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Kettlebell Q&D Sprint Tests

PTM

Level 3 Valued Member
How many reps do people typically get in a 30 second sprint test for swings and pushups? I know rep counts aren’t the primary objective but can they be interpreted to help in selecting the correct resistance?
 
A bit late to the party, but was esting today and got 17-18 reps in the swing, with power to spare but not sure how I could increase cadence. On a side note, I'm 200 cm/6'7" so my KB distance is longer which may or may not influence this a lot.
 
Christophe said:
A bit late to the party, but was esting today and got 17-18 reps in the swing, with power to spare but not sure how I could increase cadence. On a side note, I'm 200 cm/6'7" so my KB distance is longer which may or may not influence this a lot.
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with 2 armed swings- I feel quite able to put some stank on the backswing. The one-arm swing - not so much. The best I've been able to figure out is to initiate the backswing by stopping the bell short at the horizon. it's similar but not the same as the 2hand swing where I have a lot more control and influence. now that I type this .... maybe that's a sign to consider a lighter bell size for this power-centric protocol.
 
PTM said:
How many reps do people typically get in a 30 second sprint test for swings and pushups? I know rep counts aren’t the primary objective but can they be interpreted to help in selecting the correct resistance?
Click to expand...
I've posted about this before, but I think the tests in Q&D are pretty half-baked and not very useful (and this is coming from someone who loves the actual program).

The book makes a lot about finding your highest power bell, but I don't think the tests do a good job of identifying that.

All else being equal (a swing to a given height or a snatch to lockout), max power is going to be proportional to bell size. You can add a marginal amount of speed with overspeed eccentrics or increase cadence by arresting a swing at a given height, but that won't increase power a significant amount compared to using a heavier bell.

Everyone who has posted accelerometer results on this forum that I have seen has gotten results consistent with this -- the heavier bell always produced higher power (for the snatch or swing to a given height; a heavier bell that you can't swing up the same height may produce lower power).

I know that while kinetic energy is proportional to the mass, but proportional to the square of the velocity, so theoretically a small change in velocity has a big effect. However, look at the units. The mass is in kg and the velocity is in m/s. Going up a bell size adds 4 or 8 kg, but you can only add small fractions of a meter per second since the bell only travels a couple of meters at most and the time for a rep is very brief. The speed of a swing or snatch just can't be increased enough to make a significant difference compared to the mass of the bell.

So you don't need a test to find your highest power bell, just the heaviest bell you can swing to chest height or the heaviest bell you can snatch.

But with the heaviest bell I can snatch for 5 reps (the number of reps for the accelerometer test), I would struggle to do one full series of Q&D.

And I have found that I can power through a 20-30 second sprint test with a bell that is too heavy for me to complete 5 series of Q&D. This may vary by individual, but for me the sprint test is the opposite of "estimating one's 40 yard dash by testing a 200 meter sprint," as it states in the book. It's more like estimating one's ability to play a full court basketball game (repeated sprint) by testing one's 40 yard dash time.

And the two tests are not consistent with each other. A five rep sprint (the accelerometer test length) gives me a different result than a 20-30 second sprint.

So I basically ignore the tests in the book and just use a test session of 5 series to decide the right bell size. Too easy? How does one size up feel? Too heavy? What about one size down? Then pick the bell that is closest to goldilocks and work it until it starts to feel easy, and like it might be time to give the next size up another test run.

So, IMO, Q&D is NOT about using the highest power bell. It's about using the highest power bell you can sustain through a Q&D session. Therefore, also IMO, the best test is to just run test sessions. There's really no reason to have separate tests at all, except maybe to save time, or because the guidelines in the book are to break into the program slowly, without doing full sessions. But you can still do that by just making your test session fewer series. Do a two or three series test session. How does it feel? Are you cooked after those two or three series? Try a bell size down. Was it a piece of cake? Try a bell size up.

Then you can make a choice how to break in. Do you want to start with a bell you might struggle with for five series, but can do a solid two or three? Fine. Just limit your sessions to two or three series until you're comfortable enough to add volume. Or maybe you want to be a little more conservative and start with a bell you COULD complete five series with, but you'll start by doing fewer. You can always move up if you start to feel underbelled.
 
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