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Old Forum Have you "greased the groove" with swings?

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Pavel

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Ladies and gents, I have come across some research suggesting that GTG with swings should produce respectable improvements in body composition and—contrary to what one would expect—even "conditioning".

If you have experimented with GTG swings in the past, please post your experience.

Thank you.
 
Well, yes Pavel I have done this for 2 weeks and ended this last week when I started the ROP again with 16kg all over.

while I have no proof for increased conditioning (never tested it), I did seem to have lost some fat. This was only 2 weeks sets of 20-50 with 24kg kb. But the duration was too short to be real proof for research.
 
I did 150 swings with the bulldog daily for 4 weeks on top of everything I did when I was prepping for my RKC
 
I did swings every morning, and sometimes every night for a while in highschool, while I ran track. Only used the 16kg, and went for a 'daily max' as described in my blog entry here: http://affectinggravity.blogspot.com/2013/07/simple-progression-part-1-staggered.html. So, not exactly traditional 'GTG' but very high frequency (7-12 times a week, I'd say). I started off doing 75 or so, and ended up doing 300 without stopping roughly a month later.

It was very effective GPP for running. Grip and low back endurance, and hip power all greatly improved. My running times improved too, though I forget by how much (it wasn't a huge difference, but noticeable, especially in middle distances).

Moreover, swinging the 24kg became easy, I hit 50 consecutive reps for the first time shortly thereafter, and deadlifted 245 with a trap bar, the first time I'd tried a heavy deadlift, at a bodyweight of ~117lb (and age 16) as well.

I did not notice any body composition changes, but I was (and always have been) very lean.
 
Chief Pavel,

considering I'm a relatively small guy (5'5 140ish) and was 132 then, the fact I held my own at that time being the smallest candidate meant I did something right :) as a bonus, I was at my leanest condition ever

 
 
Pavel,

Yes. When I took a break due to back pain, I reintroduced my self to my kettlebells by doing sets of 5 swings throughout the day. This was a great way to practice swinging correctly without overtraining. GTG swings even made me strong enough that my back pain decreased.
 
An interesting idea.

I have started a new diet regime today, to drop some body fat for the SFG2 in March. John Berardi over at Precision Nutrition, when on his 'Get Shredded Diet', performed 100 push ups before each main meal he had in a 'GTG' type fashion. I can see this working with Swings as an alternative.

I will try this with 50-100 swings before each meal and report back in a couple weeks.

Sam.
 
Pavel,

Could you describe what GTG with swings would look like?  Sets of one?  Sets of five?
 
Hello Chairman Pavel,

Here is my story with GTG swings.

In 2011 I made the decision to get in shape to compete in a grappling tournament that was about 3 months away at the time. Diet was modified to facilitate a gradual decrease in weight to get me on target for the 170lb class as I felt that would be a good feel for me.
I started my training  early December 2011 and weighed in at 198lbs.

My training was the PM by the book. After the first month and a half I modified it so that I was doing no less than 200 swings (24kg bell) a day for 5 days a week.

Body composition changed drastically as it was the first time I had seen my dear abbies in "high def" in about 5 years. My grips significantly improved and the force generated from pulling or throwing motions was greatly improved (I could actually feel my lats joining the party now)

Week of the competition I weighed in at 164 so I went and comfortably sweat out 5 lbs and hit 159 putting me two weight classes lower than where I had intended. I did not notice any loss of strength in training during this time. My endurance skyrocketed as did my explosive speed for takedowns and scrambles. With the increased core strength my balance was better and I was much harder to sweep or take down during my matches.

Side note: I lost my first round due to poor strategy on my part however I took solace in watching my opponents coaches carry him off the mats to get ready for his next match. Knowing I was in better shape than ever and I was ready for more was a pretty big "W" for me.

Hope this helps and let me know if there is any other relevant data I can contribute.
 
Roughly 20-30 minutes. Some days a little longer recovery if I had a harder grappling session the night before.

One week I had a bell with me in the office and would bang out a set of 10 swings throughout the day just to keep from getting bored at my desk.
 
LOL Mike I think that tribute I did to you the other day was way too powerful that now even the Chief has our names mixed up :p
 
Pavel

For the most part my swing training comes when demonstrating the swing for my students.  No hard and fast routine and it's when they need to see what the swing standards look like without bringing up the sf youtube, it's usually so they can see what the timing is like and can understand the float better when the cues don't take and also gets them to understand I'm not able to front raise the beast.  And it's not normally long enough to get my heart rate up very much and the weights vary with whatever kettlebell happens to be close to me at the time.

My body fat percentages are usually relatively low...low enough to have visible ab definition despite not having the greatest dietary discipline.  In terms of conditioning, that's all I really do and still passed the snatch test while re-certifying...although it wasn't easy....quite miserable actually.

Eric
 
Chief,

I started Dan John's 10,000 swing challenge on 10/1 and am 4,000 swings in if that counts as GTG.  Of course, that kind of volume has given me the beginners mind and  a new appreciation for the intricacies and benefits of a movement that I always considered an old friend.
 
Can't GTG with Clean and Press at the moment so I then started to GTG  with the Goblet Squat

After I read that thread I think of plan B

A set of Goblet Squat for breakfast and 2 hand swing 24KG x 14 every now and then (i can do 25)
 
I've not greased the groove with 10-20 swings, but I'm giving it a try, along with easy sets of 3 dips.

Pavel did not elaborate on what body comp and conditioning benefits might accrue, but I remembered as I read this that in Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body book, it seems that I read that as little as 30 seconds of intense activity can release hormones, including testosterone and HGH, along with something else (GLUT something?).  He recommended pushups before eating to release some hormone that burns fat.  I don't have the book in front of me- perhaps someone else can elaborate.

Perhaps the benefit of GTG swings come from frequent bursts of hormonal stimulation, which keep overall levels of muscle-building, fat burning, appetite suppressing hormones elevated above what they would normally be?  Can someone with more expertise in this area fill in some details?
 
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