The answers are simpler than you might think…

“Are kettlebells right for me?”

It always surprises me, but people seem to have a misconception about kettlebells.  They think that in order to use them, they must:

1)      Be young
2)      Have a “low mileage” body
3)      Be a stud/studette with years of weightlifting/strength training experience.
4)      Be a natural athlete
5)      Be a man
6)      Be in excellent physical condition already

None of the above is true.  In fact, all of the above are total BS.  Consequently, because so many otherwise capable people are drawn in by their belief in any of the above, people sell themselves short and miss the gravy train of amazing results that they could be getting if they put their fears aside and picked up some iron!

I’m going to give you the short answer: Yes, kettlebells are right for you! If, that is, you can identify with at least ONE of the following categories.

1.  You are tired of getting mediocre results.

Far too many gyms and trainers focus too little on encouraging people to work on progressive exercise – meaning making movements or activities progressively more difficult as time goes on.  The trend instead seems to be focused on putting people through as many different exercises as possible each session and then switching up their exercises each passing class. 

This might be entertaining, but the problem is that you never end up “digging in one direction” as you’re too busy digging little holes all over the place.  Buried treasure is never close to the surface – if you’re going to find a spot and keep digging.  Doing otherwise leaves you being mediocre at a lot of exercises and minimal results to show for any of them since you haven’t stuck with them.

By engaging a skeleton crew of exercises – both kettlebell and bodyweight – as well as their myriad of variations, you can effectively dig toward your buried treasure WITHOUT stalling out and wondering once again “What’s the point of spending time on all this exercise?”

Which leads me to the next category…

2.  You have minimal time to train during the week.

When I was a tad younger, I enjoyed the luxury of being able to take my sweet time while training.  If you’re like most Americans and you have several kids, a full-time job, a house, a variety of bills, and tons of other responsibilities, you probably don’t have the hour and a half to two hours it takes to drive to a gym, wait for others to stop using the machine/station you want to use, shower, and drive back home, all to do it again several more times that week.  You might only have 20 to 45 minutes twice a week to workout, if that.  And if that’s all you have, do you really want to spend your time waiting for a sweaty person to finish up his/her set so you can sit in their sweat and do the same thing? 

The beauty of kettlebell workouts and calisthenics workouts is that they can be done very quickly and effectively WITHOUT zapping your energy or requiring a myriad of equipment.  With the right plan from the right trainer, you can get incredible results quickly and efficiently without beating your head into a wall every time you go to train.  If you enjoy beating your head into a wall when you workout, feel free to stop reading this and smash up your nearest wall.

3.  Work on strength, conditioning, and flexibility all at the same time.

It almost sounds too good to be true, but the nature of kettlebell workouts and calisthenics workouts is such that strength, cardio, and flexibility are not far off from one another.  And given the option, would you rather split up strength, cardio, and flexibility into different sessions, or hit them all at once?

As always though, there’s a caveat.  Poorly programmed and randomized kettlebell workouts and calisthenics workouts won’t make you stronger, more flexible, or better conditioned.  You’ll more than likely end up not far from where you started and with little to show for your otherwise valiant efforts.  You have to know where point A is to get to point B.  Case in point: If someone comes in who can’t touch their toes and has limited flexibility, I work with them on improving what they can and slowly progressing toward a full movement.  They still work on strength and get plenty of cardio from it, and progress toward harder movements and variations once their bodies can handle it. 

All of these things play off each other.  The stronger you are the easier it is to get flexible since you have better control of your muscles.  Likewise, it’s easier to do more work once you’re strong, giving you a path to improving your cardio, and better flexibility means taking the brakes off your body that will keep you from doing more work!  There’s a reason that kettlebells and simple bodyweight training seem miraculous: when done right, they act as a slingshot past what otherwise would seem like insurmountable obstacles and shoot you straight past the finish line toward your goals.

4.  You want something you can do for 90 years, not 90 days.

Various 60-90 day programs popularized by late-night infomercials have helped a lot of people transform themselves, but they still beg the question: What do you do on day 91?  Or 92?  This seems like a minor concern, but it’s not.

If all it took to get in shape for life was 90 days of dedication, everyone’s lives would be a lot simpler.  However, that’s just not the way it works.  Your body adapts to the input you give it, and if you stop sending it all that make-my-body-look-hot input after 90 days, you will end up right back at square one, if not further back. 

90 day programs are meant to be used for 90 days, after which you’re expected to move on to something else (I don’t know how vocally they expect you to do this, but regardless, that’s what your body will expect).  If you aren’t dedicated to a discipline, such as kettlebells or calisthenics (or both!), it’s easy to fall off the wagon. If you constantly have such tools at your disposal, things become much simpler.  Not easier, mind you, just simpler.  You don’t have to keep staying up late to see which late-night infomercial you can buy into next like some weird fad fitness addict. 

A solid, cast-iron kettlebell or two plus a skeleton crew of bodyweight exercises and the myriad of exercise variations available to you with them both will carry you to infinity and beyond if you have the grit to ignore your exercise ADD.  The first kettlebell I ever bought was 35 lbs, and I still use it on a weekly basis (in addition to the dozen other kettlebells that now adorn my personal collection). 

So, do any of the above sound like you?  If so, then it’s a safe bet that kettlebells and calisthenics are right for you.  If you’re ready to stop wiling away in obscurity with ineffective programs, fiddling with plastic and rubber gadgets, and you’re ready to usher some real results into your life, look no further – the kettlebell and your own body are up to the challenge if you are.

For a kettlebell you can pass on to your great-great grandkids, click here.

Cheap?  Expensive?  What do I look for?

The Hidden Question

A question I run into all the time is usually not really a question: it’s a statement with a tacit question hidden inside of it.  The statement?

“My gym is offering kettlebell classes with Johnny Beefcake/ Jane Q. Bodybuilder.  All the kettlebells are tiny and rubber coated, and the class is only, like, $35 a month.  That’s pretty good, right?”

The hidden question?
“How much should I be paying for kettlebell workouts?  Is this a good deal?”

Without trying to sound like a kettlebell snob (and I know I will) the statement above makes me cringe, but the question is a fair one. 

The answer to “how much should I pay for kettlebell workouts?” is the same as with the amount of friends you have and money in your bank account: the more the merrier.

If you’re learning kettlebell techniques from anyone, the person should be a professional.  And when it comes to melting fat off your body like a popsicle on a porch in July, getting a ripped-to-shreds physique like a Greek deity, and feeling confident enough to take on the world every single day, do you want to entrust that to someone who is “dating” kettlebell training knowledge, or someone who is absolutely married to it and deeply in love with it?  Put another way, if you’re having a heart attack, do you want the cheapest cardiologist or the most expensive one?  Who would you rather entrust with your life?

Master your muscles, don’t “confuse” them

The same goes with kettlebell trainers.  Go cheap, get cheap.  Go expensive and experienced, get real results.  I’ll tell you a story: One of my clients – a woman in her fifties who is a high-level executive at a major corporation – hires me to come to her place of work twice a week and train her in the company’s workout facilities.  99% of the time we have the facility to ourselves.  One day, one of her co-workers (another high-level person) had scheduled to meet with his trainer in the facility at the same time.  While his trainer (a beefcake whose arms practically dwarfed my legs – and I’m no chicken-legged punk, either!) was having him do some weird, half-assed quarter squat/half overhead press thrusting motion with two 10 lb kettlebells, she was performing easy farmers carries with two (count ‘em, TWO) 53 lb kettlebells – for a total of 106 lbs at 123 lbs of bodyweight, followed shortly thereafter by several sets of 5 deadlifts with the same kettlebells and Turkish Get Ups with 25 lbs on either arm.  While his trainer was having him struggle through some heretofore unseen variation of bodyweight rows that involved way too much wailing and gnashing of teeth, my client was slowly lowering herself under complete control from a chinup bar after a flexed arm hang.  While his trainer was letting him struggle through some odd variation of knee raises on the ground, my client was doing L-sit holds while hanging from a bar.

Best money you’ll spend

Who do you think got more out of the session?  For what it’s worth, the gentleman in question was young and more than physically capable of doing more, but his trainer – despite his obvious physical prowess – was far less skilled at coaching him through any of the movements he was doing. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I grit my teeth and cringe a little bit whenever I see the price of a workshop I want to attend or the amount of money it’ll cost to me to train with a high level trainer for even just a few short hours, but I know that in the end what I will take with me will make it worth it both for me and for my clients.  When I first started training seriously with kettlebells, I was 22 and working part time in a fast food restaurant and studying full time in university.  Forking over the money for just one hour’s worth of training time from the man who ended up becoming my coach, Scott Stevens, was not the easiest thing to do.  But as my results continued to roll in from his laser-like focus on the little details that made up the bigger painting, it was easy to justify it: I was transforming before my very own eyes, not to mention before the eyes of my friends and family who all wanted to know what magic potion I was taking!

StrongFirst: Strong for life

Anything great in life is worth the price you pay to get it.  One-on-one time with a StrongFirst instructor usually runs upward of $80, and a number of Master StrongFirst instructors charge $300 or more.  Prices for group classes vary greatly, with prices ranging from $200-$300 + per month.  Success stories of weight loss, strength gain, and general acquisition of physical hotness and jealousy-inducing sculpted bodies practically roll out of classes like this, and the price is reflective of the results and quality of training you can expect.

It may be steep, but it’s worth it.  Why entrust your physical fitness and health to anyone less than an absolute professional?  Any money spent on someone with deep knowledge on imparting the skills necessary for you to meet and exceed every lofty goal you set for yourself is money well spent.  Anything less is a waste.

It’s easier than you might think.

Scenario time!

You: Doctor, is it bad?
Doctor: I’m afraid so. We may have to amputate.
You: Seriously? But doc, it’s just a sprained ankle. Isn’t that a bit extreme?
Doctor: Not at all. The only way to fix this problem is by taking the most extreme measures possible.
You: Uh, are you sure that’s such a wise idea?
Doctor: Trust me. I got certified online and have seen every episode of Grey’s Anatomy twice.

Now let’s change the word “doctor” with “trainer”, “sprained ankle” with “lose some fat and get in better shape,” and “Grey’s Anatomy” with “XYZ trainer on YouTube”.

Just as asinine, but hundreds of times more likely to happen in the real world. And through some weird twist of fate, while most people see both doctors and personal trainers as professionals in their own right, the world of personal training seems to attract a certain “diety-of-choice, take-the-wheel” mentality that gets grown adults to throw caution and their better judgement to the wind in the belief that someone who very well may have been a mere hobbyist a few months prior somehow now has the authority to help you lose fat by a complicated cocktail of jumping on top of things, shoddy Olympic lifting, and nose-bleed high-rep sets of kettlebell and bodyweight exercises until your body tells you to go F yourself.

A word to the wise:

If you’re a consumer and you’re choosing a personal trainer, he/she should be able to tell you:
– What it is you’ll be doing and why
– How you will progress
– How the training will work in terms that are simple and comprehensible
– Knows when to say “Stop – that’s enough for today” and not just “keep going.”
– Knows how to change course when your best interests call for it

Anything less is putting your health into the hands of someone whose only real concern is separating you from your money, and whose only real claim to “professionalism” is knowing a few big words and the phrase “just trust me.”

And when that’s the case, smile politely, back away toward the nearest door, and run like hell.

Personal trainers ARE meant to be real professionals. If it matters enough for you to hire one, don’t settle for the exercise equivalent of a quack!
​
“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.”

In the beginning…

I remember when I was just getting started with kettlebell training, I did what any American would do: lifted indiscriminately with as many exercises as I could fit into a session and with no real plan in mind.  It never would have occurred to me to do the same thing the same way for weeks and months at a time and work toward lifting a heavier weight, because 1) that would be boring, and 2) my muscles will get used to it and I will stop gettin’ ripped and lookin’ fly for the honies!  Then, after I read Enter the Kettlebell a little more carefully, I realized 1) if you’re bored, read a book, and 2) the honies weren’t really looking at me anyway (not covered in the book, but still an observation).  Oh, and that Pavel was pretty smart and I didn’t know what I was doing anyway, so I should at least listen to his plan.  Well, sure enough I went through the Rite of Passage, put more weight over my head than any of my bodybuilder friends (at about 150 lbs of manly fury!) and saw some results.  Note to self: always listen to Pavel.

Better flexibility: it’s more than skin deep.

Because I trusted Pavel and am basically just used to obeying any authority I trust, I bought “Super Joints” and “Relax Into Stretch” and started making joint mobility and flexibility a part of my daily routine from age 21 ‘til now.  The good news was it was going great for me, because by now I had a pretty solid handle on the need to take care of my joints and soft tissues and put it into my own routine.  The bad news was I have a big, fat mouth, talk a lot about the things I love from dawn to dusk, and then get asked a lot of questions from my friends that I can’t answer, such as “Well, how do I do this?” or “Can you show me a routine that will work for me?”  This usually just led to lots of over-explaining and philosophizing on my part with lots of good mobility and flexibility exercises strewn between thoughts.  After I was done with my scene-chewing monologue, I was met with head nods and the polite “well, I should probably be going.”  It was pretty much official: I just confused them and they know no more than they did previously.  Dammit.

Miracles happen

Fast forward to 2011.  My coach and mentor Scott Stevens was hosting an HKC workshop followed by what was then known as “Extreme Flexibility Workshop”.  The teacher was Jon Engum.  I was blown away by his teaching at the HKC, particularly watching people go from next to zero to borderline hero within 8 hours of kettlebell practice.  This guy was the real deal, but that should go without saying since he was one of Pavel’s top instructors, and again, Pavel knows what he’s doing.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from his ExtremeFlexibility workshop, particularly since, well, I was already pretty mobile and flexible and I (arrogantly) didn’t think I would learn much more than a new trick or two to use on myself or my clients.  Turns out, I had to invest in a whole new toolbox.  Many of the tools were the same, but shinier and they came with play-by-play instructions to work on specifics, such as working on particular flexibility issues by following a certain order of stretches infused with the three principles of stretching.  I saw people’s shoulder flexibility go from Nazi salute to full on victory pose by stretching their ankles (I’m not kidding).  I saw people whose flexibility may as well have made their toes a distant star on the horizon become instantly toe-touch limber in minutes by using strength and a 2×4 (not to hit them), undoing years of neglect.  I even saw my own flexibility improve – I hit a side split for the first time ever!  (wailing and gnashing of teeth not withstanding).

The secret of Flexible Steel is…

I then realized then what I was doing: a scattershot approach to flexibility and mobility in the hopes that it would fix a range of things (kinda like what I did with kettlebells until I discovered the Rite of Passage).  Jon, on the other hand, was a sniper against stiffness with his approach: calculated and able to hit what people needed.  Plus, he could hit all the areas I hit with scatter shot, only with precision, a plan, and much, much less time. 
I kicked myself for not taking notes at that workshop!!!
Fast forward again, this time to September.  Jon asked me to assist him at the FlexibleSteel workshop in Minneapolis.  Saying “I learned even more” is akin to saying “the ocean is damp.”  It’s an understatement at best.  By now Jon had refined and added not just exercises, but even more PROGRAMS to fix specific issues.  Some of my favorite programs are the Frog Series for opening up locked-down hips (particularly in my desk-bound clients), the Escape Your Fighting Stance for improved posture (which works, by the way, whether your fight is as a martial artist or as a desk jockey shuffling papers all day), Stem Your Way To The Splits, and Front Splits for Back Health. 
The good news?  It’s all in Jon’s book Flexible Steel!

The great news?  It’s Pavel’s favorite stretching book.

“Flexible Steel is my favorite stretching book.”
–    Pavel Tsatsouline

I mean, c’mon, do you REALLY need to hear anything more from The Man himself?  Get serious.  But if you do, he did also offer this: “Jon Engum reached his forties before he reached his first split. Follow his remarkable journey and achieve the flexibility you never thought possible.”  No small praise coming from the man who’s revolutionized strength and conditioning, flexibility training, AND still found time to show the world the Russian Kettlebell as well as how to unlock its power. 

I trust Pavel.  I trust Jon Engum.  And you will love this book. 

Trust me.

It’s simple, but not necessarily easy.

Someone recently asked me “what is your strategy to overcome training plateaus?”

This is a great question, and one that a lot of people over complicate needlessly. Below is my response.

My strategy to overcome training plateaus is both to be patient and to fill gaps in your training. Patience, because in many cases you may have to wait months or years to overcome a given plateau (depending on how lofty your training goal is). In a big way, simply sticking with it, punchingthe clock, and following an appropriate and intelligently-crafted program will do the trick, and you’ll have to put aside your baseless desire to have each and every training session be a mile-a-minute thrill-ride. Often the most effective programs are the most boring.

Also filling gaps in your training is huge, because there are many things that we don’t do simply because we a) find them boring and uninteresting, or b) we suck at them. Perhaps not surprisingly, the stuff you suck at is often the stuff you need, and bringing up your weaknesses can work wonders in scaffolding your goals. Case in point: once I started adding straight-arm scapular strength into my training, my upper body strength went through the roof and various other movements that I was able to do with great difficulty I was now able to do with great ease, including effortless one-arm pushups for sets of 8 in a row per arm, double 28 kg Sots press (up from double 16 kg!), and so on.

Take the military press for example. Far too many kettlebell enthusiasts treat it as the end-all-be-all of upper body pressing strength, thereby completely ignoring any and all other pressing variations. All this serves to do is hurt their shoulders and keep them stalled. If they were to spend some time filling some gaps, such as weighted dips, bench press, one-arm pushup, handstand pushup, not to mention strengthening muscles that the average minimalist routine ignores (such as the muscles surrounding the scapulae) they would hit their military press goals much sooner and with greater ease. All they would have to do is take a step back and focus on the things they’ve ignored and they would find the path to their goals greatly shortened.

As Pavel has said, in order to be specifically strong, you must first be generally strong. You will always have a few “pet moves” that you can rely on being better than others, but taking that as your license to suck at everything else will stop your progress in its tracks.

So here are a few ideas for plateau breakers for your training.

1) Pick a pressing, pulling, squatting, hip-hinging, and loaded carry variation you’ve never done for more than a few sessions in a row.
2) Spend the next two months working on those and just working on perfecting your technique with them.
3) When the time comes, go back to your favorite pet lifts and build back up.  

Odds are, you will feel much more solid, much stronger, and much happier.  Hard to believe, but some of the best things in life are waiting where you most often avoid.  Try it out and let me know how it works for you.