Discover Yourself Stronger – An Introduction to Kettlebells
Saturday
the 2nd 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!
Whoops! Missed part of a sentence. Regarding the clean, it should read 'The clean works the same muscles in the swing (as you swing) then uses the arm, chest, shoulder, back and core to stabilise and keep the kettlebell in place'.
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