Thursday, August 10, 2006

The Swing

About a week ago I picked up my 32kg kettlebell for the first time in months. Since then I've been training every other day, doing about 50 swings each time with this KB and then doing a few other exercises with my 16kg KB. Today, feeling stiff and sore from the autumnal weather, I hadn't planned on doing anything at all; but late in the afternoon I changed my mind.

The 50 swings winded me but I still felt pretty strong at the end of it so, still with the 32kg KB, I decided to try some cleans. A few sets of 5 followed- and I was surprised by how capable I felt; the 32kg is heavy. With this done I still felt strong so I attempted a clean and jerk- the KB went up no problem. Not wanting to push my luck I stuck with sets of just 1- swapping hands as I went. In the end I lost count of how many I was able to do- and I only stopped because time was pressing.

I finished off with a quick couple of sets of one handed swings- feeling my grip start to weaken towards the end of each one.

The moral of the story? Swings are the number one way to increase your strength with kettlebells. Stronger legs, back and arms from a single exercise that improves your performance in other exercises. Awesome.

I may not look it, but I certainly feel like this right now.

No comments: