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Kettlebell ROP support group

Hi there, i think i have posted before but more of a reader/lurker.

I have a query relating to ROP but will give a brief background with KB. i did ROP with a 16 kg, started SS with a 16, then did 24, then started with 32, sorted out some technique queries with some video coaching with an SFG based out of Edmonton (i am in Calgary). Went back to 16 and 24 to work on some form with a lighter bell. Got the simple goal.
Came back to ROP but with a 24 as my press strength was something i wanted to work on (and also looking at a post by Dan John, i think he suggested going back to ROP after reaching the simple goal). Anyway after a 3 week lay off with the plague I am doing light (5x3), medium (5x4) and heavy (5x5) days. When i do my swings, i have been doing them one armed.

I am unsure if this has been asked before, just seeing if there is any comment on this in relation to this program? should i be doing them with two hands? FWIW i do prefer one arm swings

For what it is worth, on my alternate days, i am still doing SS with the 32kg. Going forward i was looking at doing some/trying some double KB work after ROP. I really have about another week of this and i think this was one suggestion by Dan John as well.

On another note, was very pleased to touch base and get some one on training with an SFG who is based in Calgary.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

Jon
 
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?

Thanks for everyone's input - turns out elbow issue was due to press and not chin-ups. With different bell and some kettlebell wrist guards the elbow pains seems to have gone away :)

Now that I have increased the volume of press on my heavy day I am running out of time to due both chins and press on the same day. Which do you guys think is a better approach:
1) alternate KB press day+conditioning with chin-up / variety day or 2) stagger my days so that I am doing hard press day + easy chin-up day, hard chin-up day + easy press day, and medium press + medium chin-up day

I am fine with working out 5-6 days per week but I do need to keep most days to less than one hour.

Any suggestions?
 
Are you doing your chinups to the same number of rungs as the presses? You could consider making the rungs shorter (eg, always going to 3 rungs, rather than doing 4 and 5 rung ladders on medium and hard days) but with more weight. More resistance, less volume. Any SFG's can chime in on whether that would make sense. OR, if you still want to vary the difficulty of chinups, use the same volume for each day, but change the weight to make easy-medium-hard.
 
Are you doing your chinups to the same number of rungs as the presses? You could consider making the rungs shorter (eg, always going to 3 rungs, rather than doing 4 and 5 rung ladders on medium and hard days) but with more weight. More resistance, less volume. Any SFG's can chime in on whether that would make sense. OR, if you still want to vary the difficulty of chinups, use the same volume for each day, but change the weight to make easy-medium-hard.

I have been doing the presses and pull-ups on the same day(M,W,F). I do presses in my place and walk 10 minutes to gym and do pull-ups. Yes my chin-ups are ~1 rung less than my presses at the moment.

My main issue is time - on the hard days it takes me too long to warmup and complete all ladders of both movements.
 
Chins on variety day are fine, just don't push them too hard - moderate weight, low reps.

Supersetting presses and cu/pu is what's recommended for the ROP, not pressing everything then doing all the pu/cu.

Try to scale back the warmup to what you need, and do extra mobility/joint_health evenings and weekends.

-S-
 
Chins on variety day are fine, just don't push them too hard - moderate weight, low reps.

Supersetting presses and cu/pu is what's recommended for the ROP, not pressing everything then doing all the pu/cu.

Try to scale back the warmup to what you need, and do extra mobility/joint_health evenings and weekends.

-S-

thanks - maybe I will put KB in pack and call the walk to the gym my warmup so I can do the press/chins together - will have to see if I can get all ladders done in less than 1 hour :)
 
Hey y'all been on the ROP since August and making a ton of progress. Due to my crazy schedule I do my press ladders at work(w/out pull-ups) and either do them in one session or semi gtg depending on customer flow. I'm at 5(12345) and haven't tested the 32 yet but pretty confident. I've been doing swings and snatches in the evening which ends up being rather late sometimes and sometimes I push them back a day or miss them altogether
 
Oops posted too soon. My question is who has done the swings/snatches in the mornings (it would be several hours before the presses and how did it impact your pressing? Currently my primary goal is a half bw press. Thank you in advance!
 
Bit of advice requested.

I am currently adding the 5th rungs to my 5 ladders with 24kg bell. All going fine but I can only nail singles with confidence on my weaker side witha 28 kg bell. Basically I don't think I will be ready to start laddering with 28 kg by the time I have worked up to 5 ladders of 5 rungs with the 24 kg bell.

Options as I see them -
1) keep grinding away with the 24 for more weeks of 5 ladders of 5 rungs until I am ready to move up
2) GTG with singles with the 28 kg bell on variety days to try and speed up progress
3) continue as in 1) but do the bottom rung of each ladder with a 28 kg bell

Does anyone have any other ideas or experience with these strategies?

cheers
 
My Ah ha moment!
I did my first full 5 and 5 rungs/ladders yesterday with the 55 Lbs (25 Kg) bell and wow. After my second rung I had some doubts creeping in the back of my mind about whether I could do all reps with the 55, in fact i pulled out a lighter bell just in case. But the whole time I had two things going through my head.

1 - Tension! I rooted the ground, locked the knees, braced the abs and POW! up it went, every time!

2 - Slow grind! And some were very slow, but looking back there really wasn't a point where I had that "failure panic" where i was afraid I was going to miss the lift. They just kept going up!

I am loving ROP and can't wait wait to press the 55 again next week. and I also won't doubt myself again!

@krg I feel that your #3 option would be the best one. One thing you might try is cleaning the 28 on your variety day and bracing as though you were going to press it after the clean but don't actually press it. I remember reading this concept in S&S or ETK, I forget where I read it. But I have tried it before and its a weird feeling but seems to work. This, maybe paired with TGU with the 28 (if that is in your tool belt) could help to bridge the gap between the two bells. Does that make sense? Good luck!
 
Hi krg,

All options could work. It is hard to say what will be the best one for you. The first thing I will say is just keep taking your time with your 5th rung. If you don't rush things, you could spend 3-5 (or more) weeks working the clean and presses. That is a lot more volume. I wouldn't even try to press the 28 in that time frame (cleans and get ups and other moves I would consider practicing). Once you do your 5 ladders to 5 and feel really good with it, lower your volume for a week or so and then test.

After that, evaluate where you are and see what looks best. I will say that for me, I went through the full ROP ladders with the 24 more than once before I did it with the 28. The first time I tried ROP with the 28 it was too soon. Going back and doing it with the 24 was one of the best decision I made.
 
Just started rop. Did 4 ladders of 3 rungs with my 53. All the presses ft great. I can see when you get into 5 rungs where the volume will be massive. Can't wait to see see the results!
 
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So far with 24k on max day: 3 sets of 5 ladders then 2 sets of 4 ladders.
I have to keep focusing on a good form though. Sometimes I feel I am slipping a bit, but then I remind myself to push myself away from the weight.

Hard work to keep a good form
 
So far with 24k on max day: 3 sets of 5 ladders then 2 sets of 4 ladders.
I have to keep focusing on a good form though. Sometimes I feel I am slipping a bit, but then I remind myself to push myself away from the weight.

Hard work to keep a good form

am I missing something or is the terminology changing.... do you mean you did 3 ladders of 5 rungs and 2 ladders of 4 rungs?
 
Today was my first test day. Warmed up with a few single 24kg presses and GS. Rested and did a few loaded cleans with 32Kg. Rested 5 minutes and pressed the 32! Got 2 singles right but missed both attempts on the left. Then was my first 10 min snatch test which smoked me, only got 157 reps. Next week I'm planning to go back to 5(1234) as my heavy day and work on compressing rest and working back up to 5(12345) and really owning the 24. The plan work, plain and simple!
 
@Marlon Leon
My best strength numbers in the gym are respectable, but nothing special. My best 1RM numbers in the past are:
bench press - 430
back squat - 540
front squat - 395
press - 250
deadlift - 555
clean - 345
clean and jerk - 335
snatch - 235

Believe it or not, I accomplished all those numbers (except bench press) while I was doing crossfit as my training. I am now on my 24th week of S&S with no elbow/forearm discomfort...and pleased as could be.
 
My Ah ha moment!

1 - Tension! I rooted the ground, locked the knees, braced the abs and POW! up it went, every time!

I agree the press illustrates the tension / irradiation principles brilliantly. I find it makes a big difference just clenching my other fist.


One thing you might try is cleaning the 28 on your variety day and bracing as though you were going to press it after the clean but don't actually press it. I remember reading this concept in S&S or ETK, I forget where I read it. But I have tried it before and its a weird feeling but seems to work. This, maybe paired with TGU with the 28 (if that is in your tool belt) could help to bridge the gap between the two bells.

I'm doing this with the 32 kg bell at the moment - definitely helps. The weak point of my press is right in the middle as the upper arm approaches then goes past the horizontal. Not sure if there any specific assistance exercises for this sticking point.

Hi krg,

All options could work. It is hard to say what will be the best one for you. The first thing I will say is just keep taking your time with your 5th rung. If you don't rush things, you could spend 3-5 (or more) weeks working the clean and presses. That is a lot more volume. I wouldn't even try to press the 28 in that time frame (cleans and get ups and other moves I would consider practicing). Once you do your 5 ladders to 5 and feel really good with it, lower your volume for a week or so and then test.

After that, evaluate where you are and see what looks best. I will say that for me, I went through the full ROP ladders with the 24 more than once before I did it with the 28. The first time I tried ROP with the 28 it was too soon. Going back and doing it with the 24 was one of the best decision I made.

Brian - thanks for the advice. When you restarted the ladders with the 24 kg did you drop right the way back to 3 ladders, 3 rungs? I find the volume by the later stages of each RoP cycle to be a real challenge - in terms of time as much as anything else. Really looking forward to getting back to 3 singles on an easy day!

Today was my first test day. Warmed up with a few single 24kg presses and GS. Rested and did a few loaded cleans with 32Kg. Rested 5 minutes and pressed the 32! Got 2 singles right but missed both attempts on the left. Then was my first 10 min snatch test which smoked me, only got 157 reps. Next week I'm planning to go back to 5(1234) as my heavy day and work on compressing rest and working back up to 5(12345) and really owning the 24. The plan work, plain and simple!

Logan - those are good numbers, I think. My first snatch test last week was a 5 minute one and I managed 60 reps - working on fixing my breathing during snatches at the moment.
 
krg,

I would always start the program over at 3 ladders of 3 rungs for the heavy day. However, I never finished my 5 ladders of 5 on ROP and immediately started over with the same bell. If those 5 were taking it out of me, I would take 4 to 12 weeks to do another program (my favorite for years was barbell stuff via Easy Strength, but lately it has been S&S). After that little recharge I felt ready to jump back into ROP.

The only time I've done ROP programs straight through were when I'd start with a light bell and progress through the ladders in 3 to 4 weeks. Then I'd jump to a more challenging bell and progress slowly. This works great if you've taken a break from pressing. Thanks to Steve Freides for that tip, it works great.

But if you are still mentally and physically fired up about ROP after you nail the 5 ladders of 5, I see no reason why you shouldn't start the program over with the same bell.
 
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