Kettlebell KB upperbody program to go with Deadlift "Vodka and Pickles" program?

[Tirofijo]

I'm looking forward to finishing this round of Daily Dose Deadlifts and ROP and doing something different.

The KB and Deadlifts "Vodka and Pickles" program looks good. It might be just what I need to get to 405lbs in the deadlift.

Kettlebells and Deadlifts Go Together Like Vodka and Pickles | StrongFirst

Deadlifting 3 days a week combined with alternating swings and double KB front squats - clearly Pavel has the lower body covered.

He says your own your own for upper body, which leads to my question.

I'm currently been grinding out ROP w/28kg. (Haven't been able to get to 5 rungs yet.)

I'm thinking about dropping down to 24kg and using doubles for my upper body work when I start the Vodka and Pickles program - but most of the off-the-shelf double KB programs have a lower body component that I would need to take out.

I'm thinking of just doing the press portion of the Prometheus Protocol (10 sets of C&P twice a week) or maybe couple of sessions a week of Bryce Lane 50/20 (trying to get 50 presses in 20 minutes)

I figure something more hypertrophy oriented than what I'm doing now would be a nice break. I'll always take the hypertrophy, and it might be nice to get away from the grinding 28kg bell.

Any thoughts? Let me know if I'm headed down the wrong path

Prometheus Protocol

The Prometheus Protocol - How to Effectively and Efficiently Put on Muscle Mass with Kettlebells - Chronicles of Strength

Bryce Lane 50/20
Affecting Gravity: 'Have it all': Bryce Lane's 50/20

Thanks.

 

[Sean M]

I have my eye on this for 4-6 weeks soon, and for upper body I am considering:

A session:

• Deadlift (progression from article)
• One-arm press: 3 x (1,2,3) progress to 2 x (2,3,5) over time
• Swing (or double clean) and snatch: alternating sets of one-arm swings (or double cleans) and one-arm snatch, ~50 of each

B session:

• Deadlift (progression from article)
• Pull-up: Fighter Pull-up Program (e.g. 3,2,1,1 —> 5,4,3,2,1), or the same 3 x (1,2,3) —> 2 x (2,3,5) as presses
• Double front squat: 5,5,x,x,x (“Easy Reg Park” progression to 5x5)

 

[Steve Freides]

To quote Dan John, the goal is to keep the goal, the goal. The program you've selected is focused on lower body and posterior chain strength. Enjoy the program. Do some version of Easy Strength for your upper body for maintenance, and aim to make progress with your upper body on your following training cycle, not this one. I might add a more vigorous upper body program only if you knew you had a lot of room to grow in, e.g., you hadn't pressed in a while and were trying to get back to your previous maxes which went down a bunch when you stopped pressing.

The Daily Dose Pressing program I outlined, based on the DD Deadlift in our blog, would be a good fit. I've mixed a 3x/week and a 4x/week program as follows, with good results:

Monday - 1 of 3, 1 of 4
Tuesday - 2 of 4
Wednesday 2 of 3
Thursday - 3 of 4
Friday - 3 of 3, 4 of 4

I've adapted the DDD program to 4x/week by doing 6 reps instead of 5, keeping the total volume close enough to the same but spreading it out more. So you could

Monday - V&P Day 1, DD Press Day 1
Tuesday - DD Press Day 2
Wednesday - V&P Day 2
Thursday - DD Press Day 3
Friday - V&P Day 3, DD Press Day 4
Sat/Sun - off

Hope that's not too confusing the read, holler if I can help.

-S-

 

[Alan Mackey]

I would do “something different”: just dips/push ups and pull ups/inverted rows formupper body.

 

[Kettlebelephant]

I thought about this aswell and I'm with @Steve Freides that the focus should be on the Vodka&Pickles routine and the upper body stuff shouldn't be too taxing.
I'd go with one of the following:
How to Properly Program the Get-up for 3 Different Goals | StrongFirst
Upgrade Your Strength with the Soju and Tuba Press Program | StrongFirst
A Science-Based Plan to Prepare You for the SFG Level I and SFG Level II | StrongFirst (Press portion)
The Fighter Pull-up Program Revisited | StrongFirst (but reduced to 3 days per week)

Maximally I'd use S&T together with FPP (3 days a week), but IMO that would already be too much.

 

[Tirofijo]

Thanks everyone. Soju and Tuba has been on my list to try anyway, so pairing it with 'vodka and pickles' might be a good time to try it.

 

[Kozushi]

Deadlifts and kettlebell presses - I'm doing a lot of these these days to good effect.

 

[Marc]

Thanks everyone. Soju and Tuba has been on my list to try anyway, so pairing it with 'vodka and pickles' might be a good time to try it.

Seem like an excellent choice.

I have done S&T for One Arm Pushups last year and it workt like a charme.
You will most def make great gains which you can chase down once you start a new programme.