Strong Endurance Minimalist Hypertrophy

[Adachi]

How long is a typical session?

Light day is < 20 minutes.(the repeats being on 0,5,10,15min. Marks)
Heavy day is up to a little less than 60 minutes . But that's only one day in the schedule. 15/6. After that the volume cap gravitates to 30/2, 30/4 at the end.

Weighted Average is probably around 30 minutes.

If you take this all the way past the endpoint to a maintenance mode, then you'll be at 20 minutes one day and 40 minutes the other day; an hour a week

 

[Ryan T]

As to some of the comments about best ways for hypertrophy, I think there’s a lot of power in field testing protocols and see how they work for you. No doubt that certain tools and methods are typically the highest yield, but I’m a big fan of doing what you enjoy that will keep you interested and consistent and fits into your life well.

 

[lais817]

One last thing @Adachi , What was your RM / what bell did you choose for the swings? Looks like you started around 50% RM with the pushups, or a little lower

 

[Adachi]

One last thing @Adachi , What was your RM / what bell did you choose for the swings? Looks like you started around 50% RM with the pushups, or a little lower

Actually, the criteria I used, maybe unadvisable, was partially because I had been doing 10x10 with these exercises so I felt comfortable with doing sets of 15.

I suppose it is a bit of a coincidence that 15 is around half of 30-something.(Pushups wise)

The way I think of it sets of 5 reps with ballistics will bias your routine towards strength. Sets of 10 with help with a strength and hypertrophy adaptation. Sets of 15 and beyond are going to be biased toward hypertrophy.

Work on your 5s, work on your 10s. Every once in a while, work on your 15s.

Could be worthwhile to consider this a part of a large calendar range triple progression. Maybe I'll try and graduate to 40kg work more thoroughly in the near future.

I'll see what comes of this when I go back to Q&D or S&S. I'd love to get back to barbell work. But that will have to wait for now.

I said all that to say this: I didn't test for a rep max with the swings.

I guess I just tried to find the next rung on the ladder to set my foot on so I could keep climbing.

 

[Dydo]

Ok, has anyone noticed more significant hypertrophy in certain body parts as a result of KB training. For example, I have been training with barbells and machines in a style similar to bodybuilding for 7 years now, and I have the feeling that if I fully devote myself to KB, a lot of my muscle mass will disappear. However, when training with KB, many of the muscles do not receive enough stimulus, and we know that when the body finds that it does not need something, it quickly parts with it. On the other hand, my shoulders, triceps and trapezius are my strong muscle groups, and maybe it is the training with KB that will contribute even more to their development. I'm referring to the basic movements with KB, like cleans and presses, swings and the like. It is clear that with KB you can train all muscle groups, at least for maintenance if you have no other weights and you want to affect all muscle groups.

 

[John K]

Ok, has anyone noticed more significant hypertrophy in certain body parts as a result of KB training. For example, I have been training with barbells and machines in a style similar to bodybuilding for 7 years now, and I have the feeling that if I fully devote myself to KB, a lot of my muscle mass will disappear. However, when training with KB, many of the muscles do not receive enough stimulus, and we know that when the body finds that it does not need something, it quickly parts with it. On the other hand, my shoulders, triceps and trapezius are my strong muscle groups, and maybe it is the training with KB that will contribute even more to their development. I'm referring to the basic movements with KB, like cleans and presses, swings and the like. It is clear that with KB you can train all muscle groups, at least for maintenance

It is less about the tool and more about how it is used. Cleans, presses, snatches, squats, lunges, pull-ups, and dips seem to do just fine maintaining and building muscle and strength. The only time I see muscles start lagging is on very minimalist programs that only have 1-2 movements.

 

[Adachi]

Ok, has anyone noticed more significant hypertrophy in certain body parts as a result of KB training

I haven't been able to discern implement-specific hypertrophy.

I have been able to discern loading-specific hypertrophy.

I have had suspicions about localized differences in hypertrophy. E.g. my calves grow in size with ease I've seen them fluctuate with very little direct attention, if any. my shoulders, not so much. I do my best to build my shoulders and I haven't quite gotten results that resemble my calves at all. I don't know how true it is that there's some sort of local muscle-specific difference, maybe in androgen reception, or something, but, I do know that my calves get a bump in size, any time I intend it, and often when I don't. For e.g. my calves got notably bigger from LCCJ singles a la' KBSF. it was the biggest most notable size difference I saw in those few months I was practicing it.

However, when training with KB, many of the muscles do not receive enough stimulus,

I'll stipulate to @John K stating that minimalist programming doesn't exactly hit every body part goal out of the park.

I'll further state - if you feel like something's left out - then put it in. One of the things I'm most vexed by is my biceps are way behind my triceps. by a long long long way. I can't chin up my neck to the bar, I can't pull up and bring my chest to the bar. I'm always floundering and struggling with that movement.

so - to give my biceps some attention - I recently added kettlebell crush curls. or curls at least. grab the horns, plank the body bring the handle to the chest. I also do them at the bottom of the prying goblet squat. I am experiencing a size change. but not as dramatic as my calves. I just add a couple of big sets or a bunch of small sets, with either the 32 or 40-kg bell. I may also try rows.

now, my favorite way to try and cover every base is definitely OLAD plans. for a while, I used to do snatches all day one day and presses all day another day. I'd do swings another day. and getups on another day. It allowed me to accumulate a good amount of volume. I did get bigger and stronger at the time. I probably should have done more cleans and curls to hit my biceps. but, cest-la-vie.

at this point, I'm babbling a bit.
I hope I've responded to your concerns accurately enough.

 

[Dydo]

Many people just want to be strong and have endurance without gaining excess muscle mass and without caring how they look. And that's why KB workouts are perfect for them.

 

[North Coast Miller]

Ok, has anyone noticed more significant hypertrophy in certain body parts as a result of KB training. For example, I have been training with barbells and machines in a style similar to bodybuilding for 7 years now, and I have the feeling that if I fully devote myself to KB, a lot of my muscle mass will disappear. However, when training with KB, many of the muscles do not receive enough stimulus, and we know that when the body finds that it does not need something, it quickly parts with it. On the other hand, my shoulders, triceps and trapezius are my strong muscle groups, and maybe it is the training with KB that will contribute even more to their development. I'm referring to the basic movements with KB, like cleans and presses, swings and the like. It is clear that with KB you can train all muscle groups, at least for maintenance if you have no other weights and you want to affect all muscle groups.

My best results for hypertrophy using KB was to simply use them as oversize dumbells. For legs, split squat and double front squat. Upper body is easy to match hypertrophy from other means, legs require more creativity.

This did lead to me pursuing sandbags instead of buying more 32s or heavier.

Hypertrophy follows specific exercises and programming (and nutrition).

 

[conor78]

It’s been years since l’ve had hypertrophy as a goal.
In my own experience the pull up has the most immediate effect on upper body hypertrophy if I can hit it regularly. In terms of lower body double the front squat has been the most effective. For me I need to get into the 7+ rep range or push density fairly hard in terms of reducing rest times to trigger it. The difficulty is that I have always found recovery to be an issue in terms of soreness and lethargy.
Without appropriate nutrition as noted above you are just a spinning your wheels. One other thing I have found is that as I have very little bandwidth for intricate programs/variety of exercises/percentages given life’s other demands.
A program like Total Tension C with appropriate nutrition would certainly make you “look like you lift.”
Good luck in your training.

 

[North Coast Miller]

One other thing I have found is that as I have very little bandwidth for intricate programs/variety of exercises/percentages given life’s other demands.

This! ^

 

[Adachi]

Some thoughts as I wrap up this training cycle.

• I may cut this cycle short, as the benefit/adaptation is shifting.
• I had great success in the first 6 weeks and fewer changes occurred during the second 6 weeks.
• I have (Right-or-Wrong) extended the rest periods to accommodate my inter-set recovery.
  • this - along with the long training cycle - seems to be working against me for Hypertrophy.
• I'm getting stronger, which is okay, but I'm not growing
• maybe backing off and ramping up again is one way to go, here.
• maybe it's time to wrap things up.

if ( and or when ) I try this again, I'll expect to run this protocol centered around 15 and 20-rep sets and look to limit the timing between repeats to 10 minutes per exercise.

After digging into 25 reps it didn't exactly play out as intended. Seems to be too much work, but also, maybe too much rest, for me, for where I'm at; at least with respect to hypertrophy.

----------------------

THE LATEST
Last week was a "Graduation day"
This week is 30 Rep Sets

Iron Cardio (IC) + Hypertrophy (H) + Step&Carry (S&C)​

Week#​	M​	T​	W​	T​	F​
1​	IC​	15/4​	IC​	15/4​	IC​
2​	IC*​	15/4​	IC​	15/5*​	IC*​
3​	IC​	15/4​	IC​	15/5​	IC​
4​	15/4​	IC​	S&C​	15/6​	S&C​
5​	15/3​	IC​	S&C​	20/2​	IC*​
6​	20/2​	IC*​	S&C*​	20/3​	IC​
7​	20/2*​	H​	S&C​	20/4**​	H​
8​	20/2​	IC​	S&C​	20/4​	IC*​
9​	15/3*​	20/2​	Walk​	20/5*​	20/5​
10​	Walk​	25/2​	Walk​	Walk​	25/2​
11​	25/2​	Walk*​	Walk*​	25/3*​	Walk*​
12​	25/2*​	25/2​	Walk​	H*** ​	25/3***​
13​	25/2​	Walk*​	Walk*​	25/3​	Walk​
14​	25/2​	Rest​	Walk​	25/4*​	25/4​
15​	30/2​	Rest​	Walk​	30/2​	Rest​
16​	30/2​	Rest​	Walk​	30/3​	Rest​
17​	30/2​	Rest​	Walk​	30/4​	Rest​

The schedule is subject to change
* = skipped/holiday
**=Not completed to standard
***=Modified session ​

 

[vojtakubi]

Are there other than hypertrophy adaptations that you see from this protocol? (Muscle endurance, tolerance to burning muscle, etc?)

 

[Adachi]

Are there other than hypertrophy adaptations that you see from this protocol? (Muscle endurance, tolerance to burning muscle, etc?)

So, there are only a few things that I really take notice of.

• I do feel stronger. I swung the 48kg bell for 15 reps for two sets.
• My stairs bounding test is still a low RPE.
• There is a short term (intra-set) endurance that's been acquired for sure. I was thinking of observing this by returning to 015 with a vengeance.
• As far as the burning sensation is concerned, I must admit it has been almost non existent.

As an aside: Now that I'm thinking about it. I may move to King Size Killer to scale up from a low rep challenge to a high rep challenge with a single bell.

 

[vojtakubi]

• I do feel stronger

This one seems very important. How about your pushups max? Did it increased?

 

[Adachi]

This one seems very important. How about your pushups max? Did it increased?

I've not yet tested my pushup max since starting this program. Technically I didn't test it before. I've been tested before but that was some time ago.

 

[Adachi]

So, I was re-reading Q&D



In light of this, I will retreat from sets of 30 to sets of 20.

 

[Adachi]

So I've wrapped up after finishing up with a couple sessions of 20 reps.

It turned out to be 18 weeks of swings and pushups.

Iron Cardio (IC) + Hypertrophy (H) + Step&Carry (S&C)​

Week#​	M​	T​	W​	T​	F​
1​	IC​	15/4​	IC​	15/4​	IC​
2​	IC*​	15/4​	IC​	15/5*​	IC*​
3​	IC​	15/4​	IC​	15/5​	IC​
4​	15/4​	IC​	S&C​	15/6​	S&C​
5​	15/3​	IC​	S&C​	20/2​	IC*​
6​	20/2​	IC*​	S&C*​	20/3​	IC​
7​	20/2*​	H​	S&C​	20/4**​	H​
8​	20/2​	IC​	S&C​	20/4​	IC*​
9​	15/3*​	20/2​	Walk​	20/5*​	20/5​
10​	Walk​	25/2​	Walk​	Walk​	25/2​
11​	25/2​	Walk*​	Walk*​	25/3*​	Walk*​
12​	25/2*​	25/2​	Walk​	H*** ​	25/3***​
13​	25/2​	Walk*​	Walk*​	25/3​	Walk​
14​	25/2​	Rest​	Walk​	25/4*​	25/4​
15​	30/2*​	30/2**​	Walk​	30/2**​	Walk​
16​	30/2**​	Rest​	Walk​	30/2*​	Rest​
17​	20/2​	Rest​	Walk​	20/4*​	20/4​
18​	20/2​	Rest​	Walk​	Rest​	20/4​

The schedule is subject to change
* = skipped/holiday
**=Not completed to standard
***=Modified session
​

Mistakes were made
The first time I tried this protocol I started out with too much loading. I should have started with a set or two, to ease into things. I will try not to be in a rush again.

I mixed in my iron cardio practice, and for my abilities and my recovery, it was too much. After I switched to walking on my off days, my recovery felt relatively complete.

Lessons were learned
Two days a week was just right. A light day and a heavy day.

I think now that the range of 25 to 30 reps is something for lighter bells. An S-minus sized bell, as it were.

15-20 reps work for a so-called S-Weight or an S-plus-weight.

Conclusion
Here is my finalized recommendation.
Swings and Pushups ( or other quick lifts )
8-12 weeks.
2 days per week, a heavy day and a light day.

Proposed Hypertrophy Cycle​

Week​	Light​	Heavy​
1​	15/2​	15/2​
2​	15/2​	15/3​
3​	15/2​	15/4​
4​	15/2​	15/5​
5​	15/2​	15/6​
6​	20/2​	20/2​
7​	20/2​	20/3​
8​	20/2​	20/4​

​

Notes:

• Repeat week 8 for 4 weeks or more.
• Substitute 15/2 if you are feeling down.
• Upgrade your heavy day to 20/5 if you are feeling powerful.
• Introduce a heavier bell +4~8kg on a light day, to get a taste of the higher intensity.
• After 12 or more weeks consider starting again with a heavier bell altogether. +4~8kg
• Move on to other training when you are ready.

 

[misachael]

Proposed Hypertrophy Cycle​

Week​	Light​	Heavy​
1​	15/2​	15/2​
2​	15/2​	15/3​
3​	15/2​	15/4​
4​	15/2​	15/5​
5​	15/2​	15/6​
6​	20/2​	20/2​
7​	20/2​	20/3​
8​	20/2​	20/4​

​

Hi,
I'm new to the training programs like this written. Can i ask what 15/2 or 20/2 means? I can't figure it out.

 

[Adachi]

Hi,
I'm new to the training programs like this written. Can i ask what 15/2 or 20/2 means? I can't figure it out.

Hi, and welcome @misachael .

This annotation is reps/sets.

15/2 = 2 sets of 15 reps
20/2 = 2 sets of 20 reps