Clay Guida Using Kettlebells

Benefits of Using kettlebells

A kettlebell is a weight that was originally used by the Russian army. What are the benefits of kettlebell workouts? Kettlebells combine cardio and strength training and can give you a full workout in just twenty minutes. Kettlebells are easily affordable and don’t take up much space so it is easy to see why some people prefer kettlebell workouts to going to the gym. Some of the benefits of Kettlebell workouts are:

• Improved Functional Strength
• Decreased body fat
• Improved stamina
• Improved Cardiovascular Fitness
• Reduced Risk of Injury
• Improved flexibility
• You can spend less time working out
• They’re fun!

Improved Functional Strength

Western strength training methods focus on training muscles in isolation, although individual muscles are strengthened this doesn’t mean you have better functional strength. Kettlebell workouts will give you more energy and day to day tasks will be easier. The swings and lifts in Kettlebell training involve using muscles together and training the movements this results in better functional strength. The increased strength will improve your performance in sports or athletics.

Improved stamina

The high intensity nature of kettlebell workouts  greatly improves general fitness and functional strength, this means you will have improved stamina.

Improved Cardiovascular Fitness

To improve cardiovascular fitness you need to do vigorous, high intensity exercises.  Kettlebell training is ideal for this, it can improve your cardiovascular fitness in much less time than traditional methods such as distance training.

Reduced Risk of Injury

Kettlebell training can often look dangerous to an outsider, people think that swinging a heavy weight could easily damage muscles or that there is a danger of dropping the kettlebell and injuring yourself that way. However because you are training the muscles together instead of in isolation there are fewer imbalances between muscles and muscle groups. In kettlebell training you are optimizing certain movements, strengthening your joints and the muscles as a group which actually reduces your risk of injury. Kettlebells actually have a much lower incidence of injury compared to other exercise types. Another huge benefit that most kettlebell enthusiasts notice is relief from chronic aches and pains. People with back pain often find it disappears completely, this is due to strengthening the back muscles and improving how they work together.

Decreased body fat

Kettlebell workouts are great for burning body fat. The combination of high intensity cardiovascular exercise and strength training are very energy demanding. Kettlebell exercises can burn twice as many calories per minute than traditional aerobic exercises. Kettlebells also have a very high after burn effect. After any type of exercise you continue to burn calories at a faster rate, this effect lasts much longer with kettlebell workouts compared to other types of exercise. Exercising regularly with kettlebells will give you a lean body with toned muscles.  Kettlebells won’t bulk you up. If you are skinny you will put on just the right amount of muscle. Kettlebell fat loss workout guide.

Improved flexibility

A nice side effect of exercising with kettlebell is improved flexibility without having to spend time stretching. Since kettlebell workouts use nearly all your muscles, any weak muscles will be strengthed and tight muscles will be loosened and strengthened. There will be greater balance between the muscles and muscle groups will work together better.

Less time working out

Kettlebell workouts combine strength training with cardio and exercise muscle groups together. This means you need to spend considerably less time exercising. Kettlebells are often known for getting ‘twice the results in half the time’. It would be difficult to find a type of exercise that has as many benefits as kettlebell workouts. The other major benefit of course is that it is easy to stick with a kettlebell workout program. The workouts are short so they are easy to fit in, kettlebells are small and cheap so they can be used anywhere and the exercises are more interesting and engaging than traditional exercises so you won’t get bored. This is probably the most important benefit. If you isn’t easy to stick with an exercise routine you will not see any of the benefits.

If your serious about your MMA training check out the Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution website. You will not be disappointed.

Kettlebells for MMA fighters

For any combat martial artist, including boxers, stamina and strength are, of course, necessities. However, the sport of kettlebell lifting can be as beneficial, if not more, than traditional weight training in improving overall strength. Let me expand on that for a second before we get into any specific kettlebell exercises for boxers.

With weight training, there are benefits and increases in raw strength. That’s a fact. But with boxing and other combat arts, the emphasis on functional strength should be paramount. Conventional weight training as opposed to kettlebell training is more of a collection of static movements and exercises where you may be locked in a fixed position or a machine. There are not any sport-specific exercises that I’ve seen that you can do with a dumbbell or barbell as far as boxing goes.
Conventional weight training is perfect if your chosen sport is powerlifting or bodybuilding. However, when you need explosive, coordinated, dynamic strength and agility, especially in the extreme ranges of the motion, kettlebell training is just what the doctor ordered.

The use of a kettlebell is more repetition and movement-based, where coordinated movements, breath synchronization and mental focus are more important than getting that last “cheat rep.”
For a boxer, the benefits of kettlebell practice are numerous. The various cardiovascular benefits notwithstanding, the gains in functional strength and overall coordination will increase punching power without a gain in weight. Any martial artist will tell you that punching power, when technique is applied properly and efficiently, can increase punching power without an increase in effort or weight gain.
The secret to improving technique is to have the attitude that raw brute strength is not always the answer. Focused, coordinated strength is a more powerful ally in the ring. In my 22 years of martial arts training, I’ve seen time and again where technique will beat raw strength every time without fail.
Am I saying that raw strength has no place in combat arts? Absolutely not! What I am saying is that focus and coordination makes your existing strength that much better and efficient. If you’re a boxer or an eastern martial artist, you know that to waste energy in a fight can be fatal. So if coordination and focus can make you more efficient, why not make that a critical component in your combat training?

The kettlebell exercises in this article will help the boxer by increasing punching power with specific movements designed to work the muscles and joints used in the sport.
The first boxing-specific kettlebell exercise I’ll show you is called the “slip-dip.” This exercise will increase your leg, back and shoulder strength and will get you ready for the second drill as well.
Slip-Dips
Begin with the kettlebell in an “inside grip.” It should be on the inside of your arm (as if you were holding a football) as opposed to the traditional way of holding it on the outer forearm.
1. Hold the Kettlebell in the inside grip.
2. Assume your boxing “guard” stance with your hands up.
3. Dip your upper body as if you were ducking a punch, then rise to the starting position.
This would be one repetition. Make sure to keep your back straight and that you work both sides equally! You do not want to create any imbalances in your back and shoulder muscles. Do as many reps as you like without losing form.
Kettlebell Uppercuts
This drill will increase your punching power whether you like it or not. When done correctly, your whole body gets behind the punch and increases leverage simply by putting the body mass into the punch. After doing this drill with the kettlebell, try some uppercuts without any weight and you’ll see what I mean here. It’ll be the same effect as a batter warming up with a weighted bat and then going to the plate with a regular bat. The swing speed increases simply because he’s swinging a lighter bat. You’ll have the same feeling after throwing punches with your kettlebell.
1. Hold the kettlebell with the inside grip as in the last drill.
2. Do a single slip-dip as if you were ducking a punch.
3. As you rise, throw your uppercut.
4. The secret here is to use your whole body to do it. You need to turn your upper body while exploding with your legs and hips in an upward/forward motion.

Use your body to execute the punch, not just by simply lifting the kettlebell up with your arm. An effective punch is thrown with the whole body, not just the arm. This applies to all punches and not just the uppercut! However, with this drill, you’ll train not only proper technique, but you’ll be training all of the muscles to work together as a team. This phenomenon is explained in detail in Pavel Tsatsouline’s Power to the People! Work both sides with this drill and over a short amount of time, you’ll see increases in punching power as well as an increased ability to absorb body punches.
Be sure to initiate the movement with your legs as this is where the bulk of your power will come from. Also, do the drill with slow, precise movement with your focus on the proper technique before doing it with explosiveness.
This drill works the shoulders, back, legs, and lungs, and most importantly, the obliques and erector muscles in the lower back, giving you a tremendous amount of rotational power in addition to increased ability to absorb the ballistic shock of body punches.
If you remember what I said before, a focused, more efficient punch is more powerful by default. Efficient punches should be the thing that fighters seek more than anything else. The ability to last in the ring and be as strong in the tenth round as in the first is every fighter’s goal. kettlebell training is one way to work towards this.

Build MMA strength and conditioning

Too many MMA fighters out there are training with light weights and low reps in hope they will improve their overall strength conditioning. This is wrong and I'm going to talk about what is right.

Instead, fighters should focus on using heavier weights and do conditioning separate from their strength training sessions.

I'm about to show how fighters can focus on getting stronger all while still building up their wind. To do so I'm going to talk about the 5 essential movements all MMA fighters should be doing in their strength programs.

1) Deadlifts

Deadlifts are the king of strength exercises! There's no other exercise that will add lean muscle and strength to your whole body then deadlifts.

Deadlifts also target the weaker muscles in the body that lots of athletes and fighters neglect.

Fighters should use deadlifts in the 3-5 rep range and even sometimes maybe hit singles and doubles. Lifting in the 3-5 reps range is ideal to build strength for MMA fighters. When you use more than 5 reps in a set, you're using too little of load.

The start of your session is the best time to do heavy deadlifts. Deadlifts should be done preferably after an explosive type exercise.

2) Front squats

Deadlifts are king, front squats are the prince! Front squats help build both upper and lower body strength at once.

The reason front squats work so well at getting fighters strong is based around how the weight is loaded on the body. When its front loaded, there's so much more stress placed upon the body which really forces the core to be engaged.

Front squats are amazing at building core and lower body strength both at the same time.

Like with deadlifts, front squats should be done in the lower rep range, preferably somewhere around the 3-6 rep range and right after an explosive exercise around the beginning on a session.

3) Heavy sled / prowler pushes

Sled and prowler work by far takes the cake in terms of conditioning benefits and strength building. Not too many exercises out there can do both.

The best bang for your buck exercise out there has to be your heavy prowler and sled drags.

More and more MMA fighters are starting to realize the benefits of pushing a heavy prowler around or pulling a heavy sled. It just does wonders for building lower body strength as well as increasing conditioning.

I like to have fighters do short ALL OUT goes with a heavy prowler. 10 sec ALL OUT sprints with a heavy load is an excellent choice for heavy prowler pushes. You can use sleds to work longer distances by pulling and dragging a heavy sled for overall time or just reps.

Either way, sled and prowler work MUST become a part of your program if you are a serious MMA fighter! Typically, for conditioning wise, do sled and prowler work at the end of a session. But if the goal is more on the strength side, you could perform super heavy prowler and sled work at the beginning of a session.

4) 1 Arm KB / DB clean and press

Kettlebells are by far one of the most versatile pieces of strength equipment one can have. But, many MMA fighters and trainees find it hard to get their hands on their own kettlebells so dumbbells can also be used for this particular exercise.

The clean is an excellent movement to explosively get the weight up to the shoulders. From there, the fighter can either press strictly or use their hips to explosively drive the weight overhead. Once to the shoulder, the weight is explosively pressed over head to lockout. Cleans are naturally a power exercise. You can perform a kettlebell or dumbbell clean easily. The one common thing about both of these movements is that they must be performed explosively.

I like to use a heavy weight, one that can be lifted with good form about 3-5 reps/ arm. 3-5 sets is the ideal recommendation.

5) Weighted pull ups

Pull Ups are the upper body squat! Pull ups will help with an MMA fighters punching power and strength. As weird as it sounds, it's true. The stronger your back gets, the more force you can produce when you throw a punch.

Do be like a lot of fighters and skip out on your pulling movements. These are essential.

When doing weighted pull up variations, I like to use chains, dumbbells and kettlebells hung form a belt, or a weighted vest. All variations work well.

When doing weighted pull ups, I would work in the 3-8 rep range using tons of different variations with your grip style. You can use close grip, wide, baseball, palms facing you, palms facing away, and even rope pull ups.

Either way, MMA fighters should have these in their program no matter what!

So the big idea is to focus in on these 5 movements. Add them in throughout the week into different sessions. A fighter does not want to add all of them into the same session, which would be overkill.

Instead, pick one and have that movement be the strength focus of the day.

As far as conditioning is concerned, add short metabolic conditioning sessions in at the end of strength session or do conditioning sessions on off days. Too many MMA fighters mix strength and conditioning workouts together which then takes away from both.

Get stronger and in turn, you WILL gain more endurance. Truth me.

Travis is a highly unconventional hardcore strength and conditioning specialist that focuses in on serious athletes and trainees to help them improve their overall performance and physique.

For more information on Travis, go to his personal blog at http://www.travisstoetzel.com and look into all of the other articles, posts, and videos available.

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