Ascending The Mountain Again

In November of last year, I wrote about hitting a training plateau. I was unable to improve my overhead press and was in fact losing progress. I made the decision to alter my routine and focus instead on clean and jerks. Typically an individual can jerk more weight overhead than they can press. Since I was pressing a pair of 24 kg kettlebells, I tested whether or not I could do a clean and jerk with a pair of 28 kg kettlebells. I was able to do so. I then tested if I could do the same with a pair of 32 kg kettlebells. While I was able to clean the 32 kg kettlebells into the rack position, I wasn't able to jerk them overhead.

My first clean and jerk session was on November 5th, 2024. I did three clean and jerk sessions a week until the end of December when I switched to two clean and jerk sessions and two rucking sessions per week (there was no rhyme or reason for this, I just wanted to try it). On January 31st of this year, I did a strength test. To my surprise, I was able to overhead press the 28 kg kettlebells. Knowing that clean and jerks allow an individual to put more weight overhead, I tried a clean and jerk with a pair of 32 kg kettlebells. To my further surprise, I got them up overhead. Not just once. I managed 10 sets of one! I didn't simply overcome my plateau, I smashed it!

In 88 days, I went from struggling to maintain my overhead pressing capabilities with a pair of 24 kg kettlebells and being unable to put a pair of 32 kg kettlebells over head to overhead pressing a pair of 28 kg kettlebells and jerking a pair of 32 kg kettlebells overhead multiple times. Besides changing out the overhead press for clean and jerk, the only other change I made was the aforementioned addition of rucks. My diet and sleep remained unchanged. That's pretty good progress for a man in his 40s in my book.

I'm ascending the mountain again. I'm continuing my program of two rucks and two clean and jerk sessions per week. The formula is doing well for me so I see no reason to change it. To repeat what I wrote in my post about hitting my training plateau, "If you're stubborn like me, you want to brute force your way through plateaus when you hit them. If you've tried that and it hasn't worked, try switching to a similar but different exercise." I've used this strategy before to great success and it proved to be successful once again. It may work for you too. Keep it in the back of your mind in case you hit any training plateaus.