News & Updates
The Kettlebell Wrist: It’s Simple, Keep it Simple!
Introducing the kettlebell to your clients training is one of the best things you can do to increase cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, and over all complete body strength. But, before the movements are introduced a sound understanding of some of the basic form must be drilled and re-enforced throughout training. One of these foundational forms comes from the "kettlebell wrist". When instructing a client on proper wrist postiton, you must re-enforce the importance of a neutral wrist. This neutral wrist is to be kept throughout most patterns of kettlebell movements.
Kettlebell Dead-lift = neutral wrist
Kettlebell Goblet Squat = neutral wrist
Kettlebell 2 Hand Swing = neutral wrist
Kettlebell 1 Hand Swing = neutral wrist
Kettlebell Clean = neutral wrist
Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up = neutral wrist
Ok, so we get the point of maintaining a neutral wrist throughout most kettlebell movements. Now, what exactly is the neutral wrist? When I describe the neutral wrist to an athlete or a client I ask them to have a straight line from the tips of the knuckles through the wrist down to the tip of the elbow or the olecranon process. This is a safe and powerful position for the hand, wrist and forearm to be placed in training. This position promotes joint centration and wrist stability. We all know that a mobile wrist is important to our function, but a mobile wrist while training with heavy weights can be calling for injury and dysfunction.
Neutral Wrist:
Let’s break this down a little more; when you allow an athlete to let the wrist go into extension or flexion, you are promoting hyper-extension and hyper-flexion of the soft tissue and also boney structures of the area. This can lead to muscular strain in the finger, hand, wrist and forearm and either dysfunction or even worse injury. We can also understand with wrist extension/flexion some of the boney structures are being compressed. Compression will be expressed through the metacarpal, carpal, and TFCC complex of the wrist. Although this position may feel powerful to the athlete or client, it is actually the body falling into a dysfunctional weak pattern that you must not allow. This position of wrist extension or flexion can led to decreased training time or even no training time due to pain and even injury. Pattern Power, Pattern Stability!
WRONG: Wrist Extension
CORRECT: Iron Body Neutral Wrist
If your clients or athletes find themselves consistently unable to maintain a neutral wrist and falling into a flexion or extension pattern while training, this self limitation is a sign that this weight is too much for the area to support. The client's inability to maintain a safe neutral wrist is a clear indicator that the client needs to lower the weight of the kettlebell that they are training with and seek further instruction as to how to maintain a neutral wrist.
In conclusion, for happy and healthy training, please listen to your RKC instructor and understand why they are drilling the neutral wrist with most of your kettlebell movements. RKC instructors always put the safety of a client first, when safety is built and a neutral wrist is maintained superior strength will follow. This superior strength will transition to maintain better wrist health in your activities of daily living or out on the golf course for your weekend sporting events.
If you have further questions about this topic then please contact Instructor Eric Gahan at eric@ironbodystudios.com.
