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Kettlebell How Do You Run Your Timed Tests Under S&S Every 2 Weeks?

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Benedictine Monk

Benedictine Monk

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Background:

I am now doing what I'm supposed to do under S&S. I don't use a clock except to time the total length of my S&S session which right now seems to hover around 24 minutes or so. So, next week it will be time for my once every 2 weeks "max" session by the book to try and hit the timed targets (5 minutes Swings; 1 minute rest; 10 minutes TGUs).

I'm assuming the only way to hit these is to be timing every set to keep a strict limit on rest periods. Any thoughts, suggestions, tips or am I reading the book incorrectly?

ps Either its the daily Bretzel 3.0 I'm doing or the lack of clock pressure, but "somehow" my aches and pains have disappeared since I ditched the watching the clock except punching it at the end and recording the time.
 
What's your current working weight that you're using for daily practice? The program calls for a once every 2 weeks "non-stop swings" session, if your working weight is 32kg for a man, 24kg for a woman. It doesn't actually call for a once every 2 weeks "max" session to hit the time goals. But, with that said, it seems like a reasonable thing to do if your working weight is 24kg or anything less than 32kg. So....

What I think most people do is have a timer that beeps every 30 seconds. Start your 10 swings when it beeps. Do that 10 times. That's 5 minutes for swings. Two beeps worth of rest (1 min). Start get-up every other beep (every minute); each get-up should generally last about 30-35 seconds, so you get 25-30 seconds rest between each one.

Or you could do it along with one of my videos :) Simple Sinister ... These hit the time goals.

That's great that your aches and pains have disappeared!
 
I just did my first test on swings yesterday with a 16kg, and came in at 5:17. Background....45 yr old female, been using kettlebells x 10 years (inconsistently and not exclusively until about 3 yrs ago). Attempted the S&S program but got bored (I am embarrassed to say) after 6 weeks. That was last winter. I started S&S (with a commitment to stick with it until Simple is reached), on June 1 this year. My getups have progressed quickly (usually for me I gain strength a lot faster than conditioning) and I was meeting pretty close to the time standards in my usual workouts without necessarily feeling like I was pushing myself, did a formal test a few times on different occasions of my 12kg getup...to make sure it was not a fluke. Currently my sets 2, 3 and now often 4 of my getups are with the 16kg

My experience with swings timing is much the same as yours. Despite reading many past posts on the forum, I misinterpreted what the book says and while I wasn't watching the clock during the workout (I checked it after) I think I was subconsciously pushing myself as I saw my times get lower. Per my logs most of my times in swings were in the 7 min range once I hit that full set of 10x 10 reps, and I *THOUGHT* I was passing the talk test, but found myself starting to feel as you say aches and pains in in general like crap. I read the threads on the board about heart rate monitering, but don't have a heart rate moniter. For the last 6 weeks, and a less accurate method but to give me a general idea, I started doing 6 sec counts off the second hand of my watch, randomly here and there after a set (and several times while recovering in between 2 sets) while concentrating on nasal breathing and multiplied by 10 to give me an approx. heart rate, aiming not to go above 140. I was shocked at how low my heart rate needed to go at first (about 80-90) to avoid a spike past 140. Most importantly, I could see how I felt physically at various different heart rates, and now know that earlier I could have rested more and pushed myself less and even though I could "talk" my heart rate was not down enough.

Now like you do, I feel a lot better day to day. In my last few sessions I find I can sometimes start swinging at a heart rate of 100-110 even and not spike above 140, so I take it that I am getting better conditioned. Most of my sessions since I started this "experiment" have had a time ranging from 10-15 min. I could see a trend of them dropping naturally, and felt pretty good last nite so tested myself on my swings for the first time. I just focused on taking 5 nasal breaths under control, and shaking out my limbs, and how I was feeling physically. If I could talk reasonably well, I went again (in a normal S&S session, I would have recovered more). I did find some sets I had to take 8 or 9 breaths, so that is why I did not make 5 min. Did one quick check of heart rate after a set and was 160.

That is my limited experience so far, and I am anticipating when I test again (planned the end of this month) I will make the time, or be even closer, and can start adding sets of the 20kg gradually.
 
Anna C said:
What's your current working weight that you're using for daily practice? The program calls for a once every 2 weeks "non-stop swings" session, if your working weight is 32kg for a man, 24kg for a woman. It doesn't actually call for a once every 2 weeks "max" session to hit the time goals. But, with that said, it seems like a reasonable thing to do if your working weight is 24kg or anything less than 32kg. So....

What I think most people do is have a timer that beeps every 30 seconds. Start your 10 swings when it beeps. Do that 10 times. That's 5 minutes for swings. Two beeps worth of rest (1 min). Start get-up every other beep (every minute); each get-up should generally last about 30-35 seconds, so you get 25-30 seconds rest between each one.

Or you could do it along with one of my videos :) Simple Sinister ... These hit the time goals.

That's great that your aches and pains have disappeared!
Click to expand...

Believe it or not even though I was as high as a 24kg on TGU I've slunk back down to 16 kg so I'm doing 16 kg on both exercises. Its humbling. Based on the aches and pains disappearing (I still think the sequence of Brettzels 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 deserve some credit) I likely cheated my way up on the TGU and have some work filling in the mortar on my thick as a brick skull. Its a little weird to be "idling" at this weight but I can't argue with my bodies response.
 
Also, I was "chasing the interval" on the 16kg swings with timed intervals for awhile so I'm likely now trying to recover from that.
 
@Benedictine Monk hiw are you incorporating the Bretzzles?

I tried something on swings today a little different and I really liked it. Instead of doing them semi quickly I focused on doing the actual swing as slowly as possible with as much power as possible.

Just like you I have taken a step back and really working he 24kg and focusing on the little details and finally realized that "I think" the swings of simple and SO sister are more a power move than a *Do as fast as possible* exercise..... I have never claimed to quick but at least I am willing to learn. Doing the swings like that this afternoon was a real change of pace for me.
 
Strong Rick said:
@Benedictine Monk hiw are you incorporating the Bretzzles?

I tried something on swings today a little different and I really liked it. Instead of doing them semi quickly I focused on doing the actual swing as slowly as possible with as much power as possible.

Just like you I have taken a step back and really working he 24kg and focusing on the little details and finally realized that "I think" the swings of simple and SO sister are more a power move than a *Do as fast as possible* exercise..... I have never claimed to quick but at least I am willing to learn. Doing the swings like that this afternoon was a real change of pace for me.
Click to expand...

I do the Brettzel 1, 2 and 3 prior to my warm up for Simple and Sinister. I do them every day, mostly concentrating on my breathing and going for a minimum of 5 breath cycles for each side.
 
Benedictine Monk said:
Believe it or not even though I was as high as a 24kg on TGU I've slunk back down to 16 kg so I'm doing 16 kg on both exercises. Its humbling. Based on the aches and pains disappearing (I still think the sequence of Brettzels 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 deserve some credit) I likely cheated my way up on the TGU and have some work filling in the mortar on my thick as a brick skull. Its a little weird to be "idling" at this weight but I can't argue with my bodies response.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that... although if you start to feel like you're stuck on a plateau too long, 2H swings w/ 24kg or even deadlifts w/ 24kg might help you move towards that heavier weight for swings. Lots of ways to get there with get-ups, as you've seen in other threads (partials, holds, longer time at each position w/ 16kg, etc.)
 
Anna C said:
Nothing wrong with that... although if you start to feel like you're stuck on a plateau too long, 2H swings w/ 24kg or even deadlifts w/ 24kg might help you move towards that heavier weight for swings. Lots of ways to get there with get-ups, as you've seen in other threads (partials, holds, longer time at each position w/ 16kg, etc.)
Click to expand...

I think this time through I'm going to attempt the 16, 24, 32 progression and ditch the 20 and 28 and see what happens. I suspect I can get to 24 without any extra measures
but I think the jump to 32 will be a bigger hill to climb, scale, ruck, blow up.
 
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