How to workout on a busy schedule - a load manipulation primer
One of the first kettlebell programs that I followed was the Rite of Passage, from Pavel’s excellent, “Enter the Kettlebell”. It was simple to follow, had a whole raft of failsafe’s incorporated into it, and, most importantly, it worked. I followed this for a long time and got a LOT stronger. So it was to programs like this that my mind naturally went when I began teaching classes. There was a big issue though. The last heavy session of the program called for five ladders of 1-2-3-4-5, which typically takes someone doing the program the first time, with an appropriately sized bell, over an hour. Which leads us to health and fitness for busy people.
We’ve never had any plans to run a 90-minute class - I’m not convinced there is a huge gap in the market for this… So how could I incorporate this progressive increase in volume and relative intensity into a fluid situation where everyone is working at different levels and had different capacities?
I drew inspiration from two sources for this. The first was Charles Staley’s wonderful book, Escalating Density Training (EDT), and the second was from Geoff Neupert’s books (which to my knowledge are not presently on the market, but here’s hoping if you all send Geoff a bunch of emails they might come back…) Kettlebell Express, and Kettlebell Express Ultra. As an aside, Geoff has also re-released his book, Kettlebell Strong, on StrongFirst’s training platform.
The basic premise of EDT was that you would pick a pair of exercises and alternate from one to the other for 15 minutes. You’d do this in sets of five performing as many beautiful reps as you could before dropping down to sets of four, three, two, and finally singles. The goal was to add a rep each session, and thereby escalating your density and volume, before eventually shifting up to a heavier set once you’d hit a predetermined target. For people who are looking to add some meat, get stronger, and have a limited time frame, this is fantastic. The downside for me in a class setting is that this can require someone to have decent body awareness so that they see the drop in quality coming before it hits them. I’d expect that most of my clients will develop this fairly swiftly, but people learn at different rates, and there is a large chunk of clientele who come through the doors without this level of body awareness.
Alongside this, I’m a big fan of ‘waving the load’ or using varied volumes week on week, and session on session to allow the natural cycles of the body to recover, compensate, and super-compensate. Pavel often quotes Soviet scientists who suggest that bodies can only tolerate two heavy weeks in four, this is relevant, because when I’m responsible for essentially ‘load managing’ a class of students with experiences that run the gamut from beginner to advanced, I don’t want to have to spot the point where people need to drop down to a smaller set size (which can be tough on some students egos!). So how do I minimise their risk without needing to have my eyes in 10 places at once?
At this point, Geoff’s great books become relevant. Geoff does a great job of writing simple programs that are effective, but that also creates rhythms week on week. He uses a variety of strategies through his programming, but something that he uses really well is ladders. Sometimes they are on the minute, but a lot of the time, they are moderated using bio-feedback. There are a whole bunch of ladder schemes that can be used (I’ve been playing around with ladders using the Fibonacci sequence of late thanks to a conversation I had with the intelligent and good-sighted Peter Jankowski SFG II), but by using ladders, you create natural pauses that can moderate the volume, density and relative intensity of a given session, week, and through this, the waviness of the program, even in a larger group. If you look below, you’ll see a list of the typical sequence in which I’ll use ladders to increase volume in my classes.
Ladders are where you perform sets in either a descending or ascending fashion. This might be 1-2-3 (one rep, then two reps, then three reps) or 2-3-5 (two reps, then three reps, then five reps) or really whatever you like.
By using a ladder, it also means that I can: increase the relative intensity (how many times someone lifts a bell compared to the maximum number of lifts that someone could lift the same bell), while still diminishing density; or I can increase volume while still keeping the session feeling relatively easy; or even make it so that the session gets through a lot of work with some hard reps, but still with plenty of rest. With ladders, I can wave the load, escalate the density, and allow the person coaching the class to manage a reduced number of hard reps where form might break down and where they can give more focused feedback.
Another underrated aspect of ladders is that they give students a lot of ‘free money’. Reps where they can really focus on their technique, increase their volume, and feel like they’ve done virtually nothing for their return!
By combining these two philosophies, we end up with a class that allows people to use bio-feedback, get strong, and respect the rhythms of their bodies. As a result, people get very good results, they stay safe, and they are able to develop a solid technique that will let them mine different styles of programming with a massive foundation to work from in the future.
If you’re interested in training that is intelligent, strategic and purposeful, we’d love to meet you! Our kettlebell group classes are designed for people of all levels to train for long-term strength. Check out our next Beginner Kettlebell Workshop or contact us today to find out how you can get started with kettlebell group fitness.