all posts post new thread

Kettlebell Experience with the Long Cycle Clean and Jerk

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

Alaska80

Level 6 Valued Member
Geoff Neupert has often written about the amazing benefits of spending significant time with the LCCJ, but few do. I have spent little time with it, but would like to commit more to it in the future.

For those of you who have spent significant time with single or double LCCJs what has been your experience?

Increased power?
Increased conditioning?
Increased strength?
General sense of well being?
Reduced fat?

Thanks ahead for the responses.
 
I am going to put down 2021 as the year of the long cycle for me. I spent proper 75% of the performing both the single and double LCCJ.

To be broad in my response to all the listed questions above: Yes. Immensely

It's definitely a technical lift and I did have my form checked out via video from an SFG2. I worked through the RMF program, but hit a block when I failed to keep track of my breathing during a high rep session. Pulled muscle in upper back for about 2 weeks
Re-evaluated and dropped to singles to work myself back up. I started this journey managing just LCCJ with the 20s and worked up to a comfortable 7RM with the 28s.

I exploded. My endurance got better. My mobility improved. I felt as good as I did when I was running through S&S...or better?
 
I am finishing Phase One of KB Strong. The first week or two is pretty light, but it's a good way to dial in your form. I thought only three days a week of training would be too little. But, those last few days of triples really hit hard. The recovery day (or two) are really needed, in my opinion. I just did 10X3 yesterday. My hamsrtings and glutes are really feeling it.

I don't alway eat enough, so some days the sessions are tough, like I'm really sucking air. I'm glad I chose LCCJ compared to CP because I feel like it's a better global training modality. It's too early to tell about the conditioning and power, but I do have a better overal sense of well being and reduced fat.

The best part is I don't feel wiped out by the sessions. I feel pretty good, with just the right amount of soreness, without it being debilitating.
 
Just like James: in answer to all questions, yes. Except maybe the reduced fat part, but such is the ectomorph conundrum.

This is my favorite lift of all time. I have spent most of 2021 on LCCJ, lots of work like lighter bells, and the past few months have been working with heavier bells, both single (32kg) and double (2x25kg), often using the Giant programs (an easy way to program the lift). It's awesome, both single and double. I've noticeably gained muscle the past few months, literally everywhere: arms, back, legs, glutes...

It is indeed technical, but very much worth mastering. The mobility demand is pretty high, but I have found that it has significantly improved my mobility throughout my body. Nothing makes my shoulders feel better, too.
 
Built up a great amount of work capacity, stayed at fairly lean levels despite not being as mindful of my eating as I wanted.

Attaching again my student's progress when he ran RMF
 

Attachments

  • received_1653879951444280.jpeg
    received_1653879951444280.jpeg
    59.5 KB · Views: 149
Geoff has two programs in Kettlebell Hard/More Kettlebell Muscle that contain the clean and jerk. They are also two of my favorites there. One is ladder style and the other can be run as a chain or complex. Try it as a chain. Great conditioning. I highly recommend.
 
Thanks all for the replies. It has hardened my resolve to spend a lot of time with the DBL LCCJ.

My main focus is mountain fitness and up to this point the biggest bang for my buck exercise has been the double C&P, for whatever reason my body loves it and I feel great when doing it in high volume. It has done more for me than any other KB exercise. Something inside me though, says that the DBL LCCJ may be even better as a core exercise for my lifestyle, so I am going to give it a shot and see.

Just started Herky Jerky from Kettlebell Hard on Monday. I am also doing Barbell Bolt On with it. Wife and son are doing it along with me (only 7.5 months to Sheep season), so it will be nice to see the effects from 3 varying body types.
 
Thanks all for the replies. It has hardened my resolve to spend a lot of time with the DBL LCCJ.

My main focus is mountain fitness and up to this point the biggest bang for my buck exercise has been the double C&P, for whatever reason my body loves it and I feel great when doing it in high volume. It has done more for me than any other KB exercise. Something inside me though, says that the DBL LCCJ may be even better as a core exercise for my lifestyle, so I am going to give it a shot and see.

Just started Herky Jerky from Kettlebell Hard on Monday. I am also doing Barbell Bolt On with it. Wife and son are doing it along with me (only 7.5 months to Sheep season), so it will be nice to see the effects from 3 varying body types.
I too am going to do RMF sometime in the near future.
I’m currently running STRONG and have about 7 weeks of phase 2 left.
I was thinking RMF would be good before we go out west every summer and hike Glacier, Tetons, Snowy Range, etc.
I’d love to hear about a sheep hunt. Being in sheep shape puts one in an elite category. Not sure this old fat man could ever handle it.
 
Thanks all for the replies. It has hardened my resolve to spend a lot of time with the DBL LCCJ.

My main focus is mountain fitness and up to this point the biggest bang for my buck exercise has been the double C&P, for whatever reason my body loves it and I feel great when doing it in high volume. It has done more for me than any other KB exercise. Something inside me though, says that the DBL LCCJ may be even better as a core exercise for my lifestyle, so I am going to give it a shot and see.

Just started Herky Jerky from Kettlebell Hard on Monday. I am also doing Barbell Bolt On with it. Wife and son are doing it along with me (only 7.5 months to Sheep season), so it will be nice to see the effects from 3 varying body types.
How do you plan to pair the two kettlebell jerk with the long distance work for mountain fitness (e.g. long slow trail runs, et cetera)?
 
How do you plan to pair the two kettlebell jerk with the long distance work for mountain fitness (e.g. long slow trail runs, et cetera)?
I will stick to the same general template that I have now. This is my Alaska winter routine:

M: [AM: 30-40m Weighted Walk/Ruck] [Lunch: McGill Big Three, KB farmer carries, Barbell Bolton (Deadlift)] [PM: Herky Jerky (KB hard!)]

T: Long slow run 45-60m, I will also get 3-4, 20-30m unweighted walks throughout the day

W: [AM: 30-40m Weighted Walk/Ruck] [Lunch: McGill Big Three, KB farmer carries, Barbell Bolton (Bench Press)] [PM: Herky Jerky (KB hard!)]

Th: Long slow run 45-60m, I will also get 3-4, 20-30m unweighted walks throughout the day

F: [McGill Big Three, KB farmer carries, Barbell Bolton (Back Squat), Herky Jerky (KB hard!)] 20 min unweighted walk. I am off Fridays so I do all the work sequentially and then EAT A LOT (free day!)

Sa: Rest/Hike/Ski/Climb/Play Video or Board Games with my kids

Su: Play pick up games with a group of about 30 teenagers. This usually equates to a heavy endurance session. Based on my heart rate in these sessions I equate them to a 30-60m HIIT session, complete with plyometrics. I am often a pile of twitching sweat at the end.

I know easy conditioning is not a thing, but I have been practicing it. I look for opportunities to get 20-30 min "functional" aerobic sessions whenever I can. This could happen anywhere from 2-10 times a week. In winter this usually pertains to hauling and splitting wood and shoveling snow or pulling kids in a sled in deep snow. For character building purposes I usually do these activities underdressed and allow my body to get quite uncomfortable, which seems to help me suffer better when I am out in the middle of nowhere. I also try to get 12-15k steps in a day.

If I am feeling over trained the first thing that goes is the weighted walks and I give myself an extra 45 min of sleep. If those are eliminated and I still feel over trained I chock it up to being mentally weak and do it anyway, just kidding...mostly.

As the sun comes back in late Feb and Mar we will start getting out a lot more extensively and my program will change at that time.
 
I too am going to do RMF sometime in the near future.
I’m currently running STRONG and have about 7 weeks of phase 2 left.
I was thinking RMF would be good before we go out west every summer and hike Glacier, Tetons, Snowy Range, etc.
I’d love to hear about a sheep hunt. Being in sheep shape puts one in an elite category. Not sure this old fat man could ever handle it.
I would be happy to share some sheep stories. Those are some of the best trips.

As for being too old and fat, you could absolutely handle it. It would just take a few lifestyle tweaks and you could get there. I am 41 now (still young), but two of my heroes who will never know that they have inspired me to greater levels of fitness are the following two gentlemen who I don't even know the names of.

Hero 1: 65-70 year old man. I was sheep hunting and me and my partner were 15 miles in over some fairly difficult terrain. It was blizzarding on us as we were headed up this steep mountain pass and I saw a black object in the distance, which I thought was a bear. But as we approached I saw it was a man. As the man got closer, he got older and his pack got bigger. We stopped and chatted for a few minutes and he had already walked near 30 miles and checked all the drainages we were headed into. Said he was headed to another range. I was very familiar with the pack this gentlemen had on and based on how it was riding on his body it had to be in the 60-70lb range, but he was crushing it, not a hint of fatigue in the man. We parted ways and I never saw him again, but I looked to my hunting partner and said "I hope that is me someday." We did get charged by a grizzly bear later that day though, I am pretty sure it thought we were caribou. It ended well for us and the bear though.

Hero 2: 65-70+ year old man. We were dragging 500lb rafts 22 miles up this class III river to hunt the headwaters for moose. The water was almost always knee deep or deeper and flowed extremely fast, so walking was slow and very difficult. As we are slogging along, behind us come two guys pulling a canoe and just crushing it. They quickly overtake us and we stop and chat a minute. They were a father and son, and the son was older than me (mid 40's) which had to put his dad in the range stated above. Anyway they continue on their way and we ours. It took us 23 hours of pulling over 2.5 days to get to our camp. As we are hitting our camp these two are floating back out (they went about 10 miles further than us) with this monstrous moose. I look to my partner's and said "you have got to be kidding me," they stop and we chat a bit. He tells the story of his hunt and with genuine friendliness tells us about the other moose up from where they came from. Unless you have ever lined a canoe or raft up a very swift river in difficult conditions it is hard to have a grasp of this physical feat, but trust me, this guy was a rock hard animal. I hope to grow up and be like him someday.
 
Geoff Neupert has often written about the amazing benefits of spending significant time with the LCCJ, but few do. I have spent little time with it, but would like to commit more to it in the future.

For those of you who have spent significant time with single or double LCCJs what has been your experience?

Increased power?
Increased conditioning?
Increased strength?
General sense of well being?
Reduced fat?

Thanks ahead for the responses.
Conditioning. When I was trying hard to increase GS numbers (and doing little in the way of strict pressing), my pressing strength took a hit.
 
Increased power? Yes, really felt fast in punching.
Increased conditioning? Yes, felt really light on my feet during sparring.
Increased strength? Yes, my numbers went up over the duration of 3 months on KB-SF (BJJ) programme.
General sense of well being? Yes, but the pandemic restrictions were lifting at the same time. Coincidence?
Reduced fat? Nope. Too greedy.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom