Kettlebell Seminar in Thomasroith
Kettlebell seminar attendees - Image from naturtraining.at
After a pretty long break from attending seminars at Dominik Feischl’s Naturtraining centre in Thomasroith (I missed out on the Steve Maxwell seminar due to financial issues), it was a pleasant comeback for me to attend the Kettlebell seminar which took place on September 18th.
Setting
Dominik Feischl and IKFF Kettlebell instructor Oliver Klettner (whom I already knew from the Wintercamp and the Fighter Fitness Forum) paired up with the intention to deliver a complete introduction into the basics of Kettlebell lifting. A complete total of 15 attendees gathered (Dominik, Oliver and Karl Humer excluded) on a warm and sunny Saturday morning (some of the attendees took home some serious sunburn 
) to delve into the now so hyped working with those sphere-shaped weights. The experience level of the attendees varied from total beginners with virtually no experience in Kettlebell lifting to somewhat experienced athletes with more than six months thereof. As I have already attended a Kettlebell seminar back in 2008 at Dominik’s, I was amongst the most experienced Kettlebell lifters but still well aware that I had a lot of work to do to get the technique right.
Preperation
Oliver started the seminar with a two-part warm-up-session. First he targeted our general motor skills by moving in all fundamental directions (forward, backward, sideways and rotational) before he started an extensive joint mobility session with a strong emphasis on hip, shoulder and finger mobility – the three key bodyparts in kettlebell lifting. Most of us already experienced this warm-up as being as challenging as a regular workout due to the fact that mobility training with body parts usually disengaged while working out will lead to a serious sensation of fatigue. As for me, I had to struggle with mobility limitations in the area of my hips as well as my shoulders, where some of the exercises really showed me my limits. I was already in awe about Oliver at that point – his mobility skills are the result of a consistent commitment to something of fundamental importance in training — staying mobile and keeping joints and tendons healthy.
Basics: The Swing
This video gives a pretty good impression of the basic techniques we covered during the seminar. The protagonist is Oliver himself.
Warmed up and mobilized, we started the Kettlebell work with the most important movement in Kettlebell sports: The Kettlebell swing. Every other lift in Kettlebell sports heavily relies on the movement patterns used when performing the Kettlebell swing, so a proper swing is the ideal foundation for excelling in lifting. Oliver taught us the Kettlebell swing in the so-called Fluid Style, which is a style of Kettlebell lifting that emphasizes work capacity — the ability to sustain performance for as long as possible. To achieve this, muscles that are strong but fatigue quickly are taken out of the equation as much as possible and the work is transferred to muscles which can endure longer. When performing the swing, the weak spots are the hands and quads (which fatigue quickly), so the work is transferred to the hips and lower back. We prepared for the swing by doing strict straight-leg deadlifts with the Kettlebell, which require the movement pattern used lateron – pushing back the hips with legs extended to gather tension and then explode forward with the hips to generate power upwards instead of relying to the arms to pull the weight. From there on we progressed to the two-arm-swing and then the more common one-arm-swing. Moving from static to dynamic motion (deadlift –> swing), the downward phase of the swing charges the hips, so that the upward phase is done almost effortlessly. It’s important to straighten the legs as much as possible to maximize the tension generated. The arms are extended at the lower part of the movement (swinging through the legs) and slightly bent at the upper part of the movement (bringing the Kettlebell up to chest height) to alleviate tension and thereby fatigue. The proper grip is also important to sustain good form. Oliver taught us the Hook- or O.K.-Grip, where your thumb and index finger used to form a hook at the horn of the Kettlebell near to you – the other three fingers only slightly grip the bell. Using this grip, the Kettlebell is rotated while swinging – on the upswing, the horns are in horizontal alignment, on the downswing, the horns are in vertical alignment. This helps to avoid a rebound on the lower part of the swing, where the bell rotates further as the hands stop on the lowest point on the swing, stealing momentum and possibly injuring the hands. The non-working-hand also helps out: It follows the movement, generating further momentum. Last but not least, Oliver taught us the right breathing patterns of this exercise — the anatomical breathing (breathing out on the downswing, breathing in on the upswing (where the body is extended)), performance breating (exhaling 50% of lung volume on the downswing, exhaling 50% of lung volume on the ignition of the upswing (to generate more tension), inhaling on the upswing) and paradox breathing (breathing in on the downswing, breathing out on the upswing (generating more tension).
As you can see, the Kettlebell swing is a movement which is complicated in all its details. I truly profited from my experience gathered prior to this seminar, so that I could concentrate on the details rather than the big picture, with which numerous attendees struggled. It takes a lot of repetitions to really get it right.
Basics: The Clean
We started our work on the Kettlebell clean by first getting out rack position right. The rack position – where the Kettlebell is ‘racked’ on chest height – is one of the only places where the athlete can rest in Kettlebell sports as well as the proper emphasis for every overhead lift. The hand is placed near the center of the chest to let enough space open for the Kettlebell to rest without generating force, dragging it down on the side of the torso. Ideally, the Kettlebell is placed on the center of the athlete’s gravity – so that another person can push it down without the athlete struggling to maintain the position. With legs straight, the upper body is leaned back to further center the weight – standing upright, the weight would develop a tendency to fall down to the front when not applying force. The fingers are relaxed — a good rack position strives to take the work away from them.
After working on the rack position, we started to work on the clean. The clean is initiated from the rack position with a slight bump of the side of the chest where the Kettlebell is resting. The weight now drops in a swing-like fashion down and through the legs – with the weight being much closer to the body this time. On the upswing, keeping the bell close to the body saves energy and helps avoiding the bell to crash on the wrists (a sensation every beginner has to endure – I have been amongst them during the whole seminar). A drill that has proven to be helpful came from leading Kettlebell expert Dr. Till Sukopp: Putting a T-Shirt or some grass between your elbow and your body and performing the clean. If done incorrectly, it falls to the ground — the elbows have to sustain contact to the torso. Alternatively, wall cleans can be done to improve the technique – you just clean the weight while walking closer and closer to a wall, without touching the wall with the bell. Another challenge [I could not work out] is spare the hands on the clean – when done incorrectly, cleans quickly wear down the surface of the hand because of the stress on the base of the fingers, where blisters are likely to develop. As time progressed, this problem has become so grave for me, that I was unable to do more than three consecutive cleans per hand on this day. Ideally, the Kettlebell slides forward to the tip of the fingers on the downswing, eliminating the much-dreaded wear.
Basics: The Press
The logical progression from the clean is the press. In the rack position, the body is in the ideal position to put the weight overhead. Using Fluid Style, we tried to put the weight overhead in a straight line as opposed to other strict methods of pressing, where the bell is moved upwards in a curved line. Instructions were comparably easy on the press – take the weight and put it over your head. For me, it proved helpful to be reminded that the shoulder should always stay in its socket – I would always pull my shoulders towards my ear, which is bad for long-term shoulder health. To reduce stress when taking down the Kettlebell, it is advised to go on the tip of your toes in order to reduce the distance the weight has to cover in the descent. Another power saver is keeping your hands in the same position as in the rack position – something most people do wrong the first few times.
From the strict press we moved to the push-press. This movement was easier than the strict press for most people, because it incorporated a leg dip and push most people use anyway (they had to be reminded to leave out the legs when doing strict presses).
Advanced: The Jerk
When the press is 100% an effort of the arms lifting the weight, the push press divides the work equally between arms and legs. The jerk is then a variation of getting the weight overhead with a minimum of arm involvement as they are a lot weaker than the legs. This is achieved by adding a second dip to the first – the weight is accelerated by driving the force through the legs and the hips, which are linked with the working arm in a correct rack position and at the point where the arm would have assist, you dive under the Kettlebell until your arm is fully extended and then stand upright again.
This lift is tricky and the most important thing is to get the timing right to really do all the work with the legs. We did an additional drill with a fixed bar as a bell surrogate to learn the second dip. I found it difficult yet doable and had a good feeling about my virgin jerks.
Advanced: The Snatch
Finally, we progressed to the utmost technical Kettlebell lift, the snatch. Technically, Read more…
. Upwards we go – still. Pauses were utilized wisely – for instance to do several sets of push-ups on our fists or pick up a heavy wooden log from the sideway, soaked in the water from the rain of the last few days. We used these logs as training tools – the heavier ones were paired up, cleaned, squatted and even pressed overhead – the lighter ones were natural barbells for numerous exercises – even overhead squats and pistols (!) were tried out utilizing them. Probably the highlight was the rope pull-up-ladder we did on the swing at the hut up on the hill – where visitors were constantly going in and out and staring at us in disbelief – a unique feeling to be amongst those primal fighters on their way up to the top. Our best athletes set out to finish a pull-up ladder up to ten repetitions, with Dominik finishing the workout with a mind-blowing 20 repetition set on the rope – most probably the hardest two-handed variation of the pull-up. The only problem with the rope pull ups was the long waiting time between sets – and therefore the cool-off of the whole body – which is undesirable. Harald also wrote about the fact that the gloves were freezing over the course of a few minutes – I have to agree, towards the end, their inflexibility made them less and less useful. The top of the hill was reached soon thereafter and truly – we all felt like being “Kings of the Hill” – rightfully so.