Grassroots Kettlebell Club
Sundays 9am-10AM
Starting October 5th
Grassroots Kettlebell Club is a weekly class that will incorporate body weight movements, running and rowing with kettlebell movements. The program will benefit existing CrossFit athletes looking to get more practice with kettlebells or anyone looking to add some variety to their training. The class is free to members of Grassroots CrossFit and is open to non-members based on sliding scale donations. All experience levels are welcome. Workouts are always scalable based on your fitness level, injuries and other limitations. Classes will include a warm-up and movement preparation with an emphasis on shoulder and hips, a skill/technique portion where we will learn, practice and refine our kettlebell techniques including basic single and double kettlebell sport movements like the swing (hard and soft style), clean, jerk, and snatch as well as additional kettlebell strength movements such as the Turkish Get-Up, windmills, farmer carries, bottom-up clean and press and the occasional field trip to a park to practice kettlebell flips and partner tosses.
Power/Endurance Training
Kettlebells are a great tool for training our capacity to generate power from our legs and hips. This skill transfers to many of the foundational athletic movements performed by every athlete. Unlike Olympic weightlifting or power lifting where the goal is to lift a maximal load for with a low volume of repetitions, with kettlebells—either fitness style or in kettlebell sport—we lift a submaximal load for a high volume of repetitions. Kettlebell sport, for example, can be thought of as endurance Olympic weightlifting with kettlebells. Like weightlifting, the basic kettlebell lifts are technical and require a lot of practice to achieve proficiency. While Kettlebell Club isn’t a kettlebell sport program, we will spend a lot of time practicing the basic kettlebell sport movements during the skill/technique portion of the class. When we lift sub-maximal loads, in the short term we can compensate for inefficient technique with strength. Our inefficient technique may not be a factor if we only have to do 20 snatches but in a 5 or 10-minute snatch test, those inefficiencies in our swing, transfer, or overhead position add up quickly
and undermine or ability to do more work.
Healthy Shoulders
Kettlebells are a great tool for increasing stability and mobility in our shoulders. They are harder to stabilize a barbell. They reveal our strength imbalances and force our rotator cuff muscles to work harder to steady the bell. Movements like the Get Up, arm bar and windmills also force us to stabilize the weight through a wide range of motion The class will include exercises to prepare and strengthen your shoulders to help prevent injuries and provide you with additional tools to add to your practice throughout the week.
Practice Makes Permanent
If your goal is to improve your kettlebell skills, you will get the most benefit from regular attendance—infrequent practice leads to infrequent progress—but you can still expect to get a good work out and extra kettlebell practice, even if you drop in only on occasion. This is also an opportunity to introduce your friends to what we do. New comers can expect a lot of scaling and movement substitution, but experienced athletes around them will continue with their progressions and practice. You have to be competent at the swing to learn the clean, and competent at the clean to learn the snatch. And you shouldn’t be snatching a weight that you can’t safely do a Get Up with.
Get your WOD on!
We know you like your WOD. If you are looking for a pre-programmed workout on Sundays, Kettlebell Club ends with a conditioning finisher that will be familiar CrossFitters—constantly varied, high intensity but always with at least one kettlebell movement. Come and check out a class! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at roy.san@gmail.com.
