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Kettlebell Best spacing of light, medium, and heavy days ROP

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Eric Wilson

Eric Wilson

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Recently started ROP, and was planning on doing the ladders on the following days:

Monday: light
Wednesday: medium
Saturday: heavy

I'm curious though -- is it best to have the two days of rest/variety before the heavy day, or after it? (For example, I could move the heavy day to Friday or I could do light/medium/heavy on Sat/Mon/Wed)

However you slice it, there will be two days in a row with no pressing ladders. Any thoughts on what works best? Or does it hardly matter?
 
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I go by feel. Some times around the heavy day I take 2 before and 2 after if I’m super wiped out (I really try to be discerning between like, tired, and worn out to the point that I can’t safely perform a movement).
For the most part though the I haven’t been too wiped out before the heavy day but definitely am after. I’d say just play it by ear.
Let us know how it’s going too!
 
Eric Wilson said:
Recently started ROP, and was planning on doing the ladders on the following days:

Monday: light
Wednesday: medium
Saturday: heavy

I'm curious though -- is it best to have the two days of rest/variety before the heavy day, or after it? (For example, I could move the heavy day to Friday or I could do light/medium/heavy on Sat/Mon/Wed)

However you slice it, there will be two days in a row with now pressing ladders. Any thoughts on what works best? Or does it hardly matter?
Click to expand...

I tend to favor the HLM approach (M/W/F), taking an extra day off or two whenever I deem it necessary.
But it doesn’t really matter.
 
Hello,

I tend to follow the guidelines and obey by the book. However, I really ended up tired. If I had to do it again, I would take another day off

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
You get strong on your days off. Especially before and after heavy day. Variety days are just what they are, variety. You don't have to do anything, or do something as simple as go for a walk.

A few years ago when I ran ROP for about 6 months, I used to hit it hard on variety days. I'd do 200 snatches and some getups. Probably not the recommended dose. My recovery was better back then and I was at the time OBSESSED with kettlebells. Variety days today for me, if I ran it would be a good day to do 30-50 goblet squats, 5 getups on each side and maybe some swings.
 
@BrianCF said it well. My way of doing the ROP was ironically, exactly as recommended! M, W, Saturday for the press ladders worked best for me. As I progressed, I dropped variety days so as to recover. This for me became quite important as the bell sizes increased considering that I started with a 24 and went through without breaks to the 36, including running the 24 more than once to increase density. It worked for me and it got me my 1/2 bodyweight press.

About 5 years ago I did another round of the ROP with a 40 and again, the prescribed way was best for me.
 
I do:

Sun: rest/mobility
Mon: variety
Tues: Heavy
Wed: rest / mobility
Thu: Light
Fri: variety
Sat: Medium

This gives me 1.5 rest days before Heavy and 1 rest day after.
 
@Eric Wilson: Pavel discusses this a bit in Q&D
Early Soviet coaching was driven by Pavlov’s teaching that one adapts best “when certain stimuli are repeated in a strict order and with strict intervals between them.” (Pavlov, 1949) In the 1960s, high regularity of training was still considered an asset. (Luchkin, 1962) Later, it was concluded that while a “Monday/Wednesday/Friday” type rhythm is appropriate for beginners, it is suboptimal for experienced athletes who need more variability, at least outside the competition period. (Vorobyev, 1977)

Tsatsouline, Pavel. The Quick and the Dead: Total Training for the Advanced Minimalist (S.168-169). StrongFirst, Inc.. Kindle-Version.
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So basically do whatever feels right. Focus on the a good performance in the heavy session and then move the other sessions around as needed (even doing light and medium without a day of rest/variety inbetween)
 
My personal view of ROP, is it's a younger persons routine.
The older I get the less volume I am able to tolerate.
I find plan strong is much more forgiving on the older lifter.
Not only do you wave the weight and volume, But you also use different weight on the same day.
I dreaded ROP heavy day, I like the idea of a dice roll, to lessen the negative anticipation.

Al
 
BCman said:
My personal view of ROP, is it's a younger persons routine.
The older I get the less volume I am able to tolerate.
Click to expand...
I'll keep that in mind. I'm 48, so maybe I won't make it to the end. If I get to five ladders of four with my current weight, that would represent significant improvement.
 
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