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Kettlebell What is the origin of this five week program on muscle and fitness?

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guardian7

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Does anyone know the origin of this workout said to be from Pavel? The article is not dated. It seems to be part of the thinking on anti-glycolytic training as the swing has multiple rounds of seven reps and the press has multiple low rep ladders with a long rest period.

The 5-Week, Whole Body Single Kettlebell Workout

Is it up to date with regard to the latest thinking in programming?

  • It looks like a really great program. I wonder why it is not mentioned more often.
For reference: StrongFirst for CrossFit

PDF version courtesy of obreaslainp
the website of the original is really spammy. The 5 Week, Whole Body Single Kettlebell Program
 
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This is a great program! I ran it last year leading up to my 40th birthday and had excellent results in terms of conditioning and body composition. Getting ready to start again next week.
 
Ryan, did you find that the 7 rep rather than the usual 10 rep swings let you put even more effort into them? What else did you like about it? Why do you think there is an alternating upper and lower body? Did that help recovery? I would think a full body workout each day might get better results if recovery was sufficient.
 
Ryan, did you find that the 7 rep rather than the usual 10 rep swings let you put even more effort into them? What else did you like about it? Why do you think there is an alternating upper and lower body? Did that help recovery? I would think a full body workout each day might get better results if recovery was sufficient.

@guardian7 prior to this program almost all of my experience with kb swings was I the context of S&S, so sets of ten as explosive as possible. I don't think sets of seven let me increase power, but rather were easier to recover from. The shorter work/longer rest really made these sessions feel easy, I felt no more fatigue at the end of my last set than I did the first. I almost felt lazy, like I was hardly even working on swing days. The press and pull up days were hard work though. I thought of it not so much as an upper/lower split but more as alternating days of power/conditioning (swings) and strength/hypertrophy (presses and pull ups). The weekly rhythm alternating easy swing days with tougher strength days felt really good, and i always felt well rested and ready to train. I do feel the split enhanced recovery, every session seemed easier than the last. I enjoyed training six days a week, and the split plus waving volume each day of the week kept me from getting bored.

Results were great: press RM went from 6l/10r at 20kg to 11l/13r (probably could have got a couple more on the right), L-sit chins went from 6RM to 10RM. I did 2H swings with 32 and didn't go failure on test day but rather a "comfortable stop" 4x25 and was able to swing the 32 one handed confidently for the first time.
 
Ryan,
I appreciate the detailed reply. Great results Ryan. It confirms what I thought but you have experienced. As you said, it has enough waviness to make it easier to recover, two not one workout, so it is less boring, and the split I now agree seems to hit both conditioning and strength while allowing for recovery to keep up the volume.
 
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