As far as being ”all around “ does S&S fall short in regards to upper body pulling strength?
As far as being ”all around “ does S&S fall short in regards to upper body pulling strength?
One of the major misconceptions with regard to kettlebell training over the past several years has been the idea that swings and get-ups will fix/cure/heal anything and be a well-rounded training program.
This is absolutely not the case. This is more a case of "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."
When you get right down to it, swings and get-ups are EXCELLENT exercises, but only doing them is massively shortsighted.
When it comes to programming, simple is often better, but too simple can be just as bad as too complicated.
With kettlebell training there is a tendency to have a hyper-focus on kettlebell-specific exercises, while disregarding tried and true basic truths of general strength and athleticism training.
Because it makes the most sense to train full-body workouts for non-bodybuilders, let's look at what a potential training session could look like:
1 Get-up per side, 10 swings. Repeat 10 times. Go home.
Simple? Yes. Burn some calories? Sure. Enhance general movement? Yeah that too. But to call it well-rounded is a huge mistake.
Master RKC Max Shank Kettlebell Swing
Learning to categorize exercises is an important skill when it comes to programming training sessions. The meat and potatoes of movements are:
Upper Push
Upper Pull*
Lower Push
Lower Pull*
Mobility*
*These areas are most critical for improved posture relative to our sitting-in-a-chair dominant culture. Any lack in these areas is going to compound movement dysfunction and increase injury risk.
Here's a great way to improve your swings and get-ups workout session:
1A) Get-Up x 1/side (upper push)
1B) Swing x 10 (lower pull)
1C) Hip Flexor Stretch x 10 breaths/side (mobility)
Repeat 5 times
2A) Row x 8 (upper pull)
2B) Reverse Lunge x5/side (lower push)
2C) Thoracic Bridge (mobility)
Repeat 5 times
By adding these extra movements and dialing back on the swings and get-ups, you are going to have a much more well-rounded training session.
No extra time investment, just smarter planning and more bang for your buck.
Don't make things too complicated, but don't make them too simple either; make a training session checklist and make sure you are hitting all of the above categories--you'll be stronger, more flexible, and stay in jury-free
I blame Bruce Lee in “way of the dragon”What's it with all the lats talk? Are the lats the only back muscle we're supposed to be concerned about?
I don't mean to point any fingers in this thread but it's something I've seen through the years and I guess I wanted to finally know what it's all about.
Sounds like you should check out DMPM (Dan Martin Program Minimum) If you haven't?For me personally, yes. I have a sedentary job and S&S only is not enough to make my back happy.
As @Antti said, there are other important muscles apart from lats. I can have lats like flying squirrel and I can do 15+ pullups at 80kg of weight without specifically training them, but I just need horizontal rowing if I want painless back.
If you can get any type of suspension trainer like a TRX or whatever and do rows, as many as you want, 2-3 days a week. I'm not a get up fan so I add in push-ups or pull-ups after my swings for a set amount of reps (100 push-ups/25+pull ups) and it fills the gaps nicely. I started doing Alligator crawls for X-amount of minutes and discovered back muscles that I didn't know existed.For me personally, yes. I have a sedentary job and S&S only is not enough to make my back happy.
As @Antti said, there are other important muscles apart from lats. I can have lats like flying squirrel and I can do 15+ pullups at 80kg of weight without specifically training them, but I just need horizontal rowing if I want painless back.
As far as being ”all around “ does S&S fall short in regards to upper body pulling strength?
I think it depends on what you interpret "all around" to be. A bodybuilder wants every muscle group trained in a more reductionistic way - calves need a calf exercise, lats need a lat exercise, etc.As far as being ”all around “ does S&S fall short in regards to upper body pulling strength?
At SF, lats have been called the super muscles, so you have that.What's it with all the lats talk? Are the lats the only back muscle we're supposed to be concerned about?
I don't mean to point any fingers in this thread but it's something I've seen through the years and I guess I wanted to finally know what it's all about.
At SF, lats have been called the super muscles, so you have that.
And who among doesn’t want something to take to the gun show?