Saturday 9/28
KB PRESS LADDER
Kettlebell Press
5x44
4x53
3x62
2x70
1x80
1x80
This was kind of a “baseline test” now that I’ve been doing my remedial press for a few weeks.
I plan to do four week blocks of the little cycle you’ve been seeing (workout A: 4,5,4,5,4; workout B: 3,4,3,4,3; workout C: 2,3,2,3,2) where I increase the bell size every four weeks. Each workout will be once per week with pull-ups on the in-between days. The next four weeks I’ll do this using the 53 / 62 / 70, after which I’ll retest my “max” and hit the 88. Repeating that for a few months will hopefully get my up to pressing a 106 pound bell.
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Sunday 9/29
CONDITIONING
Pull-ups
3, 3, 3, 3, 3
Dumbbell Stuff
Curls 2x10x15
Hammer Curl 2x10x20
Alternate Curl 2x10x25
To be honest - these pull-ups were harder than I expected - guess that should have been expected after six weeks of not doing them and a surgery that affected my core substantially. This week I’ll be alternating pull-ups with my kettlebell pressing program and probably just sticking with 3’s for the week, moving up to 4’s next week as long as my pull-up chops seem to come back accordingly.
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Saturday 10/5
QUICK PRESS LADDER
Kettlebell Press
5x44
4x53
3x62
2x70
1x80
1x80
Saturday 10/12
HEAVY PRESS
Kettlebell Press
4x53
4x53
3x62
3x62
2x70
2x70
1x80
1x80
1x88
Pull-ups
3, 3, 3, 3, 3
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Wednesday 10/16
MEDIUM KB PRESS
Kettlebell Press
3, 4, 3, 4, 3 x 62
Pull-ups
3, 3, 3, 3, 3
A few notes on current training: I am still only 2 months post hernia surgery, and while I’m not having any issues or pain at the hernia site, some busy personal and work situations right now make it attractive to stick with a minimalist approach that requires no real setup or getting psyched for heavy weights.
The rhythm of my work day makes it easy to just block some time after 3PM for a ~15 minute workout and then get my son off the school bus when he gets home (around 3:15 every day), so alternating days between KB pressing and pull-ups works nicely since these don’t take much setup time. On the press days, I can try to squeeze in a few bonus sets of pull ups afterwards if I’m done early enough, like today.
I’m using a light/medium/heavy approach to the press days on a M-W-F schedule, and will try to level up a KB size every few weeks until I’m doing the 70 for the light day, the 80 for the medium day and the 88 for the heavy day.
At this point “success” for me would look something like being able to press a 106-pound kettlebell and do 12 pull-ups at a bodyweight of 215. Once I’m hitting those numbers and my particularly busy work season dies down a little, I’ll rework the routine to bring back heavy barbells.
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