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Kettlebell Strongashec Russian bear

Halfakneecap

Level 6 Valued Member
Going to try this out from next week, as I work around a minor issue. Have wanted to try it for a while so good timing.

4 weeks of double cleans only. I’ll be using 24’s 2 days ( comfortable weight ) and 28’s once a week ( heavy for me )

Did a trial run today with my 28’s. Just focusing on cleans only is great, great for technique I think. Will update
 
Halfakneecap said:
Going to try this out from next week, as I work around a minor issue. Have wanted to try it for a while so good timing.

4 weeks of double cleans only. I’ll be using 24’s 2 days ( comfortable weight ) and 28’s once a week ( heavy for me )

Did a trial run today with my 28’s. Just focusing on cleans only is great, great for technique I think. Will update
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Have fun! I ran it with 32s a couple years ago. Great program, you develop a wicked clean!
 
Interested in these results. I hadn't even heard of this program before somebody mentioned it here the other day. I clean sporadically, asystematically, and I bet running a clean-only program, without the press or the squat, makes a lot of sense if you're using heavy enough weights, ones that you couldn't lift any other way.
 
Jtminster said:
I looked on strongashec but didnt see this program. Is it part of the double kettlebell manifesto?
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He has (had?) a free ebook called Kettlebell Snacks.

This is the description of the program.

strongashec.com

NO-BS Grappler’s Workout Program

I've said the double kettlebell clean and press (and it's variations) is pound for pound the best exercise on the planet for BJJ, and it is! Today, I'm gonna give you *THE* NO-BS grappler's workout program. This program is minimalism at it's best.
strongashec.com
 
I feel ok this morning. I did more than double my usual amount of cleans. Most I’ve ever done with the 28’s. I only worked up to 28’s this year so I think it’ll help with the cleans but I think my upper back will be better prepared for pressing them. I can do 3 reps now, but it’s tough.

Neck isn’t too bad ( it’s been annoyed for a while ), so I’m good to go on Monday morning.
 
I enjoy Hector's programs... SN plan 384 might be the best SN specific plan I've run tbh

The jerk course is solid too! I wish he would release some newer plans though
 
A little bit off topic:

Did anyone of you do the DL Series 260? Looking to build a propper deadlift while training BJJ and not smashing myself… Any reviews are appreciated.
@Hector G
 
What is the generally accepted value of “one size up” for kbs? Is it 2kg, 4kg, or 8kg?

I have standard increments of 8kg, plus a pair of adjustable comp kbs.
 
Cleans only is a bit of a beast. Had to slow myself down after a few sets. Lost some skin on my palm as well, just under a callous. Neck/traps a bit meh but ok. Wed is heavier bells, I will definitely be slowing down and focussing on quality.

11 sets of 6&24’s, pretty happy.
 
Sets of 4 x 28’s. Woeful first set, bells flopping etc. Second set, focussed on getting tight all over and much much better. Also focussed on the snap, reps felt much easier.
 
Does it feel like a workout? You feeling sore the day after, or out of breath during the sets? How does it compare to a snatch or a swing session?
 
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marlowe said:
Does it feel like a workout? You feeling sore the day after, or out of breathalyzer during the sets? How does it compare to a snatch or a swing session?
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Definitely, I just moved up to 28’s, so they’re heavy for me. Swings, I can do 40kg x sets of 5 repeatedly A+A style and sets of 4 dbl cleans are tough.

I definitely feel like I’m lifting heavy. Even the 24’s, it builds up. Interested to see how I feel at the end of the month
 
Nice. Keep posting, I'm following it. Got my eye on this program, would love to integrate it with the other ballistics somehow. I'm starting to think it makes sense to double swing, double snatch and double clean in some combination every week, specially if you do it at your 5RM for each movement. That way you'd be moving very different weights through very different ranges, perhaps with the goal of eventually swinging your clean weight, and snatching your swing weight.

Say you can clean 2x32kg, swing 2x28gkg and snatch 2x24kg, all for five good technical reps. You do some kind of load-waving with these movements, add squats and presses, and you're moving some very respectable weight. I bet the squats and the cleans would help getting used to moving the 2x32kg, enough that you'd be able to swing'em. That together with the swinging the 2x28kg wouldn't hurt your snatch either (which you'd be doing also).

Just something I've been keeping in the back of my head since I heard about this program. The clean is definitely underrated, and I think one of the reasons is that it's often paired with the press. Which makes sense, but also makes you clean with much smaller weights than you could. For the above to work, I guess it'd need be done by itself, or at least to be paired with the squat. The working pressing sets would be done with only one clean. I dunno. Just spitballing. Will develop it more after I finish my current stuff.
 
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marlowe said:
Nice. Keep posting, I'm following it. Got my eye on this program, would love to integrate it with the other ballistics somehow. I'm starting to think it makes sense to double swing, double snatch and double clean in some combination every week, specially if you do it at your 5RM for each movement. That way you'd be moving very different weights through very different ranges, perhaps with the goal of eventually swinging your clean weight, and snatching your swing weight.

Say you can clean 2x32kg, swing 2x28gkg and snatch 2x24kg, all for five good technical reps. You do some kind of load-waving with these movements, add squats and presses, and you're moving some very respectable weight. I bet the squats and the cleans would help getting used to moving the 2x32kg, enough that you'd be able to swing'em. That together with the swinging the 2x28kg wouldn't hurt your snatch either (which you'd be doing also).

Just something I've been keeping in the back of my head since I heard about this program. The clean is definitely underrated, and I think one of the reasons is that it's often paired with the press. Which makes sense, but also makes you clean with much smaller weights than you could. For the above to work, I guess it'd need be done by itself, or at least to be paired with the squat. The working pressing sets would be done with only one clean. I dunno. Just spitballing. Will develop it more after I finish my current stuff.
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I think just doing a single push press after each set/ladder would be a great way to get some low volume/heavy pressing in.

I found yesterday heavy cleans reinforce the need to get tight. When you’re comfortable with a weight, it’s easy to forget, and go on auto pilot. I had to get super tight to get through yesterday, and really snap my hips.

I absolutely think it will help my pressing as well.
 
Halfakneecap said:
I think just doing a single push press after each set/ladder would be a great way to get some low volume/heavy pressing in.

I found yesterday heavy cleans reinforce the need to get tight. When you’re comfortable with a weight, it’s easy to forget, and go on auto pilot. I had to get super tight to get through yesterday, and really snap my hips.

I absolutely think it will help my pressing as well.
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Yes, absolutely, agreed on the tightness emphasized not only by heavier weights but also by the cleans. The laziness lighter bells encourage, or allow, is one of the reasons I love moving up. That feeling of wrangling a weight that requires total body tension is what I love about weightlifting. And I too think cleans are the best exercise for working on the upper-body side of that ballistic equation. You feel you're doing well when you hit that cement wall at the end of the movement and everything feels locked in place. For sure it will give you a better platform for pressing.

Regarding the push-press, it matches what I have been thinking about these movements outside the more traditional ones (swing, snatch, press, squat - "traditional" in the sense they're more central to most programs) as ways to circumvent the difficulties the kettlebell presents as an implement. In the same spirit of including heavy cleans as a way to do ballistics with heavier weights, shouldn't we (well, I) be push-pressing heavier weights together with the presses, as a way to progress faster? And bent-pressing even heavier, for that matter?

The "unloadability" of the kettlebell is the biggest problem when it comes to progressing. If your 5RM press is the 32kg and you can't press the 36kg, then normally what you'd do is press the 32kg until you can do it with the 36kg. I want to program in a way that gets me moving heavier weights with these other movements.

It requires having many bells, which I don't like. The strongest point of KBs to me is how easy they are to store and how much you can get out of one (or one pair). But when you start wanting to go heavy, and work with doubles (my goal is 2x40kg, at least for presses and squats), you notice how this is dissipated. Everytime I want to go up, say from 24kg to 28kg, I have to buy a new bell, which means paying for the 24kg of iron I already own, and then for the 4kg I wanted. And because you can't stack bells on a pin or on top of each other, like you would with plates, they end up taking up a lot of space.

To summarize: I'm thinking about a program where you clean, swing and snatch with different weights, and bent-press, push-press (maybe jerk) and double-press with different weights, and maybe also split-squat, double front squat and goblet squat with different weights, but wonder if I'm not flying in the face of the implement's nature.
 
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marlowe said:
Yes, absolutely, agreed on the tightness emphasized not only by heavier weights but also by the cleans. The laziness lighter bells encourage, or allow, is one of the reasons I love moving up. That feeling of wrangling a weight that requires total body tension is what I love about weightlifting. And I too think cleans are the best exercise for working on the upper-body side of that ballistic equation. You feel you're doing well when you hit that cement wall at the end of the movement and everything feels locked in place. For sure it will give you a better platform for pressing.

Regarding the push-press, it matches what I have been thinking about these movements outside the more traditional ones (swing, snatch, press, squat - "traditional" in the sense they're more central to most programs) as ways to circumvent the difficulties the kettlebell presents as an implement. In the same spirit of including heavy cleans as a way to do ballistics with heavier weights, shouldn't we (well, I) be push-pressing heavier weights together with the presses, as a way to progress faster? And bent-pressing even heavier, for that matter?

The "unloadability" of the kettlebell is the biggest problem when it comes to progressing. If your 5RM press is the 32kg and you can't press the 36kg, then normally what you'd do is press the 32kg until you can do it with the 36kg. I want to program in a way that gets me moving heavier weights with these other movements.

It requires having many bells, which I don't like. The strongest point of KBs to me is how easy they are to store and how much you can get out of one (or one pair). But when you start wanting to go heavy, and work with doubles (my goal is 2x40kg, at least for presses and squats), you notice how this is dissipated. Everytime I want to go up, say from 24kg to 28kg, I have to buy a new bell, which means paying for the 24kg of iron I already own, and then for the 4kg I wanted. And because you can't stack bells on a pin or on top of each other, like you would with plates, they end up taking up a lot of space.

To summarize: I'm thinking about a program where you clean, swing and snatch with different weights, and bent-press, push-press (maybe jerk) and double-press with different weights, and maybe also split-squat, double front squat and goblet squat with different weights, but wonder if I'm not flying in the face of the implement's nature.
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Although I have pretty good thoracic mobility, I can’t jerk very well. The drop is a bit tricky. I can overhead squat with an unloaded barbell. But to be honest I’ve found push pressing a heavy set of bells means I can usually strict press them a few weeks later, so it’s more like I’m just not overly interested by the jerk.

I’m definitely the same, I much prefer low rep heavy with bells, maybe it’s because I’m easily distracted, and heavy bells stop that, because you can’t help BUT focus when they’re heavy
 
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