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Kettlebell Rest between S&S swing sets; am I doing it right?

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Harry Westgate

Harry Westgate

Level 6 Valued Member
Certified Instructor
Hi everyone, just want to make sure I'm following the S&S swing protocol properly. I'm in my fourth week of S&S and absolutely loving it, I've done it every single day apart from on two days (one of which I was disgustingly hungover, the other I was away from my kettlebells for the day).

Regarding the swings, am I right in thinking that each set of ten should be maximally explosive AND that I should be totally recovered between sets? In other words, I shouldn't be huffing and puffing before starting the next set? (This was the impression I got from reading the book and taking Pavel's reference to 'easy endurance' to heart.)

In order to achieve this freshness before each set, I've been making sure I don't start the next set until I can breathe COMFORTABLY through just my nose (I don't currently own a HRM but would perhaps consider getting one in the future if people think it would help massively?), and going by this I have managed 100 1-armed swings (24kg) in just over 7mins 30sec (that was a few days ago).

If anyone could just tell me if I'm going about this the right way or offer any other pointers then I would really appreciate it!

Thanks in advance!
 
@Pavel wrote in Simple & Sinister Progression Tactic article:

"Most of your S&S sessions do not rush the clock and wait until you can pass the talk test before your next set. On the last session of each week push harder and occasionally all out and test yourself."

For time being, keep doing what you are doing, i.e. on the road to"Simple" goals, keep it simple.
 
@Pavel Macek spot on, that's just what I wanted to hear! Thanks very much! I'll be sure to check out the other progression approaches should I achieve Simple and beyond.
 
@Pavel Macek I will! I was planning to write a forum post at the end of this week to chat a bit about my progress; I've definitely experienced a couple of WTH effects. So keep a look out!
 
Yes that is correct.

Another approach is to check how many breaths you take in between sets before you are recovered
 
@Harry Westgate , if you are comfortably doing the 24 in 7.5 minutes, go for the 5 minute goal to see where you are. You could also start adding in the 32 too. A recent post by Al Ciampa, either here or it may have been on the blog, suggests that if you are consistently aerobic (or the talk test) under 10 minutes begin adding in the next bell.
 
@ali Thanks for the input, I don't currently own a 32kg, although my dad said he'd look to sort me one out for Christmas! :D but as for what you said about going for the 5 minute goal, I think (know) I could bang out 100 swings in that time, but I'm 100% sure they would be lacking explosiveness by the end, so really I'd like to focus on being able to do the 100 swings in 5 minutes comfortably like it says in S&S, and milking each bell for all it's worth. I would like to be adding the 32kg into my training within the next month though; it definitely won't be long before I'm throwing in a couple of 32kg get-ups, as I can do the ten get-ups with the 24kg in well under 10 minutes, but I'd just like to make it really effortless (put it this way, I still break a sweat doing the 24kg get-ups and would like to rectify this by the time I start adding the 32kg).
 
@Harry Westgate, absolutely, no rush. FWIW, I probably rushed into the 32 from the 24, although I took the transition very easy, the 32 makes you careful!! Took me a year, btw.....I rushed the 24 maybe, didn't rush, couldn't rush the 32!!
 
@ali I can imagine it does make you careful! I've held a 32 once, didn't do any swings or anything with it, but I could certainly feel how it demands a new level of respect. Just out of interest, how much do you weigh? I'm 65kg give or take (143lbs-ish), and was just wondering how people of varying bodyweights find the heavier bells (32kg onwards). Purely out of simple curiosity...
 
@Harry Westgate, I'm 78 ish kg or so thereabouts the last time I weighed myself, about 3 months ago and 51 years young the last time I checked! So easy to forget these things.....in terms of strongfirst, a 32 is my 1/2 bodyweight press for age/weight, which by the way I'm no way near but serves a useful guide for get up weight comparison even though a totally different thing. My grip was the weak link for swings definately. Steve Friedes' guide on 2h to 1h really helped me at a sticking point. Enjoy the ride...
 
Harry Westgate said:
@ali I can imagine it does make you careful! I've held a 32 once, didn't do any swings or anything with it, but I could certainly feel how it demands a new level of respect. Just out of interest, how much do you weigh? I'm 65kg give or take (143lbs-ish), and was just wondering how people of varying bodyweights find the heavier bells (32kg onwards). Purely out of simple curiosity...
Click to expand...

I weigh close to what you weigh so yes take your time since we tend to lose explosiveness as fatigue sets in and the 32 does tend to sap more energy
 
ali said:
Steve Friedes' guide on 2h to 1h really helped me at a sticking point.
Click to expand...
Thank you, @ali - I also think people should consider stepping outside the box of the protocol as they make this transition. My approach was still inside the box - you still did sets of 10 swings.

Here's that blog: Simple & Sinister: Getting from Two- to One-Hand Swings - StrongFirst

E.g., if you're swinging the 16 kg with 1 hand for 10 x 10, you move to the 24 for 2h swing but maybe you also try some 15-20 rep sets with 16, and maybe you also try some single, doubles and triples with 24. Not sure how, if at all, you'd count these towards your 100 swings, but I'm not sure you'd need to - they'd be "practice."

More thoughts on this, staying in the 10-swing box:

You do: 2L + 2R + 3L + 3R - that's your 10, similar to what's in the blog, but leaving out 2h swing completely. You repeat 2+2+3+3, bump it up to 1's and 4's, and when you can get 5L+5R, you transition to 6L + 4R as 10 swings, followed by 6R + 4L as the next 10, and you build that up 10 w/ one hand, so you'd get to 9L + 1R, rest, and your next set of 10 would be 9R + 1L, and then you're pretty close to all 10 w/ a single hand as a set.

-S-
 
I have found I can feel my pulse i.e. HR most easily just below ribs slightly to left of center. By placing my finger tips there I can monitor heart rate while also paying attention to my breathing. I have spent several sessions of a minute or two listening to a free online metronome set at various tempos and now have a pretty good sense of 90. 100, 120 bpm. I notice definite periodic "downshifts" in HR and also breathing though the two do not seem to be all that well correlated!
 
Yeah, I think self checking pulse is a great way to stay minimalist while still using feedback from heartrate. I definitely don't like doing the 15 second count, because your heart rate is lowering throughout that time period. Better is knowing tempos, as Geoffrey does. I find that knowing the tempo of some of very familiar songs for 120, 110, etc is the way that works for me. Anyone who has any experience with John Phillip Sousa has a lot to work with for 120 bpm. There could be a learning curve for this method though, but you're kind of training your musicianship while doing it :)
 
Also in the book is clear instruction to use breathing rate as the marker i.e. "when breath 1/2 way to normal". For me, breath and pulse do not come down at same time and either can be considerably slower than the other depending on more variables than I have been able to track. I just notice sometimes HR is right down there and I am still out of breath and other times BR is at easy conversation level nearly full normal and HR elevated. Sometimes they track together...
 
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