The old saying about “no pain, no gain” may have some truth in it when it comes to getting results with training, but there’s pain and then there’s pain.

Serious discomfort is something that must be suffered at least every now and again to really reap the fruits of your training labour, however there is a big difference between being so uncomfortable that you’d do just about anything to stop and causing yourself injury or illness through training. The latter is something that should be avoided at all costs, and it’s something that athletes strive to minimise the risk of in their training because injury and illness equal time off training, which equals decreased performance overall.

An injury in training can mean the difference between competing and being a champion and not even making it to the comp.

BS in the Media Leading us Astray

Unfortunately, shows like The Biggest Loser have perpetuated this idea that you need to push yourself to your absolute limits in order to be seen as “hard” and to get superhuman results. This is part of the reason half of the contestants on the show push through to the point of injury, some of them sustaining injuries that will mar their physical performance for the rest of their lives. This is beyond stupid, a short term gain is never worth such a long term impairment.

Lesson Learnt: Training Smart

Once, because I was indoctrinated with the idea that just going harder, faster and longer was all that mattered and you were a “pussy” if you ever stopped short of what you set out to do, I too thought that training was just about giving it your all, all of the time.

Then I got a little older and a little wiser and I crossed over from being a recreational exerciser just wanting to be insanely fit (and a little bit tough) to what can be described as an athlete. This was when I began to learn that hard work is certainly a requirement for achieving those relatively high goals I set myself, but that training smart is what will really take you from being a mediocre workhorse to being a respectable athlete.

This World Record is the result of years of very smart training.

Training Smart Should be Embraced by Everyone

While I learnt the training smart lesson from the pursuit of athletic prowess, it’s a lesson I wish someone had taught me even when I was just training for “fun”. It’s a lesson that is applicable to absolutely anyone who does any form of physical exercise and wants to get the most out of it. It’s a simple concept, but frightening how many people overlook it (including plenty of personal trainers and coaches out there) simply because no one has spelt it out clearly enough.

This is what happens when you don’t progress smartly…

Smart Progressions: an Integral Part of Training Smart

One thing I have learnt (the hard way) in my sport, kettlebell (Girevoy) sport, is that getting impatient and picking up the next weight before having thoroughly mastered the current one is a really good way of sabotaging your training. This becomes more true the heavier the weight, and it’s a principle that can be applied to any form of weight training.

Andy actually does the vast majority of his training with lighter kettlebells and only attempts the really heavy ones at a comp or when attempting a record.

Mastering a weight not only means being able to perform a desired number of reps with it (for something like Olympic lifting or power lifting that may only be one rep, with kettlebell sport it might be more in the vicinity of 150 reps), it means perfecting your technique with that weight. If you crank out one crappy, round-backed deadlift with 220kg you have not yet mastered that weight.

This guy’s a long way from mastery!

Connective Tissue, Nerves and Smaller Bones: Don’t Just Think About Your Muscles

One of the reasons it’s so important to master a weight thoroughly before progressing is that it gives your whole body time to adapt and ensures good neural patterning. Smaller bones and connective tissue may take much longer than larger muscles to adapt to a training load, and moving up too quickly can result in damage that can take a very long time to correct – it’s just not worth it.

Smart Progressions: Especially Important with Kettlebells

In Australia, the majority of kettlebells go up in 4kg increments and for the most part kettlebells are used single handedly (as in one kettlebell per hand, rather than two hands on one kettlebell). This means that progressing with the weight means loading up one hand with 4kg extra, or if you’re doing doubles two hands with 8kg extra. These are HUGE leaps. Combine this with the fact that kettlebells are grip intensive and often come in contact with the small bones of your forearms, moving up with the weight too quickly is asking for injury.

Professional kettlebell athletes start with light weights, men with 16kg and women with 8kg.  It is smart progressions over time that allow them to perform amazing feats with the heavier weights.

The hands, wrists, connective tissue in the elbow, bones of the forearm and even the shoulder stabilisers are always going to take the longest to adapt. So while your legs and back, which are often the prime movers in kettlebell lifts, particularly the ballistic lifts, might be ready for the challenge of an extra 4kg, you need to be sure that the rest of your body is.

This guy’s not ready for this weight, look at what’s happening to his wrist overhead, it’s an injury waiting to happen.

And what happens if you ignore the niggling pain in your forearms or that funny thing in your wrist that doesn’t feel quite right or the burning sensation in your elbow joint? Well, all of these things have the potential to graduate to something serious such as stress fractures or tendinitis, both of which can be extremely hard to get rid of. Then you’re having time off training or having to completely modify your training around your injuries – no one wants that.

Some Tips for Smart Progressions with Kettlebells

So here are some basic tips that will help you train smart with your kettlebells and progress in a safe way, that will benefit your training in the long run:

• Ensure your technique is perfect with the weight you are currently using before moving up to the next weight.
• Perform assistance exercises to prepare your body for the next weight up, for example for kettlebell snatches, you can perform heavier jerks (4-8kg heavier than the weight that you intend to move up to) to help prepare your shoulders, hands and forearms. Heavy one arm swings are a good assistance exercise for a lot of other kettlebell lifts.

• Introduce the new, heavier weight in small doses – don’t start training exclusively with the heavier weight when you’re ready to move up, maybe start doing one session a week with it, the gradually increase this to two, then three to give your body time to adapt.

Bonnie’s shoulders and hands can certainly handle 20kg or 24kg snatches if she can jerk the 36kg like that!

So…

Progressing is obviously the ultimate goal of any training, and with weight training this often means moving onto a heavier weight. With your kettlebell training, keep long term goals in mind and prioritise the longevity of your training over any short term satisfaction that getting a PB or lifting heavy might get you if it’s at the expense of your health.

Happy training!

By Emily Friedel, Australia’s first Master of Sport, World Champion in Kettlebell Sport

Here are 5 of the most common mistakes people make with their kettlebell training:

1. NOT SEEKING EXPERT ADVICE.

This is a fatal mistake.  People think they’ve been weight training for a while, or that they’re a qualified personal trainer, therefore will automatically be able to know how to lift a kettlebell.

The kettlebell is very different from barbells and dumbbells.  The body of the kettlebell sits away from its handle, giving the kettlebell a displaced centre of mass.  This displaced centre of mass means the kettlebell behaves very differently to dumbbells and barbells, which have the weight evenly dispersed on either side of the handle.

For example, having the kettlebell handle sit across your hand in the same position a dumbbell handle sites is not only uncomfortable due to the displaced centre of mass, but is also dangerous as it puts a lot of unnecessary stress on the wrist.

There is heaps of information on YouTube about kettlebell lifting but you need to be really careful, most of it is rubbish. Below is a clip of someone putting themselves forward as some sort of expert, but their hand position is way off and clearly they don’t know what they’re doing:

So, seeking expert advice will get you off to the right start, or help you resolve any problems you’re having with your kettlebell training.

How do you know someone is an expert?  Well here are some questions you should put to them to see if they really do know their stuff:

a. Who have they trained under?

If there aren’t some genuine Eastern Europeans in this list, beware.  Experts such as Valery Fedorenko, Vasily Ginko, Pavel Tsatsouline and Steve Cotter all run courses that are reasonably accessible in the West, so if a trainer hasn’t trained under at least one of these, they haven’t gone far enough to get their knowledge.  Phil Kourbatski is a trainer in Australia, who has a background as a trainer in the Russian military, so is another name you should look out for.

b. How many years experience have they had with kettlebells?

The bells haven’t been here in Australia that long, but you’d want someone who has at the very least around 2 years intensive training experience with kettlebells.  This in and of itself is not usually enough, though, you need to be sure they’ve also sourced good information.

c. Correct hand position?

This is a dead give away, if a trainer doesn’t know the correct hand position, they have no clue.  The correct hand position involves having the handle diagonally across the palm of your hand, with all the pressure on the heel of your palm. This enables you to have a neutral wrist.  No other hand position is acceptable or safe with kettlebell training.

d. Different styles of kettlebell lifting?

A good kettlebell trainer will have a good understanding of the different styles of kettlbell lifting (eg the sport or “soft” style and hard style) and their applications, irrespective of the type of training you actually want to do.  If they’ve never heard of Girevoy sport, or don’t know how to apply its techniques, then you need to keep looking.

2. NOT SPENDING THE TIME TO GET TECHNIQUE CORRECT

It seems so simple and obvious, but this ties in with mistake number 1.  People often don’t seek out expert advice and they are so keen to get big numbers or lift ultra heavy that they rush into things and don’t take the time to get their technique spot on.

Good technique is vital, because it allows you to train safely.  Injuries are an athlete’s worst enemy, and can be a massive set back.  A torn rotator cuff or disc bulge could negate months of training.

Good technique will also allow you to get those big numbers or lift really heavy, shoddy technique will only limit you. Marty Farrell, below, only weighs a few more kgs than the bell he is lifting, but his attention to his technique allows him to outlift guys double his weight:

There is a really good article on why getting your technique correct with kettlebell lifting is so important here.

3. NOT REVIEWING TECHNIQUE REGULARLY

It is easy to pick up bad habits, particularly if you’re training alone most of the time.  Worse, you often don’t realise what mistakes you are making – what you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing can be quite different.

Particularly with the more technical lifts such as the snatch and Turkish get-up, you should get your technique reviewed regularly to ensure no bad habits have crept in.  Reviewing your technique may also help you break through plateaus in your training.

Checking in with an expert every now and again is the best way to know you’re on the right track, there’s nothing quite as effective as having someone look at your technique in person.

Videoing yourself regularly is also really helpful.  You can often pick up on areas where you can improve once you can objectively review your own technique.

4. GUYS – OVERESTIMATING THEIR STRENGTH

Because the kettlebell is so different to conventional weight training tools, you will usually need to start with a weight that is lighter than you’re used to using.  Most guys will need to start with a 12kg or 16kg kettlebell to get their technique correct.

The displaced centre of mass means the kettlebell is harder to control and stabilise than a dumbbell.  Also, kettlebell lifting requires good thoracic spine mobility and shoulder flexibility, and most guys, particularly those who have done a lot of weight training, are tight in these areas.

So, put the ego aside and instead of making a bee-line for the 24kg or 32kg, drop the weight back and get your technique spot on first.  In the long run, it will enable you to lift heavier if that’s your goal.

As you can see, 16kg is plenty for most guys to start with (note the hand position – the bell handle should be much more diagonal so the pressure is on the heel of the palm).

5. WOMEN – THINKING THEY’LL GET BULKY SO NOT INCREASING THE WEIGHT

A lot of women think that lifting weights is going to turn them into great big muscly meat axes, so they start with a 6kg or 8kg kettlebell and they stick with it, refusing to lift any heavier.

The beauty of kettlebells is that they won’t make you bulky.  In fact, the best female kettlebell lifters in the world are usually between 60-65kg and they usually work with a 20kg or 24kg kettlebell.  The women in the below clips are extremely strong, but as you can see they aren’t even close to bulky.

Progressively increasing the weight you’re lifting is the only way to continue to get training effects from your workouts.  Your body will get used to the weight you start with reasonably quickly, and then it will stop adapting.  So if you want to continue to progress and reach your goals (whether they be goals for improved posture, weight loss, improved strength or improved cardiovascular fitness) you need to continue to challenge your body by lifting heavier weights.

So…

Training smart means getting good advice, striving to be a technically excellent lifter and progressing your training appropriately.

If you can avoid the common mistakes above, you will be sure to get the most out of your kettlebell training and you will reach your goals much faster.

For more information on kettlebell training you can go to our workshops website.

Master of Sport, Elena Viktorovna Yurysheva is from the Vologodskaya region in the city of Vytegra, Russia.  She is 25 years old and weighs between 60-61 kilograms.  Elena credits her coach, Vyacheslav Yakovlevich Ogarev, for helping her become one of the first women in the world to snatch the 24kg kettlebell over 120 times in competition.  Here are a few of Elena’s opinions on women’s participation in the sport and about her goal to break a world record this year…

Maya: Please tell us how you became involved in Kettlebell Sport.

Elena: I practiced a variety of sports, but in our small city it was only possible to achieve great success in kettlebell sport, and because of a strong coach!! We don’t have the possibility of doing some other kind of sport (not in gyms or in stadiums). And by nature I’m active and I’m more attracted to active sports.

Maya: What are some of your personal records?

Elena: Snatch 16 kg kettlebell – 220 times. Snatch 24 kg kettlebell 121 times!

Maya: What Championship titles do you hold?

Elena: World Champion and Champion of Europe

Maya: Tell us about your training regimen.

Elena: I try to train everyday for two hours, but it doesn’t always work.  I train alone because I train at home!

Maya: How do you feel about female kettlebell lifters performing jerks and participating in the Biathlon?

Elena: It’s very good that they are competing in the jerk and in the biathlon.  First of all, it’s interesting!  Secondly, there are more opportunities to prove oneself. Thirdly, because of the increase in the number of female athletes.  Whatever each person does better in, that is what they should compete in.

Maya: Do you perform jerks in training for the snatch?

Elena: Yes, I always do jerks in the training process. I jerk one and two 16 kg kettlebells and I also jerk 20kgs, but of course, just for a little bit.

Maya: Do you go to school or are you working?

Elena: I work at the city sports committee as a senior instructor-methodologist.  I don’t have any free time; I work more during my breaks and if it happens that I get free time, then I train!

Maya: What advice do you have for people just starting out?

Elena: Of course they need patience because they won’t get it right away and results don’t happen immediately!

Maya: What are your aspirations for the future?

Elena: To complete the standard for MSWC (Master of Sports World Class) although I have already completed it [in training].  …and to achieve a world record in my weight class!

By Steven Khuong, CSCS

As the kettlebell becomes more mainstream, it is pertinent that ripped hands, bruised forearms, and torn ligaments not become synonymous with the tool.  Independent of any dichotomy regarding styles or programming, people using kettlebells or teaching with them have a responsibility to protect themselves and others from injury in the process. It doesn’t matter if you choose to use the kettlebell for sport, fitness, feats of strength, juggling, or power development; having a solid technical foundation should be a prerequisite to what you creatively do later. Gripping kettlebells incorrectly can lead to blisters, skin burns, and bruising.  Not fixating the bell overhead can lead to extraneous stress on the shoulder and elbow joints as well as other detrimental effects associated with unsafe handling. Good technique is paramount to long term health and human performance.

The Current World Champion, Fedor Fuglev
(photo courtesy of www.icechamber.com)

I believe we can all learn some things about safety within the context of sport.  Competitive athletes using the kettlebell simply can not afford to let the tool injure them.  Thus, they spend the necessary time mastering the fundamentals of safety and proper handling based on the kettlebell’s shape and design.  Since the formation of Kettlebell Sport around the 1940s, the tool has gone through many trials in Russia and Eastern Europe.  As a result, we have over sixty years of “crash testing” and analysis performed by many elite athletes and coaches; in fact, they’ve already laid out a highly developed system for us to reference in terms of safety.  However, even though these concepts made their way to hundreds of coaches and trainers in the United States via Valery Fedorenko since 2007, the majority of kettlebell users in the America still have little or no concept regarding the intricacies of technical handling (proper gripping, fixation, lockouts, resting positions, etc.).

Honored Master of Sport, Record Holder, and World Champ, Valery Fedorenko
(photo courtesy of www.icechamber.com)

As Kettlebell Sport becomes more recognized in the U.S., a heightened awareness of how the elite athletes utilize kettlebells will perhaps highlight the importance of safety through technicality.  Using Olympic weightlifting (O-lifting) as an example, we can draw some interesting parallels.  Since O-lifting is a recognized sport within the Olympic games, people working in the fitness/athletic industry generally have a greater awareness (and respect) for the proper usage of the barbell.  Many sport and fitness certification agencies also bring awareness to standardized barbell safety via textbooks and trade journals that draw from the experience of elite lifters and coaches.  There is usually less acceptance of people using renegade techniques with the barbell within the context of athletic development.  In my experience, this is not yet true for kettlebells.  Imagine not locking out or fixating a heavy barbell as a matter of habit.  What do you think will happen to your shoulder girdle over time?  Yes, the kettlebell is sub-maximal compared to the typical loads used in O-lifting, but kettlebell lifts are executed with more repetitions in training and competition, and potentially more volume as you progress.  I have witnessed coaches cringe when an athlete mishandles a barbell for the clean and jerk, but somehow, when it comes to kettlebell lifting, I have heard the same coaches miss the danger signals entirely or worse, defend a potentially dangerous execution as a stylistic difference.

U.S. National Champion and Ice Chamber Kettlebell Girl, Sara Nelson
(photo courtesy of www.icechamber.com)

I’m certainly not suggesting that anyone picking up a barbell ought to perform at the same technical level as an Olympian.  However, most of us in the fitness/athletic industry agree that there are best practices associated with Olympic weightlifting and power movements with the barbell.  There is no debate as to whether barbell jerks and snatches should be locked out overhead and handled in a way to help the athlete progress safely while minimizing injury.  I believe the same standards should be held for anyone training with kettlebells.  Regardless of styles or programming, one should first and foremost learn safe and sound technique.  This will not only serve the greater good for the future of kettlebell lifting, but also ensure that anyone using the kettlebell maximizes all of the benefits associated with it.

Steven Khuong, CSCS, is the co-founder of the Ice Chamber (www.icechamber.com) and the Head Coach of the Ice Chamber Kettlebell Team.

© Suomen kahvakuula ry

Using Kettlebells

By Louie Simmons

I am asked all the time what we do with kettle bells. Although they have been around forever, they have once again become the rage. There are kettle bell camps and certifications.

Pavel has several DVDs on kettle bell workouts for strength training and flexibility. Zach Evan-Esh has an excellent DVD on combat training with kettle bells. He has really thought out a system for conditioning and strength endurance.

But what does Westside do with kettle bells?

We do very few kettle bell swings and cleans. At the Arnold Classic, I arranged with Kieran Kidder to have Valery Fedorenko do a demonstration. He jerked a 70 ( 35 not 70) pound kettle bell for an unbelievable 2006 reps! Once he cleaned the first rep, he never touched the floor again until the last rep was completed.

Kettle bells are good for mobility, flexibility, and strength endurance, as noted by the 2006 reps made at the WPO finals. At Westside, some will do a few swings for a warm-up on dynamic squat day or max effort day for squatting or deadlifting. A few will do some cleans or snatches on these same days.

For shoulder therapy we do them with the bottoms up. Here the lifter holds the handles tight while stabilizing the bells with the bottom of the kettle bell on top. Thanks to Pavel for this one. We also do kettle bell bench shrugs with the bottoms up. For shoulder traction, bend over holding onto a kettle bell. With your arm straight rotate the shoulder internally and externally. This will help most rotator injuries.

For GPP we work up to a half mile holding the kettle bells. It’s great for grip and shoulder traction. Passing a kettle around the body is very therapeutic for the shoulders as well.

We do a lot of presses from incline, decline, and seated positions, a few flyes, and a lot of triceps extensions with the kettlebells. Because the bell is either in front of or behind the wrist, this makes pressing very awkward but effective. To make the exercises more difficult, we double up a set of mini-bands through the handles and do the exercises by holding the doubled-up mini-bands. This causes the kettle bells to move in all directions, creating a chaotic movement. This system will not only build superhuman strength but also build stability, and with light to moderate weights, this is very therapeutic.

Tony Ramos took it a step further by attaching the bands and kettlebells to the bar for all types of pressing. First, it truly teaches you to press correctly. This is accomplished by contracting all the pressing muscles. This includes the arms, delts, lats, and chest. To most effectively use kettlebells for bar pressing, double up a mini-band around the handle of each kettlebell and hang them from the bar. This can be very taxing and very precarious. Be sure to use spotters.

We have experimented with kettle bell and band pressing for over a year. It works. While lowering the bar to the chest, you of course must stop the bar from accelerating, but now you must stop not only the bar but also the kettle bells. This is not easy, as the bands’ elasticity causes the bells to lower further even as the bar stops. The bells continue to move not only downward but in all directions, as an oscillating pendulum, creating a chaotic state (as noted by Joe Dell’Aquilo, Ph.D., physics). After reaching lock-out, the bells continue to move upward. All the pressing muscles must work together, as they seldom do, to provide stability.

Light weights and high reps will rehabilitate the pecs and delts. Do those before you suffer any injuries as prehabilitation? Heavy weights for lower reps will build muscle mass and great strength. I suggest you try this combination of weight, bands, and kettle bells. It is not just for the powerlifters but also for ball players and fighters of all types.

Westside Barbell

614-801-2060

www.westside-barbell.com

Steve runs excellent workshops, his instructional style is very clear and you are sure to leave with an in depth knowledge of the finer points of kettlebell training

Steve will be running day long workshops in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth between the 18th and 24th of November.

Here is a little taste of what you will get if you come along:

For more information and workshop dates, times and venues, check out the website.

Girevoy sport is the sport of Kettlebell lifting.  It involves three of the major Kettlebell lifts – the jerk, snatch and long cycle clean and jerk – performed for ten minutes at a time.

Girevoy sport requires exceptional strength and endurance; it is not for the faint of heart!

To see some footage of Girevoy sport click here.

However, Girevoy sport is also a sport that anyone can excel at with consistency and hard work.  I’m proof of that.  I’m not a natural athlete by any stretch of the imagination, but with some hard work and steady training I can now do things I never would have thought possible.

In fact, if you join the Melbourne Girevoy Sport Club you will have the opportunity to be on the first Australian Girevoy Sport Team and could represent Australia on an international level.

To register your interest in the Melbourne Girevoy Sport Club or to get more information please email me at info@kettlebells.com.au or call 1300 85 40 50

Emily

Many of us have been lifting kettlebells and not doing too badly, but haven’t had a true expert go over our technique with a fine tooth comb. Kettlebells are relatively new to Australia and as a result there isn’t the pool of knowledge that exists for more well-established equipment.

So we’re providing workshops run by highly experienced kettlebell lifters who can ensure you maximise your training results by training properly.

For more information on the workshops and their dates check out the site.

Few words can sufficiently describe the splendour our new prograde kettlebells, however one that comes close is ‘breathtaking’.

The new progrades share with their predecessors the same time-tested ergonomic design, but have a couple of added features that truly make them the Kings of Kettlebells.

First, they now come in a range of eye-catching colours with the 16s, 24s and 32s painted in the traditional Russian competition colours.

The new progrades also come with a raw steel handle.  The latest handles are unbelievably smooth, far better than you’d ever manage to get them if you stripped them by hand.  They are very kind on your hands and serious kettlebell lifters know that makes all the difference.  No more days off training while you wait for your torn hands to heal!

To check out the new progrades CLICK HERE.

What’s it called?

It’s the BENT PRESS!

What makes it so unique? We”ll its a combination of a windmill, a press, an overhead squat and somehow it manages to smash your lats to pieces even though your not performing a pulling movement!?!

It’s the Swiss army knife of Kettlebell lifting!

Originally used by oldtime strongmen to perform massive feats of strength (Arthur Saxon managed to lift something like 415lbs) its been recognised as one of the most technical Kettlebell moves…… don’t i know it!

The difficulty starts with trying to get your arm in the right position. Your triceps needs to be sitting on your lat, huge shoulder flexibility. The initiating movement is corkscrewing your body down and away from the bell, ‘flaring’ you lat as you go. Like the windmill it requires huge core stability as well as massive shoulder stability as you drop under it like an overhead squat. All this combined creates a hugely technical move that a lot of people will struggle with! (Checkout our Russian Guru Phil Kourbatski as he performs the move below)

I’m determined to get on top of the lift so tune into my next couple of blog posts and I’ll put up some vids of me attempting the Bent Press with various weights and maybe some of our old school barbells (bring on the Lycra weightlifting suit)

Stay tuned and keep up the bells! DaVie!

Billy