Go Kettlebell by Al Natrins

Discover Yourself Stronger – An Introduction to Kettlebells

        Saturday the 2^nd of March was the first, and hopefully not the last, kettlebell workshop held by Krav Maga Midlands and Strong First.  The kettlebell workshop was held in Leamington Spa, although students came from all over the region including Stratford-upon-Avon and Solihull and we even had two female non-students attend who were interested in using kettlebells in their own workout routines.

        The workshop was run by Mariusz Madrak, a fellow Krav Maga G1 student and an expert kettlebell instructor who worked for Strong First, a leader in kettlebell, barbell and bodyweight training and Primal Move, renown specialists in movement skills.  

Mariusz Madrzak Strong First and Primal Move Instructor 

        All in all it was a fantastic introduction to using kettlebells effectively and safely, and as a gym instructor I was highly impressed with Mariusz's standard of teaching and attention to detail.

        Kettlebells are an awesome way of working out and an extremely effective way of developing some serious dynamic power, strength and endurance.  Along the lines of circuit training, kettlebell workouts combine resistance and cardiovascular exercise together in one session, working your heart, lungs, muscles, joints, metabolism, stamina and willpower. 

        Kettlebell exercises are also generally 'compound', meaning they include multiple muscles and muscle groups, all working together as a unit to do what your body requires.  This translates to some serious functional applications in the way that bicep curls or leg extensions won't, and all while helping to increase lean muscle mass and burn body fat.  As a workout, what could be better?

        We started off with a warm up using Primal Move techniques, a series of dynamic flexibility and bodyweight movements that helped to mobilise our joints and limbs, raise our pulses, and get our circulation going, ready for the kettlebell workout.  Primal Move is an interesting and fun system of mastering body movement. We were doing bear and tiger crawls to limber up, and rotating kneel-to-standing drills; I could see the sense in warming up with a whole body approach that included activating our motor skills and co-ordination.  The warm-up was both active and demanding, with Primal Move demonstrating that without mastering our own bodyweight, what good was it being able to shift weights?

Primal Move Warm Up

        Then we started on the kettlebells.  We focussed on four basic moves: the swing, the clean, the military press and the goblet squat, and then we spent the day getting them as close to perfect as we could.  Mariusz went to great lengths to make sure we progressed from the very basics before we did anything too complex; this included deadlifting the kettlebell from the floor, to prevent injury.  In fact, a theme of the day could have been 'how to workout without injuring yourself'.  Bravo, many people don't do this when working out and set themselves up for injury at a later stage.  Mariusz explained that safety was paramount, and that mastering the basics first would set us up for a long and healthy relationship with kettlebells.

        The swing is the key to all kettlebell exercises, and is the most important step to learn first, with most other exercises starting from this initial movement.  The swing requires you to drive the kettlebell explosively from the 'hang position' between your legs and behind your hips to around chest height.  The swing uses your glutes (backside), hips, quads (front thigh), lower back, core, hamstrings and shoulders.  As you can see, it's almost a full-body exercise!  We worked extensively on the swing before moving on, with Mariusz giving keen insight and solid coaching throughout.

        Next up we worked on the clean, which is a progression move, where we brought the kettlebell up close to the chest from the swing, finishing in the 'rack position' with an elbow tight to our ribs, and our hands against our chest with a nice straight line from hand, wrist to forearm.  The clean works the same muscles in the swing (as you swing) then uses The point of the clean, as a progression move, is to put the kettlebell into place so you can perform a military press.

The Swing 

 

        The military press was the final move in the swing and clean progression, another explosive move taking the kettlebell from the rack position to above the shoulder and returning back to the rack.  The press primarily works the shoulder, triceps (rear upper arm) and chest but again recruits a whole host of other muscles to assist in the movement, building strength and power.  It is an awesome, functional exercise – any time you lift anything overhead, you're performing a press.

        Then we put the swing, clean and press together as one movement, putting the three techniques together to complete the full progression.  I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride when doing so, at last I was gaining a sense of familiarity with using the kettlebell and it felt good to snap the three techniques together.

        We finished with the goblet squat, an exercise where you hold the kettlebell against against your chest and perform a squat.  Not only is this a great exercise for your lower body (and buns of steel!), it also firmly hits the core and arms (16kg plus is a lot to hold close to your chest).  Again, Mariusz focussing on proper form and made sure to give good teaching points.  I was particularly impressed that he understood the importance of a nice, deep squat!

The Team 

        At the end of the workshop, when we were worn and tired, I felt that the day was a fantastic opportunity to learn how to use the kettlebell properly, with excellent tuition from an instructor who knew exactly what he was doing.  People who couldn't attend really missed out, it's not often as a student you'd get to learn from a teacher of this calibre, so hopefully Krav Maga Midlands and Strong First can work together to put on another workshop in the future.

        I think that kettlebells are a serious strength and conditioning tool, and they will now form part of my own arsenal of training methods alongside barbell and bodyweight training.  I can't wait to learn more, and would look forward to learning with Marisuz and Strong First again.  A big thanks to Bartosz and Krav Maga Midlands for getting the show organised!  Now, where did I leave that 'bell? KIDA!

Al Natrins, Fitness Instructor and Enthusiast, P3.

 For more pictures from this workshop click HERE

 About Krav Maga Midlands Kettlebell use link below :

http://www.kravmaga-midlands.com/about/kettlebell-classes