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Other/Mixed What equipment for my training methods?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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That's good to know. I have been avoiding swings because I just didn't like them much. A couple months ago I tried getting into them again with the 24 kg. It felt pretty good, and wasn't very difficult. Unfortunately though they really did a number on my knees. I must have been doing them wrong. I've probably read every post on swings + knees here on this forum, as well as reddit and a couple others. I still don't know the answer because I can't test it out. I've had to stop doing any standing work at all while my knees recover. It's been two months and they still hurt on a 20 min walk. I think most likely I was letting them buckle in on the downswing. Right now I'm doing mostly seated presses.
 
Thank you for the link. Yes, those are similar to the Rogue ones I was looking at. Thanks for the idea about the top of the car, but I don't think it would fit on there. So I'm confused about these dumbbells -- people talk about the oly plates being a waste of money. Do you agree? You can put on regular plates instead? It seems people say you can't drop them.
You could drop a sandbag or a slam medicine ball no prob.
 
That's good to know. I have been avoiding swings because I just didn't like them much. A couple months ago I tried getting into them again with the 24 kg. It felt pretty good, and wasn't very difficult. Unfortunately though they really did a number on my knees. I must have been doing them wrong. I've probably read every post on swings + knees here on this forum, as well as reddit and a couple others. I still don't know the answer because I can't test it out. I've had to stop doing any standing work at all while my knees recover. It's been two months and they still hurt on a 20 min walk. I think most likely I was letting them buckle in on the downswing. Right now I'm doing mostly seated presses.

Post a video, @vitaminCoffee. We'll get you on the right track.
 
At home, kettlebell and bodyweight exercises work well for me. I have an ongoing project to identify the best equipment\program I can use for travel (study, vacation, work, other).

I have looked at weights that you can fill with water or sand and then empty out between locations. The water filled kettlebell like bags and Onnit Hydrocore are probably too light for what you are after. Sandbags seem to be able to be loaded to be fairly heavy. Sand can be purchased from hardware or garden centres at low cost. If you had two sandbags then you could do two handed loaded carries (ie farmers walks) as well, although, you can do a lot with just one sandbag. You can empty out the sand to save on weight\space when you need to shift locations. In another thread,

Simple and Sinister on vacation

Greg H mentions:
I travel frequently. This is not a perfect S&S solution, but have found it works extremely well. I bought a GoRuck 60 lb sandbag. When I land, I take a quick trip to Home Depot and get 50-60 lbs of garden pea gravel. About $7. Then just dump the gravel when I leave.
I've been favoring C&P for 20-30 mins with the talk test. Theoretically you can do swings with it, but its a but awkward. You can definitely do getups. But, its been a great solution when I can't get to my kettlebells.


NB It is thanks to Greg that I have now experimented a bit with a no name brand cheap sandbag and will look around to try a better one.

Going completely body weight is an option - except for working the posterior chain (ie the hinge movement like swing or deadlift). For the hinge, you might consider heavy power bands (Tom Furman's "Armour of War" uses that approach). Another way is to use a kettlebell for swings or snatches (as per Naked Warrior which uses 1 arm pushups, 1 leg squats and recommends deadlifts or KB snatches as well as skipping).

Also, Pavel Macek put out some ideas on using a heavy dumbbell for swings etc including demonstrating the modified technique needed to avoid discomfort\injury from unintended bodily contact with the end of the dumbbell. This also illustrates the potential hazards that can arise when trying to do the same exercises with different equipment (without coaching). Sandbags are a bit more forgiving than iron and are easily weight adjustable so you can start very light on an exercise you haven't done with a sandbag before. With sandbag swings, you have to alter your hand position so the bag rotates through 90 degrees before it reaches your knees. On the way back, after the bag passes your knees you change position again.
 
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