Dates for upcoming Industrial Strength sessions

Take a look at the dates, put them in your diary. Hope you can make it. Locations to be confirmed nearer the time. Next session Saturday October 27th will definitely be at Balance Performance Physiotherapy, Clapham, SW4 6LE.

2007

Saturday October 27th 4-6pm

Sunday December 16th 9.30am-12 midday

2008

Saturday January 19th 4-6pm

Sunday March9th 9.30am-12 midday

Saturday April 12th 4-6pm

Sunday June 1st 9.30am-12 midday

Saturday July 5th 4-6pm

Sunday August 24th 9.30am-12 midday

Saturday September 27th 4-6pm

Sunday November 16th 9.30am-12 midday

Saturday December 20th 4-6pm CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Rise of the kettlebell??

There is ongoing and gathering interest in Russian Kettlebells from the media and it has resulted in more than a few articles in local and national papers, men and women's lifestyle magazines and other glossy publications. You know something is serious when it gets into the guardian though!!!!!

You'd think this would be great and in one way it is, with more people knowing about kettlebells more people will train with them and reap the rewards.

The trouble is most of them miss by a large margin the whole point of using kettlebells, instead they get the pretty boy models to hold kettlebells, instead of dumbbells or being sat on a machine, and continue to mimic bodybuilding. Snatch, clean and jerk are rarely mentioned, and the swing is de-emphasized. So whats the point? I was reminded by a client to remember that these publications are only interested in distracting the reader for 5 minutes with an article that differs only slightly from the one that occupied the same pages the previous month. I don't believe this is true of all of the journalists who have compiled these articles, I have managed to get my point across recently but it admittedly took a few back and forth emails to stop my words being incorrectly edited and pared down to nothing useful. I suppose if the reader is interested they will seek out a coach and get the right idea from a more reliable source than the journalist who misunderstood and misrepresented. Unfortunately it seems many coaches in the uk are not interested in continuing to develop and so have not managed to seek out the real benefits of kbs and so do not place the correct emphasis on the use of kettlebells.

The guardian article isn't too bad by the way, at least swing and snatch are used, and I know that Tommy Matthews and Bj Rule of One Personal Training are fully aware of the correct emphasis in kettlebell training.

Its a shame that many may come to the conclusion that kettlebells are just the latest craze rather than a far more effective way to train than badly done two dimensional training/bodybuilding. But they will come to that conclusion if they are sold the concept of kettlebells as fantastic and then just end up doing press, squat, row with them, something they were already doing unsuccessfully with dumbbells and barbells.

As for what kettlebells ARE for...their design is best suited for high rep swing, snatch, clean and jerk (either single/double, long cycle or just jerk). The abilities they develop where listed very nicely by Eric Lifford on the American Kettlebell Club blog

"If you are looking for Strength-Endurance, GPP, Explosive Power, Ability to cope with stress…, Work Capacity, Grip, Coordination, Staying Power, Mental Toughness, Athleticism, Fat-Loss/Altered Body Composition, Stress Reduction, Focus, Patience, Health, Vitality, Determination, Flexibility, Joint/Tendon/Ligament/Muscle Prehab and more, I think Valery’s right when he says “Kettlebells, it’s enough”!"

The American Kettlebell Club blog and forum are well worth keeping abreast of, go to www.americankettlebellclub.com

Maybe I'm being unreasonable but if its your job to coach clients in the use of kettlebells then to me it seems logical that you research it fully and seek to improve and develop, likewise, as a journalist you should be representing the facts as they are presented to you and also doing some background research not just filling space around adverts.

Scott Sonnon being coached by Valery Federenko

Industrial Strength London – September 2nd 2007

Thanks to everyone who got themselves over to Wandsworth Common for what was a great practice session of movement, strength and conditioning. There were new faces and old, tired, haggard ones.

Cj Swaby led the warm up and joint mobility part of our session before we headed over to the monkey bars. Some were more monkey like than others but the point is we worked at our pulling and swinging abilities (if you know what I mean) both for strength and with power. Double and single arm jumps both to switch grips and swing to different bars. The greatest monkey of all was absent at this point but when James Bower managed to get his butt south of the Thames he made up for the late start.

We all contributed to perform animal moves up and down the grass. Bears, elephants, three legged dogs, komodo dragons, crabs and ducks (Phill Ireland’s ducks go slower than everyone elses but he claims they’re more hardcore – and he’s right) all made an appearance, though we all looked like donkeys!

James Bower took us to the other side of the common’s equipment area to share with us some jumping drills. We did repeated log and hurdle jumps with controlled (some) landing being demanded as well. This led nicely into some parkour derived balance work followed by some low level and introductory vaulting. Having spoken with Ez of www.urbanfreeflow.com I know that this is the only way to get into parkour (free running) i.e. slowly, learning the basics first before leaping off buildings.

We then settled down on the grass for 10s of push up variations, everyone doing there bit and putting forward a suggestion – from total body involved hindu push ups (of Kushti wrestling fame I think) to what felt like pure isolatory tricep destroying versions. Jen “new kid on the block” Swallow insisted we did far more reps than intended before we did a few sets of get up drills – BJJ getups from supine, slide get ups from prone, deck squats and burpees.

Before we got too focussed on our Sunday lunches I wanted to maintain momentum and set up a circuit to justify bringing out the kettlebells, sandbag and thick 20 metre tow rope, kindly donated by British Airways via Anjum.

1 min sets (with a bit more here and there), continuous movement from station to station, performed twice for 12min total ‘ish.

Weight, workload and intensity left to the individual. If you loafed like me it was a piece of cake.

1. Overhand tow in of partner - resisting as much as possible without halting movement.
2. kettlebell throw from 1 hand swing
3. kettlebell swing, jerk, clean and jerk, or snatch
4. sandbag suitcase walk, farmers walk, shouldered sandbag carry, or carry with sandbag in zercher hold.
5. wheel barrow
6. burpees – Phill Ireland wouldnt have been happy unless he had extremely hard so did donkey burpees, Cj followed suit, Jen Swallow kept on eye on me - the man with the stop watch and waited for time to be called!

Cj has just got his website up and running so take a look – www.cjsfitness.co.uk

Apologies for there being no pics, I will become organised one of these days.