Rusty Moore Visual Impact Kettlebells (Home Workout Program)
Rusty Moore – Visual Impact – Kettlebells (Home Workout Program), How an Obvious Design Flaw of the Kettlebell Turns Out to be its Biggest Strength…
Visual Impact Kettlebells (Home Workout Program)
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Rusty Moore – Visual Impact – Kettlebells (Home Workout Program)
How an Obvious Design Flaw of the Kettlebell Turns Out to be its Biggest Strength… Burning Calories and Shaping the Body Better than Modern Gym Equipment.
“What an awkward design.”
This is what I thought to myself when I first saw the kettlebell back in 2001.
In my mind, kettlebells were inferior to dumbbells and barbells in EVERY way.
The weight couldn’t be adjusted.
The weighted ball would rest against your forearm when pressing or curling.
There was a weird balancing issue.
It was inconvenient for almost every standard gym exercise.
They really only appealed to the hardcore crowd.
Kettlebells were first adopted by men & women who enjoy dark Dungeon-style gyms filled with spit buckets, chalk, and smelling salts.
Okay, SLIGHT exaggeration.
Pavel Tsatsouline is largely responsible for getting kettlebells into the hands of people in the US.
He’s a former Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) trainer.
Pavel brought the kettlebell and shared his methodology with the US in 2001 with his book, “The Russian Kettlebell Challenge”.
Kettlebells caught on first with Olympic lifters, powerlifters, CrossFit, and the military.
In the early 2000’s you would see them in a place like Gold’s Gym, but never in a gym like 24 Fitness.
I figured people just liked them because they were more “hardcore” than regular commercial gym training.
They didn’t seem to fit the demographic I train…
I never considered kettlebells to be a good tool to get the slim and fit “Visual Impact” look.
I don’t train people to look like a CrossFit athlete or a Powerlifter.
(Not that there is anything wrong with that.)
The Visual Impact methodology focuses on gaining strength and muscle definition while maintaining a slim, sleek and stylish physique. It is based upon principles I’ve used to train male and female fashion models the past 10 years.
I didn’t see where kettlebells would fit into this.
The design really did seem flawed.
The kettlebell has an offset center of gravity since the center of mass is 6-8 inches away from the handle.
When you lift a barbell or a dumbbell the weight is centered in your hands evenly.
The way the kettlebell is designed, the handle always gets pulled in the direction of the weighted ball part.
This kettlebell “design flaw” turns out to be its biggest strength.
You see, when you lift a dumbbell or a barbell, the majority of the force is transferred vertically.
Take the deadlift for instance…
The barbell is pulled straight down in a vertical path by gravity.
An exercise like the kettlebell swing is different.
With kettlebell swings, you get a strong horizontal component that is hard to duplicate with barbells and dumbbells.
*It’s technically considered a “centripetal ballistic exercise”.
At the bottom of the movement, the weight pulls down and BACK.
To reverse this momentum, the glutes have to fire hard.
It can require a force measuring several times the weight of the kettlebell to reverse the momentum.
A 20-pound kettlebell can require as much as 100 pounds of force (or more) in order to get propelled forward again.
This force mainly comes from your glutes.
Throughout the movement, the glutes also have to fire hard to stop the body from getting pulled forward.
It turns out that the kettlebell swing is an incredible glute exercise.
This is a hinge – not a squat.
Your quads are barely involved at all.
This is a good thing because most people are quad dominant.
Sitting too much causes our quads to remain strong while making it hard to contract the glutes properly.
Some call this “dead butt syndrome”.
Kettlebell exercises can awaken dormant glute muscles and can build and shape your butt WITHOUT bulking up your thighs.
This is just one advantage of the odd kettlebell design.
It’s also very hard to duplicate with a barbell or a dumbbell.
I was WRONG about the kettlebell.
The person who pointed this out was a long time friend I have known for 10+ years… who also happens to be one of the world’s top kettlebell experts.
His name is Chris Lopez.
Chris moved to Costa Rica over 6 years ago with his wife and 5 kids.
He lives in a remote surfing village on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and his only piece of workout equipment is the kettlebell.
He stays in top shape year-round with kettlebell training.
Chris is 43 years old but looks closer to 25.
He’s been training with kettlebells since 2003, but also has impressive kettlebell credentials.
In 2010 he was trained by Pavel Tsatsouline in person to get his RKC certification.
In 2014 Chris became the very first Canadian to get certified by Strongfirst (Pavel’s current company) as an SFG Kettlebell Instructor.
He’s the only High-Level kettlebell instructor I know with these credentials…
…who trains with nothing but kettlebells.
This past summer Chris approached me about creating a kettlebell course with the “Visual Impact” principles.
