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Kettlebell Iron Cardio

@Brett Jones is the book/pdf a separate product or a yet to be released part of the existing IC offering? Do you know if we will receive a notification when it's available?
Ryan
The book will be a separate offering for now and I'll be announcing here and social media when it is ready.
 
I’ve been PM’ing @Brett Jones with questions about this amazing program, but then felt bad when I realized I should be posting them to this thread to share with the community!

Anyway, I’d really like to know how this could be geared toward hypertrophy. If 3-5 reps per sequence is the goal, should I shoot for the upper end of that and adjust rest periods?
 
I’ve been PM’ing @Brett Jones with questions about this amazing program, but then felt bad when I realized I should be posting them to this thread to share with the community!

Anyway, I’d really like to know how this could be geared toward hypertrophy. If 3-5 reps per sequence is the goal, should I shoot for the upper end of that and adjust rest periods?
I have a couple of thoughts about this
  • One of the basic combinations to unlock the safe of hypertrophy is to get a pump with a heavy (for you) weight.
  • keeping your practice toward higher weight and lower reps with high-frequency sets may help get that pump.
  • Hypertrophy programs are very demanding in general
  • Dip your toes in the water so as not to overdo it.
  • maybe utilize series interval timing to help dissipate the stress. add an extra +30s, +1min. or +2min. to allow for an appropriate amount of intra-session recovery
  • maybe take more off days, to allow for muscle growth. (the latest muscle biopsy info I've seen predicts that muscle protein synthesis usually dissipates around 36 hours or so, therefore every other day programming, might be a useful schedule.)
  • make sure you're eating in excess to accommodate growth.
  • more sleep is good sleep.
I found that Iron Cardio without exceptional timing methods clearly allowed my shoulders to keep growing. there was steady progress in strength and size. I was following Iron cardio, just like @Brett Jones was doing on his Instagram - and clearly, my shoulders grew, using clean and press and clean and jerk with weights that the bells that were as close to 1RM as I could manage. clearly, across a few months. maybe it could be said that it isn't optimized to maximize hypertrophy, I guess. but there are some interests that need to be balanced, in general.

So, I guess my advice about shooting for Hypertrophy on a diet of Iron Cardio would be: patience, grasshopper.

but there are other ways that might be a better idea ... Happy hunting.
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I found that Iron Cardio without exceptional timing methods clearly allowed my shoulders to keep growing. there was steady progress in strength and size. I was following Iron cardio, just like @Brett Jones was doing on his Instagram - and clearly, my shoulders grew, using clean and press and clean and jerk with weights that the bells that were as close to 1RM as I could manage. clearly, across a few months. maybe it could be said that it isn't optimized to maximize hypertrophy, I guess. but there are some interests that need to be balanced, in general.
Thank you for such a detailed response! If I may ask, what did a typical session look like in this case, and how many reps per sequence did you shoot for?
 
Thank you for such a detailed response! If I may ask, what did a typical session look like in this case, and how many reps per sequence did you shoot for?
a typical day for me could be ...

Clean&Press
40kg
1L - EMOM
1R - EMOM + 0:30 ...
repeat - to 20 min.

Reps targets varied in a range from 20 reps total to 50 reps total.
10-25 minutes.

here's one of the meat and potatoes entries in my log...
 
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a typical day for me could be ...

Clean&Press
40kg
1L - EMOM
1R - EMOM + 0:30 ...
repeat - to 20 min.

Reps targets varied in a range from 20 reps total to 50 reps total.
10-25 minutes.

here's one of the meat and potatoes entries in my log...
Holy smokes! You’re strong. Thank you for sharing.
 
I think the intent of 'Iron Cardio' is to have an impact of 'cardio' without doing the traditional cardio. No? So if one becomes strong or builds muscle in the process then that's just a bonus. Maybe changing the program to what it wasn't designed for might not yield the results you are looking for. Of course there is nothing wrong in tweaking a program and experimenting. In which case, it is not the 'Iron Cardio' program anymore. It is a program you have come up with inspired by Iron Cardio. Just saying !
 
Re: hypertrophy

Load and volume while getting "slightly acidic" is the key IMO.

For Iron Cardio—getting into the 40-60 set range (every set is a set) more toward the 50-60 range with a 5rm or so bell using the classic {clean + press + squat} (or with snatch), or press ladder can result in some very high volume work under enough load for hypertrophy.

I've gotten into 240-300 total rep sessions

Rest periods—IC is not meant to be done "on the clock" but is more like the Timeless approach from S&S—although not exactly the same metrics for the next set.
 
@Brett Jones I recently finished a 40 set (Clean + Press + Squat) work with a 32kg KB in 29m32s. I could've taken a bit longer rest and maybe progressed to 50 set or even 60 set. So the question is, should I look to increase sets and then compress time or 40 sets is good enough for me to try and compress time going forward? I was doing it at an easy pace, 2 sets every 1m30s or so. I didn't clock them but I observed that my recovery was roughly taking that much time.
 
@Brett Jones I recently finished a 40 set (Clean + Press + Squat) work with a 32kg KB in 29m32s. I could've taken a bit longer rest and maybe progressed to 50 set or even 60 set. So the question is, should I look to increase sets and then compress time or 40 sets is good enough for me to try and compress time going forward? I was doing it at an easy pace, 2 sets every 1m30s or so. I didn't clock them but I observed that my recovery was roughly taking that much time.
mvikred

All are good options — the variability is the great thing.

You can do an easy day of 30-40 sets and a higher volume day going for 50-60 and let the times vary naturally and by feel looking for trends as you perform the sessions.

My personal metric for when I need a more challenging variation is when I can hit double the sets of the time frame—meaning if I hit 40 sets or more in 20 min then I need a more challenging variation.
 
mvikred

All are good options — the variability is the great thing.

You can do an easy day of 30-40 sets and a higher volume day going for 50-60 and let the times vary naturally and by feel looking for trends as you perform the sessions.

My personal metric for when I need a more challenging variation is when I can hit double the sets of the time frame—meaning if I hit 40 sets or more in 20 min then I need a more challenging variation.
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. And I already see a die roll based variability options and a benchmark to either progress in weight or in complexity of the chain (E.g. adding a snatch).

One last question from me. In the video you have mentioned adding a swing based session at the end but any particular reason you have not made swing as a part of the chain? I.e. can it be Swing+clean+press+squat as one option? especially for weights that one cannot snatch for 40 sets??
 
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