Jan
Level 4 Valued Member
@TravisDirks : those are some impressive gains you posted there my friend 
Congratulations!
Congratulations!Other/Mixed training review of 2016
- Thread starter Harald Motz
- Start date
Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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Frank_IT
Level 4 Valued Member
This is a great idea!
2016 has been my first, really productive year in strength training. It has been the first time I've had direct personal coaching in a discipline I discovered by myself. It has been the first year I've been able to train for more than two months straight. It has been the first year in which I started dieting with a purpose (I have to work on this one really hard though).
Number wise, the sums are the following:
Bodyweight: I started 2016 at aproximately 80 kg, I'm now 77.6 kg. Lost a few kgs.
Swing: went from a somewhat hard 16 kg double hand swing to a comfortable one arm 40 kg one.
Clean: went from a painful 16 kg single bell to very comfortable 24 kg double bells, doable 32 kg single bell and 1RM 40 kg singlebell, without training the movement (not one single clean was done between March and November).
Snatch: went from "ok, it's dislocating!" with the 16 kg to 7 reps on top of the minute for 10 minutes with the 24 kg, almost without training the movement.
Press: went from 3RM 16 kg to 5RM-ish 20 kg. Surprisingly, I have almost 0 reps with the 24 kg.
Front squat: went from "come pick me up!" with the 16 kg bell to 5RM (probably more right now, it has been tested nine months ago) with double 24 kg bells.
TGU: went from "you've got to be kidding me..." to a very comfortable 32 kg one.
Personal:
Body composition: I started as a blob, I'm now kind of less of a blob, but still a little blob. Shoulders, glutes, quads and back have compensated the weight loss as they are twice as big.
Health: big improvement in posture and spinal alignement.
Knowledge: Went up a lot. This is in part because I've spent a load of money on training books (which I thought were usless until this year) and this Forum.
Training (starting from March up until now):
- Single bell complex (8 weeks, all with the 16 kg bell)
- S&S (from March to November, also done in varity days of the complex, started with the 16 kg bell and reached Simple)
- Rite Of Passage (currently going, started with the 16 kg, implementig the 20 kg today going by feeling as @Steve Freides said)
New year's goals:
- pressing the 24 (achievable);
- TGUing the 40 kg (achievable);
- swinging the 48 kg (achievable);
- completing a snatch test of 5:00 with a 24 kg bell (we'll see, I'm not so sure);
- starting a (or more) protocol with Mr. @aciampa;
- loose fat;
- gain muscles;
- start barbell training;
- get to a 2X bodyweight deadlift (I think very achievable);
- get to a 1.5X bodyweight high bar back squat (we'll see);
- get more mobility and stretching.
I'm really happy I found StrongFirst!
2016 has been my first, really productive year in strength training. It has been the first time I've had direct personal coaching in a discipline I discovered by myself. It has been the first year I've been able to train for more than two months straight. It has been the first year in which I started dieting with a purpose (I have to work on this one really hard though).
Number wise, the sums are the following:
Bodyweight: I started 2016 at aproximately 80 kg, I'm now 77.6 kg. Lost a few kgs.
Swing: went from a somewhat hard 16 kg double hand swing to a comfortable one arm 40 kg one.
Clean: went from a painful 16 kg single bell to very comfortable 24 kg double bells, doable 32 kg single bell and 1RM 40 kg singlebell, without training the movement (not one single clean was done between March and November).
Snatch: went from "ok, it's dislocating!" with the 16 kg to 7 reps on top of the minute for 10 minutes with the 24 kg, almost without training the movement.
Press: went from 3RM 16 kg to 5RM-ish 20 kg. Surprisingly, I have almost 0 reps with the 24 kg.
Front squat: went from "come pick me up!" with the 16 kg bell to 5RM (probably more right now, it has been tested nine months ago) with double 24 kg bells.
TGU: went from "you've got to be kidding me..." to a very comfortable 32 kg one.
Personal:
Body composition: I started as a blob, I'm now kind of less of a blob, but still a little blob. Shoulders, glutes, quads and back have compensated the weight loss as they are twice as big.
Health: big improvement in posture and spinal alignement.
Knowledge: Went up a lot. This is in part because I've spent a load of money on training books (which I thought were usless until this year) and this Forum.
Training (starting from March up until now):
- Single bell complex (8 weeks, all with the 16 kg bell)
- S&S (from March to November, also done in varity days of the complex, started with the 16 kg bell and reached Simple)
- Rite Of Passage (currently going, started with the 16 kg, implementig the 20 kg today going by feeling as @Steve Freides said)
New year's goals:
- pressing the 24 (achievable);
- TGUing the 40 kg (achievable);
- swinging the 48 kg (achievable);
- completing a snatch test of 5:00 with a 24 kg bell (we'll see, I'm not so sure);
- starting a (or more) protocol with Mr. @aciampa;
- loose fat;
- gain muscles;
- start barbell training;
- get to a 2X bodyweight deadlift (I think very achievable);
- get to a 1.5X bodyweight high bar back squat (we'll see);
- get more mobility and stretching.
I'm really happy I found StrongFirst!
Frank_IT
Level 4 Valued Member
@Jan
Oh, com' on! You want to get certified, that's a taller goal than any of the ones I listed!
Plus, all the improvements I have had are really just novice gains and nothing more. In person, I still am a 175 cm, somewhat soft on the surface kind of guy, avarage looking and not very impressing. I'm not an athlete by any means as I have questionable cardio, I'm stronger than before but not very strong for absolute digits and my strength endurance has a lot of room for improvements too. I'm also kind of stiff.
I'm actually very happy with the results, don't get me wrong, it just goes to say that if the avaragest of men (me) can go through this and end up having a better life, it's really everybody's capability to improve theirs.
The thing that has changed the most has been my view on general programs. I always thought of them as selling tools to gain money on the masses... Until I tried S&S on myself. 90% of the things listed above have to be attributed to it, as it has occupied the vast majority of my training time.
Oh, I forgot to add that without ever touching a bar, my pull ups have gone from 0 to 2. This is, probably, the most astonishing result by far.
Oh, com' on! You want to get certified, that's a taller goal than any of the ones I listed!
Plus, all the improvements I have had are really just novice gains and nothing more. In person, I still am a 175 cm, somewhat soft on the surface kind of guy, avarage looking and not very impressing. I'm not an athlete by any means as I have questionable cardio, I'm stronger than before but not very strong for absolute digits and my strength endurance has a lot of room for improvements too. I'm also kind of stiff.
I'm actually very happy with the results, don't get me wrong, it just goes to say that if the avaragest of men (me) can go through this and end up having a better life, it's really everybody's capability to improve theirs.
The thing that has changed the most has been my view on general programs. I always thought of them as selling tools to gain money on the masses... Until I tried S&S on myself. 90% of the things listed above have to be attributed to it, as it has occupied the vast majority of my training time.
Oh, I forgot to add that without ever touching a bar, my pull ups have gone from 0 to 2. This is, probably, the most astonishing result by far.
Jan
Level 4 Valued Member
I will have to disagree with you on this one, sir. Going from a 16kg 2H swing to a comfortable OH swing with 40kg is not exactly what I would call a novice gain.
But still, great job and keep up the good work
Frank_IT
Level 4 Valued Member
I will have to disagree with you on this one, sir. Going from a 16kg 2H swing to a comfortable OH swing with 40kg is not exactly what I would call a novice gain.
But still, great job and keep up the good work
Thank you very much! I have to say that the 40 kg swings are most cherished improvement, yes. I thought that the 32 kg get up would have taken the spot, as it was hard as hell and I have something very close to a divine awe to it, but once I started lifting the 40 kg and saw I was able to do multiple sets of 5, then it changed!
Still novice gains, though!
Thanks again, looking forward to see "CERTIFIED INSTRUCTOR" appear under your avatar!
Jan
Level 4 Valued Member
Grazie
Harald Motz
Level 8 Valued Member
exactly.
TravisDirks
Level 3 Valued Member
Do you have a video of this? I think I see what you are saying, but I'm not sure. Is it more of a wrist rotation that does the bend? Maybe held with arms down by your waist?
Nice progress! Love the slim lever. That's exactly where my wrist got injured, I should probably think about working on that lift. I've got to figure the ga thing out. Are we talking wire gauge where higher gauges are smaller?
Isn't there some saying about strength well earned being slow to fade? Sounds like a testament to your past training.
JeffC
Level 7 Valued Member
@TravisDirks 
The bending pistol grip uses the same three bending options, but you use more wrap and grasp with more wrap in the hand. You are lengthening the leverage, and pushing in more.
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