Avoiding Injury and Soreness in Your Russian Kettlebell Workout

Ian Thompson asked:




Russian Kettlebells are an amazingly intense form of exercise, and it is common for beginners to experience soreness or slight injuries if due to a number of beginner mistakes. These mistakes include;
Not mastering the foundation exercises before moving on to the advanced exercises. Overestimating ones capacity and over training (very common). Not performing the exercise correctly, or using too heavy a weight when learning a new form. Working out when tired or sore from a previous workout. Not cooling off correctly.

Not mastering the foundation exercises first is a common beginner mistake that can lead to injury. The first exercise you must master is the two arm swing. Go through your instructional video and listen carefully to all of the instructions Pavel gives you on this very important foundation form. Also, check out my other article on mastering the swing “7 Vital ‘Must Knows’ for the Russian Kettlebell Beginner”. Last, master the swing on a graded set of kettlebell weights. I started on the 12kg bell and slowly progressed up to a 24kg with the two arm swing before I learned any other form. If you are experiencing soreness or injury I suggest you do the same.

Another common source of soreness and injury is to over train, particularly when you are just starting out. Because the kettlebell swing works you so hard, working muscles that you probably haven’t stressed in years, you initially overestimate how much you can do. The following day, your body disagrees. It will take a few workouts to get a feel for how much work you are doing, so before you get to that point, try to under workout. You may feel that you are cheating yourself by taking it easy, but it would be better to workout again in three days time than to have to wait 10 days for the soreness to subside.

Sometimes in my journeys across the web, I come across someone performing a kettlebell exercise that not only is incorrect, it is dangerous as well. It is very common for people to improvise techniques without really knowing what they are doing. I suggest you learn your kettlebell technique the Asian way. First copy the techniques from an expert, then master those techniques exactly as described by the expert, and then only when you are an expert yourself should you improvise. Be sure to do each exercise correctly and you will avoid injury. A vital part of learning the correct technique to always learn any new technique with the lightest possible kettlebell. Using the lighter kettlebell allows you to focus your attention on perfecting the technique, and gradually strengthens any muscles that are required to perform the technique so that they are not weak points prone to failure when you move up to the higher weight.

I know when we start losing weight or getting fit, it is both exciting and motivating. So much so that in the first month, before our new regime has become part of our new life, we are tempted by the thought that “if some is good, then more is better”. Unfortunately, it just ain’t true. Remember that every day is a liver day. Every day is a kidney day, and every day is a stomach day. Our vital organs just do not have the same response time as our muscles, and so if you are feeling exhausted, or you are still very sore and stiff from your previous workout, do yourself a favour; go and get a massage. If you train while you are tired or sore, you increase your chance of injury and further soreness tenfold. Ideally, you should not be working out with your kettlebells any more frequently than once every 72 hours. This is your metabolism’s reset period, and it will give your body the best chance at full recovery between workouts.

In the past, the emphasis in working out was placed on correct warmup, however many fitness experts now believe that it is the cool down that is the most vital, something that my personal experience has borne out. Your muscles are designed to move into action at a moments notice. There would not be much point in a biological system that needed to do a ten minute warm up before it could begin fleeing from a lion or wooly mammoth. In the past, people would walk to their place of work, do some hard labour (such as hunting or farming) and then walk back to their settlement to eat and sleep. I tend to follow biological design, and as such once I have finished my kettlebell workout, I will walk around breathing deeply (either around the field or in a circle depending on space restrictions). This allows my heart rate to gradually decrease, and gives the organs a muscles an opportunity to re-oxygenate so as to eliminate any waste products generated from the workout and begin any needed repair or growth. Cooling down is a vital part of your workout, and done properly will greatly decrease the incidence of muscle soreness/stiffness.

Here’s wishing you a vital and injury free workout comrades.

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