Skrivet av Steve Cotter

A lot of your kettlebell journey will involve the idea of practice and not just “working out”. The idea is that kettlebell training, as a movement pattern-based fitness system, should be viewed as skill development and more than a matter of random effort.

To develop and refine skills, there has to be practice of the movements and it is through practice that these movement skills are improved upon and will create a foundation for long-term success.

To develop a good kettlebell practice habit, it is helpful to first feel comfortable just moving the kettlebell around from one hand to another, without really having to worry too much about the more technically precise hand and body positions that are involved in the Ballistic kettlebell exercises, and that take more time and practice to learn well.

I like to call these kinds of simple, free-flowing kettlebell movements “Getting to know your Kettlebell” exercises, because they are great ways for you and your kettlebell to introduce yourselves to each other! If you can think back to your first day of school as a 4 or 5 year old, isn’t it helpful making new friends when you know each other’s names and have a bit of informal play before getting to the homework?

Think of your relationship with your kettlebells along the same line. You are going to be spending a lot of time together and the “school” work is not often going to be easy. So take a few minutes first get get to know each other.

The first Getting to Know Your Kettlebell movement is called the Around the body pass. Here’s how to do it:

Pick up a light kettlebell and hold it in front of you with 1 hand, feet shoulder-distance apart and with a good upright posture.

Maintain good posture and alignment as you pass the kettlebell around the body from one hand to the other, in a continuous circular pattern. Hips stay facing forward throughout. Keeping a firmness in your abs and butt muscles will assure you do. The kettlebell is close enough to the body that you don’t have to reach for it, but not so close as to hit yourself with it. The pattern forms what may be likened to a hula-hoop.

Breath slowly and smoothly throughout. Instead of making it a vigorous cardio exercise, aim for a fluid passing from one hand to the next. Vary the tempo of the movement and reverse directions multiple times.

Since we all makes mistakes, be aware going into it that you can and likely will drop the kettlebell on occasion. Plan accordingly so that if it drops, you can do it without damaging yourself, your property or someone else. Remember your beloved furrry friends sometimes like they to run around your feet so also take that into account.

If you don’t have a padded floor to train on, consider placing a thick rubber matt on the floor to train On. Lastly, remember the adage that “quick feet are happy feet”, and move them out of the way of a falling kettlebell.

ett inlägg från Josh Henkin…

It doesn’t make any sense does it?

This question was posed to me by DVRT Master Chief Instructor and resident deep thinker, Troy Anderson.

“How can you expect people to believe that $50 could be worth more than $200?!”

What in the WORLD was Anderson talking about?

We were discussing the simple fact that what we promote at DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training could seem crazy to many. After all, how could something that is lighter be actually harder than something heavier?!

It is like the age old joke, which is heavier, 1000 pound of feathers or 1000 pounds of rocks?

To ask you to think that the loads we are using in DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training are actually more demanding that what you are use to using in the gym is crazy, but it is EXACTLY what we are doing!!!

How in the world can such a thing be possible?

The first most obvious answer is that an Ultimate Sandbag is not a static object. The subtle shifts, deviations, movements, are JUST enough to challenge our movement accuracy, but STILL build great levels of strength.

How different? I remember at one of our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training certs we had a coach attend that was just a brick sh%t house! Probably about 6’4, 250 LEAN! In talking about training, he mentioned how he knocked out a set of push presses with 225 for a mere 25 reps!!! Yea, pretty impressive!

So, I thought he would actually destroy our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Clean and Press test! After all, it is over 50% less weight and even though it is double the reps, he did that half of that in ONE set with 225. The thought he could do the test in sub 4 minutes actually crossed my mind.
ultimate sandbag training

The Marines at Camp Foster found the difference of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Clean and Press first hand!

He admitted right before the test he didn’t spend much time training for the test. His strength and conditioning would seem as though he wouldn’t need to do much to get prepared so I couldn’t blame him completely, except for one big thing! He had no idea that the Ultimate Sandbag required really precise movement.

The test launch and all that became very apparent quickly. For every one repetition he hit, he ended up missing about 3 or 4! You could see frustration, exhaustion, and bewilderment come over him as the challenge continued. In the FINAL seconds he nailed his final rep, JUST making the required repetitions.

Completely spent, he hit the ground like a ton of bricks. “What the hell!” he shouted! He just couldn’t believe that using the Ultimate Sandbag could be SO different than the barbell. What the Ultimate Sandbag did was expose him to deficiencies in his movement strength.

While most would attribute this type of difference JUST in the instability of the Ultimate Sandbag that really isn’t the case. Because most never really take the time to realize ALL the unique aspects of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training they immediately jump to the “unstable” side.

They are right and wrong at the same time! You see instability isn’t just about the sand shifting. In fact, when the Ultimate Sandbag is moving up and down the sand isn’t shifting all that much. The major difference lies in the distance from the center of mass of the Ultimate Sandbag and the handles of the Ultimate Sandbag. As Ultimate Sandbags get bigger this difference grows exponentially.

That is why this past weekend during our DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training certification I had a coach experience this first hand. While he was dominating the Strength Ultimate Sandbag I told him to move over to the Burly. The weights were about the same so I knew it was well within his ability level. He jumped over and went to clean the Burly Ultimate Sandbag and oooops, didn’t get it!

The Ultimate Sandbag creates a LONGER pull which makes you have to accelerate longer and get the weight higher!

He shot me a glance and a smile really quickly, he understood why I made him make the change. Moving to the Burly made him clean up some technique issues he was able to get away with when he was working on the Strength Ultimate Sandbag.

That is really the beauty of DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training, it makes you be honest about your movement. Every time you think you have it down, just a little change, nuance, alteration of the workout and Ultimate Sandbag makes it feel brand new again!

Experience how DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training changes stability and strength in so many different ways!

So, trying to explain that something that weighs less can be better than something that weighs more isn’t as crazy at it sounds. That is as long as I give you the WHOLE story! Weight isn’t weight and you will find your workouts aren’t the same with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training.