Knowing the Difference Between Pushing it and Pushing it too Far
The old saying about “no pain, no gain” may have some truth in it when it comes to getting results with training, but there’s pain and then there’s pain.
Serious discomfort is something that must be suffered at least every now and again to really reap the fruits of your training labour, however there is a big difference between being so uncomfortable that you’d do just about anything to stop and causing yourself injury or illness through training. The latter is something that should be avoided at all costs, and it’s something that athletes strive to minimise the risk of in their training because injury and illness equal time off training, which equals decreased performance overall.
An injury in training can mean the difference between competing and being a champion and not even making it to the comp.
BS in the Media Leading us Astray
Unfortunately, shows like The Biggest Loser have perpetuated this idea that you need to push yourself to your absolute limits in order to be seen as “hard” and to get superhuman results. This is part of the reason half of the contestants on the show push through to the point of injury, some of them sustaining injuries that will mar their physical performance for the rest of their lives. This is beyond stupid, a short term gain is never worth such a long term impairment.
Lesson Learnt: Training Smart
Once, because I was indoctrinated with the idea that just going harder, faster and longer was all that mattered and you were a “pussy” if you ever stopped short of what you set out to do, I too thought that training was just about giving it your all, all of the time.
Then I got a little older and a little wiser and I crossed over from being a recreational exerciser just wanting to be insanely fit (and a little bit tough) to what can be described as an athlete. This was when I began to learn that hard work is certainly a requirement for achieving those relatively high goals I set myself, but that training smart is what will really take you from being a mediocre workhorse to being a respectable athlete.
This World Record is the result of years of very smart training.
Training Smart Should be Embraced by Everyone
While I learnt the training smart lesson from the pursuit of athletic prowess, it’s a lesson I wish someone had taught me even when I was just training for “fun”. It’s a lesson that is applicable to absolutely anyone who does any form of physical exercise and wants to get the most out of it. It’s a simple concept, but frightening how many people overlook it (including plenty of personal trainers and coaches out there) simply because no one has spelt it out clearly enough.
This is what happens when you don't progress smartly...
Smart Progressions: an Integral Part of Training Smart
One thing I have learnt (the hard way) in my sport, kettlebell (Girevoy) sport, is that getting impatient and picking up the next weight before having thoroughly mastered the current one is a really good way of sabotaging your training. This becomes more true the heavier the weight, and it’s a principle that can be applied to any form of weight training.
Andy actually does the vast majority of his training with lighter kettlebells and only attempts the really heavy ones at a comp or when attempting a record.
Mastering a weight not only means being able to perform a desired number of reps with it (for something like Olympic lifting or power lifting that may only be one rep, with kettlebell sport it might be more in the vicinity of 150 reps), it means perfecting your technique with that weight. If you crank out one crappy, round-backed deadlift with 220kg you have not yet mastered that weight.
This guy's a long way from mastery!
Connective Tissue, Nerves and Smaller Bones: Don’t Just Think About Your Muscles
One of the reasons it’s so important to master a weight thoroughly before progressing is that it gives your whole body time to adapt and ensures good neural patterning. Smaller bones and connective tissue may take much longer than larger muscles to adapt to a training load, and moving up too quickly can result in damage that can take a very long time to correct – it’s just not worth it.
Smart Progressions: Especially Important with Kettlebells
In Australia, the majority of kettlebells go up in 4kg increments and for the most part kettlebells are used single handedly (as in one kettlebell per hand, rather than two hands on one kettlebell). This means that progressing with the weight means loading up one hand with 4kg extra, or if you’re doing doubles two hands with 8kg extra. These are HUGE leaps. Combine this with the fact that kettlebells are grip intensive and often come in contact with the small bones of your forearms, moving up with the weight too quickly is asking for injury.
Professional kettlebell athletes start with light weights, men with 16kg and women with 8kg. It is smart progressions over time that allow them to perform amazing feats with the heavier weights.
The hands, wrists, connective tissue in the elbow, bones of the forearm and even the shoulder stabilisers are always going to take the longest to adapt. So while your legs and back, which are often the prime movers in kettlebell lifts, particularly the ballistic lifts, might be ready for the challenge of an extra 4kg, you need to be sure that the rest of your body is.
This guy's not ready for this weight, look at what's happening to his wrist overhead, it's an injury waiting to happen.
And what happens if you ignore the niggling pain in your forearms or that funny thing in your wrist that doesn’t feel quite right or the burning sensation in your elbow joint? Well, all of these things have the potential to graduate to something serious such as stress fractures or tendinitis, both of which can be extremely hard to get rid of. Then you’re having time off training or having to completely modify your training around your injuries – no one wants that.
Some Tips for Smart Progressions with Kettlebells
So here are some basic tips that will help you train smart with your kettlebells and progress in a safe way, that will benefit your training in the long run:
• Ensure your technique is perfect with the weight you are currently using before moving up to the next weight.
• Perform assistance exercises to prepare your body for the next weight up, for example for kettlebell snatches, you can perform heavier jerks (4-8kg heavier than the weight that you intend to move up to) to help prepare your shoulders, hands and forearms. Heavy one arm swings are a good assistance exercise for a lot of other kettlebell lifts.
• Introduce the new, heavier weight in small doses – don’t start training exclusively with the heavier weight when you’re ready to move up, maybe start doing one session a week with it, the gradually increase this to two, then three to give your body time to adapt.
Bonnie's shoulders and hands can certainly handle 20kg or 24kg snatches if she can jerk the 36kg like that!
So...
Progressing is obviously the ultimate goal of any training, and with weight training this often means moving onto a heavier weight. With your kettlebell training, keep long term goals in mind and prioritise the longevity of your training over any short term satisfaction that getting a PB or lifting heavy might get you if it’s at the expense of your health.
Happy training!
By Emily Friedel, Australia's first Master of Sport, World Champion in Kettlebell Sport
Thanks!
Jim