Kettle Bell Exercises

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Pretty In Pink, May 19, 2020.

  1. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    I know a bit about these little things. There's a lot to unpack here, first and foremost the reason they are called "Indian clubs" because they are occupational training dumbells that happen to be shaped after the weapons they are designed to imitate, like the Gada (mace) and other pre-colonial blunt weapons. Early European travelers wrote about how impressive Indian physiques were in the cultures that celebrated these devices, which ranged from military exercises to tribal male/female bonding (I'm not kidding, people got busy with each other in ancient India based on how well they swung these clubs...think about it, it will make perfect sense)

    It's very similar in a way to why baseball players use bat weights. After enough swings with the weighted version, you won't believe how well you can use a lighter one.

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    Here's a good resource that covers the military, cultural, artistic and ribald aspects, including the first written European observations from around 400 years ago.

    https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83939184.pdf
     
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  2. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    The best training plan is the one that keeps you training :)

    If that means clubs, kettlebells, whatever, then there are undeniable gains to be had there.

    If that means barbells and dumbells, same thing.

    And if you want a variety, then a mix of them all may be great.

    It's perhaps worth noting that kettlebell sport is not a strength sport as such, it's an endurance sport, and the technique is very different from hard style kettlebells. Others will have much more knowledge and experience than I, but I know that I was surprised at how different even the basic movements were from hard style (Pavel etc) to sport style. I had the opportunity to train with a great guy who competed in kettlebell sport and it really made me realise how different it was. If you watch this you may be able to see how even the basic swing is a different, more subtle movement. Chucking those weights around for 10 minutes is not easy :)

     
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  3. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    Turns out Dr. Mark Cheng has put out a lot of great kettlebell videos, and is considered a kettlebell guru by the greater LA sports community. As previously discussed, I'm learning a smidgen about Tai Chi(-ish) from a DVD set he sells. But from a sports medicine perspective he's totally got me hooked.



     
  4. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award


    I had no idea it was a sport and yet I'm not surprised.
     
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