CHAPTER 5:
FAQ: Why the Kettlebell Rules

Q. Is kettlebell training a fad?

The girya first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704 (Cherkikh, 1994).

Yes, it is a fad. I expect it to go away in the next 300 years.

Q. What makes the kettlebell superior to other weights and fitness equipment?

Some of the kettlebell exercises and their effects are unique; others can be reproduced. But nothing can beat the kettlebell’s one-stop-shop efficiency.

No other piece of hardware comes close to the amount of raw power, resilience, and championship conditioning one can gain from one to two hours of weekly training with this one compact and virtually indestructible tool that can be used anywhere.

“The more I do with kettlebells, the more I think of abandoning every other form of training,” writes Senior RKC Rob Lawrence. “The workouts simultaneously train *everything*. Strength, speed, endurance. . . . The thing that’s surprised me most is hamstring flexibility from doing one-armed snatches. There is a great deal of truth to the axiom that all training is a matter of tradeoffs, but if anything out there threatens that wisdom it’s got to be KBs.”

Any gun will shoot in a greenhouse, but dropped in the water or mud or subjected to Siberian temperatures, most will fail you. The Kalashnikov keeps firing. The kettlebell is the ultimate in reliability and deadly efficiency, the AK-47 of physical training hardware.

Q. Should I train with the kettlebell as a stand-alone tool or mix it up with a barbell and dumbbells?

There are two ways to train with the Russian kettlebell. One is to do it in the context of a sophisticated program that implements multiple strength tools. It is appropriate for athletes and coaches who have the education, the experience, and the hardware. The strength program developed and implemented by Ethan Reeve, RKC, at Wake Forest University is a great example of this approach.

Ivan ‘the Champion of Champions’ Poddubny.

Special operators, martial artists, and other minimalists prefer to use the kettlebell as a stand-alone tool. The kettlebell can do anything a dumbbell can do at least as well, and usually better. For example, the kettlebell provides an unsurpassed military press range of motion: it does not restrict your shoulder on the bottom, and it stretches it on the top. Hang a kettlebell on your foot, Spetsnaz style, and you don’t need a belt for weighted dips or pull-ups. As the Philadelphia Kettlebell Club’s credo goes, “We train with kettlebells in case civilization is temporary . . . don’t rely on anything you can’t carry.”

Q. How can I combine kettlebell training with Power to the People! and The Naked Warrior?

In The Russian Kettlebell Challenge I recommended alternating two-week cycles. Later I discovered that while grizzled strength coaches like Steve Baccari, RKC, were very successful with this approach, less experienced Comrades had problems. Hence two new options.

OPTION #1

Marty Gallagher told me that a perfect strength year is made up of two 12-week competition powerlifting cycles (the meet falls on week 13) and two 12-week off-seasons when a variety of exercises are practiced.

Alexey Faleev, Master of Sports and the author of a powerlifting-based fitness system popular in Russia, alternates 4–5 months of strength with 4–5 months of dynamic work.

• Follow the RKC Rite of Passage program for 12 weeks, then do PTP and/or Beyond Bodybuilding for 12, and keep rotating.

You may GTG pistols in either or both cycles, RKC and PTP.

• You may GTG one-arm push-ups only in the PTP cycle. Skip side and floor presses if you do.

When you are in the PTP phase, jump rope and/or do interval sprints for your conditioning.

Here is a sprint interval smoker from the record holder of the USSS snatch test: “Once per week I do a minute on, minute off workout. I will crank the treadmill up to 8.0 mph and put the incline on 12. I jump on the side rails and wait for the clock to be around 0:59 and then I hop on and run my butt off for exactly one minute. When the clock says 1:59 I jump off and walk around the room to catch my breath. After about 30 seconds I make my way back to the treadmill and stand on the side rails until the clock says 2:59 and jump back on and repeat this process eight times. It takes about 17 minutes to complete and I’m smoked. My legs are jello and I feel like puking. But believe it or not, my snatches are getting easier. I truly feel in order to get in the 250 to 280 range for ten minutes, people will need a great cardio base. Not sissy cardio, but hardcore in your face cardio to complement the KB workouts. Simply put, I run once per week for a total of 8 minutes and it has helped.”

Naturally, you will have to do this at least three times a week if you are not doing your swings and snatches at the moment.

OPTION #2

• Do PTP dead lifts on your variety days, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Do the straight PTP, not the “Bear.” Skip side and floor presses.

• GTG pistols. Skip OAPs.

Q. How can I incorporate Bullet-Proof Abs exercises into my kettlebell regimen?

An oblique-emphasis drill for 3–5 x 3–5 on the first variety day, Tuesday.

An ab-focus drill for 3–5 x 3–5 on the second variety day, Thursday.

After deadlifts if you do them.

Clemence Bul, a Latvian pro wrestler and girevik.

Q. I have a bad back. Can I train with kettlebells?

Yes, with your doctor’s approval.

The Top Five EXTREMELY BORING Reasons RKC Kettlebell Training Is Great for Your Back

1. Kettlebell exercises strengthen the glutes.

The late Vladimir Janda, MD, from the Czech Republic observed that people with low back dysfunction often exhibit "gluteal amnesia." And if not overcome with proper recruitment pattern practice, it is likely to lead to more back problems, since the back has to take over the lifting task of the powerful glutes. The glutes are strongly emphasized in kettlebell training.

2. Kettlebell exercises stretch the hip flexors.

In Janda’s research, weak glutes were associated with tight hip flexors. The RKC system is second to none in promoting hip flexor flexibility.

3. Kettlebells develop back extensor endurance.

Professor Stuart McGill, PhD, the number-one spine biomechanist in the world, concluded that while lower-back strength surprisingly does not appear to reduce the odds of back problems, muscular endurance does (Luoto et. al, 1995). I dare you to find a better developer of the back extensors’ endurance than the high-repetition kettlebell swing or snatch.

4. "Bracing" is superior to "hollowing" for spinal stability.

Misinterpreted research has lead to the currently popular recommendation to "pull your navel in toward your spine" to protect your back. Dr. McGill has demonstrated that "bracing" the abdominal wall is the superior technique. For more on this, get your copy of his breakthrough book, Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance, from backfitpro.com. The RKC system of kettlebell training teaches many innovative techniques to improve your bracing skill.

5. Sensible ballistic loading appears to reduce the odds of arthritis.

Repetitive ballistic loading of kettlebell swings and other quick lifts appears to be highly beneficial to your joints—provided you do not overdo it. In Supertraining, Drs. Yuri Verkhoshansky and Mel Siff state: "Joints subjected to heavy impact are relatively free of osteoarthritis in old age and those subjected to much lower loading experience a greater incidence of osteoarthritis and cartilage fibrillation . . . as one progresses up the lower extremity, from the ankle, to the knee, the hip and finally to the lumbar spine, so the extent of fibrillation increases at any given age. It appears that the cartilage of joints subjected to regular impulsive loading with relatively high contact stresses is mechanically much stiffer and better adapted to withstand the exceptional loading of running and jumping than the softer cartilage associated with low loading. Thus, joint cartilage subjected to regular repetitive loading remains healthy and copes very well with impulsive loads, whereas cartilage that is heavily loaded infrequently softens . . . the collagen network loses its cohesion and the cartilage deteriorates."

Q. What diet do you recommend?

Personally, I have been on Ori Hofmekler’s Warrior Diet (the book is available from DragonDoor.com) for close to two years. I am very happy with it. Keep in mind that this is a personal choice, not a professional recommendation—I am not a nutrition professional.

And remember what Garfield the cat said: “Calories are meant to be consumed, not counted.”

Q. Will kettlebells help my sport-specific strength?

Experience shows that a professionally developed generalized physical training program such as the RKC Rite of Passage brings about gains in athletic performance that are far superior to amateur attempts at “sport-specific” training. Because specialized training is not effective without a base of general physical preparedness. And because sport-specific strength program design is not for amateurs.

There is an expression among gireviks: “the what-the-hell effect.” The WTH effect is about getting better at things you have not practiced. My students and readers powerlift heavier, hit harder, run faster, bend nails, and so on—just from lifting kettlebells. The only time they see a barbell, a nail, or running shoes is during the test! Powerlifter Donnie Thompson stopped deadlifting altogether, started kettlebelling and took his deadlift from 766 to 832 in less than a year. Steve Knapstein, RKC, ran a marathon without practicing running. No, I can’t explain how such seemingly nonspecific training made this happen. But in our RKC brotherhood we don’t wait for explanations to come in. If it works, we do it. If “the WTH effect” is the best explanation there is, so be it.

The amazing Russian kettlebell WTH effect notwithstanding, if you want to excel at a certain exercise, be it the deadlift or a heavy-duty gripper, you should practice it specifically in addition to your kettlebell training. To use a martial arts analogy, you will never be able to express all of your strength in a punch if you do not work with a heavy bag.

So keep practicing the skill of your sport, be it deadlifting, fighting, running, or anything else, and keep following the RKC Rite of Passage program. Once you are competing on the state level, sport-specific strength training—or “special strength” training, as Russians call it—is justified. Under an expert coach’s supervision.

This is a very important point. Sport-specific training program design is the domain of professional coaches. Ethan Reeve, RKC, had no problem incorporating RKC exercises and principles into his sophisticated S&C system at Wake Forest. And I did not tell him how. Ditto for Mike

Burgener, RKC, who developed a sophisticated methodology for incorporating kettlebells into weight lifters’ regimens. Or Dan John, who has been throwing PRs after decades in the game. Once you become a good athlete, you need a coach such as one of these gentlemen if you are entertaining thoughts of greatness.

And if you don’t aspire to national and world-level competition and don’t have a good coach, just stay with generalized RKC training and have a good time. Just please don’t try to concoct a home-brewed “customized, sport-specific workout”!

America is on the customization kick these days. People are made to believe that personalized products are superior. They are—when they are made by a pro. But I will take a professionally made mass-market product over an amateur customization every time. Would you pick a factory-produced Harley or the Back to the Future ride your kid has “custom made” from lawn mower parts?

Q. Why are your exercise descriptions so detailed? Come on, kettlebells are not rocket science!

Powerlifting coach Louie Simmons has commented that I have reverse-engineered what top athletes do subconsciously. At the RKC we teach everyday hard Comrades how to move like the elite.

It takes a lot more instruction than “bring your fist from your shoulder to the bad guy’s face” to teach one to punch like a pro. It takes a lot more instruction than “pick up the kettlebell and swing it” to teach one to swing like a pro. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or does not know what he is talking about.

If you have no patience for refining the strength basics, may I suggest a Spinning class?

Ivan Zayikin

Q. Can I substitute the . . . with the . . .?

No. By virtue of your asking this question. If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it. Once you have enough experience in the kettlebell game, you will have no problem understanding the circumstances of when you can replace the basic swing with, say, the walking swing. Or adding the windmill. Or whatever. A system is self-contained by definition. RKC is a system. Take it or leave it, but don’t mess with it until you are a “black belt” in kettlebell training.

“Can I do this move instead of your move?” Tony Blauer gets irate when he gets this type of question in his close-quarter combat courses. “You can do whatever the hell you want," says Tony, “when you get back to your unit. Right now it is my system you are practicing.”

Q. Once I have put up the RKC Rite of Passage numbers, where do I go next?

Get registered to vote and join the Marines; you are a man now.

RussianKettlebell.com offers a great wealth of kettlebell training information, including my books The Russian Kettlebell Challenge and From Russia with Tough Love and a number of DVDs, mine and my RKC instructors’.

There are many free resources as well: my weekly RKC blog, my newsletter, dozens of articles, and the forum. If you are not sure what your next step should be, drop by the RussianKettlebell.com forum and ask.

And if you are not afraid of pain, sign up for our three-day RKC kettlebell instructor course. It is a brutal course with a typical 20–30 percent failure rate. Rather than toot my own horn, I will send you to the website. Read what other people have to say at DragonDoor.com.

Q. If Russian stuff is so tough, why did the USSR lose the Cold War?

As I was finishing this manuscript, BBC reported, “Russian squirrel pack kills dog.” As the story went, a big stray dog started barking at squirrels in a park. The rodents took no grief from the much larger predator. “They literally gutted the dog” in less than a minute.

“Man,” exclaimed Phil Workman, RKC, who had sent me the link to this story, “even squirrels are bad asses over there. Explain to me again how the Communists failed?”

Keep reading the article. A local man pointed out that the forests were out of pinecones. “The little beasts are agitated because they have nothing to eat.”

That answers both questions—why Russia has lost the Cold War and how it produces tough-as-nails athletes.