3 Reasons I Love the Kettlebell

You've all heard the old adage about the 3 most important things to consider when purchasing real estate:  "Location, location, location."  I always thought it would be fun to own a copying or printing center, because then I could tell you about the 3 most important things in that business:  "Collation, collation, collation."  See how it rhymes???

Anyway, on to the kettlebell.  My top 3 reasons I love the kettlebell, in no particular order are:

1. Hip power.
2. HIP POWER!
3. HIP POWER!!!

STRONG, POWERFUL HIPS = LONG LIFE

If you're wondering why I care so much about hip power, think of a frail aging 90 year-old.  Why are they bent over?  Tight hip flexors, weak glutes and low back.  What are they afraid of?  Falling.  Why do they often fall?  Lack of coordination and balance at the hip joint.  Why are they unable to recover and catch themselves when they start to fall?  Slow, weak hips.  Solution to all of the above?  Develop strong, powerful hips at a young age.  They will not forget you when you are old.

HERE'S HOW YOU GET THEM

The kettlebell swing is phenomenal for developing fast, powerful hips.  There are some great movements out there for getting strong in the hip region.  There's the squat, the deadlift, and dozens of variations of each.  The problem with each of these is that they are by nature slow movements, which if not taught carefully often end with muted hip extension (to borrow a term from Crossfit co-founder and performance coach extraodinaire Greg Glassman.)  Because of the tight hip flexors and low backs mentioned in the past few posts, we often substitute lumbar spine extension for proper hip extension in the heavy barbell lifts.  This leaves are hip flexors and glutes under-trained, weak and slow.

When we add kettlebell swings to our repertoire, we are forced to open up the hips at the top of the movement.  There is no way around this.  If we try to pull the same kind of nonsense we've been doing in our squats and deadlifts, and hyperextend the lumbar spine, we will be flat out on the couch with low back pain after the first session.

Another key factor here is that with most movements, form often deteriorates as the weight goes up.  Don't believe me?  Check out youtube videos of elite level powerlifters deadlifting or squatting during competition.  Their form is atrocious.  I'd never let a client lift like that.

With the kettlebell swing on the other hand, the need for proper form increases as the weight goes up.  If you try to perform a 5 rep max kettlebell swing with improper form, their is no way you will lift your max weight.  Full hip extension at a high rate of speed is key to getting that weight up.  And that's where your hip power development is going to come from. 

Power = Work / Time

This means that when we increase the speed with which we move a weight through a range of motion, we have increased the power output.  Once we reach a maximum speed with a given weight, we continue to increase power output by increasing the weight.

For some great, free instruction on the kettlebell swing, check out the videos by Jeff Martone on this page.

Here's to powerful hips and a long life!

Train smart; Eat right.

Technorati Tags: Crossfit,Kettlebells

This one's for John G. - Part I

So after I sent out an e-mail to all my friends and family the other day letting them know this blog was up and running, I got a call from my good friend John. The voice-mail he left me went something like this:

Hey Pete, John here. I was wondering if you could put a program together for me that I could do during the 1/2 hour that I have around the dinner table every night with my wife and kids?

I think John's point was something like this: "Man, I'd really love to work out, but, Holy Cats, I just don't have the time for it." (Yes, John really says "Holy Cats" all the time.) I can understand John's point. He's a very busy guy between work, 3 children under the age of 7 and 1 on the way, researching a new business and managing a few properties he owns. So my first thought was to suggest that he saw the legs off his dinner table. That way while the rest of the family ate dinner, he could participate in the conversation, while lying underneath the table and using his arms and legs to press it. A full body workout, while the family eats! Exactly what he asked for. Who says I don't deliver what the people want???

My second thought was much better. Here it is: In 1996, Dr. Izumi Tabata, a Japanese researcher showed that greater respiratory/cardiovascular benefit could be achieved from a 4 minute high intensity interval workout than from a traditional "steady state" 60 minute cardio workout. Basically, he compared 2 groups of athletes. The first group trained in the traditional manner, that is, long and slow. The second group trained for 3-4 minutes. During that 3-4 minutes, they completed 6-8 all out sprints, 20 seconds in duration, with 10 seconds of rest in between each sprint. The group that preformed the long and slow workout increased their aerobic capacity by 10% over a 6 week period and their anaerobic capacity (sprint power) not at all. The interval group increased their aerobic capacity by 14% and their anaerobic capacity by a statistically gargantuan 28%.

The Lesson

Work volume is not the key to improving our fitness. INTENSITY is the name of the game. And trust me 4 minutes will be plenty if you really go all out. When I do these on my rower, at the end, I unstrap my feet and roll of the rower onto the floor in exhaustion. If you're up for a challenge, give them a try. I do recommend a 10 minute warm-up first. You can do them on any piece of cardio equipment like a bike, rower or treadmill, or you can do burpees or kettlebell swings.

In Part II, we'll look at how we can apply this method to resistance training.

P.S. John, you can post your results (that is what %age of your breakfast actually landed in the receptacle upon completion of your 1st set of Tabata intervals) to the comment section at the bottom of the page.

Technorati Tags: Tabata,Intervals,Kettlebell