Forget Disney World… I’m Going To FBS2010!

Gang, I received the biggest news this morning!

I received a mailing-list email today from the one and only Bedros Keuilian (the man behind PTPower.com). When I saw it, it perked my attention, since I had entered his giveaway for a ticket to the Fitness Business Summit 2010, as well as a hotel room for the summit. Not that I thought I’d win. After all, there were many, many entries, each with its own very good reason for why they needed to win.

But what the heck. I thought I’d check it out anyways and mentally congratulate the winner. I right-clicked on the link to get it to open in another window. I thought “Eh. I’ll check it in a minute. I’m sure I didn’t win. I never win anything.”

Then, sure enough, the way I think… I thought on… “Of course, it’d be cool if I did win. That’d be really cool. But I won’t. Oh well. Don’t get excited, Tom.”

I read a couple emails, then I went to the other window and read your post. Sure enough, I didn’t win. But it was ok. I wasn’t surprised… and the guy who one really seemed to need it more and I was happy for him.

Then I kept reading…

“B-U-T we have another winner too…”

My heart skipped a beat and I thought in an instant, “Oooh. Maybe I still have a chance! No wait, don’t get excited… It won’t be me.”

There was an audible gasp. A really loud one, as I read the name Tom. In another instant, I had convinced myself it was a different Tom. Then I saw my post. I was shocked! A very audible gasp, a pause, then another, a pause… it progressed to a “Nah uh! Nah uh! NO WAY!!! TINA! I WON!!! I WON!!!”

My wife understandably thought I lost my mind.

It turns out that another well-known trainer, Steve Hochman, volunteered to sponsor a second winner… me! So thanks to Steve, I had the opportunity to also be a winner. Thank you thank you thank you Steve!

A HUGE sincere thanks to Bedros and Steve. I look forward to meeting you two at the conference.

To register for Fitness Business Summit 2010 or for more information, click here.

For every personal trainer out there, do yourself a favor. Sign up for the Fitness Business Summit 2010. You’ll learn the most valuable PT business tips money can’t buy.

Check out the video below and then join me at the FBS2010… and tell Bedros that Tom from Kettlebell.com sent you! I hope I’ll see you all there… because I’m DEFINITELY going!

Once again, if you want to be successful in personal training or any part of the fitness industry, rush over to the Fitness Business Summit 2010!

The Art of Strength: Providence

We Take A Look At The First Work-Along-With-Your-Coach Kettlebells DVD

I am the type of person, one of very few, who will actually sit down with the entire user manual before turning on my brand new, shiny gizmo that I’ve been dying to use.

The reason is that I am paranoid that I might do something to damage it or shorten its battery life or something like that. I have found, at times, that this approach is rewarding. But other times, all it does is heighten the anticipation and it simply becomes frustrating to the point that I finally say, “the heck with it!” and put the manual down and just get down to business. For the most part, most of us aren’t like that. When we get something new, we just rip open the box and start enjoying our new present to ourself.

 

But when it comes to exercise, sometimes, just winging it can seem or even be a little dangerous, depending on your experience with whatever it is you’re going to be trying to use. Those who just pick up a kettlebell and start curling it obviously haven’t read the manual. And a person who puts his back into a two handed swing, because he some some guy on the beach doing it one time, is just asking for trouble.

That’s where our featured product, the DVD entitled: “The Art of Strength: Providence” comes into the picture.

For those who would rather get right into it, without risking unnecessary injury from inexperience, can do so with this wonderful tool. No big thick book to read. No guessing on how to use the kettlebell. And thankfully, this is one instructor we can put on “pause” to catch our breath!

For People Of All Fitness Levels

As is implied by the article so far, this DVD by Anthony Diluglio is perfect for the beginning kettlebell user. But don’t any of you advanced gireviks brush this off as a newbies-only DVD. Near the top of the DVD cover is the phrase “for people of ALL fitness levels”… and I would definitely have to agree.

When I first began to watch the DVD (I previewed it before actually working out, so that I would know what to expect… I don’t like surprises), I immediately thought, “OK, this is gonna be simple.” Sure enough, though, the DVD put me in my place. (You’ll be glad you kept that 1 pood.)

Anthony starts off with a warmup session of light stretches. Enjoy this time… it gets challenging quick.

While the beginner will find the first few minutes of this workout to just about the right pace, don’t let the first set of swings fool you… even the advanced girevik will find this workout challenging if he has chosen a heavy enough kettlebell for the job. But trust me… you don’t want to start too heavy. Swallow your pride and pick up whatever kettlebell you use for a light to moderate day. (Beginners, definitely start light… Anthony gives some advice on which kettlebell you should use in the “Intro” section.) But, if you get through the entire workout on the first try, then you definitely used too light a bell. So, adjust accordingly.

…simply follow Anthony’s lead. No worrying about what exercises you should combine with what. No trying to figure out what the best rep scheme is. You don’t even need a timer going to keep you honest on how long a break you should take. It’s all built right into the DVD for you…

For those who are kettlebell experts, you may wonder why you would bother with a workout DVD like this one. Simple. I think that this DVD will be a great touchstone to guage your level of fitness. If you feel that you are ready to move up to the next size kettlebell (and I don’t mean for a military press PR… I mean using the next size kettlebell as your primary kettlebell), going through this workout from start to finish is a great way to help you figure out if you’re ready for it yet. If you can do this entire DVD workout with a certain kettlebell, then you’ve definitely mastered that size and, in my opinion, you’re ready to move up. Because, even though this is full of basic exercises and combinations, working along with an instructor (in this case, Anthony) forces you to keep to a structured routine.

Those new to the Russian kettlebell will find this DVD to be a great place to start from. While Pavel’s RKC book (“The Russian Kettlebell Challenge”) is definitely required reading and the DVD by the same name is just as critical to your success in kettlebells, I believe that “The Art of Strength: Providence” is an awesome way to simply “jump right into it”. If you have a brand new 16kg kettlebell sitting in front of you, chances are, you’re not going to feel like sitting down for a few hours to read Pavel’s (or anyone else’s for that matter) book… You’re going to want to just START! This DVD is great for that. You get some quick, but quality, instruction for each exercise before starting on it. Then you simply follow Anthony’s lead. No worrying about what exercises you should combine with what. No trying to figure out what the best rep scheme is. You don’t even need a timer going to keep you honest on how long a break you should take. It’s all built right into the DVD for you.

To me, learning kettlebells for the first time is similar to learning a new diet… even though you might choose to read all the details later about the logic behind a diet, right now, you just want to know “OK, what do I eat? What do I avoid?” Right? You just want the quick version so you can get started. You’ll get the education later. That’s basically what “The Art of Strength: Providence” does for you… if you simply do what Anthony tells you, you will get a quality first workout that will easily kick your butt.

Ok, now that we know that this is a good buy for just about anyone who is into kettlebells, let’s roll our sleeves up and start picking the DVD apart.

A Closer Look

The first thing I’d have to say about this DVD is that it provides an excellent overview of the major basic exercises. If you had ONLY this DVD, you would learn enough in general to build a very solid foundation of strength. Anthony’s instruction is minimalistic and to the point. He tells you what you need to know without making you feel like a total idiot. If you’re new to kettlebells, you’ll notice that you don’t feel inundated with details… you get what you need, and that’s it. Nice, huh?

But don’t think you’ll get bored. As the workout progresses, the single exercises become combinations and then it starts to get interesting.

As you can see in the chart below, Anthony covers quite a versatile list of exercises, sure to keep your central nervous system from getting board. It is a nice balanced blend of grinds and ballistics. While it is good to sometimes focus strictly on grinds and other times strictly on ballistics, a blended workout like this one definitely has its place. Personally, I believe that the average person just starting out with kettlebells will find this blended workout more exciting and thus will likely be more motivated to work out regularly with kettlebells.

The DVD consists of a brief warmup session followed by 15 sets. Each set lasts two minutes (which, on some of the exercises, can seem like a very long time!) and is separated by one minute of rest (which can seem very short!).

To help you know exactly where you are in the two minute set, on the left side of the television screen is a red vertical time bar. As the time elapses, the red fill works its way down toward the zero mark. When you first start working out with “The Art Of Strength: Providence”, you may find yourself watching half of the timer run out from the sidelines while you try to catch your breath. But by workouts 2, 3, and 4, hopefully you’ll be working right along with Anthony rep by rep. Until then, since the time bar is sectioned off into 3 or 4 parts (depending on the set), use it to tell you when you should stop, depending on your skill level. For example, a beginner may choose to only work out until the bar has elapsed half way and then make it his or her immediate goal to last 2/3 or 3/4 of the bar next time.

Just about every work-along type of DVD comes with a soundtrack. “The Art of Strength: Providence” comes with two, as well as the option to not have a soundtrack, for those of you needing no auditory stimulation to help you stay motivated. The default track is instrumental. The other track that you can choose, other than the boring “no music” choice, is the same track with vocals. It has more of a hip-hop / R&B flavor, courtesy of Rod Strong, one of New England’s most sought after club DJs. While, in my opinion, the instrumental default is a little on the boring side (but I guess you need something mild, since this DVD has to please all sorts of people and tastes), the vocal edition is much more enjoyable. It has just enough of the attitude to keep you pumped and into your workout. Good stuff… Rod does a good job.

The Exercises

Intro: Joint mobility warm up
Round 1: 2-handed swing, one arm swing, hand-to-hand swing
Round 2: Cleans
Round 3: Chest presses
Round 4: Squats/sumo deadlifts
Round 5: One leg deadlift
Round 6: Windmills into an overhead squat
Round 7: clean and press
Round 8: Flip and squat
Round 9: Tactical lunges
Round 10: Triple crush
Round 11: Sling shot into a figure 8 with a static hold
Round 12: Seated press
Round 13: One arm row
Round 14: Pullovers, Russian twists, Sicilian crunch
Round 15: 3 minute snatch test

The entire workout takes place in a scenic riverside section in what I assume is downtown Providence, Rhode Island, in the early morning. The occassional person walking by or passing car provides just enough distraction to keep you from getting bored visually.

This DVD shows the workout through the lens of two cameras. Again, the cuts between the two cameras give you just enough variety so that you don’t get too bored. The cuts between the two cameras is not just for aesthetics though. Watching Anthony work out from different angles gives the viewer a better of idea of the proper and safe technique for each of the exercises. The quality of the lighting and the post-production work is tastefully and professionally done, contrary to the normal standard of many homemade workout or instructional videos. The sound is on par. The video is a tad on the fuzzy side… but it’s really not bad at all. Honestly, this is probably the most professional quality fitness video I’ve yet to see.

Between each set is a one-minute break. An animated graphic appears on the screen and you are notified of the next exercise. Once in a while a tip will pop up. However, I do wish that this break period put up various tips throughout the entire DVD. Just a little factoid every few seconds during the break would have been, in my opinion, a good use of dead time. In fact, it would’ve been even cooler if there was an option on the DVD where factoids would pop up constantly throughout the workout. Not a necessity for sure, but it’d be on my wishlist. No big deal though… the video is great the way it is.

If you can last through the entire workout, stick around for the credits… there’s a handful of bloopers that occured during filming of the DVD.

I have two suggestions that I feel could’ve made this DVD just a little better (other than my pop-up factoid suggestion). The first has to do with the menu layout. The “Practice” section is placed after the “Workout” section. Seems to me that it would have better to place it before the “Workout” section. It would be fine and logical to have “Workout” be the default choice, of course… but moving the “Practice” section up would help the beginner to see that it would be best to familiarize himself with the moves, at least briefly, before starting the workout. Since the “Workout” choice would be the default, there’d be no harm anyway… I just think logically, “Practice” should come first. Another thing is that the “Practice” section is basically just the DVD chapters. I personally would have liked to see a separate menu item called “Chapters” (which is pretty standard) and then, for the “Practice” section, have a little supplemental instruction for the various exercises done in the workout. Of course, everything that I just said in this paragraph is just my own personal opinion… the DVD is fantastic with or without these changes.

In summary, I’d like to leave you with this… If you don’t have “The Art of Strength: Providence”, you should get it. Every beginner should most definitely have this in their video library. It’ll give the newbie a headstart in figuring out some good quality routines (or just enjoy following this one) as well as help them overcome any initial anxiety and intimidation by their brand new kettlebell. For the intermediate kettlebell user, this DVD will keep you from getting bored and well help you guage your success. For the expert girevik, you may find this helpful to have when you reach a plateau. Since you already have your set routine, following this workout will force you to change up your workout once in a while.

You won’t be sorry for buying this high-quality product. Anthony Deluglio is a very experienced and knowlegeable kettlebell instructor and, for the price of a fraction of an hour of personal instruction, you can have him leading you in a good, hard workout anytime you want.

I rate this a strong 4.5 out of 5 poods. Get “The Art of Strength: Providence” today! I wish I had gotten it sooner.

Sledgehammer + Truck Tire = Hours of Fun

Sledgehammers Can Add To Your Functional Strength

An old fire captain once said to me, “the hardest thing you will ever do as a firefighter , is chop a hole in a roof”. Of course, I never gave it much thought until I actually had to do it. Then all I heard was his voice in my head… over and over and over… For anyone who has done it, you know what I’m talking about. It’s a miserably difficult task. Fire axes are dulled for a reason, so they don’t stick into things when you hit them. The ax is mostly for destroying things. So, imagine trying to cut through a couple courses of asphalt shingles, a water and ice barrier, and finally 5/8” plywood… all while balancing on a pitched roof. This is truly a “functional” task. You use every muscle in your body to complete this task.

“the hardest thing you will ever do as a firefighter, is chop a hole in a roof”

Now you are probably asking yourself, “don’t they have power saws for that?” The answer is: yes we do; a couple actually; one is a quick vent saw, which is like a chain saw on steroids, and another saw called the K-12, which is another beast the cuts just about everything. But sometimes there aren’t enough saws to go around, and a lot of ventilation holes need to be opened. So we improvise, adapt and overcome. This is where your fitness training plays a big role.

For anyone who has done it, you know what I’m talking about. It’s a miserably difficult task…

So I came up with a fairly simple drill , that addresses this. You won’t need any fancy equipment, or shiny machines. All you need is a sledgehammer and a truck tire. A car tire will work as well, but a truck tire gives you a little more to work with, plus it wont move around when you hit it. The nice part about this is, it can apply to homeowner or firefighter. The home owner (standing aside of the tire) is simulating any swinging type activity, from chopping or splitting wood to digging a trench in his yard. The firefighter (standing atop the tire, balancing) it simulates chopping that vent hole in a roof.

You can use the tabata method, of say 20-30 seconds of effort then 15 –20 seconds rest for sets, or sets of a certain rep count, for example 20 hits x 5 sets. No matter how you do this, it’s a smoker.

For a closer look at this drill, check out Anthony Duluglio’s “the minute of strength” issue #20, and you will see us in action.

The Coming Of Age For The Russian Kettlebell

The Russian Secret Weapon Breaks Out Into Mainstream Popularity

For centuries, the iron kettlebell was Russia’s best kept strength and fitness secret. Just a few years ago, there were but a handful of Americans who had ever heard of the Russian kettlebell (known in Russia as a “girya”). Of this handful, a few of those began to actually train with one. Thanks to the propaganda of Pavel Tsatsouline (aka “The Evil Russian”), along with the backing of John DuCane’s Dragon Door Pubications, the western world watched as the iron curtain was drawn back to reveal this most effective and efficient piece of exercise equipment.

Suddenly, the 100 lb. bag of fertilizer seemed lighter. The sledge hammer swung with greater force. And playfully tossing junior up into the air could end up accidently throwing him into orbit.

While many scoffed at the appearance of the kettlebell and at the odd exercises performed with one, the open-minded gave the kettlebell a chance and discovered what is known to gireviks (the Russian term for “strongman” and usually used to refer to one who uses a kettlebell) as the What-The-Heck (or, for preference, you may substitute the other H word) effect. The return on investment for a kettlebell was unheard of in the strength training world. Atheletes were consistently reporting new PRs (personal records) in strength, speed, endurance, and so on. But not only were the gains great in the areas specifically trained for, these same people found that working out with the kettlebell also gave them unexpected, residual side-effect strength for everyday life. Suddenly, the 100 lb. bag of fertilizer seemed lighter. The sledge hammer swung with greater force. And playfully tossing junior up into the air could end up accidently throwing him into orbit. Hence the term What-The-Heck (WTH).

So eventually, the handful of gireviks became a community of people from all backgrounds, from Olympic powerlifters to wrestlers to basketball players to couch potatoes, all gathering together on the Dragon Door Forum to discuss with Pavel Tsatsouline the principles of girevoy (the Russian term for the sport of Kettlebell lifting) as discussed in his articles in Muscle Media magazine as well as in his first kettlebell training book, “The Russian Kettlebell Chalenge”, and his unorthodox weight training book, “Power To The People”.

Was this the beginning of a new paradigm for the Western fitness world? Or was this just another new fitness craze or fad? While outsiders may have debated this question, gireviks knew that the kettlebell was something special. It had already been around for hundreds of years and it certainly wasn’t going to go away now. How could it, when the kettlebell gave them better results than anything they had ever trained with before? While it is not the miracle cure-all for strength training, it was clear that the kettlebell was here to stay and that it should have a prominent place in one’s exercise repretoire.

Gradually, the girevik’s best kept secret continued to leak out to the general public, via venues such as The Arnold Expo (aka “The Arnold Classic” and “The Arnold Fitness Expo”), sporadic newspaper articles and local television news reports, and an occassional secular magazine (such as “People”) or body building magazine, including Pavel Tsatsouline’s regular contributions to Bill Phillips’ Muscle Media (of the Body For Life fame). Eventually, reports of various celebrities and high-profile atheletes using kettlebells began to circulate as well.

Today, the kettlebell continues to pick up speed on its road to mainstream fitness. While there are still many who have never seen a kettlebell in person, there are very few that have not at least heard of the thing that “looks like a bowling ball with a handle on it”. And the kettlebell’s visibility is sure to reach a new level as the newest sequel to Sylvestor Stallone’s Rocky franchise called “Rocky Balboa” hits the big screens. Gireviks were pleasantly surprised to see Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa (played by Sylvestor Stallone) pressing a kettlebell in the latest teaser for the film. Whether or not the film is viewed as a success or failure in the box office, this is definitely a significant step forward for the popularity of the kettlebell.

What does the future hold for the iron kettlebell? We know one thing… from now on, the kettlebell is going to become and remain a permanent and critical fixture in America’s fitness culture. There are gyms that are beginning to pop up from coast to coast that offer kettlebells in their plethora of equipment. The classes to become certified to train others to use kettlebells are busting at the seams. And as of the writing of this article, a Google search on the word “kettlebell” returned 302,000 results.

If you are already working out with kettlebells, a huge congratulations to you. If you haven’t tried them yet, what are you waiting for? Join the biggest revolution in the strength and fitness industry since Arnold Schwartzenegger starred in “Pumping Iron”. It is the coming of age for the Russian kettlebell. The world is finally ready for it. Are you?

Expand Your Horizons

Sometimes Your Workout Just Needs A Change

One thing that you will notice in the gym is that most of the regulars seem to have a routine that they are very comfortable with. Johnny Bravo over there lives by the workout he was taught by the football coach way back in high school… Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are upper body, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are, of course, for the legs. Meanwhile, Trixie religiously does the stairmaster every morning for 30 minutes while Leisuresuit Larry watches from behind on his treadmill. Sure, they may change their workouts up once in a while, but for the most part, it may appear that their workouts are etched in stone. Why? Because they get into a comfort zone.

This comfort zone is not always such a bad thing. For the overweight guy or lady who was inspired by “The Biggest Loser” TV show or who may be going through a Body For Life 12-week transformation, the comfort zone may actually be crucial in encouraging a person to make it a daily routine. Some people don’t care about all the rocket science behind building muscle and burning fat… they just want to be given a brainless routine that will give them the results they are looking for.

However, what happens when the regularity is there, but the results do not seem to be as profound anymore? What about when the body gets used to the routine and and the workout becomes lackidaisical? When you are standing on a plateau with your physical fitness, what do you do?

If this is you, then it’s time to expand your horizons. And if you haven’t reached this point yet, you should still consider doing so. Too often, we break “exercise” up into two categories: weightlifting and cardio. But there is so much more to it than just these two general areas. For one thing, there is absolutely no reason why weightlifting and cardio cannot be combined. Snatching a kettlebell for repeated sets will definitely give you the cardio workout you need while you are toughening up the meat. Second, the ways to add to your strength and conditioning efforts are only limited by your imagination. Why only stick to those Olympic plates or that fandangled machine? Have you ever swung a sledgehammer for an extended amount of time? Remember how you felt the next day? Why not add that to your list of exercises? If you like walking but feel it’s time for a little variety, wear a weighted vest. If you want to make your abwork a little more challenging, trying doing situps while rolling one of those big, blue Pilates balls. Juggle medicine balls. Use some therapy rubber bands for some toning of the arms. Heck, just go ride your bike if you haven’t done so in a while. You get the idea. My point is that variety is the spice of life… and sometimes it’s good to take your exercise routine and kick it up a notch.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you wil have great gains by simply following your whims and doing “whatever you feel like” for the day. You’re better off planning your workouts still. It’s always to your benefit to have a gameplan built with forethought. You need to see incremental progression and you won’t be able to gauge such progress if you never do the same thing twice. You don’t simply want a chaotic or too random a workout, with no rhyme or reason. You just want to keep your central nervous system (CNS) on its toes. If it gets in a rut, it’ll get bored and you won’t see as much progress as when you shock your CNS into saying, “Crap! What’s going on???!!! Muscles, move it! Move it! Move it!”

…variety is the spice of life… and sometimes it’s good to take your exercise routine and kick it up a notch.

We here at Kettlebell.com want to help you to add life to your workout. We’re adding more and more new articles that will be discussing various ways of working out. Don’t read only the kettlebell articles just because that’s what you’re “into”. And if you’re a body builder, don’t simply skip all the cardio articles. Do yourself a favor and read every article. Consider it an intellectual exercise to take it all in. If you do so, you will find your workouts to be more enjoyable and more importanly, much more effective. If you’re one of these people we described earlier with their set ways of exercise, isn’t it time you’ve broadened YOUR horizons?

A New Look For Kettlebell.com

Kettlebell.com, The ULTIMATE Online Strength Resource, Has Its Own Transformation

Welcome to the Kettlebell.com, the Ultimate Online Strength Resource. We are proud to unveil a whole new look to our website, one that better reflects the attitudes and philosopy of people who take working out seriously. Our look is functional, rough, raw… not all slick, not just a bunch of shiny chrome buttons and flashy eye candy.

At Kettlebell.com, we choose to not decide which approach is best. While we all want to be healthy and fit, our idea of what “healthy and fit” means will differ from person to person. Our goal is to simply provide you with as much information as possible.

You see, one who pursues functional strength pursues more than just a nice physique. Sure, being able to flex 20″ arms or to bench 600 is nice… but there are more to our workout goals than that. We want to be strong… genuinely strong to the core. Yes, chisled abs are definitely a plus. But our philosophy is that it is just important to BE as strong as we LOOK.

Even though we share one common goal, we realize that there are more than just one way to arrive at such a milestone. As there are countless approaches to improving one’s diet, there are many different workouts and many different pieces of equipment that can be used as well. Furthermore, this common goal of functional strength is a very general one. This primary goal mutates into individual goals of each and every person. While one may be in a special forces group of the military and need the ability to outfight the enemy, others may be more concerned with winning an Olympic competition, or simply to lose weight and “get into shape”. This is where the tangents begin.

At Kettlebell.com, we choose to not decide which approach is best. While we all want to be healthy and fit, our idea of what “healthy and fit” means will differ from person to person. Our goal is to simply provide you with as much information as possible. Only when armed with knowledge can one ascertain the perfect workout and exercise approach to them. Obviously, working out with the Russian kettlebell will be a large focus here… but it is not the only focus. While it certainly has a very respected place in our approach to fitness, it is certainly not the only solution we will consider. In addition to kettlebells, we will examine the art of powerlifting, the effectiveness of bodyweight exercises, the use of weight vests, and so on. We will also explore various philosophies on diet, the psychological aspects of working out, and the importance of sleep. Basically, our goal is to discuss anything and everything regarding getting “healthy and fit”. But we will leave it up to you, the reader, to decide which route you would prefer to take.

We hope that you will enjoy and take part in this interchange of knowledge. Whether you are an prized martial artist, a weekend warrior, a law enforcement officer, or a certified couch potato with an open mind, you are sure to find some valuable nuggets of information of interest to you. Once again, welcome to Kettlebell.com, the Ultimate Online Strength Resource.