Kettlebell ROP support group

[KBingsinceApril2020]

Lots and lots of people have run ROP with the press +row combination and managed to get much, much stronger without getting injured. It's not technically the program but if it works it works, so who cares?

I started ROP with 16kg in December with rows and worked through the program in 5 weeks while I waited for 20kg bell to arrive. I decided to forego the rows while progressing with the 20kg and will complete the current cycle in 7 weeks. I am 90% sure I'll be ready to start withe the 24 kg and run it for the full 13 weeks and I am now leaning towards incorporating row work with a 32. This thread is timely and helpful and this community is impressive in many ways. Thank you.

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

I just figured I’d throw this out there... so this cycle of ROP that I ran (24kg) was mostly with a push-press. Not by the book, I know. Would strict pressing until I started fatiguing then push press. Next run of this in a week or 2 will be strict...

I felt this was interesting and worth mentioning... the last 4 weeks that I’ve been doing it with rungs of 5 on my heavy days my upper body has blown up. Like. EVERYONE has noticed. I can’t explain it. My diet had been the same the whole time. Protein intake the same. But I can’t even fit into my medium shirts anymore where 3 months ago I was praying to fill them out someday.
I know it takes a LOT to actually build muscle and achieve hypertrophy and I’m SO surprised that such a noticeable difference happened over the period of a month at the end of the program. My weight has stayed the same but I’m leaner too.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it just the sheer volume that is finally working it’s magic? I think my last hard day was 70 C+P and 70 pull-ups.
And not to only focus on my upper body getting more muscular but my strength has clearly increased as well surprisingly given that my 10 month old seems to be teething every other week and I’m getting like 5 broken hours of sleep a night. I’m amazed at what the body can adapt to and that I can still get it in when I’m mentally and physically run down.
I attribute my success to being consistent with this. I maybe missed one training day this whole cycle and made up for it the next day...

 

[Dayz]

I just figured I’d throw this out there... so this cycle of ROP that I ran (24kg) was mostly with a push-press. Not by the book, I know. Would strict pressing until I started fatiguing then push press. Next run of this in a week or 2 will be strict...

I felt this was interesting and worth mentioning... the last 4 weeks that I’ve been doing it with rungs of 5 on my heavy days my upper body has blown up. Like. EVERYONE has noticed. I can’t explain it. My diet had been the same the whole time. Protein intake the same. But I can’t even fit into my medium shirts anymore where 3 months ago I was praying to fill them out someday.
I know it takes a LOT to actually build muscle and achieve hypertrophy and I’m SO surprised that such a noticeable difference happened over the period of a month at the end of the program. My weight has stayed the same but I’m leaner too.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it just the sheer volume that is finally working it’s magic? I think my last hard day was 70 C+P and 70 pull-ups.
And not to only focus on my upper body getting more muscular but my strength has clearly increased as well surprisingly given that my 10 month old seems to be teething every other week and I’m getting like 5 broken hours of sleep a night. I’m amazed at what the body can adapt to and that I can still get it in when I’m mentally and physically run down.
I attribute my success to being consistent with this. I maybe missed one training day this whole cycle and made up for it the next day...

That is awesome! What was your starting weight and current weight? What about leg strength and size? What do you do on variety day?

 

[MikeL]

I just figured I’d throw this out there... so this cycle of ROP that I ran (24kg) was mostly with a push-press. Not by the book, I know. Would strict pressing until I started fatiguing then push press. Next run of this in a week or 2 will be strict...

I felt this was interesting and worth mentioning... the last 4 weeks that I’ve been doing it with rungs of 5 on my heavy days my upper body has blown up. Like. EVERYONE has noticed. I can’t explain it. My diet had been the same the whole time. Protein intake the same. But I can’t even fit into my medium shirts anymore where 3 months ago I was praying to fill them out someday.
I know it takes a LOT to actually build muscle and achieve hypertrophy and I’m SO surprised that such a noticeable difference happened over the period of a month at the end of the program. My weight has stayed the same but I’m leaner too.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Is it just the sheer volume that is finally working it’s magic? I think my last hard day was 70 C+P and 70 pull-ups.
And not to only focus on my upper body getting more muscular but my strength has clearly increased as well surprisingly given that my 10 month old seems to be teething every other week and I’m getting like 5 broken hours of sleep a night. I’m amazed at what the body can adapt to and that I can still get it in when I’m mentally and physically run down.
I attribute my success to being consistent with this. I maybe missed one training day this whole cycle and made up for it the next day...

Great work!
consistency is key and ROP’s volume is solid for growth.
Would ask what your training age is, and specifically hypertrophy training age? Have you built (and kept) much muscle mass previously? Have you built it and let it go? If you’ve not grown much before or have, and it’s subsequently gone, you are at an advantage when trying to mass up. If you’re already 250lb of sinew then gains are harder, so be interesting to know what your start point was?
However, awesome results and glad you’re obviously pleased with them!

Bell up, go again ?

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

That is awesome! What was your starting weight and current weight? What about leg strength and size? What do you do on variety day?

My starting weight for ROP was about 176 and I’m 182 now. Diet didn’t really change at all. I can’t have put on 6 lbs of muscle. That seems impossible. But I did go up in weight, lean out and stay constitently 182 for the last 2 months.

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

Great work!
consistency is key and ROP’s volume is solid for growth.
Would ask what your training age is, and specifically hypertrophy training age? Have you built (and kept) much muscle mass previously? Have you built it and let it go? If you’ve not grown much before or have, and it’s subsequently gone, you are at an advantage when trying to mass up. If you’re already 250lb of sinew then gains are harder, so be interesting to know what your start point was?
However, awesome results and glad you’re obviously pleased with them!

Bell up, go again ?

I’m 38. I’ve gotten a little stronger and lost it a few times in my life. Never build significant muscle. Did CrossFit when I was younger but was really lean like 150. Did not put in much mass. Just got in better shape. Then I got fat. Like 215. Then did a and s and stuck to keto/carnivore and got down to about 175.

 

[MikeL]

I’m 38. I’ve gotten a little stronger and lost it a few times in my life. Never build significant muscle. Did CrossFit when I was younger but was really lean like 150. Did not put in much mass. Just got in better shape. Then I got fat. Like 215. Then did a and s and stuck to keto/carnivore and got down to about 175.

So practically your muscles “know” how to grow, have done to some extent, but it doesn’t sound like you’ve reached your biological potential and are arguably a hard gainer (except where you hit 215, well done for dropping that though, that’s great too!)

heavy volume stimulus will likely have cued in the growth. I’ll repeat “bell up and go again” if you like those gains, exploit your current growth phase. Of course another program with volume will work, maybe even help more than repeating, if the mass is what you’re after.

oh and we were all lean when we did crossfit when we were younger, wish I could get there again!

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

So practically your muscles “know” how to grow, have done to some extent, but it doesn’t sound like you’ve reached your biological potential and are arguably a hard gainer (except where you hit 215, well done for dropping that though, that’s great too!)

heavy volume stimulus will likely have cued in the growth. I’ll repeat “bell up and go again” if you like those gains, exploit your current growth phase. Of course another program with volume will work, maybe even help more than repeating, if the mass is what you’re after.

oh and we were all lean when we did crossfit when we were younger, wish I could get there again!

So given that I was using my legs with the push press... do you think repeating with the strict (24 again) will yield good gains also?

 

[barrak]

So given that I was using my legs with the push press... do you think repeating with the strict (24 again) will yield good gains also?

If you're really after muscle gains throughout then double LCCJ should be in your near future, though ROP is no sloucher,. Enjoy those Large shirts while you still can fit in them. In my case, strict-press 16K and 20K ROP pushed me from Medium/Small to Large and that's plenty for me at my age.

S&S can also cause shirt upsizing as well as swings broaden one's upper back. Heavy 1-arm swing really work your lats as they fight the bell to maintain squared shoulders.

 

[MikeL]

So given that I was using my legs with the push press... do you think repeating with the strict (24 again) will yield good gains also?

Push press is more full body. Strict will hit your shoulders, upper back, upper chest etc more as more of the burden is being placed there.

Hypertrophy is a funny one. Lots of ways to achieve it, basically the more muscle you convince your body you need, the more it will have. Volume where you want to grow is key; your body can get strong without getting too big, and if you want to “endure”, size can be counter productive (so you lean out...).

remembering we are here to get strong first, and you’ve run ROP (which is a press skill challenge), I would recommend running it strict with a 24 or even a 20. You’ll get STRONG that way. However, I said elsewhere - you don’t buy a V8 1 litre car - you buy a V8 3 litre car. So get a big engine then make it powerful. This is why the classic resistance training pyramid is GPP/awareness, hypertrophy, strength, power. ROP does this with its low volume start, which is awesome.

If it were me, and it’s not, I’d do a short 3-4 week deload of something different. S&S maybe, or get on a barbell, or practice some SFB skills (get upside down and keep those shoulders!). Then I’d run it again strict (maybe condensed - I would go straight to 5 ladders, doesn’t mean you should, but for me I’d consider it), then finish by doing a 4-8 week power block and bring that push press back with a 28/32 if you can manage it. Less volume, more strength.

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

Push press is more full body. Strict will hit your shoulders, upper back, upper chest etc more as more of the burden is being placed there.

Hypertrophy is a funny one. Lots of ways to achieve it, basically the more muscle you convince your body you need, the more it will have. Volume where you want to grow is key; your body can get strong without getting too big, and if you want to “endure”, size can be counter productive (so you lean out...).

remembering we are here to get strong first, and you’ve run ROP (which is a press skill challenge), I would recommend running it strict with a 24 or even a 20. You’ll get STRONG that way. However, I said elsewhere - you don’t buy a V8 1 litre car - you buy a V8 3 litre car. So get a big engine then make it powerful. This is why the classic resistance training pyramid is GPP/awareness, hypertrophy, strength, power. ROP does this with its low volume start, which is awesome.

If it were me, and it’s not, I’d do a short 3-4 week deload of something different. S&S maybe, or get on a barbell, or practice some SFB skills (get upside down and keep those shoulders!). Then I’d run it again strict (maybe condensed - I would go straight to 5 ladders, doesn’t mean you should, but for me I’d consider it), then finish by doing a 4-8 week power block and bring that push press back with a 28/32 if you can manage it. Less volume, more strength.

Very much appreciate the response!!!

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

That is awesome! What was your starting weight and current weight? What about leg strength and size? What do you do on variety day?
forgot to answer some. Of your question I’ve always had big legs but not terribly strong. My back has always arched at the top so barbell squats and DL were always win the weaker side because either never dialed my form in eneiugh to feel co fife the going “heavy” (heavy for me). And I’ve don’t almost no variety days. Basically always needed to recover and didn’t have time for much else other than house work and baby stuff.

 

[johanness]

Hi,

I just started monday, with the 16kg bell.

Light day today was borring, just 5x 1rep. And it will go on like this next week and the week after.

So, the question is: what to do an the day between light and medium?

my options are:
- Snatches or swings with 24
- Double Unders
- 8k run

Short report back: I got nice Newbie gains.

While I could pless the 16 only 5 time when I tested before starting (tested after a few wall handstands, so mayby not at 100%). I could do 10 reps yesterday, one week after the last heavy day.
Note: I just pressed, no cleaning before each rep, in both tests.

I went the program with row/pullup on MedDay and pistols on LightDay. HeavyDay was only c+p once I got the 5 rungs. I had to pause for some weeks in October and November, but was able to pick the program up where I had left.
Only 3 days per week, no "variety day".

I loved the simplicity of the approach, and the clearly layed out repscheme for so many weeks, but allowed for creativity/play for the conditioning part: Swings/OHS/Snatches/Cleans 16 or 24. Respecting the 100/80/50% scheme.

 

[Adam R Mundorf]

I was doing some thinking today and wondered what you guys thought about running the fighter pull up program with the RoP.

I was sort of thinking that doing pull ups in the morning, presses and hinges separately would allow me to get the most out of each movement.

Obviously I wouldn't be supersetting chin ups or pull ups with the presses anymore.

Any thoughts?

 

[Dayz]

I was doing some thinking today and wondered what you guys thought about running the fighter pull up program with the RoP.

I was sort of thinking that doing pull ups in the morning, presses and hinges separately would allow me to get the most out of each movement.

Obviously I wouldn't be supersetting chin ups or pull ups with the presses anymore.

Any thoughts?

This is exactly what I'm doing, except I'm doing the Recon Ron progression (it's similar, but less aggressive). I do chins daily, either in the AM or GTG throughout the day. RoP sessions are in the PM.

 

[Anders]

I am doing the 24 kilo press, and the 28 kilo swing and the 20 kilo snatch. I am just curious if anyone actually reached the snatch goals by just following the ROP guidelines ? If so, how long did it take ?

 

[Adam R Mundorf]

This is exactly what I'm doing, except I'm doing the Recon Ron progression (it's similar, but less aggressive). I do chins daily, either in the AM or GTG throughout the day. RoP sessions are in the PM.

Oh very cool. That's exactly what I had planned, chin ups spread out but mainly in the morning.

 

[Dayz]

Oh very cool. That's exactly what I had planned, chin ups spread out but mainly in the morning.

Once I acclimated to it, it became quite easy to do the chins, I feel there's little if any interference with the pressing later on.

 

[John Grahill]

I am doing the 24 kilo press, and the 28 kilo swing and the 20 kilo snatch. I am just curious if anyone actually reached the snatch goals by just following the ROP guidelines ? If so, how long did it take ?

Yes. It took me about a year or so like 11 or 12 years ago. (I got the snatch goal completed before I accomplished the 1/2 bw press)..... Frankly, at the time I knew of no other "guidelines" and just did the program as written and kept repeating it over and over until I got my press goal. Was like almost a 2 year journey but it worked like a charm.

 

[IMayAgainKnowChris]

Yes. It took me about a year or so like 11 or 12 years ago. (I got the snatch goal completed before I accomplished the 1/2 bw press)..... Frankly, at the time I knew of no other "guidelines" and just did the program as written and kept repeating it over and over until I got my press goal. Was like almost a 2 year journey but it worked like a charm.

Can you run is through the weights you used starting out and how you progressed? Like did you start over with the same weight or go up every time?