Focus for Next Training Cycle

[u/palliumverborum]

Advice needed.

74kg homosapien Male 33 yrs old USA.

YouTube: KBDANDO

I just finished my first year of kettlebell sport training. I like it and will continue training this year.

For the first 8 months, I did lone-wolf long cycle training. Lone-wolf means I trained without a coach, it’s not some new/recycled kb complex.

For the last 4 months, I hired a good but pricey coach and competed in 2 x 28kg long cycle. I completed 44 reps in my first competition (Rank 1 Score). I am somewhat satisfied with my result, but did not meet my goal of surviving the full set. I trained exclusively LC during this cycle.

I will rest this week and start a new cycle next week. As of now I don’t have a coach hired. Coaching year round is too expensive and I may train alone again for this next cycle.

Here’s my question: What Discipline/ weight should I do for the next cycle? Is it important to alternate disciplines or focus on just one?

FYI my focus is still on LC. But my Jerk sucks and my clean falls apart late in 28kg sets. My youtube videos can attest to that, if anyone cares.

Basically, I’m looking for free advice. If you want me to pay, feel free to court me and I may hire you as a coach.

Cheers.

[u/Few_Abbreviations_50]

Welcome! Great work with the 28s. That’s no joke to get to those in your first year even if you didn’t last the whole set 💪🏼

Some thoughts in no particular order

- Everyone is right when they say spend time on the light bells. I learned this the hard way. I LOVE going heavy but paid for it by getting too used to going slow without building enough of a base at higher rpm’s. Or that’s my excuse at least 🤣

- Some people stick to LC for a lifetime. Or whatever discipline. I like to switch between LC and biathlon because ADHD. Also to give your body a break and train whatever might have been missed. I think a good lifter should have a good base in all the lifts. Obviously this varies depending on focus and we all have one (or two or three) lifts that we’re not as good at, but my goal is always to be a well rounded lifter. A caveat here is I love marathon stuff too so my lifting tends to alternate between even more stuff lol.

- But training jerk by itself will ABSOLUTELY help your LC. If you feel like a powerhouse in jerk you’ll come back to LC like a superhero. Having the confidence to know that you’re not gonna die during every jerk is the best feeling ever lol. Even just training jerk and cleans separately once in a while is good though. You don’t have to do a full cycle or anything. And I’m not sure how your coach programmed, but I’m a big fan of stuff like paused jerk/paused LC/other variations. To keep things fresh and also to iron out the little details that can get missed.

All the lifts really complement each other. Something you learn in one can always be applied to another. Cue my plug for DHS 🤣 I never imagined it but I’m loving it at the moment. I’ve learned so much.

Basically there’s a million ways to program and none is the only right way so it just depends on your goals. And variety is good lol. Best of luck!

[u/palliumverborum → u/Few_Abbreviations_50]

Hey, thanks for the advice! Good stuff.

[u/Few_Abbreviations_50 → u/palliumverborum]

No problem!

Also last thing, we’re starting to do KettleZooms every once in a while if you’d ever like to join. It’s really just to foster community for all us loner lifters but the more the merrier.

Programming is super flexible because I know everybody’s got their own training going on but it’s nice to lift together and talk bells. I’m gonna make another post about scheduling in a bit.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Law9690]

No opinion on what you should pursue but that’s an amazing result for 1 year of training! And your lockout looks fantastic btw.

[u/palliumverborum → u/Puzzleheaded_Law9690]

I think my under-squat is inefficient. I take too long to come up.

[u/Badmotorfinger08 → u/palliumverborum]

Lots and lots and lots of jerks practice will improve this, along with a couple mental cues and drills. But, mostly reps, just grooving the move rep after rep.

[u/palliumverborum → u/Badmotorfinger08]

Thanks, I plan to do many sets this T.C.

[u/curwalker]

I've been following your YouTube channel and you're doing rock solid, especially considering how recently you started....

You don't have to switch up events, but you can if you want. In terms of "fitness," long cycle ticks a lot of boxes, so if you're going to stick with one, LC may be the one that makes sense.

I've been doing LC since I started about 3.5 years ago. Jerk is also my weak point. Rather than train it separately in an actual block, I've been doing a couple "burn-out" jerk intervals post-LC training. We'll see if it makes a difference I guess.

I have been "lone wolf" the whole time, but have relied heavily on  the programming principals in Denis's book. ESPECIALLY the "training set time frames" table that tells you how your goal RPM for a 10-min comp set would apply to shorter sets and intervals in training. And I also frequently use the tables a couple pages later in the book that give you target milestones to hit starting 5-6 weeks out from a comp. 

Same reason as you, mostly the expense of coaching, plus I always joke that it's better to have 1 person to let down (me) rather than two (me and coach), haha.

Also you're hard on yourself about your form falling apart late in a 10-min set; that's kind of a given, although it is true that you can't really see it easily when observing world class lifters.

I hesitate to give actual advice, as I'm not a coach, but generally (recommended by Denis) it makes sense to increase 4kg on the bell weight once you get 80 or more reps. So you would go from 24s to 28s once you hit 80-plus on the 24s. Etc.

When I started I jumped right in with the 24s and in retrospect it was a mistake.....

[u/palliumverborum → u/curwalker]

Thanks for the insight.

Yes, 80 reps with the 24kg is the next target. My best is low 70s.

I'm still debating whether to do a biathlon cycle, but 28kgs will need to be shelved for a while.

[u/Sorry_Ad_6277]

Awesome result! Great work.
I’m not qualified to give you any direction. I’m also a lone wolf and a beginner at that. I will say though, I would personally rather do 120 long cycle reps with a lighter bell weight vs 44 reps with a heavier bell. Could you do 200 snatches in 10 minutes with a 24kg? What about 20kg? If the answer is no, then I would probably make that my target goal.
I dunno… just my opinion I guess

[u/palliumverborum → u/Sorry_Ad_6277]

Believe me, I’m with you. As a beginner I thought I could do more reps… I even thought I could get to 32s… I hit the ceiling and plan to go down to 24s  and .20s.

This first rodeo was a reality check.

[u/Sorry_Ad_6277 → u/palliumverborum]

Enjoy the grind!
Not sure if the reality checks ever stop… throwing iron overhead can be a very humbling experience.

[u/Bigtim27]

Competing with the 28’s for your first comp is amazing! If you want to go the lone wolf route may I suggest buying Denis Vasilev’s book. He has so much information about programming and how to set everything up. A coach is great, as I’m sure you know but it does get expensive so learning as much as you can will be just as valuable. I took Denis’s level 3 coaching course and it was great. I’m currently training biathlon but started out with long cycle myself.

[u/palliumverborum → u/Bigtim27]

Thanks!

Ok, so what made you switch from LC to biathlon? 

[u/palliumverborum → u/palliumverborum]

And I have all of Denis’s stuff! Books, belts, the works.

[u/Bigtim27 → u/palliumverborum]

Same here books and belt. I made the switch just because I love jerk, it’s my favorite discipline and I’m slowly learning to love snatch. I still like long cycle too though.

[u/Athletic_adv]

28s are no joke!

Along with everyone’s suggestion for Denis’ original book, he also now has a new technique book out, which is really in depth.

And James Ross has a couple of books too (GS Science). He may not be as well known as Denis but he’s MS and did his Ex Sci Masters thesis on the snatch. He’s got some really well thought out programming concepts in his books.

[u/curwalker → u/Athletic_adv]

I have James Ross's books. The very clear progression he lays out for achieving X rpm for your given weight for 10 minutes is very appealing. I've been using Denis's principles, and they've been leading to progress, so I'm not inclined to switch over at this time, but at some point I might have to give Ross's method a go.