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Do you think it is OK to start PBF at the mastery level, even if I can't do the required number of repetitions but I can perform the movements?
For example, I can do a full pullup, but only about 5 or 6. If I did this for my assessment, it would put me at the 1 leg chair assisted pull up level.
I think I'd rather do the full movements, and increase my reps as I get stronger. Can anyone see any problems with this?
Thanks!
I don't see any issue.
My dilettante's opinion concurs with Neckhammer's. I'd add the suggestion that you can substitute negatives for any "required" repetitions you can't complete where applicable (like the pullup). That is, if you're supposed to do 10 and can only do 6, you can throw 4 negatives on the end and work your way up.
Thanks, that's my opinion too. Although I am mostly sedentary, I can do about 25 full pushups right now. To start with knee pushups would be kind of boring. I'm sure that with two workouts a week, I can bring myself up to 50 full pushups at some point in the future.
(That's really the problem. I can do [I]some[/I] repetitions of each mastery level exercise, and so to start with the progressions would be boring...)
If there is a good reason to do the progressions, I'll do them. Boring would not be a good excuse, then!
Thanks for your input!
Convict Conditioning has a similar philosophy, and I never had good success if I tried to skip steps. If I really mastered the lower levels, then it was very clear when I should move up. Every step I've tried to skip I've had to go back to.
A lot of those lower steps start working muscles that you haven't used, start training movements that aren't comfortable, and start building tendon and ligament strength that you don't have. That last one takes a long time, much longer than building muscle.
I don't think it's a big deal either way, but if you take your ego out of it, you'll probably gain a fair amount from those earlier steps. It's like the lifting program Stronglifts5x5, which has you start with the bar for every exercise. It's a little embarrassing, but the results are amazing. I had been in the Army for a decade before I started Convict Conditioning, and definitely got benefits from wall, incline, and knee pushups.
Also, if your workout is the master step every time, won't you get bored with that?
[QUOTE=jfreaksho;948287]Convict Conditioning has a similar philosophy, and I never had good success if I tried to skip steps. If I really mastered the lower levels, then it was very clear when I should move up. Every step I've tried to skip I've had to go back to.
A lot of those lower steps start working muscles that you haven't used, start training movements that aren't comfortable, and start building tendon and ligament strength that you don't have. That last one takes a long time, much longer than building muscle.
I don't think it's a big deal either way, but if you take your ego out of it, you'll probably gain a fair amount from those earlier steps. It's like the lifting program Stronglifts5x5, which has you start with the bar for every exercise. It's a little embarrassing, but the results are amazing. I had been in the Army for a decade before I started Convict Conditioning, and definitely got benefits from wall, incline, and knee pushups.
Also, if your workout is the master step every time, won't you get bored with that?[/QUOTE]
You make a good argument for not skipping the progressions. Do you mean that Convict Conditioning recommends skipping, or not skipping? Thanks for your thoughts!
I am in your same boat, but am leaning towards doing the steps rather than just pushing through the mastery level stuff. My reason has more to do with form and injury. When I push too hard and cannot do something I end up struggling and use bad form and bad form= injuries in my experience
I read that as convict conditioning has a similar philosophy as PBF, which is why he was paralleling his experience with CC with how PBF would work out.
I'm just starting but personally think it makes more sense to do the steps and work up to it, because I think there's more benefit in doing a handful of reps correctly and building all of the muscles, than only being able to do a few reps with probably slightly poorer form and your limiting factor is going to be that one muscle or ligament or whatever that isn't strong enough yet. Start where everything can work together and correctly and build strength and coordination in a linear fashion.
That said, I am just starting, and my initial evaluation results in me being on the mastery level on squats but the very first level on all the others. Oy.
Do the test and start from the reavant level. Thats why its there my friend. Believe me, done properly to your limits whilst eating well and ul be up near master within 5 weeks.
Richard
I have to side with jfreaksho on this one. In CC, Coach Wade talks a lot about building what he calls "training momentum," which includes not only building tendon and ligament strength but also gaining full mastery of each movement before moving on. You get in the groove, which makes each following step much easier than if you were to skip to what currently challenges you. In this case, as the adage goes, slow and steady really does win the race.