Kettlebell Complexes — What is the RKC System?
The following concepts encapsulate the RKC. They are presented here in their “purest” form, but understand that they are not always so clear cut, so black and white. There is a lot of gray here. Some of the following concepts are almost polar opposites, and yet somehow they are almost symbiotic?one cannot exist without the other.
Low Reps v. High Reps
At the RKC Instructor course, I asked Pavel why Dragon Door didn’t make any super-heavy bells like its competitors. His response: “You need to use the right tool for the job.” Upon further explanation, the kettlebell ballistic drills are designed for high reps, for total body conditioning, unlike their cousins, the barbell Olympic lifts. Most trainees have no need for a 145lbs kettlebell. The most they could do is deadlift it. So it would be an expensive doorstop at best (I know, I have two expensive doorstops.). For weights that size, the trainee is better off just using a barbell. In that vein, the RKC makes full use of the KISS Principle. Many systems use a variety of rep ranges: Ranges for relative strength, maximal strength, explosive strength, functional hypertrophy, structural hypertrophy, strength-endurance, endurance-strength, and so on.
Admittedly, unless you’re a fitness professional you probably don’t know how to train for each one of those and could care less about remembering the various loading parameters. Some other systems have only one tool: lift the weight until you fail. The simplicity of the RKC system dictates the following whether you’re a fitness professional or a stay-at-home mom: for strength, perform low reps for low sets with high frequency; for muscular size, perform more sets of your low rep grinds in each training session, but less frequently. Do you want to lose your beer gut or saddle-bags? Well then high rep ballistics are the order for you. High reps for strength? Wrong tool for the job. Low rep ballistics for fat loss? Wrong tool for the job. Simple.
Integration v. Isolation
Many training programs are still heavily influenced by the bizarre-o world of bodybuilding. The body has been “split” and the focus has been on muscles instead of movements. Even as a college strength coach, I’d see programs that included specialized exercises for the soleus?which could be argued as a necessity for the individual recovering from an Achilles tendon repair, but for the healthy athlete? I can’t see it.
The body, in its intuitive wisdom, only responds to movements and thus there is no such thing as “isolating a muscle.” It reacts, it doesn’t think. Upon landing from a jump, the body doesn’t say, “I think I’ll recruit only the soleus to decelerate dorsiflexion of the foot and ankle complex?” As the poet John Donne said, “No man is an island,” the same is true with your muscles. They are interdependent and linked together.
The RKC is a system that trains movements. The Press is essentially a shoulder flexion exercise. The Swing?a hip extension exercise. These exercises work all the muscles necessary for performing those movements and then some depending on the load (Interesting how those are movements common to many sports). Next time you’re tempted to isolate your biceps, use a crushing grip on your kettlebell and perform a slow negative with your press. Not only will your biceps work overtime, you’ll receive a nice bonus in the form of a cramping lat. And if that’s not enough, perform ten reps of dead hang snatches with a 32kg bell. Make sure you stock up on ibuprophen and Icy-Hot.
