The Best Functional Kettlebell Exercises | Kettlebell Programming 2021
Hey guys, my name is Kaleena Ruskin, I’m a senior movement specialist and fitness coach here at Gymnazo. Today, I’m going to go over how we like to use a kettlebell within our functional fitness programs. I’m going to show you how to intentionally use it within your own workout programs at home. One of the most important things that we like to start with when building a program is focusing on our intention, what is our goal? Is our goal just an overall great full body workout? Is it upper body based? Is it lower body based, again, or are we looking for that whole body experience there. The second thing we want to think about when we’re programming is what weight we want to use, maybe we don’t have a huge variety. So if we’re doing a total body workout where we have some variety between upper body core and lower body, you’re probably going to need a moderate weight, something that you’re going to be able to manage and put overhead swing, clean snatch all those common kettlebell or signature kettlebell moves that we’d like to go through. So I’ve got a couple different varieties here, a couple of different weights. One is a 10 kilogram and one is a 16 kilo gram, I have those weights against that I can play with different weights and different loads, depending on the type of exercise that I’m looking to perform. Some common things that we see with kettlebell usage can be wear and tear on the wrist and wear and tear on the shoulder. So there are a couple things you want to be mindful of when you’re going through that, aside from selecting the correct weight is warming up those shoulders in those wrists. One of the great ways to warm up the shoulders and wrists for these activities to actually take you into a prone position to get some wrist flexion and wrist mobility, as we go through this, I’m going to show you quick way to warm up your wrists and shoulders very basic in a prone position, I’m gonna take it prone. And I’m just gonna do a little weight shift to shift that weight forward so that my hands conform, they get a little bit of wrist flexion and then drive the weight back into my toe. So doing that little forward and back drive just to get a little dexterity going. And then I’m going to do a little lateral weight shift. So now I get a little bit of shoulder work in again, little bit of wrist work. And then I can take it in our transverse plane, we just taking into rotation, got to make a circle with that belly button a couple times one way, and then take it into a circle a couple times the other way there, then you could do that for your prescribed number of reps, whether it’s 10, each 20 each, whatever you need to do to get the shoulders warmed up. But that’s a great way just to start with some simple mobility for the shoulders, and for the wrists, and hitting a little bit of both at the same time. Again, we want to start with a manageable weight, something that you’re going to be successful with something that your clients going to be successful with. We like to refer to this as the horn or the handle grabbing onto that. And then we kind of got the bell area. This is actually competition kettlebell which are awesome. They’re hollowed out in the middle. So they’re a little bit more balanced as far as weight distribution goes within the weight modality here. Now, when we do our applied functional science programming, we think of how we can best use a kettlebell, we don’t always use it in a traditional mindset. We understand human biomechanics and how the body likes to function, whether walking or in sports, and we utilize a kettlebell like any other weight modality, we’re not restricted to doing strict overhead presses, or strict cleans or strict swings on this, we can use it however we see fit functionally in life. Sometimes we’re off kilter, or we’re unilaterally balanced are holding on to something, whether it’s a car seat, a grocery bag or a suitcase, we’re tend to be flex because we’re off balance or offloaded here. So we love to do a little off balance loading, it’s more challenging for the core and more challenging for the system. proprioceptive Lee to understand it control,
which will yield you actually better results than if you’re always constantly going with a symmetrical load system to this. So again, more functional for us is to go a little offset loading here. And that’s why we program that into multiple exercises. If you are new, or your client is new with a kettlebell, this can be a little bit awkward. So get them comfortable with something that’s even lighter than this where they feel comfortable doing basic simple exercises, just to get them used to the feel and the weight distribution of the kettlebell. Again, whether it’s a row with two hands, whether it’s a Single Arm Row, whether it’s a swing, get them comfortable with those weight modalities for this new weight modality. Establishing good mobility and stability through the shoulder, wrists and core is going to be essential for you and your clients to be successful in their workout programs as you build these forever they are looking to do and you know, when we think exercises and how to build a good program, if your sport is basketball, if your sport is soccer, if your sport is kayaking, if it’s trail running, if it’s just getting up and down the stairs with your kids, your sports and your exercises should look smell and feel very similar in our functional science approach and our functional programming methodology. They should feel the same. It shouldn’t feel too different. Okay, functionally, we want to be able to perform better outside the gym and we need to recreate and replicate some of those motions within the gym. Obviously this is just a much more controlled setting. I’m going to show you four exercises, how to From a traditional kettlebell exercise that you can utilize in your own programs, or then kind of take those ideas and run with them into how to build a better program for you and a better program for your clients outside of that, one of the very typical things and first exercises we see is a squat, a traditional squat, feet neutral, bilateral loading, very simple, very easy, we can take a kettlebell, we can flip it and hold it at chest by the horn, and we can rock through those squats, you can take it, drop it down for a traditional, what we call sumo squats, kind of those wide feet dropping it down, we’re going to show you tweak where you actually have an offset load. And we’re going into that squat. Again, like I said earlier, suitcase, groceries, baby carrier offset loading, you’re imbalanced, we’re actually kind of flex to one side, if we train those motions, with intention and integrity, you’re much less likely to get injured when doing them in your day to day life. So if I have my nice posture, my nice upright position, good grip on that horn,
I can drop into a squat, narrow feet, and I can actually lean into that get a little touch, pop back up on that one. Now I’m challenging, get a little bit of that unilateral loading, as it popped back into it, there’s also actually give me a great little core load on this opposite side. So now my core has helped pull me back up and lengthen and then shorten to pull me back up and give me the extra course stability. Now if you want to start with something a little bit more traditional, you can go just straight into that little lateral loads, if you want to get your end range of motion, you’re going to have to go into a little bit of a tilt. Other option is to grab a second kettlebell, hold it on your other side. And now we’ve got an offset bilateral loading. So if I have two different weights, if I’m carrying two suitcases, not going always going to be perfectly symmetrical, it’s a great way to challenge a little stability, I can also take my feet wide and add a little tweak tweaking your foot position tweaks the reaction that you get to those lower extremity muscles and tweaks the reaction that you get at your hips, squat into that little bit of that load. Now, even more unilateral loading on my hip will challenging that hip challenging that core to pop in and pop out of that motion safely and efficiently. Obviously, switch sides and hit both of those right there. Let’s our kind of first way to add in a little bit extra first exercise that we’re going to take is a traditional squat. Now you can take this traditional squat at chest with that horn, the kettlebell and sink into it, pop it up nice and tall. But like we said earlier, if we’re functionally offloading, we can bring that weight over to the side, right, I might squat down, keeping that spine nice and tall, feeling very central in that very evenly loaded, or now as I build my confidence, I can start to have a little bit of a lean, right, when I go to set something down, I lean into it, it’s easier that way, it’s more efficient for the body. And if I can do that intentionally, and I can do that controlled, I’m much less likely to hurt myself or injure myself or my clients as I go through that. But again, it has to be done with intention and integrity, before we start adding speed or more load to that. Another good option if you want to tweak this up or add a combined motion to it that might be more functional is a row, when you pick something up off the ground. Sometimes you got to lift it up, maybe you’re lifting that suitcase into the car those groceries into the car, adding a nice powerful row into that as we go through that if you want to add a little bit more traditional, or make this a little bit more full body now I’m adding an upper body and lower body as I combine that I can even tweak this to go wide feet squat into that. Now I’m getting even more of that offset load and more loading into one hip and to one side, they’re a little bit more imbalance. tweaking your feet will tweak how those lower extremity muscles are used. And we’ll tweak how that hip loads giving you a lot of variety, more 3d functional movement as you go through this. Our second exercise to tweak a deadlift. deadlift is one of my favorite activities is a great way to train that posterior chain. Calves, hamstrings, glutes, everybody loves a good old fashioned deadlift, especially with adding some load to it. That deadlift, that little hip hinge and pop back up. Little hip hinge popped back up but that pelvis tilt, that rotation is going to encourage those hamstrings to lengthen those glutes to lengthen and then pull us back for as we go through that. To make this even more functional or to make it more relative to our day to day life. We’re going to tweak this with gait in mind with walking, we walk everywhere your clients are going to walk into your facility, they’re going to walk out of your facility, train them to be better and walking, train them to be better and running. It’s very foundational, global movement for us. As I step forward, I’m getting a lengthening of that posterior chain on my front leg, that calf, hamstring glute are all lengthening to pull me into that next space of my step right there. So how can we replicate that into a traditional deadlift, start in the same foot position? Traditional deadlift will stack your feet together. We’re going to go with our untraditional deadlift or our more functional deadlift and split our feet into a little split stance here. So I’ve got one foot forward, I’m going to make it a little bit more unilaterally loaded For my clients who are myself, when I want a little bit harder, a little bit easier to go to hands on to have more support, but I’m going to go that offset load where I’m going after my left leg and that right shoulder. Now as I go into that deadlift, I can even pick this back heel up. So I’m immediately putting more emphasis on that front load. But by starting in that staggered position, now I’ve already created more tension and more loading in that posterior chain much more. So even than if I started with my feet together, I actually have to get into less flexion from the hip in order to get that same loading result as if my feet were together. So I’m immediately challenging my tissues more by putting more strain on them. And again, this is going to be good up tweak for those clients who are ready to get into better, faster running faster sprinting, better overall athletes. To tweak this up a step more,
we can add an additional power to it by coming up when we walk, we have to step and then pull ourselves through. So if I am in my split stance, and I go into that deadlift, I can actually power up to a single leg balance. Now that hamstring is having to load and my body has to transition now that anterior hip has to pull me through. So now I’m getting a full body strength, stability, power exercise, as I go through that right there. It’s a great alternative of functional alternative to your traditional deadlift, or third activity, we’re going to take a good old overhead press. Traditionally, we like to hold maybe two hands and go with an overhead press. Or typically with a kettlebell, you’ll see a relaxed grip around the handle and nice strict overhead press. We know most day to day life, I’m emptying the dishwasher, I’m loading and rotation and then putting dishes away and rotation, we tend to get hurt doing the simplest things like doing something light and easy. And our bodies would get hurt because we’re not used to that range of motion with that load. But again, if you train it, and if you mirror what you do in the gym with what you do in real life, you’re much less likely to injure yourself train the motion to train the game. So taking an overhead press and making it a little more challenging, especially as we get into that holiday season, we got pull boxes up and down out of the attic, grabbing onto that weight modality some of those decorations aren’t even in boxes. So when we grab onto that handle, we’re going to do a little rotational overhead press where I turn my chest and go my little overhead press. Now, this is tough because again, that weight isn’t completely evenly distributed by my hands. And I have to really work with that modality move to not wobble wobble as I go through that. So I’m getting a little proprioceptive stability control through the shoulders through the core, and through the hands, say you want to add a little bit more to it. I used the dishwasher example earlier, reaching down, coming on up, give them that little press, we can go a little diagonal core from load, curl, overhead press. Now I’ve turned my overhead press activity into a full body squat, curl, overhead press activity, adding some functionality by adding a little extra movement or a little extra plane of motion. Great way to functionally tweak, just a traditional overhead press. Exercise number four athletes move we change direction constantly, you play any sort of ball sports, you’re moving forward, you’re moving laterally, you’re moving in rotation. So how can we mirror that or train that kind of instability and stability with a kettlebell? Great, great options for this, this is a super advanced move for how you can tweak this into your own program is totally up to you on that one, we’re going to go with a couple different ways to load the system. Whether you’re loading the shoulder or the hip, or the whole body has a couple different ways, we’re going to do a load with an overhead press, we’re gonna do a load with lateral reach, or we’re gonna do a load at shoulder just by tweaking where that modality is, again, your shoulder, core and hip have to react differently. And all three of those loads. At the same time, we’re going to go through loading the hip in three different ways with an anterior load, a lateral load, and a transverse plane load. And I’m going to do that all traveling as I go through this. I’m going to take that weight. I’m going to start with an anterior lunge and an overhead press. Now it doesn’t matter which side you start on, because we’re going to do both. Anyway, as I lunge forward with my left, I’m going to take that into an overhead press a lot of stability control, this is where it becomes important to make sure that you are your client is using the correct weight modality. I’m going to bring this down, I’m going to go straight to a lateral lunch. There’s my travel, there’s my transition for my athletes. I’m gonna transition through this straight into a transverse plane lunch and bringing that way at shoulder. Now from here, I start all over again, anterior lunge, lateral lunge, transverse plane lunch. Now I’ve come back to my original start position there. So I just tweaked the hip in three planes of motion with three different loads for the hip, three different loads for the core. And again, I’m Doing this slow and controlled. You can do this with a lighter weight and go faster. You can do this with a heavier weight and go slower, but challenging the hip in three planes of motion with three different loads, challenging the shoulder in three different planes of motion with three different loads with functional way to tweak your lunges, and your loads. For athletes with a travel team, no matter what your sport is, your training and your exercises should look feel and smell like whatever you’re training for. That’s how you really get the most intentional use out of a kettlebell or any weight modality within your own functional fitness programs. Thanks for tuning in. And please like and subscribe to stay up to date on our newest videos.
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