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S&S+, Judo, Kendo, Historical & Modern Fencing, Walking.

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Perked up this evening - not that I'm free of my cold yet entirely though.
Did S&S with the 32 and then some other stuff.

  • 3X5 goblet curs and goblet squats
  • 100 1h swings
  • 10 getups
  • A bunch of 360s with the steel mace, and then several isometric front tuck levers on the bar.
Being off judo since Saturday has definitely helped my kettlebelling.
 
Did S&S with the 32 last night, starting off with the 3X5 prying goblet curls and squats. These are super important of course for avoiding injury or soreness in S&S, but also for their own sake as important movements, and in the case of the curls, bent arm strength, since otherwise, S&S has very little of that.

I picked up a guy at judo on Thursday from lying face down on the mat in a match and deadlifted him, then flung him outwards, and he landed face downwards again (so no score) but I was surprised at how strong I've become. I have never done that before!

I'm still working on front levers on the bar. I am very motivated by this move. It is a better exercise that pullups because it uses more of the body.
 
3X5 goblet prying curls and squats with the 32
10X10 1h swings with the 32
6X2 getups with the 40 (that's more like it!)

It's much better doing the getups with the 40 - it's frankly much more beneficial exercise to do an exercise heavier if at all possible.

I tried the swings with the 40 and it was too hard. I notice when doing the swings with the 32 I can't get anywhere near the Simple time standard for them. So, I guess I have a lot of development to go through to get stronger at my swings.

Since I'm doing S&S for myself, I don't really care too much when or if I progress to the 40 for swings, although I'd like to. It's been natural for me to progress to the 40 for getups, and we'll see how things develop naturally.
 
I did S&S with the 32 before judo yesterday and it all went very well. I did again, and will continue to do 6 getups per side, in order to get more out of the workout. I hold the positions as long as possible. TGUs are supposed to be slow, and I am memorizing all the postures with muscle memory.
 
Judo is so dependent on technique and timing that I'm not sure how useful being strong is for it. It can only get you so far. Judo is a real David and Goliath kind of sport. Technique trumps force all the time.
 
I've changed the title of my little blog. Simple happened. Sinister MAY happen. My goals are not narrowly set on Sinister. Also, having spent 20 years on callisthenics with an emphasis on chinning bar work, I've seen the light and am now returning to it. Certainly, my body has formed around that kind of exercise so it makes sense to return to it. So, I am doing S&S with the 32 mainly (sometimes the 40) for overall athleticism (cardio(!), balance and multi-directional strength), focussed chinning bar work for absolute strength, and judo for entertainment, self-defence and to socialize.

I can do 7 chinups when rested up for them. Normally I can hit 5 reps. I've noticed that S&S is not giving me enough strength for judo. This is no criticism of S&S at all. Judo is an elite combat sport and so loading very heavy weight onto myself is necessary to develop the kind of pulling strength I need for it. I weigh 100kg, so pullups and dips and things like that are perfect ways to SAFELY load 100 kg of weight onto my arms, and with front lever progressions and things like those I can activate hard-core other angles of strength. I am doing S&S with a 32kg bell, which is WAY LESS than the 100kg of my bodyweight. It takes no genius to see what kind of exercise - kettlebell or bodyweight will make me stronger in absolute terms.
 
Ah, bodyweight training AKA callisthenics is AMAZING! How else am I to load 100kg SAFELY and SIMPLY on myself???

Maybe we need a new book, "Bodyweight: Safe & Simple"!

If you can't first move your humble little self around, why even think of moving other things around? (Kind of rhetorical nonsense, but it's an attitude at least!)
 
Okay, having done chinups and dips and even progressions towards the front lever the past two weeks in addition to S&S, I improved my judo performance tonight by a factor of 3. (Yes, there is a way of measuring this, hehehe, believe it or not.) Lifting my own 100kg bodyweight is where it's at for developing my strength safely to move MYSELF around my opponent. I am never going to be strong enough to move him, but moving myself, yes. This is why bodyweight training is so fundamental to judo. I'm loving it!
 
Kozushi said:
I've changed the title of my little blog. Simple happened. Sinister MAY happen. My goals are not narrowly set on Sinister. Also, having spent 20 years on callisthenics with an emphasis on chinning bar work, I've seen the light and am now returning to it. Certainly, my body has formed around that kind of exercise so it makes sense to return to it. So, I am doing S&S with the 32 mainly (sometimes the 40) for overall athleticism (cardio(!), balance and multi-directional strength), focussed chinning bar work for absolute strength, and judo for entertainment, self-defence and to socialize.

I can do 7 chinups when rested up for them. Normally I can hit 5 reps. I've noticed that S&S is not giving me enough strength for judo. This is no criticism of S&S at all. Judo is an elite combat sport and so loading very heavy weight onto myself is necessary to develop the kind of pulling strength I need for it. I weigh 100kg, so pullups and dips and things like that are perfect ways to SAFELY load 100 kg of weight onto my arms, and with front lever progressions and things like those I can activate hard-core other angles of strength. I am doing S&S with a 32kg bell, which is WAY LESS than the 100kg of my bodyweight. It takes no genius to see what kind of exercise - kettlebell or bodyweight will make me stronger in absolute terms.
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That's inspirational. Yesterday I didn't have any goals, but now that I read your log I wanted to set goals. Mine is only walking and calisthenics 'til I can safely start kettlebell training again. In the future I wan't too practice S&S around 32-40 kg. Then do some walking and calisthenics along with it.:)
 
I like the attitude , @Kozushi

Like you, I think S&S is a great program, but I wonder what hitting sinister would actually get me. I imagine that I'd have a rediculously crushing grip, and would be able to absorb a hell of a lot a sparring punishment. But, that's not necessarily aligned with some of my other goals, in terms of time/energy investment. Not that I wouldn't be proud as hell to get there.

And I think calisthenics make you better at everything, up to a point. I think there is some level of bodyweight strength that it is worth everyone's effort to reach - it imbues a level of skill that you dont get from other training modalities. I'm still determined to hit a one-arm pushup and a solid pistol someday, though I'm not training them directly at the moment.

Train the good stuff, and if the big milestones happen to come close, grab 'em.

Good hunting, man.
 
Kozushi said:
Okay, having done chinups and dips and even progressions towards the front lever the past two weeks in addition to S&S, I improved my judo performance tonight by a factor of 3.
Click to expand...
In the “press...press...where’s the pull” thread, you said chin-ups & dips gave little in the way of practical strength for the mat & that they were pretty useless. You actually gave quite a detailed reason why body weight exercises were useless for judo & why s&s was far superior.
Sounds like you’re a bit all over the shop. Maybe you should stick to one program until goals have been reached. Chopping & changing to whatever is the new best thing for judo won’t make you stronger for judo.
 
dc said:
In the “press...press...where’s the pull” thread, you said chin-ups & dips gave little in the way of practical strength for the mat & that they were pretty useless. You actually gave quite a detailed reason why body weight exercises were useless for judo & why s&s was far superior.
Sounds like you’re a bit all over the shop. Maybe you should stick to one program until goals have been reached. Chopping & changing to whatever is the new best thing for judo won’t make you stronger for judo.
Click to expand...
I need to be humble enough to admit I made errors. I thought that the bodyweight stuff was useless, but I've come to realize I was wrong.
I'm still evolving my thinking and my training along with it. Sometimes it's a very simple revelation; in this case two of them:

1. Moving MYSELF around using my grips on my opponent allows me to outmaneuver him.
2. Lifting my heavy bodyweight of 100kg is a lot more weight than I can muster with kettlebells, so supplementing S&S with serious effort at bodyweight training ought to give me more strength.

Previously, I was thinking strictly in terms of the movements - chinups are pulling straight down whereas swings (and getups) are in all directions. However, I was not considering the amount of weight being lifted.

I'm all over the map a bit, yes, hehehe, but S&S is definitely the staple core of it all.

I'll add that if I had it all figured out, I wouldn't bother to keep engaging in this forum. I'm still shocked at how I keep learning new things all the time here!
 
dc said:
When did simple happen?
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I'm being kind of rhetorical because I did not run a strict test of it. I train using the 32kg bell for S&S according to the book, and every few times replace the 32 with the 40 for the getup portion.
 
dc said:
In the “press...press...where’s the pull” thread, you said chin-ups & dips gave little in the way of practical strength for the mat & that they were pretty useless. You actually gave quite a detailed reason why body weight exercises were useless for judo & why s&s was far superior.
Sounds like you’re a bit all over the shop. Maybe you should stick to one program until goals have been reached. Chopping & changing to whatever is the new best thing for judo won’t make you stronger for judo.
Click to expand...
Without S&S though, back when I JUST did bodyweight training, back in the old days, I felt deficient. It's the mix that's doing the trick now. Bodyweight for me has been too mono-directional (straight up-down) whereas kettlebells handle all angles of force, even if not to the same level of weight.
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
I like the attitude , @Kozushi

Like you, I think S&S is a great program, but I wonder what hitting sinister would actually get me. I imagine that I'd have a rediculously crushing grip, and would be able to absorb a hell of a lot a sparring punishment. But, that's not necessarily aligned with some of my other goals, in terms of time/energy investment. Not that I wouldn't be proud as hell to get there.

And I think calisthenics make you better at everything, up to a point. I think there is some level of bodyweight strength that it is worth everyone's effort to reach - it imbues a level of skill that you dont get from other training modalities. I'm still determined to hit a one-arm pushup and a solid pistol someday, though I'm not training them directly at the moment.

Train the good stuff, and if the big milestones happen to come close, grab 'em.

Good hunting, man.
Click to expand...
I started out attacking the one arm pushup by holding the top position of the move and by gradually over time bending my arm a little more and more. At first, just holding the position with my left arm up was quite a challenge! In South Korea, I did 10X10 regular pushups, and then as many 1arm pushups as possible a day, 3/4 pistols (never was able to do them fully, well maybe once or twice ever) followed by plenty of chinups outside, and lots of rucking all over the country. I certainly lost S&S strength though and had to restart when I got back to my kettlebell, but the callisthenics certainly worked to keep me strong in other ways.
 
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I did as many chinups, dips and similar as possible yesterday evening, to the point where even 30 minutes later I couldn't barely do any more. Totally exhausted those muscles - good.
Also, did a bunch of presses with the 24 and 32kg kettlebells.

This kind of training alone is very insufficient because it has no cardio, not a lot of movement, and no legs. But, doing judo 4 times a week, this kind of stuff is exactly what fits the bill. I wanted to do S&S yesterday, but it was a busy evening and blocking off the solid 40 minutes needed wasn't possible. I do take care to do S&S at least 2 or 3 times a week, and never just once!

I've been noticing doing KB presses that it's just like the ETK book says: pullups help you press better. Also, at judo I can do cartwheels and roundoffs no problem.

I gave the one arm pushup a try on both sides, and while I can hold the top position no problem and bend my arm a little, I've otherwise lost the skill - same story for pistols. In any case, that stuff for me is when I'm away from my equipment, and I'm not too bothered by the current loss.
 
I consider myself "good" at TGUs. If the gold standard is 48kg, well, I've done them at that weight, and I don't have problems with the 40kg.

My problem is the swings part of S&S. I need too much rest between sets, and I can't get up to 40kg. Now, one reason I got into S&S in the first place was to strengthen my injury-prone lower back, and it has delivered! I have not had a back injury since getting good at S&S. Chinups and dips did not strengthen my lower back enough to prevent back problems but S&S has solved that problem about 99% I'd say.

In any case, I'm a bit chicken about "letting it rip" with the swings by cutting out rest time between sets or in going up in weight. Maybe this is part of what's holding me back.
 
Dips with the rings are significantly harder than on the parallell bars. This shows me that I'm getting more out of using rings than fixed bars. Even just holding the position isometrically is a wonderful strengthening exercise.

The bodyweight stuff has already impacted my judo immensely. I'll continue developing it. What I am also hoping to see is that it enables me to progress with S&S too! I have no idea if it will or not.
 
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