This workout is a classic method for training, using a pulling exercise with a pushing exercise as a super-set. Pulling works your back, and in todays examples, your glutes and hamstrings too, we’re hitting the entire posterior chain. As we progress through various pulling exercises, we will add a set of push ups between every set, including in between switching hands. The push ups will work entirely different muscles, mostly your anterior chain, both will use your abs and deep core muscles. The pulling exercises are going to challenge your grip and the push ups will give you a quick chance to let your grip recover, something to consider every time you put together a workout. Pull ups on the same day as heavy deadlifting will rarely allow you to challenge the big muscles because you won’t be able to hold on!
When it comes to achieving the results you want, you will need to use the right weight in your kettlebell training. For most people, the biggest limiting factor here is their nervous system getting accustomed to the weight and movement. It usually takes a few sets of a given move before your body is able to recruit all of the available muscle to do the job and relax the muscles that don’t need to be tense.
Developing awesome power comes from teaching your mind and body how to perform using optimized technique and uninhibited muscle recruitment. These attributes are born out of consistency, and that is what we are going to develop today. Even if you are not using ideal motor patterns to maximize efficiency or if you are still using some of the less effective muscles for a given movement, you still need to develop consistency. Once we have consistency, we have a basis to coach from. It is impossible to fix an error in someone’s swing if every swing they do has something different wrong with it! Most people will have some muscle tightness, weakness or both that will impair a given movement.
This is one of my favorite workouts I have ever done for Kettlebell Movement. When it comes to developing and demonstrating strength, lifting heavy things overhead has always been the hallmark. In order to maximize one’s overhead lifting potential, they must perfect everything else first. To be your best you will need strength, flexibility, stability and a highly refined understanding of ultimate efficiency in movement. Building this kind of strength is extremely rewarding because it helps your body and mind on so many levels. It will benefit you in ways that very few other forms of exercise can come close to and in very little time.
We are back on the beach today with a push/pull workout of ten rounds of ten reps of each, a push and a pull. Today, I will be taking Casey through the ten rounds of this workout using a two handed kettlebell swing and a dual push-press. If you have been watching Casey’s progression with kettlebell training you may know that we’ve been working on improving her technique with the swing especially. In previous videos, I noticed that she needed a heavier bell in order to learn better technique, and today, that’s just what she’s got.
Today we are doing a workout that uses pushing and pulling muscles, one of my favorite combinations. Kettlebell swings work great with pushing exercises of all descriptions and today we are combining it with presses. While swings will work your grip and pulling muscles, the pressing will let your grip rest and work new muscles all while keeping the heart rate up. Today’s challenge is all about strength endurance using this wonderful combination of moves without putting the bell down once. I am using a rep count of ten swings and ten presses for ten rounds, the swings are alternating swings and the presses switch hands with every round. This should help to cut down on excessive muscle fatigue, as each arm can rest between press sets and the alternating swing will conserve your grip strength.
When I start training someone that is relatively new to kettlebell training I do a lot of pull/push workouts to develop technique, strength and conditioning. The pull in this workout refers to swings, cleans and snatches as opposed to a bent row or pull up because this is pulling through your legs, core and upper body. While one exercise will challenge the grip, the other will let it rest, a crucial consideration when lifting heavy weight. Pull ups and deadlifts make a pretty lousy combination when your grip fails before the primary lifting muscles. I am still polishing Casey’s technique today and you will hear me coach her as we go. She gets better and better with every swing. I think moving her up to a heavier bell is her next step to dialing in excellent technique. Today, I am taking Casey through a push/pull workout, changing things up every five rounds.
Thank you for joining us here on Kettlebell Movement for a workout in the sun and sand on the beach in Carlsbad, Ca. Today, I am taking our up and coming kettlebeller, Casey through a quick workout using long ranges of motion for some full body and core strengthening. The exercises today are slightly more complicated than your basic moves, so watch the video to see how the moves are done. There are lots of little moves that you will need to coordinate to stay on track with us today but feel free to work at your own pace, pause, rewind but whatever you do, don’t fast forward!
We’re down here at the beach in Carlsbad once again with Casey who is going to be practicing her kettlebell moves. We are going to use another tabata timer for this workout, as we go through four different exercises twenty seconds on, twenty seconds off, eight rounds totaling four minutes each. Because Casey hasn’t had a ton of experience with kettlebells, we are using a lighter weight, but after today, I think I will give her a heavier bell to help polish her technique. For many people, this may sound counter intuitive, but remember, most of this training is about efficiency. The lighter weights simply don’t demand that you keep them in the most efficient path as they travel. In this case, the efficiency not only provides better results, but is also less likely to cause injury over time. Moving up in weight may limit your rep count at first, but so be it, developing the proper movement is the important part.
