The #1 Kettlebell Strength Skill

Here's a recent post from main kettlebell basics blog that covers the #1 skill you need to develop for maximal kettlebell lifting strength: Total body tension. Enjoy!

- Forest Vance, Personal Trainer in Sacramento, CA, RKC II

As an incentive to get folks into my training studio, and to let them ‘try before they buy’, so to speak, I offer prospective new clients a complimentary trial session – they get to tour my facility and go through a short sample workout. I’ve built my personal training and boot camp business around using this offer to get new clients in the door -

During this initial trial workout, I usually can tell within 60 seconds or so (many times even less) a person’s athletic ability, training experience, fitness level etc. One of the big indicators is their ability to effectively produce muscle tension/tightness during an exercise on cue.

Take a simple squatting movement for example: Can the individual maintain midline stability – keep their chest up, shoulders back, and flat back – or do they collapse, round their back and loose tension in their core when they attempt the exercise?

In my opinion, the #1 kettlebell strength building skill is the ability to produce muscle tension and tightness during exercise. This ability will make you instantly stronger, will protect you from injury, and is transferable to many other strength activites. Let’s further elaborate on each of these points:

1. Effectively producing muscle tension makes you stronger instantly

The ability to tense and contract muscles in your body on cue can result in instant strength increases. The basic idea (covered beautifully and in much further detail in Pavel’s The Naked Warrior) is that the average person only contracts 20-30% of their muscles when trying their hardest; learning to effectively recruit muscle tension helps you use more of your available strength at any given time.

An example of this phenomenon is the mother who ‘activates’ a large percentage of muscle fibers (through adrenaline and other stress hormones) to lift a car off of her trapped child – but ends up ripping tendons and breaking bones in the process.

2. Muscle contraction – specifically the ability to brace the ‘core’ – protects you from injury

Relaxing your core during a heavy lift and losing your midline stability not only makes you weaker but it also makes you more susceptible to injury. The core musculature is the like the body’s natural weight belt – and you’re in trouble if you don’t know how to use it.

3. Muscle tension techniques are transferable to all strength activities

Learning how to create maximal muscle tension at the right time is helpful for all strength activities – whether you’re doing pistol squats or heavy deadlifts. And if you learn how to activate extra muscle and strength while performing, for example, a simple body weight – only push-up exercise, these techniques can be applied the next time you attempt a heavy kettlebell press.

Muscle Tension Exercise Example

Let’s do a basic exercise as an example of how to practice this technique -

Start by placing yourself in the down position of a push-up and and tense all of your muscles together before pushing up. If you practice once without pre-tensing and then practice again after pre-tensing all the core muscles you will see the huge benefit that developing maximal muscle tension in an exercise can give you.

The ability to effectively produce muscle tension at just the right time is critical for getting the most out of your kettlebell training. You’ll get stronger, protect yourself from injury, and be able to transfer the skill to all types of strength training.

Kettlebell Press, Squat + Conditioning Ladder

At my Sacramento, CA kettlebell boot camp classes, 90% if the time we end with a ‘finisher’ – a conditioning-based, circuit-style sequence that leaves you feeling, well, smoked.

In yesterday’s boot camp, the finisher was particularly tough … folks seemed to “enjoy” it … so I thought I’d shoot a quick demo video of the workout and share it with you to enjoy as well.

Watch the kettlebell press, squat, and conditioning ladder below:

Bodyweight Training Basics: How To Brace Your Abs

One of the keys to getting the most out of your kettlebell training program is learning how to properly brace your abs. I recently got together with a Chiropractor friend of mine to shoot a video tutorial for his patients on this topic, and I thought I'd share what we covered here with you (this article is a transcription of what I talk about in the video).

"Forest here from Forest Vance Training in Land Park, CA. I'm here today to talk to you about how to brace your abs properly.

I know that one of the first things that Dr. Bell goes over with you guys is how to activate your abs, when you're doing all these basic exercises like planks, crunches, sit ups, etc. The most basic and critical step of getting the most out of your ab training is being able to recruit your core muscles and use them properly.

Remember that quality is always more important than quantity when it comes to core training. (In other words, you'll get a lot more out of doing three sets of 10 of high quality crunches than you will from doing 1000 low quality, half-range ones.)

So, I'm now going to show you a basic and very effective drill for learning how to brace your abs. All you're going to do is start by lying on your back. You can either roll up a towel and put it underneath your lower back, or you can just use your hands and place them underneath your lower back.

Now, imagine crushing your hands. Put as much pressure as you can on your hands with your lower back - you're going to feel your abs brace and contract when that happens. You will also feel all those deep core stabilizers tightening up.

What you're going to do is crush your hands a little with your lower back, then you are going to progress to picking up your right foot and straightening it out. The goal of the drill is to keep pressure on the hands (or the towel) throughout the entire drill.

Then we are going to back down, take a second and relax for a little bit if we need to. Brace the abs again, pick up the left foot. Straighten it out. Remember that the goal of the drill is to get the 'feel' for bracing your abs - and to be able to transfer that over to doing other sorts of functional activities like squats, push ups, etc.

That's all I have for you today - thanks a lot for checking out this video and I will talk to you next time!"

Forest Vance (author of this article + blog) is a Sacramento Kettlebell Trainer and owner of a Sacramento - based personal training and boot camp business. For more info, please visit http://www.forestvancetraining.com/sacramento-kettlebell-instruction

‘Crunchless’ Kettlebell Workout For Abs

Think you need Crunches and Sit Ups to work your abs? Think again ... check out this workout from Sacramento Personal Trainers Forest Vance and Staci Fiori:

Here's a video that shows how kettlebells can work the heck out of your abs (without - gasp! - doing Crunches or Sit Ups):

The Renegade Row - the exercise shown in the video above - along with three others was featured in a post I did a while back about three great kettlebell exercises for abs. But recently looking back over this post, I realized I left out specifics of how to incorporate these exercises into a workout ... so I put them all together into a short, intense, full-body 'crunchless' ab workout for you to try.

Here's your 'crunchless' kettlebell workout for abs:

1. Start with 12-15 kettlebell Squats - if you're just starting out, do Goblet Squats (with a single kettlebell). If you're more advanced, do double kettlebell Front Squats.

2. Move immediately from the Squats to 6 kettlebell Renegade Rows (each side).

3. Follow the Renegade Rows with a single Turkish Get Up on each side.

Repeat this sequence 3-5 times with as little rest as possbile.

And, in case you have questions about how to perform any of these exercises, the links below will take you to full descriptions of each, including video demonstration:

The Turkish Get Up

The Renegade Row

The kettlebell Squat

You can get a great ab workout using your kettlebell with having to do a single Sit Up or Crunch. This workout is a great example of how you'd put three of the best kettlebell exercises for abs together into a short, intense, and highly productive ab routine. Give it a try and let me know what 'ya think -

Forest

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How To Use Kettlebells To Lose Body Fat And Get Six Pack Abs

Are you tired of the same boring workouts? Has the progress you were once making towards your fitness goals screeched to a halt? Are you having a hard time finding an effective solution for losing fat and getting a flat stomach?

Kettlebell training is hands down one of the best ways to lose body fat and get a flat stomach. Kettlebells work your abs with full body movements and train your abs in a very functional, real life way. Here are a couple of specific ways they accomplish this:

First, kettlebells train your abs with full-body exercises - which are functional and train your abs hard, but also train a bunch of other muscle groups at the same time. And this is great for burning body fat.

Secondly, Kettlebells train your abs in a very functional way - the way they were meant to be trained. As an example, a crunch is a typical movement that is used to train the abs. But the crunch is a movement that is very rarely used in real life.
In contrast, kettlebell training trains your abs in a very functional way - doing squat with a weight in front of you (as in a Goblet Squat) is something you very well may have to do in real life. Keeping your torso and spine stable in this way is actually the primary function of your abdominals.

Three of the best kettlebell exercises for losing fat and getting a flat stomach are Renegade Rows, Front Squats, and Turkish Get Ups. Each one of these exercises uses multiple muscle groups and train your abs in their natural movement planes.

If you're looking to lose fat and get six pack abs, you're missing out if you're not including kettlebell training in your overall programming. Start incorporating kettlebells into your workouts and start reaping the benefits today!

Forest Vance, MS, CPT, RKC is a Sacramento kettlebell instructor and is the author of this article. You can learn more about him - and get his 'Top 10 Fat Loss Myths' consumer report - by visiting his website at http://www.forestvancetraining.com.