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Barbell Adjusting "Power to the People" to Dumbbells

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Kozushi

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I'd appreciate it very much if someone could give me advice on how to adjust the "Power to the People" programme to dumbells. I love the book, but given my living situation, a barbell set is a bit too big. I have lots of dumbbells though. I'd love to try this for a while and compare the results with the wonderful results I've achieved with the "Naked Warrior" and "Simple and Sinister" programmes.
 
Honestly, the dumbbells would have to be so heavy, I don't know if there's much point. True, you could do deadlifts with a dumbbell in each hand (either with them inside or outside your legs), and you could certainly do presses with a dumbbell, but things would get expensive. The whole point of PTTP is planned changes in weight. You would need a LOT of heavy dumbbells. Probably 45-75 pounds for the presses, and doubles of 75-150 pounds for the deadlifts. If you're somewhere that you can't have a big stack a weights, dumbbells won't solve your problem. You could get an adjustable dumbbell, but I don't know if they make them as heavy as you need them. Really, PTTP was written for the barbell, I don't know how well it can be adapted to something else.

I think you have two good options:
1) Take the success you've had with kettlebells thus far, and simply start a new program, such as ROP, or one of the many programs available on this website. Really, I would just do this because you already have the equipment (I'm stingy).

2) If the length of the barbell is the issue (as opposed to the stack of weights), just get a short barbell and do PTTP like it was designed. You can get a straight, 5 foot long barbell for under $100 (US). A standard bar is 7 feet, but you only need that length if you're doing snatches or sumo deadlifts with it (and you could probably do narrow sumo deadlifts with a five footer just fine).
 
Thank you very much! That is excellent advice! What is keeping me away from getting the barbell and weights is 1) the space it would take away from the main floor of my house since my basement does not have much headroom, and 2) the fact that it's a bit hard on the structure of the house and thus I'd need to build some kind of special flooring or matting which further detracts from the living space in my home.

Of course, this is why the kettlebell is so AWESOME - it takes about no space, requires no special floor, and it's effect is amplified to much beyond what its actual weight is.
 
A few ideas if these are your problems. You could do PTTP deadlifts in the basement, if headroom not a problem if you can stand up, and do KB presses for the upper body where you do your KB work now. If you have a garage, you can setup your training space there. That's what I do and a bar and plates for deadlifts don't take much space when stored. You can even get your car in when not training. You could even train outside, storing the weights inside. I often do that in the summer. Getting the bar and weights outside is the warmup. Of course, living in Montreal, Canada, it's a bit more difficult in the winter, although years ago I even trained outside year long (with dumbbells and body weight moves), even in -15C weather, snow, etc...

That's one thing t I like about the deadlift: easy to setup, as opposed to squats which need a rack. KB presses/TGUs/carries take care of my upper body for now.

Of course, all this could be completely unapplicable to you, but if you really want to do deadlifts with a bar, there is for sure a way to do them that will keep you and your family happy without too much trouble.
 
A few ideas if these are your problems. You could do PTTP deadlifts in the basement, if headroom not a problem if you can stand up, and do KB presses for the upper body where you do your KB work now. If you have a garage, you can setup your training space there. That's what I do and a bar and plates for deadlifts don't take much space when stored. You can even get your car in when not training. You could even train outside, storing the weights inside. I often do that in the summer. Getting the bar and weights outside is the warmup. Of course, living in Montreal, Canada, it's a bit more difficult in the winter, although years ago I even trained outside year long (with dumbbells and body weight moves), even in -15C weather, snow, etc...

That's one thing t I like about the deadlift: easy to setup, as opposed to squats which need a rack. KB presses/TGUs/carries take care of my upper body for now.

Of course, all this could be completely unapplicable to you, but if you really want to do deadlifts with a bar, there is for sure a way to do them that will keep you and your family happy without too much trouble.
I'm Canadian too. By kettlebell presses you mean the bent press I assume?
 
In regard to flooring, those 3/4" thick 4'x6' horse stall mats are great. They're relatively cheap (compared to most options) assuming you're located somewhere that you can go to the farm/ranch supply store and pick them up. Shipping on those suckers is a b**ch. As long as you lower the barbell under control most of the time, that's all you'll need. Again, it's not like you're Oly lifting or anything.

Going off of what @Manuel Fortin said, KB presses (bent, side, or military) are a great compliment to deadlifts. You take a good pre-written pressing program, smash it together with PTTP deadlifts and you're good to go. Making hybrid programs on your own can be a pretty terrible idea, but you could probably get away with it as long as you kept things nice and simple, and don't start second guessing yourself two weeks in. This would also eliminate the need for a mat (assuming there's enough headroom to stand up in your basement), since you could do your DLs in the basement, then head upstairs and do one of these programs.
 
Would the bent and side presses be better for trimming up the midsection than military presses, or does it not particularly matter?
 
I don't have enough experience with all three lifts to give a definitive answer, but I would go with the side press. The bent press is more of a "whole body lift," and although the military press is excellent for learning to generate tension in the waist, the side press allows you to place more of a demand on the waist, since you can use more weight and the force acting on your waist has a longer lever arm. That being said, there are more programs out there for the military press, and good military presses will still do a hell of a job of targeting the waist. My advice-if you use a barbell, do the side press using the PTTP format, and if you use a kettlebell, use the military press with tested and proven pressing program.
 
In regard to flooring, those 3/4" thick 4'x6' horse stall mats are great. They're relatively cheap (compared to most options) assuming you're located somewhere that you can go to the farm/ranch supply store and pick them up. Shipping on those suckers is a b**ch. As long as you lower the barbell under control most of the time, that's all you'll need. Again, it's not like you're Oly lifting or anything.
FWIW, I have dropped many a 300+ lb. deadlift onto handmade floor tiles with a 3/4" deadlift mat protecting them, and no tiles have broken - no need to lower the barbell under control for the sake of your floor if my experience is representative.

-S-
 
I don't have enough experience with all three lifts to give a definitive answer, but I would go with the side press. The bent press is more of a "whole body lift," and although the military press is excellent for learning to generate tension in the waist, the side press allows you to place more of a demand on the waist, since you can use more weight and the force acting on your waist has a longer lever arm. That being said, there are more programs out there for the military press, and good military presses will still do a hell of a job of targeting the waist. My advice-if you use a barbell, do the side press using the PTTP format, and if you use a kettlebell, use the military press with tested and proven pressing program.
I don't have a barbell. I have lots of kettlebells. What is the "time tested" programme for the military press you'd recommend?
 
Fundamentally, anything that has you doing a lot of pressing without approaching failure will do the trick, especially if you're moving from lots of TGUs to presses. The article I linked before had some good programs, the book "Easy Strength" doesn't have a laid out program but it has some good guidelines for putting a basic one together, or if you really want to beef up your press you could do ROP. Personally, if I did ROP, I would just do it as written and skip the deadlifts, since mixing the two is over my head (but I digress). I'm sure you could even contact an SFG and just say "I want a good KB military press program to pair with PTTP deadlifts; my 1RM is X and I'm coming off of S&S". If you haven't been pressing much, just make sure your technique is solid.
EDIT: I know this thread is about PTTP and I'm over here talking about ROP and whatnot, so I hope I'm not pulling your thread around too much ;)
 
I'm seeing Rite of Passage coming up a lot. I thought S&S was the current evolved version of it. I'll have to check it out - apparently it has its own charms!
 
Back when I had no space, a barbell, 300lbs of weight and a horse stall mat that could be rolled up and stood on end got me pretty strong.
 
I'm seeing Rite of Passage coming up a lot. I thought S&S was the current evolved version of it.
Enter The Kettlebell has two programs- the Program Minimum and the Rite of Passage. S&S is the current evolution of the PM, but the ROP is unchanged.

Steve explains it all here
 
Enter The Kettlebell has two programs- the Program Minimum and the Rite of Passage. S&S is the current evolution of the PM, but the ROP is unchanged.

Steve explains it all here
OH???? This changes things.

What is the book for Rite of Passage????

I'm a serious exerciser and I'd be much inclined to expand to the programme maximum from the programme minimum.
 
The link given will give you the book title and much more, but the book is called Enter The Kettlebell.

-S-
 
Pavel has written many books. For abs, e.g., there have been three books but you only need the most recent.

What do you now have or have ordered?

-S-
 
  • Kettlebell Simple and Sinister
  • Naked Warrior
  • Power to the People
  • Enter the Kettlebell (just ordered it now)
 
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