Power to the People! was my introduction to lifting weights. I did 2 sets of 5 bench and deadlift for a couple of months. It went well enough that I bought a copy of Rite of Passage and a 35lb kb. I wrung gains out of ROP for two years, and eventually finished it (OHP with the 88kg, body weight of 190@6’6", SSST). Then I got my first girlfriend, and my first job, and lost focus. While on ROP, my variety days were exactly as they were in the book, two sets of 5 deadlifts, cleans with the heavier bell etc. I eventually discovered T-Nation when I was trying to figure out why my pressing progress had stalled, and bought SURGE Recovery, which literally restarted it.
I did “The Warrior Diet” detailed here at T-Nation, mostly because I had gotten the cheapest meal plan at my campus dining hall (5 trips to the buffet a week, plus a sixth I purchased, and a meal at home with my family), and trained fasted before mealtimes. In retrospect I was probably pretty lean, but I felt fat and gross, so YMMV.
Pavel isn’t lying when he says the strength you build on the ROP will stay with you. There has never been a time in my life since then, no matter how out of shape, lazy about training, exhausted from work, etc that I can’t press the 32kg bell at least once with both arms. On good days, I can press the 40kg. My deadlift is nothing to be proud of, but it started with 90lbs on the bar, and it has never fallen below where I was at the end of the ROP. I can also walk over to the bell and bang out 100 swings in 5 minutes, I might want to die afterwards, but I will do them.
I’m not sure I can recommend the ROP, I’m pretty sure I have some strength imbalances because of it, I may have exacerbated some injuries with improper kettlebell handling, and I would probably be better at the conventional powerlifts if I had done starting strength or something similar.
I won’t claim to be especially dedicated to training, I’ve tried using my kettlebells as a “complete home gym”, it did not work too well. There is something special that happens when you put your body under a heavy load. I think the twice a week deadlifts were far more important to the overall success of the ROP than the book suggests.
If I had Indigo-3G, Plazma, and MAG-10 then, I would definitely have used them. Probably one scoop of Plazma before the strength ladders and 1 scoop before the conditioning sections on the ROP workouts. Also, I would not have used dice for the length of the conditioning workouts, I would have made sure there’s an even distribution of short and long ones.
I’ve tried “Press the Damn Kettlebell Everytime You Walk Past It”, and S&S, but without something really heavy somewhere, it doesn’t feel complete.
I did switch to a modified S&S because I didn’t feel like getting muddy in the morning. My protocol with the 32kg: Without dropping the bell, 10 swings, clean, press, windmill, figure 8 (to switch hands), repeat until 5/50 swings and presses per side, never drop the bell; some days it felt easy, some days it really kicked my ass. Peri-workout was usually just a serving of MAG-10, mostly because I didn’t feel like I “earned” peri-workout carbs with such a short session.
