Hi All
I've got some great advice and form corrections from this forum but when I found out that SFG1 was coming to India later this year, I couldn't help but jump on that opportunity to get certified. When I look at all the requirements, I believe I can do a decent job of everything except the snatch test at this point. I believe that I have decent strength for a novice with 1 yr of KB training (I will share a few numbers below for reference) and no dedicated strength training prior to that, but I know for sure that my cardiovascular capacity is on the low side (maybe lower than low - its horrible). So I am trying to get some advice/views on the following
I've got some great advice and form corrections from this forum but when I found out that SFG1 was coming to India later this year, I couldn't help but jump on that opportunity to get certified. When I look at all the requirements, I believe I can do a decent job of everything except the snatch test at this point. I believe that I have decent strength for a novice with 1 yr of KB training (I will share a few numbers below for reference) and no dedicated strength training prior to that, but I know for sure that my cardiovascular capacity is on the low side (maybe lower than low - its horrible). So I am trying to get some advice/views on the following
- To build cardiovascular capacity, do I need to definitely bring in running into my workouts? Currently I run pretty rarely, maybe once a month I hit a 5km run and I walk around 5-6km once a week.
- How can I build build cardio without losing my strength?
- Does the approach I talk about below make sense to get through the snatch test with 24kg KB?
- I wanted to test if I can get 100 reps of snatches with 16kg KB a few weeks back. I was able to get 104 reps .. but I was pretty much out of breath and gasping for air like a mad man. The only positive was that my technique was good enough that my hands didn't have any noticeable calluses.
- I know that strength endurance is something I need to build on but but not really sure how to go about it at this point. For snatches, 16kg KB is my 20RM, 20kg is my 15RM, 24kg is 10-12RM, 28kg is like 7-9RM, and 32kg is 3-5RM.
- As far as my strength goes - my press 1RM is 36kg on both sides, 32kg is a 3-4RM, 28kg is a comfortable7-8RM, 24kg is 12-14RM. My TGU 1RM is the 36kg KB. I have hit timed simple standard with the 32kg KB for TGUs (but haven't been able to hit the timed standard for 1h swings with the 32kg - again an issue with my cardio). I am running KB Strong with double 28s right now and my C&P RM with double 28s is not at 8RM (inc from 4RM after Phase 1).
- Running two programs on alternate days - KB Strong Phase 2 Slow and Steady version with double 28kg KBs and Swing Hard 1.0 program with 32kg KB 1h swings
- On days when I have smaller sets on KB Strong, I do add some snatch work in order to not lose the technique and on almost all the days I work on mobility - arm bars, windmills (standing and kneeling), etc. basically a lot of shoulder mobility work before I start working out and a bunch of hip mobility work post-workout
- Swing Hard I started to work on my cardio and I am currently in week 5, and the HR recovery in the minute once the reps start hitting 8 is not so great. I hope that this will help me build a bit more cardio in the remaining 4 weeks.
- I started Swing Hard before I made a commitment to SFG1, but realized that it should work equally well if I applied to Snatches. So 1 option is that I transition to Swing Hard with snatch rather than a swing and build from there. Maybe when comfortable with 24kg, I can increase the weight to 28kg.
- The other option I see is that I work for time, i.e. I start with 5 reps every 30 seconds for 5 minutes and then keep adding 1 rep as I see better recovery in my HR. I thought maybe this will work well closer to the SFG1 date (hopefully that doesn't move because of COVID).
- My current thinking is not either or of the two options above but a combination of that - first build volume and then fix volume and compress time.