Intelligent Fitness

Most of my postings have been about the dark side of the fitness world; dumb ideas, bad equipment, worthless supplements and morons in the gym. Because of my time in the fitness industry, I hope that I have been able to add a historical perspective to these issues to understand how they began, continued to exist and how to avoid some of the traps. Today, I am turning my attention to a piece of equipment and style of training that I have gotten to know quite well over the last eight years.

A Real Brief History

The kettlebell has gotten a lot of recent traction in the fitness marketplace. This cast iron cannonball with a handle on top dates back over three hundred years to Russia and Eastern Europe where it began as a scale weight to determine fair value for goods in the market place. Give Russian males enough free time and vodka, they’ll turn almost anything that has weight into a way to create and demonstrate strength. “Hold my vodka and watch this!”

The kettlebell made its way to United States with the European immigrations, especially during the mid-1800s. They were commonly found in the German “Turner Gyms” but began to disappear after World War l which also happened to correspond with the introduction of the adjustable barbell and dumbbell. As those who knew how to use kettlbells passed on, there was no one left to instruct how and what to do with them. At least two generations passed before Pavel Tsatsouline and John DuCane brought them back to America in 2001 along with the Russian Kettlebell Challenge book and video tape. 2001 also was the beginning of the RKC Instructor certification which was established to bring proper kettlebell instruction to the grassroots level.

I was part of the small eclectic group of fitness nomads that first became involved with the kettlebell. Wandering out of the desert of fitness sameness, there was excitement about being involved with something exotic, from a distant time in history and a culture whose strength training secrets were just beginning to emerge. Strange characters collected at that Oasis, power lifters, former bodybuilders, strongman competitors, martial artists, special force/swat team members and gymnasts whose bodies had out grown their sport. What we all had in common was this cast iron ball with a handle and the joy of being part of something new and a step away from the familiar.

At first, the numbers were small. We stayed in touch on the Dragon Door forum and anytime kettlebells were mentioned in the media it was posted. Such exposure was viewed as a sign that kettlebells were gaining acceptance in the fitness world and of course we would go out and purchase the magazine or at least track the comments on the internet.

It was also common to get strange looks and negative comments when the subject of kettlebells was brought up, especially from training traditionalist whose sole joy in life seemed to be pissing on new (to them) ideas. But in spite of them, the kettlebell movement grew. In fact, it didn’t take long before kettlebell competitors to Dragon Door appeared on the fitness scene with their own kettlebells and certifications. Of course, it is the great American way, if something works, copy it.

Kettlebells – Crap vs. Quality, Classic vs. Competition

The Dragon Door kettlebells set a very high standard for design and production quality. They were considered by many to be too expensive and that left room in the marketplace for someone to come along and offer a cheaper product. Cheaper would be viewed by some to be a good thing but cheaper has its own cost and that is usually quality. These early non-Dragon Door kettlebells also suffered from the delusion that the kettlebell should and could be redesigned. Without kettlebell experience, the handle diameter, handle height from the bell, the bell shape, post casting finishing and paint were changed without regard to how it felt to the lifter.

Trust me. You get really connected to your kettlebell with your hands gripping the handle for thousands of repetitions and those design changes can drastically affect the lifting experience. You can grow to hate the budget based choice in short order. In fact, I have had friends brag about the price they got on an internet kettlebell only to admit later that the purchase was a mistake because they felt like crap when compared to a Dragon Door model. Take home message, you are going to own the kettlebell for a long time so there is no substitute for quality and don’t buy a kettlebell that you can’t try out first.

Most of the junk kettlebells are found in “big box”/discount outlets and of course on the internet where they are sight unseen. The price is cheap but so is the production quality. However, enough time has passed for a few other quality kettlebell manufacturers to surface besides Dragon Door but the promise of “better for less” didn’t survive. The better kettlebells are priced fairly close to each other. If you’re interested in quality, you can’t go wrong with a Dragon Door kettlebell.

In the last few years, there has been a growing interest in kettlebell competition and correspondingly the competition style kettlebell has appeared in the marketplace. The Dragon Door kettlebell represents the “classic” style of kettlebell, where the bell is solid cast iron and the size of the bell changes with each weight increment. With the “competition” style kettlebell, the bell size remains the same. The bell lands the same in the rack position and the handle feels the same regardless of the weight. The rational is that no technique adjustments need to be made when moving from weight to weight. With the high rep counts of competition lifting and where precise technique is critical, the sameness of the kettlebell feel from weight to weight is very important.

How you intend to use the kettlebell determines whether the classic or competition style would be the best for your needs. If you’re after power, strength and your rep count is going to be low to moderate, the classic style would be a good choice. However, if you are more attracted to endurance-strength, higher rep counts and the prospect competition, then competition kettlebell would be the way to go. Or like in my case, I bounce around between strength/power and endurance-strength so I have both styles. At last count, I had twenty-three kettlebells and that number keeps growing. I’m afraid to turn the lights out in my gym at night because I think they’re breeding in the dark. Something I don’t want to see.

Instruction – Get It Right From the Start

In the seven years that I have been a kettlebell instructor, I have yet to meet anyone who has gotten it right through self-instruction (book, DVD, etc.). I may be wrong but I don’t think it can be done. The skill set is so new to our culture that we lack enough living examples for the “see, do, learn” process. There are just not enough brothers, uncles, neighbors or “kettlebell guys” in the gym to watch. Nor is there anyone qualified present to correct technique while it is being learned. Skilled people to watch and certified instructors to teach are critical for skill based learning. For now, seeking out qualified instruction is the only method that I believe works to insure that your kettlebell investment in time, money and effort is truly safe and productive.

As a kettlebell instructor, I realize the above sounds self-serving but I am a living example of what can go wrong without that instruction. In the beginning, there was just the Russian Kettlebell Challenge Book and Video Tape (yes, video tape) and no direct, one-on-one instruction. With the video on the TV screen, the book in one hand and the kettlebell in the other, we were on our own. No one was there to demonstrate, critique and correct. What we did soon became patterns that had unforeseen downstream consequences, in my case, serious shoulder issues that required surgical reconstruction.

American males have a tradition of believing that they don’t need outside help and that they can manage to somehow figure it out on their own, especially in the ego realm of fitness activities. This hubris and ignorance is a “go directly to the emergence room, do not pass go” card. A small investment in instruction at the front end can insure that your kettlebell experience is even more rewarding then you imagined when you decided to give it shot.

By the way, women are easier to teach, perform better technique and retain it longer than men. They are not heavily invested with a “look what I can do” ego and they are not concerned about impressing anyone with their physical prowess because they don’t have that cultural expectation of themselves. The focus is on really wanting to get it right and then they are later surprised by their performance. I can almost guarantee you that after you teach a male a technique, they will come back two weeks later with something that does not even resemble what you taught and swear up and down that is what you said Must be the genes.

Style versus Style

If you search long enough on the internet about kettlebell training, you will come across the concept of which of two main styles of kettlebell training to pursue. The camps are divided into two main approaches: hard style and soft style. Both present compelling arguments for following their style and unfortunately some individuals from each side have taken it upon themselves to trash the other side and have made it personal, “us versus them” with the “them” being uninformed, ignorant and/or perhaps even dangerous.

The ‘50s long shore philosopher, Eric Hoffer, referred to such individuals as True Believers who live in a black and white myopic world where the comfort of their chosen group allowed them to stop seeking knowledge. Unfortunately, the energy they could have spent for personal growth was spent creating intellectual defenses with reason and logic being the first casualties of their imaginary war. The good news is that the extremists are few in number. The bad news is that they are loud and at times very distracting.

Let’s filter out the static noise of marketing and ego and examine what this is really all about.

Imagine a fitness continuum where on the far left side of the line are found power lifters and strongman competitors and at the far right are marathon and ultra runners, tri-athletes and long distance cyclists. Moving in from the left, we will find Olympic weightlifters, track & field throwers and likewise moving in from the right, 10K and half-marathoners. Eventually, as we move toward the center, we arrive at activities and sports that are more balanced between strength and cardio. Very few of us are gifted to be best at either end of the continuum. The body structure of a world class power lifter is totally opposite of that of a class marathoner. The unique body structure of each athlete draws them to sports and activities that they have the best chance for success.

The best of the best from various points along the fitness continuum are sliced out of context and held out as examples of health and fitness for the rest of us to emulate. They become the road map for us to follow on our fitness journey without regard to its validity for our own unique situation. Each end of the continuum sincerely believes that if only others would follow their training concepts, the world would experience the greatest rewards of exercise and doing anything else would is, well, just dumb.

“If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

In the kettlebell world, the left end of the continuum focuses on strength and power. The skill of the proper use of tension and breath are taught to enhance performance and to provide a safe structure for the body to express strength and power. Heavier weight and low to moderate reps are the norm for hard style kettlebell training and exercise choices are numerous.

Soft style, at the right end of the continuum, focuses on the basic kettlebell competition lifts: the one arm snatch, the jerk and the long cycle (clean & jerk) and assistance exercises that contribute to the success in competition. Tension is reduced and movement technique and efficiency are stressed. The breath is not held but moves in and out with the natural bellows effect of the bodies’ movement. Each of the kettlebell lifts are done for 10 minutes in competition so reducing tension and proper kettlebell sport technique is essential for success.

This would be a good time to point out that there is nothing “soft” about soft style. Take a light weight for any exercise and do it non-stop for 10 minutes and you’ll soon get the idea. The term soft style is only good to draw distinction from the 800# Kettlebell World Gorilla – Dragon Door/RKC’s hard style approach. In fact, the practitioners of the soft style training would prefer the term Kettlebell Sport to replace soft style. In reality, it is more accurate. Competition techniques are the foundation of what they teach and around which their workouts are structured.

I am very familiar with both kettlebell training styles. I am certified by both and I use both in my own training and in the programs I develop for my clients. My decision about which to use is based on my client’s individual’s needs (i.e., training history, short term and long term goals, past and current injuries, etc.). I refuse to fall solely into either camp at the exclusion of the other. That would be like trying to decide to keep only one foot. Go ahead, look down at your feet and tell one of them good-bye and tell it the decision was based upon compelling marketing and/or group peer pressure. I don’t think the rejected foot would be impressed by such weak rationale. Devout followers of each side may have a leg to stand on but two legs would be a lot stronger. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

Big Finish.

The kettlebell began as a practical tool used for purpose unrelated to strength and fitness, a balance beam weight for marketplace fairness. 300 years later, it has become an important tool for developing strength and conditioning and as a stand alone sport. After a long absence, the kettlebell was re-introduced into the American training culture by Pavel Tsatsouline and John DuCane through Dragon Door Publishing along with the first kettlebell instructor certification, the RKC. Within a few years, other manufacturers began offering their own kettlebells and other sources of kettlebell certification surfaced as well.

Back in 2006, a highly respected fitness authority predicted that the kettlebell was over and the fitness public had lost interest and would move on to the next shiny new toy. He was wrong. The interest in kettlebells and kettlebell training is still growing. Strength and conditioning coaches are using kettlebells at the professional, college and high school levels. Even the kettlebell sport is growing each passing year.

Despite direr predictions of an early demise, kettlebells are firmly entrenched in the fitness world. Quality equipment and proper instruction are keys to getting the most of your kettlebell experience. I believe the RKC represents the best of the hard style approach to kettlebell training and the WKC/AKC (World Kettlebell Club/American Kettlebell Club) is the best of the competition style training. The kettlebell certification programs have been around long enough that you should be able to find an instructor within reasonable driving distance for one-on-one instruction and kettlebell workshops for group instruction are scheduled throughout the year and posted on various Kettlebell training websites. Man-up (or woman-up) and purchase quality equipment and seek out proper instruction. As David Letterman says, “You will be glad you did.”

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