London Kettlebells UK Kettlebells And Kettlebell Personal Training

Having recovered from the Steve Cotter workshop, the time has come to really test it out and see if his approach to kettlebells works better than the current status quo.

The first test will be with the kettlebell clean and jerk, quite possibly my least favourite exercise. My PR with a 32kg kettlebell is a paltry 12 reps.

The first major change is in the way I knock out the reps, from one straight set to breaking up the reps to fit into a set time period.

I'm aiming for AMRAP in five minutes and the first step to training this is to improve my rack hold endurance.

Here are a couple of tips I learnt.

Keep the elbows tucked in tight. Use the hip as a support point for the kettlebell.
Keep the grip loose
Keep the shoulder down.
Lean back so the kettlebell weight transmits straight down the legs (NOTE: This may not be suitable for all, so if you have back problems don't try it out)

Once I get a chance to take some pictures, I'll send detailed images of grip and some superb subtleties on how to hold a kettlebell.

Once you've racked the bell you can find a "comfort zone" by moving your body until the bell feels settled. Then you just need to hold it, and hold it, then hold it some more :)

Great exercise and a must for developing a strong jerking action (ahem!)

Here's an example of Steve Cotter's kettlebell training methods:

You'll need one kettlebell and a stopwatch with two to six minutes on the clock.

The rules are very simple.

Once the watch starts, the kettlebell cannot be put down until the time is up. You cannot rest the kettlebell on any part of the body except in the overhead locked position. You can rest it in a dead hang position but the holding arm cannot contact the body. You can only switch hands at the halfway point of your set.

Then all you do is snatch. The best way to get a rep count is to get someone else to count silently. Don't limit yourself with a preconceived personal best.

There are two things to work on here. The first is developing a good snatch rhythm, aim for a certain RPM and the second is learning how to "rest" whilst holding a kettlebell.

This will develop immense work capacity with the final aim of hitting ten minutes of snatches (standard competition set duration)

I had the pleasure of being invited to Steve Cotter's London workshops over the weekend and it was a real eye opener on a "new" way of kettlebell training.

I 've been taught and training in a very hard, rigid fashion where power is expressed in hard, snappy movements. However, the Russian Kettlebell Sport way relies on a much more fluid rhythm. A martial arts analogy would be between an external martial art, with defined tension and explosiveness and an internal martial art where the strength is gathered and released in a smooth wave.

Is there a right or wrong way? My personal opinion is that the harder style of training works great but to refine it into this softer approach creates greater economy of motion and allows better fatigue management. It also feels like it has more longevity in training as the "softness" means less physical damage over time.

The first refinement taught was the swing, which was taught to me as a straight arm action, explosive hip snap and a hard, defined drive through. The method demonstrated by Steve was much softer, using only as much power as necessary to drive the kettlebell upwards and used a soft elbow that was allowed to bend.

This felt odd but in the best martial arts philosophy, cups were emptied and after some adjustment, yes, I found this method of swinging much better.

A lot was covered in the seminar, some highlights being a demonstration of one legged squat jumps onto a platform, some "animal style" bodyweight drills and meeting a horde of other kettlebell enthusiasts.

Steve Cotter was a great demonstrator of technique but more importantly a great teacher who is always ready to learn and progress with his own training, something that is vital if you're aiming to teach and not just be the head of a cult. He's shorter than expected though :)

Will post some more stuff later after a hot bath and plenty of food.