The 3 Hour Kettlebell Body

Simple yes, but the kettlebell has an anatomy and you should know it.

In your workouts I will refer to the kettlebells anatomy and holding positions. 

To get to know them better, take a look at the attached article. 

Kettlebell grips are essential to your kettlebell development and understanding.

You can change around the muscle activation and the metabolic response just by changing the grip of your kettbelell.

There are many ways to make the same overhead press, lunge and squat far more challenging, by simply sweating your grips. 

The Kettlebell Swing?

THE SWING

No pressure but the swing, specifically the double-handed swing, is a rite of passage in the kettlebell world. To fully understand kettlebells and get all of their unique biomechanical benefits this basic motion must be executed correctly. It is the foundation exercise and the basis for all the ballistics motions performed with a kettlebell. 

As mentioned, the swing is the basis of all kettlebell ballistic movements. It starts with a hinge
not a squat, which is a very important difference. In a hinge you bend at the hips first and then
the knees, and your hips will always go back more than your knees. Do not squat! You should
be swinging the kettlebell behind and above your knees, bending more at the hips with a slight
bend at the knees and a strong, straight back. You will be incorporating your posterior chain
and momentum to generate the power of the movement. As a result, the kettlebell should be
weightless when it comes up to shoulder height. Squeezing your glutes at the top of the motion
you should be standing straight and upright with hips forward and knees straight—NO arching
or overarching of the back—at the end of the motion. The kettlebell should swing between and
behind your legs and up to shoulder height in a non-stop, repetitive motion. 

Watch the video, and download the KB book, which will also breakdown the tradition swing for you!

Make sure you have this portion mastered before moving forward and onto the workouts. 

Second to the kettlebell swing, the Turkish Get Up is perhaps the second most synonymous motion to kettlebells. Whats more is that it's an incredible total body exercise that can be incorporated to build strength, mobility and burn tons of calories (and fat) into any workout.

That is the reason the your TGU workout has such an emphasis on this motion. So, in order to get the most out of workout three you need to learn the correct form and progression of the TGU.

Watch the step-by-step video and follow along with the TGU motion.

Then, take a look at the attached book, which has three options for this move: regular, modified and advanced. 

Then, when you feel comfortable progress onto the workouts below!

The kettlebell Squat Swing is another 'extension' of the traditional swing, but as always with a very progressive twist.

The most difficult part of this movement is the transition from the swing (hinge) to the squat (knee bending).

be very patient with this move, and practice it with a lighter kettlebell or no weight at all, just bring your hands together and pretend that you are holding a kettlebell in your hands. 

Kettlebell Squat Swing Step-by-Step

1. With both hands, pick up the kettlebell by the handle and sit back in a hinge, bending first and more deeply at the hips, then at the knees.
2. From the hinged position, swing the kettlebell back and behind your knees.
3. Swing the kettlebell back but as you begin to come up with the bell, do not straighten the legs, instead bend them right into a squat.
4. There must be a very smooth transition between the hinge and the squat.
5. Do not raise the kettlebell with your arms. Your arms and the kettlebell should feel weightless through the entire motion.
6. Make sure your butt muscles are engaged by squeezing your glutes together tightly.
7. Keep your heels on the ground.
8.  At the top of the swing, remember to keep your arms straight, do not lift the kettlebell up with your arms.
9. Continue without stopping back down into your hinge and repeat steps 1–4. Create a nonstop fluid motion of the swing, with the kettlebell going behind the knees and up to the knee bending squat and back. 

The kettlebell Overhead Swing is actually just an extended swing. But, by extending the swing you can engage even more muscles, and get a new response from the body. However this swing is a challenge because, as you can see in our video lesson, you have a greater potential to 'mess' up the movement.

The key points here are to keep the gluten engaged at all times, and not to let yourself backward bend in any way. On the way down, do not let the kettlebell control you - you should be controlling the kettlebell the entire time - but never just lifting it with the arms. 

Kettlebell Overhead Swing Step-by-Step:

1. With both hands, pick up the kettlebell by the handle and sit back in a hinge, bending first and more deeply at the hips, then at the knees.
2. From the hinged position, swing the kettlebell back and behind your knees.
3. Swing the kettlebell up to shoulder level with your arms straight as you thrust your hips forward and raise your torso back into the standing position.
4. Do not raise the kettlebell with your arms. Your arms and the kettlebell should feel weightless through the entire motion.
5. Make sure your butt muscles are engaged by squeezing your glutes together tightly.
6.  At the top of the first part of the swing (the moment the kettlebell reaches shoulder level), remember to keep your arms straight, thrust your hips forward, straighten your knees, and then unlike in the traditional swing where you stop at the shoulder, continue to swing the kettlebell overhead, lining up the arms with the ears (and no further) as you rise to a standing position with the kettlebell overhead, keep your abs strong and your gluten engaged.
7.  Do not bend back at the top of the motion. 
8. Continue without stopping back down into your hinge and repeat steps 1–4. Create a nonstop fluid motion of the swing, with the kettlebell going behind the knees and back up to shoulder level and centered overhead. 

The kettlebell clean is a fundamental kettlebell motion that often serves as a transition to other motions. When you clean the kettlebell, you are swinging the kettlebell back using the form of a kettlebell swing, but you will be breaking the motion the moment the kettlebell begins to come up from behind the legs. As the motion “breaks,” you are going to corkscrew or rotate the kettlebell up to a racked position at your chest.

Kettlebell Clean Step-by-Step

1. Hold the kettlebell in a single-arm swing position. The thumb should be facing the body (facing down/back, not facing up).
2. You will use a mini swing (the traditional swing form applies—remember to hinge!).
3. Start the mini swing, but break the motion of the full swing and rotate the kettlebell around the forearm as you bring it up to racked position at your chest.
4. At the top, the upper arm should be tight to the rib cage.
5. The kettlebell should be resting firmly and easily between the upper arm, forearm, and shoulder against the body (not out in any way).
6. The racked position of the bell should feel comfortable and natural; you should not be straining wrists or elbows, and the kettlebell should feel like it is resting on your forearm.
7. With a slight lift at the elbow, the kettlebell will drop between the legs as the hips move back in a hinge and you continue to the next rep of your clean.
8. Make sure to squeeze your glutes at the top of the clean, just like you would in your kettlebell swing. 

HIIT FLOW 1 - BURN

Burn 300 to 500 calories in 20 minutes. Build strength, mobility and lose weight.

This KB HIIT (High Intensity Interval) flow is a total body strength and sweat session. Complete with a unique KB progression of high-pull and swing variations, along side martial arts inspired cardio respiratory phases.
Enhance coordination, balance, core, upper and lower body strength, muscle endurance and cardio respiratory.

Build muscle and burn fat.

HIIT FLOW 2 - SHRED

Burn 300 to 500 calories in 20 minutes.

This KB HIIT (High Intensity Interval) flow is a total body power and shred session. Complete with a unique single and double kettlebell progressions of overhead, circular, single and double swing variations working in and out with martial arts inspired cardio respiratory phases.
Enhance coordination, balance, core, upper and lower body strength, muscle endurance and cardio respiratory. 

Build muscle and burn fat.

Abs & Core - RIPPED

An amazing 18 minute ab & core workout. 

Putting everything together including that Turkish Get Up Core Strength that we have been working on in Lecture 8 and throughout Lecture 12 & 13. 

75 percent martial arts motion and 25 percent kettlebells, this is a unique and highly effective ab defining, core building workout.

Your abs are going the LOVE this one!

Much of the training population is imbalanced. Not only do people neglect quality rest, but they don't understand the idea of active-rests and recovery. They persist in either strength training or cardio-endurance training to an over-kill state, only to take their rest days and sit in front out the coach and watch TV, sedentary and not mobile. Virtually everyone neglects mobility practices or specific joint-health exercises.

Many people train solely for the look.  While it's correct to aspire to look and feel your best, training primarily for weight-loss, and defined abs isn't the way to true longevity and health. 

Why you should incorporate this recovery routine into your training?  Too many are forced to quit training from chronic injuries and degraded health - by following a healthy strength and conditioning routine, and a joint mobility program you will create longevity along side your physical and esthetic goals.

If you feel like you want to do this program more then once a week - Go For It! Do this one as much as you'd like. But ideally, and especially for the first two months, please do this program at least once a week. 

What is Mobility and why is it important?

I'm sorry, did we say important? I meant to say essential! Mobility is crucial to longevity in any sport you do, any art, anything and everything. It is the quality with which you move in your day to day life. Feel locked up? That is a lack of mobility.

So, what is it?

Mobility = Strength + Flexibility

Simple right?

The key to these drills in our mobility session:

Don't over strain yourself, and go slow. Do not over arch the neck or over shrug the shoulders. BREATHE. 

Over time your neck, shoulders and hips should be opening up and moving with strength and ease. A new level of mobility. Unlocking the tight areas and slowly connecting the upper and lower areas of the body in one smooth kinetic chain. 

keep a mental note on areas and moves were you feel most restricted and locked up. Pay attention to the areas where you're tight, and slowly over time work through them.

You can do this 1x a week, or you can even break up the movements and take a few you love and do them in between your work day, just getting up from the chair and simply doing one or two motions from our Mobility workout above. 

Listen to your body, not your mind. Your mind is smart, and it will play tricks on you. Often your body can keep going and your mind says, “This is tough, this is hard . . . I want to stop.” or, "You're not working out enough, who cares if this program says 4x a week, you need more!"  

We all know these voices, we are all highly familiar with them. 

The moment you move past that thought and connect the mind and body together is the moment that you will master yourself. Your mind might say, “I am tired; I don’t want to work out right now; this couch feels sooooo good!”  or "You need to go back in and spend another hour aimlessly walking on a treadmill, who cares if your knees hurt and you've already been here for two hours."

Once you learn to cast those thoughts aside, you will stop having them. Instead of your mind speaking just for its instant gratification, it will begin to consult your body, and the two together will actually trigger a response that will have you counting down the hours between you and your next workout! 

During your workouts, you will learn to push forward instead of giving in and giving up— and to train with enough quality and form altho the body will get all it needs, never aimlessly just asking for more." his type of mental and physical fortitude will translate into every single corner of your life. Soon you will see yourself as “that person,” that girl who never gives up and never gives in and instead achieves. 

Overtraining just as not training at all is an epidemic - and you might fight it. The best way to do that is to follow a program and trust it, and your self. 

Most people don’t associate resting with muscle growth and definition. After all, you only grow muscle and burn fat when you are working out, right? Wrong!

The truth is your body doesn’t assimilate new muscle while you are working out. It’s actually the exact opposite. It breaks down muscle tissue, then when you rest and refuel properly, your body will build new tissue in its place.

GENERAL REST:

One to two full rest days are great, and they can be back-to-back or spaced out through the week. Due to the nature of these workouts, and their overall length, it's okay to do them back to back or simply place your rest days into your personal schedule. There is a Program Design section below, and you will find the variation of workout-recovery-full rest days that work best for you.

IF YOU FEEL OVER TRAINED:

Take a week off if you train every single day, feel exhausted, and are not sleeping well. After a week off, go back to your workout calendar (the program e have for you below), but do so with care. Don't rush, don't under eat or eat poor quality food, get good sleep and maintain form above everything else.

Symptoms of Overtraining (it is safe to say that if you have 3-4 of these you should take a week off)

The following factors can be signs of overtraining:

• Lack of sleep
• Excessive hunger
• Lack of appetite 
• Mood swings and irritability
• Daily exhaustion
• Overuse injuries
• Structural acute injuries
• Low of sex drive
• Elevated RHR (Resting Heart Rate)
• Constant colds and sickness (weak immune system)

Read the article attached to understand how to have a good 'rest day'.

Clean eating is simple. And what's more is that everyone has their own way of doing it - meaning the same program can vary for different people; their likes, dislikes and habits. This module helps you establish your nutritional habits without restrictive diets, starvation or deprivation.

The nutrition explained here works together with the workouts you will follow above. 

NEVER PLATEAU

Maintenance is simple.

Yes! It's simple. You see by this point in your program you will have already developed a habit. How do I know? Well, studies consistently show that it only takes 25 days to develop a habit. And, that, once that habit is set, it is no longer a hassle to workout, eat clean, or do anything else that you've set a course on doing for the last twenty-five days.

The program itself is simple as well, no single workout is over thirty-five minutes, and while your recovery program is a bit longer after the initial thirty days you won't need to do it more then two times a week. 
So, open up the article and check out the maintenance program, follow along and ENJOY how simple it is to maintain your new, strong and healthy body.