Kettlebell Snatch Nerd Math part 2 - density cycle

[@alanphalen2721]

Release the app, take my money.

[@robertmccall758]

I love mixing volume and density cycles like this. I do my density cycles differently though. After working up to my target volume, say EMOMs for 20 minutes, I’ll start reducing the time for each period. So I’ll set my sports timer (a Gymboss) to a shorter interval each workout, I.e. 58 seconds, 56 seconds, 54 seconds, etc. until I reach the desired time, in this case 30 second periods so I’d complete in under 10 minutes. As an older lifter, this lets me increase my density at whatever rate my body can handle.

[@CharitonIosifides]

Intensity! What a lovely word! What a lovely path! Until you realize the the golden bricks it’s laid with are pieces of crushed souls from the courageous kettlebellers that came before you. Bring it on @Mark Wildman!!!

[@MarkWildman]

There’s a lot of pain that went into this knowledge. A LOT

[@CharitonIosifides]

@@MarkWildman exactly!And I cannot thank you enough for sharing it with us!

[@andrewhicks8884]

Mark could you do a nerd math for the kettlebell swing and the Turkish get up as a programme.Thanks

[@syky145]

Simple&Sinister is your way to go

[@CharitonIosifides]

I assume that the same nerd math can apply to two handed swings as well. So I tested myself for 20 x10 for 20 minutes with my 16kg. It was hard but I did it. So I am moving to the density cycle!!! Thank you Mark for a clear path to kb fun!!! My thoughts and prayers to you and your family. Hope things are going well!

[@dannybut29]

I've had some Kettlebells laying around for about 10 years, using them on and off but never sticking to it.... Then I found this channel 3 months ago, this is hands down the best kettlebell channel on KZbin. I've been following your beginner routine with heavy light days and doing Snatches on Saturdays. You have a guaranteed customer once that app gets released, keep up the brilliant work 😎

[@morenoh149]

Where’s the beginner routine?

[@drewbob3030]

Anyone else waiting for Mark to bank his head on that barbell saddle on the power rack? Enjoying their videos, Mark. Can’t wait to see the app. Stay safe.

[@stevielavietv8957]

Thanks mark , I look forward to all your videos

[@johngrattan6343]

Excellent advice, no more holes in my hands and progression that works.

[@CraigMassey_nz]

Two things: Thank-you Release date for the app? LOVE the nerd math sessions. Appeals to an OCD SysAdmin/Developer type. Happy to UAT the app over Christmas if you need people who will provide bug reports.

[@jamesvaughan5714]

Perfect! Thank you Mark. I was simply doing 10min emom with 16kg I got to 14 each side and had to increase rounds instead of reps. This training program you’ve described makes so much more sense. Love the nerd math videos!

[@catalinamariei9037]

Amazing plan, lovely explanation! Thank you!!!

[@a.lame.username.]

I think I've watched this ten times by now! All the nerd math videos rock!

[@michaelware7120]

Awesome stuff. Thank you for sharing. I would love to see the TGU math.

[@frankmcdonnell6931]

Fantastic planning. Thanks.

[@optimusprimo7009]

I found about you like 3 weeks ago and I really appreciate your videos. You just made training easier, safer and much more interesting. No time for gym so just me and my kettlebell in a tiny room. Thanks for your videos and your work.

[@mattiswahlby6194]

Fantastic content as always

[@greentinnedlentils]

Informative, and understandable, as always. Thanks Mark.

[@dmoro67]

Simple but brilliant

[@kslough5411]

"It is always ,always, always an engineering equation." I love it! (also an engineer)

[@MarkWildman]

I was never a good engineer for the record

[@CharitonIosifides]

@@MarkWildman yet you are the best fitness engineer I have come across. By far!

[@panosagrafiotis5321]

Another Engineer fan here Mark, thanks for your content.

[@dannybut29]

Snap!

[@robertw2953]

Very, very helpful. Many thanks!

[@randyallen2771]

Mark, thanks for continuing to explain and develop these techniques. I am assuming that, in a complete program, each of the basic kettle bell movements is developed like this on a different day (as in your previous video with all the colored 3x5 cards on a cork board)?

[@MarkWildman]

You are correct. Each movement has its own path. My math is different from other peoples but this has worked for me through lots of experience. What video do you want to see next

[@abelvermeulen267]

(Deck)squats nerd math

[@randyallen2771]

@@MarkWildman I would like to see the press and alternate one hand swing.

[@a_fuckin_spacemarine7514]

Hmm...... yea I think I have a problem with my training, I just go til I feel dead..... and now I'm like chronically injured. Lmaooooo

[@cameronmiller6240]

Try reading simple and sinister.

[@CharitonIosifides]

Sleep? Rest? Recover?

[@KarateRustamRoshchin]

Thanks Friends 👍🎯

[@caro.caro.9578]

Where fitness meets math. 👍 Mark.

[@fahm8924]

Extremely Useful. Appreciated! Could you do a "nerd math" episode about clean and jerk? (in order to achieve a long cycle). Thanks in advance :)

[@MarkWildman]

You could adapt this to start the idea. I’ll make more vids on sport time cycles later

[@IgorMikeshin]

Are you still planning to shoot a video about the cooldown routine? Thanks!

[@conorfarrell6192]

Cool. Looking forward to the app

[@ElDuardo01]

Im doing with 20 kg untill stopping point, then upping to weight to 24 and start again until I can do a RKC snatch test. Sounds good?

[@mattos2487]

This is awesome ! Thank you.

[@leftfactor]

Hi Mark. Sorry for being late to the show. Just discovered your vids and have been binge watching all day. I took way too many years (decades) off from caring about my health and fitness and my latest blood work dictates that I need to get moving again. I bought a bunch of vegetables and dead animals today. I've got my kettlebell. However, I'm need just a little more info for planning. I saw the program design 1 and 2. Four exercises between them. The questions are, when and how do I incorporate other exercises? Do I replace them with new exercises just add to each day's program? When do add mace and clubbell? And will I ever use my water rower again? Sorry again. Just getting started, so sorry for all of the newbie questions.

[@jonnyscottuk]

Thank you,

[@wcpassegai9979]

another great piece - you should consider putting together a set of Excel sheets to market to your followers

[@pastorbillychidester9309]

Appreciate this video

[@battleax4609]

Math is fun

[@maartenmidden1651]

Awesome!

[@RuntheBell]

This is amazing. Thank you.

[@philstyles5384]

`I LOVE leggo ! ROCK ON EVEN IN THE CITY, ROCK ON ! ! !

[@ianwinegardner]

Silly question, but why not just increase reps once you hit 10 sets of 5/5 until you hit 10 sets of 10/10?

[@philstyles5384]

Five reps is a strength protocol. Multiple sets builds endurance. The best of both worlds in a short amount of time.

[@MarkWildman]

Good answer phil

[@a.lame.username.]

Excellent question with an excellent answer.

[@morvarid73]

your content keeps the high quality everyday. I have a question not really related to this video: I wanna buy and train clubs or the first time. Which weight do you recommend to go for a female, intermediate kind of kettlebeller? ps. I prefer club unadjustable.. Thanks

[@CaptnHowdy.]

I put weight on one end of standard dumbell and swung it around by the other threaded side to see how it would feel. I ordered a 5lb. Just an idea 💡 😉. Im a noob so 🤷 🤪.

[@MarkWildman]

10lb rmax clubbell is best possible option

[@stevielavietv8957]

Mark, what do I do if during the volume cycle I am not able to complete the Emom? Do I just repeat the week I can until I can add on that extra rep?

[@ClaarTube]

Great question - I have the same question if failing during the density cycle.

[@mikebizzleuk]

There aren't any other options. Its simply a matter of figuring it out, get good as they say. If it takes an extra week then don't be too hard on yourself and do what it takes for you to reach your goal

[@kevinlilly619]

I see three options: 1. Start volume cycle with a lighter kettlebell. 2. Use the same weight but do 3/3 EMOM instead of 5/5 EMOM and progress through a volume cycle up to 20 minutes. At this point I would expect that you could use that same weight and start a new volume cycle at 5/5 EMOM successfully. 3. Yes, you could just repeat weeks in the volume cycle with the same weight at 5/5 EMOM until successful but this could lead to frustration, injury or boredom. I like to set up my tetris of training so that I can see progress and success every week.

[@Rahelron1]

Yes, very good question, because I think it will surely happen. Layed out like this, this program seems to aim at taking the athlete from the status of absolute beginner to world-championsip contender in 14 weeks. I can see a linear progression like this working for someone who has never touched a kettlebell before and trains with 12 kg, but anyone who is more advanced than that will hit a brick wall very soon in my opinion. For sure it happened to me during my last training cycle: I was training clean & jerk 4 times a week and my program demanded less progress each week compared to this one. I stopped progressing during the 5th week. For sure this program is better than the one I was following, but in my opinion there is no way that a linear progression can run 14 weeks straight with that weekly increase.

[@MarkWildman]

What Kevin said. I try to never repeat a step. If you fail. Make new steps

[@TacticalArnis]

Have you ever programmed a KB program for cyclists? Is see a lot of "leg strength" specific programming (using KB or other weights like classic weightlifting/strength training...) but after 3-4 years of using KB's with the basic lifts (swings, cleans, c/p, tgu, snatch) as the core... I feel like there's a missed opportunity for cyclists so maximize training in less time for strength/performance improvement but especially for overall injury prevention and whole body stability.

[@MarkWildman]

The core is deck squats And single arm club

[@rjbufkin]

How could you apply this to push ups, pull ups, or dips? Would 100 reps still be your goal before reset? What about loaded body weight movements?

[@MarkWildman]

Huge question. If I can find my white board markers. I’ll make videos.

[@newpatch36]

@MarkWildman why is 20 x 5/5 your benchmark for Volume cycles? If someone is less concered with building endurance could the Volume cycles top out at 10 x 5/5 before transitioning to Density cycles? (i.e. 8 x 6/6, 7 x 7/7, 6 x 8/8, etc.)

[@jonathanslaughter1740]

Hi Mark, Is there any merit to increasing the reps per set once you’ve reached the end of the first volume cycle, ie once you’ve hit 20 x 5/5 returning to the start of the volume cycle at 4 x 8/8. I realise this is a drop in work capacity, but would this count as an adaptation phase before working you way back up to 20 x 8x8 ? Surely decreasing the rest period per minute is also a measure of strength/fitness?

[@MarkWildman]

Go to 6/6, smaller steps are better.

[@jonathanslaughter1740]

@@MarkWildman thank you for the response, and thank you for the best training advice on KZbin

[@jonathanslaughter1740]

@@MarkWildman Just to clarify, when you wrote 6/6 is better, did you mean as a start of the density cycle or to restart the volume cycle at 4 sets of 6/6 and build back up to 20 sets of 6/6 ?

[@cristianvoisei7870]

Can you add density instead of nr of sets in order to keep the training time shorter (10 minutes per exercices), but still keep progressing? Thank you!

[@heckl0r]

Awesome content as always Mark! For snatches should I start to swap out my C&P for these in the program (sorry if I missed where you said this). Also... your thoughts on using gymnastic grips to avoid hand damage? I find they really help, but is it kind of cheating? Thanks again 🙏

[@brazy8427]

Give us the App

[@christianboland]

Weights, nerd maths to structure a plan to grow, and then the discipline to follow the plan and getting better eventually. . What is more beautiful than that on the planet ? Now, concrete question. I have reached the 20x5|5 and I want to increase weight. Where in the volume cycle shall I drop back ? Shall i try to fond a number of reps and cycles that more or less equates the total weight lifted ?

[@MarkWildman]

Drop way back to 6 or 8 so you have a built in reload time period

[@daniellobo8813]

thank you very much for this video and the one before, such a good info to put into practice. Can we get a look at the math of the other basic excercices? not just the snatch?

[@MarkWildman]

Which ones

[@daniellobo8813]

@@MarkWildman Squat, swing, clean, press, turkish get up. The basic kettlebell excercises. Thanks for responding by the way.

[@SamInfectedSt0rm]

After a volume cycle, and choosing and executing a density cycle, by adding complexity- am i starting with another volume cycle at 4(or5) sets of 5/5 with the more complex movement?

[@yooogi3]

Great stuff! Curious on the density cycle: I just started the regular cycle and the 5/5 EMOM usually takes me 40 seconds. Is it really realistic to push this to 25 or less, or 10/10 respectively to 45-50? I did however start with my heaviest kb of 28kg so maybe that’s too ambitious to condense either way

[@darkclownKellen]

i know its been 2 years but incase anyone else has this question. for snatches i found it best to start with 4 sets of 5/5 with a 2 min break between sets and take away 15seconds each day i did it until i got to 1 min break, this gave me plenty of time to rest and really focus on technique which sped up my snatches. From there I did 5/5 emom for 4 min and added 2 sets each day after that

[@Rahelron1]

Why would anyone want to go over 200 snatch reps in 10 minutes? With those numbers we are talking about world record stuff.

[@nirpy]

KB sport competitions

[@IamBose80]

Great stuff. How would you compine things when doing a light and a heavy day for the same exercise? Have volume cycles with separate rep. ranges for different weights? Thanks for the videos. They have really helped me alot with my training👍.

[@matthornbuckle745]

.

[@cnlawrence1183]

I have really enjoyed your videos especially your nerd math and tetris vids. I now have an adjustable competition style kettlebell by kettlebell kings. I can go from 12kg to 32kg by 1kg increments. What do you recommend for target sets x reps for Swings, C&P and TGU? I'm having trouble finding that progression with light and heavy days and length before a rest week. Right now I have a static target light and heavy day set x rep for each kb exercise. I'm just sticking to those L and H days for 4 weeks and then having a light week but I'm not sure if I need to reduce the frequency. I know that's a lot but is that something that the app would be flexible enough to plug in or recommend a better alternative if I have an adjustable KB?

[@giatonpeonta8071]

probably a stupid question: when you do say cycles of 5 reps do you try to spread these 10 reps over the minute or finish them in your natural rhythm even if that means putting the KB down for the rest of the minute?

[@MarkWildman]

Finish them so you can put it down to rest

[@giatonpeonta8071]

@@MarkWildman thanks!

[@mackweber5806]

Would these numbers change much with C+P or C+J? Would love a video on your thoughts on KB sport.

[@MarkWildman]

Kb sport is a different monster. Run lots of these cycles before hitting kb sport. Or... have LOTS of small weight jump bells. Now that there’s an adjustable bell with 1 kg increments it’s way way easier to train

[@gustavf.6067]

Holy shit that's brilliant

[@imanolechevarria9719]

Really interesting and useful as always Mark, thank you. The density progression looks deceptively easy on the spreadsheet but just realized that if using a 16kg KB, the final density cycle has the same ‘intensity’ as using a 32kg for 20 sets of 5/5 in the volume cycle, i.e. 320lbs per minute.

[@imanolechevarria9719]

Follow up question - for the density cycle how many workouts would you do at each rep range to ensure safe progression? Thanks

[@MarkWildman]

One of you can live through it. If you fail. Start over or rerun the volume cycle

[@hazelmaines2040]

If someone endurance focussed has already done 10kg x20 EMOM x5L/5/R and is planning to do snatches 3/week and have a 12kg and 14kg available to move to. Should they do 2 days volume cycle with 12kg and 1 day density cycle with the 10Kg? Or 1 day volume cycle with 12kg and 2 days density cycle with 10kg? Thanks

[@delis4256]

how did you not get interrupted at 0:46 when you hit your head?

[@MarkWildman]

I get hit in the head a lot

[@AlteredState1123]

“Keeping your body from falling apart is very important.....” Wise words that mostly go unheeded by your average gym rat.

[@thenrie98]

Have you tried the Kettlebell Kings adjustable competition style kettlebell? It says it can do 1 kg increments. It is the most interesting adjustable kettlebell I’ve seen.

[@MarkWildman]

I want that adjustable bell

[@jasonbeto]

Why 5/5? Why not alternate ten on one side every other minute? I ask because that’s what I’ve been doing, not because I’m a bad student.

[@MarkWildman]

When it gets heavy it will rip your hands up.

[@MarkWildman]

Easiest answer

[@UBO58]

No dislike until now? Did he give up? :D

[@KellenChase]

This is what I'm thinking because of the 3 bells I have and their jumps in weight. I'll keep an eye on how my body is handling it, but do you have a thought on a better pattern to follow with these larger jumps? (While I'm waiting for kb kings to get their adjustable bells back in stock). Volume cycle 16kg Density cycle 16kg Volume cycle 24kg Density cycle 24kg Volume cycle 32kg Density cycle 32kg Does that look acceptable or do you think I'll need some kind of modified volume cycle in there? I also do recognize I'm asking a casual "does this 48 weeks of training look alright" question. But main question is "with such jumps, is this what you'd suggest?"

[@MarkWildman]

You’ll have to put in cycles where you drop weight. It needs to be at least twice as long to be survivable

[@banjophonist7632]

Is it just me or does incorporating your chosen sport (in my case mountain biking) screw with the programs? Like I ride 3 or 4 times a week so my quads are fried a lot and I never know whether to do my heavy squat days or not. So I reckon my leg progression has stalled a bit

[@MarkWildman]

You would do lower volume leg days.

[@fabianaubry3555]

@MarkWildman Is there any rest between sets? Cheers :)

[@andrewsparksnz]

They’re EMOMs: each set starts every minute on the minute. 5 left 5 right takes me about 30s. So that is 30s rest between sets.

[@fallingleaveskungfu]

What Andrew said: your rest period is whatever time you have left in the minute. Top of the minute starts a new cycle.

[@fabianaubry3555]

@@andrewsparksnz Thanks a lot :)

[@fabianaubry3555]

@@fallingleaveskungfu Thanks for the precision :)

[@CharitonIosifides]

Also, if a cycle is taking more than a minute, go back a step or two. Or do a few more volume cycles. Trying to do ten minutes of snatch at your max kb weight nonstop will crush your soul.

[@josephwilson5880]

great video Dad. I mean Mark... Mark.

[@MarkWildman]

Is this joe Wilson the Kung fu guy I use to know?

[@josephwilson5880]

@@MarkWildman Nope, sorry! Just a Kettlebell enthusiast and fan of your channel!

[@otismanousakos3946]

I just realised. Isn’t 10x10/10 essentially no breaks. Takes me 30-35 seconds to do 5/5’s. This will be interesting. 🤦‍♂️

[@MarkWildman]

Correct

[@otismanousakos3946]

Mark Wildman I'm going to start integrating prayer before each set....Pascal's Wager.... you never know. 😉 Have a great weekend Mark!

[@timgerber5563]

Hey Mark, I‘m wondering about something: When we go from 20x5/5 to 10x10/10 we do two things at once every time every time we add a consecutive rep: 1. We add the rep and thereby increase time under tension (tut) which is a progression in itself and 2. we decrease rest time which again is a mode of progression in itself. What are your thoughts on separating the two things? I.e. First increasing tut, but keeping the length of the workout the same so that in the end of the cycle we do 10x10/10 as an every second minute on the minute workout for a total of 20 minutes and only once we have achieved that we would decrease rest time by doing the same amount of work within less time. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts about when this would make sense. Obviously it adds another layer and allows us to get more workouts out of a given weight. Also I could imagine that at a certain weight you can’t keep up with the requirements of a density cycle anymore so that’s where I could imagine using this. Obviously, as you have more weights and want to progress quicker and can keep up with the requirements, I would always go with the density cycle you described.