There are a couple of factors that I can see that are different between PL and kettlebell swings.
First obviously being reps/load. BUT- when launching to get that swing, you’re moving fast/explosive at around the same rate of acceleration as one would for a clean. Not near the same load but the reps certainly make up for that, and that acceleration is a big drain even when fully accustomed to it.
And on grip- this is a swinging load, subject to angular momentum, not just linear gravitational force and your hands/fingers are at the furthest point out, connecting to the load.
So that’s gonna suck.
Remember, we’re only human. (that’s actually a bonus, really).
It will get better and stronger. My working knowledge of grip strength (real world activities) is that it comes up to task quickly for high repetition/moderate load/longer duration stuff like this. Climbing trees, yanking ropes and heave lines, swinging sledge hammers, etc.
And only if all other ducks are in their rows (food, rest, etc.) All of the same rules of recovery still apply. The wrist and finger flexors are all small muscles that recover well and quickly.
Oh yeah. There’s that. Repetitive motion and tearing stuff up.
I’m still recovering from a big tear through my calf from doing a bunch of stuff and finishing off with jumping rope. Got a couple hundred hops in then POW! Pain and blood.
I kinda am (no creepo). She’s an amazing young lady, and reminds me a lot of my one niece. At least the impression I get.
The key though is pushing them too far. It’s really easy to be overzealous with adrenaline pumping and being near the completion of a route to ignore the feedback that something is amiss. And it’s really easy to fall into the trap of “testing” the injury once injured.
I’ve found two things to improve my recovery post-climbing immensely. One is rubbing my hands (and forearms) in a tailored product for climbers. It contains a bunch of stuff, but the highlights would be
Magnesium: Tendon and connective tissue health and anti-inflammatory (an epsom bath would substitute). Ideally, I’d prefer magnesium ingested orally on the training day and follow up with a bath the next day.
Honey: Antibacterial, Moisturizer. When you’ve climbed you sure as shit have some micro-cuts. It’s good to kill off any would be bacteria stuck in there. But I always wash my hands first with soap to get rid of the dirt which should get rid of the majority of the bacteria already on there. This’ll protect the hands for a while though.
Menthol: Pain Relief. Having this on the forearms feels sooo good. But, it also means you don’t want to touch anything “sensitive” for a while
Willow Bark: Anti-inflammatory, allegedly. This is both good and bad.
Salicylic Acid: Skin Regeneration, really this just dissolves the dead skin making the “new” skin appear quicker speeding up the recovery process.
(Ideally, I’d like to just have 2, 3, and 5). Hence, I usually just apply this the day after nowadays.
And having a gelatin, glycine and casein pudding before bed after a climbing session is about as efficient. If I had to pick just one, I’d pick the latter (it helps with sleep too!). Inflamation isn’t all bad.
I would yes, good strength work those singles and doubles, but I would look for more volume after those sets ideally. Again hard variations, less than 10 reps if you can.
@anna_5588 one pushup variation (might still be too easy) that I’ve enjoyed in the past is coming down to the floor, laying down flat,lifting your hands up off of the floor just a smidge (a cm) and initiate the push from there.
The deadstart that creates will cause additional muscle damage.
pretty disappointed with slowdown- conditioning felt significantly easier but those rows really made grip difficult, at least I finished , surprisingly drained after
I really feel like this is the role of a specialist to discuss with you, it’s way, way outside my wheel house. The need to “justify” something that’s quite clearly in your best interests, both health wise and for your stated goal, is something that I can’t help you with. I think a professional will be needed.
Have your health issues cleared up yet? I haven’t seen you mention them recently. I hope that’s due to an improvement, rather than a want to avoid discussing them.
What’s your diet been like? Sleep? Day to day stressors?
My two biggest answers would be 1) 500 reps of a ballistic exercise 4 days a week is going to be a drain on anyone. It certainly was for me, and that was without adding anything else to the workouts. Which brings me to 2) …
Why are you doing addition work after the swing workouts? When I said it would be wise to do advanced bodyweight work as the in-between strength work, it wasn’t for shits n’ giggles. It’s because 2000 swings a week is a lot, regardless of your conditioning level. It was also because you have a habit of trying to chase two goals at once, and putting pistols and 1-arm push-ups in as part of the swing workouts was a compromise.
I will say this again: if you’re going to do the swing challenge, I would suggest doing JUST the swing challenge. You can shift your focus to BW skills after. It’s 5 weeks of your life.
I feel like I can.
I’m probably under belled, but because I’d never done much kb work before, starting with a 30lb would have been near impossible- even now, my conditioning and muscles could probably handle the 30, but grip is barely keeping up with 25
If you’re feeling like crap, and have a history of overwork and underrecovery, please, please, please don’t go down the “I’m just making excuses” route when your body is telling you that it needs to heal itself.
You’re doing the 10,000 kb swing challenge with conditioning on other days, while working on one arm pushups, just did a half mile of lunges, etc.
I quote, from the 10,000 Swing Kettlebell Workout article on this site: "This is a stand alone program. If you feel you’re able to do a second workout in the same day, then you are ‘underbelled’ – you’re either not going heavy enough or not training with maximal effort."
You using the term under belled, which means you read that paragraph, but didn’t include the most important sentence in it. You feeling the way you’re feeling means you’re not under-anything except for under-recovered. Grip is always the limiting factor in swinging a weight around 50 times in a row.
I quote, from the Building the Monolith article: "Remember this: most people work very hard in the weight room. VERY FEW people recover “hard” outside of it. Those that figure it out stand a much better chance at success – and if you are like me, you need all the edge you can get. Whether you are doing this template or not, here are some VERY easy ways to recover from training: Don’t be an asshole in the gym. This is not about WHAT to do, more what you DON”T do. Too many lifters do too much shit in a workout and wonder why they don’t grow. Your recovery methods must match your training. If you are full-time father, student and have a full-time job: your training must match your lifestyle. It’s as simple as that. So be smart about what you do in the weight room. The delusions of grandeur that persist in fitness is spectacular. I’ve never seen a group of people who would rather WORK DUMB than get results. It’s like a badge of honor that I would never want to earn."
Not my words, the words of the people who wrote the programs that you’re doing/have done. I’m sure you’re many things, but slacker ain’t one of them. You’re as hard of a worker as they come, in what seems like most aspects of your life. It’s the reason why a lot of people respect you on here. Just take it easy.