KennyT
Level 3 Valued Member
I listened to this podcast this morning and plan on using it for my own SSST later this year w a 24kg bell. I'm 54 and 5'8" 170lbs so it will be a Herculean attempt for me. It's been a bucket list item for years, but I've never trained seriously for it until now.Sorry for the delayed response.
For 12kg sessions (or really any kettlebell you have that feels appropriately light) I started with 10 minute EMOM sessions and would do 15 reps each hand during the minute for 30 reps/minute and whatever little rest time was left before the next minute. It doesn't feel challenging until you get several minutes in, but the kettlebell should never feel heavy. These sessions shouldn't challenge your grip strength, but are meant to accustom your body to sheer volume of the snatch movement and the cardiovascular endurance it requires. I increased the length of the EMOMs as time progressed up to 20 minutes and 600 reps but kept the 15 R,L rep scheme the same as fitting more reps into the minute may not give you any time to rest.
Exactly right with the 32kg. 5 reps each hand or even 2-3-5 reps with a few minutes rest, repeated until my grip felt overly taxed. I didn't time my rest, and only went back for the next set when I felt ready to, so I'm sure there was a variance between resting times that increased as the session went on. The session would be over when my grip on the downswing felt compromised or unsafe.
Pat Flynn has guest Derek Toshner on his podcast which was very helpful to my SSST training. Toshner has completed SSST with the 32kg and is a beast of an athlete. I highly recommend listening to this podcast if you can.
Curious as to how you knew you were ready to test. Did you have intermediate goals, or did you take a practice test (ie. 5-7 minutes)? Was there one completed workout where you said, "That's it, I'm ready to test."? Thank you in advance.