Best Exercises You Could Ever Do: Kettlebell Bottoms Up Side Bends

So after winning a bet with a client yesterday who is a massive Oakland Raiders fan, I’m feeling pretty good. See, he started chirping that the Raiders (The Raiders??) would beat the Patriots this weekend and as a result he would be grinning ear to ear all week. I had to bring him back to reality. Not to piss off any fans of the Black Hole, but the chances of that happening were about as likely as me buying a Tracy Anderson DVD and rocking out to her flailing arms in my living room while wearing neon spandex and a headband.

What I hear whenever she opens her mouth

As a result of wanting him to see a sense of reality, I made him a simple and effective bet: If the Raiders won, I’d train him for free for the week. If the Patriots lost, he would have to do one pushup for every yard Tom Brady threw for. Needless to say Tuesday will be an upper body day he won’t soon forget.

While definitely below what he has been throwing, 226 yards is nothing to sneeze at, but I have to admit I was secretly hoping for a 400 yarder or something like that. That would have made shampooing after the session an interesting adventure.

It’s been a while since I put up a post in this series, and surprisingly I haven’t included this little gem until today. Seriously, with the exception of a side plank, there aren’t many moves that work on lateral core stability without incorporating some form of rotation.

ARVE Error: id and provider shortcodes attributes are mandatory for old shortcodes. It is recommended to switch to new shortcodes that need only url

Why I like it

From the arm raised needing scapular stability, plus the rotational capacity of the hips and spinal stability through lateral flexion, this one movement packs a punch as far as everything that it does at once.

How to do it

Take a slightly wider than normal stance, and rotate your hips towards the direction you’ll be going. Making sure to keep the arm with the weight absolutely vertical underneath your shoulder, begin lowering to the side, trying to make the hips do all the moving and avoiding any bending of the spine. Keep your eyes on the kettlebell so you can tell if it begins wobbling and is ready to fall on your jug.

Additionally, I wanted to give a quick shout out to all my clients who completed the Run for the Cure this past weekend. You guys are all awesome for giving a small part of your time to help out a big cause. I’ve worked in a research facility where grants were awarded from the Canadian Breast Cancer foundation, so I know first-hand how the money is being spent and how much of a difference it makes in a lot of people’s lives.

Have a great Monday!!