Order does matter. Few Words on Kettlebell Training and Choice of Exercises.
Posted on | September 20, 2008 | 2 Comments
There is a screaming jungle of kettlebell exercises to choose from. Which ones should you choose?
Snatches? Swings? May be kettlebell windmills?
Once you narrow down the exercises, does the order matter?
What should the sequence be? Snatches, then swings? Does it even matter?
Can I pick random lifts, mix it up and have an awesome workout?
Yes, yes… many questions…
And the answer is (wait for it)
Order of exercises does matter (especially for beginners). In fact, if the order is wrong, there is a much higher possibility of strain and injury (boo!).
Lets look at three basic exercises: kettlebell snatches, windmills and swings.
What should you do first? What should the order be? Does it matter?
The order of exercises should depend on your posture
As an example lets talk about rounded shoulders and how such misalignment may effects your choice and sequencing of above mentioned kettlebell exercises.
Rounded shoulders are generally associated with rounded back and tight pecs (chest muscles).
Rounding also effects Range of Motion(ROM) of shoulders. As a result a simple task of lifting arms overhead without compensation (arching of lower back, for example) is almost impossible.
Lifting arms overhead without compensations is critical when it comes to kettlebell training (think snatches or any kind of press).
If rounded shoulders stand for compensated movement and inability to complete a lift without involvement of lower back, proper lead-in exercises are needed to help shoulders understand what proper movement should be.
In our example, Kettlebell Windmills would have to go first.
Why?
Kettlebell Windmills force proper shoulder positioning, upper back and shoulder blade engagement. As a result, after few properly done sets of kettlebell windmills, shoulders are much less rounded!
Now you are ready for snatches to further reinforce that proper positioning and alignment.
Given shoulder rounding, kettlebell swings would be last(or even omitted).
Reasoning is simple. Kettlebell swings, due to the nature of the movement, tend to pull shoulders forward. Beginner(especially with rounded shoulders) may be unable to engage upper back and squeeze shoulder blades throughout the movement.
Only after proper reinforcement of shoulder position (by kettlebell windmill, then snatches), body will understand how to properly do this movement.
Of course, nothing happens in isolation.
Rounded shoulders are usually accompanied by myriad of different compensations and misalignments.
All of that must be taken into account for a safe and effective routine.
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Tags: exercise order > exercise sequence > kettlebell swing > kettlebell training > rounded shoulder > rounded shoulders
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October 2nd, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
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