I have always
realised the importance of grip training for success with kettlebells. However,
as a strength athlete that mostly put my training at the heavy side of the
resistance scale and rarely training with light weights for reps. While I have
done many endurance kettlebell marathons in the past, none of these were
completely grip determined and took me to absolute failure
where you simply cannot hold the weight for another rep. There is always merit
in training specifically for the sport. For example, if you want more reps in
the snatch – train the snatch more and work volume with occasional tests to
failure. However, as a coach there is also dynamic correspondence that
replicates part of the action (in this case the weakness – high rep grip
endurance) and can address it in isolation.
From the anterior superficial view on the left - or supinated position - we can see that flexion of the fingers will relate in concentric actions of the following muscles -
When training to failure you will often see that the last few reps have a few things in common to dramatically change the downward force and grip requirements of the snatch -
- The knees now bend into a squat to decelerate the weight
- The thumb faces forwards and the elbow is slightly bent - this could be to incorporate brachioradialis which is a powerful elbow flexor and rarely engaged when the arm is extended other than to a very low degree isometrically as a synergist. The slight elbow bend will recruit this muscle and transfer some of the load from the forearm flexors. However, by this time they are often so fatigued that additional reps are only few in number
- There is a deeper squat after the snatch pull. Having to travel less distance to lockout means less force is required and the lifter may add a few reps based on extended work capacity.
The part of the
kettlebell snatch which leads to grip fatigue is the transition between the
eccentric and concentric phases as the kettlebell is free-falling and you are
required to grip tightly in order to decelerate and pull it up again. The grip
action for this will always be more than the weight of the kettlebell based on
gravity and acceleration. As this directly correlates with crush grip it can
easily be replicated with a good pair of hand grippers. Moreover, hand grippers
can be chosen that will replicate the amount of PSI required for a specific
kettlebell weight. No grand machines or calculations are required. If you understand
hand grippers you will know what I am talking about. Basically, the heavier the
kettlebell, the harder the crush action for the snatch and therefore the
stronger the gripper you train with.
To take dynamic correspondence
a stage further we can add 3 components to further enhance the carryover of
this methodology –
- The repetitions are performed at the same tempo as your snatch set training speed
- The crush is held for around 1 second to mimic to time under tension required for the eccentric/concentric switch and allow the weight to be effectively pulled for the next repetition
- The hand gripper is never fully open, or relaxed, and this will correlate to gains in the slight isometric wrist tension required to avoid hyperextension in the lockout phase
Similar to
kettlebell training progress there should be a direct relationship between the
number of snatches you can perform on a kettlebell and the number of
repetitions you can achieve on a gripper that is a similar resistance to the
snatch pull of your training weight. At the lighter weight Vo2 max and isolated
muscular fatigue is rarely a problem and most people simply burn out in the
forearm not having worked for a very high rep capacity.
Like any good researcher
I am trying this myself and will retest my numbers at the beginning of 2013.
For a free beginners grip guide check the link below -
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