Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Russian Kettlebell: The Martial Art of Strength Training

Having a background in martial arts one of the things I am excited to discover the strong similarities between RKC Hardstyle Kettlebell training and martial art training.

Refining and Mastering the Basics

One feature of hard-style martial arts is the majority of training is spent on mastering and refining the basics, the same is true for RKC training. During high repetitions of relatively simple basic motions revelations and breakthroughs occur in both understanding and technique. These breakthroughs happen by themselves when they are ready and cannot be forced. The more you try to force or rush them they longer they take to occur. Quite often these breakthrough moments teach us a lesson about ourselves.

One technique that I am currently fascinated with is the clean and double clean. Although the clean by itself is a relatively simple movement to learn it is very difficult to master and the feedback is instant. An incorrectly performed clean will bang against your body painfully and audibly while a near perfect clean feels weightless, soft and hardly makes a whisper. As in martial arts practices sometimes your best technique happens naturally when you allow your mind to get out of the way. On more than one occasion I've been concentrating on every aspect of the clean trying to improve upon each rep unsatisfactorily, then somewhere down the road in the middle of who knows what # rep, it happens… an effortless painless clean without hardly a sound of impact. The clean happened all by itself, I just had to get my mind out of the way.

Next…

Part II: Hardstyle - Make training for the event harder than the event itself.

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Did you Know?

Head strength coaches for Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Redskins have taken and passed the RKC.

World Power Lifting Champion Donnie Thompson is an RKC.

World renown physical therapist and creator of the Function Movement Screen, Gray Cook is an RKC.

Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Danish Olympic Team, Kenneth Jay is a Master RKC.

Olympic Silver Medalist, Mark O'Madsen is an RKC.

World Famous Strength Coach Dan John is an RKC.

RKC Quotes

"Kettlebell training will make you a better man.. even if you're a woman. If you don't know how, I'll show you. If you don't want to, I'll make you! " - Pavel Tsatsouline
"The Swings WILL continue until morale improves!" - Banner hanging at Lone Star Kettlebell in Lubbock TX.
"Anyone can swing a Kettlebell, but not everyone knows how to do the Kettlebell swing." - Master RKC Brett Jones
"Strength is a skill, so is endurance, so is flexibility!" - Pavel Tsatsouline

Scott Stevens, RKC & Pavel Tsatouline