Minimalist workout

[stmitche74]

Having worked with kettlebells for five years, I was looking for a minimalist workout that would allow me to achieve some additional muscle hypertrophy. Currently, my workout consists of 10 sets of two exercises per set, 25 reps of H2H Swings with a 32Kg kettlebell and 25 reps of One Hand Deadlift with the same 32 Kg kettlebell. I reach 90% of my max heart rate, especially during the Swings, then rest until I drop to 60% of max heart rate and start again. It takes me about 45 minutes to complete the workout, moving a total of about 16 tons of weight. I do this three times a week. Additionally, I perform active rest with 100 Snatches of 16kg or 20Kg in less than 5 minutes. I know that Swings and Deadlifts involve similar mechanics regarding the hip hinge and I was wondering if this minimalist workout could be optimized in terms of exercise to achieve greater muscle development. Any advice is much appreciated. I am 51 years old, 175cm tall and weigh 82 kg. Thanks in advance

PD: This is it heart rate wise!

https://preview.redd.it/bxpbtismply...bp&s=716bdcda80b1f287bf57bf5351811f1806a808eb

 

[professor]

@stmitche74 When your main goal is hypertrophy and not simply to stay fit and healthy, your routine isn’t really great for that

Again, absolutely not to say that it isn’t good for general health but it’s just not really the best for hypertrophy

You should have exercises in there like pull ups, rows, shoulder press , push ups or floor presses

Usually a good aim is to do about 40-70 total reps per muscle group in one session and about 10-20 sets total per week

Those need to be intense enough to trigger muscle growth so that means , you need push each set to about 1-2 reps shy of technical failure (think about a 8-9 out of 10 RPE/rate of perceived exertion)

And if you are interested in aesthetics , you should also do some isolation exercises for your arms and shoulders (lateral raises, bicep curls, triceps overhead extensions, bent over rear Delt flys to name some examples)

Split wise you could keep doing 3 days full body or 4 days upper/lower

One more thing is, if the goal is hypertrophy, doing a „minimalist“ routine is not optimal for that goal

You can get in good shape, stay fit, have good VO2 max and whatnot with other routines (like yours) BUT for real solid gains you need a little more than what you currently do

If you want to stick with 3 days a week 45 ish minutes I’d say do swings and your deadlifts also add exercises in there like I mentioned above

A nice easy set up is to think of the fundamental movement patterns like hinge, squat, lunge, push & pull (horizontally and vertically)

Then you could pick 4 exercises and do them in a giant set (so minimal rest from exercise to exercise but 2-3 minutes rest after the last exercise of that giant set

Example given:

A1 Goblet Squat 3 x 10-12
A2 Single arm row 3 x 10-12
A3 Romanian deadlift 3 x 10-12
A4 Push ups too failure

Then I’d do one core exercise (anti rotational or anti extension) for example dead bugs for 3 sets

You should be done in around 30ish minutes with that and then I’d do one more super set of isolation work

For example

B1 Biceps curls
B2 Lateral raises

Having 3 days like that with different exercises in each of them done consistently should be a great start

Hope this helps

 

[jermike33]

@stmitche74 If hypertrophy is your goal, I would suggest looking towards the grinds rather than the ballistics. Presses and squats. I personally saw the most hypertrophy running the Giant 1.0-1.2. The giant is just clean and press and can be run with singles or doubles. Best of luck to you! That’s Impressive weekly snatch volume btw.

 

[dawn16]

@stmitche74 How long did it take you to press 32kg? I can do 8 reps max on 24kg, how long before I can do 32kg

 

[iwanttodie]

@dawn16 Just try should not impossible to do a 32 kg press if you do 8 @24. Start with a pushpress and work on the negative part and reduce the push step by step

 

[dawn16]

@iwanttodie You think so? Hmm

 

[stmitche74]

@dawn16 It took me years of progressive work! Since the 20kg kettlebell in Covid time.
Be aware my biceps tore and I got a surgery, as a result of being too fast increasing weight in H2H swings!

 

[darienjames]

@stmitche74 How did you end up tearing a bicep doing swings? Was it a technique issue?

 

[stmitche74]

@darienjames Yeah! Changing grip and fast weight increase in the kettlebell in H2H swings!

 

[hcwewvcw02]

@dawn16 I can only do four reps on the 24s which I did at the gym. At home I only have a 32kg which I do two handed presses with. I think it will take 6 months doing 15 sets a week.

 

[kail]

@dawn16 You’re probably not far off at all

 

[iwanttodie]

@stmitche74 Dan John's "ABC Protocol" or Brett Jones "Iron Cardio" are from my view the most minimalist all round training programmes for whole body strength and general fitness