The 7 Most Important Kettlebell Exercises.

                     

Step away from the dumbbells and barbells because the kettlebell is here to stay in terms of improving your functional training capabilities and fitness levels. Functional training is a method that is being discussed on many internet fitness forums and there is a lot of 'Bro-Science' being bandied around by some of these websites. Therefore, this article will cut the wheat from the chaff, discussing what actually functional fitness is and how can training with kettlebells help to improve it. Please read on!

Functional Training

Over the past decade, there has been a shift in making training more functional. The revolution started with physical therapists and filtered its way into personal training and coaching. Functional fitness involves training for activities that we perform in our daily tasks, and simulating the common movements that are performed at work, home or in sports. The functional exercises have been designed to develop your strength which makes it easier/safer to perform everyday activities without getting injured. Below are some examples of some of the activities that are simulated when functional training:

· picking things up off the floor e.g. clothes and shopping

· putting things away over your head e.g. putting shopping away in cupboards over your head

· carrying items e.g. bags of shopping

· squatting down e.g. DIY

· reaching and rotating e.g. gardening and DIY around the house

Therefore, each exercise focuses on more than one body part, instead of using one muscle e.g. the bicep curl, all of the muscles work together to produce more compound movements e.g. the kettlebell bicep curl with a step up onto a box. This is an important concept because all our muscles depend on each other and they also work together during daily activities. Thus, by using more compound movements during the kettlebell session; your daily movements will become more energy efficient by using less energy and reducing stress placed on your body. The List below is an example of how kettlebells can be applied to a variety of functional movements:

Exercise

Snatch - Pushing

Military press - Pushing

Floor chest press - Pushing

High pull - Pulling

Bent over rows - Pulling

Sumo high pulls - Pulling

Russian twists - Twisting

Wood choppers - Twisting

Ballet twists - Twisting

Squats - Bending

Lunges - Bending

Side bends - Bending

# Please note there may be some cross over in exercise and their primary movement categories e.g. front squats where you bend your knees to power up through your heels and then you push the kettelebell/s above your head.

The Benefits of Functional Training

Resistance type exercises that only use one muscle are important for building muscle mass but unfortunately they can cause 'disproportion'. By adding functional exercises with kettlebells into your exercise routine, your balance, coordination and core stability will work together as a bodily unit, thereby enabling you to perform daily tasks a lot more efficiently. This will lead to the following health and fitness benefits:

· It makes daily tasks and activities a lot easier because the body is more conditioned

· Improves the overall musculoskeletal and joint function within the body

· Reduces your risk of injury and falling

· Enhances your quality of life

· Enhances stability, coordination and balance

· Develops strength in your muscle stabilizers e.g. shoulder, hip and core

· It boosts physical endurance

· Increases your resting metabolism because resting muscle requires more energy to function than fat

· Improves your posture by strengthening the lower back and core

· Helps to eliminate arthritic pain, back pain, upper extremity pain and joint pain e.g. the knee

· Improves range of motion at the joints e.g. the shoulder and hips.

The impact of functional training with kettlebells

Functional training with kettlebell/s works on different bodily movement planes e.g. frontal, sagittal and transverse, hitting different angles, recruits the muscle stabilisers as well as using the main muscle groups and the core. The kettlebell also has a unique design and it has a centre of gravity that is around 6-7 inches outside of your hand grip and this actually duplicates the forces used in daily activities such as carrying the shopping. It also improves your grip strength because of the increased activation of your forearm muscles.

In addition, the shape of the kettlebell allows positioning of the weight to be above your centre of gravity. This has a positive effect in that it permits you to keep your arms/wrists in a neutral position and it is that concept that allows you to perform a greater range of functional moves for a longer period of time. Therefore, you can perform a larger amount of functional moves; this increases your functional fitness and its associated benefits a lot quicker than using dumbbells and/or barbells.

Kettlebell training also works all planes of your body unilaterally and this ensures that all of the major muscle groups are worked and there are no imbalances in the kinetic chain. An advantage of using kettlebells is that they engage the posterior kinetic chain and the muscles activated include the hamstrings, glutes, calfs and the core. For example by strengthening your glutes will prevent your erector spinae from overcompensating when performing functional every lifting movements.

Back pain is a major cause of absenteeism in the work place and one of the main benefits of functional training with kettlebell is that it strengthens your back in a variety of ways. Firstly, it helps to increase your hip flexibility; this produces a pelvic tilt and reduces the load on your lower back. The next key benefit is that strengthens the erector spinae and multifidus muscles which are important for posture and spinal stability. Last but by no means least it helps with bracing which is another important factor in spinal stability, good back health and injury prevention.

http://www.troyvanspanje.com. For a functional kettlebell workout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-iO7pHqpJo. Troy van spanje is a Personal Trainer and Kettlebell expert

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Troy_Van_Spanje/2018021

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8913896

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/user/RdellaTraining

Functional Training - Is it doing things differently?

                      

It isn't rocket science or a strange secret society, functional movement, functional training, you do functional movement everyday without thinking about it.

The term functional training was coined when trainers happened upon a concept used by Physiotherapists and rehabilitation trainers was used by them to describe and retrain people to go about or improve their daily tasks/lives. Since then it has evolved in many ways and forms and be used in every aspect of the fitness industry from personal trainers to strength coaches. The various forms are vast and varied and who is to say what or which one is right or wrong, the common denominator is that all methods agree on the improvement of a person or athlete in or on all planes of human movement; whether this be the retraining of a stroke victim to walk or an athlete to re balance instabilities in a movement the goal is the same FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT improves all aspects of movement (if trained correctly)

The dictionary defines functional training for sport as

Functional training for sports

Functional training may lead to better muscular balance and joint stability, possibly decreasing the number of injuries sustained in an individual's performance in a sport The benefits may arise from the use of training that emphasizes the body's natural ability to move in six degrees of freedom. In comparison, though machines appear to be safer to use, they restrict movements to a single plane of motion, which is an unnatural form of movement for the body and may potentially lead to faulty movement patterns or injury.

In 2009 Spennewyn conducted research, published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research which compared functional training to fixed variable training techniques; this was considered the first research of its type comparing the two methods of strength training. Results of the study showed very substantial gains and benefits in the functional training group over fixed training equipment. Functional users had a 58% greater increase in strength over the fixed-form group. Their improvements in balance were 196% higher over fixed and reported an overall decrease in joint pain by 30%.

In addition, a recent study of the effectiveness of sandbag training on athletic conditioning, found that training with a variable load has significant cardiovascular benefits over conventional methods. The study compared subjects doing exercise with a sandbag, a kettlebell and battle ropes for 5:44 seconds each. The study concluded that sandbag training burned 24% more calories over the other methods.

Consideration when implementing a functional programme This can go either way dependent on many factors inclusive of your experience, knowledge and understanding of the concept. One key factor to consider when implementing a programme for an athlete or the general public is every session is an EVALUATION, from the minute they walk through the door to the minute they disappear from view.

Other key factors for consideration are

• Plan

• Management timing in relation to the plan

• Liaison with other agencies involved with the athlete

• Define objectives

• Clearly defined executions of delivery for said objectives

• Always work efficiently and effectively (quality before quantity)

• Workouts should be creative and challenging

• EDIPP principle is paramount in delivery

• Both athlete and coach must be prepared for the long haul

• Consistency within the programme (one step at a time) e.g each session should concentrate on one aim not multiple goals

• Play as you train, train as you play, remember competition is the outcome of training

other factors can affect your plan and also need to be considered especially in relation to performance factors.

Sports performance factors

1. Power

2. Strength

3. Speed

4. Coordination

5. Flexibility

6. Quickness

7. Muscular endurance

8. Cardio capacity and endurance

However firstly it is important that you understand the needs of the sport, you may not be familiar with a sport or at least not all of the demands for the sport. Most sports can be broken down into four basic categories

• Sprint

• Intermittent sprint

• Transitional

• Endurance

Thereafter you need to look at the athlete

o Understand their position within the sport

o Analyse the qualities of the athlete

o Understand the most common injuries to the sport

o Impact factors on the athlete and injuries

Hopefully this article will allow you to understand a little more about the need for sports functionality.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brian_Fernie/130007

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9693885