BPD
Level 4 Valued Member
Hi Forum,
First off, a big word of thanks to all of you who participate here. I've come here often for inspiration and instruction and consider this community to be a big part of any strength gains I've made over the past few years. (Even though I don't post much).
The other day I was searching the forum for advice on progressing from the 40kg bell to the 48kg with S&S. Lot's of good advice as expected. I thought I would share my story of progression from 32kg to 40kg in hopes of helping someone looking to make that jump.
I'm 51 and have been training S&S since 2016. By 2019 I had mastered the Simple standard and bought a 40kg bell as the next step. That bell was enormously heavy. I couldn't swing it one-handed and get-ups were possible, but not at all controlled. A little scary.
My wife and I went on the road for an extended period of time that year. I took the 32 and eventually settled into a daily practice that lasted 6 months or more. When I returned to retrieve my 40kg bell from storage I discovered a WTH effect--I could swing the 40kg one-handed and could perform a slow, controlled get-up. I'd made significant strength gains with the 32 just by keeping up a constant practice.
This spring I set out to master the 40kg. I practiced S&S every day for three months, alternating heavy days with easy days and slowly working sets with the 40kg into my swings and get-ups. By the end of March I had progressed to 40kg as my working weight. At this point I backed off to 3 days a week and added a little variety to my training.
Now I'm ready to start adding volume with the 40kg and am moving up to 4 days a week. 10x10 swings take me a little over 10 minutes. 10 get-ups slightly less. My plan is to just work the program until the 40kg get-ups start to feel easy with an eye on moving toward the 48.
I did learn a few tricks that seemed to help in handling get-ups with a heavier bell. One is to lift your hand as you roll to your elbow. This prevents your body from unconsciously pressing against the floor with that hand and opposing your roll. Another is to press down hard on the floor with the foot and press up hard with the bell. This helps a lot with control and rolling to the elbow. I'm not sure if I have seen these called out specifically here so I thought I would share them in hopes of helping other people progress with heavier get-ups. I've taught a few friends the "lift the hand" trick and it can be a game-changer. You'll see Pavel Macek do it in his videos when he handles a heavier bell but I don't recall it being spotlighted.
I did a post on my website several months ago about S&S, StrongFirst and Pavel's work. It briefly describes the program and packages some of the StrongFirst videos that I found most helpful in my journey. My site is mostly aimed at outdoor recreation topics and I wanted to introduce people in the outdoor industry to S&S. I hope I've helped to create a few more kettlebell converts.
If you would like to check out this article you'll find it here: https://kitchi-gami.com/2023/02/02/kettlebells-simple-and-sinister/
Thanks again to everyone here who's helped me along on the journey. As the man says, "Power to you."
Brian
First off, a big word of thanks to all of you who participate here. I've come here often for inspiration and instruction and consider this community to be a big part of any strength gains I've made over the past few years. (Even though I don't post much).
The other day I was searching the forum for advice on progressing from the 40kg bell to the 48kg with S&S. Lot's of good advice as expected. I thought I would share my story of progression from 32kg to 40kg in hopes of helping someone looking to make that jump.
I'm 51 and have been training S&S since 2016. By 2019 I had mastered the Simple standard and bought a 40kg bell as the next step. That bell was enormously heavy. I couldn't swing it one-handed and get-ups were possible, but not at all controlled. A little scary.
My wife and I went on the road for an extended period of time that year. I took the 32 and eventually settled into a daily practice that lasted 6 months or more. When I returned to retrieve my 40kg bell from storage I discovered a WTH effect--I could swing the 40kg one-handed and could perform a slow, controlled get-up. I'd made significant strength gains with the 32 just by keeping up a constant practice.
This spring I set out to master the 40kg. I practiced S&S every day for three months, alternating heavy days with easy days and slowly working sets with the 40kg into my swings and get-ups. By the end of March I had progressed to 40kg as my working weight. At this point I backed off to 3 days a week and added a little variety to my training.
Now I'm ready to start adding volume with the 40kg and am moving up to 4 days a week. 10x10 swings take me a little over 10 minutes. 10 get-ups slightly less. My plan is to just work the program until the 40kg get-ups start to feel easy with an eye on moving toward the 48.
I did learn a few tricks that seemed to help in handling get-ups with a heavier bell. One is to lift your hand as you roll to your elbow. This prevents your body from unconsciously pressing against the floor with that hand and opposing your roll. Another is to press down hard on the floor with the foot and press up hard with the bell. This helps a lot with control and rolling to the elbow. I'm not sure if I have seen these called out specifically here so I thought I would share them in hopes of helping other people progress with heavier get-ups. I've taught a few friends the "lift the hand" trick and it can be a game-changer. You'll see Pavel Macek do it in his videos when he handles a heavier bell but I don't recall it being spotlighted.
I did a post on my website several months ago about S&S, StrongFirst and Pavel's work. It briefly describes the program and packages some of the StrongFirst videos that I found most helpful in my journey. My site is mostly aimed at outdoor recreation topics and I wanted to introduce people in the outdoor industry to S&S. I hope I've helped to create a few more kettlebell converts.
If you would like to check out this article you'll find it here: https://kitchi-gami.com/2023/02/02/kettlebells-simple-and-sinister/
Thanks again to everyone here who's helped me along on the journey. As the man says, "Power to you."
Brian
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