I talk to a lot of people about (I love to talk and I love kettlebells.  This is a winning combo) and due to the fact that 99% of the population knows little or nothing about kettlebells, everyone always has questions.  Some of the more common ones are:

“Will kettlebells make me bulky?“

“Is kettlebell lifting dangerous?“

“Are kettlebells only for young people/fit people/strong people?“

But by far, the one most frequently asked question is: Why kettlebells? 

As in “Why structure a workout around kettlebells?”

The general notion among the average exerciser seems to be that kettlebells are only really good for ballistic movements: , , etc. and that they’re only good for light, high-rep stuff.

The structure of the kettlebell definitely lends itself very well to ballistic movements (as well as overhead movements) but it doesn’t stop there.  Far from it.  Just off the top of my head I can think of dozens of kettlebell exercises and variations that would keep you busy for decades.

So why kettlebells? 

If nothing else, then it’s gotta be because of their versatility.  Plain and simple.  Kettlebells allow you to do most anything you can do with a dumbbell or barbell (usually as well and often better) and to get boatloads of work done in record time.  Plus, the thick handle and offset center of gravity makes them more challenging and awkward to lift – a very true-to-life skill (you will not likely have to lift anything as perfectly calibrated as a quality barbell or dumbbell in real life.  Most things you lift will be awkward and heavy).  Though I hate to use the hackneyed, impossible-to-define word “functional” regarding fitness…with that in mind, kettlebells are pretty damned functional.

Not only that, kettlebell workouts are incredibly time efficient and energy inefficient.  This is important for your strength, health, fitness, and fat loss – not to mention your sanity.

So why are time efficiency and energy inefficiency important in strength, health, fitness, and fat-loss?  Let’s go point by point.

Strength: If you are a professional, high-level weightlifter or powerlifter, you can afford to spend multiple hours in the gym training every day.  It’s your job, and odds are you’re looking to break a national or world record.  You’d be a fool not to!  But is world-record smashing your goal with your kettlebell workouts?  I’m guessing not.  Your goal is probably to 1) look good naked, 2) feel better, and 3) have enough energy to keep up with your kids. 

, world renown kettlebell and strength expert, has stated (I paraphrase): “in training for absolute strength, the length of your sets should be between 10 and 20 seconds.”  That sounds like a ridiculously short amount of time, and it is.  Strength requires high muscle tension, and such tension starts to fade if held for too long.  That’s not to say there’s no use for sets that last longer than 20 seconds – just that if absolutel strength (i.e. one-rep max strength) is what you’re after, this should be your bread and butter.  Strength is a very important attribute in any other goal you have – be it general fitness, endurance, fat loss, etc. (more on why in an upcoming article – stay tuned).  Beyond that, who doesn’t have 10-20 seconds throughout the day?  If you seriously want to argue that you don’t have even that kind of time to spare, then stop reading this and get back to work.

Health: “Health” doesn’t just mean the quality of your internal organs or how NOT sick you are (I can’t really think of a better way to describe it).  It also has very much to do with the integrity and quality of your soft tissues as well.  Here are a few definitions of health:

·  The overall condition of an organism at a given time.

·  Soundness, especially of body or mind; freedom from disease or abnormality.

This means that eating healthy is huge, but it’s not the only thing – it’s a part of the overall condition of an organism (i.e. you).  You’ll also have to include how well you sleep, stress levels, etc. in addition to the usual suspects of exercise and nutrition.

Keeping in mind how time efficient kettlebell workouts can be, skipping exercise as part of your health regimen – particularly brief and intense exercise a la kettlebell workouts and calisthenics training – due to “lack of time” is a poor excuse.  Learn a few moves and strengthen your body inside and out.

Fitness: Even if brute strength isn’t one of your goals (shame on you!) kettlebells will get you undeniably fit (whatever that means to you).  If you want to improve your cardio, build some muscle, and do a variety of other things without investing in hundreds or thousands of dollars’ worth of disparate equipment.  Don’t believe me?  Buy one kettlebell, go find a StrongFirst certified instructor and learn the Hardstyle Swing.  You will be sweating bullets and sucking wind like it was your job – and that’ll only be the first thirty seconds.  Did I mention kettlebell training is time efficient?

:  This is a huge one.  Everybody these days wants to lose fat.  And who can blame them?  It’s not attractive and too much of it around your frame is unhealthy.  Earlier I mentioned the importance of time efficiency and energy inefficiency in achieving all the above goals.  By now you can probably grasp how easy it is to be time efficient with a kettlebell – but how does being inefficient with your energy help you with anything?  There are a variety of answers for all of the above categories, but I saved the best for last.

Let’s take marathon runners vs. sprinters for example.  Both are doing the same activity (running), but one is being efficient and the other is being inefficient.  Can you guess which one is being inefficient?

Answer: the sprinter.  Why?  Because walking 40 yards takes hardly anything out of you.  Sprinting 40 yards, on the other hand, takes a lot of energy – which will leave you huffing and puffing by the time you reach the end. 

And whose body would you rather have?  The sprinter’s or the marathon runner’s?

Kettlebell workouts are ideal for getting fit and losing fat fast because you can easily move from one exercise to the next without changing weights, equipment, or setting the kettlebell down – all of which will reduce your rest time during your sets as you hang onto the kettlebell longer than you might care to.  Here are a few free sample kettlebell workouts:

Equipment: 1
5 one-arm swings
5 cleans
5 presses
5 squats
5 snatches
Rack carry for distance
Rest and repeat on the opposite side

Here’s another good one
Equipment: 1 moderately heavy kettlebell

1 Turkish get up per side
Suitcase carry for distance
5 squats per side
10 swings per side
Rest and repeat.

Repeat one of these 3-5 times and call it a day. 

If you REALLY want to ramp up your fat loss (or strength, health, and fitness, for that matter) you’ve GOT to add calisthenics exercises into the fold.  Here’s an example of a brutishly simple workout combining some basic calisthenics and basic kettlebell moves.

10 kettlebell swings
10 pushups
10 squats (with or without kettlebell)
10 bodyweight rows
Suitcase carry for distance
Crawl for distance
Rest and repeat

You get the idea.  Much more difficult than walking on a treadmill and watching TV or sitting on a recumbent bike reading Us Weekly.

So there you have it.  The answers to the most asked question. To sum up the question “Why kettlebells?”

·         Because they’re time efficient, energy inefficient, and almost anyone can use them
·         They’re convenient and can be stored anywhere
·         They can be mixed with calisthenics (bodyweight) exercises for maximum effect
·         They can help you achieve a variety of goals with minimal equipment
·         They’re just plain fun!

Well, what are you waiting for?  Get swinging!  Look up a StrongFirst instructor in your area and get started.  You have nothing to lose but body fat and weakness.

Strong First, Strong Always!

Aleks Salkin, SFG II

No matter what your physical goals may be, you would do well to increase your work capacity.

Increased work capacity means the ability to handle more work (DUH!) as well as your ability to recover from said work. Increased work capacity means you can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’ – and improving whatever skill or quality you may be working on, from strength to endurance and everything in between. More work + more recovery = more results.

There are a million and one ways to boost your work capacity (I’m estimating) but one of my favorite ways is a simple one-two punch that will leave your muscles pumping, your heart pounding, and your lungs heaving, all without draining your energy – allowing you to go hard even very regularly without over-taxing your recovery abilities. Win-win.

A solid combo of crawling and marching gets my vote for a quick, (relatively) painless way to crank up the dial on your training while still staying on track to your goals. They are simple movements – ingrained within everyone’s brain to do as you grow and develop – and will also improve your coordination and strength while making you stronger and more resilient.

My friend Pat Flynn helps me explain their benefits in this video below

Try this out in your next workout. You can thank us after you catch your breath.

“I know it’s only rock and roll, but I like it!”

​- The Rolling Stones, singing about resets, becoming physically resilient and taking good care of your body.

Just kidding.  There’s no way the Rolling Stones had that in mind when they wrote that song.  But YOU should have both of those things in mind if you want a body that’s mobile, flexible, and most importantly RESILIENT and yes, even strong.

Resilience and strength are the name of the game, and rolling presents not just one arrow, but literally DOZENS of arrows for your quiver.  As Tim Anderson says in his dynamite book “Becoming Bulletproof”: “There are more ways to roll than there are letters in the alphabet.”  I’m not going to try to expose you to all of them, but rather show you a few main varieties – from bare-bones simple to progressively more difficult – and how to do them.  But first, let’s answer the question that’s probably on your mind…

“Why roll?  I’m not a baby anymore.”

Can’t argue with that.  You’re right – you’re not a baby anymore.  But the fact is that rolling is not just for babies.  Yes, it is a fundamental and developmental movement for babies and essentially acts as their first introduction to locomotion – but its usefulness does not stop just because you learn to plod aroundon two feet.  Rolling well and proficiently holds a number of benefits regardless of your age and level of fitness.  How? You might ask.  Let me count the ways.

1) It gently and safely mobilizes your spine.

This is important because your spine has 24 articulating vertebrae.  Lounging at your desk or in front of your TV, standing and hoisting weights, or just generally being inactive has left us using all these awesome vertebrae very little.  Your spine is meant to move, and when it doesn’t, trouble arises.  Discs and nerve issues can arise, which (to use technical terminology) is bad news bears.  Besides, even if most weightlifting and office work related activities don’t require twisting, most sorts of athletic movement do, and most importantly, your spine’s health does, too.  Rolling is the perfect introduction (and reintroduction) to this necessary movement.

2) It stretches the muscles of the midsection and encourages them to move and function in an extended range of motion

Once again, athletic activities usually have a twisting component.  Ever tried throwing something with just your arm?  If no one laughed at you, they should have.  You need to twist.  Rolling is perfect practice for that.  Also, it has the same benefits as those listed above.

3) It trains your vestibular system and your core muscles to work in unison

The vestibular system is your balance system.  It is also the first system that begins to develop while you’re growing in the womb.  The muscles of the abdominals and back are very much attached to the vestibular system.  Can you guess what stimulates that relationship?  Yep – rolling.  And in a big way, too.  How?  Simple.  Your rolls are led by your head, so it encourages and solidifies what you were meant to do in other contexts as well.

4) It may just make you more injury proof.

Ever taken a big spill?  If so, you’ll probably note that rolling when you fall feels way better than splatting.  I know of two people (martial artists) who have separated a shoulder by rolling WRONG, which ended up in “splatting”.  A cousin of mine slipped on ice and broke his ankle a few years back when he landed wrong.  The ability to roll is not just the ability to move – it’s the ability to move away from danger.

Convinced yet?  If you’re not, well, you probably never will be (until #4 happens to you).  If you’re asking “when can I start?” you’re in luck, because the answer is right now.  Below is a video demonstration of my favorite rolls, progressing all the way from what everyone can do to stuff you’re gonna have to work toward.

Just read on, it’s a lot better than it sounds.

​Want a fun way to trick yourself into crawling further and longer than you thought you could?

The answer is suicides.

No, no, no. Not that kind. 

This is a new take on the old basketball stamina and conditioning drill known as suicides (run to the free throw line, run back. Run to the half court line, run back. Run to the farthest free throw line, run back. Run to the opposite side of the court, run back.)

You’ll do the same thing with your crawls (minus going fast – keep it slow, steady, and stable).

Start at a specific point and pic an object to crawl forward to, then crawl backward from. Then, from the starting point, crawl to a new further point, then crawl backward away from it. Repeat until properly vestibulated. 

I did this yesterday in a park after a conversation about this drill with my friend Josh Halbert, and man, it was an awesome drill. Distracts your mind just enough to keep going, and is a great way to connect with nature (if you’re into that tree hugger stuff like me).

Try this out after your next workout. If it’s not your go-to feel-good finisher, I’ll eat my shoes.

Warning: It’s not sexy, but its results are.

All too often, people like to ask “What should I do to achieve X, Y, Z, etc.?”

Have you tried any of the following?

– Paying a top-notch coach/trainer/instructor to give you a personalized plan based on time-honored experience and a track record of producing results in the giving thing you are working toward (strength, fat loss, etc.) 

– Sticking to a program no matter what
– Finding any and every excuse to succeed instead of a myriad of reasons why doing so is too hard? 
– Taking the emotion out of your training and simply showing up, doing the work as planned, and not making a big deal (i.e. Facebook post) about it

There is no actual mystery to effective training, though myriads of hucksters would love to let you think so while separating you from your hard-earned cash.

Show up. Work consistently. Have a good time. Repeat.
​
Always repeat.