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Kettlebell Q&D KB size

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Jalvarado

Jalvarado

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I love the Q&D book and already on my second time around. I’m one of the ones that will follow the program about 90% since I do feel after training for 15+ years in the Strength arena such as barbells, DB from various sports such as college level baseball and soccer, water polo-
I do know my body well and understand what my goals are for the future. Q&D is fitting for me as I’m a person who truly enjoys cardio 3 times a week and I prefer 30 mins of jump rope to keep me athletic and also 2 days of running.
I am adding Q&D style training the other 3 days. My goals are .. relative good strength with not much sarcopenia as I age (I’m 35) remain athletic and fit, don’t care about hypertrophy or more strength gains, yet want to maintain my strength and fitness.

dilemma- am I doing a disservice by using a 16kg bell to do Q&D at 20 two handed swings with the proper rests and then the power push ups for 5 sets? I know I can swing heavier- but I do feel that this amount of swings feels perfect for the weight and for me.

what have I noticed from 2 days of this modified protocol? After the 2nd set my HR hit close to 85-90% of VO2 max.. so am I actually training something completely different than the protocol and not benefiting at all from what’s supposed to be? Or as long as the rest rates and times follow the protocol will I still reap the benefits even though I’m not going super heavy? Also, in the long term how much of a necessity is it to keep adding a heavier bell if I just want to continue to maintain. I have set up monthly tests of pull-ups to see if I remain as fit as well. Thanks in advanced for any critique or thoughts.
 
Jalvarado said:
I love the Q&D book and already on my second time around. I’m one of the ones that will follow the program about 90% since I do feel after training for 15+ years in the Strength arena such as barbells, DB from various sports such as college level baseball and soccer, water polo-
I do know my body well and understand what my goals are for the future. Q&D is fitting for me as I’m a person who truly enjoys cardio 3 times a week and I prefer 30 mins of jump rope to keep me athletic and also 2 days of running.
I am adding Q&D style training the other 3 days. My goals are .. relative good strength with not much sarcopenia as I age (I’m 35) remain athletic and fit, don’t care about hypertrophy or more strength gains, yet want to maintain my strength and fitness.

dilemma- am I doing a disservice by using a 16kg bell to do Q&D at 20 two handed swings with the proper rests and then the power push ups for 5 sets? I know I can swing heavier- but I do feel that this amount of swings feels perfect for the weight and for me.

what have I noticed from 2 days of this modified protocol? After the 2nd set my HR hit close to 85-90% of VO2 max.. so am I actually training something completely different than the protocol and not benefiting at all from what’s supposed to be? Or as long as the rest rates and times follow the protocol will I still reap the benefits even though I’m not going super heavy? Also, in the long term how much of a necessity is it to keep adding a heavier bell if I just want to continue to maintain. I have set up monthly tests of pull-ups to see if I remain as fit as well. Thanks in advanced for any critique or thoughts.
Click to expand...
Have you tried the sprint test or the accelerometer test to dial-in the right weight to use?

I had some interesting findings myself with an accelerometer: Experiences with accelerometers?
 
Mike Torres said:
Have you tried the sprint test or the accelerometer test to dial-in the right weight to use?

I had some interesting findings myself with an accelerometer: Experiences with accelerometers?
Click to expand...

so I did try out the sprint test and noticed that around the 30 second mark my swing form suffered minutely. Hence why I feel that for now 20 DBl handed swings a series with 16kg tends to work within this protocol for me without needing to buy a heavier KB. My question is more along the lines of if doing this in a format that is not exactly the same as Pavels protocol as in 10/10 or 5/5 but 20 swings then power push ups, am I working a different system completely and messing up the power and complete benefits of the program? Basically adding more reps due to not having a heavier kettlebell. The one thing I can say is that I rarely have been used to taking longer rests in my workouts and doing it now in this style of workout I was surprised at how good it felt and how focused I was on each initial swing knowing that I had a reward of big rest coming. The mind body connection if you will, was enhanced.
 
Have you hit the simple goal in S&S? Pavel is pretty clear you should have that standard before doing Q&D
 
Yes it’s been a while since I swung heavy and feeling it out to start up again with a 16kg was what I was trying to do. Again not really sure but increasing the reps to 20 seems to give me the same volume feel with the 16kg that the 32 gave me with 5 reps. That is the main question I have pertaining to the protocol that I’m changing slightly. Again looking to retain muscle and remain fit, hypertrophy is not my aim.
 
In my humble opinion you are now better off doing S&S (for example).

Regain your strength and then go attack Q&D.
 
Jalvarado said:
increasing the reps to 20 seems to give me the same volume feel with the 16kg that the 32 gave me with 5 reps.
Click to expand...
Q&D is a program designed to maximize power generation. If you've achieved Simple, you likely aren't going to be able to generate the kind of power you need to with a 16kg. And if you are doing 20 reps and not the Q&D rep scheme, it's not Q&D - the rep scheme was designed working backwards from how much time each set takes. Doing 20 reps with a light kettlebell is very different metabolically than doing 5 reps with a "sweet spot" kettlebell for max power.

If your goal is staying fit and retaining muscle, I would probably stick to S&S -- or explore other programs with the 16kg.
 
I believe you can get positive effects from a variety of weight/rep/set/rest schemes.

You may not be targeting short term power as effectively. Sprints are not sprints if you keep on going.

20 reps of 16kg sounds like a healthy thing. Not ideal for strength. Or power. Or even cardio. Not bad, probably healthy. But it's not following Q&D's focus on milking your short term power for all it's worth.
 
I think I’ll reorder the 24kg to start and use only the 16 kg for singles at the moment then. Thanks for all the advice peeps.
 
you might want to try the 044 snatch protocol with the 16 until your 24 arrives. With a focus on really throwing the bell down from the top into a deep hike, the 16kg might be a good weight for you in this regard.
 
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