be able to turn to the manual throughout your training and obtain key points about the workout structure and progression.

We advise reading through the entire manual first to get an good overview of the program.


However, if you’d just like to skim through it first and get to the good stuff, you’ll find that its laid out in order to get you moving as soon as possible.

The videos provide detailed instruction for every exercise and movement sequence in the program and provide the visual benchmark for proper technique and execution of the exercises. The voiceover instruction along with onscreen text will provide the best instruction outside of having us right beside you.

Please review the video instructions for the exercises a few times before you attempt them in your workout.

You’ll also find it useful to review them after your training session to compare your form to the correct performance we demonstrate in the videos.

And speaking of that guy...


AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL: THE RYAN HURST STORY By Ryan Hurst

A long, long time ago, on a planet far, far away…

I was in the fourth grade when I met a man who would change my life.

Mark Folger was my PE teacher, and our classes always included rope climbing, pull-ups, tumbling, and balance work. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was scouting out talent for his gymnastics team.

Mark was an NCAA Silver Medalist in the 80′s as a gymnast and in 2009 voted USA Gymnastics National Coach of the Year. He must have seen something in me, because he convinced my parents to sign me up at his gym. I started training with him and continued all the way into high school.

I remember countless early Saturday mornings when my dad would drive me all over Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, and anywhere else we had a competition that weekend. I competed under Mark’s guidance at the state and national level, worked hard, and we racked up lots of medals. Looking back at it now, this is definitely where I developed my competitive drive and my devotion to hard training.

As I would later find out, this would be both a blessing and a curse in my life. Mark was, and remains, amazing at creating incredible gymnasts. He not only values the importance of garnering medals, but also of keeping his athletes healthy and happy.


It’s because of Coach Folger that I am where I am today in my training.

He was the first coach that instilled the concepts and practices that allowed me to excel as a movement artist.

There aren’t a lot of people like him. Besides being a great competitive coach, he’s just a flat out great person.

I consider myself lucky to have him as a coach, friend, and mentor even to this day.

Enter the Gaijin

Like a lot of young kids, I started practicing martial arts after seeing a movie.

The movie was about Aikido, and I was intrigued by the flowing movements and how they talked about the discipline as a way of life. This was when I was fifteen, and I began practicing martial arts along with all those hours in gymnastic practice.

Needless to say I was pretty busy, but when you’re a teenager you can train that much and still have energy to spare!

But I guess you can say it finally caught up to me when I injured my knee right after graduating high school.


You’re probably expecting a super cool story with a crazy death-defying stunt, and I wish I could give you one (dangit! I should have just made one up!)

But nope, it was just a stupid thing where I was kneeling with one leg out and a guy fell on top of my knee. The medial ligaments of my knee were torn and I had to get surgery.

This effectively ended my gymnastics career, and I didn’t start training seriously with gymnastic movements again for almost 20 years.

After about a year of rehabilitating my knee, I started training in martial arts again, adding in judo to the mix. Because of my success in gymnastics and with Coach Folger, I knew that I wanted to find the best training possible so I entered an exchange student program to Niigata, Japan.

I don’t have to tell you this is a long way from Wichita, Kansas!

There I explored all that Japan had to offer and trained very hard with lots of great people, earning my black belts in Judo, Kendo, and Iaido. After I graduated, I moved to Osaka for work but the stresses of my job became overwhelming and I couldn’t train often or enjoy the arts as I did in Niigata.

Facing Off With the Dragon Lady

Next came a time in my life that, though it came close to killing me, helped me to find the path I am on now. I was originally hired to work for a company’s advertising department, but on the way over it changed to the “information planning” division, which really had no meaning at all.


They told me on my first day of work that the manager I was supposed to be under had quit and they hadn’t figured out what to do with me.

They were to give me three months to learn certain skills (which I was not prepared for at all) and if I couldn’t perform they would send me back.

Luckily, or unluckily as I would soon find out, I passed and was put onto another department with a boss that I’ll politely refer to as “the Dragon Lady”…

It was an incredibly difficult work assignment, made even harder since I was still learning the local dialect at the time. I spent most of my time out in the field in Osaka, Tokyo, or Nagoya doing research and traveling. I was supposed to have Sundays off, but since I was usually away from my apartment, or out of the country, I was essentially working seven days a week.

The job took me to Hong Kong, Italy, Germany, and all over Japan.

It was hell because I’d usually start off at seven in the morning and wouldn’t get home, or wherever I was, until past midnight every night. I was running around with no sleep and a ridiculous amount of stress, and it completely burned me out. It was absolutely horrible and completely different from what I was originally hired to do.

The average resignation rate was six months, which was very different than the typical Japanese company. My boss was constantly telling me I was worthless and that I should pack up and move back to the U.S.

Being the stubborn son of a bitch that I am, I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of quitting!


What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You... Smarter?

As you’ve probably figured out by now, my personality and life revolved around being able to excel and succeed at whatever I put my mind to. I stuck it through to the end of my one year contract, but the unyielding stress along with no support system made me very ill.

After resigning from the company, I spent the next six months getting well with the use of holistic medicine, yoga, and returning to my regular exercise training.

My time in the Japanese information planning industry nearly killed me, and it may have been foolish to gut it through because of my pride, but the experience taught me so much about my life and my priorities.

I knew that I would never let that happen to me again, and I decided I would devote my life to helping others find the balance in their lives as well.

Looking back at some of these early experiences, I can really see how they’ve shaped me as a person and shaped what GMB has grown into as well.

I shared how the formative experiences of my childhood and my first job put me on the path to a more fulfilling and healthy life. The wonderful mentorship I experienced as a child contrasted with the experience of my incredibly dysfunctional soul-squashing first “real” job, but both helped to form the totality of who I am today.

Soon after I resigned, I resolved to find my way back to the vitality and strength I had before that year of beating my body down. I discovered yoga and loved how it made me feel.


The combination of breath control and rigorous flexibility training counteracted the stress and unmanageable strain on my body.

I got hooked!

I practiced every day until I felt normal again. I loved it so much I found a 200 hour certification program so I could learn to help others feel this way too.

At this time I was using yoga as my primary exercise, along with judo, hiking and running, but I had not been doing the intensive physical training as I had done when I was practicing gymnastics.

I was more concerned with mobility and health, especially since my Dad was struggling with his arthritis problems. I wanted to prevent that from being my fate as well. This was particularly relevant because of all the hard falls and sparring while playing judo.

After a couple years of teaching yoga, I started to learn more about Traditional Oriental Medicine. This approach helped me immensely and, as usual, I thought to pursue the training as best I could.

I considered going back to the U.S. to attend acupuncture school, but because I was doing so well teaching yoga and English, I felt I should stay in Japan.

Also (and here’s the real reason I stayed) I had just met my soon-to-be wife, Chika. Leaving Japan just then wasn’t in the cards.


Gold Medal Bodies Genesis

Even though I was doing very well with yoga, I continued to seek out other training methods that could help me and my students.

Just like everything else in this modern age, a little bit of Googling pointed me to a new system of training. I found CST and I was intrigued by its focus on joint mobility and strength, and I felt that would help me in my martial arts and personal training. I eventually progressed through the system all the way to becoming a Faculty Coach.

I found that CST training fit where I was at the time, but more importantly I gained some long lasting close friendships with intelligent, passionate people who showed me that there are many ways to approach teaching and sharing physical fitness.

It was an important step towards finding the best way to share my experiences and help others to achieve their goals.

It’s also how I met Jarlo and Andy, and you can see what shenanigans arose from that!

We’ll talk a bit more later about the Genesis of GMB and the specifics of how we formed to fight the forces of evil that no single hero can withstand…

…umm, that might be plot line for a superhero movie, but you know what I’m saying!


As you know, much of my current training style is influenced by gymnastic theory. It’s funny to me that I’ve returned to the training style that I had when I was a kid! After my knee injury, I thought I had left that world behind.

(Of course, there’s no way I could train and perform exactly like I did back then. I don’t have the time to train six hours a day, and even if I did I’m not sure I could survive past the first week! I’m old!)

I’m not sure if people know this, but contrary to popular belief, I don’t have 20+ years experience training with rings and parallettes. Actually, it was only about 3 years ago that Jarlo sent me a pair of gymnastic rings as a gift, and triggered my ring training practice again.

I started training again, going over the basics, and trying to pick up where I left off so many years ago.

As I was playing around and ENJOYING my training, a “lightbulb” turned on in my head, and I realized that it was possible to do ring training and make improvements without having to commit to hours and hours of intensive training.

This got me thinking about how I could apply this to my clients’ training programs. Even if they weren’t competing in a ring training event, they’d still gain many benefits by training with rings.

I started a few clients with ring training, and I was happy to see that they were seeing the same benefits! I refined and adjusted (and continue to adjust) the programs based on their feedback and my observations. Successes continued to pile up, and I knew I’d struck gold.

Gold Medal Bodies that is! Ha. Ha.


Purpose of the GMB Curriculum

I’m so impressed by the people of the GMB community. We’ve been around now since 2010 and it’s amazing to see how quickly we’ve struck a chord with so many different people.

We started with a simple desire to share our methods of training and hoped that people would find it useful.

It’s turned out to become so much more as our clients began describing how much they were enjoying the training.

For many, they noted a rediscovery of why they choose to exercise in the first place. Wanting to look good, or be a bit better in your pickup basketball games are good things, but those superficial goals tend to be less and less motivating as we get on in life.

I’ve been working incredibly hard on the rings these past few months in preparation for filming R2, and I was getting frustrated that I couldn’t perform some skills that I had done so easily as a teenager.


I was beating myself up about it and thinking “if only I could add another hour or two to my sessions, I’ll get it.”

Then I realized how silly that was!

I’m not a competitive gymnast anymore. I’m a Dad and I have much more important priorities in my life.

Spending 6 more hours a week to try and get a perfect 10 on a routine is just not what’s its about anymore.

Our goals of strength and fitness are universal, everyone has it in them to improve their health and feel better, but you can only last so long training for a six pack, or training just to beat yourself up because you think that’s what you have to do.

Eventually you need to be clear about your WHY – you need to identify your purpose for training, and what that means to you.

Often, it’s much deeper than just a good physique or bragging rights.

I train hard because it makes me a better person for my family. I know that I’m doing something good for myself and that reflects on my attitude and relationships.

My improved health and spiritual growth helps me to be a better father, husband, friend, and coach.

We all have those moments where we must make a decision that will have a major impact on our lives.


When we’re young, these crossroad moments can determine the direction and path in our lives. When we’re a bit older and more settled, these moments can help us to a more fulfilling existence and away from the doldrums of a purposeless life.

I’ve been reminded time and time again of the importance of good teachers/mentors/friends and the joy of discovering/re-discovering what I really want to do in my life.

I’ve had to overcome challenges and keep pressing on despite feeling like crap.

And most importantly, I’ve realized that if I am feeling like crap all the time, that I have to make a change!

I hope that if you relate, that you can use my example as a way to get going and move towards where you will feel free, happy, and healthy.


CHAPTER ONE: FLOOR TRAINING THEORY

Floor 1 training has the primary goal of full Body Control.

The acrobats, gymnasts, dancers, and other athletes you see in shows and games that everyone admires and enjoys watching all have one thing in common, and that’s this total control over their body and its movements. They often perform stunts and feats that we can only dream of, and that’s what makes them so impressive.

How do these people achieve this?

Are they born with special skills and talents?

Well, truthfully, they most likely do have some genetic advantages that put them ahead of most people who play their sport. That’s just the reality of it. However, its not just inborn talent that gets these athletes where they are at, but also specialized and consistent practice.

And this is where F1 comes in: we show you ways to train that are efficient and effective in promoting Body Control.

We aren’t guaranteeing you the gold medal in the next Olympic Games, but we are betting that you’ll be amazed at your condition and skills at the completion of the program.

Before we get to the program, however, we’ll need to talk about what Body Control consists of, and how combining these attributes in the correct progression can take you to higher levels of skilled performance.


Understanding these details will help you understand how each step of the process gets you closer and closer to your goals.

We break down Body Control into four attributes:

★ Strength

★ Balance

★ Coordination

★ Flexibility

Think about watching your favorite athletes and performers do their thing, and you’ll realize that you are watching the interplay between all of these four attributes as they combine to help the athlete perform at the highest levels.

Let’s take a look at what we mean by each of these.


Strength

Strength is much more than just lifting the heaviest weight off of the ground or how much you can bench press.

Our definition of strength involves how easily and smoothly we can move our body around in space.

We need strong arms and shoulders for handstands and other holds. We need strong legs and hips to jump high. But we also need to know how to connect the strength of our arms and legs to the strength of our torso.

F1 training will give you the tools to develop practical strength to control your body in all planes of motion.

Balance

Standing on your hands obviously requires strength, but it of course also requires specific balance skills.

Not many people, if any!, can go upside down and stand on their hands for the first time without any training at all.

In F1 we separate balance into upper body and lower body balance performance. Improving your comfort level in these various balance activities is a big part of achieving Body Control.


Coordination

Here at GMB Fitness we define coordination as being able to perform specific body movements that result in specific actions.

It is a delicate interaction between strength and balance along with body awareness. When people talk about “hand eye coordination”, it’s really about this ability to connect your desired outcome to what you are doing with your body.

You aim for a target and you toss a ball at it in the hope and expectation that your shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand move in the right way to make it happen.

It’s the same thing with picking a spot on the ground and wanting to land right on it with one foot.

This is coordination, and F1 helps you to improve yours.

Flexibility

Can you tie your shoes without bending your knees?

Or simply reach behind to the back seat when you are in the driver’s seat?

These simple activities demonstrate the need for flexibility in your daily life, and how important it is for the feats of skill that you are working towards in this program. F1 and the included Cool Down Stretches introduced in this course will improve your flexibility and allow you to move your body smoothly in all of your ranges of motion.


Floor 1 Protocol for Practical Fitness

Of course, none of this happens by magic. You’ve heard that “practice makes perfect,” but to keep progressing, your practice has to adjust too.

GMB programs take you through four distinct kinds of practice to ensure your training is correctly tailored to the specific goals of each phase in your skill and strength development.

Foundation Training (Phase1)

The first emphasis is on developing a good base level of strength and balance.

These exercises are the foundation for your entire program progression and are specific work leading towards your accomplishment of the final skills.

Skill Building (Phase 2)

After a solid grounding in the strength and balance building exercises of Phase 1, you will be ready for the progression to various “Skill Sets” that combine various movements for jumping, hand and leg balancing, tumbling, and rolling.


Flow Acquisition (Phase 3)

We are now headed into the final stretch and will be learning how to perform the Flow routine itself.

The Flow is broken down into three parts and practiced along with additional conditioning work.

Flow Mastery (Phase 4)

This final phase consists of practicing the full Flow to smooth out and master the movements.

The Flow is built up of all the prior skills you have worked on since the beginning of the program and is a great test for your new higher levels of strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility.


CHAPTER TWO: BALANCING WARM UP, WORK, & RESTORATION

Warm Up

One of the hallmarks of intelligent training is a proper warmup routine.

Our joints and muscles move much more smoothly when they are loosened up and primed for exercise. Optimally, you should have a warmup specific to the main exercises in your workout session, rather than a random “stretch whatever feels tight” routine.

A proper set of warmup exercises is specific to the movements you will be performing in your training.

The various ranges of motion, along with what part of the body will bear the most strain in the activity, should be taken into consideration.

This type of specificity is not only the most beneficial, it is also very efficient.

You won’t be wasting time on warmup activities that don’t match what you will be doing in your workout.


Restorative Movements

While many programs out there now recognize the need for a specific warmup before a vigorous training session, there are still quite a few that either neglect a cool-down or just toss in a few arbitrary stretches for a couple of minutes here and there.

This neglect can lead to increased resting muscular tone, often felt as the sensation of being “tight” after a hard workout. This increased tension can accumulate and cause chronic muscle shortening and postural changes.

The Cool-Down Stretches are introduced here to provide you with the movements you need to gain overall body flexibility and to recover properly during and after the intense training regimen in this course.

It is incredibly important to perform these restorative movements regularly during and after your workouts to both enhance your performance and prevent injuries. If you are injured then you can’t progress!


Floor 1 Warm-Up

Please refer to the videos for thorough explanations, but this is the sequence of movements for our warm-up.


1. Vibrations

2. Head Circles

3. Arm Circles

4. Arm Crosses Front to Back

5. Hip Circles

6. Squat Bouncing

7. Hip Rotation in Squat

8. Squatting Twist

9. Cat/Camel Back Arches

10. On All Fours Back Circles

11. On All Fours Elbow Rotations

12. On All Fours Knuckle Presses

13. On All Fours Knuckle Rolling

14. On All Fours Wrist Side to Sides

15. On All Fours Wrist Reverse Position Sit Backs

16. On All Fours Wrist Forward Lean

17. On All Fours Elbow Circles

18. Supine Straight Leg Lifts

19. Supine Straight Leg Hip Rotations

20. Supine Knee Circles

21. Supine Ankle Twists and Toe Squeezes

22. Supine “Tantrum”

23. Squatting Bouncing

Floor 1 Cool Down Stretches

1. Bridge

2. Butterfly

3. Forward Fold

4. Front Split Progression

5. Glute Stretch

6. L-Arm Stretch

7. Lounge Chair

8. Pancake

9. Side Bend Pancake


CHAPTER THREE: THE EXERCISES

Fundamental Exercise Form

Before we begin our description of the various exercises, let's start with the fundamentals of correct exercise form.

These will apply to virtually every exercise you'll do in the GMB programs.

There are of course very many fine points of technique and form for each exercise that we could teach you in person, but this would be an extremely long manual if we were to do that right now!

These fundamental points will take care of the majority of your issues in the beginning.

In addition, the more you keep these in mind as you practice and train, the more they will make sense, and pretty soon you’ll do them without even thinking about it, and also understand how it can apply to everything that you do.


Proper Posture

Your mother was right when she said to stop slouching!

It’s more than just looking good, it actually helps prevent injury and improve performance.

You’ll see that in just about every standing exercise in the videos we talk about keeping your chest up and shoulders pulled back. This good posture locks your upper body in a good positioning to optimally recruit your muscles for the movements.

When you look at your posture from the side, you want to see a straight line running from the middle of your ears to center of your shoulders and hips.

Also you’ll see that your shoulders are sitting squarely on top of your ribs, and your ribs are also centered on your hips. This is the proper body positioning and the “good posture” that our parents and teachers were trying to get us to maintain!

Good posture doesn’t just apply to standing up, but you can also see how this proper positioning transfers to the exercises when you are horizontal, sideways, or upside down. It is especially apparent in a handstand.

You should be able to take a picture of yourself in a handstand, flip it upside down, and it will look like the good posture you have in standing on your feet.


Hinge at the Hips

This is similar to the saying “lift with your legs and not your back”.

If we look at a skeleton, you can see that the joints of your spine are relatively small, there’s just a lot of them so you can move in so many different directions. Now, look at where the top of your legs go into the hip socket. Those joints are massive! It’s obvious which ones were built to take more strain and force.

The muscles of the hips are also much larger and more powerful than the lower back.

Lifting with your legs and not your back means that you’ll be moving at those big hip joints instead of the small spinal joints.

Try this exercise and you’ll feel it:

1. Stand tall facing sideways to a mirror.

2. Bend forward and round your back. That’s using the joints in your spine.

3. Now, bend your knees a little, and imagine there is a rod going horizontal right through the center of your hips. Keep your back straight and pivot right on that rod. That will be the axis of your rotation.

4. Bend forward with your back flat and this is hinging at your hips.


5. Come back upright the same way by squeezing your butt and thighs, and that’s using your hip muscles rather than straining your low back. Of course you are still using your low back muscles to keep your back straight, but its your hips that are doing the heavy lifting.

Work on this and you’ll save yourself from low back strain and pain.

It also relates to how you should use your hips even when you want other joints to be joining in, such as in jumping.

Even though your knees are bending as well, the hips are the primary generator of force. A proper jump has this proper hip hinge as well as knee bending, otherwise you’d just be using the relatively smaller muscles around your knee and not taking advantage of the big muscles of your hips.

You wouldn’t be able to jump as high as could if you just thought about using your knees. Hips are your main source of power!

Elbows Tucked In

This is another very common exercise cue that you’ll hear all throughout this course.

When you keep your elbows close to your sides and not flared out, you’ll be in a much stronger body position.

It will be harder in the beginning, as flaring your elbows out lets you use your chest and back muscles more easily, but it’s not good for you in the long run.


The fundamental gymnastic skills of hand balancing and tumbling require you to keep your elbows in the proper position.

It will be much harder to move on to more difficult skills and tricks if you don’t maintain this proper form.

You might be able to get away with muscling it all in the beginning, but your progress will be slow and eventually stop.

Take a pushup for example, flaring your elbows allows you to get more repetitions in the beginning. But once you start progressing towards a skill like the planche, the poor elbow positioning will prevent you from achieving it.

Have the discipline to keep your elbows in tight from the start and you’ll be rewarded with smoother sailing as you work through the programs.

Weight Distribution

In standing, your weight should be even between both feet, and with a little more weight towards the toes than the heels.

This gets you in a good position to move in any direction smoothly, especially in jumping and tumbling. The same thing goes with weight on your hands, you’ll want more weight towards your fingers than the heel of your hands.

You’ll find it easier to balance this way.


Try this exercise:

1. Stand tall with your weight back on your heels and practice stepping forward, sideways, and backward.

2. Now do the same movements, but this time with your weight shifted more towards your toes.

What do you feel?

Which way seemed smoother and a bit easier?

I bet you it was when your weight was centered more towards your toes than your heels.

Leg Lock

In the various balance and coordination exercises in this manual, you’ll often find yourself standing on one leg for a little while.

We emphasize keeping this supporting leg locked tight and strong for a number of reasons.

First, it provides a much more stable positioning. Imagine the stability of two blocks on top of each other, versus one solid structure.

Second, learning to contract your thighs strongly in this extended position strengthens your legs in a unique and very beneficial way. You’ll be able to maintain a strong, solid position even when your balance is disturbed, either by an outside force, or your own body movement.

An example of this is the front scale lifts.


When you lift a leg up straight, and the other keeps bending, then you know that you have to work on that strength to have the best stability with that supporting leg.

Keep these five fundamental concepts in your head, and you’ll automatically be performing the GMB exercises properly, safely, and in the best way to progress.

Correct Breathing Principles

Another important aspect of optimal training is the practice of correct breathing during all of the movements. First and foremost, don’t hold your breath!

This should go without saying, but breath-holding is very common, especially when we start performing new exercises.

Holding your breath and bracing in a posture or a difficult activity is, for many, a natural response.

Unfortunately, it’s also one of the worst things you can do. Exhale when you are exerting effort and never hold your breath.

Second, our breathing pattern should match inhalation with expansion and exhalation with compression.

This allows us to follow the natural movement of our lungs and coordinate our body’s position with the correct breathing, rather than fighting against.

For an example, stand up tall, lift up your hands as far as possible and breathe in deeply.


You should feel as if you are breathing in as much air as possible, filling up your lungs to their capacity.

Exhale and relax, and remember the sensation of the full inhalation. Now, sit down on the floor and crunch up into a ball, hug your knees into your chest and make yourself as small as possible.

Try to inhale deeply in this position.

Compare this feeling with the one earlier, when you were standing tall and fully open.

Doesn’t it feel as if you are straining to inhale, and that there’s no room for you to take in any air?

As you continue to practice proper breathing in all your exercise activities, you will gradually progress from the need to be actively controlling your breath to where you are breathing correctly without thinking about it.

This is the beginning of breath mastery, and it’s a beautiful thing.


Floor One Stretching

We’ve chosen 9 specific stretching exercises to target the essential flexibility needed to perform not just the exercises in this course well, but in all athletic activities.

Flexibility is often an afterthought in training, either tacked on at the end of the workout or lazily done in the beginning. But it really should be a staple in your regular training.

So many times, an exercise or movement is made that much harder simply because a person isn’t flexible enough to perform it properly.

Here we provide you with the tools you need to be agile and smooth in everything you want to do.


How To Perform The Stretches

1. The protocol for these stretches is to start by rocking into and out of the portion of the stretch that is just uncomfortable.

2. Do this about ten times, and on the tenth time hold that position for at least thirty seconds and as much as two minutes. This allows a nice easing into the stretch, rather than a jarring change that can shock your muscles.

3. Before you exit the stretch, contract the stretched muscles gently and then more firmly as you go back to your starting position. Just like easing into the stretch prepares your muscles better, the muscle contraction eases you out of that stretched position and gives your muscles a smoother transition, especially if you’ve been holding the stretch for over a minute.

In this program, unless otherwise stated in the charts, you only need to pick a couple of stretches to focus on during your cool down.

Now, if you would like to do all of them feel free. But it’s perfectly fine to just focus on the two that need the most work, and these can change from day to day.

If you have extra time, then do them all. They are good for you!


Bridge

The Bridge is a difficult exercise and stretch for most people. Backward bending just isn’t something we do too much of in our daily routine. This is why we emphasize this in the program both as an exercise and as a stretch.

In the exercise routine, we have you do it for repetitions to get used to the position. As you improve you can hold the top position for a longer period of time and work on straightening your arms and legs fully.

Remember to lift your chest up and out behind you and push your hips up and forward in front of you, this is the proper arch. Push with your legs and don’t squeeze your butt, if you squeeze you can pinch the low back. Keep your elbows in tight and you’ll be stretching your shoulders fully.

Butterfly

This is a very common stretch for the hips and groin muscles, but is often performed incorrectly.

As with the other movements presented here, we are keeping our upper body straight as we work on stretching our lower body. This targets the chosen area correctly and protects other areas from being overstretched.

Use your elbows to assist, and focus on leaning forward hinging at the hips and you’ll get the most out of this stretch.


Forward Fold

This seated exercise is a wonderful way to relieve tension throughout your entire spine.

The focus should be on opening your back from the base of your skull all the way to the tailbone. This is why we say it’s acceptable to bend your knees as needed.

Allow yourself to reach your toes and work on opening your back, rather than be limited by the length of your hamstrings. As you improve you can straighten your knees and hinge at the hips to fold your body like a jackknife.

Front Split Progression

Considered by many to be the ultimate test in lower body flexibility, “splits” require great flexibility in your hip flexors and hamstrings, and also look impressive!

Though it is quite a difficult stretch, the progressions we show you here will get you towards your goal of full front splits sooner and with less strain and pain. Focus on keeping your hips facing square ahead and your upper body locked nice and straight. In this movement, slide your front heel forward to progress in the stretch.

Remember that it’s easier to lean your body forward, so start there if you feel like the stretch is too much.


We’d like to emphasize again that it is much better to be consistent and perform these stretches regularly than to attempt and stretch “hard” and only do them every so often.

These stretches form the core group of flexibility exercise for GMB and we believe that consistent performance will improve your overall athleticism and quality of movement.

Glute Stretch

Most people need some work in opening their hips up and stretching out the muscles that rotate the hips outwards.

We name this a “glute” stretch because you’ll probably feel this deep in your butt muscles!

But it affects a lot of different areas.

This is another stretch to be extra careful with, as you’ll want to avoid straining your lower back. If you aren’t quite so flexible, and you try to keep your “sit bones” flat on the ground (as recommended by some trainers), you may end up over-stretching ligaments in your low back and creating more harm than benefit from the exercise.

Just focus on the proper positioning and hugging your knee in tight to your body and worry less about sitting flat on the ground.


L-Arm Stretch

This is an interesting stretch, and again an often neglected area of the body, though very important for a limber shoulder girdle.

The important point of form here is to work on keeping your chest and shoulders squarely facing the ground so you can place the correct pressure and angle on your elbow.

Lounge Chair

Another great shoulder girdle stretch, this movement opens up your chest, the front of your shoulders, and even your biceps.

But we have to be careful that we do this correctly, so as to stretch our muscles, but not overstretch the shoulder ligaments and cartilage.

Keep your chest and ribs up to place the stretching force on the muscles and less on your shoulder joints. Don’t force this stretch at all, and it is a safe and effective shoulder and chest opener.


Pancake

This classic gymnastic stretch releases the inner hips and thighs, along with the hamstrings and lower back.

Bring your feet apart as wide as you can, and then use your hands to shift your hips forward and side to side until you reach the desired stretch. Work on keeping your chest up and upper body tall to direct the stress more in your legs than your back. You may find that a support such as a stool or small box is helpful as you start leaning forward into the full pancake position.

Remember to ease into and out of the stretch.

Side Bend Pancake

An often neglected part of flexibility training, even in those that train regularly, is the side of our bodies, particularly our waist and back. This exercise solves this dilemma very well.

We recommend starting in a “half pancake” or “hurdler” stretch, with one leg straight and the other folded in. The primary cue in this exercise is to keep your back locked and straight, any bit of forward bend takes away from the full value of this stretch.

Work on fully opening that area between your ribs and hips and you’ll notice a nice effect in your posture and movement.


FLOOR 1 EXERCISE LIST

The following is a complete list of the exercises selected for F1. Please refer to the videos for detailed instructions on exercise performance. Also included are the key points for each exercise, as emphasized on the video instruction.


1. 180 Degree Jump

2. 180 Degree Jump to Front Scale

3. 360 Degree Jump

4. 360 Degree Jump to Front Scale

5. Back Roll

6. Back Roll Extension

7. Back Scale

8. Bridge

9. Candlestick

10. Cartwheel

11. Crane Hold

12. Crane Hold to Forward Roll

13. Crow Hold

14. Crow Hold to Forward Roll

15. Double Arm Lever

16. Floor Kip

17. Forward Roll

18. Front Scale

19. Front Scale Leg Raises

20. Front to Back Scale

21. Handstand Bailing

22. Handstand Entries

23. Handstand Hold Facing In

24. Handstand Hold Facing Out

25. Handstand Kick-Up Leg Switch

26. Handstand Tuck-Up

27. Handstand Wall Freestanding

28. Handstand Wall Walk

29. Hollow Body Hold

30. Hollow Body Plank

31. Inverted Press

32. Jumps

33. Pirouette

34. Round Off

35. Seated Leg Raises

36. Seiza

37. Seiza Jump To Squat

38. Squat Overview

39. Superman Hold

Key Points


180 Degree Jump ★ Swing Arms Up ★ Land in Same Spot ★ Land with Control

180 Degree Jump to Front Scale ★ Land in Same Spot ★ Land with Control ★ Lock Leg for Scale

360 Degree Jump ★ Swing Arms Up ★ Land in Same Spot ★ Land with Control

360 Degree Jump to Front Scale ★ Land in Same Spot ★ Land with Control ★ Lock Leg for Scale

Back Roll ★ Tuck Chin ★ Hands By Ears ★ Tight Tuck

Back Roll Extension ★ Tuck Chin ★ Push with Hands ★ Legs Together

Back Scale ★ Both Legs Locked ★ Keep Back Straight ★ Gaze Forward

Bridge ★ Chest Up and Out ★ Relax Butt ★ Roll Elbows In

Candlestick ★ Tuck Chin ★ Hollow Body ★ Legs Together

Cartwheel Variation 1 ★ Focus on ‘V’ ★ Lead Leg to Outside ★ Hands to the Line

Cartwheel Variation 2 ★ Both Hands on Line ★ Lead Leg to Outside ★ Work Towards Straight Legs

Cartwheel Variation 3 ★ Hands/Legs on Line ★ Lock out Arms/Legs ★ Open Hips

Crane Hold ★ Elbows Locked ★ Heels Close to Butt ★ Knees to Arm Pits

Crane Hold to Forward Roll ★ Tuck Chin ★ Tight Body Tuck ★ Elbows In

Crow Hold ★ Elbows Angled ~45 degrees ★ Heels Pulled Up ★ Gaze Forward

Crow Hold to Forward Roll ★ Tuck Chin ★ Tight Body Tuck ★ Elbows In

Double Arm Lever ★ Elbows Tucked In ★ Extend Legs ★ Don’t Hold Breath

Floor Kip ★ Push With Hands ★ Kick Upward ★ Throw Arms Forward

Forward Roll ★ Tuck Chin ★ Pull In Elbows ★ Tight Body Tuck

Front Scale ★ Both Legs Locked ★ Don’t Lean Back ★ Chest Up

Front Scale Leg Raises ★ Both Legs Locked ★ Don’t Lean Back ★ Upper Body Still

Front to Back Scale ★ Lock Out Legs ★ Point Toes ★ Chest Up

Handstand Bailing ★ Use the Cartwheel ★ Adjust Hand Position ★ Pick a Side

Handstand Entries The Kick ★ Hands on Ground ★ Runner’s Start ★ Kick Hard

Handstand Entries Tuck-Up ★ Butt Over Shoulders ★ Tuck Chin ★ Tight Tuck

Handstand Entries Straddle-Up ★ Extend Outward ★ Legs Straight ★ Pause in Straddle

Handstand Hold Facing In ★ Straight Line ★ Gaze Towards Wall ★ Push Hard Into Floor

Handstand Hold Facing Out ★ Focus on the Line ★ Adjust Head ★ Don’t Rush the Float

Handstand Leg Switch ★ Controlled Entry ★ Split Legs ★ Don’t Over-kick


Handstand Tuck-Up ★ Butt Over Shoulders ★ Tuck Chin ★ Tight Tuck

Handstand Wall Freestanding ★ Don’t Pull Feet Off ★ Push and Float ★ Stay Tight

Handstand Wall Walk ★ Arms Straight ★ Gradual Walk ★ Be Safe!

Hollow Body Hold ★ Low Back Flat on Ground ★ Chin Tucked ★ Shoulders Pulled Down

Hollow Body Plank ★ Shoulders Over Hands ★ Extend Arms and Legs ★ Lift with Chest

Inverted Press ★ Elbows In ★ Straight Back ★ Butt Over Head

Jumps ★ Arms Swing Upward ★ Chest Up ★ Land Midfoot

Pirouette ★ High Leg Swing ★ Land with Control ★ Land in Back Scale

Round Off ★ Hand Reaches Over ★ Push with Arms ★ Feet Land Together

Seated Leg Raises ★ Chest Up ★ Leg Locked ★ Don’t Lean Back

Seiza ★ Sit on Heels ★ Chest Up ★ Head Neutral

Seiza Jump To Squat ★ Swing Arms Upward ★ Chest Up ★ Explode Hips Forward

Squat Overview ★ Feet Shoulder Width ★ Flat Back ★ Shoulders Relaxed

Superman Hold ★ Relaxed Neck ★ Extend Arms and Legs ★ Legs Together


CHAPTER FOUR: THE PROGRAM

Working the Program

Read through our Program Charts document for detailed daily instructions for F1. In general, you’ll finish all sets of each exercise before moving on to the next one in a particular day’s workout.

A Note on Holds

The tutorial videos offer the easiest progression of each movement to start with. Choose the variation that is appropriate for your skill level.

Also, holds do not include reps, so don’t do these movements for more than one rep at a time. You can hold each movement longer than written, but don't go more than a 30 second hold at a time.

So for example, you could structure it like this:

★ Hold the movement for 20 seconds, then rest and repeat for 3 total sets, or…

★ Set a timer for 60 seconds and work on your holds for as long as you have good form, then rest as needed and try again. Do all of this within that minute, and don’t stop the timer.


Autoregulation

One of the unique distinctions of our training system is how we determine when to progress in our exercises.

★ When do we try to add another repetition or set?

★ When can we reduce the time in between sets?

Some training systems are vague on this, often stating “work as hard as you can every time” or “you should always be trying to add another repetition!”

This is all well and good, as increasing intensity is one of the ways to progress. However, doesn’t it seem like there should be a better way to go about it?

In GMB training, we want to be aware of every aspect of our training and use this mindfulness to direct our work in the best way possible. We should evaluate our performance in every session and use these evaluations to analyze what should happen at the next session.

Our evaluation tools are Rating of Perceived Effort (RPE) and Rating of Perceived Technique (RPT). The ratings are made on a scale of 1–10, 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest on the scale.


RPE aka Effort

The RPE was originally developed by Gunnar Borg.

His scale was designed on a scale of 6 to 20, with 6 being no difficulty at all and 20 the most exertion you’ve ever experienced. The numbers may seem funny but they were meant to correlate with heart rate (multiply by 10) and were found to approximate your actual heart rate during the exercise very well.

A scale of 1 to 10 is more intuitive though, and works well for our purposes. We’re going to refer to this metric as Effort from here on out.

If you wish to experiment with a heart rate monitor, you may find that multiplying your Effort rate by 20 (i.e. Effort of 6 is a HR of 120), comes pretty close.

It’s important to realize that we aren’t searching for maximal exertion every time we workout!

You should be aiming for an intensity level that allows you to work hard at the same time you maintain a very good level of form.

RPT aka Technique

The RPT is part of what GMB likes to call “making it pretty”. But for our purposes here, let’s just call it Technique.

We’ve made the distinction between simply banging out repetitions versus a focus on proper form and technique.


http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/measuring/exertion.html

A repetition that looks smooth and graceful will is always preferable to five repetitions that would make someone cringe at the sight of it!

It may seem to be too subjective, but with every practice you become more aware of how you are doing and it actually becomes a very reliable measurement. It’s also very helpful to occasionally video your training and review it afterwards to evaluate your form.

You’ll soon become proficient at finding form errors and learn to correct those at your next training session.

Assessing Your Effort & Technique

Effort and Technique should work together to get you the best bang for your efforts in your training session. You’ll most likely notice that if your Effort is near maximal then your Technique tends to be lower. It’s just the nature of working very hard. Your form tends to suffer.

Effort Rating Scale

10 = Maximal Effort. No reps left in the tank, and form is breaking down.

9 = Heavy Effort. It's taking everything you've got to finish the last rep with good form.

8 = Could have done more, but it wouldn't be pretty.


7 = Each rep is clean and controlled, and form is spot-on.

6 = Perfect technique with moderate effort.

5 = A repetition that is a little harder than a warmup, but still very light.

4, 3, 2, 1 = Minimal exertion. These should be the sensations you have in a progressive warmup.

Technique Rating Scale

10 = Perfect 10! Can’t get any better, you’re on the stand receiving your Gold Medal.

9 = Nearly perfect, probably looks that way to an observer, but you feel that there was a minute form break.

8 = Great technique and an ideal to shoot for in every workout.

7 = A smooth and steady repetition with minor issues. This may happen if you have better form in the beginning but fatigue is building up as you continue to train.

6 = Form breakdown is more obvious. Now it’s a good idea to stop and rest a bit, or stop the exercise entirely for the day.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 = Your form is pretty wonky here and is typical for the first couple times you perform a skill. Here it is helpful to perform the skill for a repetition or two, then go back down a level to get a training effect. Don’t push through this at all, you’ll get no benefit.


Here’s an example of how to use the Effort and Technique rating scale together to judge when you should progress in a certain exercise.

Effort: Effort is how much we judge our level of exertion is in the given exercise. We should only add work when our Effort is at a 6 or below. If you are at around a 6 to 7, then you are at the right level of intensity and don’t need to add more.

Technique: Technique is our self evaluation of the level of proficiency we have in the particular exercise. How does our form compare with the perfect form demonstrated in the tutorials? Before we attempt to add repetitions or sets to the exercise, we want to make sure our Technique is at least an 8.

If you are performing sets of five with an Effort of 5 and Technique of 8, it is time to add more repetitions, up to the maximum reps noted in the program charts. Once you are hitting the maximum reps with Technique above 8 and Effort around 5, add more sets or decrease the rest periods between sets.

Once you can hit your Effort and Technique goals for every exercise in a given routine, you are ready for the next phase or difficulty level.

In the included daily Program Charts, you’ll find an area to record your Effort and Technique on a scale of 1-10.


How to Progress

It can be very difficult to write a program that can fit the situation of everyone out there.

We’ve provided a general guideline of sets and repetitions in ranges (e.g., 3 to 5 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions) as a way of encompassing the various skill and strength levels of the participants. This, along with our description of Effort and Technique ratings, will help guide you through the exercise schedule.

The sets and repetitions ranges describe a minimum and a maximum.

For example, 3 to 5 sets of 8 to 12, means working up to a minimum of 3 sets of 8, and a max of 5 sets of 12.

You may never have to move beyond 3 sets of 8 if the exertion level of getting past that goes beyond an Effort level of 8.

Don’t feel that you need to get to 5 sets of 12 in order to progress beyond that exercise and level. Some people will be able to do that with less exertion and some people won’t.

The range of sets and reps is meant to accommodate people of all fitness levels, with the minimum recommended to achieve the most common strength level to do well on the program.


Bare Minimum

So while the recommended ranges indicate a minimum of work done in order to progress in the exercise and make sure you are able to go on to the next phase in the programs, they aren’t the bare minimum needed to start the program.

To use a specific exercise as an example, the Inverted Press, the manual may say to perform 3 to 5 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions. This doesn’t mean that you need to do 3 sets of 8 repetitions the first time you perform the exercise. You may be able to do 2 sets of 6 repetitions while keeping good technique.

Don’t force yourself to do more than that, just because a chart says so, especially if you are new to exercise (or just new to this style of training).

We often tell clients to start off with half the amount of sets and half the amount of repetitions and stop there. You can then assess how that feels, and then progress on as you can. This is the bare minimum, and for some people they may need to stay at this level for a while before moving on.

And that’s okay. This isn’t a race.

Yes, we are providing a set time to do the various phases of the programs, but these can only be guidelines because each person’s condition and progression can be so variable.


We’ve worked hard to create as much individualization as possible to these programs, but only so much can be done without being there in-person to evaluate and progress each individual.

What To Do If You Get Stuck

One of the common emails we get from clients concerns getting stuck one a certain exercise or movement, where it feels as if they can’t progress despite working hard.

★ A strategy that works well for this is to do the bare minimum of all the other exercises in the phase you are on, that way you can spend your energy on that difficult movement.

★ You should also move that troublesome exercise to the first thing you do in the workout after the warm up. For instance if you are having issues with the Hollow Body Holds do that first in your workout, then go on to the other exercises.

The exceptions are if you are having difficulty on a move in Phase 3 or 4 of the programs.

You should then drop down to a lesser difficulty progression of that movement, so that you can work on that along with the other movements in the mini and full flows.

In those phases, we want you to work on the coordination and smooth linking of the movements.


This strategy helps quite a bit if it is strength or conditioning issue that is preventing your progress. And being fresher and stronger also helps if it is a technique issue, because it allows you to focus on your form when you aren’t concerned about whether your strength is going to hold out.

For technique issues, be sure to watch and rewatch the exercise videos, look at the body form and where each body part and region is in relationship to the others.

Some Closing Thoughts For Those Just Starting This Whole “Exercise” Thing

We just wanted to let you know that we feel your pain. It’s a daunting thing just to make the decision to begin exercising, and especially with this style of gymnastic oriented training.

Frustrations are bound to happen as you exercise regularly, it’s just the way it is, there are going to bad days and good days in seemingly random intervals. We can’t get rid of those bad days, but our goals are to limit those frustrations and also provide workable strategies to deal with them, so that you can continue to be consistent and steady in your training. That’s the way to success.

Another aspect of getting started in this regimen is learning “body awareness.”


http://www.goldmedalbodies.com/workout-autoregulation/

It takes time to

★ Develop a sense of body position

★ Develop a sense of where you are in space

★ Learn how to coordinate your movements in just the right way

It’s one thing to watch somebody do a movement, and it’s another thing entirely to do it yourself.

It simply takes time. Lots of good repetition done over a good period of time. If there’s any secret key to achievement, that’s it.

In all of our years of teaching and coaching a variety of movement disciplines, one of the common problems we see is people beating themselves up believing they aren’t progressing “fast enough.”

We’d love it if we could stop you from feeling this way. It’s difficult to take the long view and realize that it isn’t a race to see who gets “fit the fastest.” But once you make this shift in your thinking, you actually will get to where you want to be in the fastest way possible. You’ll be eliminating a lot of the pitfalls and yo-yo training that stops progress in it’s tracks.

As much as you can, clear your mind before each exercise session, give yourself the permission to be less than perfect, and get in there and do the best work you can for that day.

Do this consistently and as often as you can and you’ll get results. We’ll also be there for you every step of the way.

That’s part of our Jive-Free guarantee.


FLOOR 1 PROGRAM OUTLINE

This section outlines the basic components of the Floor 1 program - kind of a bird’s eye view so you can see where things are going and how you’ll progress over the course of your practice.

You’ll find detailed weekly charts in the Floor 1 Program Charts document.

Training Phases

Our Floor 1 program includes two levels - Beginner and Intermediate. Both levels of Floor 1 include four phases, arranged as follows in a 14 week program:

We begin with basic skills to build the necessary strength for serious gymnastic floor training.


Phase Focus Reps Holds Rest Sets

Phase 1

5 Weeks

Strength Building - Focus on

strengthVariable

10 to 60 s

2 minutes Variable

Phase 2

4 Weeks

Skill Acquisition - Skill component

work with conditioning3 - 5 5 - 10 s 2 minutes Variable

Phase 3

3 Weeks

Flow Acquisition - Combine

components into Flow

Hybrid program of flow components and

additional conditioning

Phase 4

2 Weeks

Flow - Practice the flow in its

entiretyFull flow > 5 s 2 minutes Up to 6

As that strength becomes available, you’ll gradually begin to chain the movements together in longer and more sophisticated routines, culminating in a ‘flow’ routine that contains everything you’ve practiced up to that point.

Program Overview

Phase 1 - Daily work is divided into Balance, Strength, and Flexibility days, and one full rest day.

Phase 2 - Daily work is divided into Jumping, Leg/Balance, Tumbling/Rolling, and Hand Balancing days, and one full rest day.

Phase 3 - Work on the Flow Components.

Phase 4 - Work on the full Flow.


CHAPTER FIVE: MISCELLANY

Though we’ve tried to keep this manual concise by focusing on actionable instructions over a lot of unnecessary theory and discussion, we recognize that you may be curious about some of the hows and whys behind F1.

Since we released the first edition of this program in 2010, we’ve gotten thousands of questions via email from people who wanted more explanation about certain points. Below, we’ll answer the most common questions and concerns.

Trust Us

Let’s start with this: please trust us.

We know this is asking a lot, but you can get a lot more out of F1 if you simply trust us. We have no reason to design a program that doesn’t work. Think about it: we'd be out of business.

Helping people implement this program to get the results they want is what we do for a living - all day, every day. We’ve seen it work for clients of all ages and abilities.

Some people will need to add an extra week or to to Phase 1 if they lack strength starting out. Others require additional practice to get the double arm lever in Phase 2. It’s OK. You’re an individual, and you may need more time to get some things, but if you mind your technique, you will continue to make progress at every session.


How To Use The Videos

Despite our fondness for her music, we feel strongly that Jane Fonda did a great disservice to the idea of what it should look like to work out at home.

The notion that you should put on a video and work out with your TV is about as absurd as it gets. We don’t believe in it, and we don’t recommend it. We’re sure as hell not going to facilitate it by encouraging you to watch anything besides your own technique, breathing, and effort while you train.

Let’s get something very clear: you are training your body., not dancing with an imaginary partner. Your tempo and timing honestly do not matter very much. You don’t have to keep up with anyone’s pace.

When you practice, we want you to be focused on you, not on your TV.

Which is why we need to clarify how we recommend using the videos in this program. They are not “follow-along” videos meant to be viewed while training. Rather, they are tutorials. Please watch them before training - preferably while also looking over this manual.

You may have to watch the videos more times this way, and it might take longer. You’ll have to think a little but and try to remember what each exercise looks like and what we call it in the program charts. That’s OK though, because exercising your brain combats mental decline in old age.


The benefit of doing so is that you can focus 100% on how your body feels, which is the best way to build control.

Where To Begin

The obvious choice would be to begin at the beginning. We highly recommend that you start Floor One with Phase 1 of the Beginner Level and work from there. Perform the Day 1 session, using the minimum number of sets, reps, and holds for each exercise.

Give that a shot first and see how it goes.

If the movements are too difficult or you feel you need to spend some time preparing, then we recommend cutting every set and repetition and hold at least in half. And just do that with the Phase 1 for two weeks. This should give you a good ramping up to the full program.

If Day 1 was easy for you, and you’re confident that your technique was excellent (RPT approaching a perfect 10), attempt the Day 2 session using the full sets and reps. Chances are, this will be quite a bit more difficult, so you can continue that way.

In subsequent sessions, you can determine the number of reps by stopping when your form breaks down.

Keep progressing at each session if you can.

If Phase 1 is easy for you at max reps and sets, do not skip to Phase 2. Instead, try Day 1 again at the Intermediate level.


Phase 2 puts the Phase 1 exercises together into combinations, so you’ll want to be sure you’ve practiced the components adequately before attempting to work Phase 2.

This is why we have two difficulty levels, so make sure you choose the one that is most appropriate for you.

Making Progress

For convenience, we’ve structured this program around four phases, arranged in a 14 week program However, this isn’t universal. Depending on your experience and strength level, you may find that you require more or less time.

If you are able to perform max reps and sets with RPT above 8 and RPE below 6, you can try Phase 2. Of course, you may still decide to continue with Phase 1 for extra practice - that’s always an option too.

If you’ve completed four weeks at Phase 1, and you are still not feeling very strong, keep at it. Some people take a little longer to start feeling stronger, so an extra week or two at Phase 1 might do you good.

In general, you should plan to move slowly and deliberately through the phases of the program. Practice hard and move on when you feel you are ready, making sure to always focus on technique. Remember that one perfect repetition is worth more than five terrible ones.

Work you put in laying a strong foundation always pays off for developing advanced skills later.


Preparing For A Great Training Session

There are two general ways to perform your session:

1. Complete the minimum planned work

2. Kick ass

And BOTH of them are totally viable!

Nobody can have a great workout every time. We sure don’t, and you probably won’t either. If you have an ‘off’ day, we recommend just planning to get in, do the work, and get out.

Sometimes, just getting started with the warm-up will change your attitude, and you’ll go on the have a great session. Other times, lowering your expectations a bit gives you the freedom to just focus on your technique and not have to worry about doing a ton of work if you’re tired.

But of course, you don’t want to phone it in very often. Here’s some tips for having a kick-ass session as often as possible:

★ Leave the world at the door. When you start your training session, your job, your family, and everything else are outside. Your only concern is what’s going on with your body performing the exercises.

★ When learning new skills, it can help to visualize perfect execution in your head. Even better, visualize yourself performing it perfectly. “Feel” what it would feel like to perform it perfectly. Not only is this shown to reinforce your physical practice in your brain, it helps focus your effort and reactivates your memory of the key points to focus on.


★ Remember your goals. What do you ultimately want to achieve? Want to do a sweet freestanding handstand someday? Think about that. Want to impress your wife with more muscle next time she “accidentally” touches your arm? Think about that. Your goals are your goals, and they mean something to you - even if they’re not the same as what other people want. Use them to motivate yourself for a better session.

You won't be able to do this all the time. Some days, the workout will beat you. Some days, you'll have a draw.

That's fine.

Shoot to kick the workout's ass one good time each week and aim for at least a draw the rest of the time.

And if the workout ends up beating you, you can still feel good about winning most of the time. Get a good night's sleep and come back stronger.

Fitting It All In

There are two ways to handle the topic of fitting your training into a busy schedule. We’ll start with the answer you probably want.

There’s a lot of ways you can adjust the program to fit into a hectic lifestyle. You can do fewer sessions per week. You can split the workouts into shorter AM and PM sessions. You could really do any number of things.


Unfortunately, none of those adjustments are as good for most people as following the program as written.

Which brings us to the tough love answer:

If you think you have a time management problem, chances are what you really have is a prioritizing problem.

Everyone gets the same number of hours each day - 24. Unsuccessful people complain about lacking time. Successful people prioritize high-value activities in the time they have. If you watch TV or play games on Facebook, there is a very simple way to find more time for your training. You simply have to decide that it’s more important to you than all the things you’re wasting your time on now.

If you’re a parent, ambulance driver, or ER doctor, you might not have as much control over your schedule as you’d like, but we have clients in each of those professions who are successfully following the program and getting great results.

You can too.

Assessing Your Performance

As a general rule, hand balancing and bodyweight training are not easy, so if you feel that anything in this program is too easy, there are two possibilities: either you are uncommonly strong (rare) or you are doing something wrong (much more common).


If the former is true and you’re simply very strong, please contact us, and we will work with you to make things more challenging. If something feels easy and you aren’t extremely strong, we’re not picking on you.

We’ll simply ask you to review the videos and make sure you’re performing the exercise as outlined via the key points noted in the tutorials and again in this manual.

It’s completely natural that some movements in this program will be easier for you than others. It’s also quite common that certain holds look easy but turn out to be more difficult when you focus on doing them properly.

If you find that a single exercise is easy for you, that’s great. However, remember that the various components of the program are made to work together as a whole, so don’t discount an exercise because you find it easy. Continue practicing it in the context of the other exercises in your workout and try to make it more and more perfect each time.

There’s a big difference between being able to do an exercise and being able to do it well with strength to spare.

Another thing we highly recommend is filming your training periodically.

You don’t need to do this every time, but it can be extremely beneficial to use video to check your performance when you’re in the early learning stages with new movements.


Adding Other Movements / Tools

We live in a wonderful time with myriad options. And that sometimes makes it difficult to choose.

But we must. Especially when it comes to fitness training, there are about a million competing options, each claiming to be the best, super-ultimate method for giving you bigger muscles, stripping off excess body fat, and making you more attractive to potential partners.

Though many of these programs are terrible, there’s still room left over for a good number of programs that actually work as advertised. There are many very talented and genuinely nice trainers and coaches out there working to make health and fitness attainable to more people. And you have to choose between them.

Think about cheese.

Cheese is delicious, and Andy likes to have some on almost everything. But different cheeses have different characters that lend themselves to various recipes.

Romano cheese makes a bland quiche, but a delicious manicotti. Cheddar goes great on a burger with bacon, but you wouldn't want cheddar cheese cake. The same thing goes for exercises, training protocols, and programs.

You need to choose the right program elements for your goal and combine them in the way that they work best together.


Just because somebody selling kettlebells says that kettlebells are the best way to build stamina doesn't mean you should add snatch intervals to every single training program.

Don't get us wrong - we love kettlebells, but they won't help your handstand.

If you just really, really want to add kettlebell exercises to a GMB program, we can’t stop you. Likewise for adding your favorite exercise that you think is important.

You’re an adult, and you can make that decision.

But please understand that we are pretty decent chefs. If you see an ingredient "missing" from our recipe, it's because we decided not to include it. Often, that’s because it doesn’t contribute to the goals of the program.

Adding Other Programs

Since we’re so fond of food, let’s use the recipe analogy again.

Imagine a recipe for the best oatmeal raisin cookies ever made. That recipe is Floor One, and it includes exactly the right combination of ingredients and heat to make some sweet movement skill.

Now imagine a recipe for pizza. Pizza is a real crowd-pleaser the world over, so it’s hard to go wrong with a good pizza recipe. In this case, the pizza represents whatever other training programs you like. We probably like them too, because pizza is delicious.


Now think about what would happen if you combined both recipes.

Put all the dough and oatmeal and raisins and pepperoni and cheese in a bowl and mix it all together. Slap it on a baking sheet and cook at 350∘

for twelve minutes.

Do you really want to eat that?

Probably not.

Yet, this is exactly what you’re doing when you try and combine two training programs together.

Can it sometimes work?

Yes. It can, but it might not, and we can’t be responsible for your results when you don’t follow the recipe.

Exercise Selection

These days, thanks to Al Gore and The Interwebz, we have no shortage of information available to us on virtually any topic. Given the glut of resources out there, we can easily develop a tendency to assume we need to do everything (again with the “more is better” philosophy).

Floor 1 is not an encyclopedia of gymnastic hand balancing and bodyweight exercises.


One thing we do when designing programs is make decisions about which exercises to include. Equally important are the decisions we make about what not to include. The latter is often the more difficult decision, so some trainers avoid it by simply throwing in everything they can think of.

Given infinite time, infinite energy, and an infinite capacity to recover from training, it would be tempting to add in every single exercise that might provide some small benefit.

But you don't have unlimited capacity for practice, so we don't include exercises that:

1. Don't directly contribute to meeting the main goals of the program, or...

2. Might be useful, but aren't as beneficial as other exercises that achieve the same outcomes more efficiently.

As a result, everything that is part of the program is essential. Do these with your full attention, striving to do each repetition as closely to perfect as possible, and you’ll easily surpass the results you’d have if you tried to do it all.

Be Patient

Every so often, we get an email that says something like this:

“I bought F1 last week, and I still can’t do a crane hold.”


Unfortunately, simply purchasing the program does not magically install strength and skill into your nervous system (though we’d love it if this were possible).

Getting strong takes work, and that work is probably going to be quite difficult sometimes.

Be patient with yourself.

Though we do encourage you to compare your performance with with videos in this program to check your form against what Ryan demonstrates, we don’t want you to feel like you have to measure up to that level of ability within a short time period. Even Ryan had to start somewhere.

The good news is that, if you practice consistently and keep working at it, you will get stronger.

Be patient, and work hard. You can do this.

Get In Touch

Of course, if you’ve read through all this and you’re still having trouble, you need to get in touch.

Reply to any GMB email, or send us a request through the membership site, and we’ll do everything in our power to take care of you.


OUTRODUCTION

This Floor 1 training program is designed to do more than just teach you some cool tricks to show off with, these exercises and progressions will help you tap into remarkable athleticism.

The ability to move your body with grace and control has always been recognized and admired regardless of your personal cultural background. It’s a natural, and reasonable!, desire to move, play, and work in a way that’s strong and seemingly effortless.

The tools here in F1 provide the most efficient ways to achieve these goals with progressive bodyweight movements. Follow these programs well and impressive strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility will be yours before you know it!

We are having a great time sharing with you the ways we like to train, and hope you continue to walk with us in this wonderful journey. We want you to finish each training session eager for the next. We want you to train hard and smart, but also have a lot of fun along the way! Most of all we want you to to have and enjoy real practical strength to help you in all that you do.

Thank you. We hope to see you soon!

The GMB Team — Ryan, Jarlo, Andy, Amber, Rachel, and Clayton


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