Gabi's summer swing ladder

Well rested from a good nights sleep and weighing in at 175.75lb, 15% BF, I was ready to resume KB training as I had completed a "rest" training day yesterday.

Inspired by Gabi's "My Program Minimum" I decided to first take a crack at the swing portion. Not having a 20kg and needing an excuse if I did horribly, instead of three sets of switching from a 16kg to a 20kg and then a 24kg for a total of nine sets, I decided to do 10 sets all with my 24kg. The pattern used by Gabi makes a very clever use of hand transfers to keep the arms from getting too fatigued and thus extending the set. Being slightly ( hah!) of an OCD nature, here are the details of the ladder for the 1st two rungs:

1. One Left hand swing
2. When the bell is chest high, grab on with the right hand joining the left
   
3. One Two-hand swing
4. When the bell is chest high, let go of the left hand
5. One Right hand swing
6. When the bell is chest high, grab on with the left hand joining the right
7. One Two-hand swing
8. When the bell is chest high, let go of the right hand
   
9. Two Left hand swings
10. When the bell is chest high, grab on with the right hand joining the left
    
11. Two Two-hand swings
12. When the bell is chest high, let go of the left hand
13. Two Right hand swing
14. When the bell is chest high, grab on with the left hand joining the right
15. Two Two-hand swing
16. When the bell is chest high, let go of the right hand
    

... then 3 left, 3 two-hand, 3 right, 3 two-hand; then the pattern repeats with 4 swings each and finally 5 swings each for a total of 60 swings broken down as 15 Left, 30 Two-hand and 15 Right. This is just one set and it takes almost exactly 1.5 mins (1:30) to complete. She then rests for one minute and starts again with a new bell. Before starting, I practiced the pattern without a bell to slightly grease the groove:

24kg x 10 x (Gabi's "Left, Two-Hand, Right, Two-hand" 5-rung swing ladder)
Total: 600 swings in 36 mins
Total volume: 31,800 lbs

Using my Gymboss timer set for dual mode with a 1:30 and 1:00 count down timers, I started strong for the first 4 sets completing the 60 swings in just a little over the 1:30. The minute timer on the 4th set rest period was not enough so I took an additional 1:30 and banged out my 5th, rested only the alloted minute and then fell apart on my 6th set needing additional rest between the 4th and 5th rung. At this point I just decided to wait extra time between each of the remaining four sets to guarantee I could complete them without stopping. I achieved that modest goal requiring a total of 11 extra minutes over the 10 sets .. in theory it should have taken just 25 mins to complete. I only worked for 15 of the 36 minutes but it left me completely spent.

Because of the unique structure of this ladder, my grip did not fatigue as it would have if I had tried to perform large sets with only two-hand or one-hand swings. Instead my forearms and (for the first time) my shoulders really felt it.

In all a great new workout and now a nice new challenge to work towards completing this in 25mins. Hey Gabi, thanks for the pain and pleasure!

I got a nice response from Steve Meidinger, RKC concerning how he transitioned to the 16kg :36/:36 15 reps/set VO2 Max snatch protocol. It turns out that he just started with it and is already up to 16 sets. He went on to say that Kenneth Jay explains that the 16kg :36/:36 is "only" 80-90% of ones VO2 Max. Steve plans to transition next week to the :15/:15 using the 24kg which gets one to 100-120% of VO2 Max. That's some serious snatching! I'll be sure to follow his progress.

This evening I completed one time through the "Secrets of the Shoulder". I finished up with a little miscellaneous grind work:

BW x 1 x 20 Push ups
BW x 1 x 5 Push up with a clap
BW x 1 x 10 PowerWheel on the knees roll-out, 5 sec hold, roll-back

12kg x 2 x 1/1 RKC Arm bar
24kg x 1 x 4l/8r MP