Kettlebells ..... From Russia with Love

"Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice" Anton Chekhov

Welcome back all of you casual readers, fitness fanatics, and folks who are looking to get in better shape. It has taken me to long to address one of my favorite subjects Kettlebells. They are old world toughness, fitness and strength and are being sold as new fangled fitness equipment. In actuality the bells are both, old world and new school, they will also kick your ass. A kettlebell or Girya is a traditional Russian iron cast weight that looks like a cannonball with a handle. As the 1986 Soviet Weightlifting Yearbook put it, “It’s hard to find a sport that has deeper roots in the history of our people than kettlebell lifting.”  They were so popular in Tsarist Russia that any strongman or weightlifter was referred to as a kettlebell man. “Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as kettlebell athletics.” Ludwig Chaplinsky, Russian Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Rowing Champion.  The Soviet weightlifting legends such as Vlasov, Zhabotinskiy, and Alexeyev started their weightlifting careers with kettlebells. Yuri Vlasov interrupted an interview he was doing with two western journalists to press a pair of kettlebells. He commented to them “A wonderful exercise,”  further stating “. . . It is hard to find an exercise better suited for developing strength and flexibility simultaneously. The Russian Special Forces also use the bells owing much of their strength, agility and stamina to the bells. The official Soviet armed forces strength manual states kettlebells are “one of the most effective means of strength development” representing “a new era in the development of human strength-potential.”

Today kettlebells are being used all over the world, you will see anyone from soccer moms to MMA fighters using them to get into excellent condition.  The man who brought them to the US is Pavel Tsatsouline, he is the creator of the RKC and now Strongfirst, both excellent kettllebell certifications. The kettlebell is also used by our Secret Service as a fitness test because there is  not truer test of strength, fitness, agility and flexibility. Ok you got it the bells will sharpen the physical skills and take you up some levels. But that's not it, kettlebell juggling will sharpen your focus, increase your hand eye coordination and has been known to have positive effects on balance.  

As for scientific evidence Professor Sergey  Voropayev (1983) observed two groups of subjects over a period of a few years and tested them with a standard battery of armed forces PT tests: pullups, a standing broad jump, a 100m sprint, and a 1k run. The control group followed a typical university physical education program that emphasized the above. The experimental group just lifted kettlebells. In spite of the lack of practice on the tested exercises, the kettlebell group showed better scores in every one of them! Researchers at the Lesgaft Physical Culture Institute in Leningrad (Vinogradov & Lukyanov, 1986) found a very high correlation between the results posted in a kettlebell lifting competition and a great range of dissimilar tests: strength, measured with the three powerlifts and grip strength; strength endurance, measured with pullups and parallel bar dips; general endurance, determined by a 1000 meter run; and work capacity and balance, measured with special tests!Shevtsova (1993) discovered that kettlebell training lowers the heart rate and the blood pressure. Gomonov (1998) concluded that “Exercises with kettlebells enable one to quickly build strength, endurance, achieve a balanced development of all muscle groups, fix particular deficiencies of build, and they also promote health.” Most methods that claim ‘all around fitness’ deliver no more than compromises. Accept no compromises – choose the Russian kettlebell!

The benefits we can draw from kettlebells are still the same with an added bonus for the desk jockeys of functional human movement patterns. The patterns you will not get on the smith machine or the leg curl or lateral raises. In the right hands they can be used for rehab as well as a movement assessment tool for trainers, chiropractors, physical therapists and coaches.  

Prior to beginning the use of a kettlebell you will need to be able to do a real plank. No not the same sloppy plank we are all guilty of doing time to time .Please view the  link and video a the bottom of the page for proper instruction.   

Bret Contreras The RKC Plank

Chris Collins 3 Kettlebell Classics 

Turkish Get-Up

1)  Lying on your back, bend your right knee, put the kettlebell in your right hand (extended towards the ceiling)  

2)  Using your abs, punch the kettlebell towards the ceiling and raise yourself up onto your left elbow.  

3)  Raise up onto your left hand while keeping your right hand vertical 

4)  Raise your body up so you are supporting yourself up by your left hand and right foot.  

5)  Send your left foot back behind you and rest on your knee. 

6)  Come off your left hand into a “lunge” position.  

7)  Pushing off your back foot, lunge forward and stand up. 

8)  Reverse the steps to get back to start-position. Switch hands 

Russian Kettlebell Swing  one or two-handed

Start with kettlebell centered between legs with the front of the kettlebell lined-up with the back of your heels
Driving your hips forward, swing the kettlebell to chest-level. Be sure to drive with your legs and glutes, snapping your hips at the top. The kettlebell must form an extension of the straight and loose arm(s) on the top of the swing

Instead of bringing the kettlebell back to the starting position, guide the kettlebell between your legs, staying close to the groin (like passing a football to someone behind you), and swing it back up to chest-level
 

Goblet Squat
1)  Grasping the kettlebell by the handle with both hands by your chest (approximately 6” from the chest region), squat down to a rock bottom” position (elbows should touch the inner thighs) 

2)  Drive up through your heels and push yourself back up to the starting position 

3)  Remember always to squat back, not down 

What kettlebell is right for me? 

If you are an average strength lady start with 18lbs, a strong lady 26lbs. If your an average strength gentleman 35lbs, a stronger than average gentleman 44lbs , or a very strong gentleman 53 lbs.

I am a Kettlebell instructor I am available for personal training, movement assessments, program design, group training, one on one training and kettlebell seminars. Please contact for training questions or any of the above listed services.  Sign up for the mailing list for more articles.