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RKC School of Strength

Official blog of the RKC

athletes

Kettlebells for Sports Performance Training—A 12-Week Program

August 12, 2015 By Rekha Ayalur 7 Comments

Rekha Ayalur Double Kettlebell Swing

Kettlebells in sports performance training and athletic preparation have made a huge impact on athletes of all kinds by combining aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, and strengthening weaknesses such as shoulder strength and mobility. They also improve posterior chain strength, and grip strength. The design of the kettlebell helps teach an athlete to absorb, store, and redirect force in the hips and lower body.

Kettlebells allow athletes to mimic movement patterns used in a sport more accurately. I coach at a sports performance center in Alexandria, Virginia where we regularly see huge athletic gains simply from kettlebell training. In this post you’ll see my perspective on kettlebell usage and how my coaching is slightly different than most instructors since I focus on a triphasic approach to kettlebell programs.

My Early Days as an Athlete

When I picked up my first weight in the early 90s, I’d never heard of kettlebells. I was on the high school track team and remember learning how to do back squats, bench press, and various dumbbell movements at our school’s weight training class. At the “monstrous” size of 5’2’’ and 95 pounds, I was quite strong for my size. I held the school record for lifting the most for my weight and loved lifting heavy—I was the petite, female, Indian version of a “meat head”. At the end of track practice, we had mandatory weight training consisting of bench press, back squats, lat pulls, dumbbell flys, and whatever else our coach thought would make us faster on the track. This was my introduction into the world of weight training.

After high school, I ran cross-country and track at a Division I college. I was running an average of 40-60 miles a week with mandatory weight room training twice a day. Our strength coach also worked with the football team, and I’m pretty sure our strength program was the same as theirs. I never questioned why I was told to back squat 145 pounds or do a 115 pound one-rep max on bench as a distance runner. Surely, the strength coach of a Division I team must know what is best for me to perform better on the track. So as my bench max and squat max continued to climb, my track times continued to get slower. I was angry with myself, frustrated, and depressed. I couldn’t understand why this was happening, I had a Division I training program every day, but I could not perform.

After graduating, I continued to run and lift a lot. I ran a few races here and there, but my times never improved. I eventually got tired of running and focused on other cardiovascular exercises at the gym like elliptical machines and stair climbers. But, I was working out just to work out, with no goals, and no performance gains or improvements in body composition. In fact, my body was breaking down, I needed surgery for a torn hip labrum, my knees were a mess and I felt tired and weak.

My Introduction to Kettlebells

In 2010, while doing a torturous workout on the stair climber, I noticed a small group of people gathered in a corner of the gym using weights I had heard were called “kettlebells”. Later, I asked the instructor if I could join and learn how to use them. At the time I thought kettlebells were just another fad workout craze, but it seemed more interesting than what I had been doing at the gym. I began training with this RKC instructor’s class and quickly became hooked. I became pretty proficient with the major exercises and became stronger using them.

Rekha Ayalur Kettlebell WIndmill

Soon, I wanted to learn everything about this little “bell”. I was in love! My trainer told me that she was coached by another RKC in the area before taking her certification. This was how I began to train with RKC Team Leader, Darius Gilbert at Dynamic Sport Performance (DSP), the facility where I now coach. When I first went to train with Darius, I assumed we would be doing similar RKC-style movements that I had been practicing with my former trainer. I didn’t know that kettlebells could also be used for improving athletic performance. I had only heard that Darius was one of the best RKCs in the area, and I wanted to train with the best. My training sessions quickly turned into an educational on how DSP uses kettlebells to help athletes age eight to adult perform better in their respective sports.

This blog post will provide some insight into what I’ve learned in the last three years about kettlebells and sports performance training.

Kettlebells for Sports Performance Training

One of the main reasons kettlebells help athletes is that kettlebell movements mimic athletic movement patterns. The bell requires athletes to be on their feet where they will develop proprioceptive awareness (awareness of the body in space) and immense grip strength. Every sport requires an athlete to have an awareness of their body—foot placement, shoulder positioning—in order to defend a goal, catch a ball, swing a bat, throw a pass, tackle, swim, explode out of blocks, etc. Sports that require gripping a bat or a ball can also benefit from the grip strength developed from kettlebell training.

Kettlebells also combine anaerobic and aerobic conditioning, which are typically separated in most athletic programs. Our training is high intensity without pounding on the joints like running and jumping, and trains the cardiovascular system without the athlete’s feet ever leaving the ground—this is especially useful for deconditioned athletes. We give our athletes specific movement patterns, such as rotations for baseball which help stability in shoulder girdle. We also use velocity-based training (VBT) to enhance their performance. By applying Cal Dietz’s Triphasic Training approach, we can further utilize kettlebells to help an athlete become more dynamic in their sport.

So, why do kettlebells provide more of an advantage to athletes than conventional barbell lifts? It’s because barbell exercises focus more on the concentric phase of the lift. Usually, the concentric movement gets the most “credit”. The eccentric phase is when the weight is lowered, and an isometric contraction occurs when you reach a complete pause in the lift. Athletes MUST train all three phases to see gains in their performance. Period. No sport uses only concentric movements, so why would you only train that phase of a lift?

Below, I have outlined a typical 12-week kettlebell program with a triphasic approach that we use with our athletes. The first exercise primes the athlete’s nervous system. We utilize un-weighted jumps—vertical and horizontal—to train force displacement. Weighted ballistic lifts train the athlete’s muscles to eccentrically and isometrically absorb energy before applying it in explosive dynamic movements. Each phase is performed for 4 consecutive weeks:

Lower Body Phase:
Phase 1- Eccentric

  • Double kettlebell front squat: 3 reps with 5 second negative
  • Un-weighted exercise: box drop to hurdle jump x 4
  • Two-Hand Swing –5 reps (55% of max weight)
  • 15 yard sprint
  • Repeat for 3-5 sets

Phase 2 – Isometric

  • Double kettlebell front squat: 3 reps with 5 sec hold on bottom
  • Penta Jumps
  • Single arm dead cleans – 5 reps (55% of max weight)
  • Lateral starts
  • Repeat for 3-5 sets

Phase 3 – Concentric (Pre-season. Preparing for competition, 55% of weight)

All of the exercises below should be reactive. The athlete should drop down as fast as they can, stick the isometric portion, and explode out of the lift.

  • Goblet squat: 3 reps
  • Multi-directional hurdle hops
  • Power snatch from floor: 3 reps
  • Sprinter starts
  • Repeat for 3-5 sets
Upper Body Phase:
Phase 1: Eccentric

  • Push Up Variation 5 reps with x 5 second negative
  • Medicine Ball Chest Throw x 5
  • One Arm Push Press x 3 R/L
  • Hand to Hand Swing x 8 total

Phase 2 – Isometric

  • Push Up Variation 5 x 5 second hold at the bottom
  • Medicine Ball Slam x 5
  • One Arm Power Snatch
  • One Arm Swing X 4 R/L

Phase 3 – Concentric

  • Push Up Variation – Clap P/U x 3
  • Med Ball Scoop Toss x 4
  • One Arm Jerk x 3 R/L
  • Double Swing x 5

 

Results From Our Athletes

This program is given to all of our athletes—from baseball players to track athletes—and the success of this training approach has allowed them to experience immense improvements in overall performance. In addition to using the triphasic approach, we also incorporate velocity-based training into our athlete’s programs. Using the Push Band, we can calculate velocity and track our athlete’s optimal rep and weight range to enhance performance. Velocity is the rate at which an object travels in meters per second (m/s).

At DSP, we use simple kettlebell exercises—swing, snatch, clean—to focus on building strength-speed (strength in conditions of speed), and speed-strength (speed in conditions of strength), both equally important in developing optimal athletic performance.

One of our baseball athletes is Hughes. He’s going into his senior year in high school and began training at DSP about a year ago. When he first came to us, he was running 7.6 for 60m. He recently ran a 7.03 at the baseball combine in California. With velocity-based training, we were able to gauge that Hughes can swing a kettlebell at 4 m/s (optimal velocity for speed training) for four reps. For anything after four reps, the velocity decreases. The same test can be performed with the kettlebell snatch and clean—all result in similar findings, a rep range of between 3-4 produces the optimal velocity for speed training. Given this data, we are able to create a program for Hughes that keeps him in a low rep range, with lower weight, while producing the optimal velocity to enhance his baseball performance—and boy, has it! Hughes recently signed to play baseball with the #1 ranked University of Virginia baseball team!

The last three years have taught me a lot about kettlebells and the incredible benefits they can provide for athletes. While I’m not that girl who was running in college anymore, I still consider myself to be an athlete and will always train like one. If I’d known what I know now about kettlebell training, I would have been a better, stronger athlete. So I take the knowledge I have gained through my own personal journey with kettlebells and provide it to the athletes that I train now, and live vicariously through the successes they achieve through our coaching in their sport.

***

Rekha Ayalur, RKC, and PCC Instructor is a performance coach at Dynamic Sport Performance. She began her athletic career in high school where she was a middle distance runner. and went on to compete at the collegiate level for a Division I program. As a performance coach, Rekha specializes in training athletes ranging in age from 8 years – adult where she utilizes kettlebells in a triphasic approach to building athletic performance.

Filed Under: Coaching, Kettlebell Training Tagged With: 12 week plan, athletes, athletic performance, Athletic Training, Coaching, kettlebell training, kettlebells, Rekha Ayalur

The Who, What, Where, When and Whys of the Hinge and Wedge

April 15, 2015 By Nick Lynch 6 Comments

Margaret Domka Goblet Squat
Margaret Domka, 2015 Women’s World Cup utilizing the Goblet Squat

Three Examples of World Class Athletes Who Hinge and Wedge:

  • As seen above, Margaret Domka is performing a kettlebell goblet squat in her training for the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Goblet squats and hill sprints. She sprints when the goblet squat is correct, but not until then. First one must obtain the wedge and a proper hinge before sprinting. Margaret has shown a proper hinge and wedge which is why she’s fast and strong and therefore, going to the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Hurrah!
  • Nathan Mackinnon is ranked as the fastest skater in the NHL. Chris Hamelin is a gold medalist in speed skating. Both of these world-class athletes faced off in a short race. Both utilize a very strong and present hip hinge. To actually see what I’m talking about, take a second to search “Nathan Mackinnon vs. Chris Hamelin”. Pause the video when both athletes are in their starting stance. Take note of the hinge!
  • Nine-time gold medalist in sprinting, Carl Lewis, clearly utilizes both the hinge and wedge. His body is connected as one. Take a second to Google Carl Lewis and you’ll see a 0:54-second video. Watch how Carl moves his lower body without breaking the hinge. Carl runs like a 9-time gold medalist, not like a bulldog.

Carl Lewis, Margaret Domka and Nathan MacKinnon are not the only great athletes to have utilized a powerful hip hinge and wedge technique. Spend a few minutes watching the greats such as Michael Jordan in his defensive position, 2014 #1 center in the NFL Alex Mack, and so on. There is a secret which has been exposed thanks to all of us and you within the RKC community and that is this; Hardstyle training works for both high level athletes and pretty much everyone else too!

What is the Hinge and Wedge?

Hinge: move through your hips with minimal flexion through the knees. Stand on your right leg and raise your left knee up to 90 degrees–that left hip would now be hinged. Optimal hinge is approximately 80 degrees as seen on the image below. We hinge to load the largest and most primary muscle groups in the body, the gluteal muscles. Because we’re utilizing primary muscle groups during a hip hinge, our explosive power is greater. Bigger muscles provide bigger output. This is also the main reason why people who use Hardstyle kettlebell training techniques burn so many calories per minute. “They were burning at least 20.2 calories per minute, which is off the charts. That’s’ equivalent to running a 6-minute mile pace.” -Dr. John Pocari, UW-Lacrosse. These large muscle groups require much higher caloric output to function.

Andrea Du Cane, the longest standing and first female Master RKC is showing an approximate 80-degrees hip hinge with the single arm swing.
Andrea Du Cane, the longest standing and first female Master RKC is showing an approximate 80-degrees hip hinge with the single arm swing.

Wedging: is tensing the whole body while in a standing position. Your shoulders are packed, hips and knees are locked out, and abdominals are at maximum tension. We wedge to connect our lower body with our upper body. When the lats are contracted they pull down on the shoulders and bring our upper body closer to our center of gravity and hips. Wedging connects the upper and lower body as one! Think of a standing Hardstyle plank. It’s possible to achieve an almost constant wedge-like posture throughout the movement with enough practice. You know who utilizes such a posture with sports? Only the best!

Two Awesome Exercises for Hinge and Wedge

Two exercises which enhance the hinge and wedge are the Hardstyle swing and Turkish get-up. Regardless of your skill level with kettlebells, the Hardstyle technique will enhance your overall athleticism. With 8/10 runners in America injured, it’s clear we have some serious imbalances which need fixing. First we’ll need to get strong enough to hold the wedge while running and performing other physical activities. Ever seen a bulldog walk? Ever noticed the similarities between a bulldog’s stride and someone jogging down the street? Arms are crossing over the torso while the legs are flopping all over the place. Not good!

3 Tips for Enhancing the Wedge and Hinge in the Turkish Get-up

  • Hold the each stage for 5-10 seconds while packing the shoulders and pushing your knee out
  • Shrug and re-pack each stage of the get-up
  • Squeeze the handle as hard as you can at the pause in each stage of the get-up

TGU at Milwaukee RKC Workshop

If hinging your hips and wedging your torso is good enough for the best athletes in the world, I think it’s safe to say it’s good enough for you, me and our loved ones. When I get a room full of athletes at the start of another season and tell them we’re not touching any weights until we get the hinge and wedge down they look at me like I’m nuts. But after 4-6 weeks of hinge and wedge practice they double their mobility, speed and strength. Although they still look at me like I’m nuts they’re happy with their gains. Start simple; train simple and the results will be simply amazing!

I’ll leave you with a picture from the 2014-2015 MSOE (Milwaukee School of Engineering) Men’s Hockey Team. We started the season with loads of injuries, a losing record and 14 freshmen. We’ve finished the season nationally ranked, zero injuries, beat the #1 team in the country and went to the semi-finals in the toughest conference in the country. We hinge and wedge!

MSOE Hockey Team

***

RKC Team Leader Nick Lynch is a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Milwaukee School of Engineering University (MSOE). He owns Superb Health Milwaukee, a kettlebell studio in Milwaukee, WI. Most recently, he became an RKC Team Leader. He has 13 years of full-time training and coaching experience and a lifetime of wellness education. Nick lives in Milwaukee, WI with his wife Natalie and son Weston.

Filed Under: Kettlebell Training Tagged With: athlete examples, athletes, Athletic Training, hinge, hinge and wedge, hip hinge, Kettlebell, kettlebell swing, kettlebell technique, Nick Lynch, wedge

What is the most versatile RKC movement?

February 19, 2014 By Shannon Scullin 1 Comment

Good and bad getupShannon demonstrates a good and a bad Get Up stance

The Turkish Get Up is the most versatile movement in the RKC system. It incorporates all seven of the FMS movement patterns  – squat, hurdle step, in line lunge, shoulder mobility, active straight leg raise, trunk and rotary stability – allowing us to utilise it as not only a strength building exercise but as a screening and rehab tool, making it the most valuable exercise to have in your arsenal of training drills.

I’ve been known to be a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to teaching people how to do a get up.  I firmly believe that one repetition completed with good form is far more beneficial to you than completing ten reps with a half arsed attempt at the movement. But I am pedantic about technique for a very good reason…

I train and have taught a large number of people how to use kettlebells during my time as a trainer. From personal trainers to the self-taught and those who have never touched a weight before in their life. All of these people have one thing in common… As their get up improves, their mobility and stability improves. As their mobility and stability improves their coordination improves. As their coordination improves their strength improves and as their strength improves so does the rest of their training.

The get up is not a “simple” movement to teach or to learn. In fact as well as being the most versatile it’s actually one of the most complex of all the kettlebell exercises.

There are a few books on the market that delve deep into the get up, its technique and corrective drills to help you improve your form, the most famous being “Kalos Sthenos – Kettlebells From the Ground Up”. However, most people’s get up can be greatly improved by simply doing the following:

1)    Thoracic mobility and hamstring flexibility drills.

Two of the most common issues we see in the get up are caused by poor thoracic mobility (hunching forward or shoulder unpacking during the seated position) and hamstring flexibility (inability to keep the down leg straight or allowing the foot to rotate outward).

Often I see people grinding their way through the movement with bad posture in an attempt to improve. But why continue beating your head against a brick wall when there is an easier way.…

There are a number of drills that you can perform to help improve your mobility and flexibility in these areas, thus improving your get up and posture in general.

My favourite drills, and the ones I have found achieve the best results are all incorporated in to one simple mobility workout called the “Daily Dozen”.  This simple eight minutes of mobility, done consistently in conjunction with the get up, will not only vastly improve your movement and posture but they are the perfect way to prepare your body for the workout ahead.

I recommend starting your warm up by “testing” a get up on each side. Once you have completed your get up perform one round of the “Daily Dozen” and then perform another get up on each side. Repeat this process three times.

Pay attention to how your get up feels after performing the first round of mobility drills. If you are particularly tight in the thoracic region you may choose to focus solely on the armbar, bent armbar and kettlebell brettzel for the next round of mobility. Likewise, if you are feeling particularly tight from the hips down, you may choose to focus on the Cossack, can opener and lower limb drills.

For those of you who are beginners or may be a little daunted at the thought of doing a bent armbar or the kettlebell brettzel you can replace both of these movements with the “Brettzel” which will achieve the same results.

2)    Shift your weight.

From the moment you are born you commence a journey of movement. You learn how to shift your weight in order to roll over on to your belly, rock back and forth, crawl, stand and walk. Without this shift in weight movement becomes very difficult.

The get up is a similar journey of movement. Each stage you move to has a different centre of gravity. In order to perform the get up efficiently and gain maximum results you need to learn how and where to shift your weight in order to take the kettlebell from lying to standing position and back down again.

The easiest way to remember where the weight should be felt is to follow this zig zag pattern – elbow, hip, hand, knee.

As you roll to your elbow you should feel all the weight of your body and the bell going through your elbow in to the floor. As you straighten your arm out and progress to the seated position this weight should shift and be felt through your glute, where your femur meets your hip. As you progress to the bridge/low sweep, your arms should form a straight line from the kettlebell, through your shoulders and the weight should be felt through the hand that is connected to the ground. And finally, as you transition from the knee to hand through to the lunge position the weight should be felt through the knee that is connected to the ground. On the descent the weight shift works in the opposite order – knee, hand, hip, elbow.

3)    Do more reps.

This is important. In order to get better at something you need to practice it over and over again.

In an average workout you may complete anywhere between 25 to 100 repetitions of exercises such as swings, snatches, presses, deadlifts and squats however, the get up seems to get neglected when it comes to getting our repetitions in.

Instead of lumping the get up in with your warm up every time you train, why not try changing it up a little? Try spending an entire session focusing solely on the get up every now and then.

Mid last year I started using the get up as my recovery workout. Twice a week I would take a light kettlebell (nothing heavier than 14kg), set the Gymboss on sixty second intervals and then proceed to perform get ups for the next 100 minutes. One get up on the minute, every minute. The get up was to be slow and controlled, focusing on good form throughout the movement.  By the time I had completed twenty get ups all tightness had washed away from my body and any aches and pains that were rearing their ugly little heads prior to the session had retreated with tails between their legs. My movement felt strong, natural and effortless and the more repetitions I did the better everything felt.

Coincidentally, after incorporating the 100 get up recovery workout in to my routine, not only did I hit a new get up PR but I saw gains in all other areas of my training too.

Work on your mobility, shifting your weight and getting more reps in and I guarantee that your get up will not only get better but you will get stronger too!

***

Shannon Scullin is an RKC Team Leader and PCC Instructor based out of Dragon Door Australia.  As Australia’s first, and highest ranked female RKC Shannon brings a keen eye for technique to training and is renowned for being very focused on form ensuring that clients with previous injuries are able to train safely. As the head of Personal Training at Read Performance Training she uses the CK FMS to test and evaluate all clients before training, ensuring that not only will they look better from training, but they will also move better too. With a background in triathlon, adventure racing, rock climbing, cycling, hockey and running Shannon fell in love with kettlebells and the FMS system when she saw the immediate result that improving mobility, stability and strength has on sporting performance. She can be reached through: www.readpt.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: athletes, coordination, get up, ketllebells, kettlebells, mobility, RKC, stability, strength, turkish get up, women

Top 3 Strength Exercises That Carry Over Into Other Training Areas

October 23, 2013 By Shannon Scullin Leave a Comment

sandbag carryThroughout my life I have trained for a variety of different reasons, competing in events such as team sports and endurance racing, to further my knowledge as a trainer by attending certifications such as the RKC and PCC as well as training simply to improve my own personal strength, mobility and coordination.

Quite often I like to I bite off more than I can chew, booking into and training for multiple events at the same time. As a result it is important that I follow a smart strength training program that carries over into all other areas of my training, including not only strength training but also rehab and mobility work too.

finish lineAs I look back through my years of training diaries there are three staple strength building exercises that I have always reverted to, not only for my own training but for my clients too.

The trifecta of training, as I like to call them, not only builds strength but they compliment and carry over into all other areas of training. They can be regressed or progressed, depending on your level of skill, slightly varied or coupled with other drills to ensure that I get the strength, mobility and rehab work required for me to continue training efficiently, yet are basic enough that it does not take up hours of my day to train them or severely fatigue me neurally. The trifecta are:

  • Deadlift
  • Press
  • Pull Up

Whether you are male or female, beginner or advanced, the deadlift, press and pull up, combine to form a well-rounded training template.

PastedGraphicpngA basic guideline for programming works the following – push/pull movements, legs and abdominals. The beauty of the deadlift, press and pull up is that it not only meets these guidelines but they are exercises in which the entire body is required to synchronise and utilise multiple muscle groups in order to perform these movements. This synchronisation is referred to as intermuscular coordination.

Intermuscular coordination is what we should be aiming for in training. The more synchronised your muscles are the more strength you can recruit to lift heavier weights, in order to get stronger, faster, and more explosive.

The press, pull up, and deadlift are commonly referred to as “grind” movements. This means that they are performed slowly, like a truck grinding its way up a hill in a low gear. The slow “grind” allows you time to focus on keeping your form throughout the movement while creating as much tension as possible, linking your upper and lower body together via the core, teaching it to synchronise and function efficiently as one unit.

So how do you program these exercises to get the most out of your training?

I structure my workouts in 2 different ways:

1) Warm up – mobility/stability drills; these drills should be exercises that work the mobility/stability
required for the exercises in the main set of your workout:

Armbar x 5/5

Hard rolls x 5/5

Towel toe touch x 10

TGU x 1/1

**repeat x 3

Main workout
– strength building or sport specific skills; this is where I train the deadlift OR press and pull up:

Deadlift x 5-3-2 (increase weight each time)

** repeat x 2-3 – at the start of each new round add 5kg to the starting weight. If you are using kettlebells and you started with

the 24kg start the next round with the 28kg.

Finisher – core/ballistics:

Because once your core is fatigued your session is finished.

Push press x 1-2-3-4-5

Pull up x 5-4-3-2-1

** repeat x 2-4. Complex – no rest until each ladder is complete. If you cannot do pull ups then do chin ups. If you have not yet progressed to chins then do hanging leg raises. If you cannot do hanging leg raises do knee raises….

The other method of programming I use is:

2) Mobility/stability + strength exercise – With this method I couple 2 x mobility/stability exercises with one strength exercise. This allows me to focus a little more on rehabbing specific areas of concern. It also allows me to actually feel the effect the corrective drills have on each exercise.

Armbar x 5/5

Bretzel x 5/5

Half kneeling press x 5/5

** repeat x 3

Towel toe touch x 10

Single leg deadlift x 5/5

Deadlift x 5

Hard rolls x 5/5

Hollow body hold x 30 sec (squash towel under lumbar spine to ensure hollow position is achieved)

Pull up x 3-5

Which program I use is dependent on the amount of time I have as well as the way my body is feeling at the time. If I am feeling good I go to work on structure #1. If I am lacking in time and/or am feeling a little fatigued structure #2 is my go to program.

For those of you who love to participate in a variety of sports and fitness events, get your variety from your events not your training. A solid training plan transfers to a variety of events. Remember, smart training provides a general physical foundation for all things, not just for one thing.

Happy training 🙂

Pull Ups***

Shannon Scullin is an RKC Team Leader and PCC Instructor based out of Dragon Door Australia.  As Australia’s first, and highest ranked female RKC Shannon brings a keen eye for technique to training and is renowned for being very focused on form ensuring that clients with previous injuries are able to train safely. As the head of Personal Training at Read Performance Training she uses the CK FMS to test and evaluate all clients before training, ensuring that not only will they look better from training, but they will also move better too. With a background in triathlon, adventure racing, rock climbing, cycling, hockey and running Shannon fell in love with kettlebells and the FMS system when she saw the immediate result that improving mobility, stability and strength has on sporting performance. She can be reached through: www.readpt.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Workout of the Week Tagged With: athletes, australia, extreme, instructors, kettlebells, pcc, recommended, RKC, strength areas, top 3, trainers, women

It’s in the Hips: Part 1

August 7, 2013 By Mark Bixby 1 Comment

This blog initiates the first in a series of 4 posts with companion videos about effective ways to better utilize the hips. While I’ve invented nothing in the series, I have hopefully ordered things in such a way—from simple to more complex—that those who practice these time-efficient drills will experience success at each point along the way. In the end, you’ll be crawling, squatting, running and jumping more efficiently.

Two years ago on Thanksgiving, I sat down in front of the wooden stove with my wife, mother-in-law, and daughters. They all sat comfortably on their knees, butts to heels. Given that my 63-year-old mother-in-law (with a hip replacement) could sit with ease in that position, I thought I could easily join her and dropped down in a knee sit. I sensed immediately that I might never stand again; either my knees were going to dislocate or my quads snap. Unable to conceal the distress on my contorted face, the ladies assembled asked if I needed an ambulance. I explained that the position created an unbearable stretch through the knee and quads, to which they responded they could all sit easily in the position for hours and not feel a thing.

Moral of the Story: Your tight hips are probably surrounded by lots of other tight muscles/tissue, especially if you are a dude.

While the RKC hip flexor stretch is probably the most commonly applied hip remediation in our community, we forget that many people don’t feel it in their hips because their quads are so tight that the stretch doesn’t travel above the thigh. One great solution is to practice your knee sits. We all have ample opportunities to sit, so we might as well use some of that time to increase our mobility.

Two weeks ago, MovNat Founder Erwan Le Corre led a wilderness survival training session that he kicked off in our gym. He sat on his knees as he explained some of his principles of natural movement. All of the men in attendance copied his seated position. One of them squirmed around uncomfortably until Erwan asked him if he was injured. The man replied that he had sprained his ankle a while back and that the position just hurt. Erwan said, “I’ve sprained my ankle lots of times, and sitting this way is no problem. You just don’t ever sit this way, right?” Like so many of you (especially men) reading this, he couldn’t disagree. The SAID Principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand) tells us that we adapt to what we do. Sit on your knees more regularly and, as I’ve discovered through persistence, you can lose the wince and hang out a while.

The following video sequence shows a progression of moves from knee sits to active hip stretches that should knock the rust off of the joints from your feet up through your spine. It’s just a further reminder that your tight hips are probably a product of your tight everything else. Practice these, and my next blog, with a more dynamic series of hip openers, should come more easily.

***

Mark Bixby is a Dragon Door RKC Team Leader, PCC Instructor and MovNat Instructor.  He discovered kettlebells in 2002 and found that they are the quickest, most effective way to train.  A combination of past injuries and persistent low physical self-image had caused Mark to have severe posture issues and chronic back pain. Kettlebells taught Mark how to use his hips so that he didn’t tuck his pelvis and slump with his posture. He grew taller, stronger and more confident. More than six years later, Mark has accomplished huge gains in strength, flexibility and stability and he finds that kettlebells still present significant physical and technical challenges. Because the skill set can always be refined, kettlebells continue to push Mark towards higher levels of body awareness and fitness.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: athletes, Bixby, flexibility, hips, Kettlebell, kettlebells, Mark, stretch

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Dragon Door Publications / The author(s) and publisher of this material are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury that may occur through following the instructions or opinions contained in this material. The activities, physical and otherwise, described herein for informational purposes only, may be too strenuous or dangerous for some people, and the reader(s) should consult a physician before engaging in them.