BEWARE Kettlebellers...Training Sport Methods Makes You Weak...NOT!

I have to laugh to myself when I am constantly reminded that forays in lifting kettlebells in a method similar to GS or KB sporting athletes makes you weak.

I have mentioned it before, but it is always ironic to me that a lifter will adopt a "sporting" method when they want to get stronger in a powerlifting movement or a weightlifting movement regardless if they intend to compete or not...., but one is deemed "misguided" when they adopt GS sporting method to get strong on a kettlebell.  The strongest and most accomplished kettlebellers come from a sporting background.  That alone should be a lesson unto itself.

Deadlift...As a Means, Not an End

Some of the best things in life are SIMPLE!

Like most things in life there is no shortage of “advise” that one can find when researching the Deadlift. Most of that advise stems around the improvement of the lift itself. The first question I ask is...improvement for what? Competition lifting, ego, sport performance carryover, etc? An awful lot of experienced and accomplished DLer's from a competition standpoint propone deadlifting less and using supplementary exercises that strengthen each components of the deadlift. For example...Good Mornings, Rack Pulls, Glute Ham Raise, Reverse Hyperextensions, Close Stance Squats, Box Squats...and the list goes on.

That is all fine and good, but what percentage of the population actually ever has or will compete the deadlift in competition? Maybe 1%?, but probably less than that. It's always a personal decision..., but very often one encounters a method of training that may not necessarily fit with ones ultimate goals. That is a round about way of saying that to the general trainee all this deadlift assistance training, can actually detract from the overall goodness that IS simply training the deadlift in and of itself.

Depending on who you are speaking with, there are generally 2 “King” movements that come up. The Deadlift & the Squat. Both have delivered incredible results for a multitude of trainees. Generally, both are not as complex or technical as say a power clean, so it is much easier to incorporate good poundage's with more regularity for a greater number of people. For me personally, I spent a lot of my younger years in a squat rack with weight on my back. I had good success here, but as I have aged, my abilities to squat without residual pain have been limited at best. I think it simply is the result of a culmination of a lot of heavy work. It takes a toll on the hips and other joints. I find the deadlift is much easier on my body these days, and I can train it more frequently and still with good poundage's. Most that crap on that concept of abandoning the squat have not been doing it long enough or heavy enough to experience these downfalls. Squatting for me has become a high risk, low return movement as the years go by.

To me there is NOTHING more basic or, dare I say,“functional” than picking something heavy up from the ground. I am speaking in generalities, but in general living, we are faced with picking stuff up more frequently than we are to encounter a situation where we need to put something heavy on our back and squat down with it. To that also, many people are overstimulated with the auxiliary deadlift improvement movements, that they miss the simple genius of the movement itself. Keep in mind too, that a lot of the info on this training of mixed regimens are from those who are already highly accomplished and are trying to squeak every last bit of improvement out of an already high end lift. These are not new babes that decided to pull for some good general training. To wit, general trainees often overtrain themselves on axillary movements with useless volume that detracts from the simple goodness of the deadlift.

If you are not on the top 100 list of all time deadlifters and you are not planning to compete, try this simple and effective formula, free of auxiliary movements...You might surprise yourself by how effective...& fun it can be:
1)Pick it UP
2)Put it down
3)….Repeat