I have been in the groove training every week day for months now. My right shoulder is the best that it has been in more than a year – no pain, good range of motion. I attribute the improvement in my shoulder to giving up doing swings with the 32 and 24 kg kettlebells and staying with the 16 kg bell for several months. Lately I have begun to use the 20 kg bell for swings as much as three days per week – Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I feel enough strain from the heavier bell that I will continue to “rest” with the 16 kg bell on Tuesdays and Thursdays for now.

My basic program is closely modeled on the Simple and Sinister book by Pavel Tsatsouline. I train in my driveway on a horse stall pad. I don’t like lying down on the pad when it gets hot in the summer, so I substitute 40 snatches and 6 25-yard waiter carries for 10 get-ups. The snatches and waiter carries do not produce the same training effect as get-ups, but do seem to be good for my shoulders. Some weeks I don’t do any get-ups, but this week, for example, I completed get-ups every day except Monday. My technique and ability to do get-ups has remained good despite not training them every day, but I do notice a feeling of strain in my left arm that I did not notice 4 months ago when I was doing get-ups steadily.

I started adding hill sprints to my program to add some leg work on days I did not do get-ups. I like the sprints so much, however, that I have begun doing them every day whether I have done get-ups or snatches and waiter carries.

My current S&S program (5 days per week)

Prying goblet squats
16 kg kettlebell – 3 x 5 = 15 reps, 525 pounds

Goblet squat curls
16 kg kettlebell –3 x 5 = 15 reps, 525 pounds

Halos: 12 kg kettlebell – 3 x 10 = 30 reps, 780 pounds

One-handed swings
16 kg kettlebell – 5 x 10 L/R = 100 reps, 3500 pounds OR
20 kg kettlebell – 5 x 10 L/R = 100 reps, 4400 pounds

Get-ups
16 kg kettlebell – 5 x 1 L/R = 10 reps, 350 pounds OR

Snatches
16 kg kettlebell – 4 x 5 L/R = 40 reps, 1400 pounds AND

Waiter Carry
12 kg kettlebell – 3 x 25 yards L/R = 150 yards, 156 pounds

Hill Sprints – 3 x 70 yards = 210 yards

Total weight: 5680 pounds OR 7786
Typical weekly total: 34,718