Warning: this shit ain’t sexy, but it works.

Wanna be strong as an ox and healthy as a horse?

Here are a few ideas to set you on the right track.

1) Stop buying products and start buying FOOD.
The concept of health has been around since the beginning of time. Contrast this with the concept of needing mass-market products to get healthy and your very “need” for any of these flashy commercial items falls apart right there. Regardless of how great and impressive the scientific advances have been this past century, there is no substitute for treating your body with respect by learning to enjoy (yes, it’s possible) fresh, crisp produce, raw nuts and seeds and a big, fat piece of steak/fish/poultry/whatever. Oh, and water. Plenty of it. Just doing this will clear up an amazing amount of whatever issues you may have accrued.

2) Think in terms of movement rather than “exercise”
You work out 45 minutes a day. That’s a good start, but that still leaves the remaining 23 hours and 15 minutes to potentially be completely sedentary. Which do you think your body will be better adapted to?

Exercise – for as great as it is – is no supplement for going out and climbing something, hiking, playing a game with some friends (hide and seek is fun at any age, and you’ll sneak a “workout” in without even thinking about it), and just about anything else you can think of.
Movement didn’t start in gyms and it shouldn’t end there, either. Get your workout in, and sneak in every opportunity you can to move just for the sake of moving.

3) Sleep!
You know your favorite natural, herbal, pesticide-free, non-GMO healing remedy? Great. Now you can also know just how much it sucks compared to the greatest muscle-building, fat-burning, sickness-smashing, figurative battery-recharging, stress-relieving, border-line cure-all ever. Over the past few months I’ve taken my sleep much, much more seriously and the results have been incredible to say the least, both in terms of how I feel and my training performance. Prioritize a bare minimum of 8 hours of sleep minimum, starting from 1 night a week if you must and weekly adding on one extra night of at least 8 hours. In just shy of 2 months you’ll be amazed at how much leaner, more alert, and healthier you feel.
Health and fitness are your birthright, and they really are that simple. Get a jump on the bare-bones basics now and hammer out the details later. You can thank me by making a check out to my name with the numbers 1-9 followed by as many zeros as you’d like. I’ll be around, don’t worry.

Well, I didn’t forget.

Wanna get ahead in your fitness and health?

Ditch your desperate, fruitless appeal for motivation.

Ditch your exhausting, chore-like quest for discipline.

Both help in the short-term, but in the long run they do pretty much nothing.

The only – and I mean only – things that I feel reasonably sure I’ve ever truly seen help anyone get better are as follows:

* A reasonable goal accompanied by a reasonable – but challenging – deadline.
* Habits 
* Love

Why? And WTF is love doing in there?!

To start with, your sense of motivation is based entirely on your emotions. Like a castle built on sand, it will stand beautifully until bad winds pick up and cause the sand to drift elsewhere. You can probably guess what happens to the castle. And you can probably guess what the castle represents.

Habits, on the other hand, are a rock-solid foundation upon which to build, and regardless of how hard the wind blows, your castle isn’t going anywhere. For example: when I’m on Cloud 9, I train. When I’m in the deepest depths of despair, I train. Is it a weekday? I’m training. Simple as that. It’s so habitual for me that no matter how big the proverbial wrench in the machine is, I’m going to train if it’s on the schedule, even if it’s not my full workout.

A reasonable goal plus a reasonable deadline requires you to work diligently and consistently and pushes you to succeed without breaking you in the process. if you can barely do 10 pullups and you want to try to do a one-arm chinup in 3 months, all you’re ever going to achieve is greater amounts of frustration (and probably a free trip to Snap City). Reasonable goals and reasonable deadlines set you up for a lifetime of progress and will allow you to achieve incredible things for as long as you’re living and breathing.

As for that love thing…well, discipline is great, but ultimately it is borne out of love; love for yourself and for your activity of choice. As strength coach Charles Poliquin has put it, you must “make loving decisions for yourself.” If you lack love for yourself, you will lack discipline (or “rack disciprine” to quote a South Park episode).

Drop the emotions. Drop the motivational speeches. And drop the Indiana Jones-like adventure for the Lost Fountain of Discipline or some such sh*t.

Find a goal, make it a habit, and make loving decisions for yourself.
​
You can do this.

Please check all that apply…

So, you’ve probably been won over by the no-BS simplicity and straight-forward training style of the mighty .  If you’re anything like I was, you’re probably already feeling the bite of the iron bug and can’t wait to jump into the deep end feet first! 

As much as you’ll come to love the raw power and strength you’ll feel as your body changes and improves over the course of weeks and months, now’s the time to slow down, take a deep breath, and make sure you get to everything on this checklist.

A lot of ready-made exercise programs half-heartedly throw out some mostly ignored recommendations before you begin their program.  I, on the other hand, whole-heartedly suggest that you go through the following suggestions to make sure that you get the most out of your training.  Kettlebell training is highly scalable regardless of age, ability level, and experience level, so it can range from basic to complex and beyond.  Most people think they’re better off than they are, but take it from me – your first dance with a kettlebell will be a memorable one.  The following list will ensure that you sweep your kettlebell of its feet and NOT vice versa.

1.  Get a doctor’s approval

by its very nature is intense.  Like, REALLY intense.  So not only do you have to ease your way into it, you have to make sure that you’re ready to ease into it.  This is no light-hearted suggestion for anyone.  Even super studs like Michael Castrogiovanni, one-time wrestler and now an SFG Team Leader, were sucker punched on their first try.  In his first 7 minute workout (that’s right, one minute less than you’ll spend on 8 minute abs) this 25 year-old athlete raised his heart rate to 221 beats per minute (physiologically, his theoretical maximum heart rate was 195 bpm!).  Needless to say, he was in love and immediately began training with kettlebells seriously. 

The point of this is not to scare you; far from it.  If you take away anything from this, take away the fact that “I don’t have time to exercise” has just become an invalid excuse.  If you really don’t have even a few minutes to exercise, then what are you doing surfing the web and reading this?  Everyone can spare 7 minutes!  Most people think they’re better off than they are, and periodically someone has an issue that should be handled before taking up an exercise regimen, so make sure your doc agrees with you before you go nuts.

2. Proper footwear (ideally ZERO footwear)

The best footwear for kettlebells – are you sitting down for this? – is bare feet.  Contrary to what various shoe companies would have you believe, the shoes you drop the most pretty pennies on will not improve your performance.  At least not for strength training.  Why?

For a variety of uninteresting reasons.  But, since you’re here, you might as well listen to a few of them: Your feet (and your hands for that matter) have something called mechanoreceptors on the bottom of them. These receptors send input to various muscles in your leg and signal it to fire, or tense up.  Cushy shoes, such as your overpriced Air Jordans, dull the input to your feet so much that oftentimes your muscles don’t fire like they should.  On top of that, cushy shoes have raised heels, which push your weight too far forward for proper kettlebell lifting, which can cause a host of back or knee injuries.  Barefoot is your best bet all the way.

But if you HAVE to wear shoes (you wuss), Converse All Stars (also known as Chuck Taylors) are great, as they are simple, have a flat sole, and aren’t cushy in the slightest.  If you don’t mind people pointing and staring, you could also try Vibrams Five Fingers.  You’ll feel just like a kid in footy pajamas again, which is great if you’re into that sort of thing (I’m not.  I’ll take the Chucks, please).

3. Plenty of room

Make sure that wherever you do your , you have more than enough room to move freely without feeling like you’re going to bump into anything, destroy something if you accidentally drop the kettlebell, or break something you care about. 

This includes ceiling space.  You’re not likely to accidentally fling your kettlebell through the ceiling or anything, but kettlebells are especially good for overhead strength movements such as , , among other things.  This means at least an extra 6 inches, if not an extra foot or more. 

I have yet to accidentally hit a ceiling, but in my years I have definitely dropped a kettlebell on accident , including on a carpeted floor.  If you want a huge dent in otherwise tough carpet, by all means, drop a kettlebell as light as 35 lbs and enjoy the minefield look you give to your floor.  Your best bet is to get sturdy padding or rubber coating for your floor so you don’t end up getting yelled at by your wife/husband/gym owner.  Better yet, get outside and get some sunshine and fresh air!  Find a field and go nuts.

4. A 12-week plan

Among the biggest mistakes people make when they start doing is they just dink around with no goals and no plan.  Even if you don’t have a specific goal in mind, at least starting out with a plan will give you an idea of where you can go and what you might be able to achieve, just so long as you actually follow it.  Why 12 weeks?  Because you’ve never accomplished anything truly awesome in one week.   12 weeks, on the other hand, will give you time to build up outrageous and otherworldly results – ones that you wouldn’t get by program hopping every two weeks. 

When I started doing kettlebell workouts, I started as simple as could be: with Pavel’s .  It consisted of 5 minutes of Turkish Get Ups (alternating arms on each rep) and up to 12 minutes of swings in intervals twice a week.  That’s it.  This program still works incredibly well for beginners and advanced lifters.  Why over complicate things?

The Program Minimum works so well because it covers just about any muscle you could hope to develop and targets many more than you probably didn’t even think about.  It’s simple and basic, and can take you from here to eternity.  Would could ask for anything more? 

The key to any kettlebell workout plan is to stay simple and basic and for the most part take it easy!  Treat your kettlebell practice as if you are practicing an instrument.  Would you pick up your guitar and play until your fingers bled and you had to take two weeks off to let them heal?  Or would you practice until you stop improving and then come back to it in a day or two to continue?  Which method would work better: the one where you practice more frequently, or the one where you have to avoid practice for weeks because you jacked yourself up?  Strength is a skill, and a very powerful skill at that.  Kettlebells will give you more than they take from you provided that you push yourself without being stupid, and most of all, stick to your plan!  Find an SFG instructor in your area to help you with a simple, no BS plan and get cracking!

5. Get a quality kettlebell

I hold this truth to be self-evident: not all kettlebells are created equal!  There are and absolutely terrible kettlebells.  There are okay kettlebells as well, but what kind of body are you looking to get?  An okay body, or a rubber neck-inducing, get-the-whole-neighborhood-talking type of body?  I know what kind I prefer.  And when it comes to kettlebells, believe it or not, the higher quality the kettlebell, the more you can get out of it.  That’s not to say that your crappy store-bought kettlebell won’t work – I still have and use the one I bought from Scheels Sporting Goods nearly 5 years ago – but always remember, kettlebells aren’t a purchase, they’re an investment – both in your equipment you use to tackle your flab and weakness, and in yourself.  You want a rockin’ bod for life, right?  So get equipment that will help you on your journey.

It’s also worth noting that purely as an issue of safety, the higher quality kettlebell, the better.  A colleague of mine and fellow StrongFirst kettlebell instructor from the UK, James Breese, tells of the time he was preparing for his certification with a cheap, locally bought kettlebell when disaster almost ensued.  He was snatching a 53 lb kettlebell over his head when all of a sudden, the bell itself came loose from the handle and fell close behind him!  If it had fallen off a second earlier, it no doubt would have been on a collision course with his head!  53 lbs falling on your head would put all the money (and lots more) that you saved by not investing in a quality kettlebell into the pocket of your surgeon.  Not a good use of your money or time.

It might seem rough, but grin and bear it and buy a nice kettlebell or two.  is my personal favorite all around, and you can’t beat their quality. 

Print off this checklist and memorize it!  Remember: you’re investing in yourself, so rather than putting together a laundry list of things you think you want/need to do, follow the simple basics, have some faith in your program, and whatever you do, enjoy the process!  Self-improvement in all its forms is a marathon, not a spring, so take some time to enjoy what you’re doing and fall in love with the iron for life!

Wanna blast fat, get rid of extra inches, and get fitter and stronger than 99% of the people around you?  
Then get started on the 8-week kettlebell and bodyweight challenge! 
Click the image below to find out more.

Five years ago when I swung my first , I tried to tell everyone about how awesome they were.  Really, like any chance I got.  The problem?  No one really seemed to understand, and it was all for a good reason – practically no one knew what a kettlebell was!  Just a few short years later it seemed like everyone I talked to about kettlebells would at LEAST come back with “Yeah, isn’t that one of those balls with a handle?”  The kettlebell had arrived into the American conscious.

Despite its recent success, most people still know very little about the kettlebell and kettlebell training.  So here are a few answers to the 7 most frequent questions about kettlebells.

1. Where are kettlebells from?

Kettlebells originate in Russia, where their use was decidedly unathletic – they were weights used by farmers to weigh their grain on scales in marketplaces.  The story goes that the farmers would swing, lift, and toss them around during their downtime.  The from using kettlebells this way caught the eyes of strongmen and weightlifters in Russia, and from there on out kettlebells became an indispensable tool in the arsenal of Russians – both elite and average – for forging superior strength and fitness.

2. Are kettlebells a fad?

The Russian word for kettlebell – girya – first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704.  Contrast that with the introduction of the barbell, which appeared around the 1850s.  And not even the type of barbell you’re accustomed to – the barbells of the day were bars with fixed-weight iron globes on the end.  The plate-loaded system of barbells didn’t even appear until 1910 when it was invented by Franz Veltum.  The plate-loaded dumbbell has a slightly longer history, first patented in 1865.

So, are kettlebells a fad?  Yes.  They have been the number one fad in weight training since the 1700s.  Give it another 300 years and it’ll probably peter out.

3. How many sizes do kettlebells come in?

As many as you could want.  The majority of companies that produce make them in increments of 4 kilos (about 9 lbs) and some even come in increments as small as 2 kilos (4.5 lbs).  The standard weights generally start out at 18 lbs and go all the way up to 106 lbs.  If you look hard enough you can even find kettlebells that are upwards of 176 lbs!  However, most men and women can make do with standard-sized kettlebells and going above and beyond is great for really die-hards.  Most men and women can make excellent progress for years and years with a  basic set of kettlebells weighing 26, 35, 53, and 70 lbs.  Even if all you have room for is one or two kettlebells you will find plenty of ways to keep getting stronger and fitter if you’re creative.  The first kettlebell I ever bought was 35 lbs, and I still find multiple uses for it on a weekly basis, even though it’s no longer a challenge for me.  Buying any size kettlebell of good quality is not just money well spent – it’s an investment that you’ll have long enough for your grandkids to take advantage of.

4. Who uses kettlebells?

Just about everybody.

No joke, kettlebells are extremely versatile and their uses range from general fitness all the way up to tactical and elite sport training.  My coach, John Scott Stevens, SFG II, is a 5th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and has produced dozens of national junior Olympics medalists, and he trains all of his students with kettlebells.  He has had children as young as 10 train with kettlebells to improve their martial arts fitness, and the results have been nothing short of amazing.  On the other end of the spectrum, many 60 and 70 year olds have discovered kettlebells and have made tremendous progress with them.  As a matter of fact, when I went to get certified as a kettlebell instructor through StrongFirst’s predecessor, the RKC, there was man on my team who was 73 years young!  Kettlebell training is elite, but not elitist. 

As I mentioned earlier, strongmen and weightlifters in Russia and around Eastern Europe have made kettlebell training a staple of their regular training regimen.  Athletes of all stripes and military men and women around the world have adopted the kettlebell as one of few tools in their arsenal.  For example:

Soviet weightlifting legends Yuri Vlasov, Leonid Zhabotinskiy, and Vasily Alexeev were all big proponents of kettlebell training (Vlasov once interrupted an interview with a Western journalist to press a pair of heavy kettlebells and commented “It is hard to find an exercise better suited for developing simultaneously.”

Celebrities such as Katherine Heigl, Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Biel, Gerard Butler, and Jennifer Aniston have all reported using kettlebells on a regular basis. 

And perhaps most tellingly, members of the Secret Service Counter Assault Team, US Navy SEALs, and Force Recon Marines – individuals whose life depends on their strength and conditioning. 

Your life may not depend on your strength and conditioning, but if you’re looking for a tool that you can depend on for life, look no further than the kettlebell and Pavel’s Hardstyle training method.

5. Will kettlebells help me get stronger?

Yes!  As long as you use them properly (ideally under the tutelage of a StrongFirst kettlebell instructor) you will forge strength in every nook and cranny of your body.

6. Will kettlebells help me lose fat?

There answer to this question is a “yes, if…” sort of answer. 

Yes, if you also make changes in your diet.  Oftentimes I talk to prospective clients who insist that their diets are not to blame for their weight problem.  News flash: barring some sort of glandular problem, that IS the thing to blame for your weight.  Kettlebell training, with all of its intensity and propensity for building strength, will and build some muscle no matter what.  But without some attention to eating your veggies and staying away from candies and sweets, the kettlebell will continue to make you strong and fit but your diet will continue to make you fat.  If you decide you like cupcakes and beer more than washboard abs and a back that looks like a relief map of South Dakota, the kettlebell will only do so much.

Remember: You can’t outwork a bad diet.

7. Where can I buy kettlebells?

Fortunately for you, you can now get them just about anywhere.  When I was a young iron enthusiast, there was only one sports store I knew of that sold kettlebells.  Now you can buy them at Wal-Mart (don’t, however.  Unless you like kettlebell-shaped paperweights, in which case by all means, go nuts). 

Unlike human beings, not all kettlebells are created equal.  There are and very low quality ones.  It is not uncommon for cheap kettlebells to end up with chipped paint almost immediately after you begin using them, and that’s if you’re lucky.  A colleague of mine, James Breese of England, almost endured a headache of epic proportions while preparing for his certification.  He was snatching a 50 lb kettlebell (a snatch is a ballistic exercise in which you swing a kettlebell between your legs and lock it out over your head) when all of a sudden, the bell broke loose from the handle and landed behind him!  If it had broken off a second or two sooner, he would have been far less lucky and would have ended up with a permanent hood ornament for his forehead. 

I can’t really vouch for the quality of most sports-store kettlebells, though in my experience they leave a lot to be desired. 

My top two recommendations for kettlebells are the following:

Dragon Door.  They were the first company in the US to manufacture kettlebells and still remain among the best military-grade kettlebells you can buy.  Durable, rugged, and very consistent as far as quality goes. 

Perform Better: Very similar to Dragon Door’s kettlebells, only  less expensive.  They tend to have a thicker handle (which can be great for your grip) and also have a rubber coating on the bottom that can be removed as needed. 

Other companies also offer kettlebells which I’m assured are high quality, though I can’t really vouch for them as I’m not familiar with them.  You don’t need a room full of kettlebells to get a good workout – even with just a small batch of a small, medium, and heavy kettlebell you can keep progressing almost forever.  The best part – they’ll last almost forever too.

If you’ve got more questions, don’t hesitate to ask.  But don’t let your questions keep you from taking the plunge.  Buy a quality kettlebell or two today and find your local StrongFirst instructor and jump in feet first!  Strength, fitness, and a lean physique await you!

Got a minute? No? How about 10 seconds?

Wanna get stronger abs and a quality workout in mere seconds?   I have just the solution for you.

The non-hanging hanging leg raise.

Yes, there is such a thing. So saith me. Here’s why…

One big problem with following a program is the unexpected. You know what I mean – stuff that lurks around every corner, looking for stuff to throw in your path while you pass by so it can point and laugh as you hit dead-ends. Traveling, flat tires on the way to the gym/your favorite park, and inclement weather; the list goes on. There will always be something that will try to derail your progress. Sucks, I know.

One sign of a good program for a busy professional is that it contains movements that can be replicated in a variety of situations to continue to help moving you forward.

Enter the non-hanging hanging leg raise.

It’s a way to supercharge the standard floor-bound leg raise by adding both range of motion AND manual resistance to get you a solid-ass ab workout without any more equipment than the ground beneath you, for when you’re stuck without even so much as a bar to hang from.

You do it like this:
1) Get on the floor and push your low back into it (to protect your back and activate your abs)
2) Raise your legs to your belt line
3) Place your hands on your shins or feet and keep pushing, using your hands to resist.

You determine how much resistance you want by pushing your hands as hard or as easy as you want. Simple.
This also doubles as a fantastic stretch for your low back and hamstrings. Not only will your abs feel stronger when you’re done, but you’ll be a lot more flexible. Win-win.

10 times better than the plank – 1000 times better than crunches!

Give it a shot and let me know what you think. Your abs – as well as your low back and hamstring flexibility – will thank you.