To be honest I am not sure that The Hip Snaps of Doom would make a very good film title…of at least, not the type of film that would be allowed on mainstream TV!

For that matter, I am not sure that Kettlebell Sam should be my superhero name…

Despite all that, I have just spent a whole weekend doing kettlebells.

15 hours of kettlebells to be exact!

15 hours, over two days, learning, practicing, teaching and generally getting to know a great deal of stuff about kettlebells!

In case it wasn’t evident, I had a training course this weekend, it was entitled the  Complete Kettlebell Trainer and it forms part of my becoming a personal trainer training :-D. Although the name said complete, it rapidly became clear that there is more to the humble (seeming) kettlebell than could possibly be mastered in one weekend!

The simple (allegedly) double handed swing is something that it took us a good couple of hours to master. Part of the problem was, as it often is, unlearning what we thought we knew.

We spent some time attempting to break our bad habits (mostly squatting at the bottom of the swing) and learn the correct way to swing the kettlebell, with all the propulsion coming from the hips, not the arms! It is a process that involves hinging in the middle and snapping the hips forward.

It was the first time in a long while I was told to be more aggressive!!

Only with the kettlbell mind you…not just in general!!

I have to say, I must have had a good teacher before this (shhh don’t tell matt), as my techniques were not too bad to start with, they just required some refinement.

Well…most of them…

I have to say, my Turkish get up leaves a lot to be desired…

have you tried one of these…apparently they are good for you, I am convinced they are just a really inefficient way of getting up from the floor while holding something heavy above your head.

Do  Turkish people really carry on like that…it seems unlikely…

How often do you need to get up while holding a heavy thing straight up above your head in one hand?

Yes, Doctor, I’m with you, it is a ludicrous idea!!

Turkish Get ups, not for me…

I may give them a go again, but I suspect that this will be my reaction the majority of the time!

Anyway, apart from the turkish get up craziness, the rest of the course was awesome!

there were snatches and cleans and windmills and bottoms up cleans and jerks and all sorts of lovely things!

So 15 hours of kettlebell practice and 2 assessments later, I am now, happily qualified to train people with kettlebells 😀

Bruised, battered, achy and tired, but qualified 😀