Kettlebell Simple & Sinister

by Pavel Tsatsouline

If a kettlebell were a person, it would be the type of a guy you would want [on your side] in an alley fight. —Glenn Buechlein, powerlifter

The kettlebell is an ancient Russian weapon against weakness.

Called girya in Russian, this cannonball with a handle has been making better men and women for over 300 years. In imperial Russia, “kettlebell” was synonymous with “strength.” A strongman or weightlifter was called a girevik or a “kettlebell man.” Strong ladies were girevichkas or “kettlebell women.”

“Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as kettlebell athletics,” reported Russian magazine Hercules in 1913.

Kettlebells are compact, inexpensive, virtually indestructible, and can be used anywhere. The unique nature of kettlebell lifts provides a powerful training effect with a relatively light weight, and you can replace an entire gym with a couple of kettlebells. Dan John, Master SFG[1] and a highly accomplished power athlete, famously quipped, “With this kettlebell in my bedroom I can prepare myself for the Nationals.”

Since I introduced the Russian kettlebell to the West in 1998, it has become a mainstay in the training of champions in sports ranging from powerlifting to MMA to triathlon. Elite special operations units have made the kettlebell an integral part of their training. They have discovered that kettlebells deliver extreme all-around fitness—and no single other tool does it better.

Experience and science agree that kettlebell training develops a wide range of attributes: strength and power, various types of endurance, muscle hypertrophy, fat loss, health, and more. The kettlebell swing has been known to improve the deadlift of elite powerlifters—and the running times of high-level long distance runners. This is what...

Earle Liederman observed back in 1925, “What is endurance except continued strength?”

Amen

In Ivanov’s experience, 100 repetitions per movement hit the spot—and these must be done daily. I concur.

A minimum of 100 kettlebell swings every day for the rest of my life. No, not all at once. Do it!

Five get-up singles per side keep the muscles under tension for as long as 5x8 benches. This is no walk in the park.

Kettlebell Turkish get-ups are intimidating. Only 10x/day, 5x/side. Do you do them?

Simplify, simplify. —Henry David Thoreau One “simplify” would have sufficed. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, in response

Brilliant