Today I want to share with you an exercise I call the Kettlebell Grappling Rows. I grew up learning martial arts; judo, jiu jitsu, kajukenbo, and recently lua. One thing that is universal in all of them is your pulling strength. Now pulling strength isn’t only important for martial arts, it’s important for proper posture and overall strength as well. I’ve been playing around with the kettlebell and researching exercises to add to the toolbox. Pavel Tsatsouline has been an awesome resource with his books, interviews, and site – Strong First When you search for exercises for pulling strength, especially for martial arts, the main exercise you will come across are pull-up variations. While I believe pull-ups are superior for showing relative strength and you don’t find many weak people who can perform pull-ups, I found that the KB Grappling Row could have a just as good transfer of strength for pulling movements in martial arts.
The KB Grappling Row
The benefits I’ve learned with the KB Grappling Row:
- Improves back strength
- Focuses on shoulder retraction
- Improves grip strength
- Activates total body tension
- Hamstring and glutes are stimulated
- Improves muscular strength endurance
These are just a few of the benefits but the KB Grappling Row is great challenge. You can perform this exercise with straight reps or as a bat wing row and hold the contraction for time. When you see KB rows done, they are usually performed single arm, double arm, in a split stance, and sometimes with a towel or rope between the handles to build grip strength. The KB Grappler Row trumps those exercises. Another aspect of the KB Grappling Row that makes it challenging is the change of levels when lifting the kettlebell up and down. Unlike dumbbells, the weight of kettlebells is offset and unbalanced. Mark de Grasse over at Onnit Academeny wrote a great article about the main difference between kettlebells and dumbbells. (Read it, Here) Lastly, I never seen an exercise like this before done yet, so I’m calling dibs!
How to do the KB Grappling Row
The set up of the kb grappling row is similar to a regular kb row. Instead of holding the kettlebell at the handles you will be holding the bell with the bottom facing up. Starting Position:
- Have the kettlebell placed on the floor on its side
- Safely pick up the kettlebell pressing your hands on the side of the bell
- Stand straight up with kettlebell’s bottom up and arms straight
- Position yourself in a bent over row position by hinging at the hips
Execution
- Grappling with the kettlebell’s uncooperative weight
- Keep your back neutral and neck neutral or slightly extended
- Pull kettlebell up towards your lower chest and pause at the top position before starting the next rep
As you lower the weight, you will feel your grip and back engage again because the kettlebell will want to continue its downward direction. Again, you can perform this exercise for straight reps, or you can hold it in the top position for time (10 seconds) while grappling with the weight of the kettlebell. Give the Kettlebell Grappling Row a try, and let me know how it works out.
