Hey guys, I was wondering what your thoughts are on Olypmic lifting with kettle bells and what is considered a goo weight per arm to snatch and clean and press for a 170 pound male?
I have never felt a pump in my shoulders and upper chest like I did today doing a very basic routine with kettlebells bodyweight exercises and barbell lifting.
Pullups x 2
snatches x 2
clean and press x 2
deadlift x 2
ab leg raises x 2
Kettlebells were only 35 pounds and I couldd onl;y manage about 10 per arm each set, where should I be looking at in terms of weight to be classed as strong?
Welcome to kettlehells! Anyway, my suggestion to you is make sure you get your form down on the clean and the snatch. People have a tendancy when they first start to flop the the bell over and bang their wrist. So I would suggest go to youtube, look up videos on form. The snatch as well. It takes a little time to get the timing right. I think if you are using a 35 and stick with it you’ll be amazed at how quickly your strength will go up once you get the form down.
To be classified as strong, a good goal to strive for is to one arm clean and press 1/2 your body weight. And snatching a 52 lb kettlebell 100 times in 5 minutes or if you really want to strive for something, 200 in 10 minutes!
I weigh 185 and can clean and press a 70 with ease. Two 70’s I can press reps of 3-5. I can snatch it 10 times and have snatched a 55 100 times in 5 minutes. The 88 or 40kg kettlebell, I can push press, but not clean and press and I’m not close.
Yeah I have been trying to flick the wrist to avoid whacking it. I use two kettle bells at the same time and snatch with both arms, is this OK or is it meant to be one at a time?
So you can snatch both my KB’s and a few more KGs with one arm, my ego just bought a bottle of jack and a 38!
Double Snatches are great! Tough exercise. You really need a good hip snap. I think it’s important to perfect the movements with one arm vs. two. Once you have one arm stuff down, move to doubles.
When you clean, make sure you tame the arc of the bell and move it around your arm and catch it. Think of drawing your .38 in the old west after a few shots of Jack.
If you really want to be good at olympic style lifting, you’ll need to do that. The kettlebell snatch doesn’t have great carry over to the barbell snatch. It will probably help some, but they are very different. Same with the clean and jerk.
Like Flynn said, I’d also start with single arm snatches. Get good at those, and then move to double. It is amazing how much more difficult working out with two kettlebells is than with one. I’d also recommend sticking with the 35 pounder for a little while. If you practice for a couple of weeks, though, you’ll probably fine the 53 pound bell is where you’ll spend most of your time. That is where I am now. I’ve got a 70 that I use sometimes, but I can’t press it yet. That is one of my current goals.
I’m a huge fan of kettlebells and probably spend half my time training with them. They fit in nicely with my goals, but they probably don’t with everyone’s. So make sure they’ll help you do what you want. And have fun, too.
Hey guys, the problem is I am doing my training in my garden so kettle bells and a VKRDP station is all I have.
I have a bench and Olympic bar and about 30kg of plated and some dumbbells but apart from that nothing. I do not have the money to buy the discs needed, do not have a rack or much space in the garden so I don’t really feel safe doing Oly lifts and also dropping the bar is a no go, I now have massive craters in the grass from dropping my bar after clean and pressing.
Thanks for the advice though guys, is a big help for a KB newb!
I agree on the comments above regarding getting the proper form down with one-hand movements before doing double-snatches, etc. Be sure to squeeze the bell to avoid bruising your wrist as the bell moves over/around your hand when you clean it.
When I was starting out, my coach recommended checking out videos by Pavel Tsatsouline or Mike Mahler in my free time. However, if you have the opportunity, I strongly recommend working with a live trainer, even if only for a short time, whether it’s one-on-one or in a class setting to have someone teach you proper form. It will allow for real-time adjustments as you learn the movements, and that made a world of difference for me when I first started - and I still benefit from that in my sessions today. My trainer has had RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) certification, and I’ve been lifting KBs for almost three years now under his guidance; those were the only weights I lifted (ever), and I did so for about 2.5 years before adding “traditional” weightlifting earlier this year (under guidance of same coach). As someone else stated above, it works well for me and my goals but might not for everyone. I love lifting KBs and now love doing barbell squats, deadlifts, and benching (though I stink at bench right now, lol). Good luck!