I closed out my 2024 fitness training with double 16kg kettlebell Clean + Press under the Easy Muscle A program. This resulted in the ability to C+P a single 20kg for 3 repetitions, being able to press it only half way on the 4th attempt.
I decided to do another Geoff Neupert program, Kettlebell Burn 2.0, with a single 20kg KB. In order to do it productively and safely, I need to be able to strict press the 20kg at least 4 reps. I tested my strict press rep max with the 20kg and was able to do one rep, only being able to press it partially on the attempted 2nd rep.
Until the beginning of this week, I was doing 20 minute C+P sessions with the single 20kg to try to improve my strict press performance. I can do more slightly more C+P reps than strict press reps with the 20kg, thus I can do more total reps (higher volume) of C+P than strict press in a 20 min. session. Some coaches, including Neupert, advise practicing strict press instead of C+P to improve strict press technique. So a question to ponder here is which approach will be more efficient for achieving my goal of 4 strict press reps with the 20kg? My hypothesis here is C+P would be more efficient because of the higher volume. More total reps means more practice pressing the KB, which should lead to faster progress.
Then on Wednesday morning, I woke up with the idea of switching back to double 16kg C+P training to help improve my strict press of the 20kg. I'm capable of C+P training at much higher volume (weight x sets x reps in one session) with double 16kgs compared to single 20kg. I've found that high volume training works very well for stimulating muscle growth as well as strength gains. Here "strength" is understood to be the amount of muscle force that can be generated. Single 20kg C+P training should in theory improve my 20kg press performance because 20kg is heavy enough to force my CNS (central nervous system) to recruit more motor units, and to repeatedly practice motor unit recruitment. This training would focus more on strength gain as opposed to muscle gain. By comparison double 16kg C+P training could stimulate more muscle mass gains in a 4-week period because of the higher volume. Then when I switch back to single 20kg training, progress towards the 4-6 rep strict press should be faster because my CNS would have more muscle to work with. There
The choice of training routine with the double 16kg comes from another Geoff Neupert program called The Giant, which focuses on C+P. The Giant comes with 5 different training routines, each meant do be done for 4 weeks: Giant 1.0, Giant 1.1, Giant 1.2, Giant 2.0, and Giant 3.0. Giant 1.0 and 1.1 are meant to be done in order and are similar in design and promised results to Easy Muscle A. Giant 1.2 or 2.0 are recommended after 1.1. Giant 2.0 incorporates ladder repetitions for potentially higher volume (more overall reps) than Giant 1.2. Having completed Easy Muscle A recently, I figured I could do 1.2 or 2.0. I decided on 2.0 for the higher volume potential.
Thus I ended up doing Giant 2.0 sessions on Wednesday and Friday. The Wednesday session went pretty well. I was able to do 3 rounds of the prescribed ladder, plus 2 more sets for a total of 53 reps. I felt pretty good the rest of the day and the following day, though that night I got crazy hunger pangs shortly after dinner. I ended up devouring a cup of blueberries, a protein bar, and quite a bit of trail mix. The Friday session prescribed one more rep per rung of the ladder. I managed to complete only one full round on Friday. The highest rung was for the Friday ladder was 8 reps, which I barely completed, and needed more time to rest afterwards
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