Simple & Sinister (Pavel)

What is Simple & Sinister?

Simple & Sinister is a minimalist kettlebell program from Pavel Tsatsouline, the coach who introduced the Russian kettlebell to the West and who founded StrongFirst. It contains two exercises: the one-hand kettlebell swing and the Turkish get-up. That is the entire program.

The daily session is 100 swings and 10 get-ups, and Pavel is insistent that it is a practice rather than a workout. You do it almost every day, you end every set well short of failure, and you finish feeling better than when you started. The goal is not to be wrecked - it is to accumulate quality reps for months on end.

The daily practice

A session opens with a short warm-up run for a few rounds: the prying goblet squat, the kettlebell halo and the hip bridge. It takes five minutes and doubles as mobility work for the hips, shoulders and thoracic spine.

Then the swings: 10 sets of 10 one-hand swings, switching hands each set, for 100 total. Then the get-ups: 10 singles alternating sides, five per side. Rest is the variable you manipulate over months, so early on a session might take 40 minutes and eventually the same work fits into about 20.

Nothing goes to failure and nothing gets grindy. Pavel’s rule is to park the bell before the quality drops - if a swing loses its snap or a get-up starts wobbling, that set is over. Because you are training nearly every day, the margin you leave in each session is exactly what makes the next one possible.

The two movements

The one-hand swing is a hip hinge, not a squat and not a front raise. The bell is hiked back between the legs like a football snap, the hips snap forward hard, and the bell floats to about chest height on that momentum - you never lift it with the arm. The lat stays engaged to keep the bell close, the glutes lock at the top, and the core braces sharply as if you were about to take a punch.

The get-up is a slow, loaded sequence from lying on the floor to standing and back again, with the bell locked overhead throughout: roll to the elbow, post to the hand, bridge the hips up, sweep the trailing leg back into half-kneeling, stand, then reverse every step. A single rep takes 30 seconds or more per side.

Treat the get-up as a skill before you treat it as an exercise. It has half a dozen distinct positions and each one can be drilled on its own, and loading a sequence you cannot yet perform is how shoulders get hurt. Learn it with a shoe balanced on your fist, then a very light bell, and either film yourself against a good tutorial or get an instructor to watch you before you go heavy.

Timeless sets and rest compression

The progression is unusual: you do not add weight first, you subtract rest. You start with what Pavel calls timeless sets - rest as long as you need between sets, judged by your breathing settling rather than by a clock. The work is fixed at 100 swings and 10 get-ups, so the only thing you are actually managing is how much of the session is rest.

Over weeks and months you compress that rest deliberately, working toward a timed protocol: a set of 10 swings every 30 seconds, and one get-up every minute. That is 100 swings in 5 minutes and 10 get-ups in 10 minutes. Only once you can hold that density comfortably do you go up a bell size, at which point the rest opens back up and you begin compressing again.

The Simple and Sinister standards

The program has two named targets. Simple is 100 swings in 5 minutes and 10 get-ups in 10 minutes with a 32 kg bell for men and a 24 kg bell for women. Sinister is the same timing with a 48 kg bell for men and 32 kg for women.

Simple is not a beginner goal. Most people need six months to a year of consistent practice to reach it and plenty take longer, which is rather the point of a program you are meant to run indefinitely. Sinister is an elite standard that only a small minority ever hit, and it is entirely reasonable to reach Simple and stay there for years.

Who it’s for

S&S suits people who want a strong, resilient, conditioned body out of a session that fits in half an hour with one piece of equipment. It works well for barbell lifters as low-cost conditioning and hinge practice on off days, for anyone short on space or time, and for people who want training to be a daily habit rather than an event.

It is not a hypertrophy program and it will not build a big squat or bench: there is no pressing volume, no rowing, and no progressive loading of a squat pattern. It is also a poor choice if you cannot get competent coaching or do careful video study on the get-up, and the near-daily schedule only works if you are disciplined about leaving reps in the tank.

Strengths & trade-offs

Strengths: one bell, two movements, and a session you can finish in 20–30 minutes almost every day. It builds an excellent hip hinge, serious grip and conditioning, and the get-up delivers shoulder stability and overhead mobility work that most programs never touch. Because the progression is rest-based, you keep improving on the same weight for months.

Trade-offs: it is narrow by design - no pressing, no pulling, no leg strength beyond the hinge - so most people end up running something alongside it. The get-up has a real learning curve, the volume is monotonous, and buying successive heavier bells adds up. If you need to see a number climb every week, this is not that program.

How to run it

Pick a bell you can swing for sets of 10 with a hard, snappy hip drive and still get up with under full control - those are often two different weights, so many people start with two bells or use a lighter one for get-ups. Learn both movements properly before you count a single day of the program; a session or two with a qualified instructor pays for itself.

Log every session in the spreadsheet below: the bell, the rest you took, and how the sets felt. Compress rest gradually rather than in jumps, hold the timed standard comfortably for a few weeks before you size up, and accept that the calendar for Simple is measured in months. On days you feel flat, do the work with a lighter bell instead of skipping it - the near-daily habit is most of the program.

The spreadsheet

Browse the full program below, or open it in Google Sheets to make your own copy and plug in your numbers.

Spreadsheet via LiftVault. If the preview doesn’t load, use “Open in Google Sheets”.

Equipment

This is a barbell program - you don’t need much, but a few pieces make it run smoothly.

Learn the lifts

New to any of the movements in this program? Our lift guides break down technique, cues and the common mistakes to avoid.