Tonight's Class, Poods, and Elvis

And with that exciting and informative title, we're off! We had a great class tonight, performing a modified "Helen" (RX'ed = 3 rds. for time of 400m run, 21x KB Swings, 12 pull-ups). With fourteen athletes going at it, it was quite an energetic trip. If you like things a little less hectic, come give the morning classes a go (M/W 6AM) or the Tuesday and Thursday 6:30 PM classes, as they tend to have less people. We had one first-timer, Vicky, who kept at it quite resiliently - her naturally good technique impressed us. It was also great to see a Jason back as well, even after the brutal overhead squatting we put him through yesterday. Overall, everyone kept the intensity level high. If still you're wondering what went the heck to do with that enhandled cannonball we call the kettlebell, however, read on.

Let's stick with the Russian swing, the one that peaks at shoulder height before descending back down to less lofty levels. If you're going to take-home just one lesson, let it be that the KB swing is an explosive, hip movement. "Van, why are both of those words in italics? Italics are supposed to emphasize, and isn't it sort of lame and overdone to emphasize two words right next to each other, right?" Wrong. There are secretly two take-home lessons because they are both that important. To the dance floor:

Breakin' It Down

• Explosive - While the name "swing" may give the impression of a nice lazily looping arc. that sort of swingset physics has nothing to do with what we want to accomplish. The KB ought to rocket out of the down position, accelerating the most at the very start and then slowing down naturally as it peaks. Think sprinter out of blocks, Camaro on green, cannonball out of muzzle, stone from broom, whatever analogy, curling or otherwise, that gets you in an explosive mindset. But whence comes such impetuous force?
• Hips - Maybe you can do an explosive shoulder raise. I might even be impressed if you can, mostly because it would look utterly untoward, and because I'm sure I can't do one. Fact is, I don't even care to try because I've got my hips, which are where basically all athletic mechanical potential comes from. So when you swing a kettlebell, your glutes fire in a big way and your hips extend open (extension occurs when the angle of a joint increases, flexion when the angle decreases). If you're observant, you'll recognize that this aggressive opening of the hips is similar to the aggressive opening of the hips with the high power clean we've been working on.
  

Ultimately, only the hips can get the KB to the proper height, especially as weight goes up, while only an explosion can get the relatively small hip movement to move the KB all that distance, again, especially as the weight goes up (thought it's not all about weight, since swinging around ordnance on a handle at maximum loads is less the point than training the body to transfer force from the hips to the upper body). Notice how the explosiveness can't really happen without the hips, and the hips can't really get involved to their full potential without explosiveness. I said there would only be one take-home lesson, and I didn't lie - the two italicized elements go hand-in-hand, and no amount of chainsaw will change that. Except when I was lying about lying - I was actually lying then. Whatever. The important thing is that while there are tons of little bits I could go on about for ages (locking out the arms, lowering the hips though not too far, swinging so the KB just clears the groin, etc.), the real movement occurs with a dynamic pelvic thrust. Just don't tell Elvis his moves have been appropriated for fitness purposes.