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Kettlebell ROP: Rest between ladders and rungs

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AlexG

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Hello everybody! This is my second first post on the StrongFirst forum, which I've been reading for a couple of years now. My very first post went down along with the server on Wednesday. Perhaps it's a good thing because this time I'll be more concise.
I'm in the 4th week of ROP with a 20kg bell. Between rungs I have pretty short rest intervals, basically the time to walk to the pull-up bar or back, in any case, under 30 seconds. But my rests between the ladders are long, between 4 and 5 minutes.
So far, it has worked for me nicely. But is this a valid approach or should I be doing this differently?
 
Hello everybody! This is my second first post on the StrongFirst forum, which I've been reading for a couple of years now. My very first post went down along with the server on Wednesday. Perhaps it's a good thing because this time I'll be more concise.
I'm in the 4th week of ROP with a 20kg bell. Between rungs I have pretty short rest intervals, basically the time to walk to the pull-up bar or back, in any case, under 30 seconds. But my rests between the ladders are long, between 4 and 5 minutes.
So far, it has worked for me nicely. But is this a valid approach or should I be doing this differently?
If you are after pure strenght. It does not matter how long you rest between ladders. Longer rest is actually much better. If you after hypertrophy/strenght I guess 2-4mins is pretty optimal.
 
It's a valid approach. Just remember that the RoP is a strength program and not a hypertrophy program although hypertrophy might be a side effect. So, I think the recommended approach is too take as much rest as you need.

As long as your rest periods aren't causing you to miss reps, it should be alright.
 
My first go at RoP (just finished) was with 16kg, which was my 10RM at the start and in retrospect quite light (I didn’t have a 20kg but do now) because I started each rung every 2 minutes without a problem (5th rung wasn’t too taxing).

Rungs 1-2 were unbroken, so ladders to 3 were 5:00 each, to 4 were 7:00 each, and to 5 were 9:00 each. Going from 5 rep rung to 1-2 rep rung didn’t require a big rest (that’s part of the design of ladders).

I’m sure I’ll need more time between rungs and ladders in future heavier cycles.

As it is a strength program, long rests are appropriate. Keep it up if it is working for you. You can even break up the heavy days into multiple sessions if time constraints are a factor.
 
It is one of my favorite all time programs. I lately always return to it. As far as rest between rungs.....just get 'em done. If you need more, take more. I think it was Dan John who commented words to the effect of every time he tries to stick to a set rest period between rungs he ends up jacking up a joint. Just go when you can!
 
Dan John says this about ladders:
"The most thought-challenging thing about ladders is rest periods. Many find the "I go/you go" method to be perfect. You rest as long as it takes your training partner to finish. Of course, rest periods may vary based on the number of reps in the previous set. You may need almost no time to recover for the single rep; you may need more time to recover to do the 3-rep set."

Probably close to what you are doing. So however long the last set took, you basically rest that amount of time. I like to match the number of reps in each rung with an equal number of controlled deep breaths, which comes out to about the same time the reps took. Then take 3-5 minutes before another ladder.

Yes, it is a strength program, but Pavel doesn't say that means you should rest a long time.

"For our strength-building purposes, it makes little difference whether you have taken 15 minutes, an hour, or a whole day to do your five ladders."
-Enter the Kettlebell

Straight from the source. They will build strength differently. If you are ok with getting bigger as you get stronger, then short rests are fine. If by pure strength, we don't mean actual total strength, but strength without hypertrophy, then you would want to take more rest to avoid hypertrophy.
Rereading this quote though, Pavel definitely had a dramatic writing style back then. If you're doing your five ladders in 15 minutes, you might consider using a heavier kettlebell :)
 
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