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Writer's pictureGeoff Neupert

How To Mix Kettlebell Workout Programs

(If You Must)

šŸ‘‰ Kettlebell MAXIMORUM

šŸ‘‰ ā€˜THE GIANTā€™

šŸ‘‰ ā€œThe King-Sized Killerā€

All the programs I design are designed to be ā€œstandaloneā€ and create a specific outcome.

Unless otherwise stated, which is (a) rare, and (b) usually contained in a FAQ in the program itself or a series of follow up emails.

(Same thing w/ other program designers I know.)

For example:

My newest program, Kettlebell MAXIMORUM, is designed to be the ā€œultimateā€ kettlebell program.

Itā€™s designed to develop maximum strength, power, strength endurance, and power endurance. As a result, it builds muscle and strips off body fat as a result.

Or at least keeps you from gaining body fat from accumulating (worst case scenario).

You donā€™t need to do anything nor should you want to, because itā€™s that physically challenging.

Which brings me to my second point:

Challenging.

Many times, and Iā€™m not saying this is the case with you, NAME, but many guys donā€™t challenge themselves when they train.

They:

[1] Arenā€™t fully present - distracted by their phones - emails, YouTube, podcasts, whateverā€¦

[2] Focus on quantity instead of quality - so they do a ā€œbunch of workā€ but miss the forest for the trees so to speak.

For example - they try to do as many reps as possible, but they donā€™t care about the quality of the rep, and as a result, they arenā€™t working nearly as much as they think they are.

Theyā€™re not challenging themselves to do the RIGHT work.

Case in point:

As Iā€™m writing this, Iā€™m watching my son go through the strength and conditioning portion of gymnastics practice. He knows Iā€™m here, and keeps looking up at me to see if Iā€™m watching him. I am.

He was just doing pull ups, but he wasnā€™t even getting his chin over the bar, which I know he can do, because Iā€™ve shown him how to do it.

So, when he looked up at me after doing a set, I put my hand across my throat, and he nodded his head, because he knew exactly what I was talking about.

Next set?

Chin over the bar, touching high on the throat.

Those last couple of inches seem like a small thing, but they make a BIG difference in the amount of work you actually do, and therefore the results you get in return.

Another case in point:

When I work with people oneā€“on-one on their technique.

Everyone is always shocked at how much work theyā€™re doing when we add in the correct cues.

Most of the time they use muscles they didnā€™t even know they had, or at least didnā€™t know they were supposed to use.

And the volume of work - the total number of reps they do?

Usually 30 to 50% less.

But theyā€™re MUCH HIGHER QUALITY reps.

This make sense?

So, if you feel like you need to ā€œmixā€ programs, make sure youā€™ve got the details of your technique dialed in first.

Then, because youā€™re actually doing more of the ā€œrightā€ work, youā€™ll most likely change your mind.

[3] Using the wrong starting weight

All my programs use specific loads.

Theyā€™re usually some variation of a RM - Rep Max.

Problem is, sometimes - many times - people ignore this.

How do I know?

Simple - I get emails asking me what weight they should use.

Some guys use the right load. Some guys just ā€œwing itā€ and use what they have, and the load isnā€™t challenging enough.

So, make sure youā€™re using the prescribed load(s).

[4] Finally, thereā€™s RECOVERY.

I talk about recovery more than Iā€™d like.

But thatā€™s because many of us over 40 still think that weā€™re in our late teens or early 20s.

In other words, thatā€™s our view of ourselves, even though the mirror and our performance says otherwise.

And itā€™s important to acknowledge this, because 20 to 30 years of ā€œlife stressā€ adds up - like compounding interest - only in reverse.

And that means we canā€™t perform at the same levels and our bodies take longer to recover from our workouts.

So, yeah, maybe you used to train 6 days a week when you were 19 or 20 or 21ā€¦

But at 41ā€¦ 51ā€¦ or older?

Probably not going to happen without the proverbial wheels eventually falling off the bus.

So, if you need to do ā€œextra,ā€ do complimentary work - mobility, stretching, walking, extra sleep, etc.

ā€œSEQUENTIALā€ MIXING

There are some programs that you CAN mix - sequentially - that is, one after another.

Two that immediately come to mind are ā€˜THE GIANTā€™ and ā€œThe King-Sized Killerā€ (KSK).

Hereā€™s a review from ā€œJamesPTAā€ about how he did it and his results:

The long and the short of it is, you can simply alternate 4 week blocks of ā€˜THE GIANTā€™ with 3 week blocks of KSK.

At The End of The Dayā€¦

If youā€™re doing something, but youā€™re not seeing the results youā€™re expecting from that something, then itā€™s not working, whether you like it or not.

Hopefully this clears this whole ā€œmixing programsā€ thing up for you.

Stay Strong,

Geoff

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