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Kettlebell Question regarding combining A+A with other protocols

Xcal said:
sorry, I gotta contradict. Swimming is the king of full body/mind/soul training, aerobics, strenght, flexibility, all of it. quiet space for the mind and there's just something about doing a few good laps that settles the soul. I"m not a good swimmer but all my research tells me that this is the best excercise for me. a simple gaze at athletes from different sports: swimmers typically have the best body-builds (and the acrobats). they match if not exceed the best fighters (boxing,MMA) and do not take the physical beating :)

@ThereWolf mentioned knee problems: investigate running in a pool.

Swimming is a logistical nightmare for me...get ready for the gymn, drive to the gymn, clock in, chat to random people, swim, shower, chat, clock out, drive home.
versus: change, pikup kettlebells, put down kettlebells, shower, still at home.
or put on shoes, run around the block, take off shoes, shower, still at home.
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We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.

FWIW I was a competitive swimmer, from childhood into my teens, swam everything from 50m to 5km (indoor, open water, you name it) Have been running the last 20 years from 5k asphalt to short mountain ultras.

There is nothing like locomotion in nature. Both body and mind. We evolved to carry loads over terrain, varying distance, elevation and difficulty.

Then there is time commitment & logistics that you mention.

IMHO & experience locomotion is king - unless - as you say there are medical conditions.
 
I echo a lot of folks here but my $.02.

Every day, try and do something, but not everything in a day. What I mean is, if its a strength day, its a strength day. Use your protocol and focus on strength. If its more of an endurance/cardio day, its an endurance/cardio day.

Over time, I would try to learn to go by feel a little bit with respect to programming light, medium, and hard days.

I've taken a look back over the last few months of my training as it hasn't been entirely structured (things are going to become more structured/rigid in the coming weeks as I have an event to train for now); while I have been learning to go by feel, there was a pattern that emerged and it looks a bit like this:

- A&A style swings and pushups
- Steady state rowing
- "Ruck" with weight vest
- A&A style pullups and lunges (with a weight vest)
- Steady state rowing
- "Ruck" with weight vest
REPEAT

Volume within the ruck has been pretty consistent from the beginning; 60ish minutes. Volume within A&A style sessions has waved from 30-50 repeats (15-25 of each movement) based upon how my body was feeling and how the session was progressing. Volume of steady state rows started out a bit lower but has now settled in the 12k-15k range pretty consistently.

One additional caveat - the site is named StrongFirst and I 100% agree that strength should be the priority for the majority of the population. For the longest time, I have focused solely on strength with aerobic/cardio/endurance work being non-existent so I had a clear deficiency. Over the last several years, I have worked to become a bit more balanced - maintain as much strength, especially a strength to weight ratio, as possible, while improving my aerobic fitness. I have been able to do that using StrongFirst principles and plan to continue to do so.
 
Francisco said:
FWIW I was a competitive swimmer, from childhood into my teens
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I withdraw as I have minimal experience with swimming....ok, I grew up near the beach and swam regularly in the surf until I finished school (surfing on boards was out of reach for me in apartheid south africa). but we're talking about laps in a pool in this context.
 
I'm finding that the combination of S+S and swimming are perfect - load and deload of the joints. I would prefer OW swims, but that isn't realistic on a day-to-day basis. These two activities cover my needs for life, BJJ, and spearfishing.
 
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