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Kettlebell Original Strength or Flexible Steel

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Strong Rick

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Hello All,
I'm looking into adding one of these systems before and possibly after my regular S+S routine...

I was wondering what is the difference between the two?

Do they both work on creating space in the joints ( specifically ankle,hip and thoracic spine)?

Would either one of those systems be a good "add in" to my regular S+S routine?

If I buy one of the books does it give routine to do such as a "10 minute mobility warm up" that I can incorporate before and after my S+S training... also something I can do periodically through out the day?

what are the benefits of either system?

what are the "down sides" to either( which I have a hard believing there are any "down sides")?

I'm looking to improving my joint mobility in my ankle, hip and thoracic spine.

Any insight you all could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Or maybe I'm going down the wrong road and you all could point me in the right direction instead of looking into one of these 2 systems...

Thanks in advance
 
I'm looking to improving my joint mobility in my ankle, hip and thoracic spine.

My opinion: I think Flexible Steel would serve you better towards your stated goal.

OS is great though -- I'd say it would bring some of those mobility benefits, but its real magic is in tying the body together, and of course postural reset. It is also a good warm-up and probably what I did most often before the session when I did 4 solid months of S&S in 2014.

I think either one works as a warm-up for S&S, but Flexible Steel (or Super Joints, which it is largely based on) may not challenge your muscles as much as the S&S warm-up, so I wouldn't replace the S&S warm-up; just add this to it. If you have time. Or do the FS/SJ in the morning first thing, and S&S warm-up right before your session as usual. There's a good 10-min routine is this thread: Super Joints - minimum effective dose
 
My opinion: I think Flexible Steel would serve you better towards your stated goal.

OS is great though -- I'd say it would bring some of those mobility benefits, but its real magic is in tying the body together, and of course postural reset. It is also a good warm-up and probably what I did most often before the session when I did 4 solid months of S&S in 2014.

I think either one works as a warm-up for S&S, but Flexible Steel (or Super Joints, which it is largely based on) may not challenge your muscles as much as the S&S warm-up, so I wouldn't replace the S&S warm-up; just add this to it. If you have time. Or do the FS/SJ in the morning first thing, and S&S warm-up right before your session as usual. There's a good 10-min routine is this thread: Super Joints - minimum effective dose
Thanks @Anna C!
I'm not looking to replace the S+S warm up. I love that warm up!
I'm looking to add to it... I.E. something to do before I do the S+S goblet squats, hip bridge and halos.
 
I love OS and what it does. It can be catered to be used primarily as a warm-up routine, but the variations in crawling and the other golden movements (I would advice to buy their book or best, attend at a workshop) can be loaded and used to strengthen the body in a remarkable way.

Since I started using OS my hip/lower back pain has more or less vanished, the body control lower-upper and left-right is mush better. My joints from the neck down feels smoother and stronger than ever.
 
My opinion: I think Flexible Steel would serve you better towards your stated goal.

OS is great though -- I'd say it would bring some of those mobility benefits, but its real magic is in tying the body together, and of course postural reset. It is also a good warm-up and probably what I did most often before the session when I did 4 solid months of S&S in 2014.

I think either one works as a warm-up for S&S, but Flexible Steel (or Super Joints, which it is largely based on) may not challenge your muscles as much as the S&S warm-up, so I wouldn't replace the S&S warm-up; just add this to it. If you have time. Or do the FS/SJ in the morning first thing, and S&S warm-up right before your session as usual. There's a good 10-min routine is this thread: Super Joints - minimum effective dose
That video in the Super Joints - minimum effective dose post is awesome!
I just did a few of them here at work and I felt great afterwards!
I am going to look into this further.
so maybe my focus should be on Flexible steel or Super joints.... does that sound about right?
 
I'm looking to improving my joint mobility in my ankle, hip and thoracic spine.

As @Anna C stated, OS is ideal for "tying the body's X together." IMO, the Original Strength system does this better than most as it has the foundation positions of rolling / crawling as the base for their programming.

If you follow the joint by joint method for programming movement then you will understand how the body operates as a kinetic chain. Basically, impaired ankle mobility can inhibit T spine mobility and vise versa. The body is one piece.

You can exercise and "work" on each area separately for sure although you will not begin to address optimal function until they all begin to communicate and work together.
 
As @Anna C stated, OS is ideal for "tying the body's X together." IMO, the Original Strength system does this better than most as it has the foundation positions of rolling / crawling as the base for their programming.

If you follow the joint by joint method for programming movement then you will understand how the body operates as a kinetic chain. Basically, impaired ankle mobility can inhibit T spine mobility and vise versa. The body is one piece.

You can exercise and "work" on each area separately for sure although you will not begin to address optimal function until they all begin to communicate and work together.
@natewhite39 what if I'm not looking for "optimal".
I am more less looking for a good place to start.
Kind of like how everyone refers new members to S+S as a "good place to start" when getting started on this forum.

In my mind it is better to start at the beginning and focus my thinking there instead of focusing on "optimal" right from the start. Once I gain what is needed than Incan work on "optimizing" it.....

Make sense?
Would you still recommend OS resets then?
 
@Strong Rick Yes I would still recommend taking a look at the OS system. Also, let me clarify, when I refer to "optimal" please do not confuse this with "advanced."

The OS protocol is based on the fundamental human movement development patterns. Think of how a baby goes from high mobility / low stability towards a balance of mobile / stronger / stable / stronger:
1) Lying on their back...
2) Tummy time....
3) Tummy time with head up (shoulder joint is the first joint to be loaded)....
4) Crawling...
5) Crawling to standing (loaded hip joint)....
6) Then eventually walking, running, climbing, jumping, etc....

This is how we are designed to learn movement so if you are in need of mobilizing a joint then you need to get back to basics. For example, this is why the TGU is such a great movement for nearly everyone since it moves through the developmental progression again and again backwards and forwards.

Getting back to "optimal." We are all different shapes and sizes with a wide variety of injury / exercise history. Optimal for me will not be the same for you so it is all relative to where you are now.
 
I read both Flexible Steel and OS (both reset and performance), did some FS and does lots of OS resets, an did tons of mobility stuff from Becoming a Supple Leopard.

I now use FS/mobility for "first-aid" and OS resets as my daily-go-to-everything.

"Tying the X" works well for me, I haven't understood what the hell Tim and Geoff meant when they wrote it until I did it for some consecutive days. @natewhite39 explained it very well in the previous post.
 
@Strong Rick, in either case, I recommend attending a workshop. I am well-acquainted with Flexible Steel and a huge fan of it; I teach in the program and have taught our 1-day workshop 3 times so far, I think.

I don't know enough about Original Strength to comment, but I also want to recommend Ground Force Method to you. Both GFM and FS have strong connections to StrongFirst - each was founded and is still led by a current StrongFirst Master SFG.

And while we're mentioning cool stuff along these lines, please also consider another program with very strong StrongFirst connection, the Functional Movement Screen, and the program that StrongFirst offers in partnership with FMS called Foundational Strength.

And also you should be aware of other non-SF-related programs that have, in the past, been more closely connected with StrongFirst people, e.g., Z-Health - I still use some of the things I learned there. And there are other programs as well.

-S-
 
StrongFirst offers in partnership with FMS called Foundational Strength

Steve, can you please elaborate a little bit on Foundational Strength? Is that what used to be the FMS-CK?? I'm FMS1 and if I can combine it with StrongFirst in the future I would probably be interested
 
I'm looking to improving my joint mobility in my ankle, hip and thoracic spine.

This has been the year of flexibility for me. In fact, it's all I'm willing to do at the moment while my back continues to heal. I've tried OS, I've done two Flexible Steel privates with Steve, I've tried two of the flexibility courses from GymnasticBodies.com, and a friend let me check out the Focused Flexibility course from GMB Fitness. They're all cool and unique. Steve teaches to literally pull yourself into position using your strength, GymnasticBodies uses long static stretches, and GMB uses a really simple variant of PNF that's fun. It's great to have all these tools in your tool belt.

If you're looking to improve your range of motion, I'd focus on getting together with Steve if you can't attend one of his workshops (we used Skype) and maybe check out the GMB course. GMB's course is a little more cost effective than GymnasticBodies, and has a quicker, multi-day, full-body approach. GymnasticBodies consists of one really intense session per week per focus area. Right now I'm doing the GMB general routine just about daily (about 20 gentle minutes), and the GymnasticBodies Middle Split routine once a week (45 intense minutes).
 
@Shahaf Levin, I don't know more but I have asked for more information. This is a workshop that's been held a couple of times since StrongFirst's formation but I don't see it on the calendar and don't know when or if it will be held again. I wasn't able to attend; my understanding is that, yes, it was the latest version of the kind of thing the CK-FMS was.

-S-
 
Yes - the Foundational Strength is the combo of FMS level 2 (you need to be FMS level 1 certified) and SFG principles and KB techniques for better movement etc...
We are scheduled for the UK in Feb. and working on a date in the US in late 2017.
 
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