By S. H. Mathews
Pavel Tsatsouline’s Simple and Sinister program is a reworking of his second program minimum — the swing and the get up. The program minimum from Enter the Kettlebell left readers with room for interpretation of goals, workloads, etc. It was minimalistic in terms of movement, but had not yet reached the level of irreducible complexity. If perfection is found when there is nothing more to take away, then Simple and Sinister is much closer to it than the program minimum from ETK. Swings and getups. Clear numbers, clear goals, a crystal-clear progression. Nothing to take away, but plenty of room to add other work to meet one’s goals.
Simple and Sinister is designed to augment an athlete’s primary training. It is designed to add strength and conditioning to the training regime of a martial artist, tactical operator, powerlifter, or other athlete. What about athletes who compete in Kettlebell sport? Is Simple and Sinister a good fit for GS athletes?
A distinction is often made between hardstyle Kettlebell lifting and sport style lifting. This distinction is often amplified by those who have no strong grasp of either style. Yes, they are different approaches to lifting kettlebells, but they are not contradictory or mutually exclusive. In hardstyle lifting, the athlete applies maximum or near maximum force to complete each lift. In sport style lifting, the athlete applies just enough force to complete the rep, saving his energy for the next rep. And the next. And the one after that, for up to 10 minutes. There are differences in technique as well, in accordance with the different goals of the two styles of lifting. There is not a good style and a bad one, or safe and unsafe, or strong and weak. Just as a hardstyle karateka can benefit from practicing Judo, or a powerlifter may supplement his slow-grind deadlifts with explosive power cleans, sport style lifters can benefit from hardstyle training. Depending on their goals, hardstyle lifters may find that sport-style lifting is beneficial for them as well.
The question to ask about any assistance program is whether it will provide physiological qualities that are necessary and useful for one’s primary sport. What does a competitive girevik need? If I had to reduce it to a minimum, I’d say cardiovascular endurance, an explosive lower body, and a stable upper body.
Cleans, jerks, and snatches are powered by the legs and caught by the arms in the rack or overhead. The legs and hips are the prime movers. A strong core links the lower body to the arms for the pulls of the clean and snatch, and for the launch of the jerk. When the weight has been launched by the legs, it is caught by the arms in the lockout position. Explosive legs, stable shoulders, strong core. Lungs and heart that can handle the workload. Add grip endurance, and you have most of the physical qualities a competitive girevik needs.
What can Simple and Sinister give you? The staple movement is the heavy one arm swing. I won’t give the program away here, but it calls for a high volume of one arm swings in a short period of time, and encourages men to work up to a heavy Kettlebell — 48k is the master plan.
Hardstyle one arm swings build strong legs and hips that can extend explosively time and time again, just like the girevik needs for jerks, snatches, and cleans. Done in sufficient numbers, they build grip endurance. Simple and Sinister swings are harder and faster than anything most competitive Kettlebell athletes will do on the platform. They make the legs stronger and faster. They carry over well to the more measured pace of competition lifting. They are to the girevik what sprinting is to the middle distance runner. When I’m doing S&S swings my heart rate regularly exceeds 186 beats per minute, and I’ll hit triple digit swing reps in under 5 minutes with a 32k bell. It makes long cycle with a pair of 24k bells seem almost easy. Almost.
The other movement in Simple and Sinister is the get-up. Again, the plan tells the athlete to go heavy and get strong, and to compress rest periods. The get-up restores tired shoulders and builds strength and stability overhead — just where the competitive girevik needs it. Snatches, jerks, and long cycle all require solid, stable lockouts. Many competitions are now electronically scored, so a solid, motionless lockout from the bells to the ground is more important than ever. If they wobble around, the lift just does not count. Weak, inflexible shoulders lead to premature fatigue, inefficient technique, and lost reps. The get-up builds upper body stability, particularly through the shoulder girdle, which every lifter needs on the platform.
Explosive lower body power, flexible upper body stability, a grip that won’t let go, and a heart and lungs that keep driving. These are things the competitive Kettlebell athlete needs, and Simple and Sinister delivers. I’ve found it to be a great addition to my Kettlebell sport training. Typically, I’ll do a 5-7 minute set of long cycle clean and jerks with 2x24k, rest for less than five minutes, then the Simple and Sinister program with a 32k. All the benefits of both hardstyle and sport style lifting, in under 25 minutes a day.
While Simple and Sinister can be a great addition to a competitive girevik’s arsenal, it should not be the only accessory work done. Practicing the competitive lifts builds the qualities needed for domination on the platform, and Simple and Sinister reinforces these qualities, but most top gireviks find that they still need some steady-state cardio —running, rowing, biking, skiing — whatever floats your boat. Twenty to twenty-five minutes seems to be the sweet spot — enough cardio to power you through a 10 minute set on the platform, but not so much that you compromise strength and power gains.
I recommend alternating steady state cardio and Simple and Sinister days after sport-specific training, or incorporating steady-state cardio at least two days a week.
S. H. Mathews is a competitive Kettlebell lifter and martial artist. He holds the rank of Candidate for Master of Sport from USA Kettlebell Lifting. When not lifting kettlebells he teaches for several colleges, universities, and seminaries.