Kettlebell The balance between pressing strength & TGU strength

[Timmer C]

On the one hand, many people can do get ups with a kettlebell heavier than they can do a one-arm shoulder press with. On the other hand, there’s a limit to how far out of synch the heaviest get up weight and the heaviest press weight can be. For example, a person who can one-arm press only a 15 pound kettlebell cannot expect to safely do a full get up with a 70 pound kettlebell. Pressing skills provide a safety mechanism: for myself, it was being more comfortable with pressing skills that allowed me to learn enough control over the 24kg bell that I never had to worry about the bell falling or getting out of control. I don’t like pressing but greasing the groove with the clean and press has been important in my feeling safe with get ups.

 

[Steve Freides]

@Timmer C, sensible thinking on your part, but we prefer that people abandon a getup rather than try to use pressing strength or any other "method" to try and save it.

-S-

 

[Alexander Halford]

It's a bad idea to save the get-up that went wrong by using one hand. If you mean falling kettlebell.
The only valid practical option is to use other hand to soften the fall or to take full control of the descend - if you're fast enough to involve second hand.
And since we're at the SF forum, the safest option is "Don't contest space with a kettlebell". Better have thick mats where you're training, and know how to get out of bell's way in case of fall.

 

[Timmer C]

Reaching the point where I could knock out a set of a 35 lb kettlebell clean and presses introduced major stability into my get ups. I..e. I could do a 24kg TGU without concerns about the kettlebell falling or otherwise slipping from my control. It is also nice to know that if I need to exit a get up prematurely (due to, say, a household emergency or muscle cramp or pending sneeze), I could use pressing skills to lower the bell safely down in my hands. (I’m not sure what the technical term is when one is doing the lowering portion of a press, but that is what I am referring to. ). For me, the press complements the get up perfectly.

 

[Steve Freides]

@Timmer C, again, you make good points and provide food for thought.

-S-

 

[barrak]

The few times I lost control of the 24K, it always happened during the leg sweep. First time it happened, I tried to control its descent with a negative press, failed, and nearly smashed my knee!

Since then, when I got a hint of instability, I simply kept my bell hand locked and quickly shifted my body away from its landing trajectory.

These fails diminished as I got stronger with the 24K. Still, I moved exclusively to sandbag getups once I started working the 32K/70lb weight.

I might phase in kettlebell getups again in a lagging manner to sandbag getups. For example, work in 32K kettlebell getups after fully mastering 110lb/50K sandbag getups.

 

[Alexander Halford]

Reaching the point where I could knock out a set of a 35 lb kettlebell clean and presses introduced major stability into my get ups

For me, the press complements the get up perfectly.

It's all very good points. If you drill down to small details. In bigger perspective, not only press develops general strength, even with specific pattern - weight overhead. If it's press for you - great then ?

 

[NormanOsborn]

I considered adding extra pressing to S & S, but I disliked the idea of significantly increasing the volume. As Pavel himself pointed out, the problem with increasing Military Press is that you have to put in a lot of reps to make the jumps between the Bells.

 

[Mark Limbaga]

If I may add..

Something that may also be a better gauge IMHO if you're ready to do a getup with that bell is single bell front squats since it forces your body to zip up and align..

In regards to saving a getup, it's not worth the risk.

Soens time doing multiple roll to elbow and that has a high chance of success you'll be ready to complete a full getup once you can do 3 or more consecutive roll to getups with a given bell..

My humble 2 cents

 

[Steve B.]

Something that has worked for me in the past are KB over head holds as well as walks.
Many can support a heavier weight at lockout and you can use your other arm to get the KB in place if need be.
This assistance can help in both the press and the get up.
We should also the get up is not a movement to max out on although some people do.

 

[Prepatriarch]

Something that has worked for me in the past are KB over head holds as well as walks.
Many can support a heavier weight at lockout and you can use your other arm to get the KB in place if need be.
This assistance can help in both the press and the get up.
We should also the get up is not a movement to max out on although some people do.

I disliked the idea of significantly increasing the volume. As Pavel himself pointed out, the problem with increasing Military Press is that you have to put in a lot of reps to make the jumps between the Bells.