Aleks Salkin - Free kettlebell and bodyweight workouts
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    • The 5 Point Kettlebell Checklist
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    • The Most Asked Question: Part 2
    • 6 Things Most Kettlebell Instructors Don't Know
    • 10 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start A Kettlebell Workout
    • How Much Should I Pay for Kettelbell Workouts Training?
    • How to put 100 lbs over your head with 1 arm
    • How Do I Know if Kettlebells Are Right for Me?
    • The 7 Most Frequent Questions About Kettlebells
    • The 90-year plan
    • How to become a T-1000 (a review of Flexible Steel)
    • It's not about the bell: 3 Lessons From an RKC Workshop in Israel
    • How To Choose The Right Personal Trainer
    • How To Make Your Snatch Test Easier
    • 40 Days, (Almost) 40 Lessons
    • What is Fitness Minimalism?
    • Clean up your kettlebell clean in 2 steps
    • Why you MUST make your resistance training harder
    • Get Fitter WITHOUT Beating Your Body Up
    • Get Stronger WITHOUT Adding Weight
    • Original Strength For Brute Strength
    • How To Leap Forward After A Layoff
    • 6 Workout Tips For The Newbie Lifter
    • How to persuade your body to hand over new results
    • Best Exercises You're Not Doing: The Pullover
    • How To Break Plateaus In Your Training
    • 5 20-minute, fat-blasting workouts >
      • The Top 5 Reasons YOU Should Get Strong
      • The 3 Things Your Personal Trainer Forgot To Tell You
      • The 2 Lessons You MUST Learn To Improve Your Fitness
    • The Surest Path To Success
    • The 3 Cheapest Ways To Get Fitter And Healthier
    • How to avoid a shitty personal trainer
    • When should I jump to a new program?
    • Get noticeably stronger in 10 seconds
    • Should you abandon the basics?
    • 1 Simple Reason To Love Kettlebells
    • How to build "Old Man Strength"
    • Improve your recovery for faster gains
    • Secrets of Old School Strength
    • You HAVE to train your core
    • A Few Honest-To-God Strength Shortcuts
    • How To Succeed With A Personal Trainer
    • The Fast/Slow Program For Superior Gains
    • The Crawl and Carry Workout that Boosts Strength and Muscle
  • Free Calisthenics Info
    • How to get your first pullup at 50 years old
    • From Bodyweight To Heavyweight: Mining the 1-arm/1-leg pushup for a heavier press
    • The Anytime, Anywhere Bodyweight Strength Program
    • Primal Move: Answer The Call
    • Capture The Flag
    • Crawl your way to a 1-arm pushup
    • What's a Joint Like You Doin' In a Person Like This?
    • Improve your back flexibility with one move
    • 2 handstand "hacks" for faster progress
    • It's Hip To Grip
    • From Body Weight To Heavy Weight
    • From Bodyweight To Heavyweight Pt. 2: Calisthenics For Iron Domination
    • Unjack Your Back
    • Handstand pushups: for legendary upper body power
    • How To Prepare For Your First Handstand
    • How to Kick Ass At Bodyweight Workouts
    • Improve your cardio with 2 bodyweight drills
    • The 10-Second Ab Workout
    • Roll, Rock, and Crawl Your Fat Off
    • Bodyweight Detours For Greater Strength
    • Your Eyes, Your Legs, and Bodyweight Strength
    • Dead Bugs For Life! >
      • The #1 Bodyweight Exercise For Bigger Shoulders and Arms
      • The #1 Step Toward Greater Fitness
    • "Do I really NEED to stretch?"
    • You DON'T need a gym to get fit
    • Find The Right Trainer/Program: Pt. 1
    • Little Things Add Up
    • Fit In A Few Minutes (No Excuses Workouts)
    • Bigger Arms With Bodyweight: Rope Climbing
    • Get better at 1 arm pushups (without doing them)
    • Stop Looking For Fitness Hacks
    • Old School Health and Strength Done Right
    • The Top 5 Reasons YOU Should Be Obsessed With Bodyweight Training
    • A Cool Crawling Workout
    • How (and Why) To Train Around An Injury
    • Exercise Vs. Movement: Which is better?
    • How to Build Brute Strength With Bodyweight Only
    • Five 20-Minute, No Equipment Workouts
    • Why Bodyweight Training Is Important
    • The Fast/Slow Method For Steady Strength Gains
    • Crawl your way to better fitness
    • The Top 5 Reasons YOU should be obsessed with calisthenics training
    • The "Suicide Solution" For Conditioning Gains
    • The No-Equipment Workout To Improve Your Cardio
    • Thank You KBBW
  • Store
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  • Free 1-Arm Pushup Report
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What's a joint like you doing in a person like this?


“If it’s important, do it every day.  If it’s not important, don’t do it at all.”
– World famous wrestling coach Dan Gable


More often than not, when people ask me “what should I be adding to my routine?” I tell them to stop adding and start subtracting.  If you can get rid of all but a few key moves (swings and getups come to mind), why add more?  I think most people reading this blog would probably agree that doing more with less kicks more ass than vice versa.

As always though, there’s an exception.  And it’s not a “move” per se, but an element of training that people ignore: Joint training.

Why joint training?  Simple: You’re only as strong as your weakest point, and since joints are complex, moving parts, for most people they’re susceptible to aches, pains, and injuries.  When I discovered kettlebells in 2008, I also discovered joint mobility and flexibility a la Pavel’s masterworks Super Joints and Relax Into Stretch.  I immediately started adding them to my daily diet of activities, and to great success.  I have a lot better flexibility and mobility than the average muscle head, and that coupled with smart training is what I credit my relative lack of injuries to over the years.  Not surprisingly, the times when I’ve gotten lazy and stopped practicing joint training and flexibility have been the times when I’ve dealt with more aches, pains, immobility and stiffness. 

I’m not one to toot my own horn, but…TOOT TOOT!  My flexibility and mobility is often the envy of friends, fellow trainers and SFGs.  I’ve heard more than a few times “I think a lot of your mobility is genetic.”  There may be some truth to this, just like there may be some truth to the claim “I think a lot of your strength is just genetic.”  It’s mostly a cop-out.  I’m not flexible when I don’t practice, just like I’m not strong when I don’t practice.  If you care about your strength, you practice it.  If you care about improving strength for your whole life, you might want to consider training your joints.

The good news is that you don’t need to add much or devote much time to it.  My whole daily routine looks like this:

·         Super Joints moves
·         The Trifecta (from Convict Conditioning 2)
·         Rolling, rocking, and crawling drills from Becoming Bulletproof

This takes me all of about 17 minutes.  You don’t even have to do it all at once – some days I’ll split it up if I’m short on time.  But I believe in it, and I think a lot of people would be better off if they stopped viewing it as some “sissy” thing and started taking it seriously.  I consistently hit PRs in my training, so joint training and flexibility work obviously hasn’t gotten in the way. 

As I said before, I’m a bigger fan of subtraction than addition, but there are always exceptions.  IF you add just one thing to your physical training, I recommend it be the Trifecta from Convict Conditioning 2.  The Trifecta consists of three calisthenics holds: A bridge hold, a L-sit, and a twist hold.  Check out the video for a tongue-in-cheek demo.
 For a lot of people, lack of joint/flexibility training leads to knots, nodules, and other unfun crap to build up in your muscles.  I had a super tight lower back that a very good chiropractor and massage therapist couldn’t fix, and the Trifecta made short work of it.  I have had no back issues to speak of for weeks, and fixing it up didn’t cost me a damn thing, save for the cost of the book!  Click here to learn more about ConvictConditioning 2 and start becoming a better man or woman.
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  • Home
  • Meet Aleks
  • Workshops
  • Free Kettlebell Info
    • The 5 Point Kettlebell Checklist
    • The Most Asked Question
    • The Most Asked Question: Part 2
    • 6 Things Most Kettlebell Instructors Don't Know
    • 10 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start A Kettlebell Workout
    • How Much Should I Pay for Kettelbell Workouts Training?
    • How to put 100 lbs over your head with 1 arm
    • How Do I Know if Kettlebells Are Right for Me?
    • The 7 Most Frequent Questions About Kettlebells
    • The 90-year plan
    • How to become a T-1000 (a review of Flexible Steel)
    • It's not about the bell: 3 Lessons From an RKC Workshop in Israel
    • How To Choose The Right Personal Trainer
    • How To Make Your Snatch Test Easier
    • 40 Days, (Almost) 40 Lessons
    • What is Fitness Minimalism?
    • Clean up your kettlebell clean in 2 steps
    • Why you MUST make your resistance training harder
    • Get Fitter WITHOUT Beating Your Body Up
    • Get Stronger WITHOUT Adding Weight
    • Original Strength For Brute Strength
    • How To Leap Forward After A Layoff
    • 6 Workout Tips For The Newbie Lifter
    • How to persuade your body to hand over new results
    • Best Exercises You're Not Doing: The Pullover
    • How To Break Plateaus In Your Training
    • 5 20-minute, fat-blasting workouts >
      • The Top 5 Reasons YOU Should Get Strong
      • The 3 Things Your Personal Trainer Forgot To Tell You
      • The 2 Lessons You MUST Learn To Improve Your Fitness
    • The Surest Path To Success
    • The 3 Cheapest Ways To Get Fitter And Healthier
    • How to avoid a shitty personal trainer
    • When should I jump to a new program?
    • Get noticeably stronger in 10 seconds
    • Should you abandon the basics?
    • 1 Simple Reason To Love Kettlebells
    • How to build "Old Man Strength"
    • Improve your recovery for faster gains
    • Secrets of Old School Strength
    • You HAVE to train your core
    • A Few Honest-To-God Strength Shortcuts
    • How To Succeed With A Personal Trainer
    • The Fast/Slow Program For Superior Gains
    • The Crawl and Carry Workout that Boosts Strength and Muscle
  • Free Calisthenics Info
    • How to get your first pullup at 50 years old
    • From Bodyweight To Heavyweight: Mining the 1-arm/1-leg pushup for a heavier press
    • The Anytime, Anywhere Bodyweight Strength Program
    • Primal Move: Answer The Call
    • Capture The Flag
    • Crawl your way to a 1-arm pushup
    • What's a Joint Like You Doin' In a Person Like This?
    • Improve your back flexibility with one move
    • 2 handstand "hacks" for faster progress
    • It's Hip To Grip
    • From Body Weight To Heavy Weight
    • From Bodyweight To Heavyweight Pt. 2: Calisthenics For Iron Domination
    • Unjack Your Back
    • Handstand pushups: for legendary upper body power
    • How To Prepare For Your First Handstand
    • How to Kick Ass At Bodyweight Workouts
    • Improve your cardio with 2 bodyweight drills
    • The 10-Second Ab Workout
    • Roll, Rock, and Crawl Your Fat Off
    • Bodyweight Detours For Greater Strength
    • Your Eyes, Your Legs, and Bodyweight Strength
    • Dead Bugs For Life! >
      • The #1 Bodyweight Exercise For Bigger Shoulders and Arms
      • The #1 Step Toward Greater Fitness
    • "Do I really NEED to stretch?"
    • You DON'T need a gym to get fit
    • Find The Right Trainer/Program: Pt. 1
    • Little Things Add Up
    • Fit In A Few Minutes (No Excuses Workouts)
    • Bigger Arms With Bodyweight: Rope Climbing
    • Get better at 1 arm pushups (without doing them)
    • Stop Looking For Fitness Hacks
    • Old School Health and Strength Done Right
    • The Top 5 Reasons YOU Should Be Obsessed With Bodyweight Training
    • A Cool Crawling Workout
    • How (and Why) To Train Around An Injury
    • Exercise Vs. Movement: Which is better?
    • How to Build Brute Strength With Bodyweight Only
    • Five 20-Minute, No Equipment Workouts
    • Why Bodyweight Training Is Important
    • The Fast/Slow Method For Steady Strength Gains
    • Crawl your way to better fitness
    • The Top 5 Reasons YOU should be obsessed with calisthenics training
    • The "Suicide Solution" For Conditioning Gains
    • The No-Equipment Workout To Improve Your Cardio
    • Thank You KBBW
  • Store
  • What Others Are Saying
  • Free 1-Arm Pushup Report
  • Contact