Hello everyone! New to the forum but not new to kettlebells.
I achieved simple a couple months ago. My lifting history is a couple years of training for powerlifting and competing in 1 meet. Then I got bored with "squat, bench, deadlift" over and over again so decided to try out strongman training and competed in 2 competitions. Strongman is a lot of fun and I still enjoy many of the movements (farmers walks and yoke being my favorite). All together that has been about 4.5 years from zero training whatsoever to now.
Training for strongman can get quite complicated as you need to be able to train all the regular barbell lifts as well as a huge variety of different implements. Recently my wife and I had our first baby girl so time has been much more...limited.
Throughout the 4 or so years I've been weight training I've played around with kettlebells here and there but always used them in a supplemental way instead of as stand-alone tools with their own proper program.
Then I read Simple and Sinister and was extremely attracted by the simplicity and elegance of the program. 2 moving parts is just so nice on my brain. Trying to figure out how to program all your regular barbell lifts/train the strongman implements, and hit a variety of assistance exercises got really mentally/physically tiring and took way too much time. Even with my own home gym workouts were taking at least an hour and a half. I love what Pavel has said about workouts supplying you with energy and feeling like they give more than they take...training for strongman was anything but that.
So I devoted a few weeks to doing the program and was able to achieve the "simple" standard with a 32 KG bell.
( Reddit post about it with video here:
I completed simple : kettlebell ).
The barbell and strongman strength I had developed transferred over well to kettlebells but I still feel like lifting kettlebells exposes minor imbalances (especially core/grip strength) that even dedicated hardcore barbell training doesn't address as well. I've tried just about every fitness and strength/conditioning tool and kettlebells just seem to "feel" the best and leave me with the most energy afterwards.
I love being able to get in an amazing workout in my home which takes 30 minutes or so with a warmup and everything. I love the extra mobility and limber-ness I feel after training with kettlebells. I never feel sore and crappy like I used to with barbells/strongman implements and I always feel like I have an abundance of energy for other things. (I still want to train the deadlift as I have been knocking on a 500 lb pull for a few months now and got 475 last time I tested my 1RM).
So now I recently bought a 48 KG bell and have been using it for 2 hand swings. I can do a couple of 1-hand swings with it but it feels ridiculously hard on the grip. I just completed an 80 lb getup PR (my KB increments jump from 32 KG to 48KG so I have to use dumbbells as a middle weight). My goal is to work up to completing Sinister with my 48 KG (and also be able to press the 48 KG as well) but I don't see that happening for at least a year.
The Strongfirst system and everything Pavel says just makes good sense to me. I love, love, love the simplicity. This is coming from someone who has done just about every major barbell program under the sun and read books and articles on strength training for years. The complicated nature of dealing with calculating training percentages, overall volume, constantly changing things, etc. just felt too complicated for me. I realized I'll never be a competitive powerlifter/strongman and lifting should be
A goal in my life that helps with everything else rather than
THE goal to which everything else is directed.
Anyways, there's my simple and sinister story. Thanks for reading. I'm excited to learn more on this forum and have the goal of eventually achieving my SFG.