I often get asked about combining kettlebell training with other methods like free weights or body weight only exercises.  Should I do it and how do I combine these types of training together they ask.  The answer is absolutely you can combine kettlebell training and any other type of training that makes you happy.  (except machines)

You can without a doubt develop a great workout regimine that employs exclusively kettlebell lifts and become a better man, or women for it but as with anything, sometimes we need a break or a change of pace to keep things fresh.  In my own workouts, I use kettlebells about 75% of the time mixing up the types of lifts I do.  I segregate my workouts into two types; explosive type lifts and grind type lifts.  You can check out some of my recent post for more clarity on this type of scheme.

I divide my days up into light, medium and heavy days and then add a couple of variety days in between.  It is during these variety days that I like to mix things up a bit by doing some free weight work or some body weight only stuff like pistols or one arm pushups.  That is how I suggest most people divide up their workouts and it has worked fantastic for me as well as for all those I have trained.  I also take the opportunity during variety days to stretch and work on my conditioning.

There are times when I don’t pick up a weight at all during a workout, instead concentrating on full body stretching, Indian clubs and shoulder mobility.  I would suggest that you consider this type of workout maybe once ever couple of weeks to give yourself a break.

One thing of note, don’t go into your variety days without a plan.  Although they are called variety days, I like to stay consistent with the theme of my weeks workouts.  For instance, if I am in a grind cycle, I might perform a standard pistol which would be classified as a grind it out type of lift.  If I am in an explosive cycle, I might perform a Hindu squats which are more of an explosive type lift.  Not critical that you do it that way but it seems to work for me.

The long and the short of it is, as long as you stay honest to the principles of cycling your workouts, never training to failure, reps around 5 to build strength and limiting your workout time to no more then 45 minutes, you will make progress whether you lift exclusively with kettlebells or mix things up a bit with other types of training.  I’ve said it before and it bears repeating, don’t make your workouts more complicated then they need to be.  Stick to the core principles outline in my blog and good things WILL happen.

Kill It!

P.S. – Have a question about anything I’m doing, email me and I’ll be more then happy to answer it.  ironkettlebellfitness@gmail.com

Before entering into a fitness routine, especially one that incorporates kettlebells, be sure to consult with your physician or medical professional to be sure you are healthy enough to begin a strength and conditioning regimen.  Be sure to learn the proper way to perform each lift and complete each exercises in strict form employing a spotter when applicable.  In other words, if you hurt yourself, it’s your fault.

Tweet This Post

I am an advocate of functional strength also known as real world strength.  I want to be as strong as I look and  be able to utilize my strength in real world situations and not just in the gym throwing barbells or kettlebells around.  In order to accomplish this, we must employ a system in the gym that mimics situations one might find out in the real world.

It isn’t often that we are called upon to be strong for only a second or two.  Usually we need to be strong and remain strong for several seconds or even minutes.  If your car breaks down in the middle of the street and you need to push it out of the way, how long will it take you?  10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 or even a minute.  How about a fight for your life.  A low life thug comes up and tries to rob you or worse yet, he tries to have his way with you.  How long are you going to have to exert yourself in a situation like this?  Obviously you are going to fight until you win.  You encounter a person who has been incarcerated in prison, a person who has nothing but time to workout, you better be ready.

Hopefully you won’t ever find yourself in a life or death situation like this, hopefully you will only need your strength to push the car out of the road or move the couch.  The what for doesn’t really matter, what does matter is, are you going to be prepared?

To build this kind of sustained real world strength, we must design a workout in which we monitor our progress with a stop watch and not by how many reps or sets we performed.  Here are a few ideas for you to try.  You will need a digital clock or stopwatch for these.

1. Pick your favorite full body lift and a weight that you could perform maybe 3 or 4 reps comfortably.  Now, perform 2 reps on the minute for 5 or 10 minutes, you decide.  So at 1 minute, you perform 2 reps, at 2 minutes 2 reps, at 3 minutes 2 reps at 4 minutes 2 reps and so on.  If you perform a lift that takes you 20 seconds to perform 2 reps, your rest would be 40 seconds before performing another 2 reps.  After you get the hang of it, switch it up by performing 2 reps every half minute or 3 reps every minute, again, you decide.  If 10 minutes doesn’t do it for you, do 15 or 20, use your imagination.
2. Try cycling your rest between sets during your workout.  I usually perform a set and then rest a certain amount of time between before doing another one.  The time remains constant during the lift.  The next time I workout, I will try and perform the same number of sets and reps, but reduce the time between each set, thus performing the same amount of work, but in less time.  With this method, I actually cycle the time between sets during the same workout.  Lets say we are performing long cycle double kettlebell clean and jerks.  Do 1 set and rest for 3 minutes.  Do another set and now rest for 1 minute.  Another set and rest for 2 minutes and then another and rest for a minute and a half.  Never the same amount of rest between sets.  In my experience, this really throws off your body and makes for a challenging workout even though the weight I use might not have changed.
3. Lastly, pick a full body lift and just lift for time instead of reps.  Put 30 seconds or a minute on the clock and perform as many reps in good form as you can.  Rest for 30 seconds and repeat.  This technique will enable you to not only get strong but improve your conditioning at the same time and melt away the fat.  Do heavy barbell clean and presses for 30 second cycles and it won’t be long before you are breathing like a steam locomotive.

These are just a few ideas for you to think about.  If you use your imagination, you can come up with a lot of different scenarios in which you can employ the clock as a monitor of progress instead of reps and sets.  There is no wrong way to do this.  My goal is to get you thinking outside the box.   Remember though, good form is an absolute must.  Don’t sacrifice it.

Kill It!

Dennis

P.S. – Have a question about anything I’m doing, email me and I’ll be more then happy to answer it.  ironkettlebellfitness@gmail.com

Before entering into a fitness routine, especially one that incorporates kettlebells, be sure to consult with your physician or medical professional to be sure you are healthy enough to begin a strength and conditioning regimen.  Be sure to learn the proper way to perform each lift and complete each exercises in strict form employing a spotter when applicable.  In other words, if you hurt yourself, it’s your fault.

Tweet This Post

As you can see from the instructional articles and videos on this site, when I teach kettlebell lifting, I go into great detail on how to perform each exercise.  I am no different from any other reputable kettlebell trainer out there.  And why all the detail you ask?  Because in order to reap the benefits of kettlebells and to stay injury free, it is important to know how to perform each of the lifts precicely and safely.

I was taught growing up that doing something right the first time was always better then doing it half ass and having to do it again.  Kettlebells training is no different.  There is a right way to perform each of the lifts and a wrong way and a lot of in between.  Everybody is different and our bodies are not all put together the same way so the way you lift a kettlebell and the way I lift one may look different but the fundamental must be the same.

You would not expect to pick up a kettlebell for the first time and start performing swings or snatches without first learning the correct mechanics of each.  Sadly, that is how most of us first learned how to workout, be it with kettlebells or free weights or machines.  (don’t get me started on machines).  Go to any gym today and watch people working out.  You will see as many different ways to perform the bench press as there are people performing.  I dare say that most aren’t doing it right.

For me as with most serious kettlebell practitioners, lifting kettlebells is more then exercise, it is an art form.  I love learning about the nuances of each of the lifts and then practicing them to perfection.  By doing this, I have experienced a great deal of success from lifting kettlebells and I rarely get injured.

Even if kettlebells to you are just another tool for getting stronger and improving your conditioning, it is still extremely important to learn the right way to lift them and always be striving towards performing the movements to perfection.  By not performing the lifts correctly, you are cheating yourself.  It is much better and more efficient to drive with the hips when performing snatches then to try and pull the weight with your arms.  You can push more weight overhead by engaging the lats during the military press then by not doing so.  The bent press looks to the outsider to be a back breaker but done correctly, you can safely put more weight overhead with one arm then with any other lift.  Know “how” to do it is the key.

Don’t take your kettlebell lifting as just another day at the gym.  Study and learn the correct and safe way to perform each of the lifts and strive towards perfecting each one.  Take pride in your ability to lift the bells correctly.  Doing so will ensure decades of injury free strength and conditioning gains.

Yours in Health,

Dennis

P.S. – Have a question about anything I’m doing, email me and I’ll be more then happy to answer it.  ironkettlebellfitness@gmail.com

Before entering into a fitness routine, especially one that incorporates kettlebells, be sure to consult with your physician or medical professional to be sure you are healthy enough to begin a strength and conditioning regimen.  Be sure to learn the proper way to perform each lift and complete each exercises in strict form employing a spotter when applicable.  In other words, if you hurt yourself, it’s your fault.

Tweet This Post

Keeping your hands healthy and blister free is critical to your strength and conditioning efforts.  After all, if you hands hurt, you are sure to start skipping workouts.  The key is to know when to squeeze the bell tight and when not to.

When I first started using kettlebells, I gripped the handle like my life depended on it.  After only a few weeks of performing swings and snatches, my hands hurt so bad I had to take a week off from lifting.  This situation is not conducive to long term strength and conditioning gains so I took the time to figure out what I was doing wrong, and how to correct it.  I can now routinely perform hundreds of reps without any pain or discomfort in my hands and I never miss workouts due to hand health issues.

The first thing to consider if you are new to the kettlebell is that it takes time to adapt to the new stress.  Don’t pick up a kettlebell for the first time and expect to be able to do tons of reps without hurting your hands.  Even if you already lift with free weights, lifting a kettlebell will be different.  During lifts like the snatch or the clean, the kettlebell handle will rotate a pretty good distance in your hand.  This is unlike lifting with barbells or dumbells.  When first starting out with a kettlebell, ease into it and let your hands adapt.

During lifts like the swing or the high pull, think of your hand as a hook.  In other words, don’t grip the handle in you palm but rather down around your fingers.  This greatly reduces the stress on your palms.  You will recall that when performing swings, the force is generated with the hips and your arms are nothing more then “ropes” and you hands are the “hooks” that attach the bell to the “ropes”.

For me, the biggest problem I had as it relates to sore hands was improperly holding the bell during the snatch.  I have found that if somebody is going to have a problem with their hands, it is usually during the snatch.  In my case,  I was squeezing the handle too hard so when the bell rotated up and over my hand, it began to stretch and tear at the skin.  The handle of the kettlebell must be allowed to gently rotate in your hand near the top of the snatch.  This reduces the friction and thus the stress on the skin.  Image that the kettlebell is actually floating in the air at the top of the lift as it gently rotates over the hand and onto your wrist.  And don’t forget to punch up through the ceiling.

To drop the kettlebell from the top of the snatch, remember to begin by folding at the waist.  At this point, I grip the handle and “flip” the bell back over my hand.  Again, as the bell is rotating back over my hand, my grip is almost nonexistent as I am now allowing the momentum from the flip and gravity to bring the kettlebell back down.  This takes a little practice and getting use to the timing but your hands will thank you for it in the end.

If you do start to get calluses on your hands, try using an emery board to file them down before they tear.  Also, consider giving your hands a break every so often by performing two hand swings or towel swings.

If you are having problems with a weak grip, chalk is perfectly acceptable, gloves however are not.

Enjoy,

Dennis

P.S. – Have a question about anything I’m doing, email me and I’ll be more then happy to answer it.  ironkettlebellfitness@gmail.com

Before entering into a fitness routine, especially one that incorporates kettlebells, be sure to consult with your physician or medical professional to be sure you are healthy enough to begin a strength and conditioning regimen.  Be sure to learn the proper way to perform each lift and complete each exercises in strict form employing a spotter when applicable.  In other words, if you hurt yourself, it’s your fault.

Tweet This Post