Life is better with strength and endurance. That’s our credo. Because when you have both, you have access to more life – in the present and in the future.
We spend each training session at Beyond Strength developing one, the other, or both. So, it only makes sense for us to do a challenge that tests both.
We didn’t, however, think this challenge up. And it came to us via some pretty gnarly dudes. Like your favorite superhero, the Kettlebell Mile has a sweet origin story.
“Get in the Truck!”
“The guys got me to workout with them today.”
Chris opened a phone call with that sometime last year. He and I often check in our drives to and from Quantico. That day he’d gone down to work with some of our tactical gentlemen, and they pressured him into working out with them.
“There’s hardly anyone here to train, grab a 24kg bell and get in the truck.”
[at this rate the 24’s were taken, so Chris had to resort to a 20kg]
Chris hopped in the truck, and they drove across the street to the track. Then Chris did his first ever kettlebell mile.
The guys mentioned that they learned about the kettlebell mile in an article on the StrongFirst website. Mike Prevost, who might be the most credentialed exercise physiologist in the country, penned the piece. He talks about research he did while working at the Naval Academy to test protocols for building strength and endurance at the same time. Prevost was looking for a crossover point in which he could train strength and endurance at the simultaneously without the negative effects of too much heavy rucking. He was working with a lot of runners at the time and noticed that during V02max testing, fatigue caused cross over gait. (It’s a phenomenon in which feet cross over the mid line of the body instead of remaining parallel to each other while in gait. It happens because of weakness and instability in the lateral part of the hip.) The combination of training populations to move better under load and correcting for gait inefficiencies in runners led Prevost to develop the kettlebell mile.
Research has shown that gait efficiency goes to hell quickly when a person carries 35% of their body weight or more. Inefficient gait means wasted energy. It also means disproportionate joint loading and potential injury cascade. At the other end of the spectrum, training for that population seemed too easy when loads were 20% or under. Prevost decided the sweet spot for building strength and endurance without hampering loaded gait, and to help correct the gait of his runners with cross over syndrome, was between 20% and 30% of body weight. He started with loaded packs, but along the way switched a single kettlebell in a suitcase hold.
How did he generalize 20% to 30% of body weight to most people?
For most dudes, 24 kilo grams, or 53 pounds, fits that bill.
16 kilograms, or 35 pounds, works for most ladies.
Prevost noticed that training with the kettlebell mile improved the runners cross over gait while also finding a sweet spot where strength and aerobic capacity training meet.
(We’ve heard NASA physiologists are also now using and researching the kettlebell mile.)
Chris was pretty jacked up about it when he told me on the phone. So, that weekend I grabbed a kettlebell from my garage and hit the pavement around my neighborhood.
The Kettlebell Mile Becomes a Beyond Strength Challenge
It kept happening. Chris would show up to train the guys, and they’d go do the kettlebell mile. And he started occasionally doing it at home. Then I kept doing it. We wanted to see how fast we could finish the mile while keeping one foot on the ground at all times. That means without running. Chris finished a kettlebell mile in sub-12 minutes. That’s cooking. My best time is sub-13 minutes. Remember, sports fans, that’s without running.
We’re always on the hunt for fun, safe challenges to do with our Beyond Strength family. Since the weather’s breaking, we figured it’s time to get everyone outside, push ourselves, and have a good time. What better way to do that with a test that helps us live out our credo by testing our strength and endurance at the same time?
Now, on May 20th, we’re hosting the first ever, Beyond Strength Kettlebell Mile. All are welcome, and we’re going to hang out and grill out afterwards. You even get a sweet t-shirt for registering.
But you have to register by Sunday, May 7th 2023 at 8:00am EST.
We have the kettlebells. You just have to come kick ass.
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