Why am i doing this:
This is an experimental game for me. A lot of people on the forum preach about the absolute might of the Rite of Passage programme so i had to try it myself. Also, i'm a sucker for structure and progressions and gameifying my phisical health and getting to the Rite of Passage will emotionally give me the key to go to the next level of Kettlebell training. Maily inspired by
THIS article.
Also, i'm as avarage as avarage comes with a classic skinnyfat phisique my whole life (its a bit better now). It also took me 329 days to complete the Simple standard. Progressing all the way from a shoe and 16kg kb.
I wanted to post once i've made the goals but i noticed quite a few posts on the forum are about getting to the 1/2 BW press and SSST within a year or shorter. Unless you have an athletic back-ground or are genetically gifted, it might be a longer grind. So i hope this provides some inspiration
Status update.
I posted in this tread in april 2021 with my overall
Rite of Passage plan. I've been on the grind for 1148 days now. I think 2 more cycles are needed to get to the 1/2 bw press goals and today i started my hopefully second to last cycle.
Age: 33. Height: 186cm. Weight: 81kg
I do cycles alternating Rite of Passage and some sort of musclebuilding routing (won't link specifics cause it isn't from the StrongFirst universe). Funnily enough, i gain more muscle on the RoP cycles then on the hypertrophy cycles. Also, holiday's, a new home in a new city, a new pup, a new job, sickness, hangovers have all happened and will keep happening.
ROP | Date | Weeks to complete | Specifics |
ROP 20kg: classic | 22-02-2021 till 23-05-2021 | 13 weeks | With 24kg Bent over Rows |
ROP 24kg: classic | 13-12-2021 till 17-04-2022 | 18 weeks | With bw chinups |
ROP 24kg: classic | 15-08-2022 till 27-11-2022 | 15 weeks | Compress rest. With bw chinups |
ROP 24kg: 2,3,5,10 | 28-11-2022 till 01-01-2023 | 05 weeks(unfinished) | 2,3,5 chinups, 10 squats |
ROP 28kg: classic | 11-02-2023 till 28-05-2023 | 15 weeks | With chinups |
ROP 28kg: Jurassic | 11-09-2023 till 09-10-2023 | 05 weeks | Chinups only last set # of total reps |
ROP 28kg: week 11,12,13 | 16-10-2023 till 12-11-2023 | 04 weeks | Compress rest. Chinups only last set # of total reps |
ROP 28kg: 3,5,7 | 13-11-2023 till 11-12-2023 | 02 weeks(unfinished) | Unfinished |
ROP 30kg: classic | 20-11-2023 till 10-03-2023 | 16 weeks (unfinished) | Till week 12. Could make it but sleep deprived because new dog |
ROP 32kg: classic | 15-04-2023 till | | |
Future: ROP 32kg: classic | | | Compress rest |
Snatch progression
I do volume cycles for snatches 2x per week. Started with a 16kg, 20kg and now for 24kg. I'm at step 8 now with the 24kg. Step 8 does not mean week 8. Many times i need to repeat a same step for 3-4 weeks before i feel practices enough to progress.
Step | Reps | Sets EMOM |
1 | 5+5 | 4 Sets |
2 | 5+5 | 6 sets |
3 | 5+5 | 8 sets |
4 | 5+5 | 10 sets |
5 | 5+5 | 12 sets |
6 | 5+5 | 14 sets |
7 | 5+5 | 16 sets |
8 | 5+5 | 18 sets |
9 | 5+5 | 20 sets |
After that i'm planning to do a density cycle with the 24 and see how far it will take me.
10 | 5+5 | 20 sets |
11 | 6+6 | 16 sets |
12 | 7+7 | 14 sets |
13 | 8+8 | 12 sets |
14 | 9+9 | 11 sets |
15 | 10+10 | 10 sets |
Some learnings along the way:
1: Sleep
2. Long term approach: What really helped me it to make a really long term approach. Don't get injured but keep pushing yourself! Most people just don't work hard enough.
3: Rest times: On hard and medium day's I do watch the rest times and try to limit it. On Light days however i try to do the eccentric as slow as humanly possible and squeeze. That gives one hell of a pump and might even be the hardest day this way.
4: Diet and sleep are crucial. Especially sleep.
5: For ROP Cycles with the 28 and 30, i needed to tailor down accessory work. Once i added reps of 5 i stopped doing the chinups and snatches/swings on the heavy day and even sometimes skipped them on medium days to manage fatigue and recovery.
6: Sleep more
7: Don't compare yourself to some of the frequent posters on here. Believe me, most people wont make it to the 1/2 BW press and SSST. Which is fine bytheway cause its just an arbritairy goal and has little meaning on how strong/ big/ athletic you are. Most people are better off progressing to a 2KB programme earlyer and you will gain a lot more muscle sooner that way. I even think you can het to the RoP goal faster that way to be honest.
8: Sleep. Please. Its the cornerstone of any good program.
Conclusion:
At least 2 more cycles to go. So i will see all you guys in another 200 days or so.
Once i have made the 1/2 bodyweight press goal and the SSST goal i will make a bigger post with some more specifics and learnings along the way and what i would do different if i would do it again.
(probably progress to 2 KB's earlyer and don't be so stuckup with getting to the RoP standard first.