Surya Voinar-Fowler is one of my kettlebell sport heroes.  I watched her on YouTube long before I was lucky enough to meet her and was always impressed by her guts on the platform.  However, it was reading ”Just One Rep Away“, written by Surya after a couple of failed MS attempts that made me realise what a truly incredible athlete Surya is: she never quits and epitomises the kettlebell sport spirit with constant growth, not only in numbers but in her outlook.  It’s Surya’s persistence and humble nature that have allowed her to plough through countless barriers and continually add to her list of achievements, which include: Being ranked Master of Sport with the WKC and RGSF Being the only US woman to compete in 24kg snatch alongside the professional women in the IUKL, and winning a silver medal at the IUKL Open Cup of Europe in Russia and a bronze medal at the IUKL World Championships in New York Being ranked CMS in 24kg snatch only with the IUKL Holding record 20kg one arm jerk numbers Surya has also broken down stereotypes by performing double jerks and double long cycle with form that would make most male lifters envious.  This is an interview I’ve been wanting [...]

After training with the renowned kettlebell sport coaches at the Ice Chamber last month, I discovered I’d been making some pretty basic mistakes with my jerk technique – and these are mistakes that a lot of people are making. The information I got from the Ice Chamber coaches has come from their own vast experience and their work with great coaches and athletes such as Ivan Denisov and Valery Fedorenko.  This sort of information is gold and not all that easy to come by! So I put together this short video on what I learnt for the athletes I coach online and anyone else who is looking to improve their kettlebell jerk technique: You can look for the points I talk about in the video in this slow motion video of Denisov:

What are they good for? Kettlebell cleans are great for: Building grip endurance Getting many of the benefits of the one arm swing, such as developing power endurance in the posterior chain, with the added bonus of being able to regulate pace and resting the grip when need be (usually the limiting factor in swings) Combinations and complexes (eg clean and press, clean and jerk) Getting the kettlebell into rack position to perform a variety of other exercises Developing skill and coordination – the clean is particularly good for developing skills that transfer to the snatch such as releasing the grip at the correct time and landing the handle in the correct position on the hand. Where to begin? Before you start cleaning you need to have two kettlebell lifting essentials down pat: the one arm swing and the rack position. I like to think about having two targets for the clean (the end of the backswing and the rack position), and then moving as directly as possible between the two.  Once you have your two targets established it becomes much simpler and you can reduce the movement to the bare essentials, which in turn results in greater efficiency and less [...]

I have recently had the good fortune to train at the famous Ice Chamber in San Francisco.  The Ice Chamber is probably most well know for its women’s kettlebell sport team, The Ice Chamber Kettlebell Girls who are all Masters of Sport. It’s not as well known that the Ice Chamber has been responsible for the strength and conditioning training for several elite athletes, including martial artists such as Newton Casemiro, currently one of America’s top BJJ fighters, and Sayaka Matsumoto who was a 2008 Judo Olympian. Their clientele isn’t just limited to athletes, though.  Amongst the Ice Chamber trainees you will find big-shot lawyers, famous Chefs, award winning investigative journalists and everything in between.  You’ll also find plenty of regular people who just want to get fit. So what’s the secret to their success?  How do they attract everyday clients as well as champion athletes and the rich and famous?  How do they manage to get 30-40 people into their 6am classes? I put it down to two things: 1. Great knowledge Founders and head Coaches Steven Khuong and Maya Garcia have never stopped learning, they are constantly seeking knowledge from the best in the world.  The day after [...]

The World Kettlebell Club World Championships were held this weekend in Chicago.  With around 90 lifters participating it was the biggest kettlebell sport event in the US to date and the school gym in which it was held was a hive of activity throughout the day.  The number of people who attended to lift and spectate is a sign of the growing popularity of kettlebell sport outside of Eastern Europe – it’s been slow progress but we’re getting there! Three Australians competed in the competition: me, David Tabain and Natalie Turner.  Despite the jet-lag and nerves, each Aussie placed first in their event. It was an exciting day with several athletes hitting Master of Sport, including Scott Tighe who is only the second male MS in biathlon (pictured above).  There were also quite a few Candidate for Master of Sport ranks given out, one of which was awarded to William Metcalf who underwent brain surgery only 15 weeks before the competition – and he was able to achieve this largely because his all-round fitness from kettlebell sport training prior to the operation made his recovery miraculously quick. Ivan Denisov, absolute world record holder in all kettlebell sport events, was there [...]

The long awaited arrival of 18kg and 22kg Pro Grade kettlebells in Australia marks the beginning of some very exciting times (and accelerated progress) for kettlebell enthusiasts. It wasn’t that long ago 10kg and 14kg kettlebells were introduced to the Pro Grade range and this has made a huge difference to the rate of progression of many of my clients and kettlebell sport athletes (I really wish they’d been around when I’d started training with kettlebells).  The addition of 18kg and 22kg bells now means from 8kg to 24kg you can move up in weight in 2kg, rather than 4kg, increments. Not only do the 2kg increments make for faster progressions in kettlebell training, they also make for safer ones.  Hands, forearms and elbows are usually the last parts of the body to adapt to a particular weight in kettlblebell training (especially for ballistic lifts such as cleans, jerks and snatches). With a 4kg increment between weights you often have to build up a lot of volume with one weight before moving up to the next, and even then moving up to the next weight can be a bit of a shock to the system.  The 2kg increments give the [...]

What are they good for? What aren’t they good for?!  Kettlebell swings enable you to train power, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory fitness and mobility all in one hit. One of the great advantages of the kettlebell swing is that it can be used to develop strength and power in the posterior chain muscles (hamstrings, glutes and back).  For those of us who have desk jobs, the posterior chain spends a lot of time wasting away in the seated position, which often leads to poor posture and back pain.  And for many athletes the posterior chain is what powers their desired movements – running, kicking, jumping, striking, serving etc.  So developing strength and power in the posterior chain is going to benefit pretty much anyone. Importantly, the kettlebell swing can also be used to develop muscular endurance in those all-important posterior chain muscles.  If you’re sitting for long periods you will require endurance in your back to combat slouching.  For many athletes, being able to repeatedly and consistently generate power via the posterior chain over a period of time is crucial, and this is exactly what the kettlebell swing teaches the body to do. Kettlebell swings can also improve hamstring and hip [...]

Hand tears can be the bane of the kettlebell lifter’s existence.  Shredded hands mean time off all the fun lifts like snatches and generally impair training. This video gives you some simple tips to keep your hands healthly when training with kettlebells.

Check out Denis Vasiliev’s excellent stretching routine. Vasiliev is long cycle World Champion and highly values his stretching routine as a means of recovery. Give it a shot, your hips and back will feel amazing!

As a general rule, you want to be swinging something at least 4-8kg heavier than what you’re snatching, and if you’re doing high rep work you want to swing anywhere between 20-50 reps each hand. The one arm swing is a great assistance exercise to improve your snatch – it provides grip endurance training, hits the posterior chain and certainly helps with the conditioning. Now, as you probably know there are many ways to skin a cat and many ways to swing a kettlebell.  There are plently of debates about “styles” and whatnot, but to cut through the BS if you want to swing for the purpose of improving your snatch style isn’t really an issue – physics and efficiency of movement are what you need to focus on. Just like with a barbell snatch, the most efficient path for the kettlebell to move in the kettlebell snatch is upwards, rather than outwards.  An efficient path is one that doesn’t waste energy, therefore will be beneficial regardless of your goal (whether you want more reps or to snatch heavier).  So, with your swing you want to learn how to get the bell to move up reasonably close to your body, [...]