Hi James, perfect timing indeed, and congrats with your new gear :) I started kettlebelling just few months ago and I am already a huge fan! Another good thing on your kettlebell arriving now - the temperature slowly but steadily approaches sub zero figures, so it is becoming trickier to cycle every day. And by doing squats with kettlebells you can pretty much target the same muscles you use for cycling, so when the weather is more reasonable again - you are perfectly ready for the new cycling season :)
You've inspired me to try out kettlebells, so thank you! Also, that thumbnail makes you look like Link, holding up a Brompton like a shield and a kettlebell like a sword!
My pleasure, thanks for sharing :) The resemblance is uncanny indeed, didn’t think about it before :) I guess my kilt is also not miles away from Link’s tunic :) I should really play Tears of the Kingdom on my Switch, enjoyed BOTW a lot!
From my knowledge (might be wrong) muscle volume correlates with long repetition while muscle strength with short repetition on the edge of the weight limit.
Hi, thanks for you comment. I think you are exactly right, read the same across multiple sources. A friend of mine, who is very serious about fitness told me about the following framework - if you measure amount of effort on a 10-point scale, where 10 point is when you can’t do another rep even at a gunpoint, you should do an effort of at least ~6 for a single muscle group at least 2-3 times per week to promote muscle growth (assuming you sleep enough and consume enough proteins and other nutrients). Talking about kettlebells - pushing volume is fairly easy, just requires doing more reps, but for more weight you need a heavier kettlebell and 4kg increment is very substantial. I started with 12kg smth like 6 weeks ago, and approaching 16kg only now, with at least 3 training sessions per week. Another trick you can do in terms of strength focus - do more complex exercise with the same weight. Among those in the video - the easiest ones are probably curls and two-hand swings, the hardest ones are probably snatches and cleans / shoulder presses.
Hi, thanks for your question :) I still do most of these exercises, aiming to have 2 sessions per week, roughly hour long to complete 3 sets of 10 for each. So far I have upgraded the weight to 16kg and got to the stage where I can more or less manage it. Quite happy with the experience so far. Cycling-wise - my back definitely got miles stronger, I used to have my back aching a bit after long multi-hour ride, not anymore. Can say more or less the same about my grip - amount of fatigue I feel in my hands is miles less now on long rides. Hard to say whether it comes mainly from kettlebells or just riding the bike, but I am pretty sure they helped quite a bit. Another thing that I think is quite helpful here - is squatting with kettlebells or doing Turkish getup (which is an exercise I started doing recently and didn’t mention it in the video, it’s amazing, takes a lot of time to execute but covers pretty much entire body). My legs feel more powerful, I would say it is much easier now to attack hills, would also attribute at least part of it to these 2 exercises. One other thing to mention - I bought a steel mace a week or so ago, to specifically target my shoulders. I probably still like kettlebells more, but mace is very cool, just 5kg of weight for is perfectly sufficient to give a very intense ballistic workout. And it is great for should mobility development, even more so compared to kettlebells. It also focuses forearms and wrists like crazy, totally on a different lvl vs anything I tried before, can be helpful for people who experience fatigue in their hands while cycling.
Brompton and kettlebells! Two of my favorites 👍
Likewise :)
What a coincidence, my kettlebells arrived just last Friday! Several people have recommended them to me, so I have decided to give it a go.
Hi James, perfect timing indeed, and congrats with your new gear :) I started kettlebelling just few months ago and I am already a huge fan! Another good thing on your kettlebell arriving now - the temperature slowly but steadily approaches sub zero figures, so it is becoming trickier to cycle every day. And by doing squats with kettlebells you can pretty much target the same muscles you use for cycling, so when the weather is more reasonable again - you are perfectly ready for the new cycling season :)
You've inspired me to try out kettlebells, so thank you! Also, that thumbnail makes you look like Link, holding up a Brompton like a shield and a kettlebell like a sword!
My pleasure, thanks for sharing :) The resemblance is uncanny indeed, didn’t think about it before :) I guess my kilt is also not miles away from Link’s tunic :) I should really play Tears of the Kingdom on my Switch, enjoyed BOTW a lot!
From my knowledge (might be wrong) muscle volume correlates with long repetition while muscle strength with short repetition on the edge of the weight limit.
Hi, thanks for you comment. I think you are exactly right, read the same across multiple sources. A friend of mine, who is very serious about fitness told me about the following framework - if you measure amount of effort on a 10-point scale, where 10 point is when you can’t do another rep even at a gunpoint, you should do an effort of at least ~6 for a single muscle group at least 2-3 times per week to promote muscle growth (assuming you sleep enough and consume enough proteins and other nutrients).
Talking about kettlebells - pushing volume is fairly easy, just requires doing more reps, but for more weight you need a heavier kettlebell and 4kg increment is very substantial. I started with 12kg smth like 6 weeks ago, and approaching 16kg only now, with at least 3 training sessions per week. Another trick you can do in terms of strength focus - do more complex exercise with the same weight. Among those in the video - the easiest ones are probably curls and two-hand swings, the hardest ones are probably snatches and cleans / shoulder presses.
Great vid, Stas! And great kilt!
Thank you very much! Black Watch for the win :)
Great and quite creative video:) keep going!
Thank you very much, Viktor, glad you liked it :)
🙏🙏🙏😊
I'd love an update on this, actually. What exercises do you still do? How has it benefited your cycling? Any lessons learned in the meantime?
Hi, thanks for your question :) I still do most of these exercises, aiming to have 2 sessions per week, roughly hour long to complete 3 sets of 10 for each. So far I have upgraded the weight to 16kg and got to the stage where I can more or less manage it. Quite happy with the experience so far. Cycling-wise - my back definitely got miles stronger, I used to have my back aching a bit after long multi-hour ride, not anymore. Can say more or less the same about my grip - amount of fatigue I feel in my hands is miles less now on long rides. Hard to say whether it comes mainly from kettlebells or just riding the bike, but I am pretty sure they helped quite a bit. Another thing that I think is quite helpful here - is squatting with kettlebells or doing Turkish getup (which is an exercise I started doing recently and didn’t mention it in the video, it’s amazing, takes a lot of time to execute but covers pretty much entire body). My legs feel more powerful, I would say it is much easier now to attack hills, would also attribute at least part of it to these 2 exercises.
One other thing to mention - I bought a steel mace a week or so ago, to specifically target my shoulders. I probably still like kettlebells more, but mace is very cool, just 5kg of weight for is perfectly sufficient to give a very intense ballistic workout. And it is great for should mobility development, even more so compared to kettlebells. It also focuses forearms and wrists like crazy, totally on a different lvl vs anything I tried before, can be helpful for people who experience fatigue in their hands while cycling.
@@staskucherenko that great to hear, thank you for the answer! Good to hear that it really does work for you; I'm hoping for the same!
@@ByronicGamer all the best with your kettlebells journey! :)
"Booty of steel" 😀
:)