all posts post new thread

Kettlebell Too much pressing?

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

njrick1

Level 5 Valued Member
Hello all,

I have been working on the ROP for two years and have had my form checked by multiple SFGs. I am generally just training for fun. I have a 32kg and 40kg kettlebell so as per advice on this form, I am adding the 40kg one rung at a time. I am currently using the 40kg for the first three rungs and the 32kg for the fourth and fifth rung. I am starting to notice soreness in my elbow joints and that I am no longer finishing my training with "gas in the tank." These seem to be warning signs to back off.

Since longevity is one of my main goals, I am considering shifting my focus to S&S (using the 48kg, crawls and carries on variety days) either temporarily or indefinitely. Another option would be to back off weight with the ROP and continue progressing from there. Any thoughts or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
I have done two cycles of RoP so far (16 and 20kg) and found it necessary and helpful to do something else after reaching 5 ladders to 5 rungs. S&S is a good choice for 2+ weeks (with some low volume pressing like 5 ladders of 1,2), enough to feel good again. If you start RoP with your 5-8RM at 3 ladders to 3 on the first heavy day, you have a month of much lower volume (than where you ended the last cycle) to recover while maintaining the groove.
 
Most people start to run into problems with the 32kg. I've heard it has something to do with the size of the ball of the bell and the pressing path.
 
I favor doing something else once in a while.

Your elbows need much more time to adapt to 40kg compared to 32kg. Which is your goal bell ?(half bw)

Doing the same routine for years is admirable. The rate of your gains will slow down. Allow your body more time.

+++1 for 2 week break from ROP. Minimum !

I would explore a different routine, but if you want to stay on ROP, take the 2 week break. Allow more time to adapt to the next bell.
 
njrick1 said:
Great advice thank you all!
Click to expand...

You are welcome!

On a bit more serious note: ROP is peaking program, not something for a long term.
You can, e.g., do sets of five, 2-4 times week while varying volume and load, or do
daily GTG, etc.
 
Mirek said:
You are welcome!

On a bit more serious note: ROP is peaking program, not something for a long term.
You can, e.g., do sets of five, 2-4 times week while varying volume and load, or do
daily GTG, etc.
Click to expand...

Interesting, can you elaborate on what you mean by a peaking program? Is your suggestion a way of maintaining pressing strength while focusing on other things?
 
njrick1 said:
Interesting, can you elaborate on what you mean by a peaking program? Is your suggestion a way of maintaining pressing strength while focusing on other things?
Click to expand...

Not sure whether there is any formal definition of it, but I understand 'peaking' as specifically
preparing you for a specific performance - like BW/2 military press in a case of ROP.

What I suggested can be maintaining or not, depending how much and how often you push it,
what volume and intensity you use etc. I think GTG with 32 kg can be regarded as maintaining
in a way that it will not feel hard, but you press will go up anyway.
 
@njrick1, IMHO, you're overdue for a change in program. Try something else, e.g., consider the S & J program (can never spell those ...), or I've posted a DDD press program, or something else.

-S-
 
You can do S&S with the 48kg? WOW!

Why not just maintain your pressing by doing a few sets or rungs a day, probably with the 32kg mainly, but make S&S your staple program?

S&S is a real stroke of genius in my opinion. It is effectively an athletic activity and not just "lifting", and so it's got all the benefits of playing a sport but can be done alone at home, and in my not-so-humble opinion is not boring and is also flexible so you don't have to do it all the time if you don't want yet can still progress.

I have found myself using the presses with the 32kg as both a prelude to S&S and as a stand alone GTG kind of training.

If I don't feel up to doing S&S on a given day (I often train judo for example, so I don't do S&S every single day) I still do the presses because they're easy to do. If I don't do S&S then I make sure I do a few sets of ring dips and some deadlifts. Overall I'm progressing at EVERYTHING, judo included.
 
Kozushi said:
You can do S&S with the 48kg? WOW!

Why not just maintain your pressing by doing a few sets or rungs a day, probably with the 32kg mainly, but make S&S your staple program?

S&S is a real stroke of genius in my opinion. It is effectively an athletic activity and not just "lifting", and so it's got all the benefits of playing a sport but can be done alone at home, and in my not-so-humble opinion is not boring and is also flexible so you don't have to do it all the time if you don't want yet can still progress.

I have found myself using the presses with the 32kg as both a prelude to S&S and as a stand alone GTG kind of training.

If I don't feel up to doing S&S on a given day (I often train judo for example, so I don't do S&S every single day) I still do the presses because they're easy to do. If I don't do S&S then I make sure I do a few sets of ring dips and some deadlifts. Overall I'm progressing at EVERYTHING, judo included.
Click to expand...

You are preaching to the choir about S&S! The two reasons I am hesitant to focus on it are
1. I can complete it with the 48kg which is the heaviest kettlebell I have (which is why I would plan to challenge myself with crawls and carries on variety days, this is the option I am most likely to pursue).
2. Great coaches on this forum have suggested that after around the 40kg, completing the ROP will be a better bang for your buck.
 
Is it actually true (as Andrew Reed claims in his post) that ROP usually results in injury? I'd be interested to see a stat on that. Unfortunately its probably hard to find out because for every person who succeeds and excitedly posts their journey on a forum, there may be others who got injured and are embarrassed to share about it online. So there is a bias in self-reported results.

He then goes on to say that its not even ROP's fault, but that kettlebells are not meant for pressing heavy overhead. Interesting. How is it that so many coaches and physical therapists actually prefer the kettlebell as the ideal tool for pressing overhead especially for those with high mileage.

And then he goes on to say that pressing heavy kettlebells is "BS Western thing spawned by a powerlifter."
I suppose he must have been a time traveling powerlifter, probably taught Saxon and those who came before him.

I've learned a lot from Andrew Reed, but spewing that kind of ignorance lowers my trust of his content.
With so much fitness/training competition in the world of social media, personalities tend to differentiate themselves by talking the most trash. I love the confident, stoic professionalism of StrongFirst. Sure, other methods work, but we know ours do. And I love how people feel free to share and talk about other methodologies and grow together here with interest in the broad world of strength and all its history and current branches.
 
Two years is a great run my friend try something else for a while. Rest the elbows until they are pain free. Do swings and getups until they feel better watch the pull ups. If it hurts too much you should see a Doc. :)
 
Andrew was just saying that there is a better tool for the job with a better risk to reward ratio. I think he approached it pretty rationally, past a certain point it's time to move to a barbell because the size of the kettlebell becomes unwieldy.

With those guys like Saxon didn't they just demonstrate strength with the giant awkward weights? Were they a daily implement?
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom