Swing it...

Do you swing? I do! And I spent the whole of the last weekend swinging...a Kettlebell...and I have the bruised forearms to prove it!

I spent two days at Fitness First Bondi Edge and I am now a qualified Kettlebell Instructor. The course was taken by Cory Bocking from Performance Training Institute and it was awesome! Cory was great and he showed us how to swing, snatch, clean, jerk and some other wicked exercises that I can't wait to practice more and start introducing in to my client's sessions.

cory

 

To give you a bit of back ground, Kettlebells were developed in Russia in the 1700s where the Soviet Army used them as part of their physical training and conditioning programs. Known as the Girya, the Kettlebell has been used in competitions and sports throughout Russia and Europe since the 1940's. Pavel Tsatsouline developed the first instructor certification program in the USA in 2001 and the rest, as they say, is history.

So what makes Kettlebell work-outs so good? The mass of the bell and the position of the handle on the outside of the mass creates a longer leaver further away from the centre of gravity making the exercise more dynamic and challenging whilst recruiting more muscles. The bell moves around the handle and creates a very different and beneficial training effect more so {some say} than a dumbbell or barbell.

The Kettlebell works many qualities needed for most sporting pursuits and it is a great training tool for athletic performance and movement. Most sports will require you to have strength, power, muscular endurance, range of movement, energy systems and co-ordination. Kettlebell training works many of these qualities! Think of a sport and I bet that sport is done dynamically (moving) and quickly. Now think of doing a Kettlebell exercise. That exercise is also done dynamically and quickly and corresponds perfectly to the most athletic sports.

The core exercises are the Swing, Snatch, Clean, Military Press & Front Squat. These are all designed to focus on training the body to come to full range of movement, to achieve optimal alignment and maintain balance across our body in all of our kinetic systems.

By Sunday night and after 14 hours of swinging a Kettlebell it was safe to say I was wrecked! Yesterday was my rest day with just 40 minutes of stretching and foam rolling my aching body.

Today I feel good and am excited to get in to the gym and train with the bells! If you are interested in Kettlebell training please let me know, I would love to show you how to really swing and swing it good!