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Kettlebell Russian special forces and the 20rep long cycle

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DavThew

DavThew

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I have recently turned to the double long cycle clean and jerk as my exercise of choice. I keep reading that certain units in the Russian special forces used 20-30rep sets with a pair of 24kgs as their exercise of choice. Right now those number feel far beyond what I could achieve, but I have spent little time with this lift.

Has anyone on this forum managed to do such high reps with weights similar to this? What effects have those of you who use the long cycle seen?
 
I recently got a "lecture" from a friend who grew up in USSR after complaining about a slight jamb in a shoulder from doing something I saw on a Russian youtube site haha...she said Americans shouldn't emulate the Russian MMA or military sites for workouts. She said there really is virtually no physical fitness culture among the average Russian citizenry, they just don't exercise at all, but the people there who do exercise are almost all professional or in the Army, and were selected young, then trained relentlessly with gymnastics, martial arts, or something strenuous since they were 4 yrs old, and their tendons, ligaments, etc are like steel and they have incredible strength for their weight. Kind of like Dan John's Q.3 vs Q.4 deal. Take it for what it's worth....
 
I think it is great exercise for stamina and mental toughness. I just am not a huge fan of the posture used in sport. I think tight plank posture at top position has more carryover. That would be my recommendation. I do this exercise in singles and doubles for specific time duration (like 30 min) trying to work A/A. Seem to get good results regarding carryover to work performance.
 
The long cycle was one of the first things I tried when looking on the gym of YouTube and is still one I like to go back to from time to time. I have double 20kg and I will do it with those and I want to say the most I have ever done was somewhere between 15-20. Looking on other GS sites I found that for someone my weight the rep count was 64 reps and the lowest level was 12kg (Rank 4) and each rank was a 4kg upgrade in weight at the same. I would guess that its probably better to use that as a guide and then start the lowest rank 4 and then when you make that achievement go up to Rank 3. I don't own a pair of 12kgs, 16kgs, and my kettlebell budget just has room for a 40kg in a few months, so I personally won't be going through that progression pattern.

I would avoid some foreign military benchmark that there isn't clear information on. Did they start at 24kg and work their way up to 20-30 reps or did they start at 20-30 reps at a light weight and work their way up to 24kg? Is the 20-30 rep at 24kg a daily routine or is that a test?
 
Thanks for all the input.

@mattsYes I certainly don't expect to get the results of elite military guys, and I know that even getting to high rep sets would be a very long road. I am doing Geoff Neupert's Real Muscle Building Fat Burner alongside my Tae Kwon Do practice and it seems to be working well.

@Rambro1* good to hear that this has a carry over to your lifestyle. Although I'm not in an even similar line of work having "enough" strength plus stamina and aerobic capacity is important for martial arts as well as hiking.
Hardstyle all the way...I'm not sure my body would let me do sport postures after all these years of hardstyle training. I was actually quite suprised about how much my abs engage on the jerk, I had worried about the lack of 'direct' ab work, but that seems to be unfounded.

@Riley O'Neill you have a good point. People often talk about their tests like they are an every day thing ("What do you bench bro?"). I'm sure my ego can stand up to not being elite.

The apparent aim of this program is hypertrophy (and some fat loss -obviously also diet dependant) but I can see that there is going to be some conditioning benefit. I'd really like it to be more aerobic, but I may just add a couple of rucks/walks in nature weekly to get that benefit :)

@Benedictine Monk I'm sure Paveo might give the best answer. I wouldn't want to disturb him whilst he's working on a new book though!
 
I tend to structure my workouts with one or two "feature" exercises where I push higher weight and fewer reps every few workouts. Long cycle is one of them, or at least was when I was training at a full gym with doubles of everything. I was able to hit the 24s for 8-10 reps on a handful of sets and that was enough to really gas me.

Breathing and pacing is going to be critical if you're going to do prolonged reps - I wonder what the expected time span is for this. I found it to have similar benefit to other exercises in that anytime you move heavy weights it tends to have a "relaxing" effect and a positive upward effect on other exercise weights and pacing. Am currently debating whether to pick up a second 24 so I can work these back into my routine.
 
@DavThew Pavel's first book has the most stuff in regards to military training. It even contains a Russian military training manuel from the 1980s.
On YouTube you can find some military kettlebell competitions. At least they are hosted by the Russian army. They compete in biathlon (jerk and snatch) or long cycle (clean and jerk).
 
A little more food for thought. Depending on what your goals are in using this lift I found myself working more toward the jerk/double front squat with the 24s and 20s. I also would alternate every other rep a clean or a front squat.
 
I compete in long cycle with the 24k's. My best is 50 reps, and I can hit 40 reps just about anytime. Among GS competitors, these are low numbers. My bodyweight is in the 170's.

I've seen tremendous benefits from long cycle. The main benefit has been work capacity. For example, I just had to dig out a basement for the house I'm building. I had to remove 8 inches of clay from an 800 square foot space. I used a pickax and my son used a walk-behind skid steer. In three days, we put 21 hours on the skid steer while I used the pickax. I picked while he scooped, so I probably swung it for 20 hours over 3 days. It was hard work, but I was able to keep going without becoming fatigued. I have not put a lot of muscle on, but I stay lean and my cardio is as much as I need.
 
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