Unconventional Athletes Issue 3

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USE PHYSICS FOR EFFICIENCY!
UNDERSTANDING KETTLEBELL DYNAMICS:
EXECUTE MOVEMENTS WITH PRECISION FOR MAXIMUM RESULTS
STAYING AHEAD OF THE GAME WITH
CORRECT KETTLEBELL EDUCATION FOR
CHAMPIONSHIP DOMINATION
KETTlEBEll SPORT EXPlAINED
Kettlebell Sport, also known as
Girevoy Sport, is a strength-endurance
sport that originated from Russian
military training. In the past 10 years,
the sport has seen a lot of growth in
Western Europe and the Americas. The
competition of Kettlebell Sportisa
10-minute set, in which the athlete
completes as many repetitions as
possible without setting the kettlebell
down – and with only one hand switch
(or in the case of lifting 2 kettlebells,
no switch at all!).
ENHANCE YOUR MOTOR CONTROl
STRENgTH AND CARDIO!
The benefits of Kettlebell Sport are
numerous, as it promotes strength
and cardiovascular endurance all in
the same exercise. Kettlebell Snatch
especially works on grip strength and
shoulder stability. Because one side is
trained at a time for single arm lifts,
imbalances between the two sides of
the body will decrease as well. Being
right-handed, I have seen a big
increase in the strength and motor
control of the left side of my body since
training kettlebells. Kettlebell Sport is
a great way to motivate people to train
towards a goal and stay consistent with
their training – whether they are just
aiming to last 10 minutes, hit a certain
number of repetitions, or qualify for
the World Championships.
MIND POWER!
Perhaps more importantly than the
physical challenge Kettlebell Sport
presents (which is a great one, don’t
get me wrong), is the mental tenacity
the sport demands. The most
gruelling part of a 10-minute set is
convincing oneself to keep pushing
through to the very end. The kind of
resilience required to complete a
Kettlebell Sport set has amazing carry
over into any other physical endeavor
or life challenge that comes up – after
completing a 10 minute set with a
heavy kettlebell, everything else
seems easy!
WORlD CHAMPIONSHIPS!
I will be traveling to Dublin, Ireland in
the last week of November to
compete in my second IUKL Kettlebell
Sport World Championships. In order
to qualify, I had to win my weight
class category (63kg) in the
Professional 24kg Snatch lift at the
American Kettlebell Alliance National
Championship.
from 6-10 minutes. Betweenthe days
that I lift kettlebells, I do 2 days of
accessory workouts, which include
general strength training (squats,
deadlifts, etc.) and bodyweight training
(push ups, skin the cats, handstands).
SNATCH lIFT
The trickiest part about the Snatch lift
and what makes it “unconventional” in
my eyes is that you must use the
principles of Physics for efficiency. In
most training modalities, you are
trying to exert as much energy and
muscular force as possible when
completing an exercise in order to
work your body. When training for
Kettlebell Sport, however, the goal is
to save your energy with each
repetition so you can complete as
many repetitions as possible in 10
minutes.
WEIgHT DISTRIBUTION FOR
gRAVITY ADVANTAgE!
Learning to shift your weight
PREPARATION:
properly to use gravity to your
In my training for the World
advantage and properly time each
Championships, I complete 3 sessions
repetition is a huge factor for the
per week - two days of shorter intervals
Snatch. If the timing of one portion
with varying kettlebell weights for
of the lift is off, the timing of the
conditioning and technique practice,
entire lift will be thrown off. Thus it
can take years to perfect the
and the third day a long training set
technique (something I am still
with my competition weight ranging
working on after 4 years)!
Issue 03 - Volume 1 Page 22