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ARTICLES
> KETTLEBELLS: AN INVESTMENT WITH HEALTHY
DIVIDENDS
“ATTENTION BOOMERS: IS YOUR RETIREMENT SECURE? WILL YOU HAVE
WHAT YOU NEED? DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS SURE-FIRE INVESTMENT WITH
UNBELIEVABLE RETURNS!”
Whether or not you’re a Boomer like me, all of us get bombarded with scary
headlines and seductive investment come-ons. But I’ve actually found the perfect
investment for my retirement: Kettlebells! What else is 100% guaranteed to make
you feel good, look better, and help turn back the clock?
A SKEPTIC’S STORY
I’ve always been a pretty active person, but as a wife, mom, and Pilates instructor,
I’ve never had much time to worry whether or not I was getting a balanced work
out. After all, I was teaching 9 Pilates classes a week and figured I should be in
great shape, shouldn’t I?
But something was missing: My back hurt; I was losing upper body strength and
bone mass; I wasn’t getting a cardio workout, and I was just plain tired. At 43,
middle age was definitely rearing its ugly head. I needed something, but what? As
a natural skeptic, I approached Kettlebells very cautiously.
As I progressed, I saw my strength, endurance and body change more than I had
ever experienced. I was now heart and soul sold on the philosophy, mentality, and
method. I felt like a changed person. So much so, that I received my RKC
certification and went on to receive my RKC Level II. I also felt like the combination
of Kettlebells and Pilates was a great marriage. The core awareness and stability
that Pilates brings to Kettlebells is invaluable.
DEVELOPING FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH
Kevyn Burger with FM107 gave me the ultimate compliment after attending a
class. She said that I look like a “farm girl.” What she meant was I looked like
someone who had functional strength, which is exactly what I want for my clients.
Functional strength allows us to lead pain free and active lives.
Strength is completely underrated in our society. We all have injuries from one
thing or another, and they tend to start bothering us the older we get. That’s
because we are losing that all-important muscle mass! This unique form of
exercise improves posture by strengthening the often-ignored muscles of the back
and rear end, along with the legs, core, and arms.
Here’s the real hook for me, it’s so efficient! My German heritage leaves me no
choice but to be impatient with anything that wastes my time. With the rapid results
my student’s and I get from Kettlebells, we can get in the best shape of our lives
and still have a life left over. Effective and efficient!
BONE STRENGTH
Several of my clients come to me having been diagnosed with osteoporosis. One
in particular completely reversed her bone density in one year. She was the
perfect control group as she changed nothing in her life expect using Kettlebells
for the year, and was ecstatic to have gained bone mass.
MANY HEALTHY RETURNS
I work hard with my students to better understand how their body works, how it
functions, how it moves, and what it needs to operate. I believe that when we are
empowered with knowledge we take control of our health and therefore our life.
Learning how to hold your body, and how to properly lift, bend, etc. only becomes
more important the older we get. But, from a motivational level, my clients report
that they feel and look better than they did in years! And that’s just the kind of
dividend that we all need.
As seen in the Stillwater Gazette, March 2008
>“Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get
the result.” Oscar Wilde
Feeling better with Intentional Movement
The Plastic Brain
Welcome to the concept of neuroplasticity: the idea that our brains are more
adaptable and capable of reprogramming themselves than was once thought. The
brain, along with the nervous system, changes and rearranges itself in response to
injury or limited movement, but because new neural connections are formed
according to how we move our bodies, new “good” connections can also be
stimulated through activity.
Move Better, Feel Better
Proficiency in movement is the key to feeling great, performing great, and being
able to always do the things you want to do. But too often, people don’t think
about how they move. Instead they think about how they hurt or what they can’t do
because of pain, which is often the result of repetitive improper movement.
Movement patterns actually become ingrained over time, so if we unexpectedly
move in a way that we haven’t for some time, our body will instinctively contract to
protect itself. Many times this results in a new cycle of injury, pain and improper
movement.
Download Good Mobility
We all know that we generally get really good at things we practice regularly. But
thought of differently, if we get really good at moving in limited range of motions,
our body can “forget” good movement patterns. For instance, how many of us
hunch over a keyboard, a steering wheel, or our dinner plate? So we “forget” how
to sit or stand up tall. If you live with some pain or want to enhance your sports
performance, your body may need to be retrained in order to remember good
movement. Your central nervous system must be familiar with all ranges of motion
so that it doesn’t panic and contract muscles when in unfamiliar positions. For
instance, when you twist your ankle, your body contracts the muscles around the
ankle because it is in an unfamiliar range of motion. That’s when you get hurt.
Conversely, if your ankle is familiar with the motion and is comfortable, the chance
of injury lessens because your body won’t panic. Good mobility patterns are like
downloading new software to your nervous system.
Pain Lives in the Brain
A common misconception is our cultural belief that pain is a reliable source of
information about what is happening in the body. Instead, pain is simply an action
signal from the body that can be decreased or eliminated by changing the input
our brain receives. One way to change this input is through better movement. By
practicing intentional movement, we can restore good mobility patterns and
alleviate pain or range of movement problems.
If we continue to live in pain, the nervous system adapts and keeps going because
it’s wired to continually function, in spite of pain. The result is that we acquire new
movement patterns that compensate for the pain we are feeling. This can mean
further decreased mobility, a change in gait or walking patterns, or some other
means of adapting to the pain. Sometimes our brain gets so used to feeling pain,
the source of the pain may no longer exist, but our brain is wired to continue to feel
it.
If you fail to periodically challenge your body to move in every direction you will
lose the ability to do so. In other words, you will adapt to becoming stiff, immobile
and inefficient.
So What’s a Body to Do?
Don’t buy into our cultural belief that the human body has inherent design flaws
and that pain and dysfunction are natural. When we age, we don’t have to hurt.
By being purposeful, present, and practicing good movement, you can restore
your own health and well-being. And changing that does not have to take a lot of
time. The body’s central nervous system is incredibly responsive and quick to
change based on input. We all have the bodies that we have earned; whether or
not through injury, poor mobility patterns, or inactivity, our bodies and brains
respond to the input it receives. By giving it positive input, it will respond
accordingly!
By being more purposeful about your movement patterns so that they eventually
come naturally, you will run faster, hit the golf ball farther, swing the bat better, and
eliminate pain.
Marty Larson is a Level IV Certified Z Health mobility coach. Z Health is a holistic
and scientific approach to the rehabilitation of injury and the development of
movement excellence. By teaching you how to isolate and move every joint in your
body in every direction and pattern, you move better, you feel better, and pain is
eliminated or greatly decreased.
By working with people on an individual basis, Marty can assess and teach you
mobility patterns that will help your nervous system to rewire itself.
As seen in the Stillwater Gazette March 2009
>KettlebellsFor Hard Comrades Everywhere
as appeared in Stillwater Living September 2006
I have a confession: Even though I am a fitness instructor, I am pressed to take the
time out of my busy schedule to work out. So when I learned about kettlebelling, a
hot new training program that only takes a few minutes a day to get results and
help me feel great, I jumped on it.
Though kettlebelling originated hundreds of years ago, the exercises are suited
almost perfectly to our modern way of life. Whether physical ailments, the
abundance of food, or inactivity prevents us from exercising, we tend to be
overscheduled and exercise often takes a backseat to more pressing matters.
Kettlebelling offers a way to get cardio, strength training, flexibility and core
conditioning in one workout as opposed to trying to cross-train with running,
weightlifting, yoga and crunches. Who has time for all that? With the proper
training under your belt, kettlebells can be used anywhere you have room for
decent range of motion. Either 10-15 minutes several days a week, or longer for
once or twice a week are all that is needed to achieve great results.
Let’s start with the basics—the Kettlebell is a traditional Russian cast iron weight
that looks like a cannonball with a handle. Kettlebells have deep historical roots,
appearing for the first time in a Russian dictionary in 1704. In Tsarist Russia a
strongman was referred to simply as a “girevik,” or “a kettlebell man.” The sport
has just recently been introduced to elite gyms in the U.S. by Pavel, a former
instructor for the Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces).
Kettlebelling is a strength training program that is distinctly Russian in its simplicity.
Bare feet, loose clothing, a kettlebell and a mat are the only elements necessary
for intense workouts that achieve dramatic results in as little as 15 minutes, though
classes generally last an hour. The focused cardio exercises develop dynamic and
explosive strength while conditioning core muscle groups and increasing flexibility.
And they burn through a tremendous amount of calories by integrating successive
cardio activities that quickly increase the heart rate. Bottom line, it burns fat,
helping the kettlebeller arrive at a more lean or chiseled look, not the traditional
body builder look.
The weight of the kettlebells is gradually increased as students’ strength increases
and form improves. After a few sessions most women are able to swing 26 pound
bells with relative ease, while most men will opt for 35-44 pounds.
I know quite a few people (often, let’s face it, men) who want to improve at their
chosen sport, but find it difficult to make exercise a priority. In kettlebelling, you’re
projecting power from the strength of your core while bringing speed out to your
arms—the movement is akin to the counterbalance you would experience when
swinging a golf club or a softball bat. Instead of lifting a weight, you’re offsetting the
weight of the bell with your core, thus building dynamic strength while you get a
great cardio workout. Kettlebelling also contributes to body awareness as the
activities require mental focus and alertness. These traits, combined with
increased flexibility, will have your body performing better, whether it’s golfing,
playing tennis, hiking, softball, water skiing or any physical activity.
One of the most important benefits of kettlebelling for us “boomers” is how it works
to fight the effects of aging. Many of the illnesses people acquire as they get older
stem from the loss of muscle mass and physical strength. Joints that no longer
want to work as they should can be related to weakness of supporting muscles,
ligaments, and tendons. A lack of exercise and physical fitness exacerbates these
problems. Kettlebells get the whole body working and develops strength, especially
around weakened or injured areas, effectively promoting health and fighting the
effects of aging. Instead of limiting our activities due to aches and pains, we can
gain back a full and productive life.
> KETTLEBELLS: AN INVESTMENT WITH HEALTHY
DIVIDENDS
“ATTENTION BOOMERS: IS YOUR RETIREMENT SECURE? WILL YOU HAVE
WHAT YOU NEED? DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS SURE-FIRE INVESTMENT WITH
UNBELIEVABLE RETURNS!”
Whether or not you’re a Boomer like me, all of us get bombarded with scary
headlines and seductive investment come-ons. But I’ve actually found the perfect
investment for my retirement: Kettlebells! What else is 100% guaranteed to make
you feel good, look better, and help turn back the clock?
A SKEPTIC’S STORY
I’ve always been a pretty active person, but as a wife, mom, and Pilates instructor,
I’ve never had much time to worry whether or not I was getting a balanced work
out. After all, I was teaching 9 Pilates classes a week and figured I should be in
great shape, shouldn’t I?
But something was missing: My back hurt; I was losing upper body strength and
bone mass; I wasn’t getting a cardio workout, and I was just plain tired. At 43,
middle age was definitely rearing its ugly head. I needed something, but what? As
a natural skeptic, I approached Kettlebells very cautiously.
As I progressed, I saw my strength, endurance and body change more than I had
ever experienced. I was now heart and soul sold on the philosophy, mentality, and
method. I felt like a changed person. So much so, that I received my RKC
certification and went on to receive my RKC Level II. I also felt like the combination
of Kettlebells and Pilates was a great marriage. The core awareness and stability
that Pilates brings to Kettlebells is invaluable.
DEVELOPING FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH
Kevyn Burger with FM107 gave me the ultimate compliment after attending a
class. She said that I look like a “farm girl.” What she meant was I looked like
someone who had functional strength, which is exactly what I want for my clients.
Functional strength allows us to lead pain free and active lives.
Strength is completely underrated in our society. We all have injuries from one
thing or another, and they tend to start bothering us the older we get. That’s
because we are losing that all-important muscle mass! This unique form of
exercise improves posture by strengthening the often-ignored muscles of the back
and rear end, along with the legs, core, and arms.
Here’s the real hook for me, it’s so efficient! My German heritage leaves me no
choice but to be impatient with anything that wastes my time. With the rapid results
my student’s and I get from Kettlebells, we can get in the best shape of our lives
and still have a life left over. Effective and efficient!
BONE STRENGTH
Several of my clients come to me having been diagnosed with osteoporosis. One
in particular completely reversed her bone density in one year. She was the
perfect control group as she changed nothing in her life expect using Kettlebells
for the year, and was ecstatic to have gained bone mass.
MANY HEALTHY RETURNS
I work hard with my students to better understand how their body works, how it
functions, how it moves, and what it needs to operate. I believe that when we are
empowered with knowledge we take control of our health and therefore our life.
Learning how to hold your body, and how to properly lift, bend, etc. only becomes
more important the older we get. But, from a motivational level, my clients report
that they feel and look better than they did in years! And that’s just the kind of
dividend that we all need.
As seen in the Stillwater Gazette, March 2008
>“Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get
the result.” Oscar Wilde
Feeling better with Intentional Movement
The Plastic Brain
Welcome to the concept of neuroplasticity: the idea that our brains are more
adaptable and capable of reprogramming themselves than was once thought. The
brain, along with the nervous system, changes and rearranges itself in response to
injury or limited movement, but because new neural connections are formed
according to how we move our bodies, new “good” connections can also be
stimulated through activity.
Move Better, Feel Better
Proficiency in movement is the key to feeling great, performing great, and being
able to always do the things you want to do. But too often, people don’t think
about how they move. Instead they think about how they hurt or what they can’t do
because of pain, which is often the result of repetitive improper movement.
Movement patterns actually become ingrained over time, so if we unexpectedly
move in a way that we haven’t for some time, our body will instinctively contract to
protect itself. Many times this results in a new cycle of injury, pain and improper
movement.
Download Good Mobility
We all know that we generally get really good at things we practice regularly. But
thought of differently, if we get really good at moving in limited range of motions,
our body can “forget” good movement patterns. For instance, how many of us
hunch over a keyboard, a steering wheel, or our dinner plate? So we “forget” how
to sit or stand up tall. If you live with some pain or want to enhance your sports
performance, your body may need to be retrained in order to remember good
movement. Your central nervous system must be familiar with all ranges of motion
so that it doesn’t panic and contract muscles when in unfamiliar positions. For
instance, when you twist your ankle, your body contracts the muscles around the
ankle because it is in an unfamiliar range of motion. That’s when you get hurt.
Conversely, if your ankle is familiar with the motion and is comfortable, the chance
of injury lessens because your body won’t panic. Good mobility patterns are like
downloading new software to your nervous system.
Pain Lives in the Brain
A common misconception is our cultural belief that pain is a reliable source of
information about what is happening in the body. Instead, pain is simply an action
signal from the body that can be decreased or eliminated by changing the input
our brain receives. One way to change this input is through better movement. By
practicing intentional movement, we can restore good mobility patterns and
alleviate pain or range of movement problems.
If we continue to live in pain, the nervous system adapts and keeps going because
it’s wired to continually function, in spite of pain. The result is that we acquire new
movement patterns that compensate for the pain we are feeling. This can mean
further decreased mobility, a change in gait or walking patterns, or some other
means of adapting to the pain. Sometimes our brain gets so used to feeling pain,
the source of the pain may no longer exist, but our brain is wired to continue to feel
it.
If you fail to periodically challenge your body to move in every direction you will
lose the ability to do so. In other words, you will adapt to becoming stiff, immobile
and inefficient.
So What’s a Body to Do?
Don’t buy into our cultural belief that the human body has inherent design flaws
and that pain and dysfunction are natural. When we age, we don’t have to hurt.
By being purposeful, present, and practicing good movement, you can restore
your own health and well-being. And changing that does not have to take a lot of
time. The body’s central nervous system is incredibly responsive and quick to
change based on input. We all have the bodies that we have earned; whether or
not through injury, poor mobility patterns, or inactivity, our bodies and brains
respond to the input it receives. By giving it positive input, it will respond
accordingly!
By being more purposeful about your movement patterns so that they eventually
come naturally, you will run faster, hit the golf ball farther, swing the bat better, and
eliminate pain.
Marty Larson is a Level IV Certified Z Health mobility coach. Z Health is a holistic
and scientific approach to the rehabilitation of injury and the development of
movement excellence. By teaching you how to isolate and move every joint in your
body in every direction and pattern, you move better, you feel better, and pain is
eliminated or greatly decreased.
By working with people on an individual basis, Marty can assess and teach you
mobility patterns that will help your nervous system to rewire itself.
As seen in the Stillwater Gazette March 2009
>KettlebellsFor Hard Comrades Everywhere
as appeared in Stillwater Living September 2006
I have a confession: Even though I am a fitness instructor, I am pressed to take the
time out of my busy schedule to work out. So when I learned about kettlebelling, a
hot new training program that only takes a few minutes a day to get results and
help me feel great, I jumped on it.
Though kettlebelling originated hundreds of years ago, the exercises are suited
almost perfectly to our modern way of life. Whether physical ailments, the
abundance of food, or inactivity prevents us from exercising, we tend to be
overscheduled and exercise often takes a backseat to more pressing matters.
Kettlebelling offers a way to get cardio, strength training, flexibility and core
conditioning in one workout as opposed to trying to cross-train with running,
weightlifting, yoga and crunches. Who has time for all that? With the proper
training under your belt, kettlebells can be used anywhere you have room for
decent range of motion. Either 10-15 minutes several days a week, or longer for
once or twice a week are all that is needed to achieve great results.
Let’s start with the basics—the Kettlebell is a traditional Russian cast iron weight
that looks like a cannonball with a handle. Kettlebells have deep historical roots,
appearing for the first time in a Russian dictionary in 1704. In Tsarist Russia a
strongman was referred to simply as a “girevik,” or “a kettlebell man.” The sport
has just recently been introduced to elite gyms in the U.S. by Pavel, a former
instructor for the Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces).
Kettlebelling is a strength training program that is distinctly Russian in its simplicity.
Bare feet, loose clothing, a kettlebell and a mat are the only elements necessary
for intense workouts that achieve dramatic results in as little as 15 minutes, though
classes generally last an hour. The focused cardio exercises develop dynamic and
explosive strength while conditioning core muscle groups and increasing flexibility.
And they burn through a tremendous amount of calories by integrating successive
cardio activities that quickly increase the heart rate. Bottom line, it burns fat,
helping the kettlebeller arrive at a more lean or chiseled look, not the traditional
body builder look.
The weight of the kettlebells is gradually increased as students’ strength increases
and form improves. After a few sessions most women are able to swing 26 pound
bells with relative ease, while most men will opt for 35-44 pounds.
I know quite a few people (often, let’s face it, men) who want to improve at their
chosen sport, but find it difficult to make exercise a priority. In kettlebelling, you’re
projecting power from the strength of your core while bringing speed out to your
arms—the movement is akin to the counterbalance you would experience when
swinging a golf club or a softball bat. Instead of lifting a weight, you’re offsetting the
weight of the bell with your core, thus building dynamic strength while you get a
great cardio workout. Kettlebelling also contributes to body awareness as the
activities require mental focus and alertness. These traits, combined with
increased flexibility, will have your body performing better, whether it’s golfing,
playing tennis, hiking, softball, water skiing or any physical activity.
One of the most important benefits of kettlebelling for us “boomers” is how it works
to fight the effects of aging. Many of the illnesses people acquire as they get older
stem from the loss of muscle mass and physical strength. Joints that no longer
want to work as they should can be related to weakness of supporting muscles,
ligaments, and tendons. A lack of exercise and physical fitness exacerbates these
problems. Kettlebells get the whole body working and develops strength, especially
around weakened or injured areas, effectively promoting health and fighting the
effects of aging. Instead of limiting our activities due to aches and pains, we can
gain back a full and productive life.
| RESULTS The true value of being fit is to lead a more satisfying life. For some clients, that means removing pain. Others value active lifestyles. And others simply like the way they feel about their bodies. My clients have good reasons to feel great. What will yours be? |
| serving the st. croix river valley tel. 651.430.0077 |
