Kettlebell and sandbag training

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Combatant, Dec 4, 2005.

  1. Combatant

    Combatant Monsiour Fitness himself.

    These are two things that have interested me a lot over the past year. Unlike some, I am not in the slightest bit interested in giving up my weights for the two, but instead just incorparating them as high intensity conditioning drills. I am thinking of buying a 32 kilo kettlebell for this purpose. I remember that quite a few people on here have bought kettlebells this year so heres a few questions;

    Those that have bought kettlebells, do you still use them or did they collect dust?

    What kind of results did you get from them?

    What exercises did you focus on?

    What weight/s kettlebell/s did you buy, and were they the right weight for you?

    Have you got any good links that I may not have come accross yet?



    As for sandbags, I have seen all the recipies and and thinking of building a heavy one when I move into my new place.

    Is anyone else here interested/ used this kind of training before?

    What results did you get?

    What moves do you focus on?

    What weight sandbag do you use?
     
  2. inteq9

    inteq9 165lb of TROUBLE!

    Can't say anything for the kettlebells, but I love my sandbag (although I havn't been using it as much as I should lately).

    Sandbag training is a blast. I used to do the sandbag routines in Ross's book Ultimate Training for the Ultimate Warrior and they were killer.

    My favorite moves are probably clean and press, shouldering, squats, lunges, and HORIZONTAL presses off the floor.

    My sandbag is around 100lb but it has room for more. I used a military surplus nylon duffle bag, but of course there are many options.
     
  3. Athleng Nordic

    Athleng Nordic Sadly passed away. RIP. Supporter

    Isn't a kettle bell basiclly a big funky dumbbell? Couldn't a BD be used in place of a KB?


    inteq9, how well does that duffel hold the sand?
     
  4. iamraisen

    iamraisen Valued Member

    ive got a sandbag with 45kg in (wont take any more weight)

    usually my workout goes something like this.

    run up a hill with it

    sprint intervals on a football pitch carrying the bag

    some "clean and press" type things ( it is very hard to do a clean and press with a sandbag which doesnt stay where it should!)
     
  5. kenwen

    kenwen Valued Member


    kettlebells:
    I still use mine, its great for morning/evening workouts as I can't get to a gym easily.

    Results? I worked up to 10 snatches L/R with a 35kg kettlebell. Still trying to military press it. I feel stronger and faster, the missus appreciates the aesthetic improvements and all achieved without bicep curls :) In fact, I'd theorise that high rep KB cleans give you a better bicep pump than curling endlessly. As we don't talk about that sort of thing here it will remain a theory ;)

    Whether it improved my powerlifting, I'd say unknown with my feelings veering towards the fact that it hasn't.

    It has improved MA training, but again that's by feeling. Less tired, partners complain more when I hit pads etc etc.

    The claims that it will improve everything (including horizontal jogging ;)) I disbelieve. There's a quote in the RKC book that those who trained with kettlebells beat the scores of those that just did the activity in long distance running, jumping, pull ups. Yeah, right...It didn't work for me, didn't work for my training partners but then that doesn't mean it won't work for others.

    I got a 16kg, 25kg then a 35kg. Single weights. My next acquisition would be another 16kg and 25kg. They were the right weights to start with as high rep 16kg ballistics is a killer. What sort of weight can you clean and snatch at present? I ask as 32kg may be a bit ambitious, especially for high reps. A 16kg or 25kg would be more than a challenge. I still feel sick if I try to do sets of 50 snatches with 16kg, my grip goes and my lungs file for divorce. Legs feel like they have been doing the Macarena with concrete slippers as well.

    RE: Websites - I know one that will have video clips soon, ahem.

    Sandbag:
    I do sandbag training. I've loaded mine up to 50kg and basically use Steve Justa's barrel lifting routine. Simply put, you shoulder it, squat with it and do lots of that. I also lug mine down the road in a bear hug. A very good cardio conditioning exercise. Things like cleans I have to drop my bag to 37.5kg - I use the Ironmind bags as they come with inner bags making loading/deloading easier.

    Eventual goal is to shoulder and squat 100kg. I also dream about wrestling in whipped cream with Girls Aloud. I think the latter is more likely...
     
  6. inteq9

    inteq9 165lb of TROUBLE!

    I put the sand in a bunch of small zip lock bags. Here is an article from Ross about sandbag construction:

    Sadbag Construction Kit
     
  7. Athleng Nordic

    Athleng Nordic Sadly passed away. RIP. Supporter

    Way kewl, thanks. I have several old duffels that I was planning to get rid of since they were just collecting dust. Guess I can add some life to them. :D
     
  8. Ad McG

    Ad McG Troll-killer Supporter

    Go nick a keg from outside a pub as well. Great fun! :)

    Edit -

    Disclaimer - I meant either borrow one or ask nicely :D
     
  9. Athleng Nordic

    Athleng Nordic Sadly passed away. RIP. Supporter

    ;) Sure thing, right-o, you got it! :D
     
  10. DSDbronson

    DSDbronson Master of Sports & Women

    This is my sandbag routine minus All the Lifts you can do with it like the Clean and Press or Row and High Pulls. Use a Sandbag for some variation with your lifts if you like.

    MON/THURS
    Step Ups
    All Lunges
    All Throws

    TUES/FRI
    Bobbing & Weaving Rounds
    All Walks(Note: Heavy Sandbag Walks)
    All Loads

    WED/SAT
    Floor Press
    Xtreme-Burpee Shouldering
    All Glute-Hammies

    I just ordered an 80lb kettlebell for 90 bucks. Had a pair of adjustable kettlebells and recently got way more turned on to them. The two cheapest places I know to pick up Kettlebells:
    http://www.muscledriver.com/kettlebells1.html
    http://www.newyorkbarbells.com/im-0350.html
    The adjustable weight kettlebells are a great workout for me until I try to throw them etc. Kettlebells hurt but in a good way.
     
  11. Ad McG

    Ad McG Troll-killer Supporter

    Obviously I know what you're talking about, but a lot of people on here won't know what you mean by "All the lifts". Please try to be clear to prevent any confusion! :)
     
  12. DSDbronson

    DSDbronson Master of Sports & Women

    I don't get it? Lifts as in typical weight-lifting lifts that evrybody's heard of a million times. Reread it a couple times Adam and I think you'll see it's obvious.

    "All the Lifts you can do with it like the Clean and Press or Row and High Pulls"

    nanner-nanner though
     
  13. firecoins

    firecoins Armchair General

    I use the kettlebell. Do many standard exercises. Excellent stuff. Will work well in conjuction with weight training.
     
  14. inteq9

    inteq9 165lb of TROUBLE!


    Stop being a troll.
     
  15. DSDbronson

    DSDbronson Master of Sports & Women

    Combatant, if you're training for martial arts it all comes down to Strength and Endurance. The more I work on my workout that's what I'm working out. Although, I am looking into Mobility, Agility, & Flexibility as of late and am seeing some good stuff pop up on that now. Back to Strength and Endurance because that's the majority of it.

    My 2 Suggestions for you. Add Strength to your Endurance training and Endurance to your Strength training. Kettlebells are great for adding Endurance to your Strength workout and Sandbags are just that good at adding Strength to your Endurance workout. Add whatever you want in there but you're going to want to keep taking those to new levels. Kettlebells, Sandbags, and Bodyweight exercises are 3 of the best ways to go for both strength and endurance. I would say for MMA, Sparring is still the number one thing for endurance but who says you can't add some kettlebells to that.
     
  16. inthespirit

    inthespirit ignant

    Hey Combatant,

    I quite like my kettlebells, and still use them as much as I can. Not too sure how to give quantifiable results for them, but I guess the main thing is more strength through a wider range of motion, and more coordination.

    Generally though, they really work your grip and forearms, you can increase this more by doing presses bottoms up, that’s a real killer.

    Secondly, there are a wide range of exercises from the “kettlebell sport”, that I have not seen before, i.e. its an actual sport practiced in Russia. You can get these exercises from Pavel’s kettlebell challenge DVD, cheesy but good stuff.

    Thirdly, I noticed that a lot of the “kettlebell sport” exercises work your whole body, so as a result you get a good workout for your lower and upper body simultaneously.

    Additionally, the shape of the kettlebell allows you to swing it, this adds a new dimension to weight training and is quite fun, have not tried throwing them yet, don’t want a whole in my floor if I don’t catch it. Also, I find that in some of the exercise the kettlebell can swing around and hit you in the shoulders and forearms, which is kind of cool.

    You mentioned that you wanted to get 32 kg kettlebell, that’s quite heavy mate, unless your quite comfortable with that weight on one hand, than I doubt you will be able to do many of the “kettlebell sport” exercise, if you chose to try out such exercises. I guess if your just gonna use them like dumbbells, than its ok.
     
  17. DSDbronson

    DSDbronson Master of Sports & Women

    This month's hard-style has some stuff on how good they are for agility. I want to try them with some mobility drills.
     
  18. Ad McG

    Ad McG Troll-killer Supporter

    Not being rude or anything but you seem to try a lot of different stuff all the time. Do you ever stick to a routine?
     
  19. Combatant

    Combatant Monsiour Fitness himself.

    Thankyou all for the replies, they are appreiated, and have really given me a lot to think about. :)

    I have ordered the kettlebell now and went for the 32kilo. I will give it a try and see how I get on. If its way too heavy then I will post a link to ebay when I sell it. lol :D

    I am really looking forward to doing all new things like swings, get ups, etc and I hope it does'nt become another toy sat there in my room. :p
     
  20. DSDbronson

    DSDbronson Master of Sports & Women

    There was an article in this months hard style mag about working with a fixed weight(kettlebell) and getting the most out of it(pressing becomes more difficult when sitting , staggered reps are tougher, etc) before moving up to a higher weight. I think the same thing goes for working with a heavier fixed weight. Think negative one legged squats on a box or chair. There's still stuff you can do. That's the beauty of the pig. It's so versatile. I'm not getting rid of mine. There's plenty of stuff you can do with a heavier weight on one side than the other. Plus there are days when you can just do high rep swings and cleans and that's all you need to do. Then there are two hand/two bell swings and one hand/two bell swings and such. An extra kettlebell is definitely worth having around. Good luck with your training. The kettlebell effect is nothing to mess with.
     

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