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Kettlebell Strong! Program Again

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I have a couple of questions about Strong!:
1. is the SF material same as original from Geoff? Or something more, something less?
2. How many sessions per week does it take?
3. Is there room or need for variety days? Like S&S mantanance?
4. If done by the book, how much conditioning is in it? Again, compared to other classic programs?
 
@Molson, I will try to answer some of the questions you asked.

The Strong program is divided into three phases. Phase one is pure strength. Phase two is work capacity/muscle growth and phase 3 is fat loss/ more intensive conditioning.

Kettlebell Strong comes with 2 programs, the strength program (Strong!) and the "One" program which is a very intensive brief conditioning program. You can do either Strong 3x per week or One three times per week or do both two times a week for a combination of both.

Advice..."Strong" starts off slowly from strictly a conditioning aspect but as phase 2 progresses, so does the conditioning.

I suppose you could do extras like S&S but judging from past experiences, I found it best to leave it alone. As phase two progresses you probably won't want to do a whole lot of extra stuff if you've chosen the right bell combination.
 
Wow, didn't do much of anything this weekend and really looked forward to today's training, a 10x1 day. I did 2 28s for 2 x 3 rounds, same with the 32s then hit the 10x1s taking my time and completing them strongly. Felt refreshed!

The only thing missing was Jason Aldean on the radio! (Did hear Randy Houser though so not a total waste!)
 
I just started KB Strong today too. Has anyone experienced starting "The Short Course" in phase two, but found they had to switch to "The Slow And Steady"? 'The Short Course' seems like the volume might ramp up too quickly for me, but I'm not quite sure yet.
 
@LejonBrames , yes I found that running the short course was not necessarily a good fit for me. Doing 10 rounds of six with shorter rests after 3 weeks didn't seem doable. The slow and steady worked nicely.

This time around upon reaching phase two I know not even to attempt it (short course). Going to go right to the "slow and steady"
 
What would the suggested Bell size be? 5rm or perhaps 8rm?
 
LejonBrames said:
I just started KB Strong today too. Has anyone experienced starting "The Short Course" in phase two, but found they had to switch to "The Slow And Steady"? 'The Short Course' seems like the volume might ramp up too quickly for me, but I'm not quite sure yet.
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Even the slow and steady was too much for me at some point. At least with 2mins rest between sets.

How much rest between sets do you guys take ?
 
@Stefan Olsson a 5 RM is usually about right although the book suggests using a pair of bells that gives 4 or 5 "tough" reps "on all your grinds".....I guess the argument could be made to go lighter than a 5 RM, considering a 5 RM military press for me at least is lighter than a 5 RM clean and press, at least in my case.

@Shawn90, I actually experienced the same thing. 10x4, 5, and of course 6 with rests less than 2 minutes had me frustrated at certain times. I emailed Geoff and he advised that when you reach that point, just do the repeats when you feel you can, even if it goes beyond two minutes saying something to the effect of "take a little longer between sets but not as long as you would like to" . I followed that advice using three minute rests and shaving it down on the back sets and finished the second phase according to plan.

This was a side benefit so to speak of running a Neupert program. He would always promptly answer emails and give encouragement and support!
 
LejonBrames said:
I just started KB Strong today too. Has anyone experienced starting "The Short Course" in phase two, but found they had to switch to "The Slow And Steady"? 'The Short Course' seems like the volume might ramp up too quickly for me, but I'm not quite sure yet.
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I’m currently running KB Strong! with 24’s. They are not my hard 4RM bells Geoff Neupert recommends but more like easy 6RM bells. I’m just about to finish the first phase of the program and undecided whether I should take the long or the short course in phase 2. Has anyone found a way to assess this? After phase 1 there’s a rep max test and I think the result might indicate where to go from there.
 
You can always start with slow and steady to work on truly owning each rep.. If halfway you feel you can pick up the pace then switch to short course from there
 
Mark Limbaga said:
You can always start with slow and steady to work on truly owning each rep.. If halfway you feel you can pick up the pace then switch to short course from there
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Thank you! That's a great advice. I don't know why but for some reason I was inclined to think that I should start with the short course and then switch to slow and steady if I didn't make it. But of course it makes more sense to err on the side of caution!
 
I've learned that countless times but having done a lot of Geoff's programs, I have found by starting slow and building momentum I stayed far from injury and got the best results
 
Mark gave good advice here. In reality by the time you reach the multiple rounds of 6's, they should be about a 10RM in order to sustain doing them. This is what I meant earlier in tbe post, if your bell combo is too heavy at the start then you'll be crushed in phase 2!
 
Mark Limbaga said:
You can always start with slow and steady to work on truly owning each rep.. If halfway you feel you can pick up the pace then switch to short course from there
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You know, when you say it like this it sounds so obvious haha. Don't know why I didn't consider this, thank you!
 
Molson said:
I have a couple of questions about Strong!:
1. is the SF material same as original from Geoff? Or something more, something less?
2. How many sessions per week does it take?
3. Is there room or need for variety days? Like S&S mantanance?
4. If done by the book, how much conditioning is in it? Again, compared to other classic programs?
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Hi Molson,

Thought I'd chime in here and answer your questions:
1. Yes, it's the same, only it's 100% digital. The format of the videos are a little different too I believe - laid out more like a course for you to follow/work through so you can master the skills for double KB lifting.
2. Minimum of 2x a week. Preferably 3x a week. Can do as many as 4x a week mixing "Strong!" with "One."
3. No. You can do mobility work on off days, which I actually recommend. Can speed up recovery.
4. As @John Grahill said, it starts slow and builds over time. But that's not the point of the main program ("Strong!"). The main point is to get you STRONG. The interesting thing here that most trainees forget is that when you push your maximum strength levels up, they drag your general conditioning levels up along for the ride.

Hopefully that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
Geoff Neupert said:
The main point is to get you STRONG. The interesting thing here that most trainees forget is that when you push your maximum strength levels up, they drag your general conditioning levels up along for the ride
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This is actually hard to believe for me :)
 
Bauer said:
This is actually hard to believe for me :)
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Bauer,

Why's that?

Here's a little story...

When I tested for my RKC back in '05, the Snatch Test was based on GS rules. I had to do 74 snatches with a 24kg with only one hand switch and couldn't put the bell down.

My training?

Since I was weighing approximately 230 pounds at the time, and doing snatch grip deadlifts from the knee with 270kg for reps, I believed I didn't need a whole lot of conditioning. After all, a 24kg KB is < 10% of my pulling power. So I ran a 3-week cycle of snatches using a 32kg kettlebell. Passed the snatch test with room to spare.

And I was doing zero conditioning work. Everything was centered around training around my injured right hip (I'd just taken a cortisone shot), and Olympic lifting based.

Hope that helps. :)
 
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