billyp
Level 4 Valued Member
My S&S Mistakes and Corrections
Here is a pretty long post about the mistakes and corrections I made with my S&S training. Stats: 54 year old man. 165cm (5' 5"), 59kg (130 lbs.), about 12% bf range. I started S&S in August of 2016 and stuck with it until about April of 2017. I worked my way up to working with the 32k KB but never officially got to the Simple goal. I changed my program at that point because I felt like I hit a wall...not even a plateau. I did ROP until about June of 2017 and felt the wall again. Then switched to some bodyweight and barbells. I went back to S&S in March of this year until May and then in June I worked on Barbell Rx. I always feel better overall doing S&S for my needs so then in September I went back to S&S. S&S gives me everything I personally need and I always feel more mobile, have better balance, plenty of strength and overall feel great. I have a pretty sedentary job (guitar and amplifier tech as well as musician) so I do not need a great amount of absolute strength.
My mistakes and corrections:
1- Rest between sets: While I didn’t “test” every session I was basically swinging EMOM for every session and not really pacing myself. Get-ups were paced a little bit better but I always felt hurried and rushed so there was an anxious energy about my training. I now swing after about a 1 min rest and this has helped a lot. The swing part of the training session feels more paced and solid. Get-ups feel more paced and solid as well.
2- Pushing too hard too often: Along with the hurried/rushed feeling I constantly tried to increase the KB size. I missed the “explore the movement” and practice element of the training. I trained hard even if I did not feel up to it for whatever reason (poor sleep, stress, etc). I now approach my training as an overall process and I have fun with each session which translates into productive training. I was trying to push myself into adaptation instead of sort of coaxing adaptation along.
3- Technique was a little off: I noticed that my back would be kind of tight/aching often and figured it was from the swings. One cue I read somewhere (here on the forum or the SF blog) about trying to reach your butt into a tire behind you and that totally clicked. It was a very subtle cue but unlocked a lot of power and endurance in my swings. Now my swings feel much more powerful and solid.
4- Not taking light days: This goes in hand with pushing too hard too often. My training week is pretty much the same every week. I train first thing in the morning in a fasted state which works well for me. My main training days are Mon, Wed & Fri. On the other days of the week I train with a lighter KB and for less volume. This definitely helps with practicing and grooving the movements as well as recovery. I notice I feel much better doing at the very least a couple sets of 10 swings per arm and a couple Get-ups with a light KB daily. I feel more mobile and don’t get sore. These lighter days are like a tonic.
5- Adding a little too much “extra”: Looking back over my training log I see that I was adding “extra” exercises that are not necessary at all. The “extras” were all good exercises (pistols, pushups, pullups, hanging leg raises, etc) but not necessary and probably took away from the effectiveness of the S&S program as well as eating into recovery. Mind you I did not do all the “extras” every session but I added a few every session here and there. Now I stick to S&S but I do DL every Friday 1 set of 5 reps with a moderate weight (about 1.25x bodyweight). I notice I feel stronger when I lift something relatively heavy and the 1x per week DL is not hindering at all. I believe it is helping my overall strength. I will increase slowly over the weeks...not rush this.
6- Skimping on the Goblet Squats: For me there is absolute pure gold in the Goblet Squat. I believe the Goblet Squat is an integral part of the S&S program and absolutely should not be neglected or taken lightly. These are awesome all around.
7- Diet: Last but not least was my diet. This could be a chapter in a book..lol. I was following a low carb (under 100g per day from veggies and some berries) for about 7 years. I was also incorporating a Warrior/IF type of eating. While I felt pretty good (or so I thought) I saw a link here in the Nutrition forum to an article on the Muscle For Life site about why low carb dieting sucks or something like that. I checked it out for some reason and I decided to increase my carb intake. Long story/process short I kept protein intake the same (about 1g/lb of bodyweight) and decreased my fat intake and increased carb intake to make up for the calories. Results: Whoa… Recovery is unbelievably better (REALLY), easier to gain some muscle, I feel stronger, better mental focus during the day, better sleep, overall drive is up, more endurance during each training session...I could go on and on. I don’t eat in the Warrior/IF style any longer either. I eat 3x per day with my first meal about 8am after training and my last meal at dinner about 5pm. I do not snack after my dinner meal. I do not feel hungry until after my morning training session so there is somewhat of a fasting element there.
So there it is….all the mistakes I made and the corrections. Now my S&S training is going very well and I’m excited about each session and the noticeable progress.
Here is a pretty long post about the mistakes and corrections I made with my S&S training. Stats: 54 year old man. 165cm (5' 5"), 59kg (130 lbs.), about 12% bf range. I started S&S in August of 2016 and stuck with it until about April of 2017. I worked my way up to working with the 32k KB but never officially got to the Simple goal. I changed my program at that point because I felt like I hit a wall...not even a plateau. I did ROP until about June of 2017 and felt the wall again. Then switched to some bodyweight and barbells. I went back to S&S in March of this year until May and then in June I worked on Barbell Rx. I always feel better overall doing S&S for my needs so then in September I went back to S&S. S&S gives me everything I personally need and I always feel more mobile, have better balance, plenty of strength and overall feel great. I have a pretty sedentary job (guitar and amplifier tech as well as musician) so I do not need a great amount of absolute strength.
My mistakes and corrections:
1- Rest between sets: While I didn’t “test” every session I was basically swinging EMOM for every session and not really pacing myself. Get-ups were paced a little bit better but I always felt hurried and rushed so there was an anxious energy about my training. I now swing after about a 1 min rest and this has helped a lot. The swing part of the training session feels more paced and solid. Get-ups feel more paced and solid as well.
2- Pushing too hard too often: Along with the hurried/rushed feeling I constantly tried to increase the KB size. I missed the “explore the movement” and practice element of the training. I trained hard even if I did not feel up to it for whatever reason (poor sleep, stress, etc). I now approach my training as an overall process and I have fun with each session which translates into productive training. I was trying to push myself into adaptation instead of sort of coaxing adaptation along.
3- Technique was a little off: I noticed that my back would be kind of tight/aching often and figured it was from the swings. One cue I read somewhere (here on the forum or the SF blog) about trying to reach your butt into a tire behind you and that totally clicked. It was a very subtle cue but unlocked a lot of power and endurance in my swings. Now my swings feel much more powerful and solid.
4- Not taking light days: This goes in hand with pushing too hard too often. My training week is pretty much the same every week. I train first thing in the morning in a fasted state which works well for me. My main training days are Mon, Wed & Fri. On the other days of the week I train with a lighter KB and for less volume. This definitely helps with practicing and grooving the movements as well as recovery. I notice I feel much better doing at the very least a couple sets of 10 swings per arm and a couple Get-ups with a light KB daily. I feel more mobile and don’t get sore. These lighter days are like a tonic.
5- Adding a little too much “extra”: Looking back over my training log I see that I was adding “extra” exercises that are not necessary at all. The “extras” were all good exercises (pistols, pushups, pullups, hanging leg raises, etc) but not necessary and probably took away from the effectiveness of the S&S program as well as eating into recovery. Mind you I did not do all the “extras” every session but I added a few every session here and there. Now I stick to S&S but I do DL every Friday 1 set of 5 reps with a moderate weight (about 1.25x bodyweight). I notice I feel stronger when I lift something relatively heavy and the 1x per week DL is not hindering at all. I believe it is helping my overall strength. I will increase slowly over the weeks...not rush this.
6- Skimping on the Goblet Squats: For me there is absolute pure gold in the Goblet Squat. I believe the Goblet Squat is an integral part of the S&S program and absolutely should not be neglected or taken lightly. These are awesome all around.
7- Diet: Last but not least was my diet. This could be a chapter in a book..lol. I was following a low carb (under 100g per day from veggies and some berries) for about 7 years. I was also incorporating a Warrior/IF type of eating. While I felt pretty good (or so I thought) I saw a link here in the Nutrition forum to an article on the Muscle For Life site about why low carb dieting sucks or something like that. I checked it out for some reason and I decided to increase my carb intake. Long story/process short I kept protein intake the same (about 1g/lb of bodyweight) and decreased my fat intake and increased carb intake to make up for the calories. Results: Whoa… Recovery is unbelievably better (REALLY), easier to gain some muscle, I feel stronger, better mental focus during the day, better sleep, overall drive is up, more endurance during each training session...I could go on and on. I don’t eat in the Warrior/IF style any longer either. I eat 3x per day with my first meal about 8am after training and my last meal at dinner about 5pm. I do not snack after my dinner meal. I do not feel hungry until after my morning training session so there is somewhat of a fasting element there.
So there it is….all the mistakes I made and the corrections. Now my S&S training is going very well and I’m excited about each session and the noticeable progress.
But you really have to be vigilant in reigning in protein and fat when you deliberately increase carbs. I use MyFitnessPal. Currently I'm at about 2,300 cal/day with 27% from protein, 44% from carbohydrate, and 29% from fat. So that gives me 1,000 cal/day (or 250g) of carbs, but I have to look for things that don't put me over on the fat or protein. Some of what I've been eating: 
