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Kettlebell Pavel Macek: "Solid: In-Between Simple & Sinister"

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@Pavel Macek ,

Sir, fantastic article, great tips, superb explanations. You continue to highlight what can be done with patience, practice, consistency, and commitment.

Thank you for everything you do, both with your own students and here. You are a stellar example of qualities we should all strive to exhibit, both under the bell and away from it.
 
Ladies & gentlemen,

as the original article was much longer, we had to shorten it for the blog article. Because @Steve W. was so kind to post it here in the forum, I will post some of the unpublished parts of the 0.9 version of the article as a bonus for the forum readers. I hope you will find them useful. Enjoy!

(About S&S Warm-Up)

Honestly, it’s no problem to me to walk right up to the Beast and start swinging it right away - those few steps are my warmup. Because I am quite active thorough out the day and do my "morning recharge" exercise every single morning, I can afford to skip any "warmups" and just go - and I’ve never had a problem or injury.

I do Flexible Steel mobility complex and dynamic stretching every single morning (and I mean every single morning) which means I am always ready to go later throughout the day. As for warmup (or more accurately "move prep"), sometimes I do none - I just grab a 40 kg bell and start to swing it. I keep doing the goblet squat, but usually skip the halo and hip bridge. Usually, but not always.

Also, I don't sit much - I usually type lying on my belly, stretch the hip flexors throughout the day, practice Chinese martial arts sets, spend time in a squat position, and generally do lots of kind of GTG mobility - lot of "movement snacks" throughout the day - pumps, squats, shoulder dislocations, spine decompressions on a pullup bar, hip flexor stretches, etc.

Last but not least I teach stuff like halos, SFG armbars, Brettzels every single day. So, I am "ready" any time throughout the day - what a great job I have, right?
 
(Intermezzo: Few Bumps on the Road)

The road isn't always a straight line from point A to point B. I have encountered few bumps on the S&S road. All injuries were not related to kettlebell lifting.

Big Toe Injury

I could not do swings, so I was practicing sumo kettlebell deadlifts. I could not do full get-ups, so I practiced only half get-ups.

Left Forearm Injury

My martial arts teacher injured my radius bone in 2003. The old injury stared to hurt again, so no weighted get-ups for next week, and lots of Chinese Dit Da Jau medicine.

3 Weeks Holidays in China

I switched to SFB skills - one-arm pushups and pistols, GTG, plus naked get-ups. We had a very active holiday -lots of hiking, and I mean LOTS of it, e.g. all 5 peaks of the sacred mountain Hua Shan in 1 day - almost 30 km, up and down. Curious about S&S’s influence on other activities, I tried breathing only though the nose when hiking. The transfer was excellent, as expected. And the transfer of SFB skills to SFG skills? After I came back, I cam back to my regular weights right away - 40 to 48 kg.
 
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Hello,

Once again, thank you for the great article !

Is the carryover the same from sfg to sfb and from sfb to sfg ?

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Thank you so much for your care and gift of this article...all your tips are pure gold! although I have never lost a bell starting the getup, I especially liked your tip about angling the heavier bells inward slightly.....today in my practice, I made a point of checking that before I rolled to my elbow, and could see how the bell lined up with my shoulder. Made a difference in how the subsequent parts of the getup felt too...everything nicely in alignment right from the start.
 
@Pavel Macek I'd also like to say a massive thank you; your training log and your latest article have been a massive inspiration to me, and I've now been given the kick I need to get serious about achieving 'Simple' and beyond! I was at one time truly on the S&S train, but various set backs of all kinds made me reluctant to get back on - no more!

I do have one question about your article - in it you mention once per week testing for symmetry/asymmetry with the NW/SFB skills... Do you structure this into some sort of session, such as a couple of sets of five, a ladder or two, etc. Or do you literally just do a couple of reps per limb just to ensure you've still 'got it'?

Thanks again Sir!
 
@crazycanuck I am glad to hear you you find the article to be practical, thank you.

@Harry Westgate Thank you for your kind words. As for your question - the second option. Literally just do couple of reps per limb to ensure I still got it.
 
Another part from the 0.9 version of the article:

S&S and Body Composition

Many practitioners ask about muscle gain, loosing fat, etc. Let me give you a simple blueprint:

- At least Simple standards = bulletproof abs
- At least Simple standards plus steak & vegetables = bulletproof abs & six-pack

As Arnold said: “Put that cookie down! NOW!”
 
@pet' Generally I would say shoulder hypertrophy, biceps, forearms, lats, glutes. Abs - but that is S&S plus diet.
 
I wanted to ask you about a line in the article.

"With a light bell, you can swing incorrectly. With a heavier bell, you can’t as the bell will teach you. In the swing, a heavy bell will pull you forward, it will drop down rather than back, and it will not fly chest high if you are lazy with your hinge"

I've noticed that the 32kg bell drops down rather than back and that, as a result, I have a little more difficulty getting into a deep hinge. Any thoughts about how to counter this tendency.
 
@Pavel Macek, I still am referring back to your videos on proper technique for the two hand swing & the get up. From what I have read, the one hand swing has the same movement, just more core muscles firing to prevent twist. What I was wondering, is could the TGU be performed before the swings? Or should the swings precede the TGU?
 
@Michael Scott In S&S, swings are performed first, get-ups after. Reasons:

- focus on 100% explosiveness
- "only" 10 sets of 10 reps (or even less, if you can't maintain power)
- relatively long rest periods

You could of course program the swings and get-ups in many other ways for various reasons as mentioned in the book. I was actually thinking of that, and have few good ideas, but I am still doing straight S&S, enjoy it, and reap the benefits.
 
@Pavel Macek thank you for the prompt & informative response.

Pavel Macek said:
@Michael Scott In S&S, swings are performed first, get-ups after. Reasons:

- focus on 100% explosiveness
- "only" 10 sets of 10 reps (or even less, if you can't maintain power)
- relatively long rest periods

You could of course program the swings and get-ups in many other ways for various reasons as mentioned in the book. I was actually thinking of that, and have few good ideas, but I am still doing straight S&S, enjoy it, and reap the benefits.
Click to expand...
 
@Pavel Macek which progressed faster for you: swings or getups?

Currently working on owning Solid with a 36 and just waving the load as I feel during the day
 
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