Energy System Training for Kettlebell Sport

 I hope everyone had a great holiday season, here’s the first post to kick off the new year!

There are 2 very important factors linked to good results in kettlebell sport.

Technique and conditioning. Written words won’t do much good for your technique compared to a session with a good coach. Training methodology however, could be improved by implementing the following tips.

Since in kettlebell sport everyone competes with fixed weights, the demands are very different from athlete to athlete.

fixed weights work to the advantage of a bigger athlete. They do not have to use so much effort on each repetition compared to lighter athletes. Lighter athletes have to work harder to come close to the same results as a bigger athletes.

However, lighter athletes are catching up to the absolute world records held by Ivan Denisov at 105kg +. Pound for pound, their performances even more impressive. Athletes like Anton Anasenko and Johnny Benidze are such examples.

Aside from basic strength levels, what is very important for performance is how the body produces energy to perform tasks.

Cells within the muscles need a constant supply of energy in order to do their job of contracting and producing force to lift weights and keep moving.

Energy production separates the athletes that can perform at a fast pace for 10 minutes – and even end up sprinting the last minute- from those that end up slowing down and stopping short or are stuck in low gear and struggling the whole event.

In order to take the energy that’s stored in the food we eat, and break it down into the chemical energy that muscle fibers and other cells can actually use, the body has two general paths it can take.

The first path has many steps and uses oxygen as part of the process of breaking down fats and sugars to create this energy – it is known as aerobic metabolism.

The second path, on the other hand, has only a few steps and doesn’t require oxygen. It uses either sugars or stored creatine phosphate to produce energy and this is referred to as anaerobic metabolism.

The biggest difference between these two pathways is the speed at which they are capable of producing energy and the amount of time that they are able to produce it for before fatigue sets in.

On one hand, aerobic metabolism can produce energy for hour after hour, but it’s a slower process than anaerobic metabolism and thus it can’t produce energy as quickly.

Anaerobic metabolism, on the other hand, can only produce energy for very short periods of time but because oxygen isn’t required and there are fewer chemical steps involved, it’s capable of producing energy at a much faster rate than the aerobic system.

A top performance comes down to is the most optimal balance between the 2 systems for a given sport: how much energy must be produced and how much of it is produced aerobically compared to anaerobically.

When the majority of energy that needs to be produced throughout an event is able to be produced through aerobic metabolism, there is very little fatigue and the pace can be maintained.

On the other hand, when the anaerobic system has to really kick in (or kicks in too early) to provide a large percentage of energy, fatigue quickly sets in the pace inevitably slows down. If the anaerobic system is forced to work overtime for long enough, the result is exhaustion.

Greater aerobic fitness means you’ll be able to deliver as much oxygen as possible to the working muscles AND produce more of the energy your muscles require through aerobic metabolism and less of it anaerobically. The more oxygen you can pump, the more energy you can produce.

This means greater endurance and an improved ability to push a faster pace for the whole 10 minutes.

As mentioned above, the other thing to keep in mind is of course technique. Optimal technique saves you unnecessary energy expenditure and allows you to perform at a faster pace or with a heavier load.

When it comes to kettlebell training, work on building your capacity to lift. Start according to your current fitness levels and follow good progressive overload principles. Start with short sets, maintain a set tempo and build up from there.

You should work with 2-3 different sizes kettlebells (and regulate tempo accordingly) for a few sets.

Assistance training comes after those sets. You’ll be getting plenty anaerobic glycolitic training on those days…

To improve your aerobic system, do sustained cardio 3 times a week. Read how to test it at the end of the post.

The general rule is to keep your heart rate in the range of 130-150 beats per minute (bmp) for an extended period of time 20-90 min, but remember to build it up slowly and progressively, and adjust the bmp range according to how old or young you are.

The low intensity is needed to compensate the kettlebell training, and provides active recovery.

If possible, use different modalities to limit overuse strains, and keep training interesting. Run, bike, row, rope skip, swim, shake weight (only kidding!)…

If you try to do high intensity stuff on your easy days, you will most likely hinder your progress as you burn out or develop small nagging injuries.

The best athletes in Kettlebell sport rely on pacing to maximize the power they can generate, using predominantly aerobic energy. That way they still have energy left for the last minute where they can go more into anaerobic mode and even increase their tempo to a sprint finale. They can only increase this tempo at the last minute because they know they could keep going over 10 minutes at the same pace, without problem. This confidence comes from hitting 10 minutes sets at a specific tempo on a regular and consistent basis, not just hitting those numbers once or twice times before a competition, and hoping to be able to do it one more time 

Any newcomer to the sport probably still remembers the mistake of starting off too fast on their first few competitions and having to stop short their set, muscles burning, breath out of control and heart beating like a mad axeman. This should be a learning lesson. Start easy, finish strong!

The key principle to remember here when making your GS program is to not solely focus on your anaerobic energy system development because you think cardio is boring or you’ve read it does not produce good results.

How to test your aerobic system

from Eric Auciello in his article “Your Cardio Makes No Sense”

“The test requires you to run one mile (1,6 km). The tricky part is that you must keep your heart rate below your Maximum Aerobic Function (MAF) for the entire mile.

To determine your MAF score, simply subtract your age from 180 (example:180-37=143 BPM). If you’re a highly trained athlete, you can add 3 BPM. If you’re a de-conditioned athlete, subtract 3 BPM. This metric provides a baseline to continually monitor progress and physiological change.

Now that you’ve determined your MAF, strap on a heart rate monitor and go for a run. Remember, you can’t allow your heart rate to exceed your MAF score. For many this will be a problem. Some of you may have to walk, some may crawl.

Regardless of your outcome, heart rate must be kept below your MAF score or the test is useless. If heart rate spikes, walk and let it drop below your MAF before starting the run.

Upon completion of your one-mile run or walk, review your time. If you can run the mile in seven minutes you’ve got a well-trained aerobic system. If your mile time was 13 minutes, your aerobic energy-system is poor.”