The Big Five Workout (Kettlebell Variant)

[pinkpeony]

The five exercises of bench press, deadlift, squat, shoulder press and pull-up (or alternatively lat. pull-down) are commonly known as the Big 5 of strength training.

What would you recommend as the kettlebell variant for these 5 movements?

Note #1: I have three (3) kettlebells. A 16kg, 24kg, and 32kg (one of each).

Note #2: My interest is in the adapting the High Intensity (Super-Slow) Training ("HIT" not "HIIT") protocol advocated in the Body by Science book by Doug McGuff and John little to kettlebell training.

 

[sdb]

@pinkpeony swing, clean, press, front squats, snatch (TGU as a sixth)

 

[bananapitt]

@pinkpeony If you only have one bell of each I’d recommend doing mostly single limb variations on the movements you’ve listed, you could use a lighter bell in the other hand to hold to stabilize if it helps in some of the movements.

1) Bench = hip bridge floor press
2) deadlift = single leg deadlift (b-stance)
3) squat = goblet squat or Bulgarian split squat
4) shoulder press = single arm shoulder press
5) row = single arm row

• look, I love cleans, jerks and snatches but by their nature they are high velocity power lifts and everything you listed is most commonly used as a low velocity, strength lift. Therefore they are not good substitutes for that purpose.

The protocol you are trying to simulate requires going to failure in slow controlled movements. Snatches, cleans, jerks, and TGUs will not be able to be applied effectively with this requirement.

 

[pinkpeony]

@bananapitt Excellent response! Exactly what I am looking for.

I also love certain specific movements that are by their nature not adapted to this "super-slow" HIIT protocol. The Kettlebell Swing and the Turkish Get-Up (TGU) being my personal favourites.

For this reason, I will "supplement" this "super-slow" HIIT (kettlebell variation) of the "Big Five" workout specifically with those two additional exercises.

 

[faithinmet]

@pinkpeony Deep Six

 

[pinkpeony]

@faithinmet Wow! This looks great!

I've never heard of the "deep 6" before looking at he link you provided.

Thank you.

Edit: To expand on the "Deep Six" link above, the content is as follows:

1. 5 x Snatches
2. 5 x Single Arm Swings
3. 5 x Clean to 4. Press
4. 5 x Squats
5. 1 x Turkish Get-Up

Sidenote: I don't know why it is referred to as the "Deep Six", since there are only five movements.
Update: The "clean" and "press" are two distinct movements, often combined in the "clean to press".

• 5 reps per exercise (except turkish get-ups) per arm.
• 3-5 total rounds
• 1-2 minutes rest after each round.

 

[pinkpeony]

@faithinmet @faithinmet out of curiousity, do you know why it's referred to as the "Deep Six"?

 

[focusedontheneedle]

@pinkpeony the clean and the press are two different movements, they're just often done together

 

[phillnb25]

@pinkpeony Clean, press, front squat, row, 90 90 legs alternating floor press (or half kneeling press).

 

[iamabcy]

@pinkpeony I have read body by science and would not recommend kettlebells for its protocol. Going to total exhaustion and failure is not good training with kettlebells, exhaustion is a good way to figure out that dropping a bell on a body part is an undesired training result.

I think you would be much safer looking at walrus training from Jim Wielder of 5/3/1 fame and get a weight vest and then do the movements super slow or just do the exercises that BBS recommended in the book

 

[pinkpeony]

@iamabcy Indeed they're very valid concerns. You make a good point. Thank you.

I've never heard of the WALRUS training. Will look into it.

 

[fbgah]

@pinkpeony

Note #2: My interest is in the adapting the High Intensity (Super-Slow) Interval Training ("HIIT" not "HIT") protocol advocated in the Body by Science book by Doug McGuff and John little to kettlebell training.

This is 5 exercises, one set to failure, trying to increase 'time under load' (TUL)? IDK exactly how you're supposed to set TUL, but the big jumps in weight could make keeping it within a reasonable range difficult.

 

[pinkpeony]

@fbgah Time Under Load (TUL)

Traditionally during workouts, to gauge performance and assess improvement for record keeping, one focuses on counting how many repetitions are performed with a given weight or load. What is advocated instead is timing the duration of the set from the moment it begins until the moment muscular failure is reached. This measure is called “time under load.” (or “time to concentric failure” or “time under tension.”).

If, for instance, you end up averaging 10 seconds up and 10 seconds down, that would be 20 seconds during which your muscles are under load within the context of a given repetition.

 

[fbgah]

@pinkpeony Sure, but going from 16 to 24kg, that might change from 90s to 5s, and you're only supposed to do one set...

 

[pinkpeony]

@fbgah Typically what I do is use only one given weight for each exercise.

For example, with :

• single arm exercises, I use a 16kg kettlebell;
• Turkish Get-Up, I use a 24kg kettlebell;
• squatting or swing-type motion exercises, I use a 32kg kettlebell.

 

[ant0099]

@pinkpeony Double Snatch, Clean & Press, Single Snatch, Power Row, Long Cycle.

This list includes just training one portion of the complex movements. Ie press or clean in the clean & press or just the jerk in the long cycle.

 

[pinkpeony]

@ant0099 @ant0099 my only difficulty for the Double Snatch is that that I only have three kettlebells of increasing weight (16kg, 24kg, and 32kg). So I can't do double-arm movements.

Question: Are a left-hand side single snatch and a right-hand side single snatch a reasonable alternative?

 

[ant0099]

@pinkpeony Oh wait you know what I'm dumb. Replace one of those with thrusters. Replace double snatch with thruster I guess.

Yes single hand snatches are great.

 

[pinkpeony]

@ant0099 Perfect. Thank you ;-)

 

[pinkpeony]

@ant0099 Question: Any particular reason w.r.t. your suggestion to do a power row, as opposed to the more common bent-over row?