Moving through the mountains – whether you’re climbing, hiking, skiing, or mountain biking – imposes a different set of physical demands than flat, level ground. Meeting the challenge requires you to put out power consistently for hours (or even days) at a time. Kettlebell training is one way athletes can prepare for the demands of the mountains.
Here’s why kettlebell training is ideal for mountain athletes and how to program your own kettlebell training routine for a stronger and more resilient body.
Why Kettlebells Make Sense for Mountain Athletes
The first checkbox for tailoring strength work to mountain pursuits is thinking differently about what it asks of your body.
“A lot of athletes make the mistake of thinking that being a mountain athlete just needs endurance, but if you’re going up Denali, you’ll have a 50-pound pack and a 40-pound sled, so it’s now a strength-endurance event,” said Derek Toshner, a keen alpinist, fitness entreprener, and five-time NCAA track champion. “You can’t build strength endurance if you don’t have any strength to endure.”
So what makes the kettlebell an ideal tool for uphill and downhill athletes’ strength work?
“I always come back to the thick handle, offset center of gravity, and loaded eccentric position,” said Brett Jones, director of education for StrongFirst and certified strength and conditioning coach. “The ability to hike the kettlebell with force from a universal athletic position in the swing and snatch, and requirement to absorb and redirect force are money in the bank for every mountain athlete.”
Muscular System and Cardiovascular System at Work
There is also a physiological adaptation component to consider when comparing low-rep kettlebell work with other kinds of resistance training.
“From a purely cardiovascular standpoint, there are some issues with traditional weight training,” Jones said. “As you produce tension, it occludes blood flow in the working muscles. When this happens, you increase pressure. So now your heart has to push through that pressure to try to keep the blood flowing, which over time can lead to thickening and stiffening of the left ventricle. Whereas with kettlebell training, the muscular system is working with the cardiovascular system, and there’s a huge amount of blood coming back into the heart. You get a nice stretch of the left ventricle, a strong contraction, and keep the blood flowing.”
Kettlebell Training vs. Barbell Exercises and Plyometrics
One criticism some might make about kettlebell training is that compared to Olympic or powerlifting, the load per rep is much lower. Toshner believes that’s shortsighted, and not just because research conducted by ACE Fitness has demonstrated how effective kettlebells can be at developing both aerobic capacity and strength in short amount of time.
“Studies have shown that during kettlebell swings, participants generate a similar amount of force as when doing a heavy deadlift,” Toshner said. “Then you add in the benefits you get from the explosive element of the exercise.”
Some people rely on plyometrics–such as box and depth jumps and side-to-side bounds–to develop power. But while this style of training has its place, it might not be the best thing for a mountain athlete to build a daily movement practice around.
“You’re going to produce three to three and a half times your body weight in eccentric load at the bottom of a swing,” Jones said. “You could get much greater impact forces from plyometrics, but these can wear you down over time. In some ways, a swing is like a vertical leap without the landing, so you can do it every day, whereas you’d have to rest for two or three days between plyometric sessions.”
Rethinking Sets and Reps
While you still need to build your aerobic base for mountain sports, there’s an increasingly robust body of evidence showing that strength training can also improve power endurance and cardiorespiratory fitness. Jones recently released a book titled Iron Cardio, which includes programming that turns conventional strength and conditioning notions on their head.
Much like Pavel Tsatsouline (the “father” of modern-day kettlebell training) discovered when testing his protocols, Jones found that doing high-rep sets (say 15 to 30 reps) with a lighter weight wasn’t the most effective method. Rather, completing a lower number of reps with more sets and moderate weight is often more beneficial.
Toshner said that another reason to put weight overhead–such as during a kettlebell snatch–is that it increases the cardiovascular demands on your body (not to mention increasing shoulder and scapular stability).
“Eventually, if you stick with a program centered on kettlebell swings, your heart rate while you’re doing them will start to decrease,” he said. “But as soon as you continue the momentum overhead in a snatch, you’ll see your heart rate increase again.”
Maximize Training With Low-Rep, Anti-Glycolytic “Traveling” Sets
Another variation of this method is to combine single repetitions of multiple exercises in one set. So for example, Jones performs a kettlebell clean, overhead press, and a squat with his left hand, does likewise with his right, and then rests 30 seconds before repeating the series. He completes between 20 and 60 sets per session.
Toshner mixes up this “traveling” set approach by combining low reps of several different movements in a single set separated by a similar rest period to the one Jones utilizes. For example, he does three two-handed kettlebell swings, three box jumps, and three medicine ball slams. “This has similar cardio benefits to high zone 2 or low zone 3 training, to the degree that Garmin and Polar devices recognize it as a purely aerobic session,” he said.
This low-rep approach creates less mechanical stress than high-rep sets so you don’t feel too sore the next day. The lower reps might also place the central nervous system under less duress, as the work period is only 20 to 30 seconds. Plus, unlike high-intensity interval training (HIIT), low-rep, high-set training is anti-glycolytic training (AGT). This means that the body produces less waste products and doesn’t make your muscles feel like they’re on fire.
Unlock Your Athletic Potential
Get tips, resources and inspiration for your journey to Peak Performances sent directly to your inbox weekly.
Designing Your Own Kettlebell Program
Toshner said that a solid way for a beginner to design an anti-glycolytic (AGT)kettlebell program is to simply invert the set and rep scheme you’d usually employ to reach a certain total volume. So for example, instead of doing five sets of 20 reps, switch that around to 20 sets of five reps. Doing this reduces lactic acid buildup, avoids the power drop-off typically seen in higher rep sets, and builds strength endurance effectively.
“This kind of training also increases motor unit recruitment,” Jones added. “Let’s say it initially took you 1,000 motor units to perform a movement. As you repeat it over time with low-rep sets, your body will become more efficient, and eventually you might only need 500 units. Then you have 500 in reserve for when you’re going long in the mountains.”
TrainingPeaks makes it easy to design your own kettlebell program with the Strength Builder tool. Find your exercise in our library of 1,000+ exercises, add it to your training, and see it all in one place alongside your running, cycling, or climbing workouts.
Work Backward from Current Capacity
In both individual and team sports, it’s common practice for strength coaches to measure athletes’ 1RM in multiple exercises during the preseason. They then use this to evaluate training and nervous system load and adjust programming as needed when they reassess these marks during the competitive calendar.
Toshner pursues a similar kind of rolling PR system when training his mountain athletes, but with three kettlebell swings, three medicine ball slams, and three squat or box jumps. Here’s how this session looks and informs the other two weekly workouts if you’re training three times a week:
Session One: Repeat the pattern described above until you reach a stop sign, which could be form deteriorating, power dropping off, or breathing pattern becoming misaligned with the movement (e.g. huffing and puffing during a set)
Session Two: Do 80 percent of the volume achieved in session one
Session Three: Do 60 percent of the volume achieved in session one
Sample Kettlebell Strength Training Program for Mountain Sports
Here’s how a program might look when combined with climbing, hiking, skiing, or whatever other mountain sports you like to do in a seven-day program:
Monday
- Three swings, three medicine ball slams, three squat jumps + one minute rest
- Repeat until you:
- Lose quickness or your form changes
- Feel a “burn,” indicating glycolysis
- Cannot maintain one breath per rep or pass a talk test (being able to speak without feeling shortness of breath) before the next set
- Reach 60 minutes
Tuesday
- Load a backpack or rucking vest with 20 percent of your body weight
- Choose a box that’s 3/4 length of your sitting knee height
- Perform step-ups at 60-70 percent max HR, maintaining one breath per step for 30 to 45 minutes
- Change the weight or box height to maintain the target HR range
- Add core work, such as hollow rocking, ab wheel rollouts, dragon flags, or front levers to finish
Wednesday
- Do your sport
OR
- Do strength exercises like pull-ups, one-arm push-ups, and pistol squats
- You can also add in some core exercises such as hollow rocking, ab wheel rollouts, dragon flags, or front levers
Thursday
- Repeat Monday’s workout, but with only 60 to 80 percent of its total duration
Friday
- Yoga
OR
- Stability kettlebell movements, such as get-ups, windmills, and knee stability drills
- Use a kettlebell that’s 15 percent of your bodyweight and perform these exercises without setting the bell down for 45 to 60 minutes
- Move slowly to maintain an HR of 65 to 75 percent max
- Do farmer’s carries if your heart rate gets beyond that range
- Switch sides or exercises if you’re feeling the burn
Saturday
- Step-ups (same metrics as Tuesday)
- Go for up to 60 minutes
AND
- Do your sport
Sunday
- Active rest day
The theory is that each time you repeat session one, your capacity will have increased. For example, if you managed 30 minutes initially, this might increase to 35 minutes in week two and 40 in week three.
The number of reps will remain capped at five, but the amount of sets should increase, indicating physiological adaptations, like an uptick in mitochondrial activity, increased motor unit recruitment, and elevated cardiovascular efficiency. If the numbers keep trending up, it’s a sign that you’re also staying strong longer, which comes in handy during a multiday hike or nailing run after run on the ski hill.
There’s the possibility of almost infinite variation in the kind of training sessions Jones and Toshner do themselves and prescribe for mountain athletes. The keys to nailing the basics are to break down your total workload into more sets of less reps, keep your movements explosive and technique solid, and end the workout if quality or speed decline or your heart rate stays above the low zone three range.
References
Busse, M., & Kwast, S. (2015, December). Force, power and physiological load during kettlebell swings. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305279809_Force_power_and_physiological_load_during_kettlebell_swings
Jones, B. Iron Cardio. Retrieved from https://appliedstrength.com/iron-cardio/
Kingstone, M. (2018, Febrauary 28). Understanding Why “Less Is More” with Anti-Glycolytic Training. Retrieved from https://www.strongfirst.com/understanding-why-less-is-more-with-anti-glycolytic-training/
Luiz Vancini, R., et al. (2019, March 27). Kettlebell Exercise as an Alternative to Improve Aerobic Power and Muscle Strength. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6458586/
Schnettler, C., et al. (2010, January). Kettlebells: Twice the Results in Half the Time? Retrieved from https://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/Kettlebells012010.pdf
Tsatsouline, P. (2023, December 12). How to Navigate the Strong Endurance Universe. Retrieved from https://www.strongfirst.com/how-to-navigate-the-strong-endurance-universe/
