I have never used kettlebells before and now have access to them. Light, medium, and heavy, the heaviest being 88 lbs.
I train four days a week w/ 2 bench workouts and 2 sq/dl workouts, and want to incorporate kettlebells for conditioning work on off days.
Does anybody do that? How would you set it up?
By the way, I’m 5’10, 240-245 and want to use them to boost training capacity.
Thanks for any help.
Pretty tough to suggest anything if we have no idea what you have done in the past. There are a ton of programs and a lot of them could qualify as GPP work, but again, without knowing what you can and can’t do, it’s tough to recommend anything.
A lot can be done w. the basics like swings and turkish-get-ups. Assuming you can do them, you could look at EDT-type workouts with those two exercises and it would probably be a quick way to get in some GPP work.
This is just from my own experience, prolly not what real coaches do, but here goes.
I usually do all the kettlebelling the same day as I do my powerlifting training, though at the moment I’m not concentrating on conditioning and I’m pretty much doing just similar rep/set scheme as with my powerlifting training, but in the past I did it. I noticed that if I train powerlifting the first day, kettlebelling the next, and powerlifting again the third day that the kettlebelling eats up a bit from the day after.
Thus I do both the first day, nothing the second or perhaps some light cardio and start from the beginning again on the third day. This way you still get two nights of recovery in between the training (I’m doing full body workouts) and you can train hard again.
I don’t know if this is the best way if you want to really concentrate on conditioning, but if you’re like me so that the conditioning isn’t your top priority unlike strength training, it might be worth testing.
So, you might try out doing two kettlebell sessions the same day you do squat/deadlift.
What I have been doing lately, both on my own and during group training is a ‘300’ inspired kettlebell workout.
-Yes I am aware of the 300 background, yes it is a catch phrase, yes it is played out, yes it is effective. I hate to use the term 300, you can do 200, 500, whatever. I choose 300 because it gives my guys something to relate to.-
Using a light to medium bell, I pick ten movements and perform 30 reps each, as quickly as possible. Rest when you need to rest, all 30 reps don’t need to be done at once, but complete 30 before moving to the next lift. I try to alternate movements so a the same muscle group isn’t hit twice in a row. You choose if it is 30 each arm or 30 combined.
It is a quick workout, good active recovery, and is more conditioning than strength training. I am able to do it with no effects on my lifting days.
As said previously, EDT is fantastic protocol for conditioning. Turkish GU’s are a great move selection. Other good selections are juggling swings (switch hands at the top of the swing), and snatches. Combine either of these two with a non-grip oriented move like OH press, floor press, OH Squat, Push jerks etc.
The key is that you can have tons of fun w/ Kb’s and feed your ADHD. Flipping, spinning and circling your legs will also help build hand speed and coordination.
Have fun
-chris
[quote]bulldogmedic wrote:
What I have been doing lately, both on my own and during group training is a ‘300’ inspired kettlebell workout. [/quote]
Is that Steve Maxwells 300 KB workout?
[quote]sjfou wrote:
bulldogmedic wrote:
What I have been doing lately, both on my own and during group training is a ‘300’ inspired kettlebell workout.
Is that Steve Maxwells 300 KB workout?
[/quote]
No, just something I make up. I use different movements each time (with some repeats of course) different orders. I throw in a few bodyweight exercises as well. Any ten exercises work.