When you go to your local gym, and see all the meatheads lifting things up and putting them down,
you probably see weights resembling the following.
...via Life Fitness
Or, if you're from a slightly different era, you might be more familiar with these kinds of weights.
...via Hickok Sports
Yet, nothing compares to the Russian designed kettlebell.
Now, when I think of Russian exercise, I'm more inclined to think of Ivan Drago,
but obviously something isn't quite right with his training regimen. (And that
would be that he's not wearing star-spangle-bannered shorts, of course!)
Praise has been heaped upon the largely-ignored kettlebells.
These weights are shaped like cannonballs with handles, but offer significant
improvements compared to dumbbells. Their cast iron design is used to perform
ballistic exercises, and is weighed by pood. (No, really. That's a unit of
measure.) A pood is roughly equivalent to 35 lbs or 16 kg.
Pictured: A man taking poods to his pood...via Locaronboy
Ballistic training sounds awesome, but unfortunately doesn't
live up to its name. It's the form of explosive strength training characterized
by fast accelerations lifts, with little or no eccentric contraction. This is
helpful for building fast twitch muscle, which is responsible for short bursts
of strength or energy, such as sprinting or swinging a baseball bat. Fast
twitch muscles do not add the same bulk as other muscles composed of different
fiber types.
This type of training is particularly important to soldiers,
and kettlebells have seen a resurgence in popularity for military training.
With an emphasis on repetition, soldiers are able to maintain their speed and
agility, while also gaining strength. With an integrated handle, these weights
are easier to move as well.
The Soviet training regimen
Much of their usefulness comes from the fact that the mass
of the weight is beyond the handle. This helps facilitate swinging movements
along with a quick release of the weight. However, they're far from the only
type of strength training equipment with an unbalanced load…
You're probably more familiar with Indian clubs for the
following.
No, not the tall crossdressers! The juggling clubs! ...via Photobucket
And, if you even have the opportunity to see something akin,
I would very much recommend it.
You might be surprised to learn that the staple of the juggling
routine, the juggling club, is a type of Indian club which was a popular form of
exercise from the Victorian era until the 1930s. They were introduced to
British soldiers who were stationed in India, but needed a way to maintain
their physique in their remote deployment. The juggling/exercise combination was
a good way to maintain agility and balance while developing explosive power.
...via Wikimedia
The Indian club can be used alone, like so,
but can also be used in pairs or in groups, which will resemble a tandem
juggling act. Just like the kettlebells, these weights use an extended load,
rather than a balanced one, to create quick and flexible muscle movements.
There is a similar concept for martial arts training, as
karate practitioners have long used chi ishi and ishi sashi to cultivate lean
muscle. Watch a sensei use unbalanced weights to enhance his striking power.
Chi Ishi...via Bushi Fitness
This isn't a conviction of training with dumbbells however.
Dumbbell training is always better than no training; it can always be
supplemented with flexibility exercises like yoga (the training method of your
author). But dumbbells do not account for muscle flexibility or speed. They're
great if you want to look like Jay Cutler, or get ripped for the beach this
summer, but if you're training for a specific sport it's a good idea to
incorporate exercises which will translate your movements into application.
Resources
Wikipedia - Kettlebell; Ballistic training
Club Swinging
Shorin-Ryu Karate of Williamsburg - Hojo Undo
Vizard, Frank, and Robert Lipsyte. Why a Curveball Curves. ; The Incredible Science of Sports. 2009. Print.
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