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August 28, 2006
A kettlebell coordination challenge
Experienced gireviks, challenge your coordination with the following drill by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo strength coach John Kaupp, RKC.
Clean a kettlebell with your left hand and snatch another with your right – at the same time. It is a lot harder than it sounds as you have to 'tame' two different arcs simultaneously.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at 7:02 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2006
Troubleshooting the kettlebell bent press
The kettlebell bent press is hard to beat as a one-stop upper body exercise. The shoulders, the triceps, the lats, all are taken care of. Boxing coach and kettlebell mad scientist Steve Baccari, RKC finds that if he can easily bent press the 88lb. kettlebell he has no trouble military pressing or windmilling the bulldog either. Master the bent press and see for yourself. The following subtlety added to the detailed bent press technique description in The Russian Kettlebell Challenge book or DVD will accelerate your learning of this difficult exercise.
The number one technical mistake comrades make when they take on the bent press is leaning WITH the kettlebell instead of AWAY from it. To fix it keep your biceps loaded throughout the press.
After cleaning the kettlebell and placing it on your hip start a slow biceps curl negative. To the side, in the bent press stance. Be careful, if the kettlebell overpowers you in this position you could get seriously hurt. When in doubt, get a spotter.
When you have pushed the kettlebell away far enough to feel your biceps more than your triceps start the bent press. Aim to keep the tension on your biceps until you have almost straightened out your elbow in the low position of the bent press. Almost let the kettlebell fall away. Almost.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at 6:50 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2006
How to stop muscling your kettlebell snatches
A typical mistake in the kettlebell snatch is using your arm and shoulder too much and not using your hips enough. The following visualization will help.
Imagine that when the kettlebell is below your waist it weighs twice as much as it really does. E.g., you are snatching a 53lb. kettlebell but giving enough effort for a 106-pounder. Do it right and the kettlebell will be weightless by the time it reaches your shoulder.
Which is why once the kettlebell clears your shoulder you should visualize that it weighs half as much as the weight stamped on it: 26 lbs. in the above example. All you need to do now is guide the kettlebell to lockout with an easy jab.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at 7:35 AM | Comments (1)
August 7, 2006
Metabolic conditioning with a Russian kettlebell
At the last RKC kettlebell instructor course Senior RKC instructor Steve Maxwell explained what 'metabolic conditioning' is: stringing a number of anaerobic exercises together back to back in a circuit. The idea is getting smoked systemically rather than exhausting a given muscle group. With that in mind individual exercises are rarely pushed to the limit and the circuit is organized to emphasize different muscle groups in consecutive exercises. Ladders (e.g., 1 rep, 2 reps, 3 reps, or 16kg, 24kg, 32kg) and exercise combos (e.g. a clean + a press + a front squat) are the tools of choice for kettlebell metabolic conditioning. The workout in the last issue of my blog is an example of such training.
The point of metabolic conditioning is preparing for the extreme metabolic demands of sports like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and kickboxing. Without making the athlete or fighter too sore for practicing his sport.
More from Comrade Maxwell, a.k.a. Captain Carnivore: “A combo is combining two or more exercises together. A classic example is the burpee where the squat thrust is combined with the pushup. Another classic is the continuous clean and press. Another is the full front squat to press overhead. Combinations like this cover the entire musculature and involve the entire body structure. Combos produce systemic fatigue as opposed to local muscle fatigue that single exercises produce. The cardiovascular system becomes heavily taxed because of the huge amount of muscle mass involved. Combos create a certain co-ordination and flow. One also learns how to breathe more efficiently and how to learn to breath during movement. Many do not breathe correctly during heavy exertion and pre-maturely fatigue. Combos expose weakness in the breathing patterns. Combos also spike HGH levels, much like sprint protocols do. All in all, combos are a great way to maximize ones training time and give you a big bang for the buck. “
One more time: smoke the system, not the muscles.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at 6:44 AM | Comments (19)