Saturday, May 30, 2009

Getting Stronger With Kettlebells and Sandbags!



If you're a combat athlete, there are many ways to get stronger.

Using kettlebells and sandbags may seem too 'simplistic', but these tools have been used to make men into monsters for years.

Its hard work, yeah, but that's the price you pay if you want to improve - get stronger,put on muscle mass, and sky rocket your gpp.

Here's a quick session I just cranked out, using a 24kg kettlebell, and a 130lb sandbag.

warm up: kettlebell combat complex x 2 sets

I did the following 7 movement complex w/out putting the kettlebell down for 2 sets w/approx 1 minute between each set. Maybe not "typical" for a warm up, but it got the job done and was a great start to the session.

1. snatch x 5
2. clean and press x 5
3. squats x 10
4. reverse lunges x 10 (5 ea)
5. high pulls x 5
6. rows x 5
7. two handed swings x 10

Next, I went through a 4 movement sandbag complex for 3 sets, attempting to finish all the sets as quickly as possible. For total body strength and power endurance, sandbag complexes will bust you up. Perfect for grapplers!

1. clean and press x 6
2. shouldering x 6 (3 ea)
3. zercher squats x 6
4. bent over rows x 6

Lastly, I finished with some weighted pull up - strapping on a couple of heavy chains and performing a quick descending set of 5/4/3/2/1 and calling it a day.

This just goes to show that you don't need a lot of equipment or a lot of time to get strong (maybe in a different way than "gym" strength) and be in awesome shape for your sport.

2 comments:

joe said...

This sounds like a great workout i will try this but how long can i do this routine 6 weeks or 3-4 months or it doesn't matter as long as i keep increasing resistance to keep challenging myself combined with a series of bodyweight exercises to polish it off would be awesome conditioning

joe said...
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