Here is a super common mistake I see men and women over the age of 50 make with their training:

They just pick workouts they like, or want to do, or that think correlate with their goals…

…and they simply modify them to fit their current fitness level or needs.

Here is an example kettlebell workout I found with a quick internet search:

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3 Rounds for Time:

Run 400m

21 American Kettlebell Swings

15 Push Ups

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So let’s say you’re going to give this workout a try.

But you have some knee issues.

So instead of running, you pick a lower impact cardio move, like marching in place.

And let’s say you also have some back issues.

So instead of the swings, you do deadlifts, or maybe KB squats on to a box, instead.

And then let’s also say you have some shoulder issues.

So you have to modify the push ups too, by maybe elevating your hands on a box.

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Now this is okay, and I’m not saying it’s necessarily wrong. You will get a fine workout. You’ll elevate your heart rate. You’ll get some resistance training in. Overall much better than doing nothing!

BUT, you could do a lot BETTER, if you had a workout that was more SPECIFIC to your exact fitness level and goals.

You would be much BETTER off to adress things like:

• Flexiblity / mobility / improved movement – could be inserted in your warm up / movement prep, at the end of the workout, or even inside the workout itself. NOT done in the example workout above.
• Balance – could be inserted in your warm up / movement prep, at the end of the workout, or even inside the workout itself. NOT done in the example workout above.
• Direct core strength work – could be inserted in your warm up / movement prep, at the end of the workout, or even inside the workout itself. NOT done in the example workout above.

Make sense?

If you are a man or woman over the age of 50 and you want a kettlebell-focused program that is more specifically built around your needs, I recommend you check out my Lifetime Kettlebell Fitness program.

It does NOT just modify regular kettlebell workouts and make them easier; it addresses the goals listed above that are specific to the 50+ kettlebell athlete.

You can see this program, as well as the rest of my products and services that are on my “Better Than Black Friday Sale” through tomorrow night, at the link below:

=>> Lifetime Kettlebell Fitness + Forest’s “Better Than Black Friday Sale”

To your continued success!

-Forest Vance
Kettlebell Expert
Master of Science, Human Movement
Certified Kettlebell Instructor
KettlebellBasics.net

PS – My “Better Than Black Friday” sale ends tomorrow at midnight, so pop over and grab the goodies you want now!

=> Forest’s “Better Than Black Friday Sale”

Happy Thanksgiving!

My kettlebell courses + training plans are ALL on sale this weekend:

=>> “Way Better Than Black Friday Sale” from Forest Vance at KB Basics

Here is a Kettlebell “Thanksgiving Sampler Platter” Workout for you on this Holiday.

You’ll get a little bit of everything – swings, cleans, snatches and more:

Check it out:

*Two handed swing – 10 reps
*Clean and press – 5 reps per side
*One hand swing – 10 reps per side
*Clean and rack squat – 5 reps per side
*Two handed swing – 10 reps
*Turkish get up – 2 reps per side
*One handed swing – 10 reps per side
*Snatch – 10 reps per side
*Two handed swing – 10 reps

Complete as many rounds as you can of this circuit in 20 minutes.

And don’t forget – my kettlebell courses + training plans are ALL on sale this weekend:

=>> “Way Better Than Black Friday Sale” from Forest Vance at KB Basics

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours –

-Forest and the FVT Team

Yesterday, we talked about the “8×8” method, prescribed by The late Vince Gironda, considered by many to be the first bodybuilding coach… and how we’ve done sort of a “spin-off” on the original 8×8 with our latest 28-day MRT Kettlebell Challenge.

With the original 8×8, you would choose 60 – 70 percent of your 1RM in a given lift (compound movements preferred). Then you would perform 8 sets of 8 reps, with a mere 30 seconds or less of rest.

With this method, since you’re COMBINING compound moves, using heavy-ish weights, with a fast-moving workout and low rest periods, you can achieve amazing metabolic ramping and fat loss benefits. Some might even say it was one of the first versions of “MRT”, or Metabolic Resistance Training!…

Only thing is, with the original version, you use more traditional weightlifting moves that typically require access to a commercial gym.

So what we did is, think about – how could we put together a program, using similar principles of combining compound moves, heavy-ish weights, and low rest periods, so that you too can burn fat AND build lean muscle at the same time… but do it with just kettlebells and your own bodyweight?

That’s what we’re doing with our latest 28-day MRT Kettlebell Challenge.

It’s sort of a “spin-off” on the original 8×8.

We don’t use the exact set and rep scheme, but we work on very similar principles.

We combine the power of Metabolic Resistance Training with kettlebells to help you burn calories during AND all day after your workout, PLUS build lean muscle and strength, all at the same time.

And you do it with three, 20-30 minute kettlebell workouts per week.

Here is a sample (NOT an exact workout from the Challenge, but written in the same “style”) to give you an idea.

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24-min “8×8” KB/BW Workout

Perform the sequence of exercises below one time. Rest about 30 seconds between moves. Each exercise + rest period should take you about 1 minute. The full workout should take you around 24 minutes total:

• Regular push ups – 2 sets of 8
• Wide push ups – 2 sets of 8
• Narrow push ups – 2 sets of 8
• Staggered hands push ups – 2 sets of 8
• Dead stop kettlebell swing – 2 sets of 8
• Two hand kettlebell swing – 2 sets of 8
• One hand kettlebell swing – 1 set of 8 per side
• Hand to hand kettlebell swing – 2 sets of 8
• Forward kettlebell lunge – 2 sets of 8
• Backward kettlebell lunge – 2 sets of 8
• Side kettlebell lunge – 2 sets of 8
• Tactical kettlebell lunge – 2 sets of 8

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Give that workout a try.

And remember, the Challenge starts today!

So if you still want to sign up, you can, but this is your very last chance. Do so now at the link below:

=>> 28-day Kettlebell MRT Challenge

And we’ll see ‘ya on the “inside” –

-Forest Vance
KettlebellBasics.net

Calling all kettlebell nerds 🤓

Have you gotten started on this yet?

=> new 4-week “MRT” (metabolic resistance training) kettlebell workout plan

Metabolic Resistance Training, also known as “MRT”, involves stacking multiple heavier, compound exercises together to create an oxygen debt.

With this style of training, you end up burning a ton of calories – during the session, AND for the rest of the day – plus you’re able to build lean muscle, all at the same time.

This is NOT HIIT (similar, but HIIT typically does NOT have you using heavier, compound movements).

And this is NOT traditional strength training (DOES typically use heavier lifts, but also typically very little cardio or conditioning involved).

It’s the best of both worlds!

Check out a sample workout:

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“Iron Edge” Kettlebell MRT Circuit

KB Turkish get up – 1 rep per side
1 arm KB swing – 7 reps per side
alternating KB goblet lunge – 7 per side
1-5 pull ups OR 12 recline rows OR 12 1 arm KB rows per side
5-10 burpees (do lower or higher reps, and modify as needed according to fitness level)

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NOTES

The whole idea with MRT is that you pick a weight / exercise variation that is challenging. So take your time ramping up if you’re just getting back into things, BUT we need to work to find a weight that is hard eventually (that’s all relative to you of course), to get the desired results from this style of training.

What happens sometimes is that we get more beginner folks that blow through something like this with a 10 or 15 pound kettlebell, and they go – “this is easy!”

If you pick a weight that is really challenging for the work sets, the overall work load goes up, and it’s a totally different experience.

Fit men, we’d have you doing 2o or 24k / 44 or 53 pounds plus on the get ups and lunges, 28 or 32k / 63 or 70 pounds plus on the 1 arm swings, and regular pull ups.

Fit women, we’d have you doing 12 or 16k / 26 or 35 pounds plus on the get ups and lunges, 16 or 20k / 35 or 44 pounds plus on the 1 arm swings, and regular pull ups.

If you are starting lighter or don’t have access to the right weights right now or whatever else – THAT’S OKAY! You can still get great results. I just want to give some context on how this workout style is set up and how you need to do it, to get the most out of it.

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Start on the full 4-week plan at the link below:

=> new 4-week “MRT” (metabolic resistance training) kettlebell workout plan

And here’s to your continued your success!

-Forest Vance, KettlebellBasics.net

This is one of the most popular kettlebell exercises around.

It seems to be the “go to” kettlebell move in the CrossFit world, and you can see pics of people doing it all over the internet.

But today, I’m here to tell you to STOP doing “American” swings:

One big reason is, to finish with the kettlebell directly over your head, you have to get a LOT of hip drive, and most people will just end up using their arms to finish the swing. Which is not what we want.

Another problem that we see is that most people just don’t have the shoulder mobility to get the KB overhead with their hands so close together. They end up shrugging the shoulders up and/or rounding forward and/or doing other things that aren’t ideal.

Now, if you would like to get on a kettlebell program that’s going to help you avoid mistakes like this one, and help you do all the right things, so that you can get the results that you want, and so that you can do it to safely and effectively, I recommend that you join our upcoming 28 day kettlebell MRT challenge: https://bit.ly/kbmrt20

It’s 28 days of advanced-level kettlebell programming. We use metabolic resistance training, and combine it with Kettlebells for a powerful fat loss and lean muscle gain effect.

Plus, you get on-going coaching from me and my team to make sure that you’re not making mistakes that will slow down your progress.

Click the link below to join now, and we look forward to working with you: https://bit.ly/kbmrt20

– Forest and the FVT Team

Metabolic Resistance Training, also known as “MRT”, is one of the BEST methods around for building muscle AND torching fat, all at the same time.

With this training method, you give maximum physical effort through a series of compound movements. It trains your body to burn more calories at rest (often also known as the “afterburn”).

But what most MRT routines LACK is:

• They are not specifically done with kettlebells – which takes the method to the next level of results
• They are NOT designed with the 40+ crowd and their uniquen considerations in mind
• There is nothing to keep you motivated and accountable to actually DO it

That’s why we came up with the 28-day MRT Kettlebell Challenge.

Check out this sample workout, and stay tuned – registration opens for the Challenge tomorrow, Tuesday, November 17th!

-Forest and the FVT Team, KettlebellBasics.net

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22-minute Kettlebell MRT Workout

*Full exercise breakdowns with video, recommended weights for each move, and more are all provided in the Challenge

Superset #1

1 – KB Goblet Squat – 8
2 – KB 2-hand KB Swing – 15

Complete 3 rounds. Rest only long enough to switch weights if needed. 20 seconds rest after each superset.

Straight Sets

1 – KB Turkish Get Up – 1/each side

Complete 3 sets. No rest between sides. Rest 20-30 seconds between sets.

Superset #2

1 – KB 2-hand Gorilla Rows – 10
2 – KB 2-hand Dead Clean – 8

Complete 3 rounds. No rest between exercises. 20 seconds rest after each superset.

Finisher Chipper style – As fast as possible complete 1 round of each exercise, completing all reps of each exercise before moving on to the next. Rest as needed.

1 – Instep Hops/Standing Heel Taps – 50 total. Modify by taking out the hop.
2 – Mountain Climbers – 50/ea side. Modify by elevating your hands, or walking your feet in and out as fast as possible.
3 – Skaters – 50/ea side. Modify by keeping the jump low or taking the jump out altogether.

Have you heard of the “10,000 Kettlebell Swing Workout”?

From my understanding, strength coach Dan John came up with the idea around 2013.

The original idea is to do 500 swings a day, for 20 days.

Between the kettlebell swings, you do a low-volume strength movement such as chin-ups, goblet squats, dips, or overhead presses.

There are more details you need to know if you’re going to try this… but honestly, I think it’s a simple and awesome home training program.

BUT… and there is a BIG but! 🍑

I think where SO many people get this wrong, is they go into something like this, without first knowing how to properly swing a kettlebell.

They rush into it, and don’t get as much out of it as they could be. And maybe even end up injuring themselves.

However, getting proper instruction can be tricky. You don’t know who to trust. We’re in the middle of a pandemic, and a lot of gyms are temporarily, or even permanently, closed.

I have a solution!

I am doing an ONLINE kettlebell swing workshop on Saturday, November 14th:

=>> Online KB Swing Workshop with Forest Vance

You can attend live, or sign up and get the recording to watch any time you want.

I also include my “KB Swing Crash Course” video series AND a copy of my KB Basics Swing Manual – so that you can get started learning right away.

And so if you’re going to try something like the 10,000 Kettlebell Swing Workout – or any other program with a lot (or even a little) of swings… you can be confident that you are doing the move safely and effectively.

To your continued success –

-Forest Vance
Kettlebell Expert
KettlebellBasics.net

PS – We have limited spots for this event. Get details and reserve your spot here now.