Dr Mel Siff Blog

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Some of you have expressed an interest in kettlebell lifting, so here is some
Russian information on this topic, based upon Bud Charniga’s translations of
the 1984 Russian Weightlifting Yearbook (obtainable from his website at
www.dynamic-eleiko.com). This is the first of two episodes.

PART 1

Kettlebell Lifting

From the Editors.

Weightlifting Yearbook, 1984 Fizkultura I Sport, Moscow

In September of 1981 the decree of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union “To further raise the mass character of Physical
Culture and Sport” gave new impetus to the development of all “mass” forms of
strength training; which, besides the classic Olympic type ‘of weightlifting,
folk exercises with weights, such as kettlebells, as well as other loads,
apparatus and training devices for the development of strength-athletic
gymnastics, are included.

The leaders in the development of these mass types, who at present are in the
organizational stage, have recruited many hundreds of thousands of our
citizens and have formed an Athletic Gymnastics and Kettlebell Commission
under the auspices of the USSR Weightlifting Federation. Beginning with this
issue, the editorial-board is starting a new section “Kettlebell Lifting”
which can be subsequently expanded to publications on athletic gymnastics.

The reader’s attention is directed to the following two articles, in which
objectives and methodological questions of kettlebell lifting are outlined.
Furthermore the methodology of assessing competition results of a Kettlebell
lifter in light of the scheme to prepare classification norms is presented as
part of the Unified All-Soviet sport classification of 1985-1988. These
articles are not only sources of information but they are serve to open
further discussion (therefore, it is possible that not all of the authors’
viewpoints and recommendations will be universally accepted by the readers).

Kettlebell lifting is a very old and, at the same time, a young sport. It is
very old because kettlebell exercises have been around since time immemorial.
It is young because up until the present time, there were no rules of
competition or classification norms on the all-Soviet scale. Undoubtedly, as
kettlebell lifting develops rules, classification requirements and norms will
be subjected to revision.

———————–

Kettlebell Lifting as an Effective Means of Physical Education

Voropayev V I

In recent years interest in one of the national types of sport — Kettlebell
lifting has increased significantly. The number engaged in organizing groups
and sections-in the physical culture and state-farm collectives, schools,
industries and the armed-forces, have increased. Many competitions, of
different scale, are being held. They are becoming more wide-spread.

However, along with the great number of enthusiasts of this type of sport
there are people who consider it an antiquated and ineffective means of
physical education. Over a period of several years we researched kettlebell
lifting as an effective means of physical education.

It is known that if physical exercise lacks two fundamental qualities –
accessibility and effectiveness, it loses its value as a means of physical
education. We attempted to analyze kettlebell lifting in this-light.

Accessibility implies the following:

1. The technique of the exercise is relatively simple.

There are three exercises in Kettlebell lifting competition: press one
kettlebell, clean and jerk two kettlebells and snatch one kettlebell. These
are cyclic exercises with comparatively small weights. They are mastered
rather quickly since there is no non-support phase (as in weightlifting) or
complex movement of the athlete (as in gymnastics and acrobatics).

Although the general center of mass shifts, it is identical in each phase of
the exercise. It has been demonstrated in practice that an athlete of average
physical development can acquire the technique of the Kettlebell triathlon in
4-6 months. This enables one to devote more time to the development of
physical qualities per se.

2. The Ability to train Individually or in Groups.

The best form of training organization is the study group. However, working
aboard a ship, at a field-camp, working shifts and many other occupations do
not permit one to train in a group; but one must train periodically with an
experienced coach, who controls the training plan. Training alone with
kettlebells does not require a sport hall or large area. One can lift
kettlebells in practically any place which has about 4-5 sq m of free space.

3. The Simplicity of the Training Equipment.

The training equipment for Kettlebell lifting is the least difficult to
obtain in comparison with many other sports. The training and competition
costumes are trunks, vest and any athletic shoes. It should be pointed out
that a kettlebell is a durable piece of equipment. Kettlebell practice is not
limited by large exploitation. This gives Kettlebell lifting a significant
advantage over many others, which require a large expenditure on materials
for workouts.

Everything that concerns training materials, of course, should be considered
somewhat more broadly. The Kettlebell lifter should use barbells, run, throw,
do flexibility exercises and take part in skiing and other sports that
require additional training equipment. This is also true for other types of
sports. Thus, track and field athletes lift weights, exercise with medicine
balls, play different sport games, lift kettlebells and do gymnastics.
Therefore, when one speaks of obtaining training equipment, one has to bear
in mind that this is in reference only to the equipment needed for this one
sport.

4. Small Risk of Injury.

Studies of the Kettlebell triathlon indicate the exercises are not dangerous.
These exercises are not associated with great risk when correctly executed.
Tearing of the skin on the palm of the hands due to the improper preparation
of the apparatus (the handle of the kettlebell should be smooth, carefully
polished and rust-free) is the most common injury. This type of injury can
occur even with a smooth, polished kettlebell, but this happens after a lot
of tearing in workouts, when the hands are tired. Consequently, the type of
injury associated with Kettlebell lifting is not due to the nature of the
sport itself, but to outside factors, which can be avoided.

5. The wide age-range of Participants.

The value of any means of physical education increases considerably if it can
be utilized by different age groups. As a means of physical education,
kettlebell lifting has such value. Although the age-range of kettlebell
lifters at present has not been fully researched; practice has shown, that
the ages of the participants varies over a wide range. The average age of
the. competitors at the 1980 regional tournament in Lipetsk was 26 years. The
oldest competitor was 49 and the youngest 16 years old. At the 1981 republic
tournament in Kazan, the mean age was 25.5 years. The oldest competitor was
48 and the youngest was 15 years old. At the moment, the move to expand the
age limits of the participants is one of the problems in athletics. In many
types of sports, athletes who begin at 16-17 years of age are considered to
have no prospects, and competitions in some sports are converted to
“children’s competitions”…..

END OF PART 1

TO BE CONTINUED

Dr Mel Siff
Denver, USA
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/

.

Someone contacted me privately about methods of training if one has any
injury, weakness or dysfunction of one arm.

These were some of my suggestions – if you have a power rack, you can use
reverse band methods to limit the weight on the bar and control its line of
action while you do bench, inclined press, deadlifts, limited range pulls and
so on. The bands (or bungee cord) are attached to the top of the power rack
and the barbell or dumbbell is suspended from the bands – the amount of
assistance offered depends on the thickness of the bands or cords. Read more…

<< What are the possible physiological (muscular) changes that occur in the
development of tone and/or definition. I realize they are not synonymous.

I would like to hear opinions and research based fact. >>

*** Muscle definition tends to increase as bodyfat decreases – the less fat
there is over and within the muscle, the more ‘defined’ and obvious the
muscle appears. Muscle ‘tone ‘ (or tension) has to do with the regular
involvement of the muscles in adequately strenuous physical effort. To be
entirely accurate, one would refer to ‘resting tone’ (which has a lot to do
with the connective tissues in the muscle complex) and active tone or tension
that is generated by muscle contraction.

All too often, we have fitness fans wanting to ‘do weights’ to increase
muscle tone but not muscle bulk, but they are completely unaware of what
‘tone’ really is. What they are doing is confusing a toned look with an
increase in muscle tone (tension), so that they probably are more preoccupied
with improving muscle definition than tone. Ideally, an optimal combination
of both would be necessary for improving physical appearance, but not to the
extent that one loses too much essential bodyfat or gains too much muscle
bulk that, paradoxically, may decrease one’s relative strength and become a
type of ‘muscular adiposity’.

There is some research which shows that there seems to be an optimal level of
hypertrophy for any individual in terms of metabolic and mobility efficiency,
so that it may be that the belief that there may be such a thing as excessive
hypertrophy is supported by research (and theory, as can be confirmed by the
application of what is known as ‘dimensional analysis’ in physics). In other
words, one may refer to two types of overmass: excessive bodyfat and
excessive muscle.

Dr Mel C Siff

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