January-April: Kettlebell ICT block
Kettlebell ICT is a program under development by Geoff Neupert. Customers who had previously purchased Neupert's fitness programs were invited to beta test Kettlebell ICT for $9 so I decided to take the offer. The objective of the program is to reduce bodyfat while maintaining or even increasing strength at the same time. At the time I'd just recovered from my latest low back injury, so I had to make conservative weight choices for the snatch, goblet squat, and row. Even with the lighter than normal KB weights, I still lost 5 lbs. bodyweight, lost 3/4" off my waist, and gained overhead pressing strength. Honestly, I don't enjoy pushing my endurance as hard as this program demands, so I'm not sure when I'll do KB ICT again. The most likely occasion in which I'd do it again is after I'd just completed an isometric 6x6 block, and my double KB C+P rep max that is way over 10 for Easy Muscle, but can't do close to 5 reps with double KBs at the next weight up.
April-May: IsoMax 6x6 block
Best results were in the Overhead Press, which improved from around 103lbs to around 130lbs. Gains in the Zercher Lunge and Bicep Curl were more modest. The bar was set too low for the Zercher Lunge, which resulted in time and effort being wasted trying to squeeze myself under the bar and set up the body for productive training. The effort resulted in some unusual hip/glute soreness. Setting the bar one slot higher shifted the load more to the quadriceps, so the effort was spread more evenly betwen the thigh and hip/glute. The bar may have also been one slot too low for the Bicep Curl, as the abs were working much harder than the biceps.
May-July: Easy Muscle Schedule B block
I chose Schedule B with single 24kg KB Clean + Push Press and Goblet Squat. I thought I didn't have the mobility to press double KBs without irritating my shoulders so I chose to go with single KB. Also, I was really curious if push pressing the 24kg KB under this schedule would stimulate enough strength/muscle gains to press the 24kg KB outright after the end of the block. The answer was no. I still gained 0.5" in arm circumference from this block. Perhaps if I had higher rep maxes in the dips and pullups, I could have put in more volume on the calisthenics days and got more muscle gains.
The biggest mistake in this training block: Goblet squats with the 24kg KB held bottoms up. This caused damage to the elbows which would take months to recover from. Another mistake was not testing my double 16kg C+P rep max at the end of the IsoMax block. The test would have told me whether I had the mobility for double C+P in the first place. Then I would have at least considered the option of doing the block on Schedule A with double 16kg KBs. Another mistake was doing goblet squats with the 24kg KB held bottoms up - this resulted in golfer's elbow like soreness. Yet another mistake was going overboard with shoulder dislocates with resistance band and stick, which irritated my left shoulder.
At the end of this block, I tested my double 16kg C+P rep max. I did 7 reps safely, and could have done an 8th rep, but my lower body was fatigued enough that I didn't want to risk an accident. So my rep max was 8.
July-August: Chest Expander block
Because of how the shoulder and elbows were feeling, in addition to hearing about the new Rollon chest expander model, I decided to do a chest expander block, hoping this training would help my shoulder and elbows feel better. I did assisted pistol squats with rings on the in-between days to work my lower body. I observed strength gains in Overhand Vertical Pullapart, Back Press, and Sideways Extension, as measured by number of springs. This was probably carryover from the muscle and strength gains from the Easy Muscle block. I did not test my strength on the IsoMax to see if there was any carryover from the chest expander strengh gains. The reason is, towards the end of the Chest Expander training block, I suddently remembered I was only able to do 8 reps of double 16kg Clean + Press when I tested my rep max in that movement in late July. That experience let me know my lower body was lagging behind my upper body on the quest to progress to double KB C+P at weights heavier than double 16kg. That in turn led to my conclusion that doing sets of assisted pistol squats twice a week was probably not going to improve my lower body strength and conditioning as effectively as double 16kg KB cleans and squat as least twice a week. Thus I consider the chest expander experiment, this time around, to be an incomplete test.
Late August: Forced time off
COVID-19 forced a two-week pause in training - about a week of rest, then a week of P3 mobility and light KB suitcase carries because the inactivity had left my lower back vulnerable.
September: KB Strong! Foundation block
Foundation is one of the programs included in the Kettlebell Strong! anniversary bonus package. The objective is develop proficiency in 3 fundamental double KB movements - the double clean, double press, and double front squat. The idea here was to improve my double 16kg rep max from 8 to at least 10. Unfortunately, my left shoulder started slipping out of its socket by the 2nd week. I'm not sure if the cause was simply weakness of the shoulder girdle from inactivity, or wear and tear on the joint. In any case I decided to end the Foundation block and switch to IsoMax training. Overcoming isometrics has been a reliable way to train while easing joint pain at the same time.
September-October: IsoMax 6x6 block
Whenever I added muscle via a hypertrophy training block before starting a 6x6 block, I've enjoyed the best strength gains - as much as 30% increase in force output. However, before this particular 6x6 block, I did not add muscle muscle mass, and in fact may have lost muscle mass back in August when I was sick with COVID-19. Thus I wasn't expecting significant strength gains. What I could expect from this block, at best, was improvement in how my joints feel. I'd thought about putting in at least 6 weeks of 6x6, but at the end of the 4th week, I retested my double 16kg kettlebell Clean+Press repetition max on a whim. The left shoulder not feeling like it'd slip out of its socket made me feel confident enough to attempt another double KB C+P based training block. By the end of this block, I observed minimal gains in my overhead press and Zercher lunge. I started feeling uncomfortable tingling sensations during my reverse curl reps, so I eventually switched to drag curl. I was just trying to pull with as much force as I could without irritating the elbows. No gains of note there.
October-December: Easy Muscle Schedule A block
My double 16kg KB clean + press rep max was still 7, short of the recommended 10. I felt however I could get away with it because I wouldn't be asked to do 7-rep sets for the first 4 weeks of Easy Muscle A. I figured 4 weeks was sufficient time to improve my strength and conditioning enough to handle the 7-rep sets starting week 5. It worked out pretty well for me. By the end of this block, the circumference of my arms were back to where they were in July. I tested my overhead press 1-rep max on the IsoMax and scored about 120 lbs. which is quite an improvement from my tested 107 lb. 1-rep max back in September. My Zercher lunge 1-rep max went up about 8 lbs. despite double KB C+P being the only exercise working the legs for this Easy Muscle A block. My drag curl 1-rep max was a more modest 91 lbs. but being able to pull with that much force without irritating the elbows is pretty good for me.
In summary, a training block focusing on double KB Clean + Press for building muscle (hypertrophy), followed by a training block focusing on overcoming isometrics on the IsoMax for increasing force output (strength), followed by another double KB focused block, and so on; continued in 2024 to be an effective strategy for progressing in strength and muscle development. There might be a better time to do clean + push press with a 24kg KB but this year was not the year. This was also not the year to train with the steel string chest expander.
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