Sarah Lurie
4.0 out of 5 stars Overkill — 50 pages fluffed to 342, October 20, 2013
If you ever wanted to get to know a Russian Kettlebell intimately, as well as its family going back 1000 years and every possible nuanced aspect of it, this is the book for you. For me it is total overkill and would more usefully be replaced by a 50 page illustrated guide and a single wall chart — or two, one for warm-up with jumprope and stick, the other a series of exercises. I watched Powerbody: Advanced Russian Kettlebell Workout with Phil Ross before going through this book,and now I am leaning toward reversing my conclusion that the Ross DVD was too advanced and one should start with this book. Given a choice between the two, I would dump this book and use the DVD as a complete package.
Bottom line: too much of everything. This is a doctoral thesis on pulling carrots out of the ground. This is a formula book on steroids. It certainly earns four stars — some might give it five (I mistrust most of the reviews, them seem to be very short and empty reviews from people doing the author a favor) — and the substance is worthy, but the overall “door stop” nature of the book is very off-putting. I could have distilled this book into 50 pages with two wall charts, and been happier with that at the same price.
Here are a few bottom lines from this book:
01 Buy real cast-iron one piece kettle bells (in pairs), not the junk with plastic covers that crack, or worse, the two-piece versions that break and are dangerous.
02 Barefoot is good — and an incentive to not let go the kettlebell.
03 Warming up matters.
04 Proper spine and hip alignment are essential — do not force your body in directions it should not be going.
05 Basic exercises include the swing, front squat, clean press and military press.
06 If you choose to chalk, buy the best and avoid hand rot
07 Kettlebells are dangerous in moving vehicles. Buckle them down!
08 Study the Turkish get up from the prone position.
09 Doing abdominals on the ground with a kettlebell as extra weight is good.
10 Kettlebelling is good for joints and tendons, less stress than running or jumping exercises
11 There are kettlebell web sites. Use them
07 Inhale when you lift from the ground and exhale when you execute the lift
Overall, terribly annoying. I don't have the time for all this excruciating detail, and most of it is trivia.
Best wishes to all,
Robert David STEELE Vivas
THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth & Trust
