I’m not sure if you ever encountered this in the early days of your strength training, but we had no choice but to hit our muscles from every angles.
Usually, that’s why you had a few exercises per muscle group, like this:
CHEST:
Bench Press - for the pecs ( central pecs?)
Incline Bench (Dumbbells or Barbell) - for the upper chest
Decline Bench - for the lower chest
Incline Flies - isolation work for the pecs, no triceps
BACK:
Bent Rows - for trapezius, rhomboids and lats (barbell or DB)
Pull Ups - for your lats
Straight Arm Pulldown - also for your lats, but no biceps involvement
QUADS:
Squats - total leg
Leg Press - primarily quads
Leg Extension - solely quadriceps in isolation
… And on and on we can go with each body part…
(Bent Over Lateral Fly’s for shoulders anyone?)
And this mindset - multiple exercises from multiple angles for each body part is why so many of us struggle with KBs.
“Which KB exercise works your rear delts?”
Presses.
No seriously, if you do them right, Presses.
Military.
And Bent.
But I digress…
But here’s the deal:
Many KB workout programs - especially mine -
Still have you do a lot of work .
A LOT .
OF EFFORT .
See, if you try a program like ‘THE GIANT’, you’ll most likely be completing between 30 and 100 reps per session per session. (That’s Clean AND Press - so really - TWICE those numbers - because we count the C+P as ONE lift when it’s really TWO actions.)
But often times, that work is spread out across your body in other regions -
At least if you’re performing the movements correctly .
For example, I got an email from Allen about how many sets of C+P he should be doing in 30 minutes using ‘THE GIANT.’
One here of his comments?
“I'm usually sore in other spots than my shoulders.”
Which, of course, sounds odd if you come from a traditional bodybuilding background, right?
Because “Press” = “Shoulder Press” = “Working on my shoulders” = “So my shoulder should be sore the next day”...
Right?
A properly executed KB Press should use the:
Feet
Quads
Abs
Glutes
Lats
Pecs
Forearms
Triceps
And of course, the shoulders.
If you’re not feeling more than your shoulders when, after you Press, chances are better than good that you’re leaving A LOT of ‘GAINZ’ on the proverbial table.
Including strength gains and muscle size.
Strangely enough, for some, even fat loss.
(From the extra energy used during a properly executed Press.)
And because most guys don’t know that specialized techniques exist to do this with their KB lifts, they often get a raging case of FOMO -
Fear Of Missing Out.
“What about my biceps?”
“What about my chesticles?”
“What about my peroneous longus?”
And so, one of two things happen:
[1] They try to add extra exercises to their KB workouts
… And end up fatigued , sore, and sometimes injured.
[2] They are mentally torn about KBs actually being able to “get them in shape” - whatever that means to them
… And end up stopping and starting and stopping and starting the “Workout Merry-go-round” and throw away years, if not decades of their lives due to indecision and ignorance.
So look, it pays dividends to take your time and learn proper kettlebell technique.
When you do, you will not need to ask, “What muscle does that target ?” from now on.
Because you’ll have your response :
ALL OF THEM .
Stay Healthy,
Geoff Neupert.