I was pleasantly surprised that Steve Cotter was at the seminar. Got to talk to him and hear his side of the story. A lot of what he said made sense. No one can deny his incredible strength.The way he sees it the kettlebell is made for repetition lifting. There is a rich heritage in the kettlebell like that of a martial arts school. The analogy was that you can stick a bunch of flowers inside a car and call it a flower pot, but that does not mean that is what a car is for.
And if you want to get really high reps then you need to learn the right way to do so. Learn from the people who have done it such as Valery Federenko.
Teaching it any other way does not make sense and is limiting your potential. All the decisions he makes are based on this.
It makes sense to me but I say why limit the kettlebell to its traditional use. It can be used for standard weightlifting stuff in many cases and it performs admirably.
Another point was the difference of going after your end effect. Do you want to be tense or relaxed. Too many people are too tight and instead of getting them to tense up even more to train they should be learning how to relax.
It is the same difference between hard and soft styles of martial arts (karate vs. tai chi for example).
Do people need to have high levels of absolute strength? Or are they better served by having high levels of muscular endurance?
Obviously you are going to need to be able to tense up and relax. The better able you are to do this, the greater of an athlete you are. You need to train for both but how you approach it, from one end or the other, is up to you.
Again optimally you want a high degree of absolute strength and strength endurance. But here too you can approach it from on side or the other.
With the two kettlebell jerk are you going to do 5 sets of 5 trying to handle heavy weights. Or do you work with lighter bells and do one long set and push your numbers higher and higher, eventually working up in weight.
Both sides are valid ways to train, in my opinion, but does one give faster results or better results? That is what the whole debate is about.
In the end your training has to be something you like, scratch that, love to do. People sometimes ask me how I motivate myself to train. To me that is a silly question because I don’t need motivation to have fun.
There are so many different ways to attain the strength and health you want, why spend time on anything less than your favorites.
Grow Powerfully,
Logan Christopher
Comments
Logan,
It was great seeing you at the AKC. Excellent training and a whole new dimension with kettlebell llifting/training.
Take care,
Pete
https://petediazrkc.blogspot.com
Great to see you to Pete. Best of luck in training. I sure our paths will cross again in the future.
Logan