with the intention of learning about kettlebells. So I thought I would post a little about the athletic benifits in particular.
1) In explosive sports such as basketball, track and sprinting am majority of the movement is in the posterior chain, wich is exactly what KB's hit the hardest. Especially the swings, snatches and cleans.
2) KBs are akward just like life, they move in the exact planes we move in. there's no 2 dimensional movements in life or with KBs
3)they hang off center in any movement and the bigger they are the more off center they are, so the core gets used to firing hard in any plane of normal movement.
4) powerlifting in, particular, Ed Coan and Louie Simmons are starting to promote the use of kettlebells for several reasons. Swings follow the exact groove that a deadlift makes, it can be used as an incredible assistance excersize itself, or as Donnie Thompson does, trains the groove with swings and trains deadlift just before competitions. He stated that he has injuries that prevents him from deadlifting year round. Yet after using HEAVY double swings he hit a PR ( if I am not mistaken )in deadlift. That is just one movement that has carryover to powerlifting.
5) High rep snatches or swings are BRUTAL conditioning, try this grab a 40 or 50 lb dumbell hold it in one hand and bend over and swing it back behind your hamies, make sure to load your hamstrings and not bend your legs too much. Then with an explosive hip movement ( think "jump" ) use the force produced to get the dumbell to head level. Your arms should be ropes with hooks just like deadlifting it should be the hip snap alone that moves the dumbell up. Do 20 reps each arm for 3 sets each arm nonstop. Bring a puke bag. Kettlebells are much harder that dumbells. The Russian navy uses these type of workouts to keep the fleet fit on cramped ships.
6) They can be used in conjunction with other types of workout easily such as:
circuits of body weight drills and kb's for stamina
swing 30l 30r
pushup 20 reps
kb front squats
burpees
jumprope
repeat untill not able to move lOL
bodybuilding
bent over rows
overhead press ( kb overhead press hits all three delt heads if done from the correct rack position )
lunges in diferent plains for maximum muscle activation.
again just an SMALL example
Hand eye co-ordination
Check out Jeff Martones web site www.tacticalathlete.com
specifically check out his H2H ( hand 2 hand ) kettlebell stuff INSANE
One of my favorite workouts is High Octane Cardio
this can be done many different ways
I do it like this
KB snatches for reps say 10l 10r
then 2-3 minutes on the heavy bag
rest 60-90 seconds
repeat 5 times
for more cool stuff, and a wealth information as well, as a look at www.mikemahler.com He has taken KBs in the raw strength direction. His website alone is worth keeping an favorits as he has numerous articles that relate to any type of lifting.
David Whitley at irontamer.com has put together kettlebell combinations with high rep bodyweight drill for strength, stamina, muscular endurance, heavy core activation, and flexibility.
One more final note The founder of the American Kettlebell movement Pavel Tsatsouline ( a former russian special forces trainer ) has orginized very simple but yet very sophisticated system that is based on low rep grinds and high rep explosive movements. You end up with freaky real world strength, flexibility, and endurance.
Dragondoor.com has an open forum where any question will be answered by people with a wealth of knowledge.
Good luck and enjoy the PAIN.
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