Old Forum changing c&p/swings for tgu/snatches, like the sfg prep?

[sam]

I'm about done the ETK program at 20KG (2nd round, did first at 16kg), and in addition I can do 100 snatches of 20kg in 4.5 min, and 200 single arm swings of 24kg in 10 min.

I could restart ETK at 24kg, but its been a year of doing it, and I read http://www.strongfirst.com/strongfirst-sfg-kettlebell-certification-prep-guide/, and I need to do TGUs to get comfortable with the 24KG over my head anyhow, so it occured to me that if I eliminated the double kb work, I'd get a 3-day workout that looked much like ETK:

med tgu, heavy swing
heavy tgu, snatch volume
light tgu, snatch density

which seems like a mirror of the ETK, with the c&p replaced by tgu, and the swing and snatch switched:

1) light c&p, snatch; 2) med c&p, swing; 3) heavy c&p, swing

Is this reasonable, focusing just on tgu and snatch, with a bit of heavy swing, for the next while? Or is it a misuse of the SFG prep?

Will I lose my c&p gains, or will doing lots of tgus for the "grind" be enough to keep my press strength up?

 

[Chris Veilegaard]

how is your TGU at present? can you do them with 24kg if yes how many?

 

 

[Mark Limbaga]

Have you considered doing getups as part of your warmup?? I assume your goal is the SFG?

 

[Jason Paul]

I can't comment on your proposed program, but I know that many people have both built and maintained pressing strength with TGUs. This is from the book, as well as posts here and on other forums.

It may take a little time to get your pressing groove back, but I would expect your strength to still be good. Again - not from personal experience, but from posts I've read.

 

[BrianCF]

Why don't you do your TGU's on variety days?  How long have you done the ETK with a 20?  If only a couple of times continue with it.  Master it for six weeks while doing the TGU on variety days.  Then transition to pressing the 24.  Or if you "own" the 20 move up to the 24.  I wouldn't shelve the clean and press.  5-10 TGU"s on each side for variety days won't hurt your Rite of Passage heavy day, because you would have rest days, the day before and after heavy day.

My personal experience, warming up with too many TGU's fatigued my pressing.

 

[sam]

Thanks for the suggestions, and questions.

Chris: I have done 4x1 TGUs at 24K (rt,left,rt, ... no rest).

Mark: I've started doing TGUs at 20K during warmup (supersetted with 24K single leg dead lift). Its a good warmup, but doing at 24K will make the C&P hard! I think, maybe I should just try.

Jason: that's good to hear

Brian: I don't have variety days.... which maybe deserves explanation. I'm a rock climber. I tried light KBs on climbing days for about 9 months, couldn't make it work, it just made my climbing suck. Now I don't do KBs on climbing days, and I feel stronger at both. My only goal with KBs is general strength, in part to counteract how incredibly specific climbing training is, and to try and keep fit enough I can still play with my kids when they are 10 and I am 50. I did 18 years of Judo, then 10 years of climbing, and then discovered I can do more pullups than ever in my life (without practicing), but I couldn't even do 20 pushups.... and I kept tweaking my back picking the twins up. I have been doing KBs for about 15 months, but I kept hurting myself for the first 3 going too hard, so started the ETK, forcing myself to move slowy. Having strict rules about what must be achieved before upping weight or reps helps me, as has focusing on only 4 exercises (I do some windmills and pistols during warmups, or supersetted with the c&p on the easy day).

I had to do the ETK twice at 16K, because I hurt my shoulder after the first time, and I started at 20K in Aug.

Sorry for the saga, long and short is, I'm not looking for SFG certs, I can only do 3 under 45 min KB sessions a week, and my full week looks like:

mon:light kb, tue:climb, wed:med kb, thu:easy running, fri:climb, sa:heavy, su:rest

The reasons I'm interested in swapping C&P for TGU, and swings for snatch are that I want to own the TGU at 24K before starting c&p for reps with it (so I don't hurt myself), and I'd really like to do more snatches.

And I'm a bit concerned about body weight and heavy pressing. I absolutely do not want to weigh more than my current 173lb, it will kill my climbing. When I hear things like "double KB helps me pack on muscle", I think "oh, no". So far I've gotten stronger at the same weight, and a bit leaner, and just generally feel better, so its all working out. I'm thinking more snatches might help me get under 170lb. I do snatches on my easy ETK day, but don't have time to really push them. Its the easy day, so I just do 100/4.5min at 16K.

I'm tempted to just try. It doesn't seem like it can hurt, and fits the general theme of "pick two", a grind/press and dynamic pull.

 

[BrianCF]

Try it for a month.  See what happens.  There is no wrong way in regard to your program.  I like to switch my programs every 4 weeks.  You can shift back and forth.