Category: General

Win a Free Copy of Kettlebell Challenge Workouts

On By adminIn General118 Comments

My new Kettlebell Challenge Workouts program is coming very soon … and you can win a free copy!!

It’s a “mega-bundle” of more than a dozen kick-a@@ kettlebell challenge workouts you can do any time, any place, with just a single kettlebell and your own body weight, and in 20 minutes or less.  And the full program will be officially available in a few short days …

So, as we get the finishing touches of the delivery process ironed out, and as a gesture of appreciation to you, a loyal reader, I’ve decided to give away two free copies of the program before I officially release it.

All you have to do to win your copy is leave a comment on this post detailing your number one fitness goal … and your biggest obstacle/frustration/etc. that’s keeping you from accomplishing it.  I’ll have my assistant go through and pick the best two comments so the contest is as fair as possible.  And all I’ll ask for is a little feedback from the winners after they’ve read through the program, watched the videos and tried the workouts themselves.

Leave a comment below to get entered to win … and keep an eye on your e-mail inbox to get first word of the Kettlebell Challenge Workouts program’s official release!

 

Interview with Hardcore Strength and Conditioning Specialist Travis Stoetzel

On By adminIn General, Guest Posts, Kettlebell Workouts2 Comments

Happy Monday!  I got a killer KettlebellBasics.net expert interview for you today from my man Travis Stoetzel.

Travis is a highly unconventional hardcore strength and conditioning specialist that focuses in on serious athletes and trainees to help them improve their overall performance and physique.

He specializes training athletes specifically in aggressive sports such as wrestling, MMA, and football and does this with his unique “Aggressive Strength Method” of training.

He owns a gym in Omaha NE, called The Forged Athlete where he helps athletes and serious trainees alike accomplish their performance and physique enhancement goals.

For more information on Travis, go to his personal blog at http://www.travisstoetzel.com and look into all of the other articles, posts, and videos available or grab his FREE training system, the Lean and Mean Blueprint at www.LeanandMeanBlueprint.com

Take it away, Travis –

1. Travis, what exactly is your main program all about?

My main program Bags, Bells, and Bodyweight is first and foremost geared towards improving performance. So increases in strength, power, and conditioning all at once are my main focuses with that. Typically I focus on blending together different modalities of training such as barbell training, power and explosive training, kettlebells, sandbags, and of course body weight.

With this, drops in body fat are normal as well as gains in lean mass. One of my main focuses besides improving overall performance is improving your mindset. Tough workouts will not only make you stronger physically, I’m a HUGE believer in the mental side of things.

2. Your workouts incorporate all different forms of training – body weight, kettlebells, metabolic conditioning – and they’re HARD! What exercise methods have you studied and how do they influence your work?

From a young age I’ve been involved with bodyweight training. This was due to me being involved in wrestling at a young age. My dad got me hooked on pull ups, push ups, and sprinting very early. I LOVED it all. When I got into Middle School, that’s when I started training with weights and fell in love even more with training.

After college was done and I was finished playing in competitive sports, that when I started training with other tools such as kettlebells and sandbags. I wish I would have known about these strength tools back when I was in school!

Now, I continue to travel around to different seminars learning new things. I’ll forever be a student of strength. If there’s been a workshop or seminar on training, I’ve more then likely been there… Strongman, Olympic Lifting, Kettlebells, Sandbags, Bodyweight, Gymnastics… I love it all and I’ll forever be devoted to improving my craft.

3. Who exactly is your program for? As in is your program only for advanced folks? Or do you provide workout/exercise modifications for people who are still building up their overall fitness level?

Since my training programs are geared mainly towards performance, most people think that they are only for athletes but it’s my belief that everyone is an athlete at heart. We all need to be able to move freely, we all need to be strong, and we all need to be conditioned.

With that in mind, my programs are mainly geared towards the hardcore fitness enthusiast and power / combat athlete such as football players, wrestlers, and fighters. My programs are not typically for beginners.

With beginners, I direct them towards developing a solid base level of strength and conditioning via bodyweight training.  You can NEVER be too strong or conditioned with your own bodyweight, but that is where you need to always start in building your level of fitness.

4. What type of results have individuals experienced with your program? Could you provide a few examples?

The results that are produced through my training programs go across the board.

One client was able to shed 25 lbs of fat and at the same time add back on 10 lbs of muscle. In the same time he improved his levels of strength, power, and overall conditioning. He started from being an out-of-shape college slacker to being accepted into the Marine OCS program and winning the “Gung Ho” award that was out of 300 different candidates.  He was also able to complete the infamous, Spartan “Death Race”.

As I mentioned before, my programs not only make you stronger, more explosive, leaner, and highly conditioned physically, they will also transform you mentally as well.

There’s been literally hundreds of testimonials I’ve received over the years from clients online but one of the best I can remember is from a man I will call RD to keep his identity private. His results and feedback from my programs have truly left me speechless and proud beyond belief.

When he first found me via my YouTube channel, he was not able to complete a single workout I posted within my videos.  He stuck with it and after a while, he took the next step and invested into my program, Warrior Ripped. In short, RD lost a total of 45 lbs, gained back a solid 15 lbs of muscle and dropped 20% bodyfat going from 36% down to 16% in 12 weeks. I can remember how serious he was as he would email me every week on his progress. He told me my program not only changed his life, it saved his life. Before starting he was in a dark place at the time and was severely depressed. Building up a stronger and leaner body helped him gain his confidence of old back and now has a totally new outlook on life.
That’s what it’s all about!

Another testimonial I like to share is with one of my clients that was able to make it just a few match away from qualifying for the 2012 US Olympic Wrestling Team. I’ve trained him for the last couple of years now using the methods I have within my Bags, Bells, and Bodyweight Training System. The guy started out strong but overtime we’ve made him stronger and even more of a killer within his mind.

5. Would you be kind enough to provide a sample workout or two for my readers to try out at home?

Yeah, here’s a couple of my favorites from Bags, Bells, and Bodyweight…

Phase II – Day 3

1A) KB High Pull OR Snatch (If advanced) 5 x 10/arm (for high pulls) OR 5 x 5/arm (snatch)

2A) HSPU or Wall Walks 4 x sub
2B) Bent KB 1arm Rows 4 x 8 OR Bent SB Rows 4 x 8

3A) KB 1 Leg RDL 3 x 8/leg OR SB RDL 3 x 15
3B) Inch worms 3 x 5 total

4A) SB OR KB Complex 3 rounds x 5 movements x 8 reps each
a) Clean
b) Front Squat
c) Overhead Press
d) Drop Lunge
e) Front Carry to Failure

Phase 10 – Day 2

1A) 15/30 ALL OUT Goes x 4 rounds of each of the following (15 secs ON / 30 secs REST):
a) Vertical Jumps
b) Ice Skaters

2A) SUPER HEAVY SB Shouldering – 1 rep each shoulder every 20 secs x 5 mins
3A) 1A KB Bottoms Up Press 3 x 5-8/arm – regress to regular press if need be
3B) 1A KB Bent Row 3 x 5-8/arm
3C) 1A KB Swing 3 x 8/arm

4A) HEAVY Sled Drags 4 x 50 yards (forwards x 25 yards then backwards x 25 yards)

 

***************

That was awesome!  Thanks again, Travis.

Have a great week, and talk soon –

Forest

PS – To learn more about Travis’ main training system Bags, Bells and Bodyweight system, click here

7 Day Fat Loss Inferno (free gift)

On By adminIn Basic Kettlebell Drills, General, Kettlebell Workouts2 Comments

Happy Holidays!

As a gift for you this year, I’ve put together a special report, called the 7 Day Fat Loss Inferno.

This is a program I designed to help you do one thing, and one thing only: lose as much fat as humanly possible in 7 days.

It’s not something that you’ll want to follow ALL the time … but it’s a great way to kick-start your fat loss efforts – whether you’re getting back into it, or you’re stuck at a fat loss plateau. And done for a short period, in the way I outline in this manual – you’ll see that rapid fat loss can be totally safe – and totally awesome!

Click the link below to get it now (direct download link, no opt-in required):

=> The 7 Day Fat Loss Inferno

In this plan, you’ll use kettlebell and body weight – based metabolic conditioning workouts, high intensity cardio sessions, and super clean eating to shed body fat faster than you ever thought possible.

Again, this program is totally free, and no email opt-in is required … it’s just my token of appreciation, and way of saying thanks for a great year!

Click the link below get your gift:

=> The 7 Day Fat Loss Inferno

Thanks again, and talk soon –

Forest Vance, MS, CPT, RKC II

Interview with Fat Loss Expert Kate Vidulich

On By adminIn General, Product Reviews1 Comment

Hey! Hope you’re having an awesome weekend.  Forest here back with another expert interview for you from KettlebellBasics.net.

Today with us we have Kate Vidulich.  I’ve gotten to know Kate now for the last several months, and met her in person a month or so ago at a industry event … she’s a super cool person and has some great ideas about fat loss, specifically losing those last 10 pounds with what she calls “metabolic mashups” (these utilize KB’s, body weight, dumbbells and barbells as primary training tools, BTW) … I knew her ideas would be of great interest to my readers, so I was pumped when she agreed to do an interview for KettlebellBasics.net.

A little more about Kate before we get to the full interview –

Kate is an experienced Exercise Physiologist and Certified ACSM Health Fitness Specialist with a passion for excellence. Kate has an extensive research background, completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Health & Exercise Science from the University of NSW in Sydney, Australia.

Kate specializes in designing and implementing personalized, effective, results-oriented training programs. Her unique approach, combining movement rehabilitation and fat loss, has helped thousands of people across the world achieve their goals, at all ages.

A resident of New York City, Kate operates in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and consults with clients in private one-on-one, and online coaching with clients worldwide.

She is the author of the Fat Loss Accelerators program, and also regularly updates her blog at FatLossAccelerators.com.

Without further ado, Kate –

 

1. What first drove you to create the Fat Loss Accelerators program?

The evolution of the idea to share Fat Loss Accelerators with the world struck me one afternoon while I was training in a small, crowded New York gym. It was so insanely busy, and I was tired of being pushed out of the space. I just needed a fast, challenging workout to do with limited equipment, in a small area.

The idea for the program had been right in front of me the whole time! I had been using and testing unique metabolic movements for a few years, and getting results with my clients and myself. So I knew there would be other folks in the world who would totally benefit from this and love it!

 

2. What exactly is your fitness program/philosophy/etc. all about?

My training philosophy is pretty simple. In order to get fit and build an athletic body, you need to work hard based on your current ability. When you progress and succeed, the confidence you gain from training transfers into other aspects of your life. What you initially thought was impossible – is now possible.

I like to focus on training movement patterns, using major muscle groups to burn the maximum number of calories in your workout time. People love a challenge and it’s always great to add a fun element to your training program – otherwise you simply won’t do it!

I think there are so many excellent training approaches, with industry leaders such as Alwyn & Rachel Cosgrove, Craig Ballantyne, Mike Boyle and so many others to list. Instead of trying to compete with these programs, the idea of Fat Loss Accelerators is to add-on to their fantastic work. So I created done-for-you intense workouts that you can plug into your program to accelerate fat loss results.

 

3. You have a unique and inspiring approach to busting through fitness plateaus that I think appeals to a lot of folks. What exercise methods have you studied and how do they influence your work?

Thanks Forest! I’m always studying different training methods, because you can always learn and pick up ideas from other disciplines.

I worked on a University research project back in Sydney, Australia studying the effectiveness of high intensity interval training for fat loss in women. The results were a major breakthrough in our field, and this has significantly influenced my training approach.

My workouts are intense and challenging. Think resistance training meets high intensity intervals. The unique metabolic movements in my workouts can help you save time in your training sessions, maximize your calorie expenditure and eliminate the need for cardio.

I bring a new, challenging approach for the people who would otherwise jump on a treadmill/bike and do sprints.

 

4. What type of results have individuals experienced with your program/workouts/etc.? Could you provide a few examples?

The results and feedback from my clients has been incredible. I have a core bunch of clients I been training for over 3 years now, so it’s been very interesting to see the body transformations with my experiments and shift in training style over time. I find it more effective to focus on athletic goals and aesthetic results are a bonus!

My favorite example is a female client who is 62 years old, trains really hard and is currently in better shape than a lot of 30 year olds going around. After achieving her initial weight loss goal of 20 pounds, we shifted the focus to performance goals. Initially, Nancy couldn’t run at all, and now she can run a mile in less than 10 minutes! Plus, she gets so many compliments on how amazing her arms look. I agree – they look incredible!

A 38 year old female client who refused to do any cardio or even go to the gym lost 31 pounds over 6 months. She set up a home gym with weights in her apartment, shifted her mindset and decided to kick butt in every workout. Really impressive change!

Another example is myself. I lost 41 pounds using these insane workouts and in 2011, I beat my previous year NYC marathon time by 54 minutes. This year, I shaved 8 minutes off my best half marathon time.

Awesome, right! See you at the next Olympics 😉

 

5. Would you be kind enough to provide a sample workout or two for my readers to try out at home?

Absolutely Forest! For best results, use a Fat Loss Accelerators at the beginning of your workout before strength training– after a dynamic warm up and core work Replace your interval days with Fat Loss Accelerators, and reduce the stress involved with thinking and planning.

The first one is a bodyweight only workout, so there is no excuse. Try it!

Accelerator 2

Equipment Options – Bodyweight only

Perform each of the following in order with no rest. Continue the series for a total of 5 minutes. Rest for 90 seconds and then repeat twice:

A) Walk outs x 5
B) T Push Ups x 5
C) Mountain Climbers x 5
D) Jump Squats x 5

Accelerator 27

Equipment Options – Dumbbells / Kettlebells

Choose a weight you can lift overhead for 10 reps. Perform each of the following in order with no rest, and without putting the weight down. At the end of the circuit, rest for 90 seconds. Repeat for 4 rounds:

A) Alternating Lunge to Overhead Reach x 6
B) Squat thrust to Deadlift x 6
C) Front Squats to Push Press x 6
D) Push Up to Renegade Row x 6

You can find both of these in 31 Fat Loss Accelerators, done-for-you workouts that you can simply plug into your current program. Yes, you don’t have to start again.

Grab your very own copy of Fat Loss Accelerators here

These are intense, targeted workouts that involve the strategic use of compounding, hybrid exercises to maximize fat burning and training time to break through plateaus.

Cheers to kicking butt!

Kate

********************

Thanks again, Kate. That was an awesome interview.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and talk soon –

Forest

PS – To learn more about Kate’s full program for using Fat Loss Accelerator Circuits to bust your fat loss plateau, click here

10 Minute Kettlebell/Body Weight Home Circuit Workout

On By adminIn Basic Kettlebell Drills, General, Kettlebell Workouts, VideosLeave a comment

Maybe 100% of your workouts are at home.

Maybe you work out at a gym or other type of training facility primarily, but a quick home workout has to do when you’re pressed for time or just can’t make it happen any other way.

Well, clearly I’m a bit biased ;), but –

1) Kettlebell workouts and 2) body weight – only training are by far my two favorite ways to exercise at home.  I have a workout room set up in my house with a variety of different types of exercise equipment … but to be honest, 90% of the time I just stick to KB’s and body weight.

The combination of these two modalities allows you to get a fat-blasting, lean-muscle building, high-intensity conditioning workout almost anywhere.

I put together a quick video for you from my home workout space – this is a great one to knock out over the weekend for some extra holiday-time calorie burning.

Enjoy!

To quickly recap the video –

Do this exercise sequence:

  • plank-to-push up
  • kb goblet squat
  • jumping jacks
  • kettlebell swings

Do each exercise for as many reps as possible in 30 seconds. No rest between moves. Do the entire sequence three to five times non-stop with no rest.

KB’s and body weight are a powerful training combo for getting a lot done, in a short amount of time, in a very small space. Perfect for those home workouts during the busy holiday season.

Enjoy this workout, and have a great weekend!

Forest Vance, MS
Certified Russian Kettlebell Instructor

PS – Signed up for my email newsletter yet?  Get free KB training videos, workouts, and more – just drop your name and best email into the box at the upper right of the page to get it now.

Kettlebell Warm Up – Turkish Get Up Progression

On By adminIn Basic Kettlebell Drills, General, VideosLeave a comment

You know you NEED to warm up.

But unfortunately, when you’re pressed for time, don’t have a specific plan in mind, or just flat out don’t feel like it, the warm up is often the first part of a kettlebell workout to go.

So … here’s a super quick kettlebell warm up sequence for you to do before your next workout … it only takes two or three minutes, and it hits all of your major muscle groups.  You’ll never have an excuse to miss a warm up again! 🙂

 

Video Recap

Start with one ‘naked’ Turkish Get Up on each side. Take your time and work through each position of the exercise.

Move on to one Turkish Get Up on each side with a very light weight. Same goes here – go very slowly, and make sure to work each position of the move.

Add a little more weight and do one more rep on each side.

You’ll end up doing three reps on each side … you’ll have hit your shoulders, back, core, hips, and more … and you’ll be ready to rock!

That’s it for now – thanks for reading, and talk soon –

Forest Vance, MS, RKC II

PS – If you’re still looking to master the Turkish Get Up – and the rest of the basic KB moves – the KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Guide could be exactly what you need:

=> The KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Guide

Kettlebell Low Back Pain – Quick Fix Tip (video)

On By adminIn Basic Kettlebell Drills, General, Tips and Tricks, Videos2 Comments

The kettlebell swing is the most used … and most abused! … kettlebell exercise.

It’s a move that works the heck out of the big back muscles … the glutes … the hamstrings … the core … but it’s NOT an exercise for the lower back.

I still get emails/Facebook and blog comments/etc. though at least weekly, if not daily, from folks experiencing kettlebell low back pain.

So I thought I’d shoot a quick video breaking down of one the #1 causes of KB back pain – and how to fix it:

Video Recap

Swinging the kettlebell too close to the ground is one of the main causes of kettlebell low back pain.

To fix it, bring the ‘bell as close to the body as you can as it swings back. The motion is similar to hike passing a football.

Another great cue is to imagine you are throwing the KB through your stomach … and then to get the hips out of the way at the last minute.

Think of it this way – if you were going to pick up a heavy object, you would bring it close to the body as you could. It’a a simple mechanical advantage. Same goes for the kettlebell swing.

 

To sum up, the kettlebell swing is king.  But you gotta do it RIGHT and use perfect form to 1) stay safe and 2) get the most out of the exercise.  Use the tip in this video to eliminate the lower back pain you’re getting from your swings!

– Forest Vance, MS, RKC II

 

Story of the Crazy Kettlebell Man (and a body weight/KB circuit workout)

On By adminIn General, Kettlebell Workouts, Tips and Tricks, VideosLeave a comment

Happy Halloween!

I’m feeling extra inspired – because Haloween is one of my favorite holidays 🙂 – so I have TWO things to share with you today:

1. A scary kettlebell story
2. A special Halloween body weight and kettlebell circuit workout

 

Story of the Crazy Kettlebell Man

It’s Halloween night. You’re on the way back from a costume party when your friends decide it’d be a good idea to drive to the outskirts of town to check out a haunted mansion …

You pull off the road and park the car at the back of the property. The house itself is on the top of a hill, still quite a distance away … it’s a dark and cloudy night and the road is pitch black with no streetlamps.

You shiver as you follow your friends into the woods …

It’s a long and spooky walk. You finally arrive at an overgrown lawn that looks up at the house.

You glance up at the third story and the windows gape at you like dark eyes. Suddenly, a ball of light appears in the window … you’re sure your friends told you the house was abandoned!

The light seems to float, and before your eyes, it forms into a hulking giant. You gasp in shock … and the figure begins to swing a giant ball-shaped object.

“Let’s get out of here!” You cry … your friends apparently saw the figure, too, and the group sprints to the car and speeds away.

“What was that?” You ask.

“Don’t you know?” Says your buddy. ”It was the crazy kettlebell man!”

You shriek. “The crazy kettlebell man?”

“Yep. A team of kettlebell lifters lived in the mansion. They were Girevoy sport world champions … until the team captain went mad and killed them all. They say he still haunts the mansion to this day and tries to lure visitors in to join his crazy kettlebell circuit workouts.”

Shivering, your friends drop you off and you head home. For the rest of the night, your dreams are filled with images of the crazy kettlebell man trying to lure you to his mansion, swinging his giant kettlebell …

 

10-31-12 Halloween Body Weight and Kettlebell Circuit Workout

– start with a five minute warm up – like this one

-then do:

(circuit 1)

10 pull ups or inverted rows
31 kettlebell swings
12 close grip push ups

(circuit 2)

10 plank-to-push ups
31 jumping jacks
12 goblet squats

– Perform exercises in each circuit back-to-back without rest. Rest 30-60 seconds, and repeat each circuit three times.

– For some tips on how to do more pull ups, click here

– To check out a video with some kettlebell swing form tips, click here

That’s it for now!

Talk soon –

Forest

PS – If you haven’t grabbed your free Beginner’s Guide to Kettlebell Training yet, make sure to do so now!  Just drop your best email address into the box at the upper right of the page.

PPS – If you have family or friends who would enjoy today’s article(s), please feel free to forward them along!!

Getting Back in Shape in Your 40’s and Beyond (with kettlebells)

On By adminIn General, Tips and Tricks1 Comment

If you:

  • Wonder if your best years of being fit, feeling great, being strong, and looking good are behind you …
  • No longer see a lean physical specimen with muscle definition when you look in the mirror, but instead a doughy, middle-aged body that you feel disappointed in …
  • Feel sluggish, and no longer have the energy and vitality you used to …

Today’s post is for you.

Fellow KB fan David Lee from HumanNature @ Work shares with us his personal story of getting back into shape in his 50’s … and how kettlebells helped him do it.

– Forest

Getting Back in Shape in Your 40’s and Beyond

by David Lee of HumanNature @ Work

Along with a bunch of bodyweight exercises, this morning’s workout included:

1. Six chin-ups with a 24Kg (54lb) kettlebell on a weight belt
2. Two rest pause chin-ups with my 16kg and 24kg kettlebells (88lb) on a weight belt.
3. One arm push-ups, 4 per arm

I’m a 55 year old guy and could barely do a single chin-up four years ago.

If you’re above 40, I’m writing this post for you.

If any of the following sound familiar, I’m writing this for you:

1. You wonder if your best years of being fit, feeling great, being strong, and looking good are behind you.

2. When you look in the mirror, you no longer see a lean physical specimen with muscle definition.  Instead, you see is a doughy, middle-aged body that you feel disappointed in.

3. You no longer feel strong and sturdy. When you bend over, you brace your lower back with your hand. You hope doing this will keep you from “throwing out your back” or pulling a muscle.

4. You feel sluggish. You don’t have the energy and vitality you used to.

5. You “want to want to” work out. You wish you liked working out, but you don’t. You wish you could force yourself to go to the gym, but it bores the hell out of you. You wish you had the discipline to work out at home, but that just isn’t happening.

If any of the above rings true, I feel your pain.

I was there.

I also remember the day things turned around, the day I stopped feeling disappointed and became
determined to do something about it.

Here’s what happened….

I was slogging along on a treadmill in a hotel gym in Austin, Texas while on a business trip. Bored out of my mind, I kept punching up new channels on my TV, looking for something to help me escape the monotony.

That’s when I came across an infomercial with a bunch of people doing some kind of extreme fitness program with a really enthusiastic, humorous guy leading the pack. He was only a little younger than I and was in amazing shape. In case you can’t guess who it was, it was Tony Horton of P90X fame.

Even though I had never worked out at home and questioned whether I had the discipline to do so, I was sick of how I looked and felt. I wanted to look just half as fit and be half as fit as Tony. So when I got home, I bought the program.

I can remember my first time putting in one of the DVDs (it was Core Synergistics) and struggling through about half of it. For the chest and back workout, which included chin-ups and pull-ups, I ended up getting rubber bands because I couldn’t do reps of chin-ups or pull-ups. When I finally graduated to being strong enough to do them, I would max out on 4-5.

I have to confess, I’m not a real structured guy, so I never did the program in the systematic way they map out. I didn’t read the instructions and didn’t do the different cycles they recommended. I just varied the workouts.

But I could see the changes. I was losing flab and putting on muscle.

I can still remember the day when I looked in the mirror and—this feels a little strange to admit—I was startled by what I saw. It was actually like “Woah! Who’s this dude?”

Again, this feels strange to say, but maybe you can relate to that primitive reptilian brain response that gets triggered when you come across a guy who is much bigger and stronger looking. No matter how civilized you think you are, or how confident you feel, there’s this reflexive alertness that comes out of nowhere.

That’s kind of how I felt when I looked in the mirror. Now, it wasn’t like I looked like Arnold or Dorian Yates by any stretch. We’re talking 6’2” and about 180 lbs. But… where before there was no definition and only this doughy, tubular body, I saw decent sized delts with definition and more muscle mass than I could remember ever having.

It truly was a strange phenomenon, almost like I finally woke up to the fact that I had changed. It actually took a while for my self-image to catch up to this new reality. I was no longer the over-the-hill doughy middle-aged guy.

I continued on with P90X for about six months when one day I was talking with a friend about how much I loved my fitness program and the difference it made, when she shared how much she enjoyed using something called kettlebells.

She asked me if I had ever heard of them. I hadn’t.

Although I could see she was really into them, I wasn’t. I thought they were some kind of girly thing.  (Man, how wrong could I have been?).

The image I had was some little bell shaped weight thing that women swung around, one per hand, while they did some kind of aerobic dance workout. Again…how wrong could I have been about that?

I can’t remember what triggered me to finally go online and do some research, but after a little reading, I knew that kettlebells were going to become part of my program.

Once I started using them and learning about functional fitness and exercising movements and not individual muscles, I became even more of a hard core fitness fanatic.

So, now, almost four years later, I feel and look like a different person. Interestingly enough, what I used to find incomprehensible—working out in the morning—is now a habit. Now the following may sound weird, but sometimes if I wake up at say, 3 or 4 AM, I can’t get back to sleep because I’m so stoked about my upcoming morning workout. So I get up, and “bring it!”

 

About the Author:

David Lee is the founder of HumanNature @Work. He is a speaker, consultant, and writer in the areas of employee motivation; resilience; and storytelling for entrepreneurs, leaders, and coaches. He works with individuals and leadership teams interested in maximizing their effectiveness. His websites are: www.HumanNatureAtWork.com, www.StoriesThatChange.com, and  www.WhateverLifeBrings.com.

Kettlebell Combos for Fat Loss (part two)

On By adminIn General, Tips and Tricks1 Comment

Last time, we talked about the concept of using kettlebell combos for fat loss.

(If you missed that post, you can check it out by clicking here.)

Now, I want to give you an outline of how you’d set up a complete “kettlebells for rapid fat loss” routine.

But before we get going … it’s critically important to remember that having a specific plan for your workouts in place WILL maximize your results.

I’ve talked about this concept many times before … and I’m still honestly convinced that most people just kind of surf around online, think about what kind of stuff they like, and then pick a workout for the day and do it … without regard for specific goals, appropriateness of exercises for fitness level, etc.

This is NOT the best way to go about structuring your workouts!!

The main problem with changing too frequently is that you never really focus on one thing and get good at it.  Instead, you end up doing lots of different exercises … getting in decent shape … … but never really reaching your full potential with a specific exercise or strength skill.

Now don’t get me wrong.  This is much better than not working out at all.  It’s moving, and burning kcals, and getting some activity in.  But the thing is, if you’re reading this post, chances are that you’re past that stage.  You’re working out more or less consistently.  It’s just a matter of exactly WHAT to do … and how to set it up … to maximize your results.

Okay, on to the program outline …

1) Do a kettlebell combo – like the one I outlined last time – about three days per week.  Make sure that you’re hitting all of your major muscle groups evenly, and that you’re combining the exercises in a way that makes the workout flow smoothly and minimizes the need for rest.

Also, make sure you’re using great form in all of your kettlebell exercise to 1) prevent injury and 2) get the most benefit out of them possible.

2) Do high intensity, interval-based cardio workouts two to three times per week.  “Long” cardio – like 35 minutes plus – is just okay … but it’s not ideal.  And we’re in it to win it … so we want ideal. 🙂

3) Follow a meal plan specifically designed for rapid fat loss.  You might not want to hear this, but … you can workout as hard as you like … but if your diet isn’t on point, it’s all to waste.

That’s it.  Do those three things, and you will lose body fat – fast!  I have faith in you.  You can do it.  Take your own personal fat loss challenge starting NOW … and keep me posted on your progress!

‘Till next time –

Forest

PS – Would love to hear your thoughts on these concepts!  Please post your comments below.

PPS – I have a complete and  done-for-you program based around the concept of using kettlebell combos for rapid fat loss coming to you very soon … make sure to keep an eye on your email inbox for details.  And if haven’t signed up yet – what the heck are you waiting for? 🙂  I’ve got all kind of cool free stuff for you when you do … just drop your name and best email into the box at the upper right of to sign up now.

PPPS – 10/25 update!  The 30 Day Rapid Fat Loss Kettlebell Solution is now available.  Click here to learn more.