Coach Denis Kanygin Blog

Kettlebells, Posture and All That Other Stuff That's Good For You

Tree Climbing and Kettlebell Training

Posted on | March 3, 2009 | 2 Comments

Tree climbing and kettlebell training is a match made in heaven.

[Tree climbing?! Are you insane? Do I look like a monkey to you?!]

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to get used to odd looks (disbelief?) from my clients when I ask them to do certain things like climb a tree.

Why do I ask these nice people who trust me with their health and fitness to regress to a monkey-like stage?

You see, tree climbing is a shockingly effective test of body strength and function. Not only that, tree climbing is a downright fantastic way to further develop strength (especially upper body strength), function, and flexibility.

Can you climb a tree? If the answer is ‘probably no’ then you need to work on your strength, flexibility and function.

What exactly do I mean by ‘tree climbing’?

There are few ways of doing it.

  • My favorite way to Tree Climb is to climb around a tree without touching the ground (see the video below, featuring one of my clients, Paul Dickinson – black belt in Aikido, currently living in Tokyo, Japan)

  • You can also literally climb a tree so that your feet are resting on a branch
  • You can go around a tree (see that video) but without using your legs. Think of using the tree as glorified monkey bars
  • You can also do all of the above with a kettlebell attached to you (fun, fun, fun… trust me on that one)

Enjoy!

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Comments

2 Responses to “Tree Climbing and Kettlebell Training”

  1. Kira
    March 3rd, 2009 @ 5:02 am

    Love Climbing Stuff …

    Playgrounds are also good for climbing on :)

    Great Post.

    Thanks!

  2. Robin
    March 4th, 2009 @ 6:55 am

    Climbing is regarded as an exciting and courageous sport which requires good technique and skills. There are more risks involved in climbing trees than most other sports.

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