Bristol Kettlebell club Member Profile

 

 

Learn more about kettlebell training, the people who do it, the results they have had and why they enjoy it so much.

This is a series of blog post’s showing exactly who trains at Bristol Kettlebell club and what they have to say about it.

Kicking the series off is Paul Doddrell

 

When did you get into kettlebell training?

I started attending in November 2011 but have been training 3 times a week (when I can) since January.

I had been struggling to lose weight for some time and was finding other exercise just wasn’t doing it. I had heard good reviews about kettlebell training so thought I would give it a try.

It is an intense exercise, however Pete explains things carefully and starts you off on your own ability, this way you can increase how hard you push yourself but with guidance from Pete.

I used to enjoy zumba and Kung Fu, however I feel that kettlebells is more beneficial to me providing an all over body workout, strength and conditioning.

I started off using a 12kg bell for all workouts and now I am using a 20kg bell for swings and a 16kg bell for all other workouts.

To gain more lean muscle, strength and conditioning, and to be able to snatch a 28kg bell.

Word from Pete – Paul shows us exactly what can be achieved through hard work, consistency and dedication. He is always keen to train and very rarely misses a session. His strength is building and he was particularly impressive in the recent strongman contest where he won the sled pull event. Given his attendance and perseverance I have no doubt Paul will reach his goals and get in even greater shape. Well done mate!

More profiles to come, check back to the blog very soon.

If you want to get involved with the club click here and sign up to the next intro lesson.

Don’t get fixated on what the scale says when attempting to shift some body fat. Body composition changes cannot be detected by a scale on a day-to-day basis. Fat loss can be detected on a weekly basis, however, so if you can have enough discipline to only hop on once a week, then you have my permission to keep your scale.

This is very tough however- so if you start to notice yourself weighing yourself more often, then hide it.

Did You Know that Your scale weight can fluctuate up to 5 pounds in one day!

This is due to:

• Weight of food & beverages
• Water loss from exercise
• Water gain from menstrual cycles
• Water retention from high sodium intake
• Weight of non-voided bowel contentsThe scale is NOT the real barometer of progress.

  You may believe that “the scale does not lie,” and that the number is objective. However, you can get more objective, more in-depth feedback from other measuring tools.

  Here’s an easy way to do it at home: Be mindful of how your clothes are fitting. After all, it is pretty common for the scale “not to budge” for a person who finds she can suddenly fit with ease into a pair of formerly tight jeans.

  • Other effective measuring tools can be:
  • How you feel after rushing up a flight of stairs
  • Not tiring out as quickly when you play with your children
  • Your new found ability to change the water cooler bottle at work without any effort!
  • Diminished cravings for sugarThe scale can’t record these milestones. When you read the number on the scale, you will automatically associate that number with food. Yes, that’s right. If you don’t like the number, what thought pops into your mind? It almost always relates to food.

    The scale is a harbinger of food obsession, which includes counting every calorie, and carb and fat gram. Before you know it, you’ll be carrying a calorie counter with you everywhere you go.

    Focus on how you feel, milestones in your daily activities, improved muscle tone, better eating habits, and how your clothes fit, rather than an ambiguous number on a gadget.

    For help in escaping the scale’s stranglehold and learning how to make REALLY changes in your body, give us a call today so we can help you with one of our customized programs!
    Pete

The kettlebell is a unique fitness tool and the way in which they are used is fairly unique. This, I believe is another reason why kettlebell training has become so popular, the workouts never get boring when you have an unlimited way in which to train. Below I explain some of the more popular ways to use them and give example workouts. The workouts below only require one kettlebell, this shows you how one kettlebell can replace a gym membership. These workouts incorporate strength, cardio, flexibility, agility, balance and will help you forge a lean physique that is as strong as it actually looks.

After a good warm up using some bodyweight exercises and joint mobility choose 2 or 3 of these drills, perform for the desired amount of rounds.

Enjoy!

1. Metabolic pairing – A metabolic pairing is taking two exercises that work to increase strength and cardio but also involve all of the major muscle groups. In this example we are using the swing which uses about 80% of your musculature and the push up. The push up hits the muscles that the swing didn’t.

30 swings

10 push ups

Perform 5 rounds of this with a 30-60 second break between rounds.

2. Complex ladders – This means all reps of each movement are completed before moving onto the next movement in the sequence. Note – you will perform the all the exercises/reps on one side of your body before moving to the other side.

Swing, Clean, Lunge, Press complex ladder – Reps go 2, 4, 6, 8.

So starting in the right hand go, 2 swings, 2 cleans, 2 lunges, 2 presses. Pass to the other hand and repeat. Now come back to the right hand and go 4 swing, 4 clean, 4 lunge, 4 presses. Pass to the other hand and repeat. Keep this going until you reach the top of the ladder.  The aim with ladders is to try to get to the top before putting the bell down.

3. Complex ladder

Clean, squat, snatch- Reps go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

With this one you go – 1 clean, 1 squat, 1 snatch, pass to the other hand and repeat. Now come back to the first hand and go 2 clean, 2 squat, 2 snatch, pass back to the other hand and repeat, keep going all the way to the top of the ladder.

4. Complex

10 one handed swings

10 high pull

10 snatch

Pass to the other hand and repeat. Wait 30-60 seconds and go again. Repeat for as many rounds as desired.

5. Complex

10 forward lunge

20 two handed swings

10 squats (kettlebell in rack position)

Pass to other hand and repeat. Wait 30-60 seconds and repeat.

6. Complex ladder

Two handed swing, one handed swing, thruster, snatch. Reps go 2, 4, 6, 8

7. AMRAP – This is an abbreviation, I believe it is  “as many rounds as possible” in the example below it would be “as many reps as possible” either way you get the idea

As many snatches as possible inside ten mins, record the number, attempt to beat by at least 10 reps next time.

8 . AMRAP

10 snatch L/R, 10 clean and press L/R, 10 goblet squat = one round, get as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes and attempt to beat next time.

9. Chains – A chain is where you will perform all of the movements back to back for and this would equal one rep. For example using these exercises one hand swing, clean, high pull, squat, press, perform one rep of each movement, when you have completed one rep of each movement in sequence that would equal one rep. Go back to the start of the chain and perform another run through the movements, that would be two reps. Get it?

So to use chains in a workout using those five exercises above, perform 5 reps left and right. Rest and repeat 4- 5 times.

10. Chain

Swing, snatch, swing, clean, squat, press.

In this example you run through the chain and then pass to the other hand, run through it on that side then pass back, Keep passing from right hand to left hand for 5 mins without putting the bell down.

11. Metabolic pairing

Burpee to high pull – 10

Swing – 20

Rest 1 min and repeat 5 times.

So there you go, 11 different workouts, now all that you need to do is train!

Cheers

Pete

Martial artists around the world are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of using kettlebells in their training regime, the application of the kettlebell to a martial artist is, more explosiveness, more power, more strength, more strength endurance and superior conditioning. Its a fact that the majority of fights are won by the more conditioned opponent, of course skill, accuracy, power and speed are all necassary compenents any great fighter needs, but this will mean nothing if you find yourself in the last round with nothing left to give! So how can this deceptively simple device give so much? Consider this, Russian kettlebell training specifically the “hardstyle” method of kettlebell training is explosive in nature, the relationship between relaxation and tension is one every athlete should master, high level athletes know this and train accordingly. The hardstyle method refers to martial art systems like karate which concentrated on total body muscle tension into one extraordinary effort “one punch, one kill”. When Pavel (the creator of the hardstyle method) served in the Soviet Special Forces, his  unit was among those who had adopted a karate-based style of hand to hand combat. The hard style of kettlebell training was born to support the hard style of fighting. In the hardstyle kettlebell swing, you explosively propel the bell forward using an aggressive hip snap, before hiking the bell back between the legs to again explosively drive it forward, at the top of the swing, glutes, abs, quads, lats and forearms are tense, at the bottom of the swing relaxed, this repeated effort is teaching you total body tension, to build up to a one all out effort, but repeatedly. Therefore the kettlebell swing is not only a superior conditioner but also builds strength endurance that will transfer to how you perform in the arena. Add in the Turkish get up for an all over strength exercise and you have all you need, but why stop there? Lets add in some snatches for more explosiveness, some windmills for flexibility and core, clean and press for a strong upper body, high pulls which mimic striking, both with elbows and fists, the ground attack, a great exercise for grapplers. These exercises are just a few of the many hundreds a fighter can use to increase speed, power, conditioning etc, if you are serious about improving in your sport, and why would you not be? The question becomes why are you not using kettlebells already?

Written by Pete Luffman, personal trainer, kettlebell coach and nutritional advisor.

Contact Pete