A special treat from StrongFirst—get busy being afraid

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Subject: A special treat from StrongFirst—get busy being afraid

As a special treat for Halloween, we are pleased to present this peaking plan designed by StrongFirst Certified SFG I Instructor, Andrew Dykstra. Be afraid.

E30 for Kettlebell Peaking Phase

By Andrew Dykstra, StrongFirst Certified SFG I Instructor

I have the privilege of working as a health and wellness specialist alongside colleagues from diverse professional backgrounds, including a former collegiate strength coach, an ex-FBI strength coach, a TSAC-certified retired Marine, a retired professional soccer player, a former NBA strength coach, a CrossFit coach, and an exercise physiologist. Being in this position allows me to draw from a wide range of training expertise and adapt these concepts for my own practice, which I find incredibly valuable.

Be afraid—be very afraid [of staying weak]!

I will refrain from getting into the discussion about the pros and cons of CrossFit. However, it is undeniable that the sport enables the development of many well-conditioned individuals, especially as it pertains to their lactate threshold and glycolytic training capacity.

I began exploring program design for CrossFit to better understand their ideas behind progression, exercise selection, volume, and intensity. Something that jumped out at me in the programming was EMOM. I had never seen that written into a program before. EMOM stands for Every Minute On the Minute. It works by performing a specific number of reps of a given exercise at the top of every minute for a prescribed duration. In StrongFirst Protocols, it is known as OTM (on the minute).

I have always enjoyed structure in my training. An OTM structure can be used as a tool to organize kettlebell swing or snatch volume in the peaking phase leading up to a test. It enables you to keep pace as you would during the kettlebell snatch test or when you attempt the Simple or Sinister challenge. It can also be adapted to an E30 structure—performing a specific number of reps of a given exercise every thirty seconds.

Kettlebell Simple & Sinister® online course

Peaking

Peaking is the manipulation of training density to shorten the rest time between reps of a given exercise in preparation for testing. Four weeks is a common training block length used to achieve adaptation. However, this can be performed during the eight weeks leading up to testing. Eight weeks gives you enough time to make any necessary adjustments to programming if you require more time but is not long enough to accumulate any undesired effects seen from prolonged glycolytic training.

The Program

Whether it is deadlifting, squatting, swinging, or snatching, it is universally recommended not to go 100% every training session. To construct effective periodization, avoid burn-out and overtraining, you can scale the volume of swings (or snatches) to high, medium, and low days using your SFG snatch test kettlebell following an E30 structure. This undulates your training volume:

High volume: 8-10 swings every 30 seconds
Medium volume: 6-8 swings every 30 seconds
Low volume: 4-6 swings every 30 seconds

Use two dice to prescribe the total swing time. The combination of the two numbers is the total time to perform the swings or snatches. I like alternating the order of days as well. The high, medium, or low volume days change every week. It may look like this:

Week one

Medium volume—Monday
High volume—Wednesday
Low volume—Friday

Week two

High volume—Monday
Medium volume—Wednesday
Low volume—Friday

Week three

Low volume—Monday
High volume—Wednesday
Medium volume—Friday

Etc.

Managing fatigue

Using my high-volume swing days as an example, I aim for 10 reps OTM (for 2 to 12 minutes). It is much easier to keep this pace for 2 minutes as opposed to 12 minutes. When fatigue begins to set in or form begins to suffer (explosiveness drops), I reduce the reps down to 8 every 30 seconds, and again to 6 reps (if that’s what it takes to keep pace with the running clock).

Heavy swing day

This is optional but I like to add in a heavy swing day. This would be a fourth day where you use the next kettlebell size up from the one you are currently using on your E30 days. For example, if your SFG snatch test kettlebell is 24kg, you would swing or snatch with a 28kg kettlebell. The idea is to acclimate your nervous system to more weight. You are making your testing weight “feel” lighter. The heavy swings also encourage you to work on your abdominal bracing. I recommend 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps per arm. Because these are heavy swings, take more time between sets. For heavy swings I follow an OTM structure and aim for one set every minute.

Conclusion

An OTM or E30 structure can also be used for other training modalities used for conditioning purposes. These exercises should be whole body exercises, such as ball slams, squat thrusts, push jerks, push presses, etc. The reps per minute will change. If fatigue ever makes it so form and power suffer, the weight or reps need to be adjusted. OTM or E30 can be a tool for more accurately monitoring the volume of a swing or snatch training session. The structure holds one accountable for keeping pace and can be used for peaking leading up to the SFG snatch test or completing the Simple and Sinister standards.

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Subject: A special treat from StrongFirst—get busy being afraid