Minimalist program

archieraptor

New member
Hey guys! Pretty new to kettlebell exercising so i only own one kettlebell. I’m very much a minimalist when it comes to training so I want my workout to consist of two, max three, exercises. One of them is for sure the kettlebell swing (two handed atm due to me only owning one kettlebell) but I’m wondering what other exercise would complement this, besides the turkish get up. I just really find the TGU’s annoying and just something i really don’t enjoy doing. Would a program consisting of swings and squat presses be sufficient? Or swings and clean n jerks? Maybe deadlifts as well.
 
@dawn16 It depends on how much of a priority chest is for you. If it's a priority, some extra pushups, dips, bench or floor press is always good. But then, if chest is a priority in my opinion you shouldn't look for a minimalist kb program.

You could also throw pushups or burpees in between sets of other stuff.

Overhead press gives a bit of upper chest, especially as the weight gets heavy and you have to start leaning.

There are a bunch of muscles that don't get enough work with this kind of approach. For a bodybuilder that may be an issue, but I'm not sure the average person cares about those details, especially if you choose to go the minimalist route.
  • Part of the hamstring doesn't cross the hip and gets very little from hinge exercises - you need a knee flexion exercise for that
  • Similarly, part of the quads need a knee extension with fixed hips
  • The long heads of both biceps and triceps cross the shoulder joint and both lengthen and contract during pulls an pushes. Interestingly, I think you could make a case for cleans being really great for the long head of the biceps, but generally you need isolation to fully develop those.
  • The flexor muscles in the forearms get a lot of work, but the extensors (and brachioradialis) don't get too much
  • Nobody seems to care about calves. Even fewer people care about the ankle flexors.
(I hope I didn't come off as a dick. That certainly wasn't the intention).
 
@hunter101 Yeah fair point, I wouldn’t have a too minimalist routine I do like horn curls and I have decent calves already from walking up and down hills,
 
@archieraptor Swings and pushups can be more than enough to start with. Either 2 handed or hand-to-hand or switch sides every set/every 5 reps.
Set a timer to beep every 1.5min, do 10 swings, rest, do 10 pushups when it beeps again, rest. That's a 3 mins long set, repeat for as much as you need (10 sets = 30 minutes, 100 swings, 100 pushups)

"Iron Cardio" is a chain of 1 clean, 1 press, 1 squat, rest, repeat on the other side. Has plenty of variations (add a rep on the press one day 1c2p1sq and on the squat another day 1c1p2sq). Set a timer for 20-30-40 mins and do as many sets as possible with adequate rest

"Swing Swing Other Thing" where you do 10 swings on minute one, 10 swings on minute two, something else on minute three, repeat for 30' (200 swings + X reps of whatever you chose to be your other thing)

"SFG Plan A" (they have an article about it on their blog) has you start with 1clean+jerk every 30'" alternating left and right side and work up to 30' before you add a second clean then a second jerk etc till you can do 3c+j every 30'' alternating arms. You can use the push press to hone technique.

"Humane burpee" is one of my favourite: 15 swings, 5 goblet squats, 3 pushups. Repeat. 5 rounds = 75swings, 25 goblets, 15 pushups. Change/scale accordingly.

As you see, there are plenty of options for you to play with, as you say you are fairly new to kbs, I'd try to build up a bit of technique (=confidence) with cleans, presses, squats, swings, before snatching/jerking
 
@cristina49 Yup! Can't remember which one he describes in which way, there's another where one can do 15 swings + 5 squats + 5 pushups and ladder down to 15 swings + 1 squat + 1 pushup
 
@archieraptor I’m not a trainer, but after hurting myself twice attempting dry fighting weight (my fault, but I need to work up to a program like that) I do my own take on it. I set a timer for a half hour and do alternative sets of swings and single arm C&P. On my second workout day I do sets of swings and goblet squats. Like DFW I give myself ample time in between sets to recover, which is typically pretty short at the beginning and get progressively longer as the sets go on.

Very little to think about, lots of good volume

I’ll jump on a more structured program eventually, but this works for the time being.
 
@archieraptor Dude I'm a minimalist myself and always go for Geoff Neupert's programs, that pretty much are perfect for me.

If you wanna come up with something on your own, clean, press, squat every other day, 20 mins. Then, assuming 3 days x week of training, at the end of each workout you attach 10 mins of push-ups + pull-ups (or rows if you don't have a pull-up bar) and you are golden. Maybe dips when strong enough.

30 mins total, easy peasy, simple af.
 
@archieraptor Sorry it’s four, but I personally would do swings, squats, Romanian deadlifts, and a press. You can skip the Romanian deadlifts if you want to be more minimal.
 
@darienjames I feel much more in my glutes and hamstrings when I do slow Romanian deadlifts, especially when I use a deficit. I’m someone who wants to have a butt, so that’s what there is to gain for me 😆
 
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