American Kettlebell Club Blog

By Scott Sonnon

People have been scurrying about in the fall-out of AKC proliferation. Many are desperately hoping to identify a home, a niche, some rationalization for their status now that a proven, repeatable and verifiable method of kettlebell success has been graciously made available by Valery Fedorenko.

So, what about the methods that have been put together in the past five years in USA for public access to the sport? Are they still valid methods? Do those trainers still have a place in the kettlebell world? Of course they do. I was a member of one of the first kettlebell seminars in the USA, and found that with quick modification by Valery Fedorenko, I converted my prior training in efficient technique.

However, some are still resisting the urge to improve their technique. There are five arguments that I’m reading in the emails I’ve received from recent blog-wars.

The Five Recent Misapplications of Kettlebell Lifting

1. These newer methods can be used for bodybuilding. Now, I’m not speaking of competitive bodybuilding, but rather the approach to building XYZ muscle: Z exercise will build X muscle.

There are inherent problems with the bodybuilding “parts” model of the human body, since the whole synergy of our human movement is greater than the sum of the parts (muscles.)

Additionally, bodybuilding discounts the most critical aspect of human movement: connective tissue health. Forcing the body to act in isolation produces inevitable strain on our joints, which is why only the rare genetic lottery winners continue with such methods beyond 40 or 50 years old, and even then with rapidly diminishing returns.

Healthy, athletic builds are a natural by-product of kettlebell lifting. Since bodybuilding is 80% nutrition, just focus on your diet if you want to look better. Don’t abuse the kettlebell sport and injure yourself.

2. These newer methods can be used for sports-specific training. Some trainers feel that they can take a kettlebell and load a specific sport skill to increase its resistance, such as swinging a kettlebell around the head in a “halo” (an exercise taken from Clubbell® training called a “shield cast”) to increase overhead throws in soccer. Other “creative” exercises are appearing like combining kettlebells and ballet moves.

However, it has been proven again and again that adding weight onto a sport skill registers in the nervous system as a completely new skill which competes and interferes with the actual skill performance. This is why swinging a heavier bat in baseball slows down bat speed.

Sports-specific training is a misnomer. As a strength and conditioning coach, we have no business sticking our nose in skill-based training. Leave golf swing skills to the swing doctors, baseball throws to the throwing specialists, and the suplex to the wrestling coach. Skills are based upon timing and rhythm, not a patchwork of attributes.

3. These newer methods can be used for powerlifting. Some trainers feel that if they use ultra-heavy kettlebells for 1 rep maximum they can increase power and strength for sports performance. The problem with using kettlebells with power breathing and high tension is that you have to take the relatively light weight and put it into extreme leverage disadvantage.

Performing 1RM attempts in military presses with a kettlebell is lunacy. The leverage disadvantage will damage the shoulders with each attempt that isn’t perfect form, and a 1RM by definition has a high percentage of poor form attempts. This is why barbells are optimal for powerlifting due to the ultra-short range of motion and limited freedom of possible mobility due to the bilateral connection of the hands on the bar.

Don’t use a football in soccer, a lacrosse stick in hockey, or a racquetball racquet in tennis. Use the right tool for the right sport.

4. These newer methods are being used for physical therapy: corrective exercise. As I work intimately with physicians, chiropractors and physical therapists, this is a very delicate issue. As a fitness professional in the USA, one is not authorized to “fix” any “imbalance, restriction, impediment or precondition” with any tool, exercise or protocol. Unfortunately, there has been a rash in the past 10 years of weekend “therapeutic” clinics for fitness trainers.

Fitness exercise is legally restricted to “prehab or post-rehab”. Physical Therapy requires specific licensure in all of the United States. Conducting Physical Therapy (”rehab exercise”) without licensure exposes one to both civil and criminal charges. Please be careful. There are differences in other countries in both licensure and permissibility. Check with your national certifying bodies.

Specific “corrective” exercise is a big no-no for fitness professionals because we lack the differential diagnostic ability to understand the true culprit. For instance, in over-head restrictions, it can be as distal as opposing knee trauma which has created the impediment. We just don’t have the tools. In physical therapy it’s understood that the “site is not the source” of an impediment: what we see is only a manifestation of an underlying issue. Two people with the same restriction (elbow lock overhead) could have two entirely different root problems.

This is why disciplines like Tai Chi (joint mobility) and Yoga (myofascial release) have been successful for millennia. They are our pedestrian means of releasing impediments and restrictions whole-bodily, rather than the surgical precision required for professional corrective exercise (”physical therapy.”)

5. These newer methods can be used for the novelty of having fun. This is probably the only logical reason for not lifting kettlebells properly, because if it gets someone off the couch, then it’s a good thing.

Unfortunately, anything works for the first two months in getting you fit. What happens after those two months is the true test of your methods. If you don’t have long decades of experience you may be setting up those people for injury, burnout or worse. Hundreds of thousands of athletes for many decades have developed kettlebell sport. With the advanced age of kettlebell athletes still competing, it would probably be best to concede to their experience until you can replicate their pain-free results for as many decades as they have.

Athletics Carry-Over But Not Directly

Powerlifting, bodybuilding, Olympic lifting and kettlebell lifting are each sports. They benefit other sports, just as much as any sport will benefit another: like swimming will help grappling, and running will help skiing. But we must not attempt to ignore the fact that kettlebell lifting is a sport, and try and demean it by calling it so in order to elevate the importance of their non-sport use of the kettlebells.

When people try to differentiate between “GS” and “other kettlebell lifting, they create an irrational error. Not competing does not mean it’s not a sport. If you run, but don’t race in marathons, running is still a sport. If you do martial arts, but don’t fight competitively, fighting is still a sport. If you kayak but don’t boat race, kayaking is still a sport. If you’re lifting kettlebells, but not competing, it’s still a sport. The question only is, “do you do the sport correctly: in other words, safely, progressively and productively?”

What Are The Advantages of Proper Kettlebell Lifting?

Due to the displaced center of mass of these “handlebells,” kettlebells can be very light-weight for a lifting sport: even 32kgs is light compared to the weight of powerlifting and Olympic lifting. So, proper kettlebell lifting can have very fast recovery time, since there isn’t as much joint compression or tendon and ligament strain.

From their small size, the tools can be very portable and affordable, so at fighting gyms like mine, fire or police stations, athletic fields, local parks, home garage gyms or military bases, these tools can be integrated into physical preparedness programs.

And because they’re light-weight, they not only address strength and power, but also endurance. This light weight tool used with proper technique also allows you to address not only these general attributes but also agility, extreme range strength, dynamic flexibility and the ability to absorb and retranslate force.

Due to the demands of my primary sport of fighting, clubbells are our main dish. We mostly focus on compensating for the demands of martial arts, and praying for any energy left to have an economic, non-injurious strength conditioning session. Kettlebells fit perfectly here too when used with proper technique. Competing in kettlebell sport is also a fantastic off-season endeavor for fighters to give them a complete break from fighting while still giving them the opportunity to develop their mental toughness, because kettlebell lifting is a grueling psychological challenge as you all know.

Earning the Right to be Creative

Creativity is absolutely valuable and valid in physical disciplines. However, like Coach Fedorenko has said though not in so many words, until you have mastered the basics of kettlebell lifting, any short-cuts you can imagine have been tried, tested and found wanting. As my coach in Russia said to me many years ago, “until you have your master of sport, you have not earned the right to choose what is the best means of preparation.”

The kettlebell lifting “razrad” rating system is very helpful here as well. If we can’t put up master of sport numbers, we are only guessing at what works unless we’re listening to the tutelage of a master. We’re extremely fortunate to have Valery Fedorenko - a master of sport who has produced masters of the sport. My fighters and I fully intend to “listen and do.”

If we ever have the gonads to earn our master of sport in kettlebell lifting, maybe we’ll consider trying something other than what he’s suggested. But then, why would we? It’s one thing to earn a master of sport, and quite another thing to earn one and help other athletes secure their own master of sport.

When I earned my master of sport in my fighting style - Sambo - in 1999, I was excited to implement my innovative ideas regarding training preparation. As I continue to focus exclusively on the longevity of healthy, pain-free success of my fighters, I find myself returning again and again to the tried, tested and proven methods of my coach in Russia.

Why try and fix what ain’t broken? What you risk is harming your athletes performance at best, and injuring yourself and your athletes at worst.

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Scott Sonnon is the Martial Arts Advisor for American Kettlebell Club. Coach Sonnon is the Founder of RMAX International and creator of the Circular Strength Training (CST) System. He is a multiple-time USA National Team Coach, International Martial Arts Champion, Hall of Fame Inductee and Distinguished Master of Sport.