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Kettlebell What should I do with a 16rm bell in my office?

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guardian7

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I brought the bell I grew out of for my main lifts to my office. It is my 16 rep max weaker arm, so it is not even in the chart for the Plan Strong lowest suggested weight which is 70% rep max. I am middle-aged in an academic job lifting for health and strength rather than hypertrophy.

I have my own office and wear business casual clothes to work and a suit on presentation days. I am looking for GTG type suggestions that I can do for short 2-3 min breaks from my computer. Here is what I have so far:

-Bottom up press. I can manage right OK but only barely with my left. This seems perfect.
-Static holds in bent over row (mimicking batwings).
-Loaded carries overhead pacing for a minute or so.
-Isometric lateral holds.
-One leg deadlift. Unfortunately, unloaded ones are enough right now.
-Haloes.
-A daily press set to failure for hypertrophy and practice tension.
-GTG presses (other types of work like bottoms up pressing seem better with this weight and I have a heavier dumbell for pressing and rowing).

I can't deep squat in my work clothes otherwise I would do GTG goblet squats. Pistols are too difficult for me and my work clothes won't allow it anyway. Slippery floor for swings in socks and not that comfortable with light swings in my office for return on investment compared to the other stuff above.

I would appreciate any suggestions including isometrics.
 
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fractal said:
Your Multipurpose Strength Tool (aka the Get-up) | StrongFirst

I use a 12+RM bell for these and definitely appreciate several minutes of rest after doing both sides. Not sure how practical for at work, but it's the best use I have for that bell
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Not practical for work unfortunately. I do them before my martial arts class regularly. I agree that they don't need to be loaded much if you do them slow and pause with strict form.
 
guardian7 said:
Not practical for work unfortunately. I do them before my martial arts class regularly. I agree that they don't need to be loaded much if you do them slow and pause with strict form.
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That's fair enough, bottoms up it is then. Otherwise, if you have a smaller bell between 4-8kg, you can stack them for more of a pressing challenge. Might be worthwhile to pick up a real cheap one, (dare I say even plastic) to help you get more out of your 16rm bell
 
If it were me, I would do some combo of 1H swing, clean, press, 1H FSQ. Maybe just use the depth your clothes allow.
 
GTG bottom-up press - great tension and alignment drill and since you struggle with it than there is a good chance this is what you need.

My suggested progression:
  1. BU clean and hold - build to 10 seconds hold zipped up well
  2. BU press - start with singles, build to triples
    1. You can mix these with Cook drill
  3. BU squats (to a depth your clothes allow) - hold at the bottom-up - singles to triples
  4. BU armour building complex
 
I started doing one leg deadlifts first with just bodyweight at the office. Then added some weight.
Highly recommend, especially if you are struggling with it like I was.
 
vegpedlr said:
If it were me, I would do some combo of 1H swing, clean, press, 1H FSQ. Maybe just use the depth your clothes allow.
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I can't get too sweaty at work, so I think more of a GTG or isometric routine. Otherwise, I would do that type of workout whenever I had limited time for sure.
 
Shahaf Levin said:
GTG bottom-up press - great tension and alignment drill and since you struggle with it than there is a good chance this is what you need.

My suggested progression:
  1. BU clean and hold - build to 10 seconds hold zipped up well
  2. BU press - start with singles, build to triples
    1. You can mix these with Cook drill
  3. BU squats (to a depth your clothes allow) - hold at the bottom-up - singles to triples
  4. BU armour building complex
Click to expand...

I like this. I think more of an isometric workout makes sense. I can't get sweaty at work.
 
Nacho said:
I started doing one leg deadlifts first with just bodyweight at the office. Then added some weight.
Highly recommend, especially if you are struggling with it like I was.
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Excellent idea. I’m really enjoying GTG naked warrior at work the past few weeks. The single leg deadlifts could be a good substitute for pistols with this approach.
 
For bottoms up variations, I would add bottoms up rack carries. It demands a lot of tension even with a light weight.

If it is your 16 rm press, aside from the bottoms up presses you could do GTG presses for sets of 7. Sets of 7 is a bit high, but I think it won't hurt.

Sldl is a great idea as all said.

Windmills is also a good idea, if you are not practicing them already.
 
Oscar said:
For bottoms up variations, I would add bottoms up rack carries. It demands a lot of tension even with a light weight.

If it is your 16 rm press, aside from the bottoms up presses you could do GTG presses for sets of 7. Sets of 7 is a bit high, but I think it won't hurt.

Sldl is a great idea as all said.

Windmills is also a good idea, if you are not practicing them already.
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I forgot about that one. Excellent idea. The rack or carry position is too easy with that weight or the time it would take to make it challenging would be too inefficient, but the overhead BU carry would seriously challenge me and would not take long. The press is difficult for me already. I would probably just start with a static hold.

I tried the GTG press but 8 reps didn't feel like anything and I would have to do probably ten sets to get something out of it. Not efficient. Hence my post. A couple of sets a day just for keeping the groove might be OK but not much of a training effect.
 
Mirek said:
something for grip
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Brilliant. Maybe even too difficult. My grip needs work. But worth exploring variations on grip strength. I will explore this tomorrow and report back. Maybe static holds would work well. I find hammer curls need a lot of reps to make progress for me.

Does anyone pinch grip the handles or kettlebells?
Apparently you can do a bottoms up pinch grip carry I found on the web.
 
If it were me:
- Bottoms-up rack holds progressing to bottoms-up presses
- Haloes
- Prying goblet squat with "curl" and "heartbeat" at the bottom (press bell forward and pull back in)

Halos and goblet squats loosen the hips and shoulders which get tight from sitting all day.
 
Unleash your inner Rock and do some curls - 1 handed or 2 handed crush curls if it's too heavy for 1 hand.
 
For general health/mobility:

-halos
-(prying) goblet squats
-a few swing here and there
-a few rows here and there
-ham stretches

For strength/skill:

-bottom up presses
-bottom up front squats
 
Sean M said:
If it were me:
- Bottoms-up rack holds progressing to bottoms-up presses
- Haloes
- Prying goblet squat with "curl" and "heartbeat" at the bottom (press bell forward and pull back in)

Halos and goblet squats loosen the hips and shoulders which get tight from sitting all day.
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Definately going to do the haloes and BU press and holds. Goblet squats won't work in my suit or dress pants. I am concentrating on goblet squats this month but thanks for the reminder to curl.
 
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