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Kettlebell Program Advice

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Aaronlifts99

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Hello everyone! I was looking for some program advice. I’m a bow gunner in the military which means I stand on the front of our small boat with about 60 pounds of gear on. The majority of bow gunners that have come before me have lower back, knee and neck injuries from the impact that comes from being slammed up and down on the bow in heavy sea states. I’m trying to mitigate this issue so I don’t end up with lifelong injuries. Does anyone know of any programming that would allow me to be strong enough to withstand impact while also retaining my aerobic and anaerobic base with maybe some hypertrophy thrown in for good measure? Thank you for your help!
 
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I think swings would be beneficial for your back, knees, conditioning etc.. and perhaps some armor building.. Dan John designed Armor building complex for contact sports and for military, police etc..

So perhaps something like s&s swings followed by Armor building complex (dbl clean x 2, dbl press x 1, dbl front squat x 3)
Use bells you can press 3-5 times.
Do them 3 times a week and build them from 3 up to 10 rounds or something similar. I'm not expert, but you could do much worse than this.

When you can do ~10 rounds in ~15mins you could change the reps from 213 to 426 or 325..
 
I think swings would be beneficial for your back, knees, conditioning etc.. and perhaps some armor building.. Dan John designed Armor building complex for contact sports and for military, police etc..

So perhaps something like s&s swings followed by Armor building complex (dbl clean x 2, dbl press x 1, dbl front squat x 3)
Use bells you can press 3-5 times.
Do them 3 times a week and build them from 3 up to 10 rounds or something similar. I'm not expert, but you could do much worse than this.

When you can do ~10 rounds in ~15mins you could change the reps from 213 to 426 or 325..

That’s awesome advice man! I’m excited to give it a shot!
 
Can you give us an idea of what you're currently doing so we can make adjustments from there?
To be honest Ive been doing a push pull legs bodybuilding split with sprints and swings thrown in for conditioning. Not the best training for what’s needed of me. I have not focused on strength at all just on getting a pump which again was not the smartest idea.
 
It sounds like on top of normal strength programming, you should work on stability and in-between strength. You want to build a big strength reserve in your trunk to handle that load and repeated bouncing. The in-between strength should help with handling that the bounces will be coming at you unpredictably and from odd angles.

For stability rucking and carries work wonders. For in-between strength, I would check out Pavel Macek’s Get Resilient - StrongFirst RESILIENT!

It’s great that you are thinking of this in advance. Good luck with your training!
 
@Aaronlifts99
I recently stumbled across some articles by a guy named Craig Weller, who seems to have experience with a similar job and has developed some training ideas to prepare for it.

The articles might not directly address progamming for your specific needs, but it might be worth contacting the author for some advice (he has a linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com › craig-weller-ab72191b).

Third World Workouts | T Nation

The Third-World Squat | T Nation
Man those articles are gold! Thank you so much man!!
 
It sounds like on top of normal strength programming, you should work on stability and in-between strength. You want to build a big strength reserve in your trunk to handle that load and repeated bouncing. The in-between strength should help with handling that the bounces will be coming at you unpredictably and from odd angles.

For stability rucking and carries work wonders. For in-between strength, I would check out Pavel Macek’s Get Resilient - StrongFirst RESILIENT!

It’s great that you are thinking of this in advance. Good luck with your training!
Thanks for the advice man yea I’m definitely trying to be proactive here! Thanks again!
 
I’m actually all clear of back pain but for everyone else I’ve spoken to that’s not the case I’m just trying to be as proactive as possible!

OK with that out of the way a few things..

Equipment you have at your disposal
Time you can commit to training
 
If you are wanting to maintain your aerobic capacity then I would look at an A+A type program. You could use either swings or snatches or both doing repeats of 5 reps for 20 repeats and working up to 70 or so. Make sure you allow yourself to be fairly recovered before beginning the next repeat.

Then you'll want to add some type of deadlift work. At least that's my suggestion.

Then do 2 to 3 days of LSD aerobic work keeping your heart rate below MAF.

Contact either @Al Ciampa or @Harald Motz for more information.
 
Hello,
in my experience neither the strength or aerobic capacity training will directly address the problems you face in your job. It will be helpful with a good base strength, so that the relative weight of the equipment (body armour, helmet with nods, weapon sling etc.) is not challenging in itself. I dont think the strength required for that is very high.
I think the points that are important to address are :
- Decent flexibility(mobility, flexibility, I dont know the difference) so that you can keep as good posture as possible while on the boat. In my experience, the hours in full kit is exaggerating the bad posture and the negative effects of them.
- Whenever possible during the day, use a 30seconds to a couple of minutes to stretch the pecs/shoulder/hips/whatever you feel is affected.
- Strengthen the backside and core, and stretch the frontside
I would do something like this, 2-3 sets, 6-8 reps, plank 20-30sek. 1-3 times a week.
Reverse flies ( can be done with a band)
Serratus push ups
Hip abductor
RKC plank
Horisontal rows
Hamstring curls
Scapula dips
Pelvic tilt exercise
rotator cuff external rotation

You could also seperate the upper from the lower, and use them as a part of your warmup for a strength session. For instance
Reverse flies, serratus push ups, scapula dips, then some upper body strength work, and finish with horisontal rows and rotator cuff.

- Kris
 
Hello,
in my experience neither the strength or aerobic capacity training will directly address the problems you face in your job. It will be helpful with a good base strength, so that the relative weight of the equipment (body armour, helmet with nods, weapon sling etc.) is not challenging in itself. I dont think the strength required for that is very high.
I think the points that are important to address are :
- Decent flexibility(mobility, flexibility, I dont know the difference) so that you can keep as good posture as possible while on the boat. In my experience, the hours in full kit is exaggerating the bad posture and the negative effects of them.
- Whenever possible during the day, use a 30seconds to a couple of minutes to stretch the pecs/shoulder/hips/whatever you feel is affected.
- Strengthen the backside and core, and stretch the frontside
I would do something like this, 2-3 sets, 6-8 reps, plank 20-30sek. 1-3 times a week.
Reverse flies ( can be done with a band)
Serratus push ups
Hip abductor
RKC plank
Horisontal rows
Hamstring curls
Scapula dips
Pelvic tilt exercise
rotator cuff external rotation

You could also seperate the upper from the lower, and use them as a part of your warmup for a strength session. For instance
Reverse flies, serratus push ups, scapula dips, then some upper body strength work, and finish with horisontal rows and rotator cuff.

- Kris
Thanks for your help man I’m trying to pick through all the comments an add what I can for now to see what’s going to be the most beneficial but seeing as you’ve been in my position I definitely won’t take your advice lightly! Thanks again brother!
 
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