Category: Tips and Tricks

3 Tips To Improve The Turkish Get Up

On By adminIn Basic Kettlebell Drills, Tips and Tricks1 Comment

The Turkish Get Up is a tricky movement … but it’s one of the foundational kettlebell exercises, and it’s essential that you perfect it if you want to get the most out of your kettlebell training. In the experience I’ve had over the last several thousand kettlebell-based personal training sessions, here are three tips that will help you ‘iron out the kinks’, so to speak:

1. Don’t sit up to start the movement – roll instead

‘Punch’ up towards the ceiling while rolling on to the elbow at the same time to get yourself off the floor.  This small detail makes getting up so much easier – and it’s how the exercise is supposed to be performed.

2. Learn the first half first

The best way to learn the Get Up is by learning the first half of the movement; if you try to stand all the way up from day one, you’re going to make things a lot harder on yourself. Just come up to where your down arm is locked out and is supporting your weight, and then return to the ground. You can actually get a lot of milage out of the movement by just practicing the first half; here’s how to perform the half Get Up:

3. Do a sideways Windmill to stand up

As you bring the foot through and go to your lunge position, aim to get your knee close to your hand – then do a sideways Windmill to stand up. Don’t sit back on your hand – this is a very common mistake.

These tips might be a little hard to visualize – see if you can pick out what I’m talking about as I go through the movement in this video:

Apply these Turkish Get Up tips to your kettlebell training today and I know you’ll see some fast improvements.  And keep training hard!

P.S. Kettlebells From The Ground Up by Master RKC Brett Jones and world-renowned physical therapist Grey Cook is a fantastic resource if you’re looking to really master the Turkish Get Up and get everything you can out of it – you can check out a recent review I did of the product here:

Kettlebells From The Ground Up Review

Two Tips To Improve Your Kettlebell Snatch

On By adminIn Tips and Tricks, Videos1 Comment

The kettlebell Snatch is a tricky movement to get the hang of – I know I got my fair share of bruised wrists when I was learning it.

I stumbled across this video from Jason C. Brown of KettlebellAthletics.com that shares a couple of great tips to help perfect your Snatching form:

To summarize:

Drill 1:

Grab a light kettlebell. Do a bottoms-up Clean with it – so the ‘bell should end up with the bottom facing towards the ceiling and racked at about shoulder level. Now, ‘punch’ your hand around the kettlebell from shoulder level up to being locked out overhead. The idea here is to practice actively getting your hand around the KB, instead of just letting it come over the top and crash down on your wrist.

Drill 2

You want to base the Snatch exercise off of the high pull – in other words, the arc of the ‘bell should be like that of a High Pull vs. a Swing (watch the video to see a demonstration). If you base the Snatch off of the Swing, the arc will be too far in front of your body.

So you can do a progression to work your way into doing a Snatch: Do a Low Pull, do a High Pull, and then a Snatch. I actually use that progression with folks all the time with a lot of success.

Remember: Practice makes perfect. Don’t just blast through your KB workouts with no regard for form; strive for perfection. And if you’re having trouble getting the hang of the kettlebell Snatch, the two tips mentioned in this video should help you out.

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3 Tips To Improve Your Kettlebell Swing

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

Here’s a short video that didn’t make it into the final KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Video Series … the audio quality isn’t great, but I still think there’s some good info here.  I cover:

  • The importance of a proper hip crease during the Swing
  • Why you should feel like you’re hike passing the KB back during the ‘bell’s decent phase
  • How to ‘lock in’ your upper body throughout the exercise

Enjoy!

To grab your free copy of my training video ‘Kettlebell Rx: 3 Common Training Mistakes and How To Fix Them’, sign up for the KettlebellBasics.net newsletter!  Just drop your name and email into the box at the upper right of the page.

Kettlebell Basics Combo #4

On By adminIn Kettlebell Workouts, Tips and Tricks, Videos2 Comments

For the forth installment of the Kettlebell Basics Combo series … The Super Full Body Attack!!

This one is really just a single exercise, but I’m calling it a combo because it’s a bunch of kettlebell moves all mixed together … it’s truly a smoker. I challenge you to find a muscle group in your body that this exercise doesn’t work.

Here’s the video:

Start this one in a standing position with the kettlebells about six inches in front of you. The first trick is to make sure the KB handles are placed in such a way that your palms can face each other when you jump back to your Push Up.

Jump your feet back to a Push Up position – like a Burpee. Do a Push Up. Now, jump the feet forward in one motion and make sure your feet land outside of the kettlebell handles.

Clean the ‘bells up, do a Front Squat, and move straight from the Front Squat to an Overhead Press. Rack the KB’s, return them to the ground and you’ve done one rep.

For a quick, incredibly tough full body blast, do 50 of these for time. You must pay very close attention to your form with this combo. Especially as the rep count starts to climb, your form can easily break down.

If you’re just starting out, you can of course scale the workout down and do maybe half the amount of reps. You could also do more if 50 is too easy.

(BTW, I got the idea for this one from the ‘original’ full body attack – I’ve just added a Push Up and Front Squat to make it tougher.)

Here’s a video of the original for reference:

That’s it for kettlebell basics combo #4! Enjoy and keep training hard.

Still strugling to learn the basics of kettlebell training? Your first move is to read through the archives and check out the videos on this blog – there’s a ton of great info here. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter, and you’ll get a free Beginner’s Guide to Kettlebell Training – you can do that by simply inputing your name and email into the form at the upper right of the page. For a more complete and in-depth guide that teaches you basic kettlebell exercises and workouts, check out my KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Guide. And last but not least, visit the recommended resources page of this blog to order kettlebells and all the other stuff you need to make your kettlebell training a great experience!

The Dumbell Complex

On By adminIn General, Tips and TricksLeave a comment

Time to time, you might find yourself away from your kettlebells – maybe on the road for work or vacation – and still in need of the fast and efficient conditioning-style workout you get with your KB’s. The Dumbbell Complex is a great alternative.

Istvan Javorek is the strength coach who has recently popularized the dumbbell complex concept – here’s a video of the Javorek Complex #1:

Quick summary of the complex in the video if you missed it:

Dumbbell Upright Row X 6
Dumbbell High Pull Snatch X 6
Dumbbell Squat Push Press X 6
Dumbbell Bent Over Row X 6
Dumbbell High Pull Snatch X 6

Perform In A Non-Stop, Continuous Order As Listed Above.

Five Exercise X 6 Reps = 30 Reps/Set

This complex can be done once or twice for a warm-up or three to five times for a complete workout.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

P.S.  Did you like this quick kettlebell training tip?  Sign up for our newsletter to get more like it delivered straight to your email inbox!

Kettlebell Basics Combo #3

On By adminIn Kettlebell Workouts, Tips and Tricks, Videos1 Comment

It’s time for Kettlebell Basics Combo #3!  Here are links to the first two videos in the series in case you missed them:

Kettlebell Basics Combo #1

Kettlebell Basics Combo #2

Kettlebell Basics Combo #3 incorporates four basic kettlebell drills into a giant circuit: Clean and Presses, Snatches, Goblet Squats, and Hand to Hand Swings.

To complete the circuit, you’ll perform 2 Clean and Presses on each side, 4 Snatches on each side, 12 Goblet Squats, and 16 Hand to Hand Swings.  Repeat this circuit 5 times for an amazing, efficient, full-body-blasting workout!

Don’t forget: You can get free access to the Kettlebell Rx video and a free copy of the Beginner’s Guide to Kettlebell Training by signing up for our newsletter!  Just drop your name and email into the box at the upper right of the page.

5 Reasons Why You Should Train Barefoot

On By adminIn General, Tips and Tricks1 Comment

Do you realize the impact the footwear you choose when training with kettlebells has on your strength, balance, and cordination? Kettlebell training – and most other training, in fact – is best done with no shoes at all.

According to this article in New York Magazine:

How We’re Wrecking Our Feet With Every Step We Take

Prior to the invention of shoes, people had healthier feet. The modern Zulu population, which often goes barefoot, had the healthiest feet in a study sited in the above article. Europeans, the habitual shoe wearers, had the most foot problems.

So here are five reasons why you should think about losing your shoes for your next kettlebell training session:

1. ‘Feel’ the floor

Going barefoot allows you to build a nice strong base from the ground up for performing kettlebell drills. Also, cross trainers or running shoes may have elevation in the sole as to pitch your feet forward and impair mobility.

2. Strengthen the foot muscles

You get this only with barefoot (and some very unique footwear that I’ll mention in a bit) training. Plus you can use your toes to grip things better.

3. Improves balance

This is almost immediate.  Just try it and report back.

4. No tension loss

If you follow Pavel’s teachings, you know that tension is strength. So cushy shoes are out.

5. Proper gait

Wearing shoes makes natural gait impossible. And chronic shoe wearing can result in lower and upper back pain.

So now let me address the common objections I get to this:

“I train in a gym and I can’t take my shoes off”

“I train at the local park and don’t want to cut my feet/step in dog poo/etc.

“I don’t want to drop a kettlebell on my foot”

Stop being a sissy 🙂

But if these are serious problems for you,Vibram Five Fingers are a cool alternative footwear that are well worth a look. Wearing a pair of Vibrams is, from a biomechanical standpoint, like going barefoot, but gives you some protection against the elements.

vibrams

Check out this article on Tim Ferriss’s Four Hour Blog for more about problems with wearing shoes and the Vibram Five Fingers:

Vibram Five Finger Shoes: The Barefoot Alternative

I don’t personally own a pair of Vibrams (I just train barefoot), but I know a lot of kettlebell people who love them. It comes down to preference and convenience in the end.

What kind of footwear do you sport in your kettlebell training?

Kettlebell Basics Combo #1

On By adminIn Basic Kettlebell Drills, Kettlebell Workouts, Tips and Tricks, Videos8 Comments

One awesome thing about mastering the basics of kettlebell training – the Swing, the Get Up, the Squat, the Clean and Press, and the Snatch – is that you can combine these exercises together into ‘flow’ combo circuits (see this post for more about the concept of ‘kettlebell flow’) once you’ve got them down.

So I’ve decided to do a short series of videos showing you how to do a few of these ‘kettlebell basics combos’. Here’s the first in the series:

To perform this combo, you’ll do 3 One Arm Swings, 3 One Arm Squat to Overhead Presses, and 3 One Arm Snatches, all continuously and on the same side (as shown in the video above).

You’ll then switch sides and complete the circuit again on the opposite side.

Complete ten rounds of this on the right and ten rounds on the left for a complete workout.

Enjoy!

One more thing: doing circuits like these requires mastery of the basic kettlebell drills first. You must have a solid grasp of the basic drills before you can start ripping them off in a circuit fashion like this. If you’re just getting started, here are two places to start:

1. Sign up for the KettlebellBasics.net newsletter and get 1. A Free Beginner’s Guide to Kettlebell Training and 2. Kettlebell Rx – a free KB training video. Just enter your name and email above to sign up today!

2. Pick up a copy of the KettlebellBasics.net Quick Start Guide and get a complete guide to the basics of kettlebell training, audio mp3’s to guide you through your workouts, a bonus guide to fixing three commmon KB training mistakes, and more. Click here to find out more and pick up a copy today!

Mastering The Art Of ‘Kettlebell Flow’ – Two Cool Videos

On By adminIn Kettlebell Workouts, Tips and Tricks, Videos1 Comment

What in the heck is ‘kettlebell flow’?

Well, first, take a look at this ‘body weight flow’ video to get an idea of what I’m talking about:

Body Weight Flow Video

And here’s an example of a ‘kettlebell flow routine’:

Kettlebell Flow Routine

Pretty cool, huh?

Each movement ‘flows’ together, you keep your heart rate up, and get a great workout – it’s awesome. And you look like a kettlebell master 🙂

So what’s the secret?

It’s practicing the basic movements and getting them down cold. No ‘secret sauce’ – just practice.

The pitfall you want to avoid is jumping around and doing a million kettlebell exercises just for the sake of getting fancy. This is a little like what I tried to do when I first started training with kettlebells – and it didn’t work very well. Once I really focused in on the basics – the Swing, the Get Up, the Squat, the Snatch, and the Clean and Press – is when it all kind of came together.

Keep practicing those kettlebell drills!

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter while you’re here – and you’ll get a free copy of Kettlebell Rx: 3 Common Training Mistakes and How To Fix Them!

My Favorite Kettlebell Training Resources

On By adminIn General, Product Reviews, Tips and TricksLeave a comment

Quality kettlebell training advice can be hard to come by- here’s a short list of resources I’ve used to build my kettlebell knowledge over time – I hope you find it useful:

DragonDoor.com

The premier source of kettlebell training info. Pavel Tsatsouline, the man behind The Russian Kettlebell Challenge, Enter The Kettlebell, Return of The Kettlebell and lots of other books from Dragon Door, is largely responsible for popularizing kettlebell training in the U.S.

Enter The Kettlebell by Pavel

The best book, in my opinion, on getting started with kettlebell training. Keeps things basic for you, and Pavel has a both highly effective and highly entertaining way of teaching.  A must have for your KB training library.  The Enter The Kettlebell DVD is also a great tool.

YouTube

A good resource with a lot of good stuff – and a lot of bad. I might sound a little like I’m condradicting myself after this post – the rule is to use YouTube at your own risk and, after looking at all the other resources I recommend here, use your knowledge as a ‘filter’ and decide what’s good and what’s not.

The CrossFit Journal

This is, at $25 a year, one of the best investments you can make in furthering your general training knowledge.   I know the jury is out on CrossFit (I wrote a post about this recently on The Fitness Monster, in fact – you can check it out here), but I think their journal is an awesome resource. There’s not only a lot of kettlebell info here – much of it from Jeff Martone, a former RKC guy – but lots and lots more on every imaginable topic.

Viking Warrior Conditioning

This is a killer book if you’re looking to improve your conditioning.  A word of warning: the program is hard 🙂  But if you can survive, you’ll probably get into the best shape of your life.

Another cool thing is that Kenneth Jay, author of Viking Warrior Conditioning, has extensive research that he’s performed himself to back up what he’s saying.

Return of The Kettlebell

What to do once you’re done with Enter The Kettlebell.  Covers advanced kettlebell training methods, most notably double kettlebell drills in detail – again, don’t even think about it until you’ve completed the Rite of Passage!

MikeMahler.com

Another former RKC guy, has an awesome free e-book on kettlebell training you get for signing up for his newsletter. Also has a ton of training dvd’s and holds various workshops across the country. Highly recommended.

ArtofStrength.com

Great YouTube channel, Art of Strength and Punch Kettlebell Gym is headed by Anthony DiLugo, who got his start with the RKC – seeing a common theme here?

There you have it – a short list of kettlebell training resources that should keep you busy for a while! This list is by no means exhaustive – in fact, feel free to leave links to your favorite places to find kettlebell training info in the comments section.

Keep training hard!!