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Kettlebell Maximorum Master Thread

ipetter said:
Mission accomplished! I just completed week 12 of this program with 16 kg. kettlebells in all exercises. 160 snatches today, and a pat on the back to myself for a job well done, and to @Geoff Neupert for writing an amazing program. This has been a joy, with great results. I've sent Geoff a loooong e-mail, but for everyone else...

C&P RM week 1: 6-7
C&P RM week 12: 14!

Starting weight: 76,0 kg.
Finishing weight: 74,7 kg.

I was by no means obese when I started this, but didn't look very fit either. I looked like a middle-ageed runner (46) in decent condition. Decently slim, but not muscular at all. Last week my 18 year old son saw me doing a workout without a t-shirt on and actually commented that I was looking muscular and had a sixpack going on! That's big praise from him, and I must say the mirror agrees. There's been some serious muscle building and recomposition going on here. No pictures from me, so you'll have to take my word for it. I regret not taking measurements other than my weight when I started.
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ipetter, thanks for posting your results! Do you plan to run Maximorum again any time soon?
 
paulwilson said:
ipetter, thanks for posting your results! Do you plan to run Maximorum again any time soon?
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I will absolutely run it again, but probably not this year. It is a fairly demanding program, but it sure delivers! Next I'll focus on primarily single kettlebell work with 20kg. doing Iron Cardio, probably in combination with some Q&D or dips and pull-ups. Haven't decided 100% yet, but will have to soon. I start on Monday... After 6-8 weeks of that I'm planning on doing another of Geoff's programs. Maybe something from MKM or maybe Easy Muscle, time will show.
 
George Vrotsos said:
I got very lean and muscular with Maximorum. I've done dfw, STRONG and The Giant as well. Maximorum is my favorite of Geoff's programs.

Only grinding 2 days a week and snatching 2 days a week is the perfect combination for me.

I'm doing AXE for a while now but I'll run Maximorum again in 2024. Hell, I'll probably run it yearly.
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Thanks George

I think I’m going to give Maximorum a go in the new year. For now I decided to run Giant 1.0-1.2 with dbl 16 bells. I figured I’ve got some mileage to be made by improving my technique.

Not sure what I’ll do after that as I’ve got an international trip in Jan that will cut short most programs I’ve got. Maybe I’ll mix it up a bit including work on my snatch technique.

So many good options from Geoff!

Ben
 
Disregard my post, I’m in!. I’ve looked over it, looks good. I’m doing Jerk Werk the the moment for 6 weeks. Was planning on doing it til Christmas but I think I might jump into this after that. Should be a good lead in. I’m the meantime I’ll get some half snatches in to work out which bell to use. Looking at the volume at the end of phase 2, 16 would be smart. 24’s will be my C&P/FSQ.
 
Either Maximorum was not available, or I was not aware of it when I made some of my purchases. I bought the Giant and KSK and planned to go back and forth between them. Can anyone compare the Maximorum vs alternating blocks of Giant/KSK?
 
JamesPTA said:
My journey started on 4/11/2022 with alternating blocks of the Giant Series and King-Sized Killer programs as recommended by one of Geoff's recommendation earlier this year. There were some weeks where I was on vacation or dealing with colds, but I would resume right where I would leave off, and finally completed the journey this morning. Here is my experience:

Goals: They are simple. My goal has always been to wake up every morning to move and do something active. I am only given one body, and it's best to keep it well maintained. I am the father of 2 boys ages 8 and 10. As I push 40, I want to be able to keep up with them but also make sure that they have to keep up with me. Lastly, I've dedicated my hard-earned money to purchase KBs of all sizes and I want to make sure that I put them and the purchased programs to good use.

Layout:
  • Giant 1.0 with 2x24kg​
  • KSK 1.0 Phase 1 with 28kg​
  • Giant 2.0 with 2x24kg​
  • KSK 1.0 Phase 2 with 28kg​
  • Giant 1.1 with 2x24kg​
  • KSK 1.0 Phase 1 with 32kg​
  • Giant 3.0 with 2x28​

Off-program days for the Giant was filled with mobility and crawling. Off days for KSK included Bent Presses similar to how Pavel M. organizes them.

Performance Improvements:
​
Pre Testing​
Post Testing​
DCL+MP 2x28kg​
6RM​
8-9RM​
Snatch 32kg​
3RM​
12-13RM​
Bent Press 1RM​
32kg​
36kg​

Body Improvements: No skin calipers, no Bod Pod, so this is purely subjective. My shirts are officially a size bigger (XL). My arms need more room, but also mainly because of the width of my upper back. You could project a Hollywood movie on the thing now. The waist on my pants go looser, the belt had to get pulled tighter. However, as some may remember, I ripped a pair of pants this summer because my gluts and quads had no room. It's now a necessity for me to wear stretch pants for work. We also had few "coat & tie" events, and I could not get any of my top buttons remotely close to closing. All new button up shirts had to be purchased.

I never really watched the scale. my calorie intake fluctuated over the last 6 months, so I suspect my weight did as well.

Overall: This whole experience has been significantly enjoyable. My favorite phases with Giant 2.0 and phase 2 of KSK1. I am also happy with the overall progress and how my body feels. With auto-regulation and changing the exercises ever 3-4 weeks, I still saw the daily and weekly rep counts increase. The last 6 months have definitely been worth it. If anyone is on the fence about these 2 programs and performing them in blocks, they deliver above expectations.

My deepest thanks @Geoff Neupert!
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JamesPTA said:
I wrapped up 12 weeks of Maximorium today. I'd like to share my progress and my thoughts

PERFORMANCE

I chose to use 2x28kg for the DCL+P, which I had tested at 7 solid reps and a very shaky, unethical 8 reps. I had chose 32kg for the snatches, which was my 12RM. The bell ended up shredding both of my hands, no matter how I tweaked my form, and inevitably I dropped down to the 28kg. It is my own fault and no fault of the program.

I followed Geoff's instruction (pretty adamantly and comically directed instructed) and did the program as written and add nothing in. He also made a suggestion on weekly PREs however I found that his rep scheme pretty much took care of that. It never became about chasing numbers, but how quickly can I effectively recover from each set. The numbers increased on their own.

My results are as shown:

Week 1​
230​
Week 7​
344​
Week 2​
248​
Week 8​
354​
Week 3​
278​
Week 9​
366​
Week 4​
281​
Week 10​
372​
Week 5​
296​
Week 11​
384​
Week 6​
322​
Week 12​
TEST
DCP 2x28kg 10 reps​

More than pleased!

PHYSICAL CHANGES

At Week 1, I weight 202lbs at the end of October. Today, the scale read 209lbs. My diet generally consists of low carb, high protein/fats, and while nothing about that changed, the holidays (Thanksgiving through New Years) made sure I ate a lot more than the usual fist-sized portions. If you know my wife, my Christmas season is almost a full month long. Weight went up, however some of the pants that were deemed too small this fall are fitting perfectly. I still have my movie-theater sized back, and my arms, quads, and gluts are noticeably larger. Geoff will get before and after pics (sorry fellas).

OVERALL

This was a fantastic program. At first, I was skeptical about shoulder wear/tear going alternating days of Press and snatches. With auto-regulation, you control the volume and there is nothing about my body that feels worn down. The variety in the exercises and the changes in the rep schemes kept each day interesting.

Never did I think that would reach 10 reps on the test day and I was pleasantly surprised with how easy that was. This has been a dramatic change in my overall strength that I hadn't seen since ROP or Total Tension Complex. The only thing I would need to do differently is work on my form with the 32kg snatches.

Consider me a very happy test subject @Geoff Neupert
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@DGA
 
Halfakneecap said:
Disregard my post, I’m in!. I’ve looked over it, looks good. I’m doing Jerk Werk the the moment for 6 weeks. Was planning on doing it til Christmas but I think I might jump into this after that. Should be a good lead in. I’m the meantime I’ll get some half snatches in to work out which bell to use. Looking at the volume at the end of phase 2, 16 would be smart. 24’s will be my C&P/FSQ.
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So, had a play around with snatches. Thought I’d go 16, but I think 20 is right. Heavy enough to be able to feel the movement but not so heavy I can’t do a decent amount. I’ve never regularly Snatched, just periods of randomly snatching, so I’m looking at it more like practice, so I don’t expect huge numbers. I’ll just be happy to be snatching regularly.
 
In a quandary here. I can comfortably C&P my 24’s for sets of 6 ( phase 2 strong untimed no problem ), but I’m at about 3 C&P ( untimed rest I can do a reasonable amount of sets ) with my 28’s. I’m thinking, maybe I can C&P my 28’s, and Push press if I get stuck, and squat my 24’s.

First phase I think I’ll be good with that, I’ve definitely used push press before in similar situations, and adapted after a few weeks to end up strict pressing.

The snatch part, is more like practice, and I’ll be going easy with it. Thinking I can push the strength side of C&P and FSQ weight wise.

Or, I could cruise with my 24’s C&P. Squat wise the 24’s I think would work well either way, it’s a good weight.

Can’t really lose either way I think.

TLDR, if I’m using a lightish weight/reps for the snatch part of Maximorum, can I push the weight of the C&P part ?

Worst case in phase 2, I might need to drop to my 24’s for C&P.

Goal wise, I want strength with C&P and FSQ, and want to regularly snatch, more learning and technique mostly ( I can build on that later on )
 
Halfakneecap said:
In a quandary here. I can comfortably C&P my 24’s for sets of 6 ( phase 2 strong untimed no problem ), but I’m at about 3 C&P ( untimed rest I can do a reasonable amount of sets ) with my 28’s. I’m thinking, maybe I can C&P my 28’s, and Push press if I get stuck, and squat my 24’s.

First phase I think I’ll be good with that, I’ve definitely used push press before in similar situations, and adapted after a few weeks to end up strict pressing.

The snatch part, is more like practice, and I’ll be going easy with it. Thinking I can push the strength side of C&P and FSQ weight wise.

Or, I could cruise with my 24’s C&P. Squat wise the 24’s I think would work well either way, it’s a good weight.

Can’t really lose either way I think.

TLDR, if I’m using a lightish weight/reps for the snatch part of Maximorum, can I push the weight of the C&P part ?

Worst case in phase 2, I might need to drop to my 24’s for C&P.

Goal wise, I want strength with C&P and FSQ, and want to regularly snatch, more learning and technique mostly ( I can build on that later on )
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I would go with the 24s. I have learned to be conservative with my bell choice with Geoff Neupert programs.

You have to remind yourself when picking the bells of what your goal is for completing the program. Are you trying to get stronger or lift the heavist KB you can find?

With the 24s you will recover faster and you will get more sets. In phase 2 super set the DCP and DFSQ. IF you want a real challenge pick option B with the DFSQ. I did Option B and I hated myself some days. I have no idea who would pick Option C.
 
blad51 said:
You're gonna love Maximorum!
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I think so too. Love C&P but have wanted to squat more, and I’m keen to spend time snatching. Couldn’t be a more perfect program for those things! I’m doing Jerk Werk for a few more weeks, then I’ll start. Was going to start earlier but will let my legs get used to squatting regularly first, and I want to do a solid month of Jerk Werk.
 
I started the beta test last fall but wasn't able to finish.

Tried AXE for a few weeks but miss double C&P too much, and knew I needed to get back into DFSQ. I thought about DFW but then I remembered I still had the Maximorum beta test document and thought I'd give it another go.

Week 1:
D1: Snatch 28kg x 45/45 (90 total)
D2: C&P/FSQ 2x24kg x 16/16
D4: Snatch 28kg x 50/50 (100 total)
D5: C&P/FSQ 2x24kg x 16/16 (but harder than Tuesday)

My mental strategy is that a steady volume of escalating reps per set each week is progress. I have done Giant in the past and found it hard to push myself to higher RPEs when the intensity (reps per set) is fixed week to week; with Maximorum the escalating intensity is the progress driver especially if I can maintain total output (or minimize degradation). I have run Strong! in the past and like the semi-linear progression built into that, but ultimately I am drawn to this "Big Three" setup in Maximorum: push, squat, pull (clean & snatch).

For snatch I'm going L/R with a hand switch on the first rung of the ladder day, otherwise resting between sides. For C&P/FSQ I'm resting between C&P and FSQ sets (not super-setting). I am going with Option 1 (?) - FSQ reps same as C&P - as FSQ is definitely my weak spot which I need to work on. Snatch is not a weak spot but I like the inclusion of them.

I'm assuming the beta test version isn't "broken" or needing major modification?
 
Dang you people are all so strong. I’m working with 18s for the C&P and 16 kg for my snatch. I might be able to go higher on the snatch but just started KB Max today and haven’t done snatches in a while.

One question I have is what to do about Thanksgiving week. I will be traveling and can’t take the KBs with me. I should be able to get in two of four workouts that week. Do you think I should repeat the week? Or move to the following week? Feels like repeating the week makes the most sense but how do other people train around the holidays?

So far I love KB Max, I made great progress on Easy Muscle and DFW (though think I bulked through this instead of cut). I feel like snatches are great for getting lean when coupled with proper nutrition so excited about KB max!!
 
jmoran01 said:
One question I have is what to do about Thanksgiving week. I will be traveling and can’t take the KBs with me. I should be able to get in two of four workouts that week. Do you think I should repeat the week? Or move to the following week? Feels like repeating the week makes the most sense but how do other people train around the holidays?
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I'd repeat the week, for sure... If I'm traveling and can't bring kettlebells, I usually train bodyweight calisthenics. Either with a TRX-like sling system or nothing at all except maybe a towel, just to get some work in. But I'd still repeat the week if I'm doing a structured program like Maximorum.
 
ipetter said:
I'd repeat the week, for sure... If I'm traveling and can't bring kettlebells, I usually train bodyweight calisthenics. Either with a TRX-like sling system or nothing at all except maybe a towel, just to get some work in. But I'd still repeat the week if I'm doing a structured program like Maximorum.
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Thanks!
 
So I’m going to stick with KB max with an eye toward getting leaner. Running it 3 days a week for sure but might switch to four days if I can make that work.

I bought Giant X last night and it plan to switch to that for my next workout after Max. Thinking running KB max at 3 or 4 days a week for my cut and then look to bulk up with The Giant X.

Do you all think this makes sense?

Also one more question. I’m using 2x18 kg (5 RM) for the clean and press and 16 kg for the snatch (10 RM). My snatch might be too light. Is it normal to have the snatch be less per KB weight than the clean and press?
 
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