My last attempt at a log was a bit of a disaster, simply because I did not enjoy the training style. I was trying out ‘pump training’ and while I feel I could have made good progress on it, I just wasn’t motivated.
So now I’m going to return to my more usual style of training, but with my home equipment. I’m not going to follow a set routine as such but just follow some principles:
high frequency
low daily volume
light deloads instead of full rest days
whole body training
The equipment: 30kg weight vest, 28kg kettlebell, 2x 20kg kettlebells, ab roller and pull-up bar.
Knee dominant exercises are my weakest point. My aim is to build up to being able to do sets of 10 full single leg squats. Once I reach this goal I will back off on knee-dominant frequency and switch my focus to my core, in particular proficiency at the Turkish Get-Up.
[quote]kingbeef323 wrote:
A better exercise for shoulders would be Gorilla Rows. I’m pretty sure, that’s how ProfessorX got his shoulders so big. What you do is hang upsidedown by your legs from a pull-up bar or a sturdy tree branch with a banana in your mouth (unpeeled) while holding a pair of dumbbells (you might want to start light to develop some mind muscle connection). Hold the dumbbells straight out in front of you and then start beating your chest with them one arm at a time. 4 sets of 15-20 reps should work good for this exercise. A good little trick you can do to help build up your traps a bit more is after each set, drop the dumbbells, bring your arms up to your sides flex your traps hard, let go of the branch and drop on your head. The impact will really stress the traps and favor hypertrophy. When you’ve completed all sets, eat the banana. Hope that helps.[/quote]
[quote]kingbeef323 wrote:
A better exercise for shoulders would be Gorilla Rows. I’m pretty sure, that’s how ProfessorX got his shoulders so big. What you do is hang upsidedown by your legs from a pull-up bar or a sturdy tree branch with a banana in your mouth (unpeeled) while holding a pair of dumbbells (you might want to start light to develop some mind muscle connection). Hold the dumbbells straight out in front of you and then start beating your chest with them one arm at a time. 4 sets of 15-20 reps should work good for this exercise. A good little trick you can do to help build up your traps a bit more is after each set, drop the dumbbells, bring your arms up to your sides flex your traps hard, let go of the branch and drop on your head. The impact will really stress the traps and favor hypertrophy. When you’ve completed all sets, eat the banana. Hope that helps.[/quote]
You’re doing these?[/quote]
Haha no. What I’m doing are basically like normal single-arm rows but with both feet on the ground, rather than kneeling on a bench with one leg. I’ve heard them called gorilla rows somewhere.
Good work Furo. I like doing the double swings outside the knees because I feel a better stretch bringing them back in my hamstrings. You HAVE to take a narrower stance or you will kneecap yourself. I find the wider my stance, the less stretch I have in my hamstrings. Go to Mike Mahler’s website. He had great simple low volume double kettlebell workouts. Looking at your workouts, I think you could do much more volume with your swings. For example, you could do 10 sets of 20 and rest to the top of each minute with the 28. Or do a ladder of 10,20,30. Work:rest period 1:1. Also doing double front squats with the 45.
I’ve been doing kettlebells for 3.5 years and consider them a passion for me. If you have any questions, let me know, I’ll be glad to point you in the right direction. Brian
Thank you very much Brian, I appreciate the help! Starting on my next ‘heavy’ day I will begin doing swings in ladders and alternating hand-to-hand swings (which are what I currently do) with double swings outside the knee. All the best!
Today I experimented with threading my hand through both 20kg kettlebells, using a false grip, and thus I was able to do 40kg rows. It worked perfectly and I’m kicking myself for not trying it before. 28kg was far too light.
I did send bends today for a break from the monotony (read effort) of swings.
Kettlebell training seems so weird to me. Coming to your log feels like traveling to a foreign country. And not foreign like “England foreign”, foreign like “India foreign”.
[quote]csulli wrote:
Kettlebell training seems so weird to me. Coming to your log feels like traveling to a foreign country. And not foreign like “England foreign”, foreign like “India foreign”.[/quote]
Haha! Maybe I should charge?
Up until recently I trained traditionally using barbells and dumbbells and a combination of low and high reps. I did stuff like 5x5, WS4SB and whole body days. But I wanted to experiment with (relatively) cheap home equipment and see if I could achieve the same results.
I don’t think I’m training in a completely alien way - I’m still mostly doing low rep compound movements - but my exercise selection is a bit different.
To be honest a lot isn’t even that different - my back workouts were usually based around some form of pull-up/chin-up and dumbbell rows (which they basically still are). My shoulder workouts used to be based on overhead pressing, which they still are. I don’t see a vast difference between bench press and weighted push-ups either, though bench is easier to incrementally load.
Sure my lower body workouts are quite different, but Ben Bruno etc talk a lot about how single leg workouts are effective and I really find that swings give my hamstrings and glutes a great workout.
So I think my routine looks weird at first glance, but the fundamentals that it is built on are pretty standard. Then again, maybe I’m just deluded haha!
EDIT: also my long-term plan is to keep running this routine while saving up for more home equipment and, when I can afford it, work more traditional lifts back into it. I’m currently thinking my main priority is a trap-bar for trap-bar deadlifts or a conventional barbell for deadlifts, pressing and front squats. But I’m a while off saving enough for those.
I was at a hotel today and was excited to find that it had a ‘gym’ - I was hoping to do a ‘heavy day’ and test myself on barbell lifts. Turns out that their definition of a gym is 3 treadmills and dumbbells going up to 18kg.
I did the swings outside the knee again. I was shooting for 28 on the top set, but my grip began to give in (which has never happened before) and I really didn’t fancy sending kettlebells through my wall.