"Min Sin", Sinister Ladder Training....sometimes you gotta step back to step forwards!

Still ramping up and moving some big weights for a couple of more weeks before taking a back off week.  This whole Sinister training cycle is turning out to be an interesting one.

As I've wrote about before there are a couple of different angles Sinister puts to work even though the rep count averages out to an "equal work to rest" ratio.  The grip of course.  Done originally with all two hand swings the last two sets challenge the grip with a total of 35 reps done in a minutes time. You would think that that's not too big of a deal since you could technically do 40 continuous reps in that same minute, 5 more reps = more work, right? Well, there is something about "starting and stopping" that takes a different kind of work!  Although 35 is less than 40, that one extra time you have to put the bell down and pick it back up again (think power swing) with a 7 sec rest produces a challenge.

I did in fact journal last weeks Sinister Ladder training that I will edit into this post over the weekend, but I wanted to get yesterdays training journaled before I forget.  I also designed a brand new "Mini Sinister" that I posted the video demonstration of on facebook while at the airport last Thursday, but since I was headed out of town and had a competition to think about I did not have time to explain it, other than to describe it as I lead you through the demo.

Mini Sinister ("Min Sin")

Don't let it fool you!  It's just as Sinister!  Min Sin ladders down, starting at 20 reps, 15, 10, ending with 5 reps.  You have to complete the longest set first and this gets your heart rate up quickly.  You do have 30 seconds to recover before the next set of 15, but then you only get 7 seconds to pick the bell up again to complete the next 10 reps.  This is where the grip still gets challenged, but not as intensely as original Sinister.  You then get the rest of the 30 sec interval (15 sec remain) before ending the round with only 5 reps.....you do not get a full 30 seconds before starting again with 20 reps!  Oh sure, it's still a generous rest of about 22 seconds, that's why it's Mini Sin!  A bit easier designed to ease into the original, or to use with the original protocol as we did yesterday!  And I have to say, it was brilliant!

Last week I removed the 20kg from our weight ladder, leaving the 32, 28, and 24kg.  Still the 16kg remained as our alternating bell size.  This week instead of using all of the bells within a Sinister round we used the same bell for all 4 sets, 1 set backwards (Min Sin) and one round forwards (original Sin...that's funny actually, lol)

Set your timer for 30 second intervals.  First set of 20 reps starts at the beginning of the first interval.  Rest the next interval.  Start 15 reps on the 3rd interval, leaving about 7 seconds rest. Start 10 reps on the 4th interval, leaving 15 sec rest.  Start the last set of 5 reps on the 5th and last interval.  Repeat.  Both versions of Sinister are five 30 second intervals = 2.5 minutes, 50 swing reps each round.

20 (30 sec)
30 sec rest
15 (23/7 sec work to rest)
10 (15/15)
5 (7/23)

We warmed up with one 16kg round of Sinister 5-20.  Next I decided to start the 32kg rounds with Min Sin, 20-5 before a round of 5-20 original Sin.

16kg 5-20
32kg 20-5/5-20 (100 reps)
28kg 20-5/5-20 (100 reps)
24kg 20-5/5-20 (100 reps)

Here is where I get a bit creative.  I wasn't finished with the heavy bells yet wanting to do at least half of the reps alternating with a lighter bell. We did sets 1 and 4, 20 reps and 5 reps with our heavy bells and the two sets in between 15 and 10 reps with the lighter bell.  That equalled 25 reps heavy, 25 reps light.

20 w/32kg
15 w/16kg
10 w/16kg
5 w/32kg

repeat replacing the 28 and 24kg for the 32kg.

last round all with the 16kg