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May 15, 2006
Kettlebell high rep quick lifts for elite conditioning
Slow, heavy lifts or "grinds", done for one to five reps are one side of The Russian Kettlebell Challenge coin. High-rep, quick lifts are the flip side. When we train to "endure strength", we turn everything around: the lifts are quick and the reps are high. Kettlebell swings and snatches done for 10, 100, and even more reps are unbeatable for developing championship conditioning. Countless tough hombres have been humbled by these drills. Fighters, athletes, and special operators have admitted that they were shocked to discover they had met the hardest workout of their lives. Here’s how Mike Castrogiovanni, RKC, a strong, tough-as-nails wrestler, describes his first encounter with the Russian kettlebell:
“I was visiting with a friend, strength coach Mark Reifkind. He kept on ranting and raving about these things called “Kettlebells.” If Mark is ranting about something, you best sit your ass down and take notes. He said, “Look, man, if I told you I had a strength tool that will raise your heart rate over 200BPM you would want to see it, right?”
“Now, I’ve known Rif for quite a while and for him to make a statement like that was pretty absurd, especially since all my kinesiology teachers and textbooks had been telling me that a man of my age should not be able to do so physiologically. After hearing Mark’s outlandish claim I decided to pay him a visit to make sure he hadn’t killed too many brain cells from all those years of powerlifting and try to bring him back to reality. So, with the intention of proving my old teacher wrong and showing him what a stud I had become, I went to his house.
“We went to the garage where I viewed three cannon balls with handles resting on the floor. I thought to myself, “Cannonballs! This guy has lost his marbles.” Despite my initial resistance I became very interested as soon as Rif began to demonstrate some of the basic movements. It literally forced my mind to open; I had never seen anything like it nor had I ever been able to conceptualize such a possibility. My experience with explosive movements consisted of the O-lifts which I rarely performed for reps and when I did the reps they certainly were not fluid and continuous. At this point, my interest peaked; but I still felt the skepticism that had been implanted in my mind by the many lectures and late nights of reading. After all, I was on my way to becoming a “Kinesiologist”!
“Eventually, my natural child-like curiosity forced my overgrown ego to step down and before I knew it, Mark was teaching me swing techniques, both two and one hand varieties. After Rif felt confident in my ability to perform a safe swing, he introduced the clean and the snatch. It took a little while for me to get the movements down, but eventually I did. The learning process alone elevated my heart rate and breathing. I had begun to think that he might be right and science might be wrong. For the love of God, what was I to do? My whole world was about to collapse before me, in a garage, of all places, at the hands of my old strength coach, of all people, and because of a cannon ball, of all things.
“I accepted the inevitable, stood my ground and attacked the bells as if it were my last dance on earth. I remember very little of the workout itself. I know we did swings, cleans, and snatches, and that the workout lasted no more than seven minutes. I remember my heart beating so hard that I could feel it in my pelvic floor, and my heart rate elevated to 221+BPM. [Karvonen formula tables show 195 as “the maximum heart rate” for a 25-year-old.] The thing that stands out most in my mind was my prideful attempts to refrain from vomiting all over Rif’s garage and my feeble attempts to act as though I was unaffected by the workout.”
Are you man enough to accept The Russian Kettlebell Challenge?
Posted by james at May 15, 2006 5:59 AM