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"What if, some day or night, a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence - even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!' Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.'"
— Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, with a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
My blog is about words, in all their permutations. Some common themes are literature, books, girls reading books, milk, anthropology, mythology, kettlebells, rowing, strength training, pin-up girls, ancient ephemera, the human condition, and assorted things that happen to me in the course of the day. It's not as quick and dirty as most things on tumblr, but rather more long-form in nature. As for me, I like my martinis dirty, my water clean, and my food with extra bacon. I was self-employed for a while, but I didn't pay myself very well, so I ended up quitting that gig. I think I came out about even though. I am attempting to write, about the interplay between mythos, logos, and modern life (note the Oxford comma). I follow an evolutionary nutritional paradigm based on the writings of Weston Price, and I train primarily with hardstyle kettlebells. Also, I run with my dog (a sweetheart pit bull) in and around the urban decay of central New Orleans, when she lets me catch up with her, that is.
Please check out my other blog: Fuck Yeah Athletic Girls!
Here are some links that relate to strength training and evolutionary health:
Weston Price Foundation
Ancestral Health Society
Real Milk
Dragon Door
Gym Jones
Whole Health Source
Animal Pharm
Primal Body Primal Mind
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Kettlebell notes for the future.
First of all: one pood is equal to 40 funt (Russian pounds), or 16.something kilograms, or 36.whatever pounds. I have an entirely aesthetic desire to only use kettlebells measured in poods and half-poods.
The Dragon Door forums have a brief text instructional on the KB clean.
Catalyst Athletics makes me think that my hip complex work could be well served by some swings:
The point of the KB swing is the explosive snap of the hips.
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With a focus on this hip action, the KB will rise to chest or chin height easily with no work from the arms and shoulders. Again, this is the point - you shouldn’t be muscling the bell up with your arms.
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I have two basic concerns regarding the overhead swing. The first is for the safety of both the swinger and those around him or her…. My second concern is simply that often people get caught up in the effort to bring the bell overhead and their hip snap disappears. Instead we get a slow, soft hump with a big upper body effort. I’ll say it again - this really defeats the purpose of the swing.
Squatting into the swing diminishes the role of the powerful glutes and the entire posterior chain by the over use of the quads. Powerful glute activation through proper hip hinging is the very foundation of ground based speed and power and it is also the driving force for the proper execution of the ketttlebell clean and the kettlebell snatch. Without it, those lifts will remain an enigma and continue to be a constant source of disappointment.
The squat swing is the most common kettlebell lifting mistake and one of the most difficult to correct once the pattern has developed.
(Disclaimer: I have much love for CrossFitters.) CrossFit HQ does a different kettlebell swing that might cause injury and might encourage people to lose the hip snap that’s the entire point of the exercise. Lots of CrossFitters don’t do the HQ version.
Steve Kotter, kettlebeller par excellence:
The best martial artists are athletes. Improved athleticism increases physical abilities in all forms of movement. To become a better martial artist, become a better athlete.
And in an interview on fcfighter.com:
…if we look at the different strength and conditioning attributes of a well-rounded fighter, he needs to develop strength, conditioning, power, coordination and balance, and agility. Kettlebell training develops all of these qualities to varying degrees.
If the fighter is very fast and flexible, but is not strong and can be easily tossed about in grappling, then the basic barbell power lifts would be prescribed – movements like deadlift and squatting and a heavy press.
On the other hand, a strong fighter who lacks fitness or general conditioning will need to include some GPP training (General Physical Preparedness), such as circuit training.
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This is the specialization of kettlebell lifting – to work these attributes all together with one tool and one system, if it is a well-designed program.
Musashi tells us that “from one thing, know ten thousand things.” Investigating the kettlebell has led to me re-evaluating not my strength program, but rather my entire approach to hojo undo (supplementary training). I have been focusing on strength and largely ignoring other aspects of fitness. Now I have a good mind to do some power and endurance work, or perhaps some complexes. Kettlebell Olympic lifts would be a nice way to get in some power work before I get to my desired level of strength for the barbell Olympic lifts.
I guess now I just have to find some kettlebells to play with.
Notes
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rodriquezjk83 liked this
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fearofblankpaper reblogged this from bannerword
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liverpunch liked this
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bannerword reblogged this from davetrains
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secondnaturefitness said:
I have much to say on this. Chip (of Bodytribe) has even more.
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secondnaturefitness liked this
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paleochallenge said:
Can you summarize the consensus in 10 words or less so I can get back to swinging kettlebells? :) Seriously, though, thanks for posting this info. I used to do it the Russian way, then I read the CrossFit article and switched. Now … just confused!
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davetrains posted this
