Kettlebell Snatch Technique Tip

The Kettlebell Snatch is one of the trickiest basic kettlebell exercises to learn.

The Kettlebell Snatch is one of the trickiest kettlebell exercises to learn …

Check out this quick video for a technique drill that’ll help improve your form and prevent the dreaded ‘forearm slap’:

To review, you’ll do:

  • 3 One Arm Swings
  • 3 Low Pulls
  • 3 High Pulls
  • 3 Snatches

The idea is to get the kettlebell to ‘float’ for a second at the top of the High Pull movement, and then to get the hand around the ‘bell – vs. just letting the KB come over the top of your hand and smack you on the wrist.  Give this drill a try and see if it improves your form in the Kettlebell Snatch – and keep training hard!!

Forest

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P.S.S. Like the shirt I’m wearing in the video?  It’s from my online store … click the link below to check out all the designs we have available:

KettlebellBasics.net Online Store

The Kettlebell Thruster

For one of my first kettlebell workouts ever, a local RKC put me through a short warm up of Wall Squats, ‘Pumps’, and Halos, and then what felt like 20 sets each of Swings and Turkish Get Ups – a textbook workout from Pavels’s Enter The Kettlebell. I thought I was in pretty good shape going in – but this seemingly simple workout left me totally spent.

So as I finished off my last set of Swings and got ready to retreat to the locker room to collect my thoughts (and settle my stomach), my trainer had a surprise ‘finisher’ up his sleve: Tabata Kettlebell Thrusters.

I grabbed what seemed like a pair of light kettlebells – a pair of 12k’s – and did many Thrusters as I could in 20 seconds, rested for 10, and repeated this eight times. And this four minute finisher put me over the top; every muscle in my body was toast – and my stomach was, for lack of a better term, now unsettled 🙂

While I don’t recommend doing the Tabata Protocol with Kettlebell Thrusters the very first time you try them, it’s a great total body move to add to your kettlebell exercise arsenal. The Kettlebell Thruster is simply a Kettlebell Squat combined with a Kettlebell Press (the name ‘Thruster’ was coined by the folks over at CrossFit).

To perform the Kettlebell Thruster, start by doing a Kettlebell Squat (check out the full post on how to do the Kettlebell Squat here) and go directly into a Kettlebell Press. The exercise can be done with one or two ‘bells; this video shows how to do the single KB version:

One of the keys to doing the movement efficiently is to keep the elbows tight to the body – this will help with getting the momentum generated by explosively extending the hips to be transferred to the ‘bells effectively and efficiently. Also, there should be no rotation of the kettlebell at the top. Keep the hands facing each other at all times. This makes for a much more efficient movement.

You can add this exercise as a finisher-type of move (like I did in the workout described above), as a stand-alone exercise, or as part of a circuit.

The Kettlebell Thruster combines two basic kettlebell moves – the Squat and the Press – for a killer total-body metabolic challenge. Take your time to learn the Kettlebell Thruster properly and start building it into your kettlebell workouts ASAP for improved strength, power, and conditioning!

Train hard and train smart

Forest

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Kettlebells For Fat Loss Special

Quick heads up on the Kettlebells For Fat Loss Special:

Couple of quick announcements for today –

First, head over and check out the brand new post on how to use kettlebells for fat loss on my Fitness Monster blog:

How To Use Kettlebells To Lose Body Fat And Get Six Pack Abs

Second, I thought I’d give you KB fans a heads up that I have a Kettlebells For Fat Loss workshop coming very soon at my new gym in Sacramento, CA.  And since most of you reading this blog aren’t located anywhere near the Sacramento, CA area, I’m giving everyone the same chance to learn how to use kettlebells to safely and effectively burn fat and get a strong, lean and defined midsection.  So here’s the plan:  If you purchase the KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Guide before Tuesday night, October 19th at 9pm PST, you’ll get a free copy of my Best Fat Loss Diet plan.  You’ll have the complete package you need to lose fat with kettlebell training in record time. You can check out the sales pages for each product here (but make sure to buy through the KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Guide sales page for the special):



So that gives you just over 48 hours to take advantage of this special offer … and sorry, for fairness to everyone, I can’t extend the deal past Tuesday night.  If you want to take advantage of the deal, act fast!  Order now by clicking the link below:

Sorry, the kettlebells for fat loss special is now over 🙁

Abbreviated Kettlebell Training

Lack of time seems to be one of the most common excuses for missing workouts. But in reality, almost everyone can find a little extra time in their day to train. It’s partially a matter of priority (is watching this week’s Jersey Shore episode or getting your workout in more important?) and partially a matter of knowing exactly how to get the most efficient workout in the shortest time possible.

One of the great things about kettlebell training  is that 15-20 minutes of work is, in many cases, all you need.  You can get great results with literally less than one hour per week of kettlebell workouts.

The abbreviated kettlebell training program of choice

When it comes time to design an abbreviated kettlebell routine, I know of none better than the Program Minimum from Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell. Without giving away too many details, it consists soley of a few mobility movements and stretches, Turkish Get Ups and Kettlebell Swings done in four to five weekly sessions of about 15 to 20 minutes each.

I’ve personally gotten amazing results with this exact program – less than one hour per week in total of training.  I’ve also put countless kettlebell clients on the program and it’s worked great for them, too – no one believes that it’s enough work to get decent results, but everyone is converted into a believer after trying the PM for a few weeks.

You can check out this post on the Kettlebell Man Maker – which is part of the Program Minimmum – on my Fitness Monster blog to get a more detailed idea of what this program is like:

The Kettlebell Man Maker

And you can order a copy of Enter the Kettlebell by clicking the banner below:

Enter The Kettlebell

New option for abbreviated kettlebell training

If you’ve completed the Program Minimum and are looking for a new, more advanced program, the new Kettlebell Muscle book by Geoff Nupert, Master RKC is worth checking out. It’s a book all about building muscle with kettlebells – the workouts are short and efficient kettlebell complexes that are perfect for folks wanting maximum results from minimum time investment.  Click the image below to learn more about Kettlebell Muscle and to order a copy:

Kettlebell Muscle

In short, kettlebells are the perfect tool for building muscle and losing fat with minimum time investment.  I know that when my schedule gets crazy, I rely on kettlebell training to keep me in shape.  If you’re tight on time but are looking for a very effective way to train, I highly recommend abbreviated kettlebell training.

Keep training hard!

Forest

P.S. If you haven’t signed up for my weekly newsletter, make sure to do so now – you’ll get a free Beginner’s Guide to Kettlebell Training just for signing up! Just drop your name and email into the box at the upper right of the page.

Kettlebells + The Tabata Protocol = Serious Fat Loss

As you know, interval training is superior to traditional steady-state cardio for fat loss (check out this post on my Fitness Monster blog to learn more).

The Tabata Protocol is a very specific interval workout developed by Japaneese scientest Izumi Tabata. To be exact, it’s 20 seconds of all out work, 10 seconds of rest, repeated eight times in a row. It’s a super effective, super tough, and super popular interval protocol used commonly as both a stand alone workout and a end-of-workout type smoker.

Kettlebell training and Tabatas are kind of a match made in heaven (or maybe hell, depending on how you look at it :)) Put together, they’ll give you a heck of a workout in a very short amount of time. In the video below, I talk about and demonstrate two kettlebell exercises that work great with the Tabata Protocol:

Keep training hard and see you next time!

P.S. The GymBoss interval timer I mention in the video is a must-have tool if you’re doing any type of interval training – check out the full description and review of it (and a bunch of other cool kettlebell-related products) here: Kettlebell Basics Recommended Resources