Posts tagged RKC
How to get started with kettlebells
Dec 12th
Even if you haven’t visited this site before, if you are at all fitness-inclined then you’ve probably heard of kettlebells.
These cannonballs with handles have developed quite a following here in the US. Used for years by the Russian Military, folks have realized that this simple tool provides for one of the best overall strength, stamina, endurance, core stability, and body conditioning workouts around.
The elite of the fitness world are using them, from the Secret Service, to mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, to professional athletes (e.g., Lance Armstrong, below, from the NY Daily News article).
More and more people have realized that a couple kettlebells can replace a gym’s worth of fancy equipment *and* give more benefit for the money and time spent training.
There are many good resources available on how to use kettlebells, but with the increasing popularity of kettlebells a lot fitness marketers are trying to make easy money off people who don’t know any better (e.g., just Google: jillian michaels kettlebell fail), so distinguishing good resources from bad can be confusing for someone new to kettlebells.
Kettlebells come in a variety of sizes — which kettlebell to get? If you are a guy and in reasonable shape I might suggest starting with a 16KG kettlebell. Females who are in reasonable shape should probably start with a 12KG kettlebell. Note: meet with an RKC (see discussion below) to be sure though, since people often try to start with a heavier weight than they are capable of handling safely.
Where to buy your kettlebell? My suggestion is to buy from DragonDoor. DragonDoor sells what I think are the best kettlebells in the business. You may find cheaper kettlebells elsewhere, but from my experience, the DragonDoor kettlebells have the best finish (won’t shred your hands and the paint doesn’t easily get scuffed) and you don’t have to worry about the handle coming off the cannonball due to a faulty weld, unlike cheaper imitators. DragonDoor also sells kettlebell books, videos, and other products, and their training forums have folks who really want to help you improve your nutrition, health, strength, and fitness.
Though I usually purchase my kettlebells from the DragonDoor site, since I think they have an excellent product, I’ve also found DragonDoor kettlebells on craigslist, so that might be a place to check — to help you save on shipping!
Now that you have a kettlebell — how do you use it? I think the best place to start is with the book Enter The Kettlebell!
I’ve also heard good feedback about the book Body Sculpting with Kettlebells for Women: Over 50 Total Body Exercises
[UPDATE:] I have Lorna’s book now and it is great! I would recommend this to any woman who is starting with kettlebells. It is even useful for men too, since it details different exercises, forms, and techniques. By the way, Lorna is an active kettlebell competitor, and, as of this past weekend [March 2010], is the first woman to achieve Master of Sport in Biathlon (Jerk/Snatch) with the 20kg kettlebell, won at the AKC coach’s event in Long Island. So, I do not hesitate to recommend you to seek out her kettlebell and fitness wisdom.
Finally, consider consulting with an RKC (a certified instructor) —- nothing beats personal instruction. I met with RKC Sandy Sommer and he blew me away with the amount of knowledge and guidance he provided. If only I had gone to see him sooner! Here’s a page where you can find an RKC near you.
But if you can learn to use the kettlebell appropriately, then for a minimal investment you have a lifetime of fitness gains and health ahead of you.
Related Posts:
Kettlebells: why you should meet with an RKC
Jul 12th
I have to make it really clear: if you train with kettlebells, and you aren’t regularly meeting with an RKC — a certified professional kettlebell trainer — then you are doing it wrong.
OK, that sounds a little strong. I mean, it’s just a kettlebell, right? It doesn’t seem like a complicated piece of fitness equipment — afterall, a kettlebell seems like just a cannonball with a handle. Other than the fact that we can get superior workouts in shorter amounts of time and we to get in these workouts we don’t have to waste a lot of time and money going to overcrowded, noisy gyms, there’s doesn’t seem to be anything special about using one, so why bother asking? And some of us might not live near anyone else who does kettlebells, so why bother?
Nevertheless, no matter what is your excuse, you really, really should make every effort to meet with an RKC to have them check out your form, make sure you are performing the exercises safely, suggest corrections to improve your technique and performance, and put you on an optimal training path customized to your specific fitness goals.
So, on what grounds can I make the above claims? Well, today I met with RKC Sandy Sommer, of Charm City Kettlebells — the first RKC I’ve ever worked with, after several months of plodding my way and trying to figure out how to use the kettlebell on my own, and I really regret not having worked with him sooner because I think I could have been that much further along than I am now had I done so.
Sandy was just finishing up with another client when I arrived. I was a little nervous because I was new to kettlebells and in asking to meet with a trainer, and especially an RKC trainer, I really felt out of my element. I was just imagining him taking one look at me, calling up Pavel,and saying, “Hey Pavel, this guy from Virginia came up to see me, thinking he was good enough to work with kettlebells. Ha Ha! He should stick with Jillian Michaels DVDs or something.”
In fact, something totally the opposite happened.
First, I discovered that Sandy has two characteristics that make a great personal trainer — he is professional, with a great depth of knowledge, but he is also a really nice person, and his warmth and concern for helping you to achieve your fitness goals really show through. I felt confident in his advice and comments, and was amazed at the effort he took to show me correct technique, analyze my own technique, explain the theory behind the different kettlebell moves, and help me make the needed adjustments to improve my performance.
Second, we worked through four kettlebell exercises — the swing, the Turkish Getup, the clean and press, and the snatch. In every single one he offered multiple, solid corrections to my home-grown kettlebell technique. He guided me on how to make the changes, and I could instantly feel the improvement. It was so weird. In my home-grown technique, I thought I had tried every little tweak I could think of to get the move to feel right, but today just made it evident that you really do need to have a professional, an RKC, help you out. Why spend months of time trying to work things out on your own, with the potential of hurting yourself or getting frustrated and quitting, when in the course of just one session you can learn major improvements to your technique? Just go see an RKC.
Third, he customized a workout program for me to follow in the coming weeks specific to my fitness needs and goals. Previously, I had been making stuff up as I went along, but now I have a fitness program optimized to my needs and goals. And what are you getting from your gym membership?
I know that it will take some time for me to incorporate the corrections I received today, to really internalize the new movement patterns. In fact, that’s another problem of working in isolation for so long — you will then have to break down your old habits and re-learn the new ones, whereas you could have just started off on the right foot from the beginning. But from this one session I received solid changes to improve my technique that I could feel and use right away. And so I’ll continue working with Sandy as I progress along this awesome RKC kettlebell fitness system.
Want to find an RKC near you? Just take a look at this searchable list of RKC instructors on the Dragondoor.com site.
Thanks again Sandy, you are a real asset to the RKC community.
