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“Russian
Special Forces Strength & Conditioning Secret is
out!”
What
is a ‘kettlebell’?
A ‘kettlebell’
or girya (Russ.) is a traditional Russian
cast iron weight that looks like a cannonball
with a handle. As the 1986 Soviet
Weightlifting Yearbook put it, “It is hard
to find a sport that has deeper roots in the
history of our people than kettlebell lifting.”
So popular were kettlebells in Tsarist Russia
that any strongman or weightlifter was referred
to as a girevik, or ‘a kettlebell man.’
“Not a single sport develops our muscular
strength and bodies as well as kettlebell
athletics,” wrote Ludvig Chaplinskiy in Russian
magazine Hercules in 1913. In the Soviet
times weightlifting legends such as Vlasov,
Zhabotinskiy, and Alexeyev, started their
Olympic careers with kettlebells. Yuri Vlasov
who defeated mighty Paul Anderson once
interrupted an interview he was giving to a
Western journalist and proceeded to press a pair
of kettlebells. “A wonderful exercise,”
commented the world champion lifter. “. . . It
is hard to find an exercise better suited for
developing strength and flexibility
simultaneously.” The Russian
Special Forces personnel owe much of their wiry
strength, lethal agility, and never-quitting
stamina to kettlebells. Soldier, Be Strong!,
the official Soviet armed forces strength
training manual pronounced kettlebell drills to
be “one of the
most effective means of strength development”
representing “a new era in the development of
human strength-potential.” He did so to get a good grade,- custom papers for medical papers.
Who
uses kettlebells in the United States?
The extreme
kettlebell workout would have remained the
exclusive domain of Russian spec ops, had former
Spetsnaz instructor Pavel not
immigrated to the U.S. The elite of the U.S.
military and law enforcement instantly
recognized the power of the Russian kettlebell,
ruggedly simple and deadly effective as an
AK-47. You can find Pavel’s certified kettlebell
instructors in outfits such as the
Force Recon
Marines, the
FBI Hostage
Rescue Team, and the
Secret Service
Counter Assault Team. Once the
Russian kettlebell became a hit among those
whose life depends on their strength and
conditioning, it took off among hard people from
all walks of life: martial artists, athletes,
and regular tough guys. There is no stopping the
Russian kettlebell invasion.
Men’s Journal
called it
‘a workout with balls.’
Rolling Stone pronounced Pavel
‘The Hot Trainer of the Year’
and his Russian kettlebell ‘The Hot Weight
of the Year.’ “Resistance
is futile. You will be assimilated.” I found a sample essay, possibly better Cheap Essay Writing Service,- Studentessayhelp.com.
Kettlebells
deliver xtreme all around fitness
Voropayev (1983) observed two groups of subjects
over a period of a few years and tested them
with a standard battery of armed forces PT
tests: pullups, a standing broad jump, a 100m
sprint, and a 1k run. The control group followed
a typical university physical education program
that emphasized the above. The experimental
group just lifted kettlebells.
In spite of
the lack of practice on the tested exercises,
the kettlebell group showed better scores in
every one of them! Researchers at
the Lesgaft Physical Culture Institute in
Leningrad (Vinogradov & Lukyanov, 1986) found a
very high correlation between the results posted
in a kettlebell lifting competition and a great
range of dissimilar tests: strength, measured
with the three powerlifts and grip strength;
strength endurance, measured with pullups and
parallel bar dips; general endurance, determined
by a 1000 meter run; and work capacity and
balance, measured with special tests! Shevtsova
(1993) discovered that kettlebell training
lowers the heart rate and the blood pressure. Gomonov (1998)
concluded that “Exercises with kettlebells
enable one to quickly build strength, endurance,
achieve a balanced development of all muscle
groups, fix particular deficiencies of build,
and they also promote health.” Most methods that
claim ‘all around fitness’ deliver no more than
compromises. Accept no compromises – choose the
Russian kettlebell! kiev apartment rent
Get your kettlebell from (800)
899-5111 or
RussianKettlebell.com.
Power to you!
The
kettlebell body
Russian kettlebells are not for Kens and Barbies
who want to look like ‘a collection of body
parts.’ K-bells forge doers’ physiques along the
lines of antique statues: broad shoulders with
just a hint of pecs, back muscles standing out
in bold relief, wiry arms, rugged forearms, a
cut midsection, and strong legs without a hint
of squat-induced chafing. Kettlebells melt fat
without the dishonor of dieting or aerobics;
losing 1% of bodyfat a week for weeks is not
uncommon. If you are overweight, you will lean
out. If you are skinny, you will get built up.
According to Voropayev (1997) who studied top
Russian gireviks, 21.2% increased their
bodyweight since taking up kettlebelling and
21.2% (the exact same percentage, not a typo),
mostly heavyweights, decreased it. The Russian
kettlebell is a powerful tool for fixing your
body comp, whichever way it needs fixing.
Read
101 Russian kettlebell testimonials and talk to
kettlebell lifters on
RussianKettlebell.com
Are
kettlebells dangerous? Am I too young or too
old?
Only 8.8% of top
Russian gireviks, members of the Russian
National Team and regional teams, reported
injuries in training or competition (Voropayev,
1997). A remarkably low number, isn’t it? Note
that these were not regular guys but elite
athletes who push their bodies to the edge.
Which does not give you an excuse to lift
kettlebells flippantly;
any type of
strength training can be dangerous if you use
bad judgment. As for the age, at the
1995 Russian Championship the youngest
contestant was 16, the oldest 53! And we are
talking elite competition here; the range is
even wider if you are training for yourself
rather than for the gold.
What
kettlebell size is right for me?
RussianKettlebell.com
offers 9, 18, 26, 35, 53, 70, and 88-pound
kettlebells, designed in Russia and made with
pride in the USA. Kettlebells were designed to
give you a super workout with just one or two
fixed weights. An average man should start with
a 35-pounder. It does not sound like a lot but
believe it; it feels a lot heavier than it
should! Most men will eventually progress to a
53-pounder, the standard issue size in the
Russian military. Although available in most
units, 70-pounders are used only by few advanced
guys and in elite competitions. 88-pounders are
for mutants. An average woman should start with
an 18-pounder. A strong woman can go for a
26-pounder. A few hard women will go
beyond.
Where
can I buy a kettlebell and how do I learn how to
use it?
Call
(800) 899-5111
or go to
RussianKettlebell.com.
Learn the drills from Pavel’s Russian
Kettlebell Challenge: Xtreme Fitness for Hard
Living Comrades book and video. Women will
prefer his other kettlebell program, From
Russia with Tough Love: Pavel’s Kettlebell
Workout for a Femme Fatale.
Contact your local certified kettlebell
instructor for workshops and personal training:
The Training Room RKC's: Mike Stehle, Jim
Milkowski, Greg Killian.
Phone: (732)988-1555, email:
thetrainingroom@optonline.net.
Power to you!
Russiankettlebell.com
When we say ‘strength’ we mean
‘kettlebell.’
When we say ‘kettlebell’ we mean
‘strength.’
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