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How To Accelerate Fat Loss by Breaking Out of Your Set/Rep Plan

January 18, 2013 By Josh Hillis 4 Comments

Breaking out of Standard RKC Sets and Reps for Fat Loss

The RKC is a school of strength – and the programs we most often use put us into sets and reps that maximize… wait for it… strength.

While the maxim that just getting stronger and eating right will get you an amazing body still holds true, there are times when you will want to put your fat loss goal front and center. And in those times, it’s worth some small sacrifices in potential strength gains in the quest for the body you want.

For the folks that feel like strength-is-awesome and fat-loss-is-stupid out there, keep in mind that many of your clients are coming for fat loss. Kettlebell and bodyweight workouts are awesome for fat loss, and we can optimize the process by putting fat loss first. And we can better serve our clients, by letting their goal be our goal, instead of pushing what we think is cool onto them.

Lets Take a Look at Popular RKC Strength Programs

Step Cycle: Ideal minimalist strength program

Work with a weight until it’s mastered, then move up to the next weight.
Works well with bodyweight skills.
Works well with a minimal number of kettlebells (and how most people started with RKC kettlebells back in the early 2000’s)
Efficiency is built in the 3-5 reps/3-5 sets range

Wave Cycle: Ideal for building strength in the long term

Weight is ramped up two steps up and one step back or three steps up and two steps back – repeated.
Standard barbell strength cycle
Efficiency is built in the 3-5 reps/3-5 sets range

Block Cycle: Ideal for staying efficient and strong at two different qualities of strength

Works well with kettlebells, barbells, bodyweight
Two week blocks, alternated often enough to stay efficient at both.
One of the two blocks builds efficiency in the 3-5 reps/3-5 sets range, and the other block builds some other quality (usually the other end of the spectrum 15-20 reps)

What all of these have in common is that they build and maintain efficiency and strength in the 3-5 rep, 3-5 sets range. As much as I love me some 3-5 rule workouts, fat loss goal folks don’t need to be all spendin’ their whole life there.

Break Out and Accelerate Fat Loss

For fat loss, we want to deliberately do workouts we aren’t efficient at, on a regular basis.

“Regular Basis” is an important distinction – we actually want to build strength and efficiency in a set/rep plan, and then change on a planned and regular interval. This is significantly more effective than doing workouts that are constantly varied or even totally random.

Randomness and “muscle confusion” are in vogue for fat loss, to the detriment of the fat loss industry. At best, constant variation is good marketing, at worst, it shows massive ignorance on the part of the trainer. In fact, every time I hear someone say “muscle confusion” or “I love my trainer ’cause we do totally different workouts all the time!” I want to smack the trainer all up-side the head. I love variety as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just want to be all like, “Y’all do results much?”

Intelligent fat loss should be built on a long term plan that includes building one quality in one set/rep range, and then changing to another quality in another set/rep range that you aren’t currently efficient at. While this is a slow boat to superhuman strength, it’s a speedboat to fat loss.

Set/Rep Ranges and Strength Qualities

1-5 reps: Low Rep/Heavy Weight – Strength
6-10 reps: Medium-Low Reps/Medium-Heavy Weight – Strength/Endurance
10-15 reps: Medium-High Reps/Medium-Light Weight – Endurance/Strength
15-20 reps: High Rep/Low Weight – Endurance

Again, we aren’t really interested in the athletic qualities we’re building, except that we need to consistently go from one end of the spectrum to the other.

It takes 4-6 weeks to build efficiency in a set/rep range. That means that – for fat loss – we want to switch the set/rep scheme every 4-6 weeks – No sooner, and no later.

And while it can be popular to change “everything” every 4-6 weeks, it’s unnecessary. You can keep the movements and the equipment exactly the same, and cycle just the sets/reps, and get all the fat loss results you want.

As a rule: Change the sets/reps for results. Change the equipment or the movements only when you get bored with them.

The Josh Hillis Four Month Fat Loss Cycle:

Here is what an effective cycle of fat loss set/rep programs looks like over four months:

Month 1: 3×15
Month 2: 5×5
Month 3: 2×20
Month 4: 4×8

It’s pretty sexy, isn’t it?

Fat loss workout programming really is just as simple as going from one end of the spectrum to the other, consistently.

In general, the number of sets is inversely proportional to the number of reps.

What an actual workout could look like:

Supersets:

A1: Convict Conditioning Pushup Progression 3×15
A2: Heavy Kettlebell Swings 3×15
B1: Convict Conditioning Pullup Regression 3×15
B2: Goblet Squat or Two Kettlebell Front Squat 3×15

With 1 min rest between each superset, and then 3 minutes rest between A and B.

Giant Sets

A1: Convict Conditioning Pullup Regression 3×15
A2: Goblet Squat or Two Kettlebell Front Squat 3×15
A3: Convict Conditioning Pushup Progression 3×15
A4: Heavy Kettlebell Swings 3×15
With 3-5 minutes rest between each giant set.

Timed Density Circuits

How many rounds in 20 minutes, rest often as needed to maintain perfect form:

A1: Kettlebell Bent Over Rows x15L+15R
A2: Convict Conditioning Pushup Progression x15
A3: Heavy Kettlebell Swings x15

Fat Loss, Your Workouts, and Your Food

I can’t help closing out a fat loss article without mentioning food. As always, your food is the foundation. Your scale weight is entirely going to be a function of your quantity of food. Your leanness, on the other hand, is going to be a function of your workouts and your quality of food.

Ultimately, with workouts, we are looking to effect your leanness at a given bodyweight. Use your workouts to change your shape, change your muscle to fat ratio, and add lean, firm, tight sexiness to your body.

With the four month set/rep workout cycle above, and the right food, you can have the lean sexy body you’ve always wanted.

—

Josh Hillis: RKC, NASM-CPT/PES/CES, Z-MRS/MIS, www.21daykettlebell.com. Over the last 8 years as a personal trainer, Josh has worked with every kind of fat loss client, but he is a specialist in helping fit women lose the last 5-10 pounds of stubborn fat. He’s been quoted by The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post, he’s been in USA Today, and was a featured expert for Experience Life! Magazine. Josh has written six books on fat loss and kettlebell training, created an audio program on fat loss nutrition for On Target Publications, and contributed a chapter “Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss” to The RKC Book of Strength and Conditioning for DragonDoor Publications. Josh holds beginner and advanced fat loss nutrition workshops on a monthly basis at several kettlebell gyms in Colorado. Josh is the creator and writer for www.LoseStubbornFat.com, which has over 32,000 subscribers in over 200 countries world-wide.

The “Dirty Dozen” Exercises (Part 1) by Phil Ross

January 16, 2013 By Phil Ross 25 Comments

More often than not, I get asked “Coach, what are the best exercises to do?” Or “If you were to choose “X” amount of exercises, what would they be?”. There are a plethora of great exercises and variations that my students and I truly love to do. However if I were to boil it down to several movements that are essential to any strength and conditioning regimen, I would choose 6 Kettlebell exercises and 6 Bodyweight movements.

I’m not saying that these are the ONLY exercises you should do but they all should be included in your workout regimen, no matter what your focus is. These exercises will increase strength, endurance, coordination, flexibility and durability like no others. These exercises will even improve your performance with your bench press, deadlift and bar squats , not to mention your physique.

Over the next year, I’ll be putting forth write ups accompanied by videos on the “Dirty Dozen”. We’ll discuss variations and progressions, especially when considering bodyweight. I’ll discuss each movement in depth and give my reasoning for the selection of each movement.

OK- here’s the list.

Kettlebells

The Kettlebell Swing: This movement is the root of all Kettlebell Training and one of the great differentiators between Kettlebell based training and all other strength developing exercise systems. The Kettlebell Swing “reverse engineers” the practitioner’s hips by developing hip hinge through the pop and lock required to execute the movement properly.

The Front Squat: Single Rack or Bottoms up. Squatting is the most important movement for lower body strength. The Front Squat, by virtue of the position of the Kettlebell, requires the complete linkage of the upper and lower body. Tensioning of the trunk (I’m not a fan of the word ” core” ) and maintaining the bell in the prescribed position requires considerable upper body engagement in addition to the tension in the trunk.

The Kettlebell Press: Pressing heavy weight above your head is very cool and extremely useful. The Kettlebell Press employs full range of motion, full body tension and the active negative motion of the bell.

The Get-up: There is not a single movement that incorporates more muscles of the body than the Get up, also known as the Turkish Get Up or TGU. This incredible exercise is a signature movement of Kettlebell Training. Dynamic tension, balance, flexibility and body alignment are all developed with the TGU.

The Clean: The Kettlebell Clean is used in a great deal of Kettlebell complexes, racking the kettlebell for Squats and Presses, but it’s an incredibly beneficial stand alone movement. A single arm clean taxes the stabilizers in the trunk as well as reinforcing the tensioning and relaxing of the body.

The Kettlebell Snatch: This is my favorite of all Kettlebell movements. The Kettlebell Snatch is a ballistic movement that develops strength, endurance, speed, coordination and there is no question why this movement is used in both competitions and testing as a fitness barometer. The Kettlebell Snatch V02 Max workout is unmatched in maximizing one’s volume of oxygen uptake.

Bodyweight

The Bridge: An ignored movement in American physical fitness. Very few athletes, except for wrestlers and gymnasts, utilize this crucial movement. The Bridge is exactly what it’s name connotes. The development of a strong, flexible spine linking together the upper torso with the trunk and lower limbs. Strong spinal erectors are essential to a healthy spine and unhindered movement. Key to athletics, active living and certain vocations – not to mention every day living!

Hanging Abdominal: One can do thousands of crunches and buy every gimmicky ab machine on the TV at 2:00am, but nothing will develop your abdominal strength better than the Hanging the Abdominal. Lifting your legs up to your chest or your feet above your head develops and requires significant abdominal strength.

The Pistol (Single Leg Squat): The most difficult and beneficial leg exercise – period. The training en route a butt to heel Pistol develops balance, trunk stability and incredible leg strength. There are weight lifters that can full squat 600 pounds, yet they collapse and fall over when attempting the Pistol.

The Hand Stand: This is the coolest of all bodyweight exercises. Nothing demonstrates full body control and balance than being able to invert yourself in the middle of a room and hold it there. The progressions building up to the Handstand develop incredible shoulder and trunk strength.

The Pull-up: There is no single exercise that demonstrates and develops upper body strength like the Pull-up. If you can do 20 pull-ups, you are in great shape. I challenge you to show me a person who can do 20 pull-ups and doesn’t have a 6-pack.

The Push-up: The Push-up is my favorite for several reasons. There are fun and challenging variations, the movement works not only your upper body but conditions your abdominals and reinforces the total body tensioning. The best thing about Push-ups is that you can do them virtually anywhere that there is a floor. Your bedroom, basement or office – anywhere. There is no good reason for you not to do them.

Get started now!

There you have it. 12 exercises that no training regimen should be without. If you want to achieve ultimate, applicable strength and conditioning, your program needs to include these core “Dirty Dozen” exercises.

—

Phil Ross: Master RKC, 8^th Degree Black Belt, Specialist in Bodyweight Strength and CK-FMS Certified. Phil Ross’ name is synonymous with Martial Arts and Fitness. He is known as the area’s Kettlebell King and has successfully competed on the National Level in Submission Fighting, Kickboxing, both Full Contact; Point Karate, Taekwondo and Olympic Style Wrestling from 1979 through 2010. He has also held several titles in Bodybuilding and Power Lifting. More important than his personal accomplishments are the many benefits that his students have gained. He has trained many National and State champions in a multitude of Combat Disciplines, Scholarship Athletes, Law Enforcement and Military Personal as well as professional athletes.

He has owned and operated his studio, American Eagle MMA & Kettlebells, ever since 1988, training thousands of students in his classes and seminars. In addition, he created the #1 Rated S.A.V.E. Self Defense and Fitness video series, has an online Kettlebell Training program and The Kettlebell Workout Library video training system.

Kettlebells and 007 (Part 1) by Mike Krivka

January 11, 2013 By Mike Krivka 6 Comments

If you’ve watched any of the Bond movies, you’ll notice one undeniable fact: James Bond is one tough and resilient mother! Okay, there was a while when one-liners were more important than the ability to shoot or throw a decent punch, but those days are behind us now that Daniel Craig is portraying 007. Bond is back and he’s as tough as ever—which is just the way I like him!

So, what does this have to do with you? Well, quite a bit actually. I contend that the training necessary for a top-tier secret agent is the same for a Super Mom or Dad, or even a semi-decent athlete. Let me explain—and this is important so PAY ATTENTION! You need the same physical abilities and attributes as a secret agent but you won’t need them to the extreme degree—but you never know! You need the ability to pick up heavy things; push, pull, and squat with a load; and move fast and hard when necessary. What’s not super about that?

A secret agent needs to be:

Strong
Resilient
Tenacious
Flexible
Mobile
Agile
Athletic

These are all physical attributes that you can develop through a well-rounded functional training program. You need to have a balance of strength, speed, power and endurance—just like you’d need to chase down a couple kids all day, or to keep yourself motivated while you’re huddled over a computer.

Let’s see how that stacks up against the CrossFit Ten Attributes of Fitness:

Strength
Agility
Flexibility
Power
Speed
Stamina
Accuracy
Balance
Endurance
Coordination

Not bad. Actually darn close. Both lists have similar physical and mental aspects. So, how many of these attributes do you need? I would say you need all of them. You might need more of some and less of others, but you will still need all of them. You will also need to spend extra time on the attributes where you’re deficient.

Now would be a good time for me to define each one of the Secret Agent Attributes mean to me and how I think you’ll need to develop them.

Let’s start with Strong. If you could only improve one attribute—and this applies to most everyone—it would be strength. I’m not talking about increasing your bench press or biceps curl, I’m talking about adding pounds to your deadlift, clean or military press. Increasing your ability to move heavy weights is going to put some meat in the right spots and make you harder to kill! I think Mark Rippetoe was quoted as saying, “Strong people are harder to kill.” I couldn’t agree more. I don’t mean that in a literal sense—unless you really are a secret agent! What I’m referring to is real muscle (not the puffy muscles from bodybuilding) which allows you to perform difficult tasks with ease and survive situations that would injure or kill others. I really like the CrossFit dictum of “training for the known and unknown”. I think this is an important mindset to keep in mind when conceptualizing your training program and components. In short, get strong to be strong.

Resilient – To me, being resilient means that you can do what needs to be done, without getting destroyed in the process. Resilience is different at different ages. As a secret agent in your prime (30’s), resilience means escaping the villain’s underground lair while being shot at, chased by henchmen, while still having a little left in the tank to show the cute redheaded damsel you saved a good time… if you know what I mean. As you get older, resilience means bouncing back from a tough workout quickly, taking an unexpected fall without injury, or even changing a tire on the side of the road. Once again, it’s only a matter of degree not function. By the way, as far as I’m concerned, resilience is also a mental attribute—meaning you can face adversity, persevere, and accomplish your goals.

Tenacious – I love that word! When I think of tenacity I think of my old dog Katana Loki (yeah, I know, cool name). She was a Staffordshire Terrier (another name for Pit Bull, but don’t hold that against my little girl) and I used to play tug of war with her and she would NEVER let me win – EVER. She only weighed about forty-five pounds but she would give everything she had when it came down to it. As a physical attribute, tenacity is the ability to find the way to accomplish your goals, even if the path is difficult or painful. Being a secret agent, or even a Jane or Joe Bland, is sometimes a tough path and you’ll need to have the physical and mental ability to keep going even when you want to quit. How do you develop tenacity? The only way is to train outside your comfort zone and do the workouts that others won’t. You’ll become physically stronger, and you’ll also have the mental muscle to match. Bruce Lee made an interesting observation about fighting many years ago. He said, “If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you.”

“Flexible as silk and as strong as steel,” one of my Gung Fu instructors admonished us to become in every aspect of our lives. Looking at some people, you might think flexibility is the antithesis of strength, but I think it is part of the same package. To me, flexibility means you’ve developed your physical attributes to accommodate movement within your sport or activity, within and sometimes exceeding normal range of motion. I’m not saying that you have to do full splits, but you should have enough command of your muscles that you can move and perform without running into roadblocks of inflexibility. I’m fortunate that I’ve always been relatively flexible, but I still have to work to maintaining it. I’ve worked with a lot of athletes who were extremely strong but couldn’t even touch their own toes. Think about this— being strong makes you harder to kill, but flexibility makes you even harder to injure. Is there a mental aspect to flexibility? Hell yeah! If you can’t take the obstacles thrown in front of you and turn them into hurdles, then you need to get a grip and focus on the goal.

You might ask, “Isn’t being ‘Mobile‘ the same thing as being flexible?” Hardly! To me, being mobile means that you have that ability to move and function at the full capacity of your body. After many years of taking hard falls in wrestling and judo you’d think my back, neck, and shoulders would be toast, but that’s not the case. I’ve spent a lot of time keeping all of my joints and connective tissue mobilized through various means like foam rollers and yoga. As a secret agent, you never know when you’ll have to climb to the top of a tower to disarm a nuclear weapon. Or, as a parent you never know when you may have to chase down one of your kids from the top of the play set at McDonald’s. Being mobile makes you more resilient and will also give you more confident in your ability to get the work done without injury. Explore the information on the MobilityWOD site or attend a Primal Move workshop and you will understand what you need to work on.

Being “Agile” doesn’t necessarily mean jumping and leaping like a ballerina in the Bolshoi. To me it means the ability to quickly and seamlessly transition from skill to skill. I am reminded of an experience I had while working with some tactical officers from a large metropolitan police department. The officers prided themselves on their shooting skills, and I was impressed with their ability to “kill” paper targets. When they asked for my assessment I gave them a quick skill test to show them the real life level of their pistol work. I made them do 5 kicks to the heavy bag with each leg, and 4 lengths of hand over hand on the monkey bars, 5 burpees, and 4 bodyweight deadlifts. Then they had 30 seconds to put 5 rounds in the “X”, change magazines and then put 5 more rounds in the “X”. (Note: everyone had a chance to shoot their 5+5 first, in order to establish a baseline of accuracy and time.) How did they do? Well, no one had an accidental discharge in the process, but no one came anywhere near their previous score. So is agility a physical or mental skill? The answer is yes…

Everyone is “Athletic” to one degree or another. If someone says that they’re a “runner” then they are considered an athlete. If someone else says they’re a “tennis player,” then they are considered an athlete as well. Some people are more athletic than others in my eyes. If someone is a NCAA wrestler, a high level MMA competitor, or an Olympic caliber gymnast, then they are going to get kudos from me. If you are trying to find your “inner athlete” then you are on the right path and I commend you. To me being athletic means that you have developed the basic skills of your sport to a relatively high degree, and are able to apply them under dynamic circumstances. What are the skills that you will need as a secret agent? It’s a long list but it would definitely include running, climbing, combatives, etc. All of those skills take the preceding attributes (strength, resilience, tenacity, etc.) and put them into a dynamic, competitive environment where your skills are tested to see if they “hold up under fire”. In other words, an athlete puts himself into a competitive environment to see if his training and skills hold up. The same thing should hold true for the secret agent—and for you. I’m not saying you have to topple megalomaniacs seeking to control the world’s supply of gold, but you want to be able to test yourself through the auspices of a difficult workout on occasion in order to see if your training is actually working.

Note: I have to mention a very powerful concept that changed how I train myself and others. You will see this as an underlying theme within the workouts and throughout the whole program. While no one workout will address all of the skills below, most address several. Dan John identified five movement skills which need to be practiced and that you should be using when developing strength and experience:

Push
Pull
Squat
Hinge
Carry
Other – i.e., Turkish Get Up, “Ground” work

This grouping of movements should define your strength program, and also give you a framework for identifying your strengths and weaknesses. (For a more detailed explanation of this, pick up Dan John and Pavel’s book Easy Strength. It will give you a completely different perspective on your training requirements.)

For more super-powered James Bond-style workouts, check out Mike’s book, Code Name: Indestructible.

—

About the Author:

Michael A. Krivka, Sr. is a Washington, DC native who has been involved in Kettlebell training for over a decade and is currently an RKC Team Leader and member of the RKC Board of Advisors under Dragon Door (where he has been listed as one of the top reviewed RKC’s in the world for the last five years). Mike has traveled extensively throughout the United States teaching Russian Kettlebells to military (USMC, USN, USA and USAF) and law enforcement personnel (FBI, DEA, USSS and CIA) as well hard-living civilians from Soccer Moms to CEOs. In addition to teaching workshops and clinics he logs several hundred hours a year teaching and training with Russian Kettlebells at his own gym and martial arts studio. He is also a Level I CrossFit Trainer, and Olympic Lifting Coach.

When he is not tossing Kettlebells around he is teaching and training in the martial arts, something he has done since he was thirteen years old. His martial arts training, sparked by a childhood fascination with Bruce Lee, spans early training in Tae Kwon Do, Judo, Wrestling, Western Fencing, Sambo, Ninjutsu, Muay Thai and Gung Fu and has culminated in being awarded a Full Instructor JKD Concepts (Jeet Kune Do – Bruce Lee’s base art) and the Filipino Martial Arts (Kali, Escrima, Arnis and Maphilindo Silat) under Guro Dan Inosanto. He continues to train in and explore other martial arts to continue to hone his technical and teaching skills.

Convict Conditioning Rebound by Adrienne Harvey

January 4, 2013 By Adrienne Harvey 19 Comments

AdrienneHarcherbar(1) — Photo is an outtake from Al Kavadlo’s upcoming book, “Pushing The Limits! – Total Body Strength With No Equipment.”

Back in the brutally hot, mid July of 2010, I decided to tag along with RKC Level 2, Tim Shuman, to the NSCA Conference here in Orlando. I’d been training with Tim for the upcoming RKC workshop which would be held that October. He’d heard Dragon Door would have a booth in the exhibit hall, and wanted to buy a “Beast” kettlebell. I was considering a few books. Convict Conditioning had been consistently catching my eye on the website and emails, so I had planned on buying it at least. I also wanted to get the opinion of someone “in the know” about any other preparations I should be making for the upcoming RKC Certification Workshop. Even though I had been training very hard for nearly a year, my confidence hadn’t caught up.

We walked up and saw Nicole Du Cane was at the booth – along with a lot of kettlebells, and a huge table full of books. We talked to Nicole about the new 16kg handle and I gave it a try. At this time, I was so small that I was still well within the comfortable range of testing with the 12kg. I did a few snatches with the 12kg for fun and generally asked Nicole if I seemed at all ready. She said I did, and that was a good thing to hear! I thumbed through a few books on the table before finding Convict Conditioning, and deciding that was definitely the book I wanted to get. So, even before attending my first RKC Workshop, I was able to purchase the Convict Conditioning book from Nicole, which is pretty neat.

Tim bought a “beast” kettlebell, which we would pick up later and amusingly put on an escalator on the way to Tim’s truck! He asked what I bought, then made a “yuck face” when he heard the answer. I shrugged and said that I was curious, and had already liked what I’d seen in the book in terms of progressions useful for myself and with the handful of personal training clients I had at the time. Also, the idea of a woman doing a real 1 arm chin is practically unheard of, meaning I at least had to investigate. The book ended up being read in whole, then in parts, then thumbed through for regular reference. Sometimes, when out on the coffee table, it garnered scowls, curiosity, and outright disgust at the name “Convict Conditioning.” I didn’t care, I was getting stronger, and starting to do some pretty incredible things.

Having already been proficient with the pistol squat from Naked Warrior, some coaching and practice, I was able to really dial it in using the principles in CC. Handstand pushups started happening in a hurry, and they really began to help my kettlebell military press. Pull ups became stronger than ever, and I started blasting through my long standing 8 rep plateau in short order. I started working on bridges, something that hadn’t ever seemed interesting until now – and began the reaping strength, flexibility, and coordination benefits from this new challenge. In short, Convict Conditioning rarely—if ever—finds itself on the shelf, and over the course of a couple years of constant but careful use, started getting ragged.

The binding started to come apart, and the cover kept slipping. It was a matter of time until I picked it up and ripped it (and not in a cool grip-strength way). Fortunately, it has a stitched binding, so no pages would be lost, but it was becoming unsightly, and since I seem to look at it all the time, I figured it would be good to have it spiral bound. For less than $7, a helpful person at Fedex/Kinkos cut and rebound the book for me with a spiral, now allowing the book to lay flat on the floor (which is often where it happens to be.) Amusingly, while she was working on the book, I saw her start to read it too.

For the motivated person, this is a great program that can be used at home or anywhere. Some people really enjoy the energy of a large group class, while others thrive working on their own in private, or in a natural setting. The ideas and exercises in Convict Conditioning have allowed me to sidestep the inconvenience of having to “find a place to train” which has the “right equipment” for years. Don’t be fooled by it’s bad boy image, this book is pure gold. If you wonder if you’ll “really use it,” just look at what happened to my copy. And now with it’s new binding, it should have many more years of regular use ahead of it.

—

AdrienneHPlankPhoto — Courtesty of Adrienne Frankenfield Photography (http://adriennefrankenfield.com)

About Adrienne Harvey, RKCII, CK-FMS, Primal Move Nat’l Instructor

I started studying kettlebell training over three years ago and became RKC Certified in October of 2010, and became an RKC Level 2 Instructor in July 10th of 2011. Kettlebell and bodyweight training have been absolutely crucial in my personal quest for fitness, and I love sharing these ultra-effective modalities with small groups and individuals. Similarly, developing recipes to further support performance, body composition, and general enjoyment is another passion.

Go to http://www.giryagirl.com/ for more information about Adrienne!

Dragon Door’s Vision for the HKC and RKC in 2013 and beyond

January 1, 2013 By John Du Cane, CEO and founder, Dragon Door 9 Comments

John Du Cane here wishing you a Happy New Year and a strong, healthy and prosperous 2013!

We thought this would be a great day to share our current vision for Dragon Door’s HKC and RKC programs for 2013 and beyond. We predict explosive growth as Dragon Door continues to enhance and expand on the prior curriculum and our leadership takes the program to ever-greater levels of excellence.

The purpose of the HKC and RKC – Dragon Door’s kettlebell certification system – is to educate and produce highly trained and qualified kettlebell instructors, while maintaining the rigorous physical standards of the pre-existing program.

As the HKC/RKC certification system has a primary mission of producing highly trained and qualified kettlebell instructors, the ability to demonstrate the skills of teaching and performance will be the first focus of the system and subsequently the events. This includes providing the instructor candidates with solid, consistent instruction on the correct performance of each kettlebell exercise, as well as the tools needed to instruct people of all backgrounds and physical capabilities on safe and effective kettlebell technique. And lastly, supplying them with a deep understanding of this principle-based system.

This will be achieved by presenting each kettlebell exercise with the appropriate learning progressions, regressions, modifications and corrections. The result of this approach is safe, effective kettlebell technique, enhanced movement skills, and improved athletic performance.

The HKC/RKC, under the management of Dragon Door Publications, will also provide each certified instructor with further professional learning opportunities, support, marketing tools, as well as networking through their growing community and resources.

Dragon Door Publications will also provide opportunities for instructors to personally demonstrate their own physical strength and skill – outside of the certification courses – at yearly competitions, conferences and through other online means. The purpose of these events will be both community building as well as to have a vehicle to showcase the talent and achievements of our instructors and community members.

Dragon Door already has 12 RKC workshops scheduled for 2013. We look forward to seeing you at one of them:

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

San Jose, CA, United States
February 22 – 24, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

St. Paul, MN, United States
April 5 – 7, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Marlboro, NJ, United States
April 12 – 14, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Vienna, VA, United States
April 19 – 21, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Encinitas, CA, United States
April 26 – 28, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Tallahassee, FL, United States
April 26 – 28, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Columbus, OH, United States
May 17 – 19, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Venice, Italy
May 31 – June 2, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Atlanta, GA, United States
June 21 – 23, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Gothenburg, Sweden
June 28 – 30, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

Santa Fe, NM, United States
June 28 – 30, 2013

The Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) Instructor Workshop

San Diego, CA, United States
August 23 – 25, 2013

Viking Salute Workouts

December 28, 2012 By Gus Petersen 7 Comments

Excerpt from The RKC Book of Strength and Conditioning book

GusPetersenMain

This workout consists of combining a Snatch, reverse lunge, and shoulder Press from a kneeling position into an intense, highly effective full-body workout that burns calories, increases muscular endurance, and translates to meeting real-life physical demands.

The workout is appropriate for intermediate to advanced kettlebell practitioners. It is designed as a blueprint, so you can add or take away elements, personalizing the workout to suit your fitness level and goals.

Half Viking Salute

The 53-pound kettlebell is a good weight to start with for the Half Viking Salute if you’re a male who is in good shape, experienced, and weighs between 165 and 195 pounds. If you’re over 195 and mean, start with a 62-pound kettlebell. Hard women will want to start with a 26-pound kettlebell; others will be plenty challenged with an 18-pounder.

Take a kettlebell in your right hand and do a Snatch. With the bell still in the overhead position, elbow locked, step back in a reverse lunge onto your left knee. From the kneeling position, left knee and right foot grounded, lower the kettlebell to the rack position, hit your power breath, and Press the bell. At the top of the Press, take another power breath and stand up, stepping forward with your left foot until it’s even with your right, all the while with the kettlebell arm locked out overhead. This entire sequence counts as one rep. With your feet shoulder width apart, repeat the entire sequence for the desired number of reps (see workout variations section below for suggestions) with the same hand. Then switch seamlessly to the left hand and match the number of reps.

Note: When performing this technique, we lunge backward onto the knee that’s opposite the Snatch arm, so that the forward, grounded foot is the same side as the Pressing arm, because this supports the core optimally.

Full Viking Salute

The progression from Half Viking Salute to Full Viking Salute definitely increases the intensity and the required skill level of the exercise. The 35-pound kettlebell is a good weight to start with for Full Viking Salutes if you’re a male who is in good shape, experienced, and weigh between 165 and 195 pounds. If you’re over 195 and mean, start with a 44-pound kettlebell. Most women will start this technique with an 18-pound kettlebell. Everything in the Full Viking Salute is the same as Half Viking Salute, except at the top of the Snatch, instead of letting the bell flip over to rest on your forearm, you end up gripping the kettlebell in the bottom-up position. With your kettlebell arm locked out, do a reverse lunge, lower the kettlebell arm to a bottom-up rack position (elbow against the ribs, thumb not touching the chest as it would in a standard rack position), and perform a bottom-up Press, locking the arm out at the top. With the kettlebell still pressed overhead, stand up and repeat the sequence for the desired number of reps, using the same hand. Switch to the opposite hand and match the number of reps. As you perform the sequences of Full Viking Salutes, the fact that you are holding the kettlebell in the bottom-up position forces you to move slowly, deliberately, and smoothly; stack the kettlebell with optimal efficiency; focus on proper breathing; and maintain overall body tension.

Variations

There’s far more than one way to skin a cat, but as far as program design, here are a few options for incorporating these two techniques into a workout.

Viking ladder with pull-up

This variation alternates Half Viking Salutes and weighted-foot pull-ups in a 1- to 5-rep ladder. If you are right-hand dominant, start with your left. With the appropriate weight as outlined above, do one rep of a left-hand Half Viking Salute, and transition seamlessly into a right-hand Half Viking Salute. Then, after no more than a 60-second rest, do one weighted pull-up with a kettlebell anchored on one foot. For a 165- to 195-pound male, use a 35-pound kettlebell. For a mean male 195 or over, a 44-pound kettlebell is ideal. Most women will want to begin with no weight and can modify this with a Cybex pull-up machine, chin-ups, or assisted pull-ups, or they can simply omit the pull-up. Continue up the ladder, performing two Half Viking Salutes on each side, followed by two weighted pull-ups, until you’ve completed the fifth set of each exercise. At that point, you will have done 15 reps of Half Viking Salutes on each side and 15 reps of weighted pull-ups.

Once you’ve mastered this ladder, you can work your way through another ladder of 5 reps for both the Half Viking Salutes (both sides) and the weighted pull-ups, or as far up as you can without hitting muscle failure. You can also do the same ladder workout as above, but instead perform a Full Viking Salute, as described in the previous section. Keep in mind that because of the added intensity that compromised leverage brings to this variation of the exercise, doing the bottom-up Full Viking Salute is going to seriously challenge the neuromuscular connection of your non-dominant-side grip strength.

Standard Viking workout

Another option is to do three sets of five reps of either Half or Full Viking Salutes (same weight specifications as above), with 1 1⁄2 to 4 minutes of rest between sets. Because of the increased reps and sustained intensity of each set, this option is perhaps more demanding than the ladder system. For that reason, there are no pull-ups in this variation. To increase the difficulty, you can add sets and/or weight, as well as decrease your rest time between sets.

Heavy Viking Salute Workout

If you want to push heavier with the goal of making strength gains, simply add enough weight so you are only able to do one to three repetitions of Half or Full Viking Salutes for two to six sets, with 1 1⁄2 to 4 minutes of rest between sets.

Take a kettlebell in your right hand and do a Snatch.

From the kneeling position, left knee and right foot grounded, lower the kettlebell to the rack position, hit your power breath, and Press the bell.

At the top of the Press, take another power breath and stand up, stepping forward with your left foot until it’s even with your right, all the while with the kettlebell arm locked out overhead. This entire sequence counts as one rep.

High-Intensity 10-Minute Viking Salute Workout

If your goal is to push your endurance, decrease the weight so you’re able to do 20 or more reps of Half or Full Viking Salutes on each side. Crank out as many as you can in five minutes, rest for 30 seconds to a minute, and repeat. Build progressively until you’re able to reach the 10- minute goal.

FOR THE TOUGHEST WARRIORS

If the above variations don’t meet your criteria for pain, add two kettlebells into the mix: double-kettlebell Snatch (either regular or bottoms-up), reverse lunge, double kettlebell Press (regular or bottoms-up), stand up, and repeat.

***

Most of my clients hate Viking Salutes because they are grueling and require the full attention of your mind and body. But if you’re looking for a full-body workout that delivers results and translates to real-world challenges and adventures, look no further. Viking Salutes pay big dividends.

– Gus Petersen

GusPetersen, RKC, CICS, owns ProEdgeKettlebells in Denver, Colorado. A 20-year fitness veteran, Gus started using kettlebells in 2003 and has never looked back, using exclusively kettlebells with his highly satisfied clientele. Gus is the creator of the Kettlebell Athletic Training (K.A.T.) Fitness System, available on 5 DVDs from DragonDoor.com. He may be reached at Gus@proedgekettlebells.com.

Gus shares a heart-stopping story about his recent stroke… and his quick recovery. Read Gus’s electrifying interview on Dragon Door!

Fit to Lead: Do you Practice what you Preach?

December 26, 2012 By Max Shank Leave a Comment

It’s an unfortunate turn of the fitness industry that we look to internet-only gurus for guidance. These same folks have a modest athleticism at best, and are barely-functioning-overweight at worst.

But man can they make a sweet website and market the heck out of it.

Now I am not one to fault anyone for making a living; I’ve now owned a very successful gym for close to 4 years and travel around the world teaching everything I know about strength and health. I love it. I live it.

What I hate?

Empty promises.
Unrealistic expectations.
Lies.
An overwhelming lack of integrity.

When you say (or write) one thing, and do another, it’s fake. We have leaders that people look to for help, who don’t practice any of their own teachings. They have an avatar of themselves that portrays an idyllic fictional character that bears little to no resemblance to their true self.

And these are the “leaders.”

I believe you lead by example—bottom line.

Being a leader should come with great responsibility and scrutiny. Challenge the leaders to not only talk a good game, but to walk it.

Being a leader is a privilege gained through effort, ability, and ambition.

When I look to someone for advice, I look for someone who not only has the quality that I’m looking for specifically (strength, flexibility, etc), but also has all of the desirable qualities that I’m looking for. Why would I take training advice from someone who is an alcoholic chain smoker? Steroid user? Weak? Fat? I don’t care how good their article on “10 minutes to your beach body” was. They are not fit to lead.

If you want to be strong and healthy; look for those who are both. Look for the leaders who lead by example.

I have chosen to lead. Not with flowery words or hyperbole.

I lead by example.

With you, In Strength and Health,

-Max

Max Shank, Master RKC

Max Shank is not only an extremely gifted teacher, but one of the most well-rounded and capable athletes in the world. From excelling in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu to performing impressive feats of strength in weightlifting and gymnastics, Max has the ability to do it all–and do it well. Choosing to lead from the front by his own example, he has dedicated his life to Strength and Health.

http://ambitionathletics.com

Happy Holidays From Dragon Door!

December 24, 2012 By Dragon Door Leave a Comment

May your holiday stockings be heavy, and your blessings be plentiful.

Happy Holidays, from all of us at Dragon Door!

Can I Gain Size with Bodyweight Training?

December 10, 2012 By Phil Ross Leave a Comment

I’ve been asked “Is it possible to gain size with Bodyweight only exercise?” The short answer is “Yes”. It’s easier to accomplish upper body size gains with bodyweight training than with lower. Without meeting you personally or at least getting to know you better, it would be impossible to adequately provide you direct program recommendations. However, I will provide some guidelines and concepts.

First, a few “Don’ts”. Do not treat your calisthenics as a quasi-aerobic or simple warm up. Find challenging movements and utilize progressions, as employed in Coach Paul Wade’s book Convict Conditioning. Or view the video version with Max Shank.

Let’s address push-up, for example. I chose those to address, because you can do push-ups, even at the most difficult levels, anywhere and with no equipment. Remember to use progressions and be certain not to skip any levels in your progression. You may form “holes” on your training and hinder your ability to achieve your highest levels. Here are a couple of YouTube clips of me performing push-up variations.

Please make certain that you employ strict technique and do not rush through the movements. The combination of 10 second push-ups and spiderman push-ups have yielded some particularly favorable results.

As far as your legs and lower body are concerned. It is difficult reaching great size with simple bodyweight exercises. Squats and Pistol Squats (Single Leg) movements with result in a great deal of strength, but not a supper amount of size. Why is this so? You are on your legs all of the time and you need to substantially increase the resistive load to stimulate muscle hypertrophy. It’s most easily accomplished with adding weight to your exercises. I prefer kettlebells, because you can use much less weight for attain results than you would have to with barbells or machines. If you don’t have access to kettlebells or if you are adverse to using weights, employ a regiment of plyometric exercise. There is a great deal of plyometric literature and exercise programs available.

Good Luck!

Coach Phil Ross

Master RKC