Soft style = cursive, hard style = typewritten

Intro


Yesterday i had a client who has been trained in the hard style of kettlebell lifting for six years. She did not know that it is hard style, neither did she know that there is a more soft style of lifting the kbs. Never been told all this nonsense.


After some explanations on the theory of efficiency and performance of elite kb lifters, she still was not convinced. So i just let her go.


The premise of what is proper technique is fundamentally different so you can't even argue in the same language.

Let me just say that i am neither for nor against hard style, though my style is soft style. As has been discussed, explained, debated by various coaches like Scott Sonnon, Steve Cotter, Catherine Imes et al, there is a place for either style in an athlete's journey with kbs.

In Circular Strength Training (CST), there is this very important concept of sophistication. It means starting from the simple and evolving to the complex. This is contra the keep it simple stupid mentality. You can stay at the simple level all your life if you want, but you would get stuck in simplistic stupidity.


I don't care so much if my clients are doing hard style or soft style. As has been mentioned many times, if there are ten people competing in kb lifting, you would see ten different techniques. Though the techniques are different, the basics of sound biomechanics are the same. Kb lifting techniques are skills.

All skills have to be learnt from the same basics. Just like how you learned to write (or insert another skill demanding activity). You need to learn how to hold the pen properly, how to sit properly, form your letters after a standard design etc. But over time you develop your own style of calligraphy. Some write cursive, some write in print etc.

The basic design of the alphabets are the same, an A looks like an A, a B looks like a B etc, yet they have may have different proportions here and there.

Same is kb lifting technique. To put it in short, soft style is a higher sophistication skill than hard style. Soft style is cursive, while hard style is typewritten.

Anybody who is strong enough can brute force his way in kb lifting. Do you notice that the top performers in hard style lifting are the huge strong guys?

But for skinny people like me, i have to rely on finesse to get that steel ball over my head. And even if you have loads of brute force, wouldn't you want to save energy so that you can lift heavier and longer?

My background

I started with soft style, before i went to the Russian Kettlebell Challenge cert (Pavel's RKC book did not mention hard style or soft style). I only know what is efficient and what is inefficient. I only know that i must use as little strength as possible to lift the bells. I only know that i had an injured shoulder so i must use my arms as little as possible. I only know that i cannot use brute force because being skinny that is what i lack.

I switched to hard style after being educated in the RKC.


However, still i lacked brute force. So to improve my numbers, i switched back to soft style.


So this is me, and why i do soft style.

The situation with my clients

For clients who come to me with some prior kb lifting background, usually i do not convert their swing to the soft style even if they are hard style. However the main problem with these athletes is that when they start to clean, it becomes awful. Often the clean looks like a cheat curl and does not land in the proper spot on the wrist.


Let me emphasize that this is biomechanically unsound. Supporting the kb on any part of the hand other than the hip of the hand is asking for injury. You are relying on the strength of your forearm to support the weight instead of using your skeletal structure to do that. Do this long enough your wrists would scream in pain.


I find that the hard style clean is not easy to perform. With compensatory acceleration technique, your hand would be pulling on the handle through the whole movement of the clean.


Soft style on the other hand, has the bell stationary at the top of the clean. If you applied the pulling force properly on the bell, i.e. in the middle of the feet, short and sharp pull, the bell should feel weightless on the way up (projectile motion).


Now we know that to thrust the hand into the bell, the bell needs to be weightless. It is so much harder to thrust the hand in when you are pulling on the handle at the same time (F = µN, friction is proportional to normal reaction force). So the soft style is much much better for the clean.


Clients' progression


Usually clients who start with the hard style swing would have problems cleaning due to the reasons stated above. And i have to switch them to soft style so that they can thrust their hand deep into the handle.



However, if i meet clients who do hard style and clean/snatch to the hip of the hand properly, i won't change their style. I haven't met any though.