Certain old time lifts would be very useful in the present.
Humanity has become weaker overall, snd even the gym goer has become affected by this, most particularly in ability to lift weights overhead since…
The press was abolished from olympic competition (may the ioc never do to wrestling what they did to the clean & press).
The dumbbell swing stopped being, not only a main lift but done at all…
I was thinking about this as I swing snatched double 32kg kettlebells.
The double kettlebell snatch, even in the swing snatch which is definitely easier than in the dead snatch, is worth more than it’s weight on a barbell.
Being a 225lb/100kg power snatch has long eluded me (and I’ve been close plus done 205lbs on so many occasions, and even for a very noteworthy early am hurry up volume session) it strikes me that we’re I to swing snatch my double 40kg bells I’d be good for over 225lb/200kg on the barbell version.
Why?
The swing snatch has a much larger arc vs the relative vertical pulling line of a barbell snatch.
And turning the bells over on a double bell dead snatch would require as much pulling strength in an awkward way as can be.
The kettlebell forces you to improve at using your hips and is a more demanding implement on the upper back than a barbell is.
I was thinking about it, and realized a dumbbell swing would be the largest arc though, not having to turnover like a kettlebell needs to.
…..
October 28, 2024
As I came in from the day’s second session, the second being a quick 200 reps total of one arm swings and in mind I was writing the above.
(these partly done as sets with one hand switch, partly done as h2h which allows me to go higher rep as it’s easier mentally for me – I did 25 left + 25 right as my highest rep set with normal oasw vs 70 total reps in one set of x35 each hand done h2h)
I’m still chasing the 10x40kg bottoms up press, and do expect to soon be purchasing a 48kg bell.
It’d be cool to have a pair so as to be able to say “I’ve clean and pressed a pair of beasts”, but I don’t care to spend ~$200 twice when I only need one for bottoms up pressing, and prefer alternating c&p singles when I do heavy workouts.
I could very well “win the internet” on a 48kg/beast amrap pretty quickly, I’ve done 16x40kg right hand more than once, and I think the best set written of online is 18x48kg.
I’m close.
I’m pretty good at this kettlebell stuff.
And so far as I can tell very very few have bottoms up pressed 48kg on the english portion of the internet.
Persistence & Tenacity