I made the mistake of reading an RKC article regarding the overall efficacy of S&S. According to them, S&S does not address a broad enough spectrum of fitness and one should incorporate other moves. Is S&S a stand alone effective workout ? Is Pavel T. correct in his opinion that S&S is all one needs to build a good foundation? Confused.
I read the article by Mr. Shank. I have some questions about it. He claims by adding the exercises he recommends to your routine and doing less swings and get ups you will not invest more time and will get "more bang for your buck". I question if that is really the case and will put some reasons below. I do mean to be respectful. I have no doubt that Mr. Shank is a highly skilled trainer with a lot to offer. I merely question some of his assertions and what he calls improvements.
Mr. Shank did not mention a warm up. In S&S you warm up with goblet squats and halos. There is a hip bridge for beginners. In regards to the stretch he recommends, flexibility is something which can be taken care of with a stretching routine which Pavel recommends.
In Mr. Shank's routine it looks like he intends the two sets of exercises to be done as part of the same routine. If they are to be done on separate days he does not specify that. In regards to the sets for each side of the body perhaps some people understand the system of numbering them better than I do.
In regards to the get ups, if he is recommending 5 for each arm then you are not saving any time because it is the same amount you do in S&S, that is, unless you are doing the two routines on separate alternating days.
Is he recommending 5 sets of swings using two hands at the same time or 5 sets of one arm swings for each arm? Take a look at it and you may see what I mean. If he is recommending 5 sets with each arm then you are not saving any time and you are not doing less swings unless you are alternating the two routines on different days.
If you are doing 5 sets of swings with 2 hands then you are doing less but you are missing out on the anti rotation benefits from doing 1 arm swings. Perhaps you can make up for that by doing the thoracic bridge.
He recommends 5 sets of rows and 5 sets of reverse lunges. If he is adding these in to the swings and get ups on the same day then there is no way you are saving time. I still am not clear about how many swings or get ups he is recommending or how often they are to be done.
I do question if the rows will be any better for my upper pulling as he describes it. I seem to be getting great overall back development from doing the swings. I am surprised just how well my whole back is developing.
In regards to the reverse lunges, I don't see how this is a great addition to the S&S routine because I do a reverse lunge every time I do a get up.
Thoracic bridge may be a good exercise but is seems like I do bridging with mobility every time I do a get up.
It looks like Mr. Shank needs to clear up some issues and be more specific about what his recommendations are. If you are doing the second set of exercises as an addition to swings and get ups on the same day then it seems obvious it will take more time unless I misunderstood his way of recording sets and reps.
If the second set of exercises are to be done on a different day than the swings and get ups then I don't see how they will make a significant improvement to what you are doing. The swings and get ups are incredible overall body exercises and you get a little extra with the goblet squats and halos you do in your warm up.
Another point is that Mr. Shank did not address the endurance aspect of the routine. S&S is designed to be tested within certain time limits and when done in this way the practitioner will develop a high level of endurance when they are working with the heavier kettlebells. It takes a lot of endurance to do 100 swings in 5 minutes with a heavy kettlebell and then to do 10 get ups in 10 minutes.
Perhaps Mr. Shank's routine would be good for many people but I don't see how it is an improvement over S&S for someone who is looking for a basic all-around strength and conditioning routine. Mr. Pavel Tsatsouline did not recommend S&S as a routine that is designed to take care of everything but rather as a simply designed basic routine for strength and conditioning. S&S is a foundational routine. People who have more specific needs can address them as needed.
I suspect Mr. Shank may have missed many important points about S&S when he wrote his article. I also believe he has failed to demonstrate that the exercises he recommends are an improvement over the S&S routine. It seems like the exercises he recommends in his second set work some of the same muscles as the swings and getups but leave some other areas uncovered. They don't appear to be as good for overall body development as the swings and get ups. Overall there were too many points he failed to address.
In regards to S&S, I have been noticing great development in my whole body since I started doing S&S exclusively. I am building muscles in places I never expected and my endurance is improving dramatically using two overall body movements. I don't see how adding the second set of exercises on the same day can be done in the same amount of time. If I did the exercises as listed it looks like they would take more time and energy. Also, I question whether I would be able to maintain the workload on a daily basis. If I needed more variety it seems like there are other exercises I could add that don't overlap so strongly with the swings and get ups.
I plan to stick with the S&S for now. When I do add other things I will look to the Strongfirst curriculum for exercises to add. I am planning to add front squats, cleans and military presses, and a stomach exercise after I make good progress on the S&S. This is something I can take care of by implementing Pavel's other material in my routine.
God bless and best of luck in your practice,
Robert