Perestroika For Your Abs: Training With A Kettlebell
By Stephen McNamara
http://www.sportsguidemag.com/archi...-kettlebell.asp
Poor exercise compliance by clients is a common experience shared by physical therapists and personal trainers. Many active individuals have a disdain for resistive training or conventional weight training. They find it to be outright drudgery. These individuals recognize the benefits of weight training to an active lifestyle and therefore force themselves to participate. However, they do not derive much enjoyment from the activity. An old-school fitness tool has reemerged that will likely appeal to these people - the Russian Kettlebell.
The Kettlebell is a round, cast-iron weight with a handle. It has its roots in Czarist Russia and Kettlebell lifting is now a Russian national sport. The iron is tamed with a variety of pressing movements and explosive movements that resemble Olympic-style lifting. In Russia, a Kettlebell lifter is known as a girevik. Kettlebell training has become popular with law enforcement, the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, martial artists, firefighters, fitness devotees who like it hardcore or folks who are just looking for something different. Kettlebells come in various weights from 18 pounds up to 88 pounds.
A Russian emigre, Pavel Tsatsouline, is credited with popularizing the training system in the United States. Pavel was a champion Kettlebell lifter and a trainer for the Spetznaz, the Russian Special Forces.
This article will discuss the many benefits of Kettlebell lifting and a few of the basic lifts will be described..
Benefits:
Explosive Strength: Kettlebell training emphasizes how to direct force in a wave fashion - from the core and hips to the extremities. This type of strength seems to be ignored or considered dangerous for older exercisers. The Kettlebell is a safe way to learn power delivery at any age.
Fun: It is different and fun. There are a variety of Kettlebell movements and the way you script and dose your workouts, no two workouts are ever the same. You can even progress from standard Kettlebell movements to doing Kettlebell hand to hand passing or juggling for developing hand speed and eye-hand coordination. Kettlebell training is perfect for groups and the group dynamic just adds to the fun.
Portability and Convenience: Kettlebell training can be taken into the great outdoors. Many people train in parks or in their own backyards. Outdoor training is advantageous because there are times when a set is terminated that it is safer to just drop the weight into the soft grass. It is also safer at times to be able to throw the Kettlebell out of the way. Kettlebells can also be easily transported around town. A Kettlebell home gym usually consists of two different weighted Kettlebells. Throw them in your car (tie them down for safety so that they are not potential projectiles) and take them to the park after work or on your lunch break. Kettlebell training sessions never last more than 40 minutes. It is too intense to sustain beyond that! A supremely effective Kettlebell workout can be accomplished in 20 minutes.
A Powerful Progression for Pilates Practioners: Kettlebell lifting compliments the trunk strength and core stability developed in Pilates. It actually takes that core strength to a higher level because the trunk is recruited more intensely to handle the moving, asymmetrical load of the Kettlebell. Additionally, proper breath control during the maneuvers further enhances trunk muscle recruitment. A martial arts concept called power breathing is taught to Gireviks in order to develop a virtual belt of support around the spine.
Crushing Grip Strength for Rock Climbers: Kettlebell training is an excellent cross-training choice for rock climbers. Most of the Kettlebell movements require precise timing of the grip with the trunk. The Bottoms-up Clean and Press is a movement that requires you to move the Kettlebell in a precariously balanced position from shoulder to overhead. You must have coordinated recruitment of the trunk and shoulder stabilizers with the muscles of the forearm and hand. If not, look out! The Kettlebell will drop in a hurry! Watch your head and your toes! Good motivation for getting it right.
Here are some typical Kettlebell moves:
The Swing: The swing is a foundational move for all Kettlebell training. It teaches the girevik how to direct explosive force from the lower extremity, the pelvis and the trunk to the loose and relaxed upper extremity. The lifter assumes a deep squat position by folding over at the hips. The Kettlebell is explosively lifted off the ground by diving the feet into the ground and forcefully extending the hips and the knees. The arms remain relaxed as the Kettlebell is projected out in front of the lifter=s body. The weight is then actively pulled down into the starting position. This movement is repeated for high repetitions with an emphasis on increasing the speed of the movement and intensely contracting the gluteal muscles. You really need to try to this to experience the intensity first hand. You are near your heart rate max very quickly.
The Clean and Jerk: This is probably one of the more technical of all the Kettlebell lifts but considered the king. It is one of the lifts of official Kettlebell competitions. The clean and jerk itself is a whole body, intense movement. It is an explosive, compound movement utilized by power athletes at elite levels - think college football, mens and womens basketball and the NFL.
The barbell clean and jerk requires expert coaching and is not recommended for most people who do not have access to such expertise. However, the Kettlebell clean and jerk is easier to master and you can derive the same fitness benefits - explosive whole body strength and incredible strength endurance.
The clean is the explosive movement used to get the Kettlebell or weight from the ground to the shoulder. The weight is pulled from the ground and you then perform an uppercut-like move with your arm. As the weight lands at the shoulder, you dip your knees to absorb the impact.
The jerk is the movement where the weight is thrown from the shoulder to overhead and you land under it with a knee dip. It is similar to an explosive shoulder press.
The two movements are then linked into a continuous flow called the long cycle clean and jerk. This compound movement alone can comprise an entire workout. Try doing sets of clean and jerks with short rest periods for 20 min. It is probably one of the most intense workouts you can do. A complete, whole-body workout in 20 minutes! Beats the profound boredom of a treadmill, stationary bike or a conventional weight training circuit.
The Bent Press: If you want to develop wiry flexibility and profound trunk strength at the same time then the bent press is for you. It was a favorite of old time strong men at the turn of the century. This lift resembles the Yoga (triangle pose) with a weight that is pressed overhead. It appears dangerous and for many of my physical therapy colleagues is anathema to what they teach or profess. However, performed correctly the Bent Press and its variants can actually fix bad backs because it addresses all the stabilizers of the spine.
It seems very popular now for fitness trainers, Pilates practitioners and physical therapists who teach lumbar stabilization/core exercises to advocate abdominal hollowing and drawing in. This apparently targets the transverse abdominis, the deepest abdominal muscle and one with a spine stabilizing role. However, Stuart McGill, PhD a Canadian biomechanist has demonstrated that abdominal hollowing actually leads to less lumbar stability. He argues that abdominal bracing is superior to hollowing and that contributions from all the obliques, the lateral stabilizers, the quadratus lumborum and the latissimus dorsi are equally important to lumbar stability.
Pavel Tsatsouline would agrees. He even has said, “I had never seen so many glassbacks until I came to the United States”. Ignoring the influence of a compensation system for low back disability in the United States that does not exist in Russia, is it possible that there is less back pain in Russia because they do not label movements like the Bent Press as dangerous? Rather, they train their spines to handle loads three dimensionally. The Bent Press targets all the stabilizers of the spine, including the transverse abdominis with abdominal bracing not hollowing.
Conclusion
If you are tired of your current resistive training routine or want a great compliment to any of your fitness routines, Kettlebell training is an excellent choice. Take your workouts outdoors, have fun and join a growing community of gireviks. For more information on the kettelebell, contact me at 801-699-8589 or spmcnamara~earthlink.net. Additional information is available at: SensibleFitnessSolutions.com; DragonDoor.com; KettlebellSport.com; Hard-Style.com.
Perestroika For Your Abs: Training With A Kettlebell
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