Cardiopulmonary Demand of 16-kg Kettlebell Snatches in Simulated Girevoy Sport

Abstract

Chan, M, MacInnis, MJ, Koch, S, MacLeod, KE, Lohse, KR, Gallo, ME, Sheel, AW, and Koehle, MS. Cardiopulmonary demand of 16-kg kettlebell snatches in simulated Girevoy Sport. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2018-Kettlebell lifting has become popular both as a strength and conditioning training tool and as a sport in and of itself: Girevoy Sport (GS). Although several kettlebell multimovement protocols have been analyzed, little research has attempted to quantify the aerobic stimulus of the individual events in GS, which could better inform kettlebell-related exercise prescription. The purpose of this study was to quantify the cardiopulmonary demand, assessed primarily by oxygen consumption (V[Combining Dot Above]O2) and heart rate (HR), of continuous high-intensity kettlebell snatches-under conditions relevant to GS-and to compare this demand with a more traditional graded rowing ergometer maximal exercise test. Ten male participants (age = 28.4 ± 4.6 years, height = 185 ± 7 cm, body mass = 95.1 ± 14.9 kg) completed (a) a graded-exercise test on a rowing ergometer to determine maximal oxygen consumption (V[Combining Dot Above]O2max) and maximal heart rate (HRmax) and (b) a graded-exercise test consisting of continuous 16-kg kettlebell snatches to determine peak oxygen consumption (V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak) and peak heart rate (HRpeak) during a simulated GS snatch event. Subjects achieved a V[Combining Dot Above]O2max of 45.7 ± 6.7 ml·kg·min and HRmax of 177 ± 8.3 b·min on the rowing ergometer. The kettlebell snatch test produced a V[Combining Dot Above]O2peak of 37.6 ± 4.4 ml·kg·min (82.7 ± 6.5% V[Combining Dot Above]O2max) and a HRpeak of 174 ± 10 b·min (98.0 ± 3.4% HRmax). These findings suggest that GS kettlebell snatches with 16-kg can provide an adequate aerobic stimulus to improve cardiorespiratory fitness in those with a V[Combining Dot Above]O2max of ≤51 ml·kg·min, according to aerobic training recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine.

Comparison of Cardiorespiratory and Metabolic Responses Between Kettlebell Half Marathon and Treadmill Running at the Same Average Oxygen Consumption: A Case Study

“…Importantly, a sharp difference between VO 2 and cardiac response was observed in KT compared to TR trial. This observation confirms previous findings obtained in studies comparing the interval kettlebell swing to endurance type exercises trials [4,5,11]. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) values measured in KT were similar to those reported by Freedson et al [8] for dynamic efforts in resistance training (bench press at 50% of maximal isometric force), unlike diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (150 mmHg in Freedson et al data and 100 mmHg in our).…”

“…Substrate percentage oxidation was assessed from changes in RER along the trial [9]. At the end of the trial, the rate of perceived exertion was obtained with RPE 6-20 scale [4,6,11] (Table 1).…”

“…Considering that in KS the heavy lifting is combined with the prolonged time of lifting, it is reasonable that unique features may represent the physiological cardiorespiratory and metabolic responses and long term adaptations compared to other exercise activities such as running or cycling. In fact, routines may include resistance and aerobic components as hypothesized in few studies [4,5,15], but their relative contribution during KS routines are still unclear.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, the available studies only investigated the cardiorespiratory responses to interval [5,6,11,[15][16][17] and incremental [4] type of kettlebell exercises, with resting phases during trials whereas none analyzed the Davide Greco and Luca Calanni contributed equally to the work prolonged and steady-state kettlebell routines, with the KS technique. In particular, attempts have been made to compare the cardiorespiratory response determined by these routines to endurance exercise in order to unravel whether the use of kettlebell is to be considered effective in improving the subject's aerobic fitness.…”

Kettlebell Exercise as an Alternative to Improve Aerobic Power and Muscle Strength

“…Kettlebell exercise is an alternative to performing functional power and strength exercises (Otto et al, 2012; Williams and Kraemer, 2015), and like RCT, it has been used to improve both aerobic capacity/power and maximal and explosive strength in physical fitness and sport performance facilities (Chan et al, 2018; Eckert and Snarr, 2016; Falatic et al, 2015; Rufo-Tavares et al, 2019). A typical kettlebell session can involve 15–60 seconds of exercise using a dynamic, total-body kettlebell exercise (e.g., two-handed swing, one-handed swing, snatch, squat, clean and press, etc.)…”