All types of kettlebell lifting offer great value, and each style of training has its own unique benefits. What do Kettlebell Juggling and Kettlebell Partner Passing have to offer? The intention of this article is to share the benefits that I have experienced from Kettlebell Juggling and its evolution: Partner Passing.
What is Kettlebell Juggling? To pass, flip and/or switch hands with a kettlebell (or kettlebells) in a continuous manner of two or more repetitions with the intention of keeping the kettlebell (or kettlebells) from falling to the ground, executed in a routine or a free form manner. Juggling is fun, free (without rules), and the variations are enough in number to keep the most ADHD-prone, fitness nut occupied for a long time. There are a multitude of benefits that can be reaped from the practice of play that is Kettlebell Juggling.
Juggling is a place to progress, not a place to start at. An effective way to get familiar with basic juggling is to add it to your fundamental kettlebell workout to spice up the learning process. Once a solid kettlebell practice is established, juggling can be used as an additional path of challenge and growth. The benefits of juggling fall into two categories: Physical and Beyond-Physical.
Juggling shares many physical benefits with other forms of kettlebell training, such as grip strength, endurance, power, and dynamic full-body movement. Additional benefits that are specific to Juggling are hand-eye coordination, footwork (the dynamic nature of juggling will keep you on your toes!), reaction time, and numerous variations in refined motor skills of the hands in order to control the movement of the kettlebell. The continual catch and release of the kettlebell and the switching from hand-to-hand promotes a balanced focus on development of the right and left sides of the body and brain, helping to weed out imbalances. Letting go of the kettlebell insures that each rep will be different than the last, requiring physical and mental adaptation and improvisation that builds strength in ranges that are next to impossible to duplicate with other forms of training.
Beyond-Physical benefits shared with other kettlebell training styles are: mental toughness, focus, and determination. Ways that juggling differs from other systems are: split second decision making, creativity, timing, and most importantly: expanded awareness. Awareness grows as the perceived cost of failure increases (broken toe or worse), causing sharpened focus that improves performance (provided that the fear is not so great that it creates paralysis). Juggling makes it possible to incrementally increase the level of perceived danger just enough to elicit heightened performance.
Now that you are good at juggling and have started to feel like your imagination is tapped out, add a partner to the mix and enter: Kettlebell Partner Passing. Partner Passing is an ADVANCED form of Kettlebell Juggling; the objective is shared between partners and can be performed in a routine or free form. Partner Passing opens doors to a whole new set of skills in addition to many of the same benefits as juggling.
The physical demands of Partner Passing are significantly increased compared to regular Kettlebell Juggling. A small kettlebell can be used to generate a greater demand on deceleration and acceleration because the force of the kettlebell is greater than its weight. This is due to the distance it has to travel and the speed it is traveling when it gets to you. This leads to a concept of force appropriation, or the ability to use the right amount of force to deliver the kettlebell to the desired target.
Freestyle Partner Passing is an advancement that requires partners to be on the move and instantaneously root and uproot themselves as they catch and release the kettlebell. Rapid structural organization of the body, due to the multitude of unique angles of force is required to support the unconventional directions of load. The body gets challenged to integrated full-body athletic movements, shifting participants into the Physical and Beyond-Physical “zones.â€
Adding another person to the equation decreases the amount of personal control and exponentially increases the number of possible variations, causing a greater need for adaptation and improvisation. Potential for error dramatically increases the level of danger and creates a larger demand on focus. The chain is now opened to a partner and communication is important to stay on the same page and remain safe. Accuracy is required by the sender and the receiver in order to keep the kettlebell fluid and constantly in motion. The sender must give a good pass and the receiver must catch and return a good pass. The ability to keep focused, to read a situation and another individual’s intention, and to adapt accordingly leads to the development of improvisational skills to account for poor passes. The less-than-desirable passes are assessed with split second judgments to determine if you need to save the kettlebell, or the kettlebeller! Adaptation is the name of the game.
I continually strive to evolve and adapt through the ongoing development of Kettlebell Juggling and Partner Passing. The evolution of my training has been organic in nature and ever changing. My experience continues to grow as I practice; and I hope to inspire others to reap the vast benefits available with Kettlebell Juggling and Partner Passing. I invite you to practice these dynamic styles with me so that we may compare notes, learn, and grow with each other. My hope is that you have found this article to be insightful and that you can apply this information to your kettlebell practice. Please contact me with any questions regarding this article, Kettlebell Juggling, or Partner Passing.
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Michael Castrogiovanni is a long-time trainer and fitness innovator who has been using kettlebells in new ways to enhance functional performance, endurance, and even hand-eye coordination. His continuing development of Kettlebell Juggling and Kettlebell Partner Passing is both unique and effective. Find out more at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=1016682547 |
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