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Kettlebell Thoughts after 21 months of S&S

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Kozushi

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These thoughts are not organized:

1. WTH effect getting into deadlifting recently. I almost instantly could do sets of deadlifts with 300lbs! Wow! If I tried that before S&S I'd have crippled myself!
2. TGUs are totally about time under tension. Hold each posture as long as you can.
3. I finally got to understand the difference between 1 and 2 arm swings. 1 arm swings are an anti-twist exercise and 2h swings are a big pull exercise. The 1 arm swings are the exact reverse of doing a one arm pushup. The 2 arm swings are more like a deadlift. They're really almost completely different exercises even though they resemble one another in outward form.
4. Thus, S&S is about A) ANTI TWIST and B) TIME UNDER TENSION.
5. TGUs are like Karate katas - you go through various useful-to-train postures developing strength, balance, poise and resilience at each step.
6. TGUs are correctly placed after the swings, as they continue the elevated heart rate nicely this way, and the elevated heart rate for the full 30 minutes is a main benefit of the programme.
7. Keeping the body warm through exercise for half an hour with S&S feels like a sauna bath but is much much healthier!
8. After doing S&S for a long time, it is more than possible to do other exercises during the day without compromising it. In my case, doing kettlebell presses and barbell deadlifts are great additions to my strength training, and fill out S&S with some important nuances for my judo.
9. S&S is more like a complete strength training heavy sport than just an exercise programme.
10. The balance benefits of training S&S are very useful for other sports.
11. Most definitely S&S helps pressing power. No doubt at all - and pulling power!
12. "Virtual force" training with kettlebells is absolutely real. I've experienced this personally.
13. Simple really is "good enough" to be very strong. Moving 71lbs all around in one hand at a time for 30 minutes does a body good for sure!
14. I'd like to personally thank whoever invented the TGU movement, as it's links martial arts training (Karate like) with lifting weights in a way I had been hoping to discover myself for years but couldn't!
15. Cardio, mobility and strength together means everything is there for maintaining and enhancing our health in every way exercise can provide.
16. It takes 30 minutes. Don't plan for any less time. Enjoy the meditative break from your day for half an hour with the feeling of a sauna bath and a healthy pumping heart, knowing that you are maintaining your health brilliantly.
 
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I don’t know about that sauna part. There are ton of health benefits in sauna too. Recovery, fat loss, blood flow, elevated metabolism, elevated GH levels etc...
But then again, I’m Finnish, sauna is my religion. :D
 
Related to your kata analogy: my brother once remarked that the TGU is like a dance move, controlled and flowing.

I used to dance a lot and this is exactly why I love TGUs so much. The cognitive power and precise body control required fill my craving for dance, with the added motivation for perfection provided by a heavy weight above my face.
 
Kozushi,

Impressive to me the length of time you've put in to the program. Well done. I definitely suffer from "need to change it up periodically " syndrome, sounds like you don't.

I've found that the S&S sessions expose a weak point in my forearm strength. There a spot on my inner arm just below the elbow that is always lit up like a candle at the end of a session - nothing else hits it so hard. I think it's doing a lot for grip strength, though I haven't done a qualitative test of that yet. But I love the feeling.
 
But then again, I’m Finnish, sauna is my religion.
Having recently over-dehydrated myself, how do you deal with making sure you have enough fluids and salt in your body? Anything special, e.g., perhaps eating more salty foods than people who don't spend as much time in a sauna?

Thanks very much.

-S-
 
There a spot on my inner arm just below the elbow that is always lit up like a candle at the end of a session

I sometimes have this, but i associate it with arm tension during the swing. but it isnt ??

One arm swings hit my hands hard. as if my fingers, handpalm are being pulled apart.

btw respect for anyone on S&S longer than a year. Im in my 13th (serious) week and bored so badly i added a 2nd workout later in the day :rolleyes:
 
Having recently over-dehydrated myself, how do you deal with making sure you have enough fluids and salt in your body? Anything special, e.g., perhaps eating more salty foods than people who don't spend as much time in a sauna?

Thanks very much.

-S-
Traditionally we take few beers(in weekends) and perhaps some sausages afterwards. Sometimes we ”grill” sausages on saunastove. Another more healthier habit is to drink vichy. Which is basically soda water with some added minerals. :)
Saturday is very typical sauna day in Finland so afterwards we may eat potato chips and another salty junkfoods while watching TV with family. :)
Basically every Finn goes to sauna at least once week and it starts at very young age so it’s like going to shower.
 
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I sometimes have this, but i associate it with arm tension during the swing. but it isnt ??

For me, the swings throw on kindling, but its the maintaining a good wrist lock during the TGU that really burn it up.

btw respect for anyone on S&S longer than a year. Im in my 13th (serious) week and bored so badly i added a 2nd workout later in the day :rolleyes:

That's the answer to all life's problems, really. Add another workout.:D
 
@Steve Freides I am not Finnish and I use a different style of heat, but I never had any problem with electrolytes. I have a steam bath at home and in the winter I use it 3-4 times a week for about 2-4 runs. Each run is about 10 mins in length and I cool down under cold water in between runs. I sweat a lot during these sessions. I typically drink about 4 to 6 cups of plain water total around and during a each session. This looks like a lot, but I drink much more each day when I vacation in the Caribbeans and never had a problem with salt intake from just eating normally. I usually take my saunas at night and never have to go to the bathroom until the next morning after one, so I probably go to bed slightly dehydrated. However, I am just a bit thirsty in the morning and a glass of water or two will get me back to normal. For comparison, I am much more thirsty in the morning if I get 4-5 beers in the evening.

Your dehydration, which I read about in another thread, was much more extreme than what you can experience in a single sauna session. Also, depending on the protocol you used, you may have selected for electrolyte elimination from the body by repeatedly diluting any salt in your body in water and eliminating it, through sweat or urine, over many days. In a sauna session, you don't deplete repeatedly and your body probably compensates automatically by either reducing electrolyte elimination over the next few days or giving the taste of salting a bit more your food. This may even not be necessary as, from what I understand, the typical North American diet is already too rich in salt and these adaptations probably don't have to occur, unless you reduce salt intake on purpose. Water intake is not a problem as you get thirsty and drink more.
 
I struggled to try it because of the monotony. now i struggle to leave it.
It's hard to leave. The problem leaving it lies yet again in exactly what the book says - it is simple. It is simple to do. It is also sinister - the moves make your heart beat hard, for a long time, and tense up your body very hard for a long time as well, in all kinds of weird positions. It's too simple to give up - heart training, movement training and strength training all together in 30 minutes. Too simple and too effective.
 
Kozushi I really appreciate the way you think. Very inquisitive and you’re always exploring the depth and details of seemingly simple things. I can relate, I do the same thing often. It’s interesting finding the balance of not overthinking or overcomplicating things while also being able to appreciate the complexity of something like S&S.

I enjoyed your list a lot. Right now I’m one day into using my new 24kg bell. I’ve had issues with S&S and honestly being a 6’2” male just now getting to the 24kg makes me feel weak (I am) but I realize that doesn’t matter. Only getting stronger and more proficient. It’s a wild frustrating but beautiful ride isn’t it? Gotta take some bumps and rough days here and there.
 
@Kozushi did you reach Simple? I´ve only briefly looked at your log, and can't remember? Im on the same pursuit .. 7 weeks into S&S.


Traditionally we take few beers(in weekends) and perhaps some sausages afterwards. Sometimes we ”grill” sausages on saunastove. Another more healthier habit is to drink vichy. Which is basically soda water with some added minerals. :)
Saturday is very typical sauna day in Finland so afterwards we may eat potato chips and another salty junkfoods while watching TV with family. :)
Basically every Finn goes to sauna at least once week and it starts at very young age so it’s like going to shower.

Love it! :)
 
14. I'd like to personally thank whoever invented the TGU movement, as it's links martial arts training (Karate like) with lifting weights in a way I had been hoping to discover myself for years but couldn't!
It's an ancient movement dating back hundreds of years so I don't think we'll ever know who invented it, although I believe it was Steve Maxwell who brought it to the attention of Pavel Tsatsouline in the late 1990s or early 2000s with regards to its use in kettlebell training.
I can't imagine training without it now; it just seems to make everything stronger.
 
I'm impressed with the overall strength and confidence the program builds. A couple months ago I struggled to even hold a 32kg bell in the 1st position of a TGU. "There's no way I'll ever be able to perform a get up with this weight", I told myself. "It'll kill me!"

Now I'm performing all five get ups per arm with the 32kg and it feels easy!
 
I am on my 11th month of S&S. The simplicity (monotony) used to scare me away but now I love it. It is one of the few true constants of my life: with all the unpredictability and changes of life and work and busy calendar I always know one thing for sure - between 6 and 7 am I do swings and I getup with a kettlebell. No news, no music, no phone - simple in all senses.
 
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