Kettle bells – Their application in sport – part
II
In the last article I briefly explained that if you where training
to improve power for your chosen sport and you trained in the traditional
bodybuilding method you would get bigger, stronger and probably less
powerful. In this article I will explain why that is the case.
Don’t try and train hard and heavy to exhaustion all the time.
Periodize your weight training to match your competitive season. If
your season is a long one you should have reached maximum power just
before it starts and then try to maintain that power throughout the
season. There are some excellent books on designing periodization
programs. One author that springs to mind is Tudor O. Bompa. Just
apply the principles to KB training.
Don’t try and do marathon-training sessions.
Excessive workouts with lots of sets, reps, forced reps, drop sets,
training to failure all build muscle mass but do little to improve
athletic performance. The maximum amount of time that should be spent
in the gym is about 60 mins. After that all the anabolic hormones
start to decline rapidly. So get in the gym, do your session and get
out again, no mucking about.
Don’t try and train through injury.
I see and hear this a lot especially from lads training their egos
and not their muscles. Remember you are training with weights to improve
your performance, not hinder it.
Always use excellent technique.
This one relates to the one above somewhat, i.e. use good technique
and reduce the chances of injury in the first place. If you have an
injury, get it sorted out by a trained therapist, someone who is involved
in sport themselves. I know because when I was young and foolish I
trained through injury hoping it would go away and all that generally
happens is that it goes from an acute injury that might have taken
a few weeks to heal to a chronic one that if your lucky lasts months
and if unlucky resurfaces for a few years.
Using poor technique and too much weight teaches your body to recruit
muscles with incorrect firing sequences; muscles become tight and
facilitated, developing severe tenderness areas called trigger points.
When that happens the body does not function properly and when you
ask it to perform optimally on the playing field it can’t.
Train for speed.
If you train using techniques I have highlighted above you will become
bigger and stronger but it will not produce a functionally more powerful
athlete. Speed is what you want and to do that you need to work on
producing the maximum amount of contractile force per pound of muscle
mass, i.e. as much force in relation to your muscle size.
To do that you need to use large compound exercises, keep the reps
relatively low and have rest periods between 3&5 minutes. Ideal
exercises would be squats, KB front squats, deadlifts, KB snatches,
cleans and clean and jerks.
Under no circumstances should you jump straight into these exercises
at near maximal weights unless you have experience, correct core function
and good postural alignment. If you don’t, find someone to show
you the exercises and assess both your core function and posture.
