Kettlebell ROP support group

[Stuart Elliott]

Thanks Steve, I'll swing the 32. I feel pretty beat after my first session back on ROP (for 2 years) last night (heavy 3 x 1,2,3), which surprises me as I was using a 24 which felt pretty light, where as I could do S&S pretty much daily working in the 40kg and feel great the next day. I've switched to ROP to do some Strength and Endurance out of my season then will switch back to S&S for Power & Strength training pre and during my season. Hopefully I can see ROP through as I'm kind of missing S&S already

 

[ali]

Sorry for asking this, just trying to frame in my head of how the swings and snatches go together in rop v S&S. Rop is my next stop, rather I need to change buses at the terminus and jump on the rop one, after the S&S bus, which I'm still on, so to speak. I'm not there yet anyway but re-read ETK to seek further understanding and went over this thread, is this a fair approach?:

snatches and medium swings similar to S&S, don't push it, A&A. Appropriate bell and rests. Heavy swings, rip up the glycolytic pathway....similar to continuos swing approach in S&S? Is that a reasonable comparison or not at all? And, full power always or fiddle about with the volume control? As swings are after the presses, they are more strength endurance, rather than power development, so thinking that the volume control is more appropriate but maybe not.....interested to hear your thoughts. Thank you, again

 

[kenaces]

I have been following the ROP presses and pull-ups the last 6 weeks. I am getting a little pain in my lateral left elbow(tennis elbow). The 2 months before starting ROP I was working with a SFG II so I think my form is OK. While I was working with him I had access to "standard" kettlebells. I moved out of the area and started the ROP using 16k competition bell. In addition to the elbow pain I have been getting a light bruise on the outside of both forearms(where the bell contacts my arm during presses and TGUs).

Do I need to get a "standard" bell? Anyone else have "tennis elbow" pressing? Other suggestions or tips to alleviate the elbow pain and keep training?

 

[Steve Freides]

Often elbow issues in people training pullups are overuse-related. I'd immediately take a few days off of pullups and easy back in only when and if you can do so without pain.

-S-

 

[kenaces]

I don't get any pain while performing press or pull-ups so you may be right. I guess I should add that I have been doing chin-ups (palms facing toward me) which seem less likely to bother lateral elbow - right?? Either way I will skip my chin-ups Friday and see how I feel over the weekend.

 

[Steve Freides]

@kenaces in my experience, some people are more bothered by one grip than the other, i.e., some people tolerate pullups better than chinups, some the other way around, and some prefer a neutral grip.

I recommend mixing them in your training - it really does help with avoiding overuse injuries and there is a lot of carryover between the various forms of pullups/chinups.

-S-

 

[King Cobra Fit]

I have been dancing around ROP for a while now, trying to reinvent the wheel.......(insert head shake here).
I am starting ROP today. you have all inspired me.
Thank you.

 

[King Cobra Fit]

I have been following the ROP presses and pull-ups the last 6 weeks. I am getting a little pain in my lateral left elbow(tennis elbow). The 2 months before starting ROP I was working with a SFG II so I think my form is OK. While I was working with him I had access to "standard" kettlebells. I moved out of the area and started the ROP using 16k competition bell. In addition to the elbow pain I have been getting a light bruise on the outside of both forearms(where the bell contacts my arm during presses and TGUs).

Do I need to get a "standard" bell? Anyone else have "tennis elbow" pressing? Other suggestions or tips to alleviate the elbow pain and keep training?

Hi Kenaces,

I've had similar experiences now and then and a friend of mine who is an Adaptave Exercise Specialist suggests doing just the "negative" portion of the pull-up. rest for a spell then add in the negatives untill fully "healed". Has worked for me.
Matt

 

[King Cobra Fit]

Recently back to the RoP after a long stint on S&S/PM up tI the Beast. I have a crappy press though, but it's getting better. 3 sets of ladders to 5 on my heavy days and I'm feeling like this next heavy day (Monday) I might just make all of them. My post is mostly about my swings and snatches, though. After S&S I have a hard time justifying sets of swings to anything higher than 10 reps. It has led to me doing some experimentation to get myself at light, medium and heavy effort levels for each respective day. Tell me what you think.

Heavy: 2 handed swings with the Beast, sets of 10. Minimal rest between sets. Basically just trying to get as many sets of powerful 2 handed swings as possible in the time limit.

Light: snatches with the press-weight bell for a comfortable number of reps each side every minute. Right now it is 8 per side per minute with the 24kg.

Medium: 1 handed swings with a kb one step heavier than the press bell for sets of 10 each side. I made 200 in 10 minutes my last medium day this way. Hoping these will build my grip strength and snatching ability.

Does this sound like I am in the right track?

I had a similar thought, I worked on S&S for 6ish months, took a break to heal up a past shoulder injury that was nagging me and am now on to ROP. I tried high rep swings for the first time today (25) and WOW, my forearems were about to explode.

I had a similar question to JZB, in that, what are thoughts on one swing day being "high" rep 70-80% effort and one of the swing days being 10's 100% effort?

 

[adirik]

Hi folks, ROP progression question


I have been working on block of ROP with a 24 kg bell

This Saturday will be my hard press day with 5 ladders and 1-5 reps, 75 total reps.

I know I can already press a 28 as I have used it for a few reps mixed into some ladders (for example, last Saturday which was 5 x 1-4, used 28 for rungs 1 and 2 for 3 of 5 ladders)


Questions I have is (because not clear at least to me in reading ETK)

- what should my next weeks progression look like? ie keep to the same e/m/h with now a 28?

- what should my Monday Easy press day look like? 3 x 1-3 with a 28?


Thanks

 

[brian d]

Hi adirik,

There are a couple of options here. When I finish the buildup to 75 presses with a given weight and am ready to move up to the next bell, I like to start over completely with the new bell. So your first heavy day would be 3 x 1, 2, 3 and your light day might just be a bunch of singles. This will probably feel easy in the beginning, but after a lot of weeks of really high volume, the lighter loads will do your body and mind a lot of good. You will most likely make faster progress in the long run this way.

The other option would be to keep doing your current volume with the 24kg bell, but like you did on Saturday, start adding the 28 in on the 1 and 2 reps for all workouts. You'd probably want to go at least an entire week hitting the single on every ladder, then start adding the 28 into the double, etc., etc. I know many on the forum have had success with this. The only reason I don't personally like it is for what I said above, I need to cycle the volume back after a lot of weeks with 150 or so presses.

 

[Brozneo]

Hi all, first post here - I've been on ROP for 40 weeks now - once through with a 24kg, a month of S&S then have started again with the 28kg.

On my hard days now I'm at 5 x 1, 2, 3, 4, 3 (13 total reps) (I progress adding one extra rep on each ladder per week - works much better for me) but on the 4 rep rung the 4th and final rep is very shakey - so my question is should I continue with the 4 reps until I master it or change the ladder slightly so I'd be doing something like 5 x 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1 (13 total reps)?

So the same amount of reps but done in a different ladder fashion.

 

[MikeMoran]

I am right at the same spot and I am looking forward to less volume and more resting and barking out loud.

 

[adirik]

hi brian d, thanks for your reply and suggestions. I think the restart the first heavy day with 28 kg with 3 x 1,2,3 is the way I will go. I am very confident that I will get 75 with the 24 kg on Saturday and may still mix in a few 1,2 reps on a few ladders (maybe ladders 2 and 3) with the 28 kg. Resetting with heavier and lower volume sounds good and will hopefully feel "easy". Also seems that this approach will leave plenty of freshness to have good variety days to practice SS style swings and get ups. Will let you know how it goes, thanks

 

[Rayhzel]

Hello first post on StrongFirst.

I've been on ROP for about four weeks now. Heighest weight I had was 20 but just got in a 24. It has been a short time with this program but I am already feeling results.

I do have a question about the swing section of ROP though. How do most of you tackle this? Do you swing for a certain set time of do you just go by feeling? Also do you use the same weights for swings, snatches and presses?

 

[brian d]

You've got a few options, Rayhzel.

When it comes to duration, I've done three different approaches. 1, the dice roll method that the book outlines. 2, a specific amount of time for swings/snatches that is the same after each session (usually 10 or 12 minutes for me). 3, swings according to the S and S program, so 10 sets of 10 one handed swings, rest as much as needed, and go for power.

Sometimes I have been on the program where I use the same weight for everything, but usually I find myself using different weights for the swings/snatches. My last go around I did presses with the 28, swings with the 32, and snatches with the 24. On other occasions I've made the med. and heavy swing days different by the weight of the bell rather than number or reps or time.

Do the swings and snatches for sure, but remember that the program is really about the clean and presses. I think somewhere in the book Pavel mentions that the swings are like a carpet bombing on your body and conditioning systems, they fill in all the gaps that the clean and presses might miss.

How have you been doing your swings?

 

[Steve Freides]

Hello first post on StrongFirst.

Welcome!

-S-

 

[Rayhzel]

You've got a few options, Rayhzel.

When it comes to duration, I've done three different approaches. 1, the dice roll method that the book outlines. 2, a specific amount of time for swings/snatches that is the same after each session (usually 10 or 12 minutes for me). 3, swings according to the S and S program, so 10 sets of 10 one handed swings, rest as much as needed, and go for power.

Sometimes I have been on the program where I use the same weight for everything, but usually I find myself using different weights for the swings/snatches. My last go around I did presses with the 28, swings with the 32, and snatches with the 24. On other occasions I've made the med. and heavy swing days different by the weight of the bell rather than number or reps or time.

Do the swings and snatches for sure, but remember that the program is really about the clean and presses. I think somewhere in the book Pavel mentions that the swings are like a carpet bombing on your body and conditioning systems, they fill in all the gaps that the clean and presses might miss.

How have you been doing your swings?

Of course I do the dice thing to determine the length of the swings session. After that I usually go on an interval of 45s action and 15s rest to fill the amount of minutes. I have to say the 24k bell is killing for my grip though.

Before I tried this approach I just went on until I felt my form started to slip. With the 20k I could go on for about 5m non-stop before I had to take a break.

 

[brian d]

Ah, I didn't know you meant how hard or how many swings to do in a minute. I have never personally done the time on/time off method that you mention. Not sure why, I guess I just don't like looking at a clock or having timers go off.

I tend to do my swings in sets of 10 (though have occasionally done them in sets of 15 or 20). I do another set when I feel ready, I don't really pay attention to the time. So I'll either do the 10 sets of 10, or just get however many sets of 10 in X minutes.

If your grip is suffering a lot, doing more swings in less time will probably not help it improve much. 45 seconds of swinging with only 15 seconds of rest is pretty hard on the grip, particularly after a bunch of clean and press/pull up ladders.

Non-stop swings are a rarity for me. I've only done them every 2-4 weeks when on S and S. I use a lighter bell, and I don't believe I've gone longer than 3.5 minutes. They're pretty hard on the system.

 

[Rayhzel]

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind when I want to switch things up