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Old Forum Physical observations with S & S

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mdabril

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I have been following S & S for exactly 1 week as of today and noticed the following effects...

 

Swings

- They are becoming more crisp each day with a definite feeling of solidness in the hip pop and planked position.

- Increased flexibility in hamstrings noticed in the backswing with resulting increaed hip hinge folding. Greater and greater elastic loading for the following hip pop.

- Increased thickness of traps, lats, spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings , quads, forearms and calves. Probably other areas as well, but these have been the most obvious to me.

- Better daily awarness of hip hinging in daily life when picking up objects (I work in a warehouse picking up boxes, 5 gallon cans of various materials etc..)

- Slow and steady leaness without dropping any bodyweight.

These are just what I have really noticed in the first week of the daily swings. Not rushing between sets, but concentraing on power, hip pop and floating of kettlebell really is awesome.

 

Get Ups

- Shoulders feel like stone. Nice and solid, definite thickening there.

- Obliques feel great, really feeling/seeing the definition between them and abdominals

- Hips feel great and solid from the rolling to elbow. Feel nice and loose during extension of hip in kneeling position

- Lats feel really tied in during the various positions while keeping shoulder sucked in, especially in bent press position of transitioning from hand on ground to kneeling position and then from kneeling to hand on ground after hip hinging down to ground

- Forearms feel like concrete between the swings and getups.

- In standing locked out position,body feels like one solid piece, like a marble column

- Increased thickness in shoulders, traps, lats, triceps, biceps, forearms, obliques, and abdominals. All the body's joints feel great, nice and solid and a feeling of well oiled.

 

These are just some of the immediate observations. I had already been working with kettlebells off and on with progressive bodyweight exercises since 2008, and consistent strength training since 1984, but wanted to really knuckle down and own this program. I'm using a 16K for the get ups and 24K for the swings. Not rushing the program, just putting in my daily practice. I made it up to the 32K for both exercises on the ETK PM; the daily practice with this version is very doable. I'm 42 years old and feel great with this program.

Having youthful energy, athleticism, power and strength from the daily practice. This program is pure gold! Thank you Pavel!
 
Michael,

I'll add my agreememt with your observations. I've done the S&S regimen 9 of the last 10 days. It's like Pavel said, I have a job to do each day. A number of swings and a number of get-ups. Just show up, focus, and "git er done".

Everything feels more solid and more mobile. 24 Kg swings are getting down right easy. I'm doing 6 sets of 10 this week after 5 sets last week. Next week: 7 sets of ten. All two-handed for now. I'll start mixing in some one handed sets after I'm solidly doing 10 sets of 10 two handed every day.

Get-ups may advance next week with one set (the second) moving up in weight. I have. 20 Kg and may use that as an interim step to the 24.

For some reason I am in no hurry to advance too fast on this program. I'll take what comes. Training six days a week it may come faster than I think. Whatever. A sure cure for OCD.

The hard copy of the book came today. Great layout and design.

Simple and Sinister is the perfect title for this book and program.

Jim
 
Jim,

The approach slowly adding volume one extra set at a time is exactly how I planned to progress; good to see someone else come to that conclusion. I'm in no hurry either. This approach really lets me hone in on the technique, less RAM out the door as Dan John would say. As daily and normal as brushing your teeth and tying your shoes; just something you do as part of life.

Michael
 
Great work Michael, sounds like you're already seeing excellent results. However, it also seems like you got those results by following the program, as written; I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but in world of internet strength training forums, that's considered cheating!
 
I haven't noticed any physical differences in my body. But, I have noticed how 100 swings can kick my a#@ again, the way they used to.  I've been on ROP for quite some time and could often bang out that many swings in 5-6 minutes. Now I'm practicing on the breathing techniques between sets outlined in the book, making sure I contract my glutes and abs on the top, and doing the shadow swings when doing two-handed swings. These subtleties make all the difference in difficulty.
 
Jim,

how are you "actively resting" between sets? I currently walking on treadmill or light jogging (hard to get away from ROP- profound effect on me)
 
Rick,

All I am doing for active rest is walking around, "shaking out" the tension in my limbs, and practicing the deep breathing from S&S.

Jim
 
Jim,

I always outthink myself. I started 5x20 yesterday(100 swings) with 24kg and am sore as heck.  Today I plan on "simplifying" it and starting with 5x10.  How much time did you start with between sets of swings?
 
Jason -  yup just following the program as written allows for much greater concentration on the movements themselves without stressing about the "whys" , "hows"  or "whens" of programming....just "Repeat until Strong"

Jim - My rest between sets is the same as yours. I may also march in place (cross crawl) Original Strength style as well
 
@Rick - As far as time in between sets, I think most importantly is make sure you can talk before starting the next set, so as to not lose intensity (-Rif, from S&S)
 
Back, shoulders, and traps seem to be getting more dense. Abs havent improvef, but my diet has been off.
 
Rick,

What Daniel said. I am following the book by the letter (for a change). That's probably why it's going so well. :)

Jim
 
Wait. this is Intermet blasphemy. We're not suppose to follow a program designed by someone whose profession it is to know what he's talking about when there are modifications the Internet tells us are even better.

;)
 
Great Program. I think GTG Swing and Get Up is the best generalist program ever ( reread the chapter "A lesson from workers and peasants" when Pavel explain Steve Justa endurance work in relation to S & S )  but not very practical.

So S & S is the most efficient and seems to work greatly with hardstyle abs so far ( Core Hypertrophy with better ability to L Hold without pratice ). Would be interesting to know why Pavel didn't choose to increase reps vs sets during the first weeks with a new bell

5 rep*10 sets vs 10 reps*5 sets ( I know time under tension is short during swing but quality should prevails, may be hormonal stimulation need this minimum time under tension. Hormonal stimulation versus Motor Patterning Perfection)

Anyways, Thank you encore from France for this new masterpiece.
 
Well I'm only a week into it, but have done the S & S workout 5 times.  Couple of observations, my form on both the swings and TGU's is improving.  Doing a little bit every day seems to imprint the correct movement into my routine.   My focus right now is to train for long trail running races the first few months of 2014 (live in Arizona, so it's perfect outside training weather).   Noticed that after doing a long trail run yesterday with lots of elevation gain and loss that I did not feel as beat up afterwards.
 
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