Just finished workout 1 and it felt good. Got done in about 35 minutes. The heaviest kettlebell in my gym is only 44 pounds and the program calls for a 53 pound one. So to make up for this I am going to do an extra 9 swings per round to make up for the extra 9 pounds.
Has anyone else completed this challenge? What were your thoughts about it? What kind of results did you get? And did anyone substitute other exercises than the one Dan John recommends?
I feel like the dips were too easy and if I did weighted dips it would be a pain in the ass to keep taking the weight belt on and off in between sets. Was thinking maybe dumbbell bench-presses?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as well. Thank you.
EDIT: Just realized there was a conditioning thread…probably a better topic for that thread but oh well. lol
I did it a few months ago over my winter break when all I had was my KB. Used a 2 pood bell cause thats all I had and i dropped the reps to 7,14,21,28. I wish I had access to the presribed weight because I think it would have worked better but it was still brutal and effective. For my assistance since I only had the KB to use I alternated each workout between goblet squats and clean and jerk. Did 2,3,5 reps for goblets and 1,2,3 for c&j. I switched it up one or two workouts and tried KB rows and diamond push ups for assistance which was decent, i think i did 3 count push ups.
Just finished the second week. Started with a 50 pound bell at first and the first workout destroyed me - took me over 50 minutes and only got 400 swings. Now less than 2 weeks later I’m using a 60 pounder and finished the 500 and weighted dips in 26:30. It’s awesome how the body adapts.
As for dips, since I didn’t want to go too heavy I just put a 20 pound dumbell on the floor in the dip station and picked it up with my feet at the start of each set - no picking it up and putting it in the legs or strapping on a dip belt.
Really liking the program so far for the simplicity of it and I’m on a cut so it’s helping with that. It was starting to feel too easy at one point so now I’m really trying to break that 25 minute mark and may move up to the 70 pounder.
Same thing happened to me on the first workout but by the 4th workout I can already notice a difference and I can tell I might have to add another round because the kettlebell I am using is too light. But I am gonna give the dumbbell in between my feet a try thanks for the response
I did it about 2 years ago. Waist size shrank 2" or so and shoulders turned to rock. Grip improved too. When I finished it I noticed I was a bit weaker on main barbell lifts.