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Kettlebell Need advice on a kettlebell/bodyweight approach

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First things first. This is my first post here, but I´ve been quite some time.

I have a history of powerlifting and before that a decade with krav maga and thai boxing. For about 3 months I had a few issues with life that forced me to re-think life and while that process was going on I realized that powerlifting was more of a thing I did, not because I loved the sport but instead the identification to been seen as strong. Life got the better of me and I stopped lifting and started running, and it felt amazing! I did not spend countless hours in the gym anymore, now I was flying though the forrest not caring about muscle atrophy or how great my bench was. I was alive.

Later I started doing some reading about kettle bell. Read ETK, S&S, Kettlebell training by Steve Cotter and countless of articles here and on DD. I started doing kettle bell training with no goal in mind and was truly amazed when the TGU humbled me after doing it with just a shoe at first. I have deadlifted well over 2xBW for reps but this little evil killed me. I was in love! Not long after came the swing. I really got my whammies going and my heart a race! Later on I have added clean and presses and just love it all!

Recently I found Phil Ross: the dirty dozen. A mix with kettlebells and bodyweight exercises. I´ve added bodyweight squats, pushups and pull-ups to my arsenal. Im looking to start training pistols and bridges next week. Damn, its so fun to train again. Gone are the barbells (yes, I know they are a great tool, but I have been doing to long and lost the love for it) and now its time to excell in the kettlebell, bodyweight training and running. I´ve lost close to 10kg and I love how I feel. Perhaps a bit weaker in the big three but who cares when my overall fitness level has gone up by a mile.

To my question. Here are the link to the exercises The “Dirty Dozen” Exercises (Part 1) by Phil Ross
I try to follow Dan John basic human movement for every sessions (about 3 KB/BW sessions per week) with loaded carries, a squat, a hinge, a pull and a push. But I have failed to organize the exercises in the dirty dozen to a solid routine. Can you help me sort this out?

Please, I know that S&S probably is better and all that, but my primary focus is to enjoy training again by doing the stuff I love, so no need to put me on a program that resembles starting strength with barbells, I´ve been down that path before ;)
 
@Arthax if you want to use Phil's program, why not ask Phil for advice? You should be able to find him on his publisher's web site.

If you have trouble tracking him down, you can PM me here. His studio is near where I live and my wife and I often walk by there.

There is no reason why you cannot do S&S, achieve Simple, and then cut back on your S&S days and add bodyweight training to the mix.

-S-
 
Rite of Passage is a much more flexible program than S&S.

It has variety days that allow you to do whatever you want.

You can incorporate those exercises on those days.

And you will be swinging, cleaning, pressing, getuping, etc.
 
For variety of opinion, I kind of think S&S is a more flexible program than RoP :]
Since RoP is much more focused in its intensity on specific qualities (like upper body press), you really want to avoid interfering with that in recovery. Since S&S is meant as a recharge, you can do a lot of other things "for fun" without interfering with it. I like incorporating Dan John's Basic movements into my warm-up. None of it is done to fatigue, or even for more than two sets. Its just fun, exploring movement with some resistance to maintain mobility and motor patterns. Also, S&S can be scaled back to twice a week to dedicate to more specific training along side it. S&S really is a practice, so I wouldn't view it along the same lines you've approached barbell training in the past. Now, if you don't like swings and get-ups, then of course its not for you, but otherwise, its a great, flexible framework for incorporating those skills.
 
Arthax,

Might I suggest you check out SFG Master Instructor Karen Smith in the Bodyweight Forum?

She would be able to give you a different perspective with the kettlebell in mind.
 
Might I suggest you check out SFG Master Instructor Karen Smith in the Bodyweight Forum?

I tagged Karen and I hope she will respond here. In addition to being Chief Instructor of our Bodyweight program, let's not forget she is a Master SFG, too!

Please see this forum announcement for more on how best to handle a situation like this:

How to Tag a User and Duplicate Postings

-S-
 
I tagged Karen and I hope she will respond here. In addition to being Chief Instructor of our Bodyweight program, let's not forget she is a Master SFG, too!

Please see this forum announcement for more on how best to handle a situation like this:

How to Tag a User and Duplicate Postings

-S-

I'm sorry I got her title wrong. I know she is near the top of that food chain and deserves to have me get it right.

Steve, this forum is really user friendly and you do a great job moderating it.

Thank you
 
@Lew, thank you.

FWIW, I've been on Internet forums since, well, it's probably safe to say since before some of our users were born. I got into all this early on, in the days of Compuserve forums, roughly 1987 or so, which is getting to be close to 30 years ago now.

And you got Karen's rank/title close enough, don't worry about that. She is Master SFG (or SFG Master, I've seen it both ways) and also Chief Instructor for the Bodyweight program.

-S-
 
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I'm sorry I got her title wrong. I know she is near the top of that food chain and deserves to have me get it right.

Steve, this forum is really user friendly and you do a great job moderating it.

Thank you
Lew... No worries :) Appreciate you recommending me on your post.
 
I would be happy to answer questions on bodyweight training, however specific questions to Phil Ross's program should be directed to him directly. Please contact if you have other BW questions.
Thanks Karen Smith
 
@Arthax I applaud your approach as I had similar thoughts as of late. Maybe you'd enjpy also Original Strength. Check it out on YouTube. Basically movements that we used as babies, but that help us as grownups to get back or agility, mobility and strength we once had. It brings back the joy of movement and can be easily added to any program. It helped me a lot to regain movement quality and helped from lifting to dancing.
 
@Arthax if you want to use Phil's program, why not ask Phil for advice? You should be able to find him on his publisher's web site.

If you have trouble tracking him down, you can PM me here. His studio is near where I live and my wife and I often walk by there.

There is no reason why you cannot do S&S, achieve Simple, and then cut back on your S&S days and add bodyweight training to the mix.

-S-

I have tried to contact him without any results. Please, tell him he has an unread e-mail in his inbox! :)

But I don't think of it as a "program" but a list of exercises. Don't you agree?
 
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Rite of Passage is a much more flexible program than S&S.

It has variety days that allow you to do whatever you want.

You can incorporate those exercises on those days.

And you will be swinging, cleaning, pressing, getuping, etc.

I´ve looked in to RoP and find it interesting and with a good mix. My only concern is that the gym only has bells up to 24kg. A couple of days ago I did 5x5 presses with the 20kg.
 
For variety of opinion, I kind of think S&S is a more flexible program than RoP :]
Since RoP is much more focused in its intensity on specific qualities (like upper body press), you really want to avoid interfering with that in recovery. Since S&S is meant as a recharge, you can do a lot of other things "for fun" without interfering with it. I like incorporating Dan John's Basic movements into my warm-up. None of it is done to fatigue, or even for more than two sets. Its just fun, exploring movement with some resistance to maintain mobility and motor patterns. Also, S&S can be scaled back to twice a week to dedicate to more specific training along side it. S&S really is a practice, so I wouldn't view it along the same lines you've approached barbell training in the past. Now, if you don't like swings and get-ups, then of course its not for you, but otherwise, its a great, flexible framework for incorporating those skills.

Well, I do love the swings and especially the get-ups! The thing is that the gym only has up to 24kg bells whitch hinder me from reaching the simple goal. In RoP the swing is more of an assistance "excercises" done for reps/time rather than a certain weight/reps/time
 
I would be happy to answer questions on bodyweight training, however specific questions to Phil Ross's program should be directed to him directly. Please contact if you have other BW questions.
Thanks Karen Smith

If you had two to three days a week devoted to lifting (kettlebell and bodyweight) in the gym, how would you set it all up? My goal is to have a healthy body as Im getting older. To many times I have tweaked my lower back from heavy squats and deadlifts, that have forced me in to long time off. Now, for the couple of months my body feels awesome when I only use BW and KB so Im eager to continue doing that along trail running, but Im unsure on how to set it all up?

@Karen Smith
 
@Arthax I applaud your approach as I had similar thoughts as of late. Maybe you'd enjpy also Original Strength. Check it out on YouTube. Basically movements that we used as babies, but that help us as grownups to get back or agility, mobility and strength we once had. It brings back the joy of movement and can be easily added to any program. It helped me a lot to regain movement quality and helped from lifting to dancing.

Thank you!

Will look in to it more. The joy of training is the most important for me. Today I did early morning trail running with occasional pull-ups when I saw a branch hanging out. about 4 degrees celsius in the air. Thats pure silk for the soul! :)
 
Hi Arthrax. Welcome to the community :)

I came to kettlebells after a few years of recreational olympic weightlifting. I'd started law school, and the two hour workouts combined with the double backflip off the high dive into my first semester was a lot to handle. The allostatic load was too much, and I stopped working out for most of that first year. When my second year started, we decided to downsize for financial reasons. We moved into a condo without a garage, sold the garage gym, and re-invested in kettlebells. Every now and than I miss weightlifting, but I have to be honest, I enjoy training with kettlebells much more. The movements give me a very similar sense of satisfaction, and I'm considerably more fit overall. It's been two years now, and I still have goals that excite me.

Most of the first year was on my ow, but we go to a kettlebell gym now. I like to think of our class as having three movements, like a musical. We do one group, a second, then a third. One of them is usually a bodyweight circuit. The past cycle we did 10 minutes of kettlebell presses or jerks dependent on the individual's skill-level, then 10 minutes of snatches, then a bodyweight circuit. V-ups, between each movement.

Lauren Brooks wrote a blog post a few years ago about what her recent training had looked like, combining barbell (I think), bodyweight, and kettlebells. You could search for that.

I think you need to lay a foundation though. Do S&S. Meet the Simple goal. There isn't a single championship swimmer who didn't get really good at freestyle before swimming the medley. Throw some push-ups and pull-ups into your warm-up and practice high skill level bodyweight things like pistols and handstands Grease the Groove style (from The Naked Warrior). You learn to love S&S. You really do. It isn't as spastic as doing something different everyday, which people like, but it is deeply satisfying to get really good at some movements that look really easy but aren't. You'll develop a foundation of fitness along the way.

I don't think ROP is necessarily the best program to jump into unless you're building on a foundation of swings.

My .02.
 
Well, I gave it all some thoughts while running yesterday. I realized that the gatherd knowledge on kettlebells here are far greater than mine, therefore I will listen to your advices! :)

I did read the naked warrior a couple of Days ago and skimmed through the S&S last night and think I got it all down. As you can see below I´ve tried to incorporate some excercices in GTG-style prior to the S&S (please let me know if its right done). The gym only has bells from 12-24kg so my thoughts is to start with 20kg and when Im Confident I will up the weight to 24kg. I will buy the 32kg as a christmas gift to my self this year and try so reach the simple goal within the next year. (sounds okay?)

Here below I will lay out my weekly routine

Day 1:
Warm-up (as per S&S)
Push-up, GTG (~5 sets or more/less?)
Pull-up, GTG
Pistol (progression as per CC)
Swings, S&S
Get-up, S&S

Day 2:
Cardio, most likely trailrunning

Day 3:
Warm-up (as per S&S)
Push-up, GTG (~5 sets or more/less?)
Pull-up, GTG
Bridge (progressions as per CC)
Swings, S&S
Get-up, S&S

Day 4:
Cardio, most likely trailrunning

Day 5:
Warm-up (as per S&S)
Push-up, GTG (~5 sets or more/less?)
Pull-up, GTG
Pistol (progression as per CC)
Swings, S&S
Get-up, S&S

Day 6-7:
Leave this slot open due to family but I will likely squeeze in a quick morning run





How does this look? Please feel free to correct my layout. My "long term" goal is to run the Icebug Xperience next summer. 75km trail and rock running devided in three Days.
 
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