This is my Russian Kettlebell Blog and Fitness Blog. Check it out daily for posts and videos on weight loss, athletic improvement and motivation. Kettlebell daily workouts, kettlebell routines, powerlifting, strongman and fitness, weight loss and bodybuilding.
With the New Year's resolution two weeks of fitness crowd assaulting the gym, it has been a little tougher to use all the equipment I prefer. This isn't the end of the world though, all it means is we serious trainees have to improvise and get creative sometimes.
Wednesday was a Max Effort bench workout, the purpose being to strengthen the muscles that drive the competition bench press. My plan was to do floor presses or perhaps strict military presses as the Max Effort movement. Unfortunately all the power racks and platforms were taken by silly little men who will quit in a few weeks.
Instead I had to do Illegal Wide Grip Bench Presses. These are not a bad exercise, in fact I had not done them in years, so there really was no harm done. If you train at a busy gym the key is to have several tools in your shed before you walk into the weight room. That way you don't panic and have to wait for someone to finish.
Here was my workout:
Illegal Wide Bench Press, work up to a 6 rep max
Barbell JM Press, 4 x 5-8
Machine Rows 4 x 6-8
Seated Dumbbell Clean and Press 3 x 10
Face Pulls 4 x 10
Cable Triceps Extensions 4 x 10
Standing Cable Crunches 4 x 10
The Illegal Wide Bench Press was done for a max of 6 reps because Louie Simmons prescribes this many in his articles. I think it is to lessen the stress on the shoulder capsule, but I am not totally sure. Anyways, my triceps and upper back were sore as heck only hours after the session so it seems to have been a fruitful training session. That is more than I can say about the weirdo bouncing on the bosu ball for 20 minutes straight doing strange arm movements.
Anyways, here is a video of the Illegal Wide Bench Press to give you an idea, just put your hands outside the farthest rings.
1. After a holiday season of too much beer, food, chocolate, beer, late nights, junk and beer (!) a great start is to eliminate a whole bunch of junk from your diet. There are an entire category of "cleanses" and diets out there but my favorite is from Dax Moy - and is entitled simply the "Elimination Diet".
This involves eliminating caffeine, alcohol, wheat, red meat, sugar, artificial sweeteners and dairy amongst others. It's tough but you'll feel great at the end. Couple of bonuses - you'll probably lose 4 or 5lbs during the first week, and more importantly it's completely free here!
You can even pick up a useful Elimination diet cookbook, which will make it a lot easier here.
2. Make a commitment to lose the unwanted pounds. Write it down and make it specific. Saying that you want to lose weight is not enough. Saying how much and how you are going to do it by when is far more powerful. And WRITE IT DOWN.
For example:
I am going to lose 12lbs of fat by March 1st 2009
I will do this by exercising six days per week for a minimum of 30 mins
I will resistance train three times per week for a minimum of 45 mins.
I will meet with a trainer at least once a week for my resistance training sessions.
I will then continue on a three times per week program including 30 mins of resistance training and 30 mins of cardio for the next 6 weeks.
I will cut 500 calories from my diet and track this using fitday.com
3. Maximize your cardio training by using a heart rate monitor. You wouldn't lift weights for a completely random number of sets and reps with an arbitrarily chosen weight - but many people follow up their resistance training with a cardio program that involves just riding the bike or running on the treadmill. Get specific with a good heart rate monitor and work at a given heart rate intensity. A good rule is to use the Karvonen formula (220-age-resting heart rate= THR). Work at 85% of your max (0.85 x THR + resting heart rate) for 60s and then recover until your heart rate is below 60% of your max (0.6 x THR + resting heart rate). Repeat that for 4-6 rounds.
4. Work on the quality of your muscle tissue. A regular stretching session from a trainer or sports therapist is a great investment. Failing that making a commitment to stretching regularly on your own is never a bad idea. Ideally though - a regular massage will do wonders for the health of your musculoskeletal system - but if that's not economically viable - then pick up a foam roller.
5. Hire a coach. Outside expertise allows you to focus on your job and commitments and literally just "show up" and let them take care of it for you. Studies have shown that people training when a trainer just supervises (no instruction or coaching) work up to 30% harder than they do on their own. 30% more work translates to significantly faster results - imagine what you could do if that trainer actually pushed you through to harder workouts and designed a program that would work better?If you can't afford a coach three days per week, then hire the best coach in your area once per month and use him or her as a consultant to design your monthly workout and provide third party accountability.
The week has gotten off to a good start! Kettlebell class on Monday and a Max Effort Squat/Deadlift day today is making me feel like a proper athlete again.
The first kettlebell class of 2009 was in no way a break in workout. I can't remember everything we did, but here is a summary of drills.
Mobility work
Body weight warm-up (jumping jacks and sit-ups)
Kettlebell deadlift 2 sets x 20 reps
Kettlebell high pulls 2 sets x 20 reps
Kettlebell two handed swings 3 x 20 reps
Kettlebell cleans 2 x 10 reps
Kettlebell high pull and squat 3 x 16 reps
Kettlebell rainbow press 3 x 10 reps super setted with kettlebell bent over rows 3 x 10
Kettlebell 1 arm floor press 3 x 10 super setted with kettlebell skull crushers 3 x 10
Stretching
This was a pretty tough workout as my blood is still a little "thick" from the holidays. We all got a great sweat going and were huffing and puffing away so I can't complain!
Today I got under the bar and pushed some weight around. It was a max effort squat and deadlift day with the focus being to get stronger of course! Here was the workout:
Box squat, work up to a 1 rep max (in this case and always trying for a personal record)
If you don't know what box squatting is, check out this article by Louie Simmons. He can explain the how's and why's better than I ever will be able to. Now the snatch grip deadlift is new to me, in practice at least, and I am loving it! Just deadlift with a super wide grip. This drill will smoke your upper back and your posterior chain as you have to squat much further down to begin. Give it a try for something different but prepare to be humbled. As for the prowler, for me it is a great finisher. It works your legs, hips and arms and gets you sweating like a fat kid at a swimming pool! Everyone needs to increase their GPP and this is a great tool to do so that will make you stronger at the same time.
I think kettlebell lovers will really enjoy pushing a prowler around. Training with one gives you that same over the top conditioning exercise that we learn to crave!
Source: www.cbsnews.com "One of the toughest parts about getting into shape is finding the time to do it. But, as trainer Ryan Shanahan explains, a workout program using kettlebells could be the solution."
180 lbs kettlebell Flips
This is for the HardCore KettleBell Loverswatch video here :
Shawn Mozen We have re-launched Canadian Kettlebell Magazine with an exciting new look and incredible content. Each issue will cover a wide variety of functional fitness training methods, equipment and interviews with trainers and clients. This months issue is packed with info, video clips and full details on the upcoming Canadian Kettlebell Convention set to take place this May. Read the magazine free online here:
The Holidays are now truly over and it is back to the real world. Thank God! If I drink one more beer, eat one more chocolate or miss one more training session I will become the sloth full overweight Nathan that I hate.
With the return of the real world comes the old routine again. I am embracing my old routine because healthy habits are the key to a healthy lifestyle. It is much easier to train and eat consistently in a manner that reflects your goals when you are in a proper routine.
What I recommend is taking a look at your routine and improving it by making it more active and healthy. Here is an example of a typical North American weekly routine.
Monday-Friday - Wake up after 5-6 hour sleep - Skip breakfast, drive to work, coffee and donut or muffin on the way - Sit at desk for 4 hours, pounding back more coffee - Sit down to eat lunch, fast food or a crappy sandwich - Sit at desk for another 4 hours - Drive home - Sit on couch, exhausted, wait for dinner or order dinner - Sit at table and eat dinner - Sit at desk and work on computer - Sleep
Friday night - Beer and wings?
Saturday and Sunday - Wake up after 7-10 hour sleep - Drive around to run errands - Eat out a few times - Snack way more often - Watch TV and movies - Drink with friends
As you can see this routine is pretty standard for the average person. And as you look at this, it is hard to imagine how all these people don't weight 400 lbs! I mean, when do these people stand? To get to the bathroom or the fridge, that is about it! All this sitting around is terrible for your metabolism and posture, not to mention energy levels. Most people are exhausted all the time, yet do nothing!!!
This routine is not going to get anyone in shape, even if you add in 1 hour of moderate exercise per day (of which only actually happens a few times a week). You can't spend 99% of your time on your ass and expect it to be small!
Here is the routine of an active person with the same desk job, note how they "sneak" in exercise.
Monday-Friday - Wake up after an 7-10 hour sleep - Eat a proper breakfast of proteins, fats and perhaps complex carbs - Walk or bike to work - Sit at desk for 4 hours working, getting up frequently to refill green tea and move around - Snack on almonds and/or hard boiled eggs - Walk/bike to home or gym and get a quick workout in - Sit at desk for another 4 hours, getting up frequently to refill water and move around - Snack on almonds and/or hard boiled eggs - Walk/bike home fast enough to get a sweat going this time - Eat another light, high protein, high fiber snack - Workout hard for 1 hour - Eat a high quality dinner of protein and veggies plus whatever fits your goals - Get to bed early and sleep deeply, possibly supplement with zinc and magnesium
Friday night - Workout then go out to dinner for a healthy meal
Saturday and Sunday - Sleep in - Have a massive breakfast of eggs and veggies - Go exercise or go do an outdoor activity with friends or spouse
What a difference. The healthy routine is so much more active. Commuting to work under your own power has got to be the most important factor here, more so than training. Why? Consistency. If you bike to work, you have to go all the way there, and all the way back every day! You are burning all kinds of extra calories on a daily basis but it won't feel like a workout. Biking or walking to work doesn't take up your time, or coop you up in a gym. It is actually great for improving your mood and overall health. As for the quick workouts on your lunch break, this is a secret of champions. I always train at lunch because it breaks up your work day and allows you a solid 30 minutes to work on whatever your weakness is, be it body fat, mobility or strength. Exercising after work is a given, if you are serious about getting in shape you have to dedicate one hour per day to solid exercise. One the weekend, relax a bit and have fun doing outdoor activities with your loved ones.
The diet of this active person is much different. More calories early in the day, green tea instead of coffee and lot of water. The calories are coming from high protein and high fiber foods instead of processed crap. This person eats to have high energy levels in order to support their active lifestyle.
Is this "active person" mythical and impossible to sustain? Heck no! It is my routine! That's right, I bike or walk to work, I exercise at lunch and then TRAIN after work. I eat a high protein, high fiber and high fat diet, with some carbs coming from natural sources. This routine, or lifestyle really, is achievable for the everyone, you just have to make changes in your life to reflect your goals!
Now if you are one of those people who never have time to train, instead of calling you lazy, check this quick kettlebell workout out:
There is nothing that can ruin a perfectly fine physique faster than a steady diet of beer, chocolate and video games. I just returned from visiting my family in Vancouver Island and cannot believe the amount of junk I packed into my trunk! As a Former Fat Boy I regain weight super fast when I indulge, so I have to nip weight gain in the bud fast before it becomes an all out fatty crisis! Thank God for kettlebells and low carb diets or trimming back down again would be brutal.
Alright, so now that I am back in a controlled environment I call home, here was the workout I did today:
Joint Mobility x 5 mins
Foam Roller x 5 mins
Dynamic Mobility Drills x 5 mins
Body Weight Warm-up (jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups) 3 x 10
1 Kettlebell Swing 4 x 25 suppersetted with 1 Kettlebell Arm Bars 4 x 5 each arm
2 Kettlebell Swing 3 x 15 suerpsetted with Renegade Push-ups 3 x 10
1 Kettlebell Rack Lunge 2 x 10 supersetted with 1 Kettlebell Row 2 x 12
1 Kettlebell Rack Squat and Twist 2 x 6
Stretching (now known as Yoga for some odd reason)
This was a pretty solid workout, not as intense as I like to go but it was more of a break in session for me. The whole workout took about 1 hour so don't tell me you don't have time to stretch and do mobility work!
As for my diet for the next few weeks it is pretty simple, Protein shakes, fish oil and fiber supplements, also known as the velocity diet. It is good to do a serious lean out every two years or so, and I reckon it my turn again.
I will still be training for powerlifting, contrary to popular belief you don't have to eat and look like a lard ass to be a good powerlifter. Leaning out can actually increase your lifts and of course puts you in a lower weight class. My weekly routine for the winter of 2009 will look like this:
Monday: Kettlebell work (GPP)
Tuesday: Max Effort Bench day
Wednesday: Max Effort Squat/Deadlift day
Thursday: Kettlebell work (GPP)
Friday: Upper Body Hypertrophy
Saturday: Lower Body Hypertrophy
This routine does not include mini-workouts I do on my lunch break to improve mobility and work on weak points.
If you are looking for a new kettlebell drill that will get you sweating check out the video below. We do these Halo chops fairly often in kettlebell class and I can tell you they are a great drill!
Three Top Tips to Improve Your Swingby Jamie Lloyd CKT. The swing often gets overlooked as kettlebell students move too quickly to more advanced moves like the snatch. The problem is that if you progress without your foundation in place then you are gonna find it tough. Learning to swing properly will help you to master all other kettlebell moves and make make more difficult moves like snatches seem like a walk in the park . So here are three easy to implement tips that will accelerate your progress on the swings.
Tip #1 — Stay connected. Stand upright and stand tall and hold your arms out in front of you — now bring the arms down to connect to the body — you will find your arms glued to your rib cage (keep it tight to the body on the ribs not the chest). Keep your arms there and push the hips back like you are riding a broomstick. Then snap your hips and leave the arms pinned to your ribcage until the hips finish — then allow the hips to pop the kettlebell off the body. Then repeat.
Tip #2 — Ride The Kettlebell Like A Broomstick. If you have pinned the arms to the ribcage then riding the kettlebell like a broomstick will come natural to you. On the downward swing with the kettlebell do not let it pull out away from you — stay connected so that your arms are glued to your body and sit back through the heels and ride the bell like a broomstick by sticking you butt out behind you which will give you more momentum to perform the swing with less effort.
Tip #3 — Lead With The Hips. Once you have pinned your arms to your body and you are riding the kettlbell like a broomstick, you begin the swing again by extending the hips. Obvious right? However, you should finish the hip snap long before the kettlebell reaches the top of its swing. Once the kettlebell is descending again and you are reconnecting the arms to the body it is the hips that push back first. The knees do not bend down first. Push the hips back first — the knees will bend as a result of the hips moving. So the hips lead the race to the top of the swing and they lead the race to the catch at the bottom of the swing.
Implement these tips on two-arm and one arm swings and you will gain noticeable power and coordination with the swing. Then after practicing the swing use these same tips on your snatches and you will find the kettlebell floating to the top easier than ever.Jamie LloydKettlebell and Strength Coach http://www.russiankettlebellsuk.ning.com/
On Sunday the 21st I had the pleasure of being a guest on Crossfit Radio. You can listen to a recording of the show here http://journal.crossfit.com/audio/
Check out Episode 14 the free clip link is to the right. Neil and I talk about Kettlebells, functional training and I break news on a HUGE Kettlebell event that will be taking place in Canada in May.
Getting Back To Basics By Shaun Cairns, Senior RKC
As a South African rugby player the basics are drilled into us. When the going gets tough the team call is "basics", meaning do the basic stuff right, don't over think it, and don't complicate it, just concentrate on the basics. Any team and any player that focuses on getting the basics right becomes a formidable opponent regardless of the level of competition.
In every sporting endeavor we constantly want to improve, and for many people progress means moving away from the basic drills and doing more esoteric drills as seen on the world wide web. Too many novice gireviks are turning on their computers and trying to imitate some dude on YouTube. Let's get one thing clear here, just because it is on the Internet does NOT mean that it is safe or effective to do. Anybody can post a video on the web; it doesn't mean they know what they are doing.
Ok, so you are not naive and think that every posting on the web is made by an expert, but you still want to progress to doing other exercises. No problem. It has been said that if you don't know what to do with a kettlebell then you have no imagination. This is still true, there are just two pre-requisites. You must first master the basic drills before engaging your imagination, and secondly basic drills should be the bread and butter of your workouts no matter how advanced you are. Do not confuse "basic" with "beginner". When a kid is taught to box they are taught how to throw a jab. You will see many beginners throwing jabs, but you will also see every world champion boxer, since Cane fought with Abel, throw jabs. The only difference is in the execution.
In kettlebells there are two basics you need to master; how to generate power with your hips and how to control a weight overhead. The two basic exercises to teach and to continually reinforce these basics are the swing and the Turkish getup. Never forego these exercises or their many variations in your weekly workout plan; never think you are too good to perform these basics. A while ago my fellow Senior RKC, David Whitley, posted a great workout starting with Turkish getups as the grind exercise for the day, and then moved on to swing and body weight squat ladders. Done with the correct weight and the correct hard style technique this workout will smoke you while at the same time taking care of your strength and endurance requirements.
The next level up in basic exercises will include the clean, squat, snatch, press and row. The first three exercises build on the swing because without the correct power generated from the hips safety and performance will suffer. The last three build on controlling the weight overhead. No typo there. Without either the hip thrust or the ability to handle a weight overhead the snatch performance will suffer. The press is obvious, but maybe the row is not. To correctly control a weight overhead one needs to connect ones arm with ones torso by engaging the back, specifically the lat muscles, thereby pulling the shoulder into its socket and stabilizing the shoulder joint. In the same way when you perform any variation of the row (including the pullup) stabilization of the shoulder joint by the activation of the back muscles is extremely important in performing the movement safely and effectively.
There are seven exercises, swing, Turkish getup, clean, squat, snatch, press, and row, each with multiple variations. Master these basic exercises and keep your workouts simple, safe and effective. Pavel has said it many times, a good General Physical Preparedness program is most times more beneficial than a Sport Specific program. This thinking should be applied to the various kettlebell moves; a good basic exercise program utilizing at least one pull and one push movement is most times more beneficial than a complicated, multi-move program.
Don't confuse basics with beginners. Get back to basics.
Shaun Cairns, Senior RKC is a former competitive swimmer and rugby player, who now holds the honour of being the original "Beast Tamer". Shaun and his wife Marlise own Kettlebells for Africa, the only pure kettlebell instruction facility in Africa. Currently there are 2 training locations, one in Edenvale, Johannesburg and the other in Somerset West just outside of Cape Town. Contact Shaun at shaun@kettlebellsforafrica.co.za
Hello I encourage you to register online for this event. We have been receiving paid registrations already for this event in Feb. Go to our website to see the link and pay on line to avoid disappointment.Happy Holidays.
Dear Kettlebell Planet readers. Thank you for spending time at my blog. I want to write about what you want to read so send me your kettlebell blog post requests! Tell me what you want to read about at: nathan@kettlebellplanet.com.
Hello, my name is Nathan Donahue, owner of bigtimeweightloss.com and kettlebellplanet.blogspot.com. I am focused on helping you achieve your health and fitness goals. So please enjoy my blog and feel free to ask me questions as well.
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