workout

The Sweaty Beast Workout

May 13, 2015 By Beth Andrews 4 Comments

Beth Andrews Senior RKC

I live for a great workout. Do you? This is one of my favorite workouts and it’s a hit with my students as well. I thought I would share some of the kettlebell love and sweat with you. This workout is challenging, fun, will leave you in a pool of sweat and feeling like a beast when you’re done.

You can take this workout and grow with it by challenging yourself with heavier weight. I would first suggest you complete it with a kettlebell that’s your snatch test weight. When you can successfully do that, you can advance to the next size kettlebell. 🙂

Most people are familiar with the snatch and goblet squat, but are unfamiliar with the one arm chest press. Here are a few things to remember when performing the one arm chest press, a few options for the workout, a quick video tutorial and a demo sample of the workout.

1.There are many different ways to do the one arm chest press. My preference is to perform it with both legs down and both arms off of the floor, in the video below. This variation requires more body control/core stability. If you can’t keep your low back flat and your bum tight, bring one or both knees up. I prefer both knees up or both down. Please option it out if needed. See pictures below.

Beth Andrews Chest Press Legs Up option — Yes! Legs up, bum tight, low back on floor.

BethAndrews Chest Press Legs Down Option — YES! Legs down, bum tight, low back on floor.

No! We want to prevent arching the low back.
Focusing on squeezing the glutes and pulling
belly button up to chin. This will help bring low back to the floor.

2. It can be challenging to chest press with your snatch test weight. No worries, just drop down to a lighter weight for that exercise.

3. You have 25 min to complete the workout. This workout is not about beating the clock, the timing is to keep you focused. It is all about good form, you gain nothing by racing through and taking shortcuts with form. Finish strong, my friends!

4. There are two ways I like to mix up the reps: a 10-1 countdown on all exercises, in a circuit fashion, or stay with 5 sets of 10 reps on everything for a beastlier challenge.

Check out the One-Arm Chest Press video tutorial:
(All kettlebells in the videos below are official Dragon Door kettlebells that have been painted)

Now you’re ready to give the The Sweaty Beast Workout a try! 🙂

***

Beth Andrews is a Senior RKC, PCC Team Leader, and CK-FMS. She leads HKC and RKC certifications, and assists at the PCC. She became the 5th Iron Maiden in 2013. Beth owns Maximum Body Training and a successful online training business. She has over 25 years of training experience. For online training or to host a certification, email Beth at: bethandrewsrkc@gmail.com. For more training tips and workouts subscribe to her YouTube channel, Beth Andrews RKC or visit her website at maximumbodytraining.com

The 3-6-9-12 Program

October 29, 2014 By Josh Henkin 1 Comment

3-6-9-12 for Athletic Training

It is when you feel like you can break.

You have put everything on the line.

Heroes have been made, dreams have been dashed.

It is the fourth quarter. I remember playing basketball that time, the time when everything came down to how you prepared. How well could you execute even though you were shaky, exhausted, and had been competing your hardest for three previous quarters.

The fourth quarter is when you knew if you were really ready. All the theories get tested, only results win! You had to be strong, you had to be fit, you had to be mentally tough.

The idea of the fourth quarter helps remind me what our training should really be teaching us. Being able to hit a PR is awesome, lifting big weights, terrific, but if they can’t be used when we need them the most what is the point?

Sports aren’t the only places where we see the fourth quarter mentality. Overworked parents, stressed out jobs, they all challenge us to find inner and outer strength to perform. Can we do it though? Is it possible to have great fitness and strength?

Can We Have It All?

Having extremely high levels of strength or endurance takes some very specific training. The truth is that most of us are looking for really good levels in both. The reality is we can have it all with smarter programs.

Lifting maximal weights is awesome, but life and sport rarely happens on a platform. The truth is, most activities look at how you can repeat high levels of strength and power. In fact, renowned strength coach, Robert Dos Remedios, considers power endurance and work capacity the KEYS to athletic success:

“I’m often asked about my goals in my conditioning programming and my answer always seems to come back to one thing, WORK CAPACITY. If we can continue to turn the knob up and get more and more out of our athletes we will build their ability to keep pushing, to improve their all-important strength and power endurance. In essence we are assuring that over time, we will also be able to train harder and harder for longer periods of time with greater intensity. Perhaps most importantly, work capacity building sessions helps to forge amazing confidence…this is often the psychological variable that can be the difference between victory and defeat.”

Don’t misunderstand Coach Dos, they lift hard, they lift heavy, but they understand how to combine all the elements to being successful beyond the weight room! Can you do it over and over again? Do you have that fourth quarter strength or do you fall apart? Sorry, a few sled runs and pushes don’t do it either.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting the strength endurance crowd has it all right either. Many people think that to develop strength endurance that you simply have to perform outrageous repetitions or destructive workouts. Unfortunately, so many of these people fall prey to really low levels of strength and the engine to their endurance ends up being quite low. Not to mention the amount of overuse injuries they often incur!

The Smarter Fitness Program

When DVRT Master and RKC, Troy Anderson, shared with a much better way of training I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it myself! Troy is no novice to tough training, having played football, served in the military, competed in strongman, and growing up on a farm in Wyoming, Troy knows fourth quarter strength all too well.

The concept is relatively simple. Four sets, increasing repetitions, minimal rest. Well, that’s nothing new right? The structure of this program has important principles that need to be adhered to in order to succeed.

Each series has four intermittent sets of 3, 6, 9, and 12 repetitions. The lower repetitions are designated for heavier or more complex movements, where nine and twelve allow us to work on other fitness qualities. The key is to only give yourself no more than about 20 seconds from one series to the next. Let me give you a few examples using hardstyle and Ultimate Sandbag movements.

Workout 1:

Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlift x 3, rest 20 seconds
Ultimate Sandbag Clean and Press x 6, rest 20 seconds
Goblet Squats x 9, rest 20 seconds
Body Rows x 12, rest 1-2 minutes

The above workout showed how we got to load a specific movement pattern (the hip hinge) with heavier loads and as we went through the series went to less complex exercises involving other movement patterns. We began with the hip hinge, moved to an vertical press, then squatting pattern, finally a horizontal pull.

The series began with the drill with the most stability when the body was freshest. That means we are still getting elements of maximal strength and not neglecting strength endurance. After the cycle rest 1-2 minutes and then try to repeat. The goal is to hit 3-4 total rounds.

How would other workouts look? Here are few examples….

Workout 2:

Pull-ups x 3, rest 20 seconds
Ultimate Sandbag Rotational Lunges x 6 per side, rest 20 seconds
Spider man Push-ups x 9, rest 20 seconds
Kettlebell Swings x 12, rest 1-2 minutes

Workout 3:

Get-ups x 3, rest 20 seconds
Ultimate Sandbag Lateral Step Cleans x 6, rest 20 seconds
Renegade Rows x 9 per side, rest 20 seconds
Bear Hug Paused Squats x 12, rest 1-2 minutes

During these workouts you should definitely try to use a challenging load. However, you are going to need to make sure you can repeat your efforts and not have too much of a drop off. For example, if you see more than a 20% drop off in weight you can use, the weight was probably too much. The same can be said if you see a 20% drop off in reps you can complete.

Can You Modify 3-6-9-12?

Of course! You can make it more specific to a training goal. For example, if you really wanted more of an emphasis of strength or power, you could make it 1-3-5-7.

Want to build that type of work capacity and power endurance that leads to championships? Take this challenge from Coach Anderson. Take your 3-6-9-12 plan and after each round (completing the entire 3-6-9-12 series) add a repetition to the next.

Example:
Round 1: 3-6-9-12
Round 2: 4-7-10-13
Round 3: 5-8-11-14

You would still take the rest after each series, but you may have to drop a bit of weight.

Will it be a challenge? Absolutely! Is it designed to destroy you? Not really. If you find it incredibly difficult you might find you had been neglecting the fitness qualities that can really help you make that next jump in your fitness.

Fatigue has been shown to be somewhat movement and muscle group specific. By changing the movement pattern we are taking some stress off the system and muscles. In other words, you should be able to continue high levels of work even in spite of some accumulating fatigue.

I know there will be some that argue that strength should be done without any fatigue, to them I say that isn’t the real world. If functional training is meant to prepare us for the sport and every day life then neither is perfect or ideal. You don’t have to sacrifice great training to grow, rather evolve the way you see fitness!

***

Josh Henkin, Master RKC, CSCS has been a RKC instructor since 2003 and has implemented kettlebell programs for major Division I programs, SWAT teams, and many different general fitness programs. Josh is also the creator of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system where he is a highly sought after presenter worldwide. He can be reached at info@ultimatesandbagtraining.com or http://DVRTFitness.com. Josh Henkin is also the author of DVRT, The Ultimate Sandbag Training System now available in paperback and ebook format.

Take Those Kettlebells Outside

May 14, 2014 By Laurel Blackburn Leave a Comment

It’s spring, the weather is warming up, the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining.

If you’ve been hibernating all winter and your workouts have gotten dull, now is the time to breathe new life into those workouts by taking your Kettlebells outside for some fun in the sun.

The possibilities for outdoor workouts are endless. I’ve been outside with my clients for several weeks working on some fun variations for outdoor workouts. Obviously, you need to be in a large grassy area or you could be liable for destroying property and we certainly don’t want that.

The workouts I’ve included are just a few of the fun variations that you can use. Get creative!

To get a full body workout, I start with bent over rows and push-ups. You can either do them once at the start of the workout or you can have them do the rows and push ups each time they pick up the bell.

Depending on how far you want to go down the field, you can vary the reps. If I plan to go far, then I will do 1 rep of each, swing, squat, curl and press before I throw the bell. If you want you can have your clients do several reps of swings, squats, curls and presses before they throw the bell.

Another option is to add a rep of each for every time they pick up their bell.

This can also be a time to work on form. At the end of the video, I included a “stop and throw” swing. This requires a very powerful hip snap in order to heave the bell as far as you can.

Hopefully this will give you some fun ideas and motivation to get you outside and enjoy the spring time.

***

Laurel Blackburn is an RKC Team Leader and owner of Boot Camp Fitness and Training and Tallahassee Kettlebells. Look for Laurel at www.bootcampstogo.com or www.tallahasseekettlebells.com.

In her early fifties, she is out to prove that age is just a number. Her goal is to motivate and inspire people everywhere, both young and old that strength, flexibility and mobility can get better with age. Follow her adventures on her blog: www.SuperStrongNana.com.

Instant Gratification – A Charm Hard to Resist

May 7, 2014 By Robert Rimoczi Leave a Comment

(Translated from German. Prefer to read the original? Click here.)

**Robert Rimoczi teaching at Kraba Gym in Germany**

Have you noticed that what we want, and what we need is often light years apart? Especially in the case with training and nutrition, where long-term goals and short-term gratification do not match.

If I want to eat an ice cream in the short term , but long term I want to have a washboard stomach, then I know that eating ice cream is not a step in the right direction, even though it feels good. Ice cream is delicious, but makes you fat!

Unfortunately, this law is much less obvious when training. What does an “eating ice cream” type of satisfaction look like in training?

Sweating, gasping for air , with burning muscles after a workout is a wonderful endorphin rush! Even if you have to convince your body to somehow crawl to the locker room, it’s still a great feeling, right? I love it! I would not trade it for any amount of ice cream!

But … Are you sure that your training has brought you closer to your goal? Could it be that the good feeling is just as deceptive as the delicious taste of the ice cream? When the high from the ice cream ends, I become tired. It takes some basic knowledge about nutrition to know that it feels good to eat sugar, but it does so much bad in the body. Just like when training.

“Come on! ” You might say. “The harder I work, the fitter I get!”

Are you sure? I know many who work hard on a regular basis for years, but very few who have come from A to B and achieved their goals. So many people also do not measure their progress. If one disregards the weight gain, only the good feeling stays when the ice cream has left.

“But I can feel that my training is good for me,” you say.

Bad food feels good . Poor training also . Do you know why? Because that instant gratification is lying to you.

Wait! Do you know the guy with the huge chest from the gym? ( Yes – yes, certainly you know him ! ) He has huge pectoral muscles , wow, he can do neat stuff, and he presses and screams until all can see how strong he is. Unfortunately, he’s only good at the bench press. For a proper squat with his chicken legs—he does not dare. Don’t you think he enjoys his training ? He does – but he probably enjoys it because he has many experiences of success and that good feeling you get when you do exactly what you’re good at.

If you want to progress with your own general fitness, you should work on your weaknesses instead–but do not stop doing the skills you’re best at. The poor guy with the huge chest feels like an idiot when he does squats, so he does not make them better. Would it help him to continue to do the squat bench press? In the long term, yes. They would surely help him to be more proportional.

A well established program with squats would even improve his performance at the bench press. A balanced set of skills to have is certainly a better basis for the development of one-dimensional training. It is healthier and you’ll have more fun doing it. To specialize in just one thing has many serious weaknesses and is only a short-term pleasure. See professional sports!

It does not matter what your weak point is. It is an underdeveloped part of the body , or a fundamental movement pattern, like mobility, stability, or coordination …

To summarize:

You have vulnerabilities
Working on these weaknesses has the best cost- benefit ratio
But to work on your weak points does not feel so great, because you ‘re doing exactly what you can not do well

Do you see ? It feels bad, and it brings you further, or it feels good, and you are racing against the wall. Instant gratification is often a bad adviser.

Don’t let your feelings lead your workouts. Be objective and work towards your goals instead. Then you will find success!

***

Robert Rimoczi, Senior RKC, Munich, Germany has opened a new gym. You can view his new site at: http://kraba.de/, email him here, or call the center at
0180 – 5 999 432.

My Journey to the 1 Arm, 1 Leg Push Up

April 17, 2013 By Beth Andrews 3 Comments

I’ve always been interested in mastering body weight exercises. There is a fascination with athletes that are able to push and pull their body around with total body strength as opposed to those that can only lift a heavy object. When I began kettlebell training, and more specifically, when I got certified in RKC, I began drifting towards the body weight challenges.

At my RKC2 in April 2012, I bought the Convict Conditioning book and signed up for the Naked Warrior cert held in October. Females were required to do a 1 arm push up to pass. I didn’t know much about the technique of the 1 arm push up and with only a few months to prepare, I dug into the CC book for guidance. My program design was centered on training Pull ups, HLR, OAPU, Pistols, Handstands, and Bridge work.

Just prior to the cert, the results were: HLR- 2 sets 27reps, Pistols- 37right/37left, Uneven Pull Ups- 5sets 5reps, Bridges improved, and even though I was hesitant in kicking up a Handstand, I had help getting up and then would hold the position. And of course, sets of 1 arm assisted push-ups. I had actually gotten an ugly 1APU . The strength was there but the mechanics of tension, engaging hollow, breathing, etc., was missing.

The Naked Warrior cert went into details with creating tension, engaging hollow, breathing, shoulder positioning, etc. and it all came together for me. I was able to achieve the 1 arm push up.

Here’s a demonstration video, followed by some cues:

Cues to Use: Root hand in floor. Pack the shoulder. Wrap arm around low back and squeeze fist creating tension. Engage the hollow position. Quick breath in and hold. Chest to floor. Let just enough air out to push up.

The following week, I designed a thirty day program for the 1 Arm 1 Leg Push Up using ladders. I paired variations of pull-ups with OAOLPU assisted ladders. I only laddered up to three on each side but varied the rounds each day I trained. I also varied the intensity by using a basket ball on easier days and using a towel/Frisbee as a harder variation. I didn’t over complicate things with different variations I picked 2 and stuck with it.

MONDAY- 3 rounds

BW pull ups- 10

OAOLPU ladders- 1-1,2-2,3-3 (towel assisted)

WEDNESDAY- 4 rounds

L-sit Baseball grip pull ups- 8

OAOLPU ladders- 1-1,2-2,3-3

FRIDAY/SATURDAY- 3 rounds

Weighted pull ups- 5

OAOLPU ladders- 1-1,2-2,3-3 (Towel assisted)

I kept it simple. I never went to failure. I always could have done a few more reps. I never forced reps. If I needed a day of rest I took it. I waited thirty days before testing to see the progress.

On Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, the workout consisted of bridges, handstands, hollow drills, pistols, cossack pistols, weighted push ups, HLR, and OAOL plank holds. I also snatched twice a week.

After 30 days, I achieved the OAOLPU.

Here’s a video and cues:

Cues to Use: Root hand in floor. Pack the shoulder. Lift opposite leg and push contact foot into floor. Wrap arm around low back and squeeze fist creating tension. Engage the hollow position. Quick breath in and hold. Chest to floor. Let just enough air out to push up.

Next up is the PCC, as Al Kavadlo says on the Progressive Calisthenics blog… ”We’re Working Out.”

***

More about Beth Andrews: Beth Andrews, Senior RKC, is a gym owner and instructor at Maximum Body Training in Cartersville, Georgia. She can also be reached through her website: http://www.wix.com/drruss21/mbt.

Smart Fat Loss Circuits

April 3, 2013 By Josh Hillis 7 Comments

Well known and long standing adages like “leave a couple reps in the bank” and “safety is part of performance” often, sadly, are put aside for fat loss circuits.

In this world of CrossFit, P90X, and super ultra-hardcore-bootcamps everywhere, it’s hard not to fall into the “more is better” trap that everyone is constantly pushing. As RKC’s we should be well aware that more isn’t better. It’s just more.

Fat loss clients come in with that perspective, and it’s our job to educate them. Often we’ll get a new client who will literally tell us “I want to sweat and puke and be sore.” Regardless of how stupid a goal this might sound to us, we’re best off giving them some of that, in the smartest way possible. We usually can give ’em what they think they want up front, then educate them over time.

In this article, we’re going to talk about what smart, RKC-style fat loss circuits could look like.

A Smarter AMRAP

CrossFit popularized the term AMRAP for “as many rounds as possible”, and I thank them for that.

Unfortunately, the concept of doing an AMRAP workout at 100% effort is a recipe for disaster. You can only push oxygen debt and muscle exhaustion for so long before exercise form goes out the window. So don’t do that.

Or as Yoda so famously said: “Stupidity leads to bad form. Bad form leads injury. And injury leads to the orthopedic surgeon.”

We’re going to slow our AMRAPs down – somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90%, and err on the side of too little vs. too much.

We’ve all been fed a myth about intensity. And it feeds that thing inside us that always tells us we should be doing more. But it’s false. I experimented with my clients for two years during the writing of my first book, and found no difference in results between running clients at 80-90% intensity in workouts and running them at close to 100%.

So… 80-90% intensity… all of the benefits… none of the injuries… shouldn’t that be like, totally obvious, right?

The Josh Hills Fat Loss Circuit Progression: Not Just More Rounds

More rounds is also another stupid thing that most circuit based workouts do. Just more. More, more, more. More isn’t better. So very un-RKC.

I consider 5 rounds the magic number for any of these workouts. They may have to work up to being able to complete five rounds. That’s fine. But when they are getting up over 7 rounds, bump ’em up a level. That could be a harder bodyweight progression, a lower bench for pistols, a lighter band for pull-ups, or a heavier kettlebell.

But lets not turn this into a Group X class. Lets up the weight on our circuits instead of just cranking out a zillion rounds.

This is a super important point, and I’ve never seen anyone else in the entire fitness industry bring it up. There is a right amount of work to get done in a circuit, and you can have it happen like clockwork every single time. It’s right about 5 rounds. It’s heavy enough that they *have to* rest during the 20 minutes, but no so heavy that it looses it’s circuit-ness.

It also lets clients know that it’s *ok* to rest. Obviously if they could crank through the 20 minutes without any rest, they’d be doing 10+ rounds or so. It gives them a target, it lets them know how they are doing, and it lets them know when they can progress. These are all major points for having clients understand and be engaged in the workout program.

20 Minutes of Circuits, Then Do Strength

A 20 minute bout of circuits, at 80-90% intensity, should be enough high intensity stimulus for all of the fat loss results we want. And it should be enough to satisfy the clients who want to feel like they are getting throttled.

After that, we can move on to very well rested strength work. We put the circuits at the beginning (after a joint mobility warm up), because it’s hard enough to keep everything tight in a circuit anyway – we want them as fresh mentally and physically as possible, to do the circuit with the heaviest weights possible and the most perfect form.

We’ll put three movements in the circuit, and then we’ll do the fourth movement in the strength portion. For example, if we have a push, a pull, and a squat in the circuit, we’ll do a hip hinge in the strength part. If we have a push, a squat and a hip hinge in the circuit, we’ll do a pull for the strength part. That way, we’re always hitting all four basic movements, but we’re rotating through which ones we do in the circuit and which ones we do for strength.

If the client also needs FMS or any other corrective exercises, you can super-set the correctives with the strength work.

Workout A:

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Assisted Pullups x 3
Kettlebell Push Presses x 10L+10R
Kettlebell Goblet Squats x 10
3 minutes rest, then
Single Leg Deadlifts 3 x 5L+5R
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Workout B

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Bear Crawl x 50 ft
Walking Lunges x 100 ft
Kettlebell Swings x 25
3 minutes rest, then
Assisted Pullups 3 x 5
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Workout C

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Convict Conditioning Style Pushup Progression x 10
Kettlebell Bent Over Rows x 10L+10R
Kettlebell Swings x 25
3 minutes rest, then
Bench Pistols or Split Squats 3 x 5L+5R
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Food, Food, Food

Look, no fat loss article can ever be complete without mentioning that the food is going to be the number one driver of fat loss. Smart fat loss workouts complement a smart food program. That’s why it’s so totally stupid to kill people in the workouts or push the envelope to the point of injury – it just isn’t going to make a difference.

Be smart, check people’s food journals (both quality of food and quantity of food) and do intelligent circuits at 80-90% intensity, with smart progressions over time. Your clients will stay healthy, happy, and injury free, and most importantly – get all of the fat loss results that they hired you for.

***

About 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 Vital Few: Ab Exercises For a Stronger, Harder Midsection

March 1, 2013 By Pat Flynn 8 Comments

I was raised somewhat backwards and mostly stayed that way. Momma always said, “Son, you’re special.” And, really, I think she meant good by it—but whatever, there is at least one theoretical advantage to this. That is, I’ve found that the answers to life’s peskiest problems can be found, almost invariably, by moving in the opposite direction of the general pull of the masses. If they go up. Best to go down. Them right? You left. Slow. Fast.

Take for example, body fat. Leanness, which I can say I know a thing or two about, has more to do with the 23 hours of restraint outside the gym, than it does the hour of effort in it. Take for example, muscular strength, which has more to do with the tuning of the nervous system, than it does the bulking of the muscles. These are just two examples where, if we followed conventional wisdom, we would be led largely in the wrong direction to cluster with the mostly unsuccessful.

This whole fascination over the striated muscles of the abdomen is an interesting case, too. I, like most infidels, suffer from this fetish—I will not deny it, I like having flashy abs. But unlike most, I do not work my abs grounded. Rather, I’m quite fond of strengthening my midsection in suspension—hanging from a bar, a pair of rings, straps, or other such dangly devices.

Windshield Wiper

For me, these alone seem to do what the classic sit-up or crunch cannot—which is to say they add some desired thickness to the abdominal wall, creating an outright blocky and somewhat geometrical appearance—protrusions and depressions in all the right places, if you will. There are, of course, other tremendous benefits of hanging ab exercises that could be mentioned, but they are far less interesting to me, and I think if I start to talk on them I’ll get bored and so quit this piece entirely.

The hanging leg raise, the windshield wiper , and the L-Sit are three heinous exercises for hardening the midsection; one linear, one rotational, one static, all undeniably marvelous. In my own sight, they are the vital few—quote unquote, ab exercises—to replace the trivial many. This is to say that a fellow or a ma’am who can rep hanging leg raises and said variations seldom has an unimpressive midsection. Are there still gaps to be filled? Surely there are. But not too many.

L – Sit

Here I come to you with no formalized routine, or anything of the sort. I’m not all that keen on setting someone to the business of what some would call an “ab workout”. Instead, I think you should just practice these two movements very nearly daily. No set or rep scheme, really—just purposeful movement rehearsal. Strive to make the movements look almost romantic, as lovely as choreography.

Hanging Leg Raise

—

Pat Flynn, RKC: Pat Flynn is a certified Russian Kettlebell Challenge instructor, fitness philosopher, and 7^th degree blackbelt in hanging out. Pat is the founder of ChroniclesOfStrength.com where he talks mostly on how to chop fat and multiply muscle through kettlebell complex training.