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June 26, 2006
The Russian kettlebell midsection and glute smoker
I did not think there was any point to doing kettlebell quick lifts with two kettlebells of different sizes. Com. Dan John has proved me wrong.
"Here is a GREAT ab drill: two handed swings BUT don't use the same weight bells... switch every 15/30 seconds. The slight movement imbalance is compensated by the abs alone..."
Com. Dan John stresses that you must keep your pelvis level and
swing the kettlebells together –the lighter one may not outrun the heavier one.
Your glutes will get smoked as well, especially if the kettlebells are radically different in weight, e.g. 32kg + 12kg.
This drill promises to be a powerful deadlift builder.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2006
'Tame the arc' for safer and more powerful kettlebell swings, cleans, and snatches
We owe the 'tame the arc' term to former Senior RKC Rob Lawrence. This concept is best illustrated with Jeff Martone's hand-to-hand clean. Don't try it until you have you have learned the kettlebell swing from The Russian Kettlebell Challenge or From Russia with Tough Love.
Pick up a kettlebell with one hand, and swing it between your legs. Flip the kettlebell and catch its round surface on your palm, the handle facing down. Keep your wrist tight. Press your upper arm against your body, keep your elbow low. Don’t lean back.
Drop the kettlebell between your legs—watch your knees—catch the handle, and repeat.
Very quickly, you will realize that swinging the kettlebell in a big arc gives you problems. The bell escapes forward away from you and either pulls you forward or simply does not allow you to palm it. Swinging the bell too high is just as annoying.
Tame the arc and your problems are solved. On the way down, it is done by tossing the kettlebell back rather than down so your forearm almost hits you in the groin. “Hike pass.” On the way up, the answer is not pulling with the biceps but rather yanking the shoulder back, like starting a lawn mower.
Taming the arc also applies to racking the kettlebell on your chest after a clean or catching it overhead after a snatch. Letting the kettlebell travel in a big arc means banging yourself on the forearm. Tightening the arc by outrunning the kettlebell with your fist makes the catch soft.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at 6:21 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2006
A triangle of tension for greater pullup strength
If you have read The Naked Warrior you know that getting your whole body tight is essential for strength. Tension is strength after all. When you do weighted pullups you must tense up everything from your feet to your hands with your lats in the middle. A triangle of tension.
Hang on a pullup bar tall enough not to force you to bend your knees. Hang a kettlebell on one foot, cross your ankles, and keep your legs straight.
Tense everything without bending your knees. Your body will shorten and you will feel two lines of tension from your feet through your lats to your hands. Semi-relax and tense again. Practice.
Next time you do your pullups, weighted or bodyweight, start your pull the same way –from your feet up. Triangulate your tension.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at 6:05 AM | Comments (1)
June 5, 2006
Chronicle of the Russian kettlebell invasion
Marty Gallagher, former Coach Powerlifting Team USA, and I were enjoying steaks in his backyard in an undisclosed location on the East Coast. We were trading old war stories over a mouthful of Mennonite-raised beef. Marty told me about Ed Coan, Kirk Karwoski, and other champions he had coached. I told him about kettlebells. Gallagher thoughtfully finished chewing his steak and suggested, “Why don’t you write an article for MILO?” You know, the magazine for crazy guys who bend nails and lift rocks.
I said, “Marty, you don’t get it, this is the most painful workout you could imagine, who would want to do it or even read about it?” Earlier I had made the mistake of explaining a Russian slur, the “collective farmer”, to Marty. He used it on me and told me that I did not understand Americans. The subversive Vodka, Pickle Juice, Kettlebell Lifting, and Other Russian Pastimes was published in 1998. The article was extremely well received by the most ruthless critics in the strength world. I started getting mail from guys with busted noses, cauliflower ears, scars, or at least Hells Angels tattoos. Incredulous, I told my friend and editor John Du Cane about it. He thought for a minute and said: “Let’s do it! I’ll make kettlebells and you teach people how to use them.”
Behind John’s reticent Cambridge demeanor is the heart of an American pioneer. A Brit who grew up in Africa, John drove from England to India – through Pakistan and Afghanistan – and lived for a few years in a Yoga community. He built his publishing company in the U.S. while driving a limousine to make ends meet. Fledgling Dragon Door Publications demanded undivided attention and John could not afford “wasting” his time on sleep. Du Cane took naps in the limo while waiting for his customers and used every spare minute to build his American Dream.
When presented with a new opportunity this rugged, self-reliant individual risked everything he had accomplished in his hard years as an entrepreneur publisher and decided to invest in manufacturing and promoting Russian kettlebells. Hindsight is always 20/20 and today it is obvious to anyone that the kettlebell is a winner. But that was not the case back then. “A cannon ball with a handle? Are you out of your mind?!”
2001 was the year of the kettlebell. Dragon Door published The Russian Kettlebell Challenge and forged the first US made Russian style cast iron kettlebell. RKC, the first kettlebell instructor course on American soil, also kicked off in 2001. Given the kettlebell’s harsh reputation, most of my early students looked like they came from the federal witness protection program. People often ask if Steve Maxwell and I are brothers. Steve, I love you, man, but I don’t think it’s a compliment for either of us.
Today hard living Comrades remain the loyal core of ‘the Party’ but now they have to begrudgingly share the Russian kettlebell with Hollywood movie stars and other unlikely kettlebellers. We are taking America by storm! Last month alone our kettlebells appeared in publications as diverse as Air Force Times and People. As Dr. Randall Strossen, one of the most respected names in the strength world, put it, "In our eyes, Pavel Tsatsouline will always reign as the modern king of kettlebells since it was he who popularized them to the point where you could almost found a country filled with his converts…”
Posted by james at 6:23 AM | Comments (0)