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Kettlebell Built Strong Minimalist

After flipping through it, I think I'll start with built strong minimalist ( BTS 3 I guess we can call it) , for my next barbell cycle, and then see about fitting in BTS 4 in another cycle, thereafter.

Exercise selection is something my training is gonna have to grow into. And time is usually pretty tight. But it's very unique stuff to my eyes. Fabio definitely seems to have a signature style.
 
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If I want to emphasize more hypertrophy in my chest which category should I put horizontal presses in? Is it in the Hard, Medium, or Light exercise? I know it might be better to put horz press in all 3 categories but I still want to do DMP for vertical press, just want more emphasis on chest.

Also I think Dips falls on this category (chest work).
 
bangtguh said:
If I want to emphasize more hypertrophy in my chest which category should I put horizontal presses in? Is it in the Hard, Medium, or Light exercise? I know it might be better to put horz press in all 3 categories but I still want to do DMP for vertical press, just want more emphasis on chest.

Also I think Dips falls on this category (chest work).
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I'd put horizontal presses in both the Medium and Light exercises. These are the ladders with the highest reps. The Hard exercise typical has ladders with rungs anywhere from 1-4 reps, which is more strength instead of hypertrophy.

I'm running BTS4 right now, for Heavy presses (24k KB), for Medium presses (20k KB,) and for Light presses (75lb Barbell Military Press). The heavy presses with the 24 haven't given me the typical any 'pump' per se. But for Medium and Light presses the volume is considerably greater and I definitely feel more muscle fatigue. For a second go round of BTS4, I was planning on dips for the Medium press, specifically to target my chest. (I currently do not have a rack/bench, otherwise good ol' bench press would be the choice).

Have you considered running BTS6, where you can pick 3 exercises each for vertical, and horizontal presses?
 
So far I feel like the medium exercise has had the largest impact on hypertrophy. It definitely has the highest fatigue afterwards of the three exercises. They all seem to contribute but that's where I have noticed it personally.

I have been doing the regular training plan from BSM.
 
Ben Strong said:
So far I feel like the medium exercise has had the largest impact on hypertrophy. It definitely has the highest fatigue afterwards of the three exercises. They all seem to contribute but that's where I have noticed it personally.

I have been doing the regular training plan from BSM.
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I have double kettlebell front squat as my medium squat exercise. Those ladders really fatigue me. I have done very little double kettlebell front squat, so now I understand why people rave about their effectiveness. My core is lit up after a solid 8/9 rep set.
 
mar2safety said:
For a second go round of BTS4, I was planning on dips for the Medium press, specifically to target my chest. (I currently do not have a rack/bench, otherwise good ol' bench press would be the choice).
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I have been doing Bench, Dips, and Pushups as my H, M, and L exercises. Week 6 of BSM was rough with 15 sets of dips. I am glad it built up to that volume somewhat gradually but it was still brutal. The heavy exercise (bench) has been fairly easy to handle. I even had to up the weight on bench 10 pounds around week 4, it was a bit of linear progression because I had not been benching so I felt like I needed an increase to continue to challenge myself.
 
mar2safety said:
I'd put horizontal presses in both the Medium and Light exercises. These are the ladders with the highest reps. The Hard exercise typical has ladders with rungs anywhere from 1-4 reps, which is more strength instead of hypertrophy.

I'm running BTS4 right now, for Heavy presses (24k KB), for Medium presses (20k KB,) and for Light presses (75lb Barbell Military Press). The heavy presses with the 24 haven't given me the typical any 'pump' per se. But for Medium and Light presses the volume is considerably greater and I definitely feel more muscle fatigue. For a second go round of BTS4, I was planning on dips for the Medium press, specifically to target my chest. (I currently do not have a rack/bench, otherwise good ol' bench press would be the choice).

Have you considered running BTS6, where you can pick 3 exercises each for vertical, and horizontal presses?
Click to expand...
Dan John was recommending more or less 10 as the total NL per session for strength gains and 20-25 reps in total for hypertrophy gains. This could be a ball park guidance for your question.
 
Thank you all for the inputs. I think I will do DMP for Heavy and Dips & Band Pushup for Medium and Low (need to test them first tho).


Have you considered running BTS6, where you can pick 3 exercises each for vertical, and horizontal presses?
Click to expand...
@mar2safety I don't have BTS6 for now. So I want to do BSM first after finishing my 4 week BuiltStrong block.
 
Bauer said:
While we are at it: Yesterday I played around with a relatively minimalist VLOOKUP function (no macros involved) to create tables for all weeks and days, to simplify my thinking during sessions. Here is a fictitious example of how that could look like for week 2:
View attachment 20245
Click to expand...
@Bauer Can you share the VLOOKUP function to generate this. I think this really helpful to format it this way. TIA!
 
mar2safety said:
I'd put horizontal presses in both the Medium and Light exercises. These are the ladders with the highest reps. The Hard exercise typical has ladders with rungs anywhere from 1-4 reps, which is more strength instead of hypertrophy.
Click to expand...
^^^^ This!!! 100%!
 
bangtguh said:
@Bauer Can you share the VLOOKUP function to generate this. I think this really helpful to format it this way. TIA!
Click to expand...
VLOOKUP is probably the more elegant way to format these tables, but I created a new sheet in the workbook and then simply set the cells to reference the applicable cell in the main workbook using just an = function. It does really help to have them formatted this way IMO
 
Ben Strong said:
VLOOKUP is probably the more elegant way to format these tables, but I created a new sheet in the workbook and then simply set the cells to reference the applicable cell in the main workbook using just an = function. It does really help to have them formatted this way IMO
Click to expand...
I've done this as well, creating a new sheet for each session.
I refer to a pdf while training and it's far more convenient on onefile rather than opening four separate documents.
I've also tried to replicate the format as well #geek
With two exercises per page it's easy to do a slow circuit with little scrolling required.
Less use of the phone equals less distraction. Perhaps I should really print them off though...
 
I did Session C week 1 of BTS4 today.
Heavy deadlifts were brutal on slow circuit with medium KB FSQ.
I may split out DL next week and then do the medium and 2x lights in a slow circuit all together instead.
 
Pete L said:
I did Session C week 1 of BTS4 today.
Heavy deadlifts were brutal on slow circuit with medium KB FSQ.
I may split out DL next week and then do the medium and 2x lights in a slow circuit all together instead.
Click to expand...
If memory serves me well, BTS4 does not prescribe DLs and Sqs in a slow circuit format. It does that only for upper body lifts.
 
Pete L said:
I've done this as well, creating a new sheet for each session.
I refer to a pdf while training and it's far more convenient on onefile rather than opening four separate documents.
I've also tried to replicate the format as well #geek
With two exercises per page it's easy to do a slow circuit with little scrolling required.
Less use of the phone equals less distraction. Perhaps I should really print them off though...
Click to expand...
It took some time for me to do this, but I created an excel sheet with all twelve weeks laid out, day by day. Printed them out and put them in my garage to reference. A little work at the beginning of the program but saves me time and mental effort throughout the twelve weeks.
 
Here's a link to the excel document I use. Pretty simple. Each tab has two weeks of the program. On week 1, in the coloured cells, add each movement for days 1 2 and 3, the RM you tested, and the load. It will self populate the cells for the remainder of the program.

You will still need to place each of the planned sets into each day and week, so there's still a little effort involved. This has saved me a lot of time. I used two weeks on each tab, and adjusted the print area, so each two week block will print out on 1 sheet. Hope this is of use to folks running BTS4.

BTS4_print_sheets_by_day
 
bangtguh said:
@Bauer Can you share the VLOOKUP function to generate this. I think this really helpful to format it this way. TIA!
Click to expand...
I've just looked at it again, and while it is "relatively minimalist", it is not simple and not something I can easily share. (I am also using a German version of excel, so all functions are on German).

The simple solution (just using "=") should work just fine as well.

@Pete L Get that thing printed! How are you keeping track of the sets you've done anyway? I tend to forget it immediately if I do not cross them out :D
 
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