Solid: In-Between Simple & Sinister

[Barkadion]

Nice write up!

http://www.strongfirst.com/solid-simple-sinister/

[Conor78]

Saw that article he's a good instructor and regular contributor over on the strongfirst forum. What are your thoughts about S and S? I did it quite a bit last year and hit the simple goal. It was really easy to work into my daily routine and it kept me in shape. I prefer what I'm doing now with TB but S and S is a great program. The book is great

[Barkadion]

Saw that article he's a good instructor and regular contributor over on the strongfirst forum. What are your thoughts about S and S? I did it quite a bit last year and hit the simple goal. It was really easy to work into my daily routine and it kept me in shape. I prefer what I'm doing now with TB but S and S is a great program. The book is great

I love S&S. I might do it for the BB next year. Or even will try incorporate it into Black somehow. I did it as a finishers for my 1st block. Kinda broke it into pieces. Swings on Mondays and TGUs on Wednesdays. It is not ideal structure but .. still felt awesome.

[J-Madd]

Saw that article he's a good instructor and regular contributor over on the strongfirst forum. What are your thoughts about S and S? I did it quite a bit last year and hit the simple goal. It was really easy to work into my daily routine and it kept me in shape. I prefer what I'm doing now with TB but S and S is a great program. The book is great

I'm a big fan of S&S. I think you could work S&S swings into a standard or I/A OP template easily 1-3 days/week, depending on whether you are deadlifting. S&S is the best way to master a heavy KB so that you can work it into your HIC drills. I explain how I did this in my Apex article at TB.com.

[Maxrip13]

I am really enjoying it paired with the fighter pullup program for BB right now. I cruise through the S&S part and treat it as practice and use the pullups as a bit of a finisher. The intensity of the pullups allows me to feel like I have worked hard with minimal affects on my running and other commitments.
I actually think I may rotate this in more often, possibly even every 3rd training cycle. I feel I am maintaining my strength well.

I enjoy the simplicity of S&S and the warmup is excellent. I will keep the warmup up whgen I transition back to black in the future.

I believe there are better pullup progressions than the fighter pullup program on an unrelated note but we will see after 4 weeks.

[J-Madd]

I am really enjoying it paired with the fighter pullup program for BB right now. I cruise through the S&S part and treat it as practice and use the pullups as a bit of a finisher. The intensity of the pullups allows me to feel like I have worked hard with minimal affects on my running and other commitments.
I actually think I may rotate this in more often, possibly even every 3rd training cycle. I feel I am maintaining my strength well.

I enjoy the simplicity of S&S and the warmup is excellent. I will keep the warmup up whgen I transition back to black in the future.

I believe there are better pullup progressions than the fighter pullup program on an unrelated note but we will see after 4 weeks.

I like this S&S + pull-ups for BB too. The only time I did the Fighter Pull-Up Program I got burned out fairly quickly. I was a good bit heavier then, and my overall SE was not nearly where it is now, so maybe next BB it's time to revisit that program.

[Maxrip13]

I like this S&S + pull-ups for BB too. The only time I did the Fighter Pull-Up Program I got burned out fairly quickly. I was a good bit heavier then, and my overall SE was not nearly where it is now, so maybe next BB it's time to revisit that program.[/quote]

I am really enjoying it, but I am starting to struggle on the final couple reps after my second set. I guess this will always be the case but they are starting to get a little ugly. I was very conservative with a 10 rep max when I am at about 15.

I have always been strong across a single set of pullups and lacking the endurance for multiple high rep sets. This program might do me some good in that sense.

I just feel that the progression isn't really there. You effectively add one rep a day and that is it. I also need a good 3 mins rest minimum between rounds.
10,9,8,7,6 = 40
10,9,8,7,7 = 41
etc

I think an on the min style program would be better for volume and more use long term. e.g
3 reps a min for 10 min = 30 pullups
4 reps a min for 10 min = 40 pullups
5 reps a min for 10 min = 50 pullups
etc

If you plateau rep wise you can just add time and the volume increases easily. I used to do this with pushups and pullups and build up over a 3 week period. I would bump up to 20 mins and get in over 100 pullups and pushups without really feeling like it was too much work.

[Barkadion]

I am really enjoying it, but I am starting to struggle on the final couple reps after my second set. I guess this will always be the case but they are starting to get a little ugly. I was very conservative with a 10 rep max when I am at about 15.

I have always been strong across a single set of pullups and lacking the endurance for multiple high rep sets. This program might do me some good in that sense.

I just feel that the progression isn't really there. You effectively add one rep a day and that is it. I also need a good 3 mins rest minimum between rounds.
10,9,8,7,6 = 40
10,9,8,7,7 = 41
etc

I think an on the min style program would be better for volume and more use long term. e.g
3 reps a min for 10 min = 30 pullups
4 reps a min for 10 min = 40 pullups
5 reps a min for 10 min = 50 pullups
etc

If you plateau rep wise you can just add time and the volume increases easily. I used to do this with pushups and pullups and build up over a 3 week period. I would bump up to 20 mins and get in over 100 pullups and pushups without really feeling like it was too much work.

There is another Russian method for pull-up progression: Double Ladder.

You start with 1 pull-up and go up to the number that you can complete being close to failure but having 1-2 reps in a tank. You will start going down the ladder at this point.

Example:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (2 reps shy of failure).
4, 3,2, 1.
Done.

I have done that when I was about 16 y.o. and that was fantastic method. I might be going back to it now being 46

[TBPenguin]

No experience with S&S, but on the high volume pullups, some heresy perhaps. I'm decent at them, weighted and unweighted. And I have done programs where I have done a fairly high volume of unweighted. Not struggling. But I can't point to any benefits from the activity either. It did not lead to being able to do more in one set, it did not lead to added mass, it did not lead to greater strength. Now it may be that after so many years of doing weighted, the potential for improvement was not all that great in my case. Or that getting improvement would require even more work. But my point is it maybe gets to a point where the potential return isn't worth the added effort. When I see those detailed pullup programs that tell what do every day, I think maybe to try them if there is an extended period where there aren't good alternatives. But if I were really trying to drive improvement, my leaning would be to get in more work in a heavier range, because that strength training for pullups does more for endurance than endurance training for pullups.

[DocOctagon]

Interesting re: pull-ups.
I actually find the Operator method very effective. Calculate % of total reps if under 10 and program as per Op. Switch to weighted after you hit 10, and calculate using weight + incorporating BW.

In hindsight it makes perfect sense to me, because if you can't do ten pull-ups yet it's in the maximal-strength category. It makes sense to train it like any other heavy max strength lift. If you can do ten or more, it starts spilling over into SE. In that case adding weight and bringing it back down to a max-strength exercise is sensible. The only challenge with this method is if you can't do more than 2-3 pull-ups to begin with. Some other method is needed to reach at least 3-4 before switching to Operator. But after that, the acceleration is quick.