Kettlebell 2017 Review, 2018 Goal and Plan

[william bad butt]

Although 2017 isn't really complete yet, I just completed a major Milestone. I'm laying in a hammock in Barbados, taking my first week off (from excersising/training) this year, thinking about "what is next". Last week I competed (27 white lights!!), set some new PR's, and finished my annual power lifting block, which was my focus the last 5 months. Prior to that, in the first half of 2017, I was executing the ROTK program. And I like this formula for me: Spend half the year focusing on power lifting (bus bench), and spend the other half focusing on GPP utilizing double kettlebell exercises as the primary tool (park bench).

Here is my plan for the next half-year or so (please, poke some holes in it if you see any!!):

Goals (in no particular order): improve General strength, maintain power lifts at a minimal level, maintain back health and special exercises (I have the potential for lumbar back issues and there are certain things I must do), reduce body fat by about 5% and reduce bodyweight by about 15 lbs, don't get injured, training must be fun or at least not boring (this is actually really important to me), improve aerobic endurance.

My Plan:

-3 days per week conduct a modified ETK+, which is one of my favorite kbell programs. Modified in 2 manners. 1) I will only do it 3 times per week instead of 4 times and 2) In the spirit of making the program more park bench... Instead of rolling the dice to determine workout time limit, I will roll the dice to determine total number of reps. This way I can use heavier weights, use better form, and start each set after I can pass the talk test and not rush the clock (ala how I believe most folks conduct themselves with S&S in between swing sets), although I anticipate that over time I will get faster when my conditioning improves. These are intended to be easy workouts. For example, if my 1 rep max is a 48 kg in a give exercise, I will work with a 32 kg and get in quality volume while trying to build my alactic capacity.

-2 days per week run. This will suck but I think I need to do this, it has been many years since I've been a runner. I will start very very slow. I thought about rucking instead or carrying my sandbag or wearing my weighted vest but carrying weights is in my wheelhouse. Running makes me uncomfortable, I think I need to do it for aerobic growth. These "run" days can probably be done on a "lifting" day if need be. I haven't planned this out, how far or how long, I'm just going to start slow. In addition I have large dogs and walk them about 1 mile, daily. I will likely, occasionally, throw on my 75 lb vest when taking them around the neighborhood.

-And finally, 1 day per week I will conduct my routine mobility and back related exercises. Nothing sexy here, stuff I learned from Stu McGill books and joint mobility stuff (Pavel). Also I will do some singles of the 3 power lifts at 50% of my max. Every week, I may choose 1 power lift and perform 5 sets of 3 @ up to 70% of 1RM (and stay at 50% on the other 2 power lifts). The goal here is not to tax my recovery but still maintain some strength and technique so that in 6 months I am able to hit the ground running when I start power lifting again. These are intended to be easy barbell workouts with light weight. It takes me months of rebuilding my leg strength for squats after laying off them for a while, I'm trying to avoid that. I am trying to find the minimum effective dose, I really don't want to do the power lifts any more than I have too.

-Nutrition: Nothing drastic. I just need to cleanup my diet some. I eat too many processed carbs and sugars. I need to decrease this and shift some volume to veggies.

Thoughts? Any constructive criticism?

 

[Dayz]

Hey - I really like the plan! Not that dissimilar from my own goals (kettlebells, running, mobility).

I wonder, what are you intending to do for mobility in particular?

 

[Antti]

That sounds like a good plan to me. You have an interesting idea when you split the year in two for different goals. I agree, that it's better to chase one rabbit at a time, but I personally feel like shorter splits are more up my alley. But then again, I've been doing just powerlifting for a long while now, so maybe my experience has indeed changed.

27 red lights means you did a great job, and it's even better if you managed it with some PRs! Congratulations on your success. What were your lifts like exactly? What federation did you compete in?

 

[Anna C]

I like that you're looking ahead to 2018. Looks like some great plans.

The running/rucking sounds like a good addition. 75 lb on the dog walk sounds extremely heavy, even for 1 mile... 40 or 50 might be plenty. Also might think about some longer walks (30-60 minutes) for a few weeks before starting to run. Trail hikes are great too.

Instead of rolling the dice to determine workout time limit, I will roll the dice to determine total number of reps. This way I can use heavier weights, use better form, and start each set after I can pass the talk test and not rush the clock (ala how I believe most folks conduct themselves with S&S in between swing sets), although I anticipate that over time I will get faster when my conditioning improves. These are intended to be easy workouts. For example, if my 1 rep max is a 48 kg in a give exercise, I will work with a 32 kg and get in quality volume while trying to build my alactic capacity.

This should work, but two of these things might not happen: "over time I will get faster when my conditioning improves" doesn't seem to happen in most cases, especially if you're doing a challenge alactic power repeat and you're already in decent shape as far as strength, power, and recovery. It just takes 60 or so seconds and there's not a lot of change over time from what I've seen in myself and others. And "trying to build my alactic capacity" doesn't really happen either - we have a certain alactic capacity, it may very slightly improve or you may develop more strength/power to use in an alactic power repeat, but the size of the "tank" doesn't really change. At least, I don't know of any scientific or anecdotal evidence of it. What can improve over time (in addition to strength/power, i.e. snatches with a bigger bell) is your endurance; the number of repeats that you can do and still recover well.

A suggested add to the list for 2018 is that we should get together to train someday, since you are nearby!

 

[william bad butt]

Days:

My mobility/powerlifting day is not very earth shattering. I'm just trying to help my questionable back and high mileage joints.

-first I do some loaded carries with a light kettlebells, 20 or 24 kg. I do 1 arm rack carries and waiter walks. This lasts about 5 min.
-second I do some cat/camel back stretches.
-Third I do some bird dogs (these are the most effective exercises for my back), they are anti-mobility for my bad. I actually do these almost every day.
-Next I do Mcgill curlups
-Next I do side planks
-Next I do prying goblet squats and kbell halos
-Next I do back squat, 5 singles at about 50% 1RM
-Next I do hip thrusts and a few pushups
-Next I do bench press, 5 singles at 50% 1RM
-Next I do light kbell swings, 2 arm swings. They are shadow swings so I try and focus on my deadlift stretch reflex, I like the carry over to my deadlift.
-Next I deadlift, 5 singles at 50% 1 RM.

At this point I either do light Tgus and light 1arm swings or I would focus on an "issue". An "issue" is a very very minor injury. Whether it's a shoulder or wrist or lower back or knee, I do extra joint mobility drills or stretches. If I have no issues, Tgus and swings. Sometimes I will also do some "bodybuilding" exercises like band pulls and pressdowns and other miscellaneous isolation exercises.

This may look like a lot but I keep each exercise moving and get done pretty quickly. I try to move fast and keep my heart moving, where it makes sense to.

 

[william bad butt]

Anna, thanks for the response. Yes I agree we should train together sometime!!

I'm using the term alactic capacity, maybe alactic endurance makes more sense?

I am not really in good shape right now. I'm good at lifting a heavy weight 1 time right now. But I expect that my conditioning will return fairly soon.

 

[william bad butt]

Antti,

Maybe 6 months is too long. Ill see how it goes after 3 months. But in general I like having seasons to my year. Even if it isn't the most productive, I need the mental break.

I competed in the APA. It just happened to be relatively nearby and at around the time I wanted to peak. I met a lot of great folks and had a lot of fun. It was my first meet. Although I've been training the 3 power lifts for a while, and training seriously for power lifting for the last 2 years.

All my 3rd attempts were really light, felt more like first attempts. And most importantly, no issues at all with my back (this has been an issue once deadlifts start getting relatively heavy). To be honest though, 3 weeks prior I worked up to significantly heavier lifts at home (10% more weight for squat and bench, not deadlifts though because my back hurt). I could have added a lot more weight to the bar on all 3 lifts. My online coach recommended I take it easy for my first time and because I had some minor back aches a couple weeks prior. However, all my 3rd attempts were higher than where I was at the previous year (I maxed out at my house in 2016, a mock meet if you will).

My only real complaint about the whole affair is warm up time. I felt so rushed, especially for the squats. And I was really lucky that I was one of the last lifters. If I was up early I would not have been ready.

 

[NoahMarek]

@Anna C So what kind of endurance does A+A produce? I thought it improved aerobic recovery so that eventually time between repeats would go down. Is it solely for increasing work capacity (defined as the amount of work one can do and be able to recover day to day from)?

 

[Anna C]

@Anna C So what kind of endurance does A+A produce? I thought it improved aerobic recovery so that eventually time between repeats would go down. Is it solely for increasing work capacity (defined as the amount of work one can do and be able to recover day to day from)?

Great question. I haven't been to Strong Endurance yet (I am registered for the May 2018 event in Chicago!) but based on my current understanding and what I have seen and experienced, it improves the quality of the recovery, and yes, the work capacity (defined as the amount of work one can do and be able to recover day to day from).

Now it also depends a lot on one's starting point. For a person who has a poor aerobic capacity, when they start out with A+A the HR just likes to go high and stay high and it takes a while for it to come down (2 or 2.5 minutes between repeats). I think they will see an improvement to 1 to 1.5 minutes over time; so yes in this case "it improved aerobic recovery so that eventually time between repeats would go down". But I do not think that someone who recovers in 1 to 1.5 minutes will see an improvement that continues to improve to under a minute and less. Or if they do, they're improving their glycolytic conditioning -- which is also very possible and very trainable, but not what we're going for with A+A work. (Edit/Add: And in that case, they might be able to do the repeats with less recovery and still be feeling good, but I think the HR will not be recovering back to a good baseline; it will continue to go upward as the session goes on).

Back to the first point, the quality of the recovery. I would define this as the slope of the curve of the HR drop (a quick drop once it starts to go down, as opposed to a slope) after a repeat, the ability to recover the breathing with just a few deep breaths, and an overall feeling of the body being recharged and ready to go again. And of course, not feeling wiped out after the session and still feeling good the next day.