MAKING A TOP-LEVEL COMMENT WITHOUT CREDENTIALS WILL EARN A TEMPORARY BAN

Welcome to our monthly focused improvement post. Here we have a distilled discussion on a particular aspect of kettlebell training. We try to go over various techniques of kettlebells, how to program kettlebells, and how to incorporate kettlebells into other modalities of training. 

***

This month’s topic of discussion: Press (Strict Press, Push Press, Bent Press, etc)

• Describe your training history and provide credentials
• What specific programming did you employ for this technique?
• What went right/wrong?
• Do you have any recommendations for someone starting out?
• What have you done to improve when you felt you were lagging?
• Where are/were you stalling?
• What did you do to break the plateau?
• What sort of trainee or individual would benefit from using the/this technique/program style?
• How do you manage recovery/fatigue/deloads while following the method/program style?
• Share any interesting facts or applications you have seen/done
• Looking back, what would you have done differently?

***

These threads are used as a reference. As such, we ask that you provide credentials of your lifting history and that you are an intermediate and above. For beginners we ask that you use this thread to enrich yourself by reading what others before you have done. If you are a beginner or have not posted credentials you will have a temporary ban if you make a top level comment.

Previous Monthly Focused Improvement Threads can be found here.

The mod team thanks you :)

Please select flair and read the Wiki before posting.

Welcome to the Weekly Discussion Thread!

These threads are *almost* anything goes. Please understand that although the quality standards are relaxed here compared to the main page all other rules are enforced equally.

You should post here for:

• PRs
• General discussion or questions
• Community conversation
• Routine critiques
• Form checks

For more distilled kettlebell discussion, check out the Monthly Focused Improvement Threads -- where we discuss one part of kettlebell training in depth

Please select flair and read the Wiki before posting.

Welcome to the Weekly Discussion Thread!

These threads are *almost* anything goes. Please understand that although the quality standards are relaxed here compared to the main page all other rules are enforced equally.

You should post here for:

• PRs
• General discussion or questions
• Community conversation
• Routine critiques
• Form checks

For more distilled kettlebell discussion, check out the Monthly Focused Improvement Threads -- where we discuss one part of kettlebell training in depth

Please select flair and read the Wiki before posting.

Welcome to the Weekly Discussion Thread!

These threads are *almost* anything goes. Please understand that although the quality standards are relaxed here compared to the main page all other rules are enforced equally.

You should post here for:

• PRs
• General discussion or questions
• Community conversation
• Routine critiques
• Form checks

For more distilled kettlebell discussion, check out the Monthly Focused Improvement Threads -- where we discuss one part of kettlebell training in depth

Tests & Benchmarks

Here are the benchmarks and tests I performed before and after I did the program.

* I actually did 11 in that chin-up test but dropped after 10 reps and sneaked one in immediately after.

Backstory

I always wanted to learn the kettlebell Snatch but shyed away from it given how technical it looked. This year I had gone back to training kettlebells (well, fitness training in general), and started doing single-bell ABC with swings and pull-ups 4x/week back in February and March. I soon struggled to progress, discovered this sub and picked up DFW Remix after receiving a few recommendations and that was a game changer for me. I enjoyed it so much that I ran it twice in a row and in the second run, I replaced Swings with Snatches. I deliberately picked up a lightweight to focus on technique and performed Snatches as a conditioning exercise, 10 snatches EMOM with the 12kg bell. That sums up the first 6 months of the year. Come mid June, I purchased King-Sized Killer (KSK) and started training with it.

About the program

The King-Sized Killer (KSK) is a Kettlebell Snatch program by Geoff Neupert, I will refrain from giving too many details to not spoil it since it's a paid program.

The program has three total programs in it all based on your same 7-8RM Snatch kettlebell, they are supposed to be followed consecutively. I did KSK 1.0 which progresses from light ladder sets to long straight sets, I skipped KSK 2.0 because it looked scary to me and did KSK 3.0 which is, apparently, a good and recommended move up from KSK 1.0 according to Geoff Neupert.

My experience

Although Geoff specifies that the program should be run with 7-8RM, I found the 20kg kettlebell to be really hard to Snatch properly even though I snatched it for 9 reps during my test in preparation for this program, and given it was my first Kettlebell Snatching program I went with it as I felt that going heavier will be really harder for me, this was also what some other people reported online about the program (see: Strongfirst.com forum).

KSK 1.0 is a 9 weeks long program and it begins with a focus on Power, moves on to building Strength and then finishes with Endurance in three different phases that are three-weeks long each (with three different rep-schemes and programming). The first phase was easy, second one was a bit challenging but the last phase was excruciatingly hard. The hard day of the week had me do sets of 15 reps and I just felt that my elbows were giving up, right after the first set.

KSK 3.0 uses an interesting scalable formula as a percentage of your total RM with the weight. After KSK 1.0, I did a test to prepare for KSK 3.0 and I did 42 snatches on both hands without putting the weight down. The medium and hard days for me were sets of 15 and 16, that was bananas! Same issues with elbows but I didn't get injured or anything, I saw the two programs to completion.

The program is hard and I think that's what a lot of people don't know about it, lol! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their Snatching game. I video taped myself on random days and now I look much tighter, more vertical and much more explosive with my Snatches.

I totally recommend this program!

Two (three?) unexpected WTH effects (maybe?)

The program somehow improved my press which is one thing I definitely didn't expect to happen and the only reason I tested it now is because I will most likely pickup another program by Geoff Neupert that focuses on pressing! WTH!

Some might say that I did a few sets of DFW, which is true but that only lasted for 5 weeks, and I didn't do them everyday, some weeks I did the 3 sets twice and on some other weeks I did 3 sets once since I was cycling that with other stuff on an A-B-A / B-A-B format! (see: the Remix section).

Another WTH effect is the following. The last time I tested my deadlift was during COVID, I was cutting weight and didn't focus on strength, my 3RM was 120kg. I then didn't focus on fitness, poured my sould into the martial arts and only gotten back to lifting weights (exclusively pullup-bar and kettlebells) this year, when I was on vacation I tested my deadlift and it went up to 140kg! Shit! I didn't expect that.

Another WTH effect I went through was on that same day when I tested my deadlifts. After I finished, showered a rested, the guys at the gym were challenging each other with a gripper, it was 160lbs, two guys crushed it and made it click, I didn't expect to do anything with it but I gave it a go and I closed it, it clicked! I also didn't expect that. I definitely attribute that to the Snatching program, but also the work I've done with DFW Remix helped a lot for sure, especially that I did the DFW sets without putting the bells down between the C&P and Squat sets.

My own Remix stuff

As you might already know, Geoff always says don't do other stuff in addition to it, and even though the program is very demanding, I found that I can do more work that is non-explosive. So I added the following two workouts:

• Workout A:
  • 5 sets of Chinups, reverse ladders, in Fighter Pull-up style
  • 3x12 sets of hanging leg-raises
• Workout B:
  • 3 sets of DFW with my 5RM bells (2x24kg)
  • 3x12 sets of hanging leg-raises

I performed the workouts after the KSK ones 3x/week in A-B-A/B-A-B rotation.

I traveled for vacation after the 5th week for 4 weeks to visit my family abroad, I had access to the same weight kettlebell (20kg) so I continued the program but I replaced the chin-ups and DFW sets with 5 sets of a one-arm pushup (OAP) progression in addition to floor-leg-raises.

I came back home having finished the KSK 1.0 program (9 weeks long), I started the KSK 3.0 and implemented more stuff, after the workout I cycled the following workouts:

• Workout A:
  • Fighter Chin-ups, taking them to 5 sets of 8,7,6,5,4 at the end of the program
  • 4 sets of hollow-body rocks progression
• Workout B:
  • 5 sets of OAP progression
  • 4 sets of hollow-body rocks progression

On the off days, I added running. I have been doing a Garmin Coach 5k Running program for the past 4 weeks now and planning to stick to it until I can run 5k in 25mins.

Physical changes

I definitely look more lean, my wife says that she see more definition in my body and my forearms pretty much exploded. I visited my friends at the gym and they asked for my "traps routine" LOL! I told them I don't do anything for traps, I've been mostly snatching and chinning-up. My weight stayed the same but my shirts somehow feel tighter and now that it's a bit colder my long sleeves from last winter are feeling very tight on my forearms and around my neck/shoulders.

What's next?

I feel like I've done enough Snatches for this year and I miss everything else, so I decided to pick up Geoff Neupert's 12-Week Muscle-Building Kettlebell Master-Plan program, which is based on double kettlebells exercises: Military Press, Front Squat and Swings done in 3x/week.

Obviously, I will add to it: wide-grip pullups, hanging leg raises and hollow-body rocks. I will probably add one or two exercises for aesthetics reasons only, I am thinking of banded biceps curls and banded lateral raises.

On the off days, I will continue working through my 5k Garmin Coach running program, weather-permitting. If the weather sucks, I will just skip it and do something else at home but we'll see what happens.

Do I recommend this program?

Abso-licking-lutely! I will definitely come back to it in the future, escpecially that KSK 2.0 program that I skipped.

EDIT: formatting

Whether something is stupid is a matter of success

What on Earth is this?

This is a discussion of my experience working around an injury. I’ll argue that partial squats have a lot of value. I don’t believe they can replace full ROM entirely, but I do believe they’re a viable alternative if you for whatever reason have issues squatting heavy to depth.

After a couple of years of being stuck with my squat, I did back to back runs of Russian Squat Routine for front squat, RSR for high bar squat, and Smolov Jr. for high bar squat. I went from a beltless high bar single at 145 and belted at 150 to beltless 140 for 7, 155 for 3 and a beltless single at 160.

Since I’d just done a heavy 10x3 during Smolov Jr., I got a bit silly and started doing the GZCLP T1 progression 3+/week. By workout 6 I failed to get a single rep with 150kg, and ended up with an adductor injury.

The thing about adductors is that they’re heavily involved in squatting, especially if you like squatting deep.

So what to do? My threshold for squatting deep was 75kg for a single; anything beyond that, and my adductor started screaming. But it only became a problem below parallel.

Quarter squats to safeties and ROM progressions

Partial squats were the solution. To keep the ROM constant so I’d progressively get stronger, rather than squatting with a progressively shallower ROM, I’d use a pair of safeties.

Since RSR had previously done me good, and partial ROM squats were essentially another variation that I just hadn’t explored and should have plenty room for improvement, I went back to that well again.

During my initial runs of RSR and Smolov Jr. I’d also done some heavy partials at the end of my warmups, just for fun. I’d gone from barely being able to unrack 180kg to quarter squatting 190. I set the safeties at the same height and did quarter squats with that as my training max.

I ended up beating the expectations and went from 1@190 to 3@200. For my next cycle I lowered the safeties a notch, 3.5cm, and repeated that feast: 1@190 to 3@200. During this cycle I also deadlifted 200kg, a 10kg PR. However, unlike my previous deadlift PR I didn’t have to uncurl my back at the end. This one is 100% on the improved bracing ability from the partial squats, and nobody can convince me otherwise.

In the meantime my full ROM squat had recovered from a mildly painful 75kg to barely a twinge at 130 and a moderately painful 140. Still nowhere near enough to actually get some quality training done at full ROM, but a very good improvement.

During this block I reintroduced some full ROM high bar squat volume work, 5x5 done EMOM. I made sure to only progress the weight if it felt good and ended up at 85kg.

For my third block I once again lowered the safeties a notch and went with Smolov Jr. for some variation.

Half squats to pins, and combining ROMs

By half squats I mean I’m like 3-5cm short of parallel. It was great to finally be close to parallel.

I decided to switch it up and run Smolov Jr. Once again I started with a training max of 190kg, and went with aggressive 10kg jumps. I went for an AMRAP on the very last set, and ended up squatting 182kg for 9x3, 1x5 on W4D3.

I’d seen multiple people discussing the idea of combining lifts you can go heavy on with harder variations that are there to build muscle. I decided to follow each partial squat session up with some 1.5 rep front squats, alternating between GZCLP T1 and T2 progressions.

Putting it all together

The squat portion of a workout would look like this:

• (Optional) machine work: abductor, adductor, leg extension, seated leg curl. My gym only has one of each, so I’d skip whatever of these machines were taken, rather than waiting for 15 minutes while someone is doing their 3rd to 11th set on the abductor machine.
• Full ROM high bar squat warmup
• Heavy partials up to some heavy top sets, increasing weight and reducing ROM until I reached my current working ROM.
  • (Optional) go for a rep or weight PR at one or more safety heights
• (Optional) heavier partials with shorter ROM. For example, a 250kg token ROM squat, nor than 1.5 times my then full ROM squat PR.
• Partial squat main work, following a program like Smolov Jr. Russian Squat Routine or RSR+
• (Optional) full ROM squat volume, for example 5x5 EMOM or 1.5 rep front squats at a weight that didn’t bother my adductor

Post-partial training, and lessons learned

After 4 months of heavy partials my adductor was almost feeling normal again, with 140kg (20 below my all time PR) consistently feeling good.

I kind of needed a mental break after 3 months of heavy squats, so I ended up lowering the safeties another notch and pushing sets of 10-15 for 4 weeks. Towards the end of that I maxed out at 155 for a single, after which I ran Soju and Tuba with 140 as my training weight - and ended up squatting 160 for a new beltless 3RM, and a belted single.

So there’s the proof. Within 6 weeks of resuming full ROM squatting, I added two reps to my all time best, and during the partial training my deadlift PR suddenly moved from 190 to 205.

Would I have gotten there at least fast squatting full ROM all the way? Probably, but a) I’m definitely better at bracing than I was back then, and b) it was definitely a good use of time where the alternative was being salty about the injury.

I believe there are two major benefits to super heavy partial squats: They force you to brace better, and you get used to the feeling of having heavy weight on top of you. The latter is kind of an extension of the old ideas of super heavy unracks and walkouts, which are sometimes employed for powerlifting and weightlifting.

Should you do it? Maybe try some heavy partials for a couple of months. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. If you’re good at bracing you probably won’t get as much out of them as I did, but at the very least it’s an option if for whatever reason you can’t squat to full depth.

I’ve always been a big believer in full range of motion; I still believe it should make up the majority of your training, but now it’s more like at least half, rather than at least 95%.

Please select flair and read the Wiki before posting.

Welcome to the Weekly Discussion Thread!

These threads are *almost* anything goes. Please understand that although the quality standards are relaxed here compared to the main page all other rules are enforced equally.

You should post here for:

• PRs
• General discussion or questions
• Community conversation
• Routine critiques
• Form checks

For more distilled kettlebell discussion, check out the Monthly Focused Improvement Threads -- where we discuss one part of kettlebell training in depth

MAKING A TOP-LEVEL COMMENT WITHOUT CREDENTIALS WILL EARN A TEMPORARY BAN

Welcome to our monthly focused improvement post. Here we have a distilled discussion on a particular aspect of kettlebell training. We try to go over various techniques of kettlebells, how to program kettlebells, and how to incorporate kettlebells into other modalities of training. 

***

This month’s topic of discussion: Racking and the Rack Position

• Describe your training history and provide credentials
• What specific programming did you employ for this technique?
• What went right/wrong?
• Do you have any recommendations for someone starting out?
• What have you done to improve when you felt you were lagging?
• Where are/were you stalling?
• What did you do to break the plateau?
• What sort of trainee or individual would benefit from using the/this technique/program style?
• How do you manage recovery/fatigue/deloads while following the method/program style?
• Share any interesting facts or applications you have seen/done
• Looking back, what would you have done differently?

***

These threads are used as a reference. As such, we ask that you provide credentials of your lifting history and that you are an intermediate and above. For beginners we ask that you use this thread to enrich yourself by reading what others before you have done. If you are a beginner or have not posted credentials you will have a temporary ban if you make a top level comment.

Previous Monthly Focused Improvement Threads can be found here.

The mod team thanks you :)

Please select flair and read the Wiki before posting.

Welcome to the Weekly Discussion Thread!

These threads are *almost* anything goes. Please understand that although the quality standards are relaxed here compared to the main page all other rules are enforced equally.

You should post here for:

• PRs
• General discussion or questions
• Community conversation
• Routine critiques
• Form checks

For more distilled kettlebell discussion, check out the Monthly Focused Improvement Threads -- where we discuss one part of kettlebell training in depth

Please select flair and read the Wiki before posting.

Welcome to the Weekly Discussion Thread!

These threads are *almost* anything goes. Please understand that although the quality standards are relaxed here compared to the main page all other rules are enforced equally.

You should post here for:

• PRs
• General discussion or questions
• Community conversation
• Routine critiques
• Form checks

For more distilled kettlebell discussion, check out the Monthly Focused Improvement Threads -- where we discuss one part of kettlebell training in depth