You’ve noticed that your favorite pair of jeans doesn’t fit anymore. Or someone took a picture of you at a holiday party, posted it on Facebook, and you noticed how big you looked.

So you’ve chosen to do something about it. Congratulations! Kettlebells are an excellent way to work out, lose weight, and most importantly, build the muscle that helps you lose the fat that you want to work off. We help support your goals, no matter if your target is to lose five or 50 pounds.

Now, to get started on your road to weight loss success, call us at 949-354-2548 to schedule your free personal consultation.

The snatch is a swing, meaning that everything from the waist down should look the same as a swing. (He also said “a clean is a swing” at my RKC weekend.)

A proper drop from the top of a snatch is key.

Read all about it!

Simplicity is the reason the Program Minimum in Enter the Kettlebell only consists of Turkish Get Ups and two-handed swings.

Our post Holiday Workouts had a great example: two-handed swings for 1 minute straight. Take a 30 second break and perform a TGU on both sides. Repeat this three times.

Another alternative: do two-handed swings for 30 seconds. Do one TGU on the left, one TGU on the right. Repeat three times.

Finally, set a timer for five minutes, and complete as many TGUs as you can in that time, alternating sides.

So if you can’t make it to class, give these a try.

2 handed swings: 10 minutes. Complete as many sets as possible 5 days a week. That’s only a total of 50 minutes of workout time for the week. Tell me you don’t have time for that.

Another alternative is:

2 handed swings for 1 minute straight. Take a 30 second break and perform a TGU on both sides. Repeat this 3 times. This should not take any longer than 10 minutes to complete.

Or from Coach Dan John, the 15/15 Ladder. 15 Swings followed by 15 burpees. Your set reduces down to 14, 13, 12…etc until you reach 1. Our classes have times ranging from 9 – 16 minutes.

If you’re really short on time, this one was created by Sr. RKC Mark Cheng and it only takes 3 minutes. Use a proper snatch bell for this protocol.

You will change exercises every 30 seconds. You will start with your left side snatch. on the 30 second mark, switch to your right side snatch. Move to a left side clean at the 30 second mark followed by right side cleans. For the last minute, 2 handed swings.

If you need help with any of these techniques and exercises, find an RKC Instructor.

I witnessed this incredible feat of strength: the Beast Tamer Challenge, in which one does a strict press, tactical pull-up and pistol with the Beast (48kg/106-lb. kettlebell). Jake Altomare, who received his RKC certification in San Diego, documents the workouts he used to get that strong.

At the same RKC, I also witnessed Valerie Hedlund become an Iron Maiden: the same set of exercises, done with a 24kg/53-lb. kettlebell.

But here’s the thing. Unless there’s a strong base of power and strength for the rigors of everyday life, sport-specific training will do an athlete absolutely no good. It’s sort of like putting the very top of a stone pyramid atop a thin reed — there’s no base to support the training, and it’s very likely to fall over and break. (OK, so we’re not the best analogy writers. But you get the idea.) Or perhaps a better analogy is trying to learn calculus when you’ve barely mastered the basics of arithmetic.

Functional training is meant to build strength from the ground up. These exercises help condition your cardiovascular system and your muscles to be prepared for almost anything that life throws at you — moving couches, playing a pickup basketball game, or lifting your toddler. Let me repeat: good general conditioning means that you’re ready for almost anything.

An athlete needs both the raw athleticism (that is, strength, speed, agility) and sport-specific skill. But that strength, speed and agility must come before the sport-specific skill.

As the RKC manual states, “Here is the RKC prescription for athletes. Forget sport specific training; practice only the kettlebell basics and the skills of your sport.” Practicing the kettlebell basics — namely the swing — mean that you build strong hips, glutes, abs, legs and arms, in other words, all-over strength. And practicing the skills of your sport, when laid on this very solid base of strength and mobility, mean that your skills will be exponentially improved.

Focus on strength and mobility first, then the sport-specific skills will follow much more easily.

As the kettlebell flew out of my injured hand, I saw the blood, then felt the pain, then saw the blood again.

This was not a good training day.

The skin right below my right middle finger had torn, because of a callus getting too thick and catching on the unforgiving handle.

I was immediately bummed. Not only did it hurt like hell, I knew that it would set me back at least several days because I could not train with an injured hand. It was the end of May and I had just registered for the RKC. I was very worried about the amount of time I had lost.

Do not let this happen to you.

To prevent this in the future, I came up with a comprehensive method of hand care for kettlebellers. Here are some tools I would recommend to take care of your hands:

Callus shaver: Use very light pressure to take off very thin layers of skin. Recommended for when you calluses are very thick to take off those first few layers. If you feel it beginning to catch, then it’s time to flip over the blade (they usually come with two sharp edges) or change it.

Sandpaper or emery board: Very useful once you’ve shaved down your calluses to rid your hands of the ridges between shaved areas that will inevitably crop up. Use a 200 grit or higher number.
Emery boards are much easier to use than a big block of sandpaper, because they are smaller, they are much easier to handle and manipulate. If you can, get the kind that taper at one end. The smaller end is useful for getting at calluses that may form in the spaces between fingers. They’re also useful for when your calluses have grown a layer, but they’re not thick enough to warrant using the callus shaver.

Ped-egg/microplane/rasp: Can be used in place of a callus shaver. Use very light pressure, because the plane takes off slivers of skin progressively. It is very easy to overdo it if you are using even moderate pressure. For better results, you can first soften the skin by soaking in warm water for about 15 minutes.

Items I don’t recommend: pumice stones (too rough), loofahs (too big, usually) and sandpapery buffers meant for the feet. The last item usually has a large, flat area that is easy to use on feet, not so much on the hands.

If you are working out three or more times a week with kettlebells, you should shave down/file down your calluses about once a week. Keeping your hands moisturized with lotion between workouts will also help. It is fine to do it just before a workout; if you have soaked your hands, you will want to let your hands dry before starting your workout.

Finally, if you’re snatching or cleaning (the two kettlebell exercises most likely to tear calluses), and you feel your hands getting tender, stop. I cannot emphasize this enough. Better to walk away from a set and leave something undone for that day than to injure yourself and lose training time.

1. Time efficiency

Kettlebells are one of the fastest workouts you can have. Kettlebell workout routines generally take less than 15 minutes and commonly take less than 10. We can get a lot of work done in a very short period of time, because kettlebell workouts are very intense and work your whole body. They’re also very time efficient because in the case of ballistic exercises (swings, cleans, snatches) you are combining both your cardio and weightlifting workouts into one.

Kettlebells are often referred to as a “handheld gym.” Instead of spending time going to a gym where you have to find parking, check in, find a free machine, and then start working out or lifting, you can just work out in your living room or backyard, and save a significant amount of time and hassle.

2. Fast weight loss

Because of their intensity and ability to build muscle, kettlebell workouts provide a great way to lose weight. If you’re a woman, kettlebells are also a really great way to lose inches at the hips and waist and gain the kind of lean muscle that will help you fit into your clothes better.

3. Develops overall body strength

Because kettlebell exercises are by their very nature whole-body exercises, working out with kettlebells produces strong muscles, especially in the hips, thighs and glutes.

Because kettlebells also enhance explosive strength, they have a number of benefits for athletes who participate in football, volleyball and basketball.

4. Rehab old injuries

Something that people often ask me about kettlebells is “is it safe for my bad back?”  Kettlebells are actually very good for people with bad backs, because we teach you how to keep a neutral spine while exercising. We emphasize safe technique so that anyone who has an old, bothersome injury can work within those limitations and eventually, gain strength that will make that nagging pain go away.

The Dragon Door forums (the leading kettlebell forums) are filled with tales of people who suffered shoulder injuries and not only got ride of the pain they felt but also built their shoulders stronger using one of the basic kettlebell exercises, the Turkish Get Up.

5. Fun!

Kettlebell workouts are just plain fun! If you don’t believe us, you should join in on one of our classes!

The Turkish Get Up is what we would call a movement screen. Meaning, if you find parts of this exercise difficult to do, there may be a dysfunction in your movement patterns. Now you may be asking yourself, why this is so important? Mobility is essential to every living being. If you can’t move correctly, you develop compensations in the way you move. This leads to an imbalance in your body mechanics which can lead to aches and pains or even worse, a major non-contact injury.

This is a step by step process of the naked get-up. I’m using my shoe to make ensure my arm stays vertical and elbow locked out. Once we’ve perfected our movement patterns, we can challenge ourselves with weight.

Hand and Foot

On On Your Elbow

Up On Your Hand

Hip Bridge High In the Air

Knee To Your Hand

Up on One Knee

Stand UP With Shoulders Engaged, Elbow Locked Out

Once you’ve gone through all that, reverse the process and do it again on the other side.