Kettlebell S&S with SUF

Then there’s that day sweat starts running down your arms and there’s a kettle bell shaped sweat print on your garage floor :rofl:
Did my 10x10 plus 1xTGU with a 1kg dumbell on each side after my regular weights session. It is rest week this week so weights down reps up. Felt those 10x10s tho. Whew

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And here was I thinking that the H2H swing was a teacher of the 1H swing. In the book Pavel talks about it being another drill to make the 1H swing feel like the 2H swing. I did a little bit of the H2H swing a few days ago with the lighter 8kg. It was hard to get the rhythm going initially but then it was suddenly so much fun to have the bell “float” in the air on the hand changes. I then tried with the 12kg but was not able to replicate that same feeling within 10 reps and stopped quickly due to bad form and not wanting to promote that in my practice. I am looking forward to trying again though now that I have a few more days experience.

Rather than chasing weight, I’m wanting to perfect my TGU form and 1H swings before risking bad form and injuring myself with a bigger weight also. Not there by a long shot yet… 16kg curious though… haha.

Chalk it up.

Then you’ll have chalk snow prints everywhere :laughing:

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I find that the explosion to the top has to be more because you have to get the bell up higher so it can stay weightless at the transfer. Then you have to release and then lock in again at that point of weightlessness and get ready to come down with the opposite forces.

There’s a lot going on there. It has to be perfect with heavier weight.

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I’m sorry for dumping my progress here but this feels so good. Today I had Who Dares lined up after a rise in FTP and it was brutal. After that I had to get the kids up and fed and off to school and then back down to the basement before work to knock out the daily S&S. I improved my Get Ups today after watching a video on not moving your outer arm after you set it up initially and then I practiced that a little last night without weights. This morning was my 3rd day in a row doing 10xTGU and it was the best day so far. I still have problems keeping my upper arm’s wrist straight but I have brain power assigned to fix that now also so its improving too. Where I really made progress today though was in the swings. I’ve tried 1H swings before but they were always lame, awkward and I quickly stopped. Today rocked and I squeezed out 80 1H swings with the 12kg and it went pretty well. Only reason I did 20 2H swings was that I wasn’t sure I could make 100 so I initially started with R, L, 2H, R, L, 2H before realizing that I could do them all 1H. Happy days!

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Nice progress!!! Don’t stop posting. It’s motivating!

I improved my Get Ups today after watching a video on not moving your outer arm after you set it up initially

Mind sharing the video? I’ve got a few I cycle through before doing my own practice but still can’t quite nail the elbow to hand step.

I’m on day 4 myself, very gradually adding volume. 5 sets of 2 arm swings w/12 kg which is pretty easy but I want to add a set per day to get to 10 before thinking of trying one arms.

Get up was 1 practice, then 2 w/8 kg bell. Enough weight to keep things honest–you can really feel when your shoulder isn’t packed–but not so much that a bit of a waver is catastrophic. So far this is pretty enjoyable, but post holiday week I’m not looking forward to moving my alarm clock 30ish minutes earlier to pack all this in before the kids wake up.

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Hi @tbronder. I’ve changed a few things in my life recently. One thing I decided to try out was religiously sleeping 8 hours a night. I was really bad at doing that and would often do early workouts on 5 or 6 hours sleep and when a workout wasn’t scheduled, I’d catch a late movie more often than not to relax before bed. Now going on 3 weeks of 8 hours a night. Next thing was stretching/yoga. At least 1 session a day. Next was to get a bit stronger so that’s where this thread comes in. Of course the bad thing about 8 hours sleep is that I have to go to bed now at 9:45 at least 3 times a week… But I am feeling the benefits. Definitely less tired during the day and more enthusiastic about everything. Also, my dreams are back which is pretty enjoyable. So message here is, if you are setting your clock 30 minutes earlier, go to bed 30 minutes earlier too. It will be better that way and once you get in the groove, you will still find time for other stuff.

The video that I was watching was by Mark Wildman. His videos are usually short and concise and point out one or two important things to think about. I also watch videos by others and re-read the same sections of the S&S book pretty often. But I do find that book lacking details on technique which is a pity. The link is: 3 ways to MASTER the Turkish Get-up - Turkish Getup Mastery Series - YouTube. Hope you find it useful.

I took today off and just did the warmup. I actually find the warmup hard enough with the 8kg bell anyway, particularly the prying goblet squats. Getting to enjoy it more and more though as I do it every day. Keep at it!

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I won’t be using it for a while, but I ordered a 16kg bell today as I saw it discounted. My S&S routine went pretty good today. Warmup, 100 1H swings and 10 getups in 28 minutes. I wore a HRM so it was interesting to see the HR go up 10 times also during the get ups. I’m going to count this week as week 1 of the 4 I need to do before I up the weights.

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Hah I just went and checked my HR data and snap, can see each x10!!!

I’m off to buy a 16kg now. The 10 is easy peasy for 10x10. Also managed 2x TGU each side with a 4kg weight. Will work up to 10 TGU then bump the weight to 6 then 10.

Session today was an hour on the bike of tempo cadence work. Goblets, bridges and halos. 10,10 with my 10kg. 1xTGU with my shoe, 1x with 1kg, 2x with 4kg. Need to start doing this daily now. It doesn’t take long at all.

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Nice. good to see you making progress. Gotta hit the kettlebell contract every day.

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My 16kg arrived today. I unpacked it and laid it out in its place of honour beside its brothers. It will have a rest week this week and just watch the workouts. It’s pretty timely I think as I threw together a surprise 12kg TGU for the first time today on both sides. That felt heavy but safe and totally awesome to stand up strong. Huge difference from 8kg but standing up at the top of the TGU is so satisfying always. Very happy with my bells.

One other thing I have noticed is that my daily yoga is getting better. Hips and Hamstrings is my favourite so far.

How is everyone else doing? Perhaps recovering from too much food over the weekend?

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So question. If you did SS after say…a recovery ride and a standard 5x5 weights session (squat, BP, OHL, URR, DL). Would you skip the SS warmup and go straight into 10x10 and TGU. Or would you still do the SS warmup?

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I would do a quick warmup before you hit any weights after the ride but not between the weights and the SS assuming they are back to back. But I’m no expert.

Did you try your new 16kg yet? I tried to resist it, but the 16kg was staring at me this morning with those big black eyes and I couldn’t resist. I was quite surprised by it in a good way. Decided to do 2x10 from the 3rd set as recommended in the book. Just went for it. Hiking the weight back and then up on the first rep. I quickly noticed that my form forced to be better using the 16. I had to put more into it my hips and plank to get it high. It was pretty awesome. After reverting back to the 12kg to finish the 100 out, I found that I had better form also because of feeling the 16. I think I understand now why folks call the heavier weight the teacher. I’ve a 2H day tomorrow (after the Chores) and then I think I will rest 1 day.

Anyway. I’m loving the progress I am making so far so I’m gonna just introduce it slowly rather than jump up to it. I’m also eating a lot :open_mouth: The only thing I am kind of missing is that it finishes quickly and I’m longing for more kettlebell play but I think the 2 different exercises along with yoga are making a big difference at least in daily life. I can’t say I feel it on the bike yet though. Incidentally, in case you are wondering I am currently following a low volume general plan.

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Thanks that’s helpful. I guess I view the bike as the warmup but maybe I should add in a weights warmup before the traditional weights session.

Haven’t played with the 16 yet. I want to do SS every day first and also get my heavy weights back up to close to where they were and I’m not there yet. Have also been eating a ton and am very tired. I’m doing the Ian Boswell 200mile high intensity plan off the old app so am already on the bike 8+ hours a week. It’s way more hours and intensity than the SYSTM 200MILE GG plan.

What you say about the heavier KB being the teacher is fascinating. I have to drop weights on the barbell to work on form then work back up again. Makes sense tho for the KB. I’ve noticed my knees are pushing out thru the swing now, not good, so maybe I should bite the bullet and do a 1x10 with the 16…big jump tho from 10!

Slight digression:
I have started working with a nutritionist/dietician. She is both and a medical Doc and ultra runner and triathlete which is good. Have some blood work to do to bottom out a few issues she suspects. First step has been to double my protein (was already eating a lot) and really jack up my calories (am notorious for under eating), so am expecting this to fuel the bigger workouts better and hopefully I am less tired. Tummy was appalled at the extra 800cal yesterday! Seems happier today a day no afternoon slump, yay!

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Personally, I find the KB movements so unique to themselves that I need that specific targeted stretching.

Nothing hits my body like the KB.

You guys are gonna lose your minds when you get heavier.

Keep growing!

Oh, and buy the next bell up before you need it.

I have my 36kg on order.

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So awesome to read the progress going on here.

That 16 is going to turn into a 24 real soon!

Your body is about to make a jump.

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Careful balancing high bike intensity with heavy weight work.

The body can only serve one master.

If you tip the weight up too much your legs will feel it in the endurance rides heavily.

You may be able to split the sessions a little, but you wouldn’t be able to do KB x6 and that much biking as the weights go up.

I am doing mostly base riding with shorter duration NM and AC work to complement the strength work.

About once a week I’ll do a pro ride just to keep that racing edge there a little - but I’m nowhere near my in season saddle time right now and that’s by design.

Strength is about 60% of my volume and riding is the balance.

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I’m sure you know this from barbell lifting, but with the kettlebells, it’s super important to keep your core engaged and back flat. If you do that, the heavier weight won’t hurt you. If you start to lose form, stop. With that precaution, I also have experienced that heavier weights (within my capability to preserve form) help build awareness of the finer points of form.

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For sure! You feel that weight begin to wander and you instinctively know what needs to happen to get it back in.

Felt that huge today with single switches at 28kg.

Lats really kicked in at one point and immediately realized it was because I was catching the switch wider on the handle to allow more clearance of the exiting hand. This in turn had the effect of creating more twisting forces to overcome on the downswing and subsequent upswing because my hand was wider and the bell was in essence off center of my hand.