Kettlebell What am I missing or doing wrong?

[offwidth]

Hello , what would a program geared toward increasing aerobic capacity look like?Sort of like a “program minimum” for aerobic capacity using the modalities you mention above, Thank you for the help

Good question. I don’t really have a simple answer.

My perspective and experience says…
It depends greatly on where your baseline is and what your goals are. A completely detained individual would go about increasing aerobic capacity, differently than a seasoned endurance athlete wanting to ‘take it to the next level’. There are a lot of variables that would need to be known before one could properly answer this question.

Walking however is almost always a safe bet and something that can be done daily.

Knowing ones AeT or MAF number and basing your training around that is also key. Basically you want to do a large percentage of your training at or just below these numbers. This holds true virtually for any endurance athlete.

 

[solarbear]

I was incredibly unfit at the beginning of the year. It was this exact workout, only using double kettlebells (I used 2 12's and wife used 2 6's) that helped us get in much better shape:

I think it was the use of ladders and time under tension that helped us really push our workload. I started going up the pyramid to 7, that's it. Second week, 8. Third week up to 8 then 6,4, 2 down. About a month later we could do the whole thing. So much so that kettlebell swinging for any duration does not wind me abnormally. Hope this is helpful.

 

[WhatWouldHulkDo]

Hello , what would a program geared toward increasing aerobic capacity look like?Sort of like a “program minimum” for aerobic capacity using the modalities you mention above, Thank you for the help

Something that's worked reasonably for me is running 3 days a week, based on time (not distance). 2 days a week, run for N minutes. On the other day, run for 2xN minutes. Slow enough that you don't feel soreness after the 2xN days, but don't go any faster on the N days. And slow enough that you've still got plenty of energy to do your strength work on the other days. Then gradually work on making N longer.

I'm certainly in the novice running category, so N=40 minutes is plenty of volume for me.

And personally, I've found that 2 sessions a week generally means I'm either stagnating, or regressing. 3 seems to be my minimum in order to improve.

 

[Smile-n-Nod]

One thing I have noticed is that even when I am doing S&S or these sort of programs pretty regularly, I get winded very easily. Like climbing up a few flights of stairs winds me easily. Now all those programs are what you knowledgeable folks call A+A. The 6 week programs start from like 10 mins and go up to 25 mins or thereabouts. Never above 30 mins. When I do S&S, it is like 10 mins of swings per day (thrice a week). Aren't these kind of programs supposed to make me (more aerobic and) less winded doing other sort of activities?

When I was in college (about 35 years ago), I took up jogging but could never run longer than about three miles. I took up kettlebells over four years ago, but had to stop and restart three times due to chronic tendonitis. Around that same time I tried jogging again (to prepare for a hoped-for martial-arts black-belt test), but could never get past about 1.0 to 1.5 miles, even running at a mere 12 minutes per mile (about 7 minutes per km). Now, at age 57, after my fourth attempt I have been doing S&S continually for over a year, but because of the tendonitis, I've had to keep my progress slow.

(What works for me right now is S&S three times per week, and rucking a mile or two with about 1/8 my body weight.)

Some of us are just not as athletic as others. Don't get discouraged, and take what your body gives you. Enjoy the process.

 

[Tbone77]

Good question. I don’t really have a simple answer.

My perspective and experience says…
It depends greatly on where your baseline is and what your goals are. A completely detained individual would go about increasing aerobic capacity, differently than a seasoned endurance athlete wanting to ‘take it to the next level’. There are a lot of variables that would need to be known before one could properly answer this question.

Walking however is almost always a safe bet and something that can be done daily.

Knowing ones AeT or MAF number and basing your training around that is also key. Basically you want to do a large percentage of your training at or just below these numbers. This holds true virtually for any endurance athlete.

Sounds like it depends( the answer so so many questions).... thank you for your reply

 

[offwidth]

Sounds like it depends( the answer so so many questions).... thank you for your reply

Where are you at today, and where do you want to get to?

 

[Abraiz]

Thanks to everyone who replied. Yes, I have not done any aerobic work since I remember. Just some in-house running for maybe 5 mins at the beginning of the Muay Thai classes. I think that was just as a warmup. Serious Nak Muays, the ones who participate in competitions and championships, would do their running (3 kms) before the class and then come in.

So I have started running the Tactical Barbell Conditioning protocol. The base building to be more precise. It is pretty famous and the base building template can be found all over the internet I think. You run for time and not distance and slowly increase the time until you are running for 60 mins or so. Then as maintenance you run for 60 or so mins at least once in 2 weeks. This could qualify as a sort of program minimum for aerobic work.

 

[Eyetic]

I did tested myself during the last six month and with heavy swings I managed to keep my aerobic lvl, Cooper test did not improve but it didn't get any worse either, so now I'm adding 3 days one with rucking and two long walks (I try to be on the 40-50 mins range).

For the last OCR race I trained with just rucking sessions, not a single run, even if its not the optimal approach I managed to achiveve the goal line

 

[Ryan T]

I did tested myself during the last six month and with heavy swings I managed to keep my aerobic lvl, Cooper test did not improve but it didn't get any worse either, so now I'm adding 3 days one with rucking and two long walks (I try to be on the 40-50 mins range).

For the last OCR race I trained with just rucking sessions, not a single run, even if its not the optimal approach I managed to achiveve the goal line

Awesome about the OCR.

You almost can't walk enough. I shoot for about an hour a day, 3 of those days are rucking 30-50#. Do it. You'll thank me...

 

[silveraw]

So I have started running the Tactical Barbell Conditioning protocol. The base building to be more precise. It is pretty famous and the base building template can be found all over the internet I think. You run for time and not distance and slowly increase the time until you are running for 60 mins or so. Then as maintenance you run for 60 or so mins at least once in 2 weeks. This could qualify as a sort of program minimum for aerobic work.

TB is good stuff and has a lot of the same things people around here have been talking about. The "black" protocol is doing A+A work 2-3x a week with some glycotic workouts mixed in as needed and some steady state every week or two.

I'd highly recommend picking up the book in case you only have that spreadsheet you found. There is more to basebuilding than just the time limits placed on the steady state workouts. the HIC portion has some very specific intervals that are pretty important for the best result.

 

[Abraiz]

TB is good stuff and has a lot of the same things people around here have been talking about. The "black" protocol is doing A+A work 2-3x a week with some glycotic workouts mixed in as needed and some steady state every week or two.

I'd highly recommend picking up the book in case you only have that spreadsheet you found. There is more to basebuilding than just the time limits placed on the steady state workouts. the HIC portion has some very specific intervals that are pretty important for the best result.

I do have the book. Just didn't want to go into details which have been described elsewhere.