Pete L
Level 6 Valued Member
I'm loving squatting every session
but they're still hard work...Week 9 next for me too :-/
Kettlebell Kettlebell ICT
- Thread starter Bkb
- Start date
but they're still hard work...Week 9 next for me too :-/
blad51
Level 8 Valued Member
I was dreading Week 9 and the approach of the 3rd phase during Week 8 too.I'm loving squatting every session
Week 9 next for me too :-/
I was playing all sorts of mind games with myself. I was ready for Phase 3. I just had to do it.
You both are prepared for Phase 3. Just get it done. You can do it!
Pete L
Level 6 Valued Member
Thank you for the vote of confidence.
I think the jerk day will be easier than the snatches but I'm looking forward to the test
GovernorSilver
Level 6 Valued Member
Kettlebell ICT: Week 10
Weights used:
Session A
A1 Snatch 16kg
A2 Press 16kg
B1 Snatch 12kg
B2 Bottoms Up Goblet Squat 20kg
Session B
A1 Push Press 16kg
A2 Bottoms Up Goblet Squat 20g
B1 Push Press 16kg
B2 Supported Row 16kg
Focused more on leg drive in the Push Press. I'd been doing this exercise as more of a leg-assisted press, which I guess is ok, but I thought dialing up the leg drive would dial up the conditioning aspect. This did result in me breathing harder after each set, though snatch sets still feel harder.
One of the days after a Session B workout, I had unusual tightness in the side of a knee when I started a walk around the neighborhood. This was fixed by stretching in the bottom of an ATG split squat - just great all-around mobility drill for solving knee, hip, and ankle tightness.
Bodyweight holding steady at 154 lbs, down from a pre-ICT weight of 161lbs.
blad51
Level 8 Valued Member
Done!!!
I finished the program today!
I am proud of me. I feel like I accomplished a big achievement.
KB ICT is a challenging program---in a good way.
Next week I will post a longer review with my results.
I ran Option 2 with the advanced movements. 20k bells for the conditioning. 2x28s for the DMP and 2x24s for the DFSQS and Renegade Rows.
My next program is KB GHFL. I will be running 2x24s for DCJ. I am very excited for the program, I have never ran a program with DCJ as the exclusive lift.
I finished the program today!
I am proud of me. I feel like I accomplished a big achievement.
KB ICT is a challenging program---in a good way.
Next week I will post a longer review with my results.
I ran Option 2 with the advanced movements. 20k bells for the conditioning. 2x28s for the DMP and 2x24s for the DFSQS and Renegade Rows.
My next program is KB GHFL. I will be running 2x24s for DCJ. I am very excited for the program, I have never ran a program with DCJ as the exclusive lift.
GovernorSilver
Level 6 Valued Member
Kettlebell ICT: Week 11
My conditioning improved enough to let me do the presses immediately after the snatches, without taking a rest pause, for the first two supersets of my Session A workouts. I still needed to take rest pauses for the rest of that segment.
I'd been hanging from a pullup bar as part of my recovery routine with pronated grip. This week, I saw a video in which the coach recommended slow eccentric chinups (supinated grip) as part of his suggested routine for improving mobility for overhead press. I was still feeling a bit beat from the workout so instead of doing eccentric chinups I thought I'd try just hanging with a supinated grip. This has been an uncomfortable position for my shoulders in the past, but this time I felt fine. I don't know if the improved feeling in my shoulders has been the result of ICT itself, or the drills I've been doing to warm up for ICT and to recover from it - drills like KB arm bar, various t-spine mobility drills, etc. This is a welcome development for me as it opens up the possibility of doing chin ups (supinated grip) for increased bicep involvement, instead of pull ups (pronated grip) next time I take on Easy Muscle.
Otherwise the weights were the same as last week. One more week to go!
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Suchoklates
Level 1 Valued Member
I'm done, last workout completed. That was way harder than I thought. I'll get back with some summary and thoughts later, but in a nutshell - 4625 swings and 1982 jerks throughout the whole program is a solid portion of work.
fkansari82
First Post
Started today, S+C - Intermediate
A1/A2 - 9 sets
B1/B2 - 11 sets (went over 15min just to finish the other side off)
Pushpress - 20kg
Swing - 16kg
Squat - 16kg
at the end of the workout, swings were getting tougher. I am coming off from finishing the THE GIANT series. I think the strength part I can possibly push more, but I will see how it goes for a week or so. Squat as well I think I can push more but just coming off a recovering knee sprain, so didn't want to trigger it back, focussed on getting the form just right and put the muscles to work that way. Let's see how it goes, I didn't sweat no way near to what I would after the GIANT, but it feels like that body has done the work.
A1/A2 - 9 sets
B1/B2 - 11 sets (went over 15min just to finish the other side off)
Pushpress - 20kg
Swing - 16kg
Squat - 16kg
at the end of the workout, swings were getting tougher. I am coming off from finishing the THE GIANT series. I think the strength part I can possibly push more, but I will see how it goes for a week or so. Squat as well I think I can push more but just coming off a recovering knee sprain, so didn't want to trigger it back, focussed on getting the form just right and put the muscles to work that way. Let's see how it goes, I didn't sweat no way near to what I would after the GIANT, but it feels like that body has done the work
.fkansari82
First Post
my only confusion left is with this bit:
Session A and Session B under Option 1/2.
and this bit :
Here’s how it looks on a weekly basis:
Weeks 1,3,5,7,9,11: A,B,A
Weeks 2,4,6,8,10,12: B,A,B
Can someone please explain how this works?
Do I do session A in week-1 and session B in week-2 or in week-1 I do A,B,A on the 3 days and so on?
Session A and Session B under Option 1/2.
and this bit :
Here’s how it looks on a weekly basis:
Weeks 1,3,5,7,9,11: A,B,A
Weeks 2,4,6,8,10,12: B,A,B
Can someone please explain how this works?
Do I do session A in week-1 and session B in week-2 or in week-1 I do A,B,A on the 3 days and so on?
blad51
Level 8 Valued Member
This a great program. I ran Option 2 with the advanced movements.
How I ran the program:
The conditioning movements: I ran 20k bells for the conditioning movements for the entire KB ICT program.
The strength movements: For the DMP I ran 2x28k bells. For the DFSQ I began the program using 2x28k bells. In Week 7 I switched to 2x24k bells for the DFSQ. I chose the Renegade Rows and used 2x24k bells.
Results:
I am a 56-year-old male. I am 5’8” tall. I finished on Friday the 22nd. Before the program, I weighed in and took my measurements on 12/31/23. After the program, I weighed in a took my measurements this morning,
Weight: I lost 6.6 lbs
Neck: I gained 1/4 inch
Chest: I lost 1.5 inches
Waist: I lost 2 inches)
I feel like my results might be a bit of an outlier.
On January 26, I had lost 8 pounds. I didn’t weigh in again until March 27th.
I started to feel sick on February 13th. My wife also started to feel sick. On Saturday the 17th we both tested positive for COVID. I didn’t really have any symptoms beyond congestion. Being congested is not unusual for me during this time of year. I decided to stay the course with KB ICT while I recovered. I had continued congestion since early February and fought off a cold for a couple of weeks during March. (Ugh!)
However, while I was happy that I continued to lift, the bottom fell out on my diet. While I was quarantining, I moved to a comfort food diet. I stopped tracking my calories, paying attention to portion control, and food choices. I accept this, I am not making an excuse. This is my fault and not the program. I started the year doing very well with my diet. I was successful with observing Dry January. I am more than a little frustrated with myself. After getting COVID, I began a cycle of being discouraged with my lack of control over my diet. I really never got back under control for the rest of the program. (Again, my fault)
The Program:
I really liked the variety of lifts in KB ICT. The conditioning movements straight into strength were doable during the first two Phases of KB ICT.
During Phase 1, I was able to work up to 6 sets during both Sessions A1 & A2 and B1 & B2.
During Phase 2, in the first two weeks, I began needing to catch my breath after the conditioning movement and the DFSQs. I was still able to superset the conditioning movement into the DPP and Renegades. I decided to go down in weight to 24s from 28s for Week 7. I felt like Geoff Neupert gave me implicit permission to go down in weight when he wrote that we could go up in weight during Week 7. The 24s were plenty heavy and I was able to get sets of 5 during each session for the last two weeks.
During Phase 3, I found the timing of the conditioning movements left me too drained to go directly into the strength movement without pausing to catch my breath. I was able to get 4 sets each session. I was strict in observing only two minutes rest before the strength movement and the next set’s conditioning movement.
My Observations:
I really felt this program in my lats. They were tired in a good way.
I was surprised how the DFSQs were so difficult in this program. I love DFSQs, so for them to be my least favorite lift during the program was new for me. (DFSQs and I have decided to spend some time apart while I do another program.)
I couldn’t believe the amount of 1HS I could get during the 3rd Phase. I was consistently punching out 40 1HS each set. (I never thought I would ever do that kind of volume with the 1HS.) I was able to get 25 snatches, 20-22 DPP, 16 Jerks each set. (Phew!)
I really liked the Jerks. I have struggled with Jerks. I couldn’t get the coordination b/t the Dip and the Duck. This program allowed me to work through this problem. By concentrating on the Dip and the Duck, I was able to dial in my form. I am really happy about that because I felt very insecure about that movement.
My next program is KB GHFL. I began it on Monday. I am running 2x24s for DCJ. I am very excited for the program, I have never run a program with DCJ as the exclusive lift.
This is the second time that I have a participated in a Geoff Neupert Beta test. Last year I participated in the Beta Test for Giant X. GN Beta tests are fun!
How I ran the program:
The conditioning movements: I ran 20k bells for the conditioning movements for the entire KB ICT program.
The strength movements: For the DMP I ran 2x28k bells. For the DFSQ I began the program using 2x28k bells. In Week 7 I switched to 2x24k bells for the DFSQ. I chose the Renegade Rows and used 2x24k bells.
Results:
I am a 56-year-old male. I am 5’8” tall. I finished on Friday the 22nd. Before the program, I weighed in and took my measurements on 12/31/23. After the program, I weighed in a took my measurements this morning,
Weight: I lost 6.6 lbs
Neck: I gained 1/4 inch
Chest: I lost 1.5 inches
Waist: I lost 2 inches)
I feel like my results might be a bit of an outlier.
On January 26, I had lost 8 pounds. I didn’t weigh in again until March 27th.
I started to feel sick on February 13th. My wife also started to feel sick. On Saturday the 17th we both tested positive for COVID. I didn’t really have any symptoms beyond congestion. Being congested is not unusual for me during this time of year. I decided to stay the course with KB ICT while I recovered. I had continued congestion since early February and fought off a cold for a couple of weeks during March. (Ugh!)
However, while I was happy that I continued to lift, the bottom fell out on my diet. While I was quarantining, I moved to a comfort food diet. I stopped tracking my calories, paying attention to portion control, and food choices. I accept this, I am not making an excuse. This is my fault and not the program. I started the year doing very well with my diet. I was successful with observing Dry January. I am more than a little frustrated with myself. After getting COVID, I began a cycle of being discouraged with my lack of control over my diet. I really never got back under control for the rest of the program. (Again, my fault)
The Program:
I really liked the variety of lifts in KB ICT. The conditioning movements straight into strength were doable during the first two Phases of KB ICT.
During Phase 1, I was able to work up to 6 sets during both Sessions A1 & A2 and B1 & B2.
During Phase 2, in the first two weeks, I began needing to catch my breath after the conditioning movement and the DFSQs. I was still able to superset the conditioning movement into the DPP and Renegades. I decided to go down in weight to 24s from 28s for Week 7. I felt like Geoff Neupert gave me implicit permission to go down in weight when he wrote that we could go up in weight during Week 7. The 24s were plenty heavy and I was able to get sets of 5 during each session for the last two weeks.
During Phase 3, I found the timing of the conditioning movements left me too drained to go directly into the strength movement without pausing to catch my breath. I was able to get 4 sets each session. I was strict in observing only two minutes rest before the strength movement and the next set’s conditioning movement.
My Observations:
I really felt this program in my lats. They were tired in a good way.
I was surprised how the DFSQs were so difficult in this program. I love DFSQs, so for them to be my least favorite lift during the program was new for me. (DFSQs and I have decided to spend some time apart while I do another program.)
I couldn’t believe the amount of 1HS I could get during the 3rd Phase. I was consistently punching out 40 1HS each set. (I never thought I would ever do that kind of volume with the 1HS.) I was able to get 25 snatches, 20-22 DPP, 16 Jerks each set. (Phew!)
I really liked the Jerks. I have struggled with Jerks. I couldn’t get the coordination b/t the Dip and the Duck. This program allowed me to work through this problem. By concentrating on the Dip and the Duck, I was able to dial in my form. I am really happy about that because I felt very insecure about that movement.
My next program is KB GHFL. I began it on Monday. I am running 2x24s for DCJ. I am very excited for the program, I have never run a program with DCJ as the exclusive lift.
This is the second time that I have a participated in a Geoff Neupert Beta test. Last year I participated in the Beta Test for Giant X. GN Beta tests are fun!
GovernorSilver
Level 6 Valued Member
Kettlebell ICT: End of Program and Results
Completed Week 12, which is the final week of Kettlebell ICT, without incident. This program is based on research on Integrated Concurrent Training (ICT), which is also referred to as Integrated Concurrent Exercise. One of the findings is that ICT was found to burn body fat, especially stomach fat, without dieting. So in keeping with the premise, I made no special changes to my diet - not perfectly clean, but not blatantly unhealthy either.
Before I started Kettlebell ICT, my body was in good health. However, it had just recovered from a back injury so to be safe, I chose weights for the snatch, goblet squat, and row that were relatively light.
Results:
Bodyweight: approx. 5 lb. loss.
Arms: approx. quarter inch diameter gain
Waist (at navel): approx. 3/4" loss
Overhead Press: approx. 15lb. gain in max force
The objectives of the Kettlebell ICT program are to reduce bodyfat while maintaining or even increasing strength. The results show that both objectives were accomplished. I believe I can interpret the loss in bodyweight combined with reduction in waist diameter as signs of fat loss. Pants now feel more loose at the waist. I figured there would be some gain in pressing strength but I didn't expect this much.
I would consider training under this program again in the future. It would be interesting to see what results would be gained by doing the program with weights determined by proper testing under the program guidelines - eg. 10-rep max for goblet squat, 20-rep max for snatch, etc. instead of holding back a bit to reduce risk for the back.
Nice job @Essexman!Last session completed yesterday evening.
Planning a deload week (1/2 duration on ballistics, 1/2 number of reps), then I'll take measurements and write up details.
Overall I've enjoyed the program and the results seem positive.
Nice one Geoff
Looking forward to the details.
Paul R
Level 4 Valued Member
Ran this with Option 2 and Advanced movements. Didn’t do final session.
Program
Now debating if I should now do GHFL, then Giant, then Maximorum for further fat loss before building strength or if I should build strength again before fat loss (making it Giant, then Maximorum then GHFL.)
Suggestions welcome.
Program
- Conditioning: 1x16kg for 1-hand swings and snatches. 2x16kg for jerks.
- Strength: 2x20kg for DMP and DFSQ. 2x22kg for Double Rows. (Initially tried 2x22kg for DMP and 2x24kg for DFSQ but dropped the weight after a couple of sessions.)
- Always waited the full 2 minutes before starting next round. No rest between conditioning and strength moves.
- Weeks 1-4: Got 6 rounds per 15 minute block.
- Weeks 5-8: Got 5 rounds per 15 minute block.
- Weeks 9-12: Got 4 rounds per 15 minute block.
- 1” off waist at navel.
- Weight and other body measurements remained the same.
- DC&P strength loss - 2x24kg dropped from 5RM to 2RM. 2x20kg dropped from 13RM to 10RM.
- Chinup strength loss - 7RM down to 5RM.
- DFSQ strength gain - 2x24kg increased from 10RM to 13RM.
- I can't say enjoyed it compared to Geoff’s auto-regulated programs. In fact I think I dreaded each session. This is likely because it exposed my weak points in conditioning and my DFSQ, which normally I'd have said I trust over my press even if I hadn't trained it in a while.
- My conditioning did improve, considering I thought I was going to die from the 30 second rounds in the first week to being able to do minute rounds in final weeks.
- Glad I took measurements at the start, or else I wouldn't have noticed the 1" loss in waist based on photos alone. I assume this is fat loss considering all other measurements stayed the same?
- Loss in pressing strength I had from The Giant is disappointing, although it wasn't down to pre-Giant strength. (I ran the Giant series starting with an 8RM for 2x20kg).
Now debating if I should now do GHFL, then Giant, then Maximorum for further fat loss before building strength or if I should build strength again before fat loss (making it Giant, then Maximorum then GHFL.)
Suggestions welcome.
blad51
Level 8 Valued Member
Nice work! I agree those measurements are important.
I have decided to make 2024 a fat loss year for my selection of KB programs.
I am currently running the advanced GHFL with DCJs. I am really enjoying the DCJ. I am in Week 5 of 12.
My next program will be KB RMF. Then I plan to close the year with the King Sized Killer.
For 2025 I am going to focus on increasing my pressing strength. I plan to begin 2025 with Strong and a pair of 32k bells. (If Geoff doesn't release another New Year Beta test.)
I have decided to make 2024 a fat loss year for my selection of KB programs.
I am currently running the advanced GHFL with DCJs. I am really enjoying the DCJ. I am in Week 5 of 12.
My next program will be KB RMF. Then I plan to close the year with the King Sized Killer.
For 2025 I am going to focus on increasing my pressing strength. I plan to begin 2025 with Strong and a pair of 32k bells. (If Geoff doesn't release another New Year Beta test.)
Essexman
Level 6 Valued Member
Completed a deload week, just two sessions with 1/2 duration time (30 seconds) for conditioning and 1/2 reps (3 reps).
Only afterwards I realised I missed a trick. I should have gone back to 30 seconds and 4 reps as per week one, would have made an interesting comparison!
Only afterwards I realised I missed a trick. I should have gone back to 30 seconds and 4 reps as per week one, would have made an interesting comparison!