Russian River Kettlebells

Healdsburg California

Intro to Kettlebell Workshop!

swing it

feel it.

Gayle Hunter

YOU NAME IT AND KETTLEBELLS HELPS IT

A kettlebell is a cast iron ball with a handle that has been used in Russia for hundreds of years.

Kettlebells Help:

  • Accelerate your all-purpose strength
  • Hack away your fat
  • Create a mix of strength-with-flexibility
  • Improve your cardio
  • Strengthen your core
  • Create lean muscle mass
  • Prevent injuries
  • Rehab an old injury
 
KETTLEBELLS are an awesome tool for REHABILITATION and REJUVENATION!
To hear more about this, check out Dr. Mark Cheng's site: kettlebellrehab.com
 

 

 

The Top Five (Extremely Boring) Reasons RKC Kettlebell Training Is Great for Your Back

McGill On Kettlebells

World's Premier spine biomechanist Prof. Stuart McGill lists the following kettlebell benefits:

  1. "steering strength" from drills like the bottom up get up.
  2. balanced development of strength. Kettlebell exercises reveal your weaknesses - (grips, hips, etc.) - and fix them.
  3. The lateral component offers a unique challenge for the obliques and the QL - very healthy for your back.
  4. The ability to train "kime" or karate style focus of explosive effort with exercises like the hard style swing.

1. Kettlebell exercises strengthen the glutes.
The late Vladimir Janda, MD, from the Czech Republic observed that people with low back dysfunction often exhibit "gluteal amnesia." And if not overcome with proper recruitment pattern practice, it is likely to lead to more back problems, since the back has to take over the lifting task of the powerful glutes. The glutes are strongly emphasized in kettlebell training.

2. Kettlebell exercises stretch the hip flexors.
In Janda's research, weak glutes were associated with tight hip flexors. The RKC system is second to none in promoting hip flexor flexibility.

3. Kettlebells develop back extensor endurance.
Professor Stuart McGill, PhD, the number-one spine biomechanist in the world, concluded that while lower-back strength surprisingly does not appear to reduce the odds of back problems, muscular endurance does (Luoto et. al, 1995). I dare you to find a better developer of the back extensors' endurance than the high-repetition kettlebell swing or snatch.

4. "Bracing" is superior to "hollowing" for spinal stability.
Misinterpreted research has lead to the currently popular recommendation to "pull your navel in toward your spine" to protect your back. Dr. McGill has demonstrated that "bracing" the abdominal wall is the superior technique. For more on this, get your copy of his breakthrough book, Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance, from backfitpro.com. The RKC system of kettlebell training teaches many innovative techniques to improve your bracing skill.

5. Sensible ballistic loading appears to reduce the odds of arthritis.
Repetitive ballistic loading of kettlebell swings and other quick lifts appears to be highly beneficial to your joints—provided you do not overdo it. In Supertraining, Drs. Yuri Verkhoshansky and Mel Siff state: "Joints subjected to heavy impact are relatively free of osteoarthritis in old age and those subjected to much lower loading experience a greater incidence of osteoarthritis and cartilage fibrillation... as one progresses up the lower extremity, from the ankle, to the knee, the hip and finally to the lumbar spine, so the extent of fibrillation increases at any given age. It appears that the cartilage of joints subjected to regular impulsive loading with relatively high contact stresses is mechanically much stiffer and better adapted to withstand the exceptional loading of running and jumping than the softer cartilage associated with low loading. Thus, joint cartilage subjected to regular repetitive loading remains healthy and copes very well with impulsive loads, whereas cartilage that is heavily loaded infrequently softens... the collagen network loses its cohesion and the cartilage deteriorates."

Excerpt taken from "Enter the Kettlebell!" by Pavel Tsatsouline

for a heart of elastic steel!

 

 

Lance Armstrong works out using Kettlebell training

... even Lance does it!

"The buff cycling superstar is offering fans a sneak peek at his training regimen
in the new issue of Men's Health magazine as he prepares for a dramatic comeback
in next year's Tour de France."
NY Daily News, Dec 4th, 2008