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Kettlebell The Simple or Sinister standard by December 2017, Who is going to do it?

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Robert Noftz

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Who else is doing Simple and Sinister? Where are you at now?
I am doing Simple and Sinister exclusively and will be pursuing the Sinister standard. I plan to accomplish it by December of 2017.

I would be interested in the thoughts from other people who a planning to accomplish either standard. Perhaps we can discuss topics relevant to the subject and share insights over the course of this year.

God bless you on your journey,
Robert
 
From my reading of Pavel's book Kettlebell Simple and Sinister, it is clear that the program is designed to be a general strength and conditioning routine.
If we chose to this routine exclusively are we becoming specialists at two all around body exercises? For example, an olympic lifter specializes in snatches and cleans and presses, and a power lifter specializes in squats, deadlifts, and bench presses?
What other questions can you think of which could help us develop our thinking skills for this matter. I believe that an intelligent and well informed lifter will have a better chance of being successful?
 
I am aiming for Simple at least (female). Started June 1 this year, but not totally unfit and have a kettlebell exposure previously.

Met time standards for the 12kg weight getup quite fast, have had all 5 sets of getups at 16kg since late Nov, time is slowly creeping down. Have not tested them because I am working on adding sets of 20kg one arm swings, currently 7 of my 10 sets.

I am anticipating probably maybe in the fall to near the end of the year to meet Simple, but who knows? Just plugging along on the journey!
 
I should have Simple nailed by around the halfway point in 2017. Hopefully sooner. I want to be at least using the 32kg for all of my swings by March, working on compressing rest. I've already got the Simple get-up standard in the bag.
 
I have an upper back injury that makes heavy getups problematic; I still do the parts of the movement with weights I can manage and can go heavier if need be but I suffer afterwards.

I do hope, however, to hit the Simple swing standard in the coming year. I've met the 5-minute test with 24 kg, and am currently using 28 and 32 kg in my training. I could probably meet the 28 kg right now but I generally don't test things like this until I know they'll be easy and I have no reason to change that.

-S-
 
Who else is doing Simple and Sinister? Where are you at now?
I am doing Simple and Sinister exclusively and will be pursuing the Sinister standard. I plan to accomplish it by December of 2017.

I would be interested in the thoughts from other people who a planning to accomplish either standard. Perhaps we can discuss topics relevant to the subject and share insights over the course of this year.

God bless you on your journey,
Robert
Where are you now, how often do you train, how much sleep are you getting and briefly what is your training and injury history? I ask not to judge, but to get an idea of your foundation and then how you will break up your goals for the next year to meet the Sinister standard. I had planned on having Sinister in the books by the end of 2016, but due to overtraining and pushing too hard, i awakened a prior injury, tried to work through it and ruined my chance of meeting my objective, so back to the PT and back to the 40kg for a long while - will i manage to accomplish the Sinister standard by Dec 2017, i would like to, but my mind is set on therapy for the moment and there is no telling how smoothly that will progress. best of luck with your quest.
 
From my reading of Pavel's book Kettlebell Simple and Sinister, it is clear that the program is designed to be a general strength and conditioning routine.
If we chose to this routine exclusively are we becoming specialists at two all around body exercises? For example, an olympic lifter specializes in snatches and cleans and presses, and a power lifter specializes in squats, deadlifts, and bench presses?
What other questions can you think of which could help us develop our thinking skills for this matter. I believe that an intelligent and well informed lifter will have a better chance of being successful?
Im not sure it matters whether you consider yourself a specialist or not, ideally you will focus on the technique of the movements while you are training and if your objective is to meet the Sinister standard, then while you train to meet that objective I would say it would behoove you to become an S&S specialist for a least the 4-6 weeks prior to your test, but one could certainly train daily with S&S just as a general conditioning tool to make other aspects of life simpler. I choose Pavel's programming so i do not have to overthink my training. I do my best to understand the lifts and the reasoning behind the exercises implemented, but the beauty of most of Pavel's programming is that he makes it so efficient that you can roll out of bed, do the quick warm up, do the routine as written, then move on with your day. i don't really want to think much more about it than that, yet here i am hanging around the forum talking about kettle bells - so take everything i said with a grain of salt. I'm going to go think about something else ...
 
While I had toyed with getting 'Simple' in 2017 my jacked shoulder is going to put that on hold. That being said I really had been doing the S&S programme for the GPP benefits it provides, not for meeting the standard. Once my shoulder is fixed, I will continue S&S, but I guess I am not really that concerned about the standard....
 
I had simple before I started Rite of Passage, which is on track to finish in February. After that I'll go back to SS and shoot for sinister.
 
I am hoping to hit Simple by Easter. Currently 'own' the 24 and have started incorporating the 32 into both OA swings and Get Ups.

Love the program.
 
Count me in! I have been thoroughly enjoying my third iteration of S&S after finally seeing it as "practice." I had my left knee meniscus repaired on December 9 and I found a PT who digs KBs. Today I did a few two hand swings with a 24. I should be able to resume within a week or so. I'll have to build back up. Was using 28 for the exercise. I'd like to hit Simple this year but in the true spirit of S&S, I will not worry about when. Just enjoy the training and the benefits.

Best of luck everyone!
 
Where are you now, how often do you train, how much sleep are you getting and briefly what is your training and injury history? I ask not to judge, but to get an idea of your foundation and then how you will break up your goals for the next year to meet the Sinister standard. I had planned on having Sinister in the books by the end of 2016, but due to overtraining and pushing too hard, i awakened a prior injury, tried to work through it and ruined my chance of meeting my objective, so back to the PT and back to the 40kg for a long while - will i manage to accomplish the Sinister standard by Dec 2017, i would like to, but my mind is set on therapy for the moment and there is no telling how smoothly that will progress. best of luck with your quest.

Sorry to hear about your injury. Perhaps I can take that as a reminder about the importance of light days.
I started using the 32kg this week. I started practicing with kettlebells in October and did a little bit of many different exercises. About 3 weeks ago I decided to do Simple and Sinister exclusively. I just started using the 32kg this week. Before moving to the 32kg I could do the swings and get ups in less than 15 minutes with the 24kg.
When I first started, I practiced 4 or 5 times per week. Since I started S&S, I practice everyday. I took one day off when I had a really bad cold. Before that I had practiced 15 days in a row. My plan is to continue practicing every day unless I am sick, injured, or I feel burned out.
The plan is to practice every day according to the directions in Pavel's book, Kettlebell Simple and Sinister. I plan to make big jumps in the kettlebell size and move up to the 40kg next and then the 48kg. According to Pavel Tsatsouline, big jumps in weight elicit a better signal for the body to adapt. If I'm feeling tired I will use the 24kg for light days.

I hope you are able to stay injury free and you make it this year.

BTW I'm 49 so for me achieving this will be a very big deal.
 
I'd love to have hit Sinister by the end of 2017. Realistically I'll be pretty happy with owning the standards with 40kg. Once I'm done with my TSC prep (which is largely based of s&s) I'll be moving to 2 week blocks alternating s&s and KB STRONG. That way I can have my cake and eat it, albeit very slowly.
I just yesterday finally got back to doing all my sets with the 32kg, but I don't think I'd come anywhere near the time limits. Onwards and upwards!
 
Working on Simple. Been using 32kg for 6 months now off and on. The most recent time I tested myself I had the swings down in like 7 and a half minutes and the get ups in 8 minutes. Pushing myself at about 90% to get those results. I find the swings to be the most difficult part and if I push myself like that I will run out of gas at around 60-70 and will need considerable recovery time after that (sometimes several minutes). I am going to buy a 40kg for the getups and will stick with 32kg for the swings (and I will probably try some of the swings with the 40kg as well).
 
I'll hit Simple by July or so. I'm not focusing on S&S, I'm using it as my s&c while I prepare for a dead only powerlifting meet in March and the TSC in April. After the TSC I'll drop deads to twice a week, add an S&S day and really push for Simple.
 
Hi Robert,
I hit Simple earlier in the year and as has been mentioned before 32kg seems to be where the magic happens. I've been working currently with 48kg 2 handed swings and 40kg TGU. The one arm swings with the 48kg is proving difficult from a grip strength point of view so that is something I need to work on with a hand grip tool. I also include at least one 60 min LSS session per week. I'm moving to look at TSC in April and although S and S will be part of that hitting Sinister won't be the focus.. it's a fantastic goal to aim towards as we move into 2017...
 
What again is 'The magic' that happens when you start using the 32?

This is the point (in my experience) all the promises start to pay off.
As a qualifier I acheived simple a few years ago and then got slightly lost in my training, I have never felt as strong as I did when I was throwing the 40kg around with ease.
Your conditioning is fairly effortless, your mobility will be surprisingly good (as long as you've stuck to the program) and your body will feel tied together when you have to do any other strength work.
The important part is not to rush at this point, the program keeps giving for a long time without the weights progressing.
When I hit simple I could do 2 pistols each side and a 1 arm push up each side despite having not trained them in about a year. The carryover at simple is frankly phenomenal.
 
When I managed to hit Simple and start to "own" the 32kg I felt that my shoulder strength had improved considerably. I had been tracing Cals back then and with the same calorie expenditure compared to when I was using the 24kg my physique was changing in terms of bf composition, muscle tone etc. Dead lift was up to 1.5 without specifically training it. All part of the WTH effect...
 
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