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This article has been reprinted from the Kettlebell Training Articles archive on Dragondoor.com
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the chest and economize the motion, using less energy. It also reduces the impact as the weight makes contact with the body, which can take a lot out of you as the reps increase. Get your hand around the kettlebell and make as soft a landing as possible. Practice this a lot. Try to land them in the exact position from which you will jerk. Less shuffling the weight around in the rack means more energy saved. Training Strategies I have experimented with several different approaches for planning my workouts. A very effective concept that I modified slightly is called density training. Ethan Reeve wrote an excellent article about it for Dragon Door. The basic concept behind density training is to decrease the amount of time it takes to perform a planned number of repetitions. In his article, Coach Reeve suggests doubling the volume of your target set and beginning with short sets, gradually increasing reps and decreasing sets over time. As you get closer to the target number of reps, you reduce the total volume while keeping the rest between sets at one minute. In the beginning of a training cycle, this works very well for GS. Multiple short sets reinforce good technique without excessive fatigue and the volume of the workout improves conditioning significantly. I found, however, that as the sets got longer it became very difficult to recover from the first set in only one minute. My solution was to perform one long set of 60%-90% of rep maximum, then do several shorter sets with one minute rest periods until completing the total volume planned. For example, in one training session I did the following: 2x24kg Long Cycle 1 set of 45 3 sets of 15 3 sets of 7 One-minute rest between sets My previous best was 51 reps and my target was 110. GS has a very important mental element that is addressed with this approach. Doing short sets when highly fatigued keeps you there but doesnt tax you so much that you cant recover from set to set. This workout was a mini-peak within the cycle. The next several workouts were a lower total volume with shorter sets. As competition time neared, I focused on doing my target number in ten minutes, with as little rest as possible. The ladder method is a technique Pavel first introduced a few years ago as a method to increase numbers in exercises like pull-ups. It involves performing multiple sets of an increasing, but sub-maximal number of reps. For GS training, a ladder might look like this: 1x10 1x20 1x30 As you can see, each set is progressively more difficult, allowing you build volume without going to rep maximum.
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The time ladderr is similar to the ladder, except instead of increasing a specific number of reps each set, each set is lasts longer. For example, you might do sets lasting two minutes, three minutes, and four minutes with the same amount of time between sets. When doing time ladders, if you cannot complete any more reps, you simply rest in one of the legal positions. Again, you can build up a lot of volume without going to rep maximum like this. Time ladders have been used by many competitive kettlebell lifters with great results. Another fun thing to do (and by funI mean painful and horrible) is what I call the long rep. This is a long cycle-specific technique. Choose an amount of time, from as little as 15 seconds to as much as one minute, or even longer. Pick up a pair of kettlebells and hold them at your sides for the prescribed amount of time. Clean the bells and hold them in the rack for the same amount of time, then jerk them and hold them overhead for time. Lower and hold in the rack, then at the bottom again. Here you can either perform another long rep or hold the bells until they drop. If you choose one minute as your time for each part of the rep, you complete one rep in five minutes without putting down the weight. This trains all three positions of rest in the long cycle in one simple drill. Sometimes I will combine the long rep with the time ladder, varying the rep pace. So, a set might look like this: 10 reps in one minute (fast pace) One long rep lasting 30 seconds in each position (two-and-a-half minutes for one rep) 5 reps in one minute (slow pace) This entire set would last four-and-a-half minutes and you would complete 16 reps. Pacing The first time I competed I had no understanding of pacing. My strategy was do as many as I can as fast as I can. This is not the smartest way to do things. I competed with 32kg kettlebells and did 14 reps in about a minute-and-a-half. Not bad for a complete beginner to GS competition, but I had done 18 in my basement the week before. I got in a hurry at the competition and blew myself up prematurely. I decided to switch to 24kg for my next competition and adopted the do as many reps as possible, rest when you need to and get done as fast as possible strategy. This is better, but still not the most effective way because it leaves too much to chance. Watching Terry McCarthy compete at the 2004 US Nationals was a pivotal moment for me. Seeing him deliberately take rest breaks early in his set broke me of my go hard and hope for the best approach. I got a copy of the long cycle World Championships and began studying the elite. My current definition of pacing is: Do a planned number of reps per minute, with a planned total and planned rest periods. Even if, for some reason you need to change this once you are on the competition platform, nothing is left to chance. You have planned for everything. This is exactly what happened to me when I got my CMS ranking. My grip started to go in my left hand. I decided, during the set, to skip my last two rest breaks because of the fatigue in my hand. Instead of hitting 71 reps at the 9:30 mark like I planned, I hit it a few seconds after 9:00. So, I skipped two 15-second rest periods and kept the same pace. Had I kept the rest periods, I believe my grip would have given out and I would have dropped the bell. The lesson: Have a strategy, and know when to deviate from it.
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Video taping An invaluable tool for technique analysis is getting video of yourself. You may think you are doing everything correctly, but the tape tells you otherwise. Guess who is right? This is also helpful for rep counting during long sets. It is very easy to lose track of your count when you are sucking wind and hoping not to throw up. Visualization This is may be the single most important piece of the puzzle. Once you have settled on a strategy visualize it over and over. For me this meant watching the clock and mentally going through an imaginary set at competition pace several times each day. By the time the actual competition arrived I had already done it countless times in my mind. All that was left was to physically perform the set. I hope these tips help you in your GS training. See you on the platform!
David Whitley, RKC is a Russian Kettlebell instructor, strength coach and massage therapist in Nashville, TN. He earned his RKC at the June 2003 certification and was an assistant instructor at the April 2004 RKC. On December fourth 2004 he became the first American-born man to achieve the CMS rank in Girevoy Sport. He conducts Kettlebell workshops and trains clients privately in the Nashville area. He is also available for online personalized training and phone consultation. Contact him by email at irontamerdave@hotmail.com and visit his website: www.irontamer.com. Back to the Kettlebell Training Articles Index
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here may not be in agreement with those of Dragon Door Publications, Inc., Power by Pavel, Inc. and Tactical Strength, Inc., and their employees including Pavel Tsatsouline. The above parties are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury or health condition that may occur through following the opinions expressed here. Consult with your physician before starting any exercise program.
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