By Pavel Tsatsouline, Chairman

Alexey Senart, SFG Team Leader

“Conditioning” is a very vague term—and it is for the better, given the scientists’ lack of understanding of endurance, its different facets, and the variables affecting it.

Fighters and other hard living types love killing themselves in the glycolytic pathway.  Because burn is painful and plain sucks.  But this is far from the only way to “condition”.  Enter the alactacid pathway plus aerobic recovery.  (Learn the basic science in the StrongFirst Roadwork blog.)

“Enjoy” the “strength aerobics” circuit by Alexey Senart, SFG Team Leader.  Take a kettlebell you can comfortably press ten times or so and do:

• 1 left hand clean
• 1 left hand military press
• 1 left hand front squat (change stance if needed before squatting)
• Park the bell
• Shake off the tension with “fast and loose” drills
• Repeat on the right.

Easy so far, right?

Shake off the tension with “fast and loose” drills, and keep going.  Select a pace you can sustain for a long time (a metronome might be helpful), and carry on.  For 10, 20, even 30min…

Alexey has found this to be a perfect “field” workout for those who frequently have to travel, be on military deployment or on vacation with one bell in the trunk.  You will maintain most of your strength while greatly enhancing your work capacity.  I suggest alternating the above with S&S day to day.

And if you are not traveling, have access to heavy kettlebells, and prioritize strength in your training, use the above workout as the light day for your presses and squats.

If you prefer “conditioning” with bodyweight, try the following workout Steve Maxwell and I designed for our students at a bodyweight course we were teaching almost a decade ago:

• One-arm pushup, left x 1 rep
• One-arm pushup, right x 1 rep
• Pullup with the palms facing and the fists touching each other, emphasizing the left x 1 rep
• Pullup with the palms facing and the fists touching each other, emphasizing the right x 1 rep
• Pistol, left x 1 rep
• Pistol, right x 1 rep

I go, you go—the 1:1 work rest ratio.  Shake off the tension while your training partner is working.  Ladder the works for 2 and then 3 reps—and start over.  Three rounds of (1, 2, 3) will get your attention.

We selected the strongest students in attendance—Yoana Teran (today SFG Team Leader) and Sarah Cheatham (formerly a Senior instructor in my old organization)—and put them through the paces.  Although stronger than most men and exceptionally conditioned with kettlebells, the ladies had to sweat to get through the circuit.  Even without the “burn” that traditionally accompanies “conditioning” circuits.

Android work capacity to you!

By Delaine Ross, Senior SFG

Tommy Blom, Senior SFG

Should Your Get-Ups Be Light or Heavy?

Here’s the thing.  We TEACH get-ups very light.  That’s because students are moving around for the very first time with a weight overhead.  And so of course, there is a danger of dropping a very-heavy weight onto your very-vulnerable face.  But once a student owns the movement and learns to use his body as one unit — the way it is meant to work — a much heavier bell can (and should) be used.  The get-up is not just a light warmup mobility exercise (although there are definite benefits there) — it should also be a serious strength exercise, once the student owns the movement with confidence.
 

Where Did We Get Confused?

“Naked” get-ups, shoe get-ups, very light get-ups are all great teaching tools as well as good practice and mobility work.  I think that when the awesome book and DVD set, Kalos Thenos came out people lost interest in heavy get-ups almost completely, replacing them with the light get-ups with neck/shoulder rotations and the high hip bridge — much like when people gave up heavy snatching altogether when Viking Warrior Conditioning came out.
 

I am not saying the Kalos Thenos get-up is bad — on the contrary, I think it is a great drill for both newbies and advanced lifters as well as an instructor tool to screen movement problems, asymmetries, spot tight hip flexors, and the list goes on… But when a whole type of get-up is abandoned, a crucial part of the picture is missing.
 

The Expectation

Kalos Thenos get-up yang is the heavy get-up.  StrongFirst is first and foremost a “School of Strength” and we should get moving with some heavy weights overhead.  As Master SFG Brett Jones said one weekend as we were getting ready for the Level II cert, you should have the ability to own different kinds of get-ups.  You should be able to high hip bridge AND low sweep — as well as many other kinds of get-ups.  It’s all about body control and strength.

Note on Differences

The heavy get-up will look a little different.  You will probably have to sit more into your hip to get under the weight for more leverage when coming up into the kneeling position.  Your breathing will be more of a power breathing style.  The high hip bridge is probably out of the question if you are maxing out.  A max-weight get-up looks very different from the Kalos Thenos get-up — and that’s ok…
 

Get To Heavy

So how do you work on getting up with a heavier weight?  You do some drills to make sure you know how to use your body as a single unit.

Kneeling and half-kneeling press drills take out some “cheating” and force you to lock into place.  You may feel your abs working extra hard on the opposite side (the body is set up like an “X” but that is a whole different story… let Tim Andersen tell it here.)  After you do these drills, try something heavy.  In the 4 classes I observed today at my gym, we set 11 PRs after doing various half kneeling press drills… some of those PRs were newbies (who are expected to move up relatively quickly) but some of those students had been with us for YEARS!  One student who has been coming for 3 years did her first TGU with a 16kg — and made it look easy!
 

Jeff Sokol, SFG II adds a dumbbell to his Beast for heavy get-ups

Bottom Line

The Kalos Thenos get-up is a fantastic way to perform the exercise, but it’s not the only way to train get-ups.  Just like you can use Master SFG Dan John’s Easy Strength program to pattern movements with lighter weights in order to train for a personal record, you can increase your mobility and stability with the Kalos Thenos get-up in order to get-up with some substantial weight above head, and it will help increase your other lifts as well.
 

Homework

If you are trying to press a certain weight, get-up with that weight or even one bell heavier.  Getting used to moving around with that weight overhead and using your whole body to connect to support it will get you your gains faster.

Delaine Ross got her Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC) in September 2006, where she won the form and technique challenge. Soon after, she moved back to Atlanta and opened Condition Kettlebell Gym in the Fall of 2007.

Delaine got her RKC Level 2 certification in June of 2008 and in March 2010 was promoted to RKC Team Leader by Chief Instructor Pavel Tsatsouline.  When Pavel created StrongFirst, she accepted a Senior Instructor position in the new organization.  She is excited to continue to use her experience and expertise to spread kettlebell training and its benefits teaching both newbies and instructor level courses.
 
 

By Al Ciampa, SFG

I’ve got a few articles brewing right now, but I woke up in the middle of the night with this idea burning in my brain so, I put the “pen” to it.  I wrote an article a while back discussing how Soldiers might prepare for operations in mountainous terrain. I have a follow-up article about ruckmarching that will take the reader completely through the process to include performance and fitness benefits.  I have another one in the queue discussing nutrition.  As I feel that StrongFirst is my home, I hope that they are published here; and, by linking them together, readers may watch my thoughts evolve… because once written down, the ideas become a snapshot of the author’s thoughts, frozen in time; rather than the ever-expanding, incorporating, and deliberating “consciousness” that they form.

To the topic at hand…

Yesterday, I received a link to yet another article written by a physical training “guru”, touting what training is effective, and what is not.  How do you, the reader — the consumer of fitness and performance information — evaluate the credibility of an author and his recommendations?  Without decades of personal trial and error, how do you discern the information from the misinformation?  As our organization is not one to critically deconstruct and trash-talk competing ideas and authors, this piece will remain professional and speak general in nature.  “We’re not saying that they are wrong, we’re saying that we are right.”  The truly frustrating aspect of reading articles like these is that the authors tend to use claims of a particular expertise in order to give weight and credibility to their opinions — which they try to pass off as some sort of natural law.  I humbly submit to you now, that I don’t claim “guru status”…all I truly know about physical training is that:

I “think” that I recognize those patterns that seem to work for many different people.

My frustration with expert advice began when I was sent a training manual designed to prepare a Soldier (or civilian prospective) for the U.S. Army’s Special Forces Assessment and Selection course (SFAS).  I cannot recall, but I believe that it was sent to me by a man who may not have even been selected his first time out.  This manual was written and endorsed by a top organization in the field.  The material on the pages within caused a bit of bile to reach the back of my throat.  This nonsense — truly this was nonsense — was endorsed by a top organization in the strength and conditioning (S&C) field.  Worse yet, there is literature available (for sale, of course) that was authored by individuals who have successfully navigated these training evolutions… and it is not much better.  How does this happen?  How do prominent organizations, coaches, trainers, and athletes recommend programs that would most obviously not lead to significant results?

Many authors and trainers list the evidence of their experiences training “elite Military units”, or “professional athletes”, or “top collegiate athletes”, or “Olympic athletes and hopefuls”, or “competitively-ranked fighters”, etc.  Read the many bios of coaches and trainers permeating the World-Wide-Web for an example.  Presumably, this experience is supposed to be indicative of a great knowledge that they will eagerly pass on to you, for a modest fee.  This is not to suggest that professionals should provide their services without compensation — they absolutely should be paid for what they do. But, let me give you some food for thought…

Top athletes are at the top, because they are genetically gifted, and supremely motivated.  The weed-out process in elite sport is so great that only the true cream rises to the top.  S&C coaches working with these athletes do not require any skills of a strength coach… any program will work for these individuals, and most of these individuals show up with what has worked for them in the past.  Most S&C coaches at this level are truly there to check the box… to keep the athletes safe.  Lawrence Taylor never lifted a weight.

This is not to say that there are no quality coaches in these ranks — there are for certain —it is to say that exposure to high-end competition alone does not qualify a knowledge base.  This same theme can be found across top end athletes — professional, D1 collegiate, Olympians, MMA fighters.  The competition of sport is such that only the genetically gifted — those who naturally start out at a high level of performance and can increase that performance on essentially any sound training program — are out on the track, court, or field of play.  The “knowledge” of the respective S&C coach makes little, if any, difference in that athlete.  Moreover, a program that produces results in the elite has little applicability to common folk.

Let’s return to the Military application.  Admittedly, I have a biased opinion with respect to this population due to the many years of working with and within these ranks.  If training suggestions lead to a Service-member successfully navigating a rigorous selection course, meeting fitness standards, or, to a lesser extent, being successful in combat operations, this should provide strong evidence of efficacy than those of high-level sports.  Why?  And, why the “lesser extent” clause on operational fitness?

Training suggestions that lead to success in assessment courses have more significance, especially if many individuals experience similar results.  Most assessment courses, physically, consist of an individual “competing” against a set of standards and not against others for position.  Yes, each assessment also has a teamwork aspect to them, but overall, if you’re physically prepared, you will succeed (there are the few who get “peered-out” of some assessments due to a “self-before-others” attitude).  This construct means that the cream — the genetic freaks — doesn’t necessarily rise to the top.  The difference between competing against standards, and competing against others is that less than naturally gifted individuals can “make the team”.  The standards of performance, here, are set in stone… the individual meets them, or not.  The standards of performance in competition sport are dynamic — the better the competition, the higher the standards… which make the competition even better, and so forth.

Average men can join the elite level in a Military environment.  For the average man to accomplish this, the physical training program is more than likely, an effective one.  The results of these programs, tested time and again, begin to describe a pattern.  Average men, doing the hard, but intelligent work, achieve superior results… cause >> effect?

The efficacy of a physical training program has a weaker association on the operational readiness of a group of individuals.  Dan John describes his notion of “the impact of the strength coach”…  there are just too many variables in a team-based, operational environment to say with any certainty that it is the physical training program which led to success.  To paraphrase Dan, if I can get this guy to pull 500, or snatch a 32kg for 100+ reps in 5-min, and he loses half a leg to an IED, did the training program help his team to their later successes?  Although the association between a physical training program and the outcome of combat operations is loose due to complexity, I feel that we inherently understand that physical preparation makes a significant contribution to operational success.

So, experience in Military applications might be more telling of the efficacy of an author’s, or coach’s recommendations than those in high-end sports applications.  Where else might we see this phenomenon?  What about the “regular” folk?  Those 14yo, obese, X-box babies who might like to make the JV team… those run-of-the-mill desk jockeys, whose lifestyles have left their health behind… those soccer mom’s who want to regain some of the vitality of their youth.  This application — these cases of changing the direction of the lives of regular folk — quite possibly indicates that the coach or trainer is doing something correct.  But, the fact that beginners tend to improve on any training program also makes this application suspect.

I have trained many, many, many people in the past 25 years or so, from all walks of life.  I’ve trained myself to diverse high-level achievements.  I currently work with diverse individuals, at distance and locally, both free of charge and for compensation.  My current and limited spectrum of students spans a gap from the disabled to the prospective operator.  I try to give back by contributing to this community, via forums and other personal communications.   Even with this experience, however cognizant and critical I try to remain with respect to the cause and effect of my suggestions on outcomes, I can’t say that I KNOW all that much.  I have a bio like many other instructors and coaches, describing the various communities that I have guided.  I have letters after my name.  But still, I only…

“…think that I recognize those patterns that seem to work for many different people.”

My recommendation for the reader is this: be alert for misinformation.  Getting stronger will always be an asset… but past a certain level of strength, for most general applications, there is likely minimal return for your efforts.  You need to learn for yourself what works for you by trial and error — this takes time.  You have to consider your application, your specific needs, and your specific goals.  Lots of (if not all) programs may work, at some point, for you.  Safety should be a first priority.  Realize that collective “knowledge” (as in our forum) may only be marginally better that an individual’s knowledge… agreement doesn’t make it correct.  However, the more we add to this body of ideas, and the more positive results we see, the more confident we may become in our collective suggestions.

“Yours in strength”.

Al Ciampa has been a barbell athlete for 25+ years; a former powerlifter and bench press specialist, he has a raw bench press of 605lbs in training and 585lbs in competition, at the time, setting an IPA record. He served in the US Army first as a LRS-D team member, then as director of the Army’s hand-to-hand combat program in South Korea: Modern Army Combatives Program. After his service, he co-opened and led training for a fitness and health & wellness center, specializing in strength & conditioning, and nutrition that served Military units and the local public. Feeling a want to support the Military again, he now works as an exercise physiologist and health educator for the US Air Force, specializing in rehabilitation, strength & conditioning, nutrition, and instructor development. He has a MS in sports and health science; certified SFG1, FMS, ACSM, and USAW; and has been recognized for excellence by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Chuck Hagel.

By Abby Keyes, SFG II

The Level II SFG

As expected, StrongFirst blew me away with an incredible weekend, at the Level II SFG.  We are lucky to be able to learn from the phenomenal lineup of Masters, Seniors, Team Leaders, and Assistants that StrongFirst has put together.

To pass Level II you need to re-certify in all Level I skills and also test for Level II skills.
 
 
Level I+ Skills: 

Tested with two snatch sized kettlebells: (12 kg for me)

• DBL KB Swing
• DBL KB Clean
• DBL KB Press
• DLB KB Front Squat
• DBL KB Snatch (tested with two bells one size under your snatch size)

• Getup (with a kettlebell 1/3 heavier than your snatch bell)

 
Level I+ Performance Tests:

• 5 Minute snatch test
• Pullup/Flexed arm hang

 
Level II Skills:

Tested with one snatch sized kettlebell:

• Windmill

Tested with two snatch sized kettlebells:

• DBL KB Push Press
• DBL KB Jerk

• Bent Press (This was taught but not tested.  That could change at any time so be sure to read the requirements before attending)

 
Level II Strength Test:

• One arm Clean and Military Press

This is based on your bodyweight.  My test size was 18kg.
 

What to Expect

After check in on day one, you weigh in and do your pullup/flexed arm hang test.  In the morning you will also perform the snatch test and 1/3  bodyweight (for ladies) and 1/2 bodyweight (for men) clean and military press test.  The afternoon consists of Level I skill review and practice.  The last thing we did on day one was test Level I+ skills.

The second day is devoted to Level II skills.  Just like in Level I, they break the skills apart into small elements for practice and troubleshooting before putting the entire lift together.
 

The last day was spent on more practice, fine-tuning the skills we learned the previous day, and taking the written test.  After lunch is a little more practice, then skill test time!  And of course the finale: the grad workout!

Since you have already been through SFG I, you have etched in your memory the pain and fatigue you felt from that weekend.  You remember all the swings….so many swings!  Your hamstrings hurt in a way they never had before, your hands were blistered and ripped, and you would not let anyone near you sit in flexion for fear of more swings.

While Level II is not a walk in the park, the volume of what you do is less.  Level II candidates have “earned their stripes” as they told the Level I candidates in Chicago.  You are working on more technically difficult skills this time.  I was tired and sore, but the degree was significantly less from Level I.

On Preparation

Once again, you need to do the dreaded snatch test.  Everyone has his or her own preferred method to this.  I personally like to switch hands every ten and go non-stop until I hit 100.  If you’ve done this before, you know what works for you.

I do not recommend massive numbers of snatches for preparation.  You do not want to show up with torn hands or wrecked shoulders.  I did lots of heavy 1-arm swings with some heavy 2-arm swings thrown in to build my endurance.  I practiced the 5-minute test once per month.  Be sure to check out Aleks Salkin’s awesome recent blog about making the snatch test a bit easier.

The jerk for me was…well…somewhat of a jerk.  It took quite a while for me to get the timing down.  My snatch bells are 12kg.  I am “too strong” for these bells and it actually made it more difficult because I could press them out.  I trained 14kg or 16kg for a long time to get the timing down. Then, in the last few weeks practiced again with 12kg to make sure I could do it with the light weight too.

My other issue was my instinct to start in more of a hinge pattern.  (This is what we are used to right?)  One of my teammates told me to think of the first dip more as a barbell front squat to encourage my back to stay vertical.  She also, she said to let my knees come forward a little bit.  Big difference.  I was able to keep better tension in my abs and made the entire lift more effective.  I applied same cue to the push press as well.
 

I am a big believer in being prepared so I trained for 5 months.  My plan was 4 training days per week including a Level I skill day, a Level II skill day, and 2 strength days.  There are lots of overhead lifts happening for Level 2 so I needed to be careful not to burn out my shoulders.

The skill practice days were somewhat short.  I really did consider them just practice, not a “workout”.  Each practice started with 1-3 getups after my regular warm-up/correctives.  I most often practiced my skills in ladder format or 5×5 sets.

The press can be a sticking point for many people at Level II.  I included low-volume press work in my strength days along with barbell deadlifts, back squats, and weighted pull-ups.
 

I used Eustress training (see below) for the press, deadlift and squat.  One press day was 30-50 reps, slightly lighter weight, and the other press day was 10-15 reps with a slightly heavier weight.  This helped me get well beyond strong enough for the clean and press test.

I trained my weighted pullup by following Pavel’s Fighter Pullup Program starting at the 3RM program.
 

Eustress Training

Eustress training is incredibly simple and effective.  Eustress training is done in a calm, positive state, as opposed to a distressed state like many people are used to.  You are to keep your heart rate low, breathe through your nose, and every rep should feel fast.

I did 30-50 sets of one rep each resting as necessary between each set.  Each rep should look and feel easy.  I never trained to failure.  For my press I chose a kettlebell that I could lockout easily without grinding, and my squat and deadlift weight was around 65% of my 1RM.  I steadily increased my weight always making sure I was within Eustress guidelines and not grinding the lift.

Benefits of Eustress Training:  (Quoted from Craig Weller’s article “The 50 Rep Workout:  Build Muscle with Eustress Training” on scrawnytobrawny.com)

Rapid recovery: Training in a calm, positive eustress state (as opposed to distress, like most workouts) allows quicker recovery and trains you to maintain a calm, controlled mental state while putting out a workload that would absolutely floor most people.

Hypertrophy:  High volume heavy compound lifts induce a substantial neuroendocrine response. (That means you’ll grow bigger muscles.)

Technical proficiency: Training flawless technique in the big lifts will make quality movement a habit. The better you move, the better you feel and perform.

Local muscular endurance: This type of training increases density of mitochondria (cellular powerhouses) and the oxidative capacity of fast twitch fibers. That means you’ll have more energy without needing to tap into your other energy systems.
 

My Training

Day 1:  Level 1 Skill Practice
Day 2:  Eustress Deadlift, Eustress Military Press: Light/High Rep,  Weighted Pullup Ladder
Day 3:  Level 2 Skill Practice
Day 4:  Eustress Squat, Military Press: Heavy/Low Rep, Weighted Pullup Ladder

I ended my workouts with heavy one-arm or two-arm swings.  The number of reps depended on how I was feeling.

Some days I would sub in a workout from my classes as a “variety” day just to mix it up a little.
 

Finally, find the closest SFG II in your area to help you with your skills.  If there are none, I encourage you to reach out to someone online.  Try Facebook, or the StrongFirst Discussion Forum. Many people within StrongFirst are more than willing to help you.

Good luck to you!  We are…StrongFirst!

By Pavel Tsatsouline, Chairman

The Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is a remarkable work of faith, art, and engineering. Enter it, and you experience an out-of-this-world feeling of being lifted up to heavens, floating up on a beam of light.
 

The person who initiated the building of the cathedral, Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, did not get to see it finished. The construction was completed over a century later and refinements took centuries more.
 

The story of Notre Dame de Paris was typical for the middle ages. As Durham World Heritage site put it, “[t]he building of monumental cathedrals in the middle ages was a reflection of faith and the channel for much of the creative energy of medieval European society… As cathedrals took decades, and often even centuries to complete, few people who worked on them expected to see them finished during their lifetimes.” Another magnificent Gothic cathedral, the Duomo di Milano took almost six centuries to complete! “Being involved in the construction of a cathedral, even as the building patron, required a willingness to be part of a process that was larger than oneself.”
 

The nobility of undertaking a task far bigger than one’s life with certainty of not seeing it completed is incomprehensible in the XXI century. Not only does the modern man have no attention span to plan ahead, he has no pride for what he leaves behind. Decades old houses will crumble long before those built centuries ago. Consumer goods bought today practically fall apart and one could easily imagine our society slipping into a dystopia from a sci-fi story I once read. Imagine the government mandating that clothes be made to fall apart after 24 hours, to be replaced by new ones and stimulate the economy… And drinks are forbidden to quench thirst… Does it sound like the fitness industry today?
 

At StrongFirst we refuse to chase our tails in pursuit of the next novelty, only to discard the tired yesterday’s fad. We are inspired by the ancient builders who built on a solid foundation and built to last. I envision a society of strong and proud people. Where every woman can do a pullup and every man can deadlift at least two times his bodyweight without a belt. Where strength is built not in pursuit of vanity but duty. Ancient Romans made exercise a legal requirement for all male citizens aged 17 to 60. I dream of a society where it is not a legal mandate but a moral imperative for all citizens, men and women, and way past 60. Where it is incredibly uncool to be weak.
 

I am not naïve and I realize that the odds of realizing this vision are long. In a best case scenario it would take decades. I accept that. I set the course for StrongFirst to become a cultural institution akin to Boy Scouts a hundred years from now. An institution that has put the noble value of strength on a pedestal, a pedestal on which it has stood for most of the history of mankind. This is the mandate that I gave to our new CEO Eric Frohardt. It matters little whether Eric or I live long enough to see this vision realized, as long as we get StrongFirst closer to its goal before passing on the baton.
 

This week marks two years of StrongFirst opening its doors. It is a small and meaningless number. Our organization has been around a decade and a half under a different name—and for millennia under the many names of our predecessors who valued strength, warriors and builders. And we are here to stay for centuries.
 

Long live strength!
 

By Kash Morrow

 

 
I have had the opportunity to strength train my two daughters for the last few years. Savannah is 16 years old, 5’10”, a junior in High School and a volleyball athlete. Madison is 14 years old, 5’4”, 92lbs, a freshman in High School and a volleyball and basketball athlete. Savannah now strength trains on her own while Madison still does her training sessions with me. We have been able to spend some quality time together and have had some pretty good conversations about whatever was going on in their lives at the time. Some sessions were strictly about strength while others were about the girls just bumping the volleyball back and forth and then getting in a few sessions of swings.

I recently followed up an earlier discussion with Pavel which ended with advice on how I should incorporate strength training into Madison’s practice, with a specific goal of improving her overhand serve.

I had first contacted Pavel in May 2012 seeking advice on how to get Madison strong enough over the next few months so she could overhand serve. Pavel recommended she focus primarily on pullups. She did, and reached the point where she could do multiple sets of 2-5 with a max of 8. She did pullups and practiced her overhand serve. By the beginning of her seventh grade volleyball season, she was around 4’8” and maybe 75 pounds. She was little, but quick and strong and had an effective overhand serve. Since that time, she has strength trained consistently. She worked with Senior SFG Jason Marshall a couple of times and added in swings, TGU’s, goblet squats, deadlifts, and hard style planks.

Strength training with my daughters has been very rewarding but at times frustrating. There have been a few times when my daughters have questioned why they are doing a certain exercise versus another one. They also are not shy about voicing any and all doubts and complaints. That’s ok and to be expected (there haven’t been many complaints) but it makes it somewhat challenging. I think it’s good for them to ask questions so they can form their own opinions. Try to make sure you have an answer. Saying “because I told you to”, has not worked well for me.

Also, if you as a parent elect to go down the path of strength training your kids, you need to realize that there may come a time when they want to do something else or do it differently. My oldest daughter, Savannah, trained with me and her younger sister last summer. She decided that she wanted to strength train on her own this year. She is primarily doing multiple sets of goblet squats and overhead presses. She picked two good exercises to focus on. She is also doing a variety of lunges and some pushups. The important thing is that she recognizes the importance of strength training, has a few good exercises in her arsenal, and as Dan John says: “is showing up”. One of our goals as parents should be to instill self-reliance in our children. Her showing up on her own is a big deal. While I admit that I miss our training or practice sessions together, I’m proud of her. If your kids enjoy training with you it can be a good experience for both of you. If not, I would urge you to find something else to do together.

With my daughters I’ve learned that I have to simplify and keep the entire workout short. The primary focus is on strength. I suggest that you take an Easy Strength approach. Have a limited number of high return exercises, keep the reps low, let the weights go up naturally, and stop the session if they are having a bad day. Both girls had sand volleyball three afternoons a week and indoor volleyball 2-3 mornings a week for most of the summer. The training sessions that Madison started with this past Summer included a handful of different warm-up and stretching exercises that took about 10 minutes to complete. The actual practice included swings, deadlifts, presses, power cleans, and loaded carries. That took another 20-30 minutes. By the midway point of the break, we had figured out that there were a few exercises that Madison wasn’t receiving benefit from so we simplified again and tried to get rid of any and all fluff. The first part of the summer Madison was doing half-TGU’s for 8-12 reps each side with a light KB. SFG Al Ciampa suggested that we change that to full TGU’s, 2-3 reps per side, at a weight that is right at the edge of her ability. She has seen a good return on that. We ditched the Spider-Man crawls, the stretching is being taken care of in her volleyball warmup, no more presses at this time because she’s getting enough overhead work at practice, and we dropped the deadlift and power clean for the next couple of months. We have recently added Full Contact Twist and 1-arm Bench Press. We are going to try the Full Contact Twist for 3-4 weeks to see if there is an increase in power on her serves.

An example of Madison’s sessions, both in-season and off- season are:

Madison Summer Workout 2014 2-4 days per week

Rocks, Nods, Spider-Man Crawl, Standing Cross Crawl Overhead Squats w/PVC 2X8
Hip Flexor Stretch 1X5 each side
Goblet Squats 1X8
Half-TGU’s 8-12 each side w/light KB
Jumprope 25-50 reps forward and backward
Single leg box squat 1X5 each leg

Deadlift: around 10 reps 2X5, 3X3, 6X1
Single or Double KB Overhead Press: around 10 reps
Swings: 30-50 reps 16kg bell (sets of 10)
Loaded Carry
Lateral walk w/band
Power Wheel 1X5
Hardstyle Plank: 1
*We alternated between Deadlift and Power Clean every other workout. Same reps.

In-Season Workout: *2-3 times per week

Rocks, Nods 1X10
Overhead Squat w/pvc 1-2X8
**Goblet Squat 1X8
TGU’s 2-3 each side with a challenging weight
Full Contact Twists 2X5
1-arm bench press: around 10 reps each side
Various Style Swings with 16kg bell: 4X10 Hardstyle, Ballistic, 1 Hand
Farmers Walk: 200+/- yards with 16 kg bells. We vary the total distance and number of stops every workout. We are about to increase the weight.
Lateral walk w/band
Power Wheel 1-3 sets of 7

*Every third workout or so, we add every loaded carry we can think of. She does a few reps of pullups throughout the week.
*If we are short on time, she only does the rocks, nods and Farmers Walk.
**We just replaced the Goblet Squat with Double KB Front Squats, 3X8. Madison wants to add a little size to her legs. She is going rock bottom and using a challenging weight.
 

Madison is one of two freshmen who’ve been asked to play both JV and Varsity this season at her High School. She is by far the smallest girl on the varsity team. At the first game of the season the coach told the girls that Madison was the only player he wanted to jump serve. Between three JV games and four Varsity games that night, Madison made 30+ jump serves without missing a single one. On the court, her strength and quickness were very visible. Intensity and an adequate amount of time spent practicing your sport are two important parts of success on the field of play. Being stronger than your competition is a very important third.
 

By Dr. B Ramana, SFG

A young man came up to me at the airport and asked:

“Aren’t you Dr. Ramana? I’m sure you have forgotten but you operated on me, as well as on my wife, and we are both alive!” *giggle*

When it comes to smartass remarks, I am not so much the type to just let it go, un-volleyed.  Thus, I responded:

“Yes. In spite of my best efforts to do good to the rest of humanity by eliminating the two of you.”

He laughed, and we got to talking. When he learned about Soul Of Strength, the Kolkata gym where I teach, he asked:

“How is this any different from any regular gym?”

I pondered, and came up with a short answer that would help him understand without my having to explain the “system of systems” concept, machines versus free weights, Pavel, StrongFirst, tension and relaxation, programming, etc., etc.   Here is the explanation I came up with.
 

Let’s say you have a set of musical instruments at a studio that you just joined because you love music. The instructor says:

“Start playing ‘Hotel California’ on the guitar for 2 minutes, ‘Let It Be’ on the keyboards for 3 and ‘Careless Whisper’ on the sax for 3 more minutes, without taking more than 30 seconds rest between instruments. At the end of a total of 30 minutes, play some Beethoven on the piano for 45 minutes, over and over. You are done.”

And imagine that this is done, day after day, with different songs. Sometimes, they give you new instruments to play. When you claim you can’t play any of these, the instructor shouts:

“Just do it. Try harder. Come on, bro, gimme one more minute. Anyone can do it!”

You have a one-year contract at this studio.

Imagine another studio, say called SOS, where the instructor teaches you each instrument from the basics. You are not asked to play even Eminem’s “Curtains Up”. You are simply taught the basics of the basics. Over time, you go up to the next level, and then the next one after.

Imagine your progress after one year — will it be less, or more, compared to the first studio where you actually get to play like a rockstar and post your pics on Facebook?
 

So that’s how I explained it to the man at the airport, and this guy’s face just lit up (no wonder they call it a ‘lightbulb’ moment).

Ladies and gents, I represent the StrongFirst school of strength in India, and in the rest of the world as India’s first SFG instructor. We teach strength at the gym, according to the school’s teachings. The same way we teach young doctors the skill of surgery in the operating theatre. For me, the gym floor is the same as the hospital floor, with the diagnostics and treatment at my disposal. I have to deliver every time.

Failure is not an option.
 

If you would like to learn the skill of surgery, you have to go through 10 years of medical school. You are taught anatomy, physiology, pathology and other subjects before you even lay your hands on a patient. Before operating on a gallbladder packed with stones, you first learn how to palpate the belly so that you can feel the organ and detect the problem. You see thousands of such cases before you become an expert, like Malcolm Gladwell says.

If you want to learn the skill of strength, the StrongFirst Girya (Kettlebell) Instructor certification will have you set for life. However, just like becoming a surgeon is merely a starting process in a lifetime of learning from patients and others, an SFG will give you a solid start to learning more about the methods one can use to help people become stronger and mobile.

Register now. You won’t regret it. It’s your body, your strength and health, and your life. Ask me. I believe in this so much that I do this without commercial interest!
 

I know what the skeptics among you are thinking (“I can figure out how to swing a few bells from the web, and it’s free”). I will address you directly:  Want to learn surgery on YouTube (it’s free, yippee!) and then operate on someone? No?? Why do it to yourself with your training then? You can get hurt, you know?

As the T-shirt says, “StrongFirst knows kettlebells”.

StrongFirst. Is. Strength.

 
Dr. B. Ramana, variously known as Ram or Rambodoc, is a senior laparoscopic and bariatric surgeon. He is India’s first SFG instructor (soon to be SFL as well) and teaches at India’s only Hardstyle strength gym ‘Soul Of Strength’ in Kolkata. He works with a wide range of students including bent, 80-year-old people and young studettes who can Get Up with bells ordinary men cannot even lift. He strongly believes in the power of strength training as a rehab tool.
 
 

By Eric Frohardt, CEO

I would like to quickly thank all the brave men and women who have or are currently serving in our armed forces for their service and sacrifice. As a Veteran, I know what it means to serve. I know the sacrifices you and your families make on behalf of all of us.

This November, we had or will have both user courses and instructor certifications all around the globe. Brisbane, La Jolla, Poland, Scottsdale, Vancouver and Perth are just a few of the places we’ll be or have already been this month.
 

Our ‘school of strength’ is growing here in the US and in countries all over the world. Many of our instructors live here, but a growing number live in other countries. So, naturally, not everyone is familiar with our Veterans’ Day holiday or its significance.

Every November 11th, we celebrate Veterans’ Day. Originally, it was called Armistice Day to commemorate the end of World War I. The ‘war to end all wars’ came to a cease-fire on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. Then, after World War II, with legislative approval, Armistice Day was changed to Veterans’ Day. It became a day to honor American Veterans of all wars.
 

November 11th is set aside as a day of remembrance for all who served. In America, it is a federal holiday. Many federal or government offices are closed today in remembrance of those who served. It’s a reminder that our freedoms came at a price.

It is a reminder for us that brave men and women of this and previous generations went in to harm’s way on our behalf. It began with the Revolutionary War and continues today. Previous generations volunteered or were drafted. This generation is all volunteers.
 

Far from perfect, America has done some pretty remarkable things. No other nation has sacrificed as much for the freedom of others…all made possible because of Veterans. As we sit comfortably in front of our computers, mobile phones or tablets, Americans along with forces from other nations bravely stand ready to go into harm’s way on our behalf.
 

As a Veteran, I’m often thanked for my service. It is so great that we live in a nation that is appreciative of those who served. I know first-hand that the families of men and women in uniform sacrifice just as much but aren’t thanked as often as those in uniform.
 

At StrongFirst, we know that “Strength Has a Greater Purpose.” It’s not just about how much you can do in a gym or at a competition. We applaud strength when we see it… no matter who exhibits it. Veterans are the embodiment of “Strength Has a Greater Purpose.” They strongly stood and still stand up on our behalf.

So today, on behalf of StrongFirst, I would like to thank Veterans and families of Veterans for their service, selflessness and sacrifice.

Thank you, Veterans, and families of Veterans. Without you, the world would be a very different place.
 

By Pavel Tsatsouline, Chairman

Today I will revisit some of my writings from fifteen years ago and then expand on the topic of health and performance.

According to Prof. Bayevsky, at any given moment, between 50 to 80% of all people are in the so-called donozoological state, or between health and illness.  According to Academician Nikolay Amosov, these people are only “statically healthy”—until the environment disrupts their fragile status quo.  Although they may be feeling fine, even a mild infection is potentially dangerous to them.  Not the infection itself, but the complications from the strain it puts on the supply systems.  You might know someone who died of a cardiac arrest while struggling with some other malady.

Say, Bob’s tissues need a gallon of blood a minute at rest and his heart can pump out 1,3 gallons per minute max, which is average—this is called the maximal cardiac output.  Everything is fine and dandy—until the man goes to South America and catches typhoid fever.  His energy requirements skyrocket, fighting a disease is not unlike performing hard labor.  Typhoid fever doubles one’s oxygen consumption. The heart now has to pump two gallons of blood per minute.  Except… its limit is only a gallon and a half.  Bingo.  The traveler returns home in the jet’s cargo bay in a body bag.  The man died from failure of systems that were not even stricken by the disease.  Had Bob cared to work on increasing their functional reserves, he would have survived.

Academician Amosov coined the term “the quantity of health”, or the sum of the reserve powers of the main functional systems.  These reserve powers are measured with the health reserve coefficient, the ratio of the system’s maximal ability to the everyday demands on it.  For example, Bob’s heart’s reserve coefficient is 1,3:

Obviously, to improve your quantity of health, you need to increase the reserves of your functional systems, cardiovascular, pulmonary, muscular, etc.  There are over a hundred measurable health parameters.  Individual adaptation has been defined as gradual development of resistance to a particular environmental stimulus that enables the organism to function in conditions earlier incompatible with life and meet challenges that previously could not be met (1). In other words, adaptation is about survival.

The path to health seems simple: train hard, increase your “quantity of health”, and live happily ever after.  If Bob built up to the point of being able to swim non-stop for an hour a day, surely he would have built enough heart capacity to survive typhoid fever!  Certainly—while making himself more vulnerable to other stressors…

A number of Soviet and Russian textbooks, from the 1970s until today, cite a study of young rodents undergoing an intense swimming regimen—one hour a day for ten weeks (2).  Their heart mass increased—while the mass of their kidneys and adrenal glands went noticeably down, and so did the number of the liver cells.  In other words, while the training increased the functional capacity of the heart, it simultaneously reduced the capacity of several inner organs!  If later the “athletes” from the study encountered significant physical loads, they would be better prepared to handle them and survive compared to their untrained peers.  If, on the other hand, the challenge were directed at the liver or kidneys (through a change of food, an increase of sodium intake, etc.), the hard training rats would be at a disadvantage compared to their lazy brothers and sisters…

This phenomenon is called “the cost of adaptation” (3).  The cost can be exacted from the systems of the body directly loaded by the stressor—or from other system(s) not directly involved in dealing with the stressor (4).  The focus of this blog is on the latter.

You just saw one example in the unfortunate rats whose swimming dedication has made their livers less resistant to vodka (a tragedy where I come from).  Another example is female machinery malfunctions typical in young girls who are high-level athletes in bodyweight sensitive sports like gymnastics.  Even worse, the muscles of a hard training and dieting young gymnast cannibalize some of the heart muscle to find some precious protein!

When supply is tight and demand is high, competition for the resources is fierce.  Years ago a Russian named Martinyuk even proposed a cancer treatment based on this fact.  He suggested putting patients on an ultra-low protein diet and an intense bodybuilding regimen at the same time.  As his theory went, the body would search for places to cannibalize proteins for the muscles and the tumor would be one of the places it would go first.  To the best of my knowledge, no studies of the sort have ever been conducted but I hope they will be.  If you know an oncology researcher, pass this idea along.

Back to sports.  If you choose to excel in a sport, you must face the fact that your decision has nothing to do with health.  You are going to rob Peter (your resistance to illness and your ability to excel in other pursuits) to pay Paul (your sport).  In elite sports, where the body performs at the edge of its capacity and all resources must be thrown at the “war effort”, there can be no other way.

To mitigate the downsides:

1. Start with a great foundation of GPP.
2. Avoid early specialization. (Negative adaptation in organs and systems not directly challenged by specific training is especially pronounced in immature organisms (5).)
3. Do not force the rate of your progress.

If you choose health, do not reach for Olympic medals, avoid narrow specialization, and train in moderation.  Because high adaptation cost is experienced especially by specialist athletes and people who perform hard physical labor (6).

Soviet research teaches us that sport training and physical culture lead to a significant decrease in diseases overall and injuries (7).  Renown Soviet scientist Prof. Zimkin concluded, “It has been determined from animal experiments and observation of human subjects that muscular activity increases the organism’s non-specific resistance to many unfavorable stressors people are subjected to in modern conditions, e.g. hypoxia, some poisons, radioactive materials, infections, overheating, overcooling, etc.  A significant decrease in illnesses has been observed in people training for sport or practicing physical culture.”  He went on to add that “rational” training is what is needed to deliver such resilience (8).  Moderate physical loads stimulate the immune system (9).

Consider some options that blend strength and health.

Train for and compete in raw drug free powerlifting—without attempting to max your muscle mass.  It is fact that to be competitive internationally a six-footer has to be a superheavyweight.  Obviously, pushing your bodyweight to 300 is going to carry a high adaptation price sticker.

Learn the lifting basics at a one-day StrongFirst Lifter Course.  Find reliable training partners and hit the platform.

Do not forget to address your other qualities, such as flexibility and endurance.  Two days a week do the S&S regimen.  Do some mobility and stretching almost every day.  Last but not least, live an active outdoor life—hike, swim, play tennis, etc.  In moderation!  Running from rim to rim of the Grand Canyon is going to exact an adaptation price from your powerlifting and your health.

Study a martial art.  Take classes three to five times a week.  Enjoy what you learn without ambitions to become a champion or a grandmaster.  Do “easy strength” type training with a barbell three times a week.  Take yoga classes on the nights you do not fight.  Start “tempering” with cold water.  And do not forget the outdoors.

Become a student of bodyweight strength.  Learn the basics of tension and linkage at a one-day StrongFirst Bodyweight Course.  Master the basics.  Reach the “simple” goals like the one-arm/one leg pushup.  Then set your sights a little higher, e.g. the front lever and free handstands.

Almost every day do the S&S swing regimen to give power and conditioning to your lower body and back.  Do get-ups twice a week.  Get serious about stretching and slowly work your way to full splits.

As with the other two options, outdoor activities are not negotiable.

Because your body’s adaptation resources are finite, you have to choose how to allocate them.  There is no one correct answer.  You have “X” dollars in your pocket.  Do you buy a new couch or take a vacation?  …Do both and go in debt?  …Or buy a cheap couch and take a short vacation?…

Exercise your free will.

(1) Meerson & Pshennikova, 1988
(2)  Vorobyev, 1977; Bloor et al., 1968
(3)  Koberg, 1997
(4)  Slonim, 1979; Kamskova, 2004
(5)  Platonov, 1988
(6)  Volkov, 2000
(7)  Rosenblat, quoted in Zimkin, 1975
(8)  Zimkin, 1975
(9)  Yakovlev et al., 1990

By David A. Clancy, SFG, CSCS

Three days, six exercises. Simple. That is what the StrongFirst SFG certification is.

Sure, there are tests, both physical and written. There is downtime for practicing with other attendees. There are lectures.

But it all boils down to six exercises:

• Swing
• Squat
• Clean
• Press
• Snatch
• Turkish Getup

The beauty of StrongFirst is it doesn’t try and cram 20 exercises into a one- or two-day seminar. Rather than touch on the basics and move on to the next exercise, the instructors at a StrongFirst Certification dig deep into the movements to help you refine techniques that would be left substandard with less work.
 

Is your clean not up-to snuff? All the better, as attendees learn many different cues and methods of correcting it. Trouble with the snatch? Rest assured, you are not alone, and you will learn ways to fix your clients who might be having the same problems.

When training for the StongFirst certification, you will, of course, strive to be as perfect as possible. You will put in countless hours swinging, preparing for a snatch test, working on your pull-up strength, and training your cardiovascular system to handle the stress of the weekend. But eventually it all comes down to six exercises.

One of the first things you will learn at a StrongFirst certification is the importance of the basics. The first six hours is spent teaching and reverse-engineering the kettlebell swing. Six hours on the most basic exercise!

To an amateur it sounds like overkill.

To the professional, it sounds smart.
 

If you cannot swing a kettlebell properly, you cannot clean a kettlebell properly. And you most assuredly cannot snatch a kettlebell properly. So it makes no sense to move on to more advanced movements until the foundation of all movements is dialed in.

Again.
And again.
And again.

Even after the swing instruction is “complete”, attendees will continue to swing throughout the weekend. Because in truth, instruction is never complete. Candidates will swing to prep for cleans; swing to get blood moving after Turkish Getups; and swing to test their new-found strength techniques.

Everything builds from the basics, and until those basics are solid, you will not be as effective a practitioner (or instructor) as you can be. And even after the certification, newly-minted instructors will spend hours upon hours refining their skills with further practice. It can be lonely, tiring, frustrating and very challenging.

But it is also exhilarating, especially when your practice leads to improvements in yourself and your clients.

Similar to a musician who practices scales, or a baseball player who revisits the batting tee, SFGs practice lifting as a skill until they get it right. And then they practice it some more.
 

Notice how the word “Practitioner” is based off the word “Practice”? Doctors, Nurses and Lawyers practice. Why not strength coaches and fitness instructors?

The SFG is not for everyone. Sure it is a great way to test your physical mettle. But it also will challenge you to step back and look at yourself, your skills, your strengths, and most importantly, your weaknesses.

Be patient. Be disciplined. And understand that learning how to do six exercises safely and properly might initially seem boring, but in the long run it is better for you, and your clients.
 

David Clancy SFG, CSCS*D is the owner of Buckeye Kettlebells in Columbus, Ohio. He has more than 15 years experience as a strength and conditioning coach. He earned his first kettlebell certification in 2008, and has coached more than 20 students who have gone on to earn a kettlebell certification.
 
 

By Pavel Tsatsouline, Chairman

 
A few years ago, a strange idea emerged from the clinical world: the insect head.  White coats started telling lifters to lock their heads onto their torsos during hip hinge lifts—deadlifts, swings, cleans, and snatches, barbell and kettlebell.

I urge you not to get bogged down by the science and the pseudo-science of their arguments.  Instead, ask yourself these two questions.
 

1. Is there an epidemic of neck problems from the traditional technique — the head up and the neck in extension — among powerlifters, weightlifters and hard style gireviks?

The answer is: No. 

Sure, some athletes from any sport have neck issues but good luck correlating them to neck extension in hinge lifts.  Some powerlifters have neck problems—mostly from driving the head hard into the bench on the bench press.  Some weightlifters and gireviks tweak their necks—usually by whipping them inappropriately.  But from a simple act of keeping their heads up, the way they have been doing it since they were crawling babies?  I do not think so.

Brett Jones, Master SFG, has pointed out that some folks can have problems when their thoracic extension is limited.  The neck has to compensate to keep the eyes on the horizon and goes into hyperextension.  Indeed.  So what is the answer?—Fixing the lack of mobility with professionally applied corrective exercise.  Medical intervention, if there are medical issues.

The answer is NOT dumbing down the classic technique to accommodate dysfunction.  That would be akin to our government lowering the PT standards for the military and firefighters when fewer recruits are able to pass the existing standards.

Indeed, there may be a particular medical case when the doctor tells the patient that he or she must keep the neck neutral throughout a hip hinge exercise.  If that is your doctor’s order—follow it.  But if this is a prescription for another patient… don’t you understand the risks of taking someone else’s drugs?  Medical Rx for one patient ought to never be confused with the standard operating procedure for healthy people.

Now to the second question:

2. Has the new technique improved the performance of top lifters?

The answer is: For some.  And the technique is far from being new. 

Hugh Cassidy and Franco Columbu used it four decades ago.  A review of championship deadlift techniques reveals a remarkable variety of head positions.  Andy Bolton cracked the mystical 1,000-pound barrier with a neutral neck—he looks at a spot 6-10 feet in front of him at the start of the pull.  Lamar Gant, the first man to pull five times his bodyweight, 661 at 132 pounds of bodyweight, did it with an extremely hyperextended neck.

Moving your body into one position or another is often a trade-off.  Extending the neck helps to activate the posterior chain—while weakening the abs and the quads.  A talented powerlifter, with the help of his coach or just through great body awareness, will eventually figure out the optimal amount of trade-off for himself.  (Only competitive powerlifters should do this.  Recreational lifters and athletes from other sports should follow the Olympic lifting and kettlebell lifting guidelines below.)
 

 
Unlike the slow moving deadlift, quick “pulls” (barbell or kettlebell) tolerate no variety in neck alignment.  There is only one way—head up!

If a champion weightlifter cleans 500 pounds, you know he can easily deadlift a couple of hundred pounds more.  That means his quads and abs are not greatly challenged by the first pull (the deadlift part of the clean or snatch).  So robbing Peter (the posterior chain) to pay Paul (the quads and the abs) would be wasteful as Peter is the one doing most of the work in quick pulls.
 

 
The same applies to a hard style girevik.  He has no trouble breaking the kettlebell off the platform and his spine is not crushed by enormous loads.  His mission is to accelerate the relatively light kettlebell to 10G and it is the job of his posterior chain.  So he needs to maximally reinforce it, and neck extension does exactly that.  Lift your head up—extend, not hyperextend—on the bottom of your pull and your entire back side will immediately light up, vibrating with stored energy like a bow.

 
From Supertraining, a fundamental text on strength:

The position of the head has a powerful effect on overall posture…  As it is well known, in gymnastics a dropping of the head forward initiates the forward somersault, just as the backward throwing of the head initiates the back flip in gymnastics and diving…  It is vital to use a definitive extension of the neck to facilitate powerful contraction of the postural muscles of the trunk during all lifting movements from the ground.  This facilitating action of the head should not be done so as to cause a pronounced hollowing of the back…[but] in such a way as to maintain as closely as possible the neutral spinal disposition, with its three natural curvatures…  Correct positioning of the head will ensure that the back assumes the posture where trunk stabilization is shared between the erector muscles and the spinal ligaments…  Action of the eyes is closely related to the action of the head, so it is essential to facilitate correct…posture by using the eyes to guide the head into the position which is most appropriate for each stage of the given movement.  Generally, the neutral spine position is maintained most easily if the eyes are looking almost directly ahead and fixed on a distant object.

We accept the above as the SFG standard.

The only person I have ever seen manage a perfect hard style swing, powerful and graceful, while keeping his neck close to neutral is Master SFG Brett Jones.  He adds some nuances to the standard recommendation and offers an option for some:  “If you are getting yanked into extension during the eccentric catch of the kettlebell, then it is a bad thing.  If the arms are connected to the body and you choose to hold the extension, it can be a very good thing.  When I try to keep my eyes on the wall in front of me I feel like I am jerked into a bit of cervical extension and it doesn’t feel good.  For me it is much better having a focal point closer to me (4-6 feet in front of me).”  Brett adds that he does have a slight cervical extension, even though he is looking at the floor 4-6 feet in front of him.  He observes that most people who think they are neutral are actually in flexion.
 

 
The Master SFG also warns against hyperextension.  It is easy to get into if you are doing your swings almost stiff-legged.  If your knees are almost straight on the bottom of the swing, your torso is bound to be almost parallel to the ground.  That means looking straight ahead will automatically hyperextend your neck.  Remember that the hard style swing is related to a jump and as such demands some knee flexion—not to the point of squatting, but enough to activate the glutes.
 

In summary:

1. The standard recommendation for swings is to keep your eyes on the horizon, which will place your neck into mild extension on the bottom of the swings—provided you have healthy thoracic extension and you are not stiff-legging your swings.  In the gym the “horizon” can be where the wall and the floor meet if you stand far from the wall, an electric outlet, etc.  Note that the “horizon” is lower than your eye level.

 

2. If your upper back is too immobile to allow you to look straight ahead on the bottom of the swing without hyperextending your neck, see a specialist to correct it before swinging kettlebells.

 

3. If you have the required mobility, are not stiff-legging your swings and your neck is still not comfortable on the bottom of the swing, first make sure that it is your lats and not your traps and neck that absorb the force of the kettlebell backswing.  If your technique is correct, you are healthy, and your neck is still not comfortable, experiment with a lower focal point on the bottom of the swing—typically 5-10 feet in front of you.

 

4. Never whip your neck into extension on the bottom and/or into the protracted “chicken” position on the top of the swing (the “bobble head”).

Heads up and power to your swings, ladies and gentlemen!

By ‘The King of The Deadlift’ Andy Bolton

Kettlebells are a waste of time!

Or so I thought, until I became friends with Pavel.

Like many Powerlifters, I dismissed kettlebells outright, because…

“How can something that *only* weighs 48kg do anything for me?”

Fortunately, I eventually decided to start experimenting with kettlebells, and the results have been pretty damn good.
 

THE HISTORY

When I deadlifted 1,003lbs, and then followed it up a few years later with a pull of 1,008lbs – I was squatting extremely heavy. Way over 500kg. (Feels like the weight of the Earth on your back in case you’re wondering)  ;]

Squatting these kinds of weights built tremendous strength in my entire back, glutes, quads and hammies. Think that helped my deadlift? Of course it did!

In fact, when I pulled 1,003lbs, I only went up to 770lbs in the gym on my competition-style deadlifts.

Think about that for a second. It’s kinda weird.

However, in 2009 things changed.

I called 520kg on the squat at the WPC world powerlifting championships, but one side got loaded as if I’d called 560kg. (40kg heavier than it should have been).

I went down about halfway with the bar, but I didn’t come back up.  (Unsurprising.)  The spotters had to help me.  I then benched 290kg and pulled 440kg.

The next day, my left knee blew up like a balloon. Long story short — I had to have surgery. After surgery, the desire to squat HUGE weights – 500kg+ — had gone. I figured it too risky. And kind of a waste of time because squat records have been bastardized by slack judging. (Compare ALL the guys who’ve squatted over 1200lbs and you’ll see what I mean.)
 

THE QUESTION, AND THE SOLUTION

So now the question became:

How Do I Deadlift BIG Without Squatting Heavy?

Enter the kettlebell swing. The 2-handed version. The foundational exercise for all other kettlebell lifting.

Pavel introduced me to this exercise several years ago. We both instantly realized that my body mechanics on the swing are virtually IDENTICAL to my deadlift mechanics.

The perfect assistance exercise?

Er, yeah!

The great thing about the deadlift and the swing is that the amount of knee bend is significantly less than on a squat. Neither exercise causes my knee any bother.

Right now I’m swinging the 92kg kettlebell for 10 sets of 10 reps, on the minute, every minute.

This has given me 3 huge benefits:

• Good work capacity
• Stronger lower back, glutes and hamstrings
• Better grip

Needless to say – all good things if you’re chasing a bigger deadlift!

While I haven’t pulled over 1,000lbs for quite a while – I’m getting close again. I recently deadlifted 380kg in the gym for a double. And it was fast. No big deal. To be honest – 400kg for a double felt like it was there. I’ve never touched those weights in the gym before.

Things are once again looking good for the 1,000lbs-plus deadlift!
 

SIMPLE PROGRAMS FOR THE BEST RESULTS

I know there are many excellent exercises you can do with a kettlebell, But I have stuck to the 2-hand swing. As an assistance exercise for the deadlift it is AMAZING.

And here’s the thing to remember: You can get VERY GOOD at a small number of things if you practice them regularly and stick to a proven plan. Or, you can do many things and become a ‘Jack of All Trades and a Master of none’

I prefer the first option.
 

MY KETTLEBELL SWING PROGRAM

• Start with 48kg for 5 sets of 10 reps.
• Increase work capacity until I was fit enough to do them ‘on the minute every minute’
• Add a set whenever I could until I was up to 10 sets of 5 reps.
• Then add a rep whenever I could until I hit 10 x 10.
• Increase the ‘bell size and repeat.
• And I’ve done that and worked all the way up to the 92kg kettlebell.

Simple? Yes.

Effective? Very.

If you’re wondering how frequently you should do this workout – here’s your answer:

— Do it at the end of your strength training sessions or on your ‘off’ days.

— Start off doing it once a week, then increase to 2 or 3 times a week on non-consecutive days. Do not worry about burning out. The explosive nature of the swing means that it’s pretty easy to recover from.

Give it a try (starting with a size of kettlebell appropriate to your strength level).

Of course, the swing on its own won’t give you an outstanding deadlift. It’ll build your work capacity. It’ll make your ‘deadlift muscles’ strong. And it’ll give you a vice like grip.

But, sooner or later – you have to do some deadlifts!

In my new book – The Big 3 – I explain exactly how to perform your deadlifts, squats and bench presses correctly.

You’ll also get a simple, yet highly effective program for ramping up your strength very quickly on those 3 lifts. Throw in some 2-hand swings and you have a program that’ll make you truly STRONG.
 
 

Learn more about ‘The Big 3’ in Andy Bolton’s new book

By Al Ciampa, SFG

Over a year has passed, and you’ve reached the “simple” goal of Simple & Sinister.  You are a man or woman, who did not just survive <16min of swings and get-ups with your 32kg, or 24kg &16kg, kettlebell, respectively, but thrived on it.  You have some training options now; you can:

• go from simple to sinister
• get barbell strong
• get serious about your endurance

S&S provided your trout without asking you to weave your own net; but if you were paying attention while waiting for supper, you may have picked up on the process.  Pavel is going to release a plan soon that maps out the first option: From Simple to Sinister.  It will teach you how to fish… an “easy endurance” approach toward owning the beast (or the 32 & 24 for females).

There are many resources to get barbell strong, such as StrongFirst’s Barbell Course.

In this article, I will offer you a road map toward option three: “serious endurance”.  It is based on the idea of improving one’s level of conditioning by using short but powerful bouts of work, coupled with sufficient recovery periods, for an extended overall duration.  Using Pavel’s easy to understand diagram (below), the idea is to target the small, supercharged fuel system to supply the gas for the actual swing sets; and to use the large, migratory fuel system to constantly “top off” the little tank between sets.

It has been suggested both by science and clinical observation (the latter from the perspective of “health” in later life), that it is a good idea to avoid overusing the medium fuel system during training, saving it for the actual competition.  The glycolytic fuel system is the original cellular source of fuel for all life (single-celled creatures use it), and its output seems to be maintained with little-no training.  Without getting to far into the science of it, our tool is the kettlebell; our activity is the 1-hand swing.

If you’re going to have an honest go at this routine, I ask that you do no other training, do not change your lifestyle or diet, and to please record your observations.  One caveat to the above is that you may do up to 10 total get-ups prior to only 3 of the conditioning sessions.  If you choose to do the get ups, please add them to your records and rest at least 10 min before you begin your swings.  Load your 3 get-up sessions as such: moderate / light / heavy.

First, let’s establish a baseline: have an honest go at the 5 min snatch test, that is, don’t game it, push through.  Let me explain: find a balance between running all out when the gun fires, and conserving too much energy.  You know, “tricks” such as pausing too long after each rep, putting the bell down after a number of reps and starting again at the top of the minute, etc.  Do not try to recover during the event, but go with your known rep scheme and see where it takes you.  Put the bell down only when your accumulated workload truly forces you to.

I will also ask for your 1.5 mile run.  I know it is cold now, but I don’t care for your treadmill performances.  If you can’t do the run outside on a track or the like, then simply forego it.  Rest 48 hrs between these two assessments.  If I had to choose between assessments, I would rather your run than your snatch test.  If you cannot do either, choose a 5-12 min event of your choosing that you can replicate at the end of the program.  Any data is better then a, “I feel the work is easier” type of report.

Next, let’s find your working bell… do this either before or after your baseline assessments, but recover for 48 hrs on either side as well.  This may take a few sessions if you’re finding this without regularly performing 1-hand swings.

Make sure that you are “fresh”, choose a bell, and do 10, 1-hand swings on the top of every minute for 10 min.  Do not try to conserve energy… perform 100 explosive swings.  Assess your fatigue… did you have to push through the later complete the 10 min?  Meaning, were you ready go when the clock said so, and, were all 10 swings powerful?  Was your 100th swing as explosive as your first?

Yes?  Try again with the next heavier bell, and reassess.

No?  Try again with the next lighter bell, and reassess.

You are looking for the heaviest bell that allows you to complete this 10 min session feeling “ready to go” at the start of each minute.  Take no more than 3 sessions to figure this out, and recover for 48 hrs before you begin the program.  Do the best you can to avoid estimating your bell size for this program.  The assessments, exploratory sessions, and requested recovery should take you 8-10 days.  Plan this around your program start day.

The program:

• 4 sessions per week you will do sets of 10, 1-hand swings at the top of each minute
• Alternate arms each minute
• The set will take near 20s, so you will have 40s rest, on average
• Do not try to “save” energy… each swing must be crisp, sharp, and explosive
• Breathe and recover between sets
• Warm-up however you like, but do no other work (aside from the optional get ups)
• Take good care of your hands
• The routine will play out like so:

• Only perform 2 sessions on consecutive days per week.  Example: Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat… or, Mon, Tue, Thur, Sat.  It does not have to be the same two sessions that are consecutive each week, just no more than two in each week.
• If your power fades during your session (especially the initial sessions), then quit for the day and rethink your choice of bell size; you likely chose too heavy.

After at least 48 hrs following your last session, reassess using the same events you set your baseline with prior to the program.  Replicate them as closely as possible… i.e., do not increase the bell size in your snatch test, even if you feel stronger; do not run in heavy winds, etc.  Please send your records in powerpoint or word.doc to berto.ciampa@gmail.com with, “Swing Routine” typed into the subject line of the email.  I plan to produce a follow up based on our results.  Thank you.

-Al

Al Ciampa has been a barbell athlete for 25+ years; a former powerlifter and bench press specialist, he has a raw bench press of 605lbs in training and 585lbs in competition, at the time, setting an IPA record. He served in the US Army first as a LRS-D team member, then as director of the Army’s hand-to-hand combat program in South Korea: Modern Army Combatives Program. After his service, he co-opened and led training for a fitness and health & wellness center, specializing in strength & conditioning, and nutrition that served Military units and the local public. Feeling a want to support the Military again, he now works as an exercise physiologist and health educator for the US Air Force, specializing in rehabilitation, strength & conditioning, nutrition, and instructor development. He has a MS in sports and health science; certified SFG1, FMS, ACSM, and USAW; and has been recognized for excellence by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Chuck Hagel.

By Eric Frohardt, CEO

WTHE

I remember it very clearly. Somewhere in central Iraq, during my first ‘OP’ in country, I stopped in my tracks. “What the hell?” I had read about this phenomenon many times but was not sure if I believed it. I did now.
 

Before finding kettlebells and the ‘hard style’ methods, I trained like many others: cardio one day (running or swimming) and resistance training the other. On some days, I would do both. On paper, this program worked well and I had results to prove it. I always scored at the top of my age group on our PRT (Physical Readiness Test). At the time, the SEAL PRT* was push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, a 3 mile run and a long swim. I’m not exactly sure, but I believe the swim distance was 1/2 mile. To score high for my age group, one needed to do 120 push-ups, 120 sit-ups, 25+ pull-ups, and roughly 18 minutes on the run.
 

Yet, something was missing. When it came time to ‘work’, I just didn’t feel right. It felt like my body wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. I was in great ‘shape’ by Navy standards, but when it came time to operate, I just didn’t feel great. Spending hours and hours ‘under load’, as Gray Cook would say, really wore me out. Moving under load (wearing body armor and or carrying a heavy ruck) was even worse. Shooting and moving, jumping and climbing were difficult… and forget about ‘down-man-drills’ (buddy carries). We were also always moving gear, guns and ammo, and I always felt weak doing it.
 

Not another cardio day

Then, in 2005, I saw something that would change my life. I didn’t know him well yet, but John Faas was in the corner of the gym with a funny looking ‘implement’ (kettlebell) doing an exercise that I was certain would injure him (swings). He told me all about the kettlebell, his friend Pavel, and the website I could visit to learn more.
 

That night at home, I spent about 5 hours reading EVERY article I could. Was it really possible to get in sufficient shape using this simple little tool and these basic movements? I decided to find out.
 

A couple of weeks went by. My 16kg bell arrived along with a book. The delivery man commented: “What the hell?” as he dropped it at my door step. That night I read and re-read the “The Russian Kettlebell Challenge.” The next day, I played around with my new 16kg bell.
 

Like so many, I thought I could train myself just by using the book, the website, and a little coaching every now and then. My biggest mistake was NOT getting help from an instructor. That’s a topic for another day…
 

In short time, I was doing the movements well with the 16kg. I purchased the 24kg and started practicing with it. I had a deployment coming up and was interested to see how I’d do using this simple program: grinds 1 day, ballistics the next, recover the following day then repeat.
 

Back to Iraq… and my first operation in country. The OP was nothing to write home about. It actually went as planned, mostly. I’m not going to go into details, but at some point during the OP a lightbulb went off. “What the hell?” (Actually it was a Navy-approved version of the expression). “How is this possible?” I moved better ‘under load’ or otherwise. The ‘load’ didn’t hurt me when I was standing still. I could carry ‘things’ when called upon, jump over things, climb things and just physically ‘operate’ at a whole new level… all at a lower bodyweight — “What the hell?!?!” I was a believer. To me, this was ‘strength with a greater purpose’ before I’d even heard the expression! I couldn’t think of a better reason to be strong!
 

Fast forward: ‘Some time’ passed and I was deployed again. This time I went over with a new book, a new program and a new goal: I’d be following Pavel’s “Rite of Passage” program (or “ROP”). I had my trusty 24kg bell and a 32… just in case. All I did during that deployment was the ROP… that, and of course a few ‘walks under load.’ Some time passed and I was able to do 5 ladders to 5 with my 24kg bell. For quite some time, all I needed was that trusty 24kg bell. Then, I started adding some practice with my 32, all at a bodyweight of 185lbs. On that deployment, I felt even stronger. The ‘WTH effect’ was amplified. It was crazy to me how well I felt and moved. The really crazy part was yet to come…
 

Before ‘summering in the desert’ I devised a test and tested myself. The previous deployment had proven that the KB could get me in better operational shape, but could it really improve my ‘measurables?’ My test was simple: 5k run, bodyweight pull-ups, weighted pull-ups, bodyweight bench for reps, deadlift, and box jump for height. I would go on ‘vacation’ (deployment) and do NOTHING other than the ROP. Then, I’d come home and see where I stood on the things I tested earlier.
 

Just weeks after coming home, I retested. ”WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL??” How was that possible? My 5k time was unchanged. Bodyweight pull-ups held steady around 25 reps… not bad. Weighted pull-ups were a different story. I could put (2) 24kg bells on my homemade dip belt and still crank out a good rep. No one believed me… I didn’t believe it myself! This prompted me to try ‘muscle-ups.’ This movement/exercise fascinated me. I’d never been able to do one. I could now do 5. WTH?!?!? My bodyweight bench went up by a couple of reps… even without touching a bench during that whole trip. I could jump on top of the highest box in the gym (nearly as high as my solar plexus!). The deadlift progress impressed me the most. Before my trip, I could pull approximately 2x BW. This wasn’t that bad especially considering I have never been taught how to DL nor practiced it. When I retested, I was shocked. My new best DL was 2.5x BW! “WHAT THE #$%!!!!
 

The kettlebell got me in great shape, and better operational shape. It took less time, was more fun, and didn’t interfere with my ability to operate (with the exception of the SSST — don’t do that at night before an operation — FYI). And I maintained — and even improved — some of the things I measured. I could not believe it. Later, I would go on to use the kettlebell to prepare myself for other ‘adventures.’ I loved the simplicity and the ‘max results with minimum effort’ aspect.

*At the time, the PRT was different from the PST of today. The PST is the physical screening test that candidates take in order to earn a chance to try out.
 

Have you also experienced this phenomenon? #WTHE
 
 

By Taikei Matsushita, SFG II

 
I attended the SFG Level II in Budapest last year for re-certification.  As you know, the Level II has a military press requirement (for men, 1/2 bodyweight).  As my bodyweight increased, however, so did my half bodyweight press test — from 40kg to 44kg.

But no problem: Two weeks prior to the Level II, I pressed the target weight on two different occasions.  Confident with the press, the morning of day one SFG level 2, I pressed 40 kg 4 repetitions.

A few hours later at the actual test, the 44kg didn’t budge.

Master SFG Fabio Zonin pointed out that I wasn’t pausing the kettlebell long enough before the lift, therefore even had I made the lift he wouldn’t pass me.

I brought the half bodyweight press issue back home and started to rethink some strategies.

My training log on September 2nd shows that I could not press 44kg with a one count pause in the rack position. I came to realize that a suggested one count pause with kettlebell racked was not long enough.  Linguistic issues may have caused this.  A  ”one” is “ichi” in Japanese and sounds like “itch” and could be shorter than typical “one” count.  So I decided to  pause for two counts.

My training did not go beyond kettlebell basics but added some armbar and bent (crooked) armbar series.  Ring pull ups and Hanging Leg Raises complemented the training very well.

A month after SFG2, three attempts of 44kg press went well and I submitted the one with longest pause to Master SFG Fabio Zonin.

What did I do different?  For one I stole an idea from an American military strategist and another from Chinese martial art book.
 

OODA Loop

OODA Loop stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.  This model created by Col John Boyd USAF became my training log format.

For example, in one pressing session:

Observe – Stiff left shoulder, Orient – In need of loose shoulder, Decide – Armbar series and Windmill, Act – 12 kg armbar 1 rep etc.

Then loops back to:

Observe – Shoulder loose enough, Orient – Well coordinated hip (from Windmill), Decide Military Press, Act -36 kg 3 reps

Observe – Stronger rack position, Orient – Continue press ?, Decide – Yes, Act – 36kg 3 reps for 2 sets

Observe – Need to loose hip for next set of press, Orient – Lower body stretch, Decide – ASLR (Active Straight Leg Raise) from FMS, Act – ASLR left/right

Observe – Better press, Orient – Raise weight to 40 kg? Decide – Sensing impingement in my left shoulder, empty handed bent press, Act – Fist bent press for shoulder reliever 5 reps

List goes on.

This gave me review the effect after each set.  Prior to this approach, weight/reps/sets were the subject of training. Since I incorporated this idea, I began to add various supplemental drills such as  joint mobility works, pull ups and ab related training.
 

Finding space before press

Not that I know anything about Chinese martial art, however few quotes from Han Shi Yi Quan book (written by Han Xing Qiao) ”The more we stand still, more movement internally”, “Some physical movements are dead internally” were good tips for my momentary pause before press.  It means even at a pausing moment, the body is active at cellular level getting ready for next action.

In course of momentary pause I set an imagery of finding spaces in joints and unused muscles.  Suppose racking a 44kg kettlebell tenses 70% of all the body muscles and the other 30% are scattered through out the body.  At the pause, my mindset is to recognize the unused 30% energy source as much as possible.  This is no science however mental image has its place when lifting gets heavy.
 

Moment of my failed press test

44kg press successful

Currently I feel like I owned my way to progress further.  I recently pressed double 36kg using the same mental approach.  Weight, reps and sets may be important, however what you depict in your mind is a huge factor.
 
 

Taikei Matsushita SFG2 is currently teaching kettlebell workshops, class and private sessions in Tokyo Japan.  He was certified by Pavel first in 2007 and has been active teaching and distributing values of kettlebell. in Japan.  He became a vice chairman of NPO Japan Association of Russian Kettlebell, in February 2014.

http://www.kettlebell.jp/

taikei@iea.att.ne.jp
 
 

By Pavel Tsatsouline, Chairman

 

 
People who live big have passion.  Those who live small subsist on emotion.

A newspaper article promoting a new ‘Star Wars’ film caught my eye.  “Though less than 90 seconds long and offering only the barest glimpses of a motion picture that audiences cannot see for more than a year, the ‘Star Wars’ trailer set off an instantaneous wave of analysis and armchair commentary: a cycle of approval, criticism, and criticism of that criticism…”

The article proceeded to quote a culture writer, Linda Holmes, who said it all: “It’s all about being mad all the time.  No matter whether people wind up liking it or not liking it, the conversation becomes negative.  There are times when enthusiasm can only be expressed through dissatisfaction with the product that you get.  Or if you like the product you get, it becomes all about expressing your dissatisfaction with other people’s failure to appreciate it.”

How much do you think these people will accomplish in the year 2015?  In their personal, professional, and athletic lives?  I am sure these are the same folks who complain that training the military press four times a week takes an outrageous amount of time—while wasting their lives away on social media.

A person who is the direct opposite, with a big life devoid of wasted time and emotion, is Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.  Ms. Merkel is the undisputedly most powerful woman in the world.  And, in the opinion of many Eastern Europeans, the strongest among the leaders of Western democracies, period.  A pundit quipped, “Merkel does not define herself as a female—she has defined her own class, which is heavyweight champion.”

Merkel is a happy person.  “I have a relatively sunny spirit, and I always had the expectation that my path through life would be relatively sunny, no matter what happened.  I have never allowed myself to be bitter.”

People in her inner circle describe Merkel as lively and funny—the opposite of her public persona, reserved as a cowboy from a Western.  Focusing on the job and not on herself, she is as self-effacing as can be.  She has been described as “a politician more mindful of her constituency than of her place in history.”

An East German, a daughter of a Lutheran pastor, a scientist (a quantum chemist, no less), Merkel is an unlikely leader of the Western Europe’s most powerful country.  A German newspaper tells of her upbringing: “East Germany shaped her in such an extreme and strong way as no one who grew up in West Germany can imagine.  Everything was a question of survival, and it was impossible to make errors if you wanted to succeed.”

When the Berlin Wall came down, Angela joined the delirious East Germans crossing into the West.  But when the crowd stayed to party all night, the young scientist returned home early.  She shrugs, “I had to work again early the next morning and was an orderly person.”

George Packer, whose New Yorker piece I used extensively in this blog, writes, “Her actions on that momentous night have been ridiculed as a sign of banality and a lack of feeling.  But, in the following months, no East German seized the new freedoms with more fervor than Merkel.”

Angela entered reunified Germany’s politics, driven by her number one value, the one she had been denied by the Communist regime.  She proclaimed her credo: “Without freedom there is nothing!  Freedom is the joy of achievement, the flourishing of the individual, the celebration of difference, the rejection of mediocrity, personal responsibility.”

Merkel tackled politics as a scientist that she was.  “She thinks backwards from the end result,” stated one of her biographers.  “She is about the best analyst of any given situation that I could imagine,” noted a government official.  “She looks at various vectors, extrapolates…”

Merkel stated, “For me, it is always important that I go through all the possible options for a decision.”  In science and in politics, she always took her time to do it right.  “The men in the laboratory always had their hands on all the buttons at the same time.  I couldn’t keep up with this, because I was thinking.  And then things suddenly went ‘poof,’ and the equipment was destroyed.”

It has been pointed out that where her opponents, most of them lawyers, interpreted their losses as failures, Merkel, a scientist, saw them as discoveries that eliminated another option that did not work.  Another key advantage she held was an absence of ego in a field of egomaniacs.  A politician wrote, “One of the secrets of the success of Angela Merkel is that she knows how to deal with vain men.”  Another added, “If she knows anything, she knows her macho.  She has them for her cereal.”  A photographer who undertook an unusual project of taking photos of up and coming politicians over a decade, noted, “[Others] are vain.  Merkel is not vain—still.  And that helped her, because if you’re vain you are subjective.  If you’re not vain, you are more objective.”

“She’s not a woman of strong emotions,” reported a German newspaper.  “Too much emotion disturbs your reason.”  Another added, “She governs by silence.”  Angela Merkel is not a fan of cheap talk.  “What puts her off about [a particular famous politician],” observed a government official, “is his high-flying rhetoric.  She distrusts it…  If you want to sum up her philosophy, it’s ‘under-promise and over-deliver.’ ”

If you are looking for a role model to inspire you this year, may I suggest the world’s most powerful woman, the exemplary quiet professional?

Passionate about a vision bigger than self and relentless in its pursuit.

Thorough about planning the course of action.

Unemotional about its execution.

Loath to waste time and words.

Contemptuous of vanity.

Have a strong year!
 

By Eric Frohardt, CEO

Often, we get too focused on ‘one thing.’  In my case, it’s usually work.  This approach works for a while, but if we don’t balance out the ‘one thing’, all the ‘other things’ in our life (family, friends, health, fun, etc) fall by the wayside.  Then, we have to stop what we are doing and get all the ‘other things’ back on track, often to the detriment of the ‘one thing’ we were working on. It seems counter intuitive, but if we don’t balance things out we can actually sabotage our progress in that ‘one thing.’

On the other side of the equation, if we focus too hard on balancing everything, we make very little progress in anything.  Priority used to be singular.  We have turned it into the plural.  We allocate too much energy and effort seeking that ‘mythical state of perfect balance.’  We make an inch of progress in 100 different directions.

There are Specialists and Generalists.  There is Focus and Balance.  There are advantages to both approaches.  How can we reconcile the differences?

Have balance….with priorities.

I believe this approach works well.  Balance things out but make sure you put ‘first things first.’  Also make sure that effort and energy you invest in ‘things’ is consistent with how you prioritize ‘those things.’

In the world of physical fitness, there are people who are specialists.  They are very good at the ‘one thing’ they train for.  They will make huge progress in that ‘one thing’ and see some progress in ‘other things’ that slightly mimic what it is they are focusing on.  The downside to this approach is a lack of general physical fitness.  The specialized powerlifter gets gassed if you take him on a short hike at altitude and the professional marathoner is worthless when it comes time to move furniture.

Then you have people that try to use a more balanced approach.  They want to be ready for whatever life throws at them.  They combine strength, conditioning, power, agility, and quickness (correct movement patterns throughout of course) and have a much more balanced approach.  These Generalists are more prepared for whatever life throws at them but they rarely make great progress in any one area or discipline.

Personally, I fall into the latter camp.  Each year, I divide my training into (4) 12 week periods with a week off at the end of each period.  Each period has a different focus.  The only specific event I now prepare for is my backcountry, high altitude bow hunting.  This event takes place in September.  The 1st 12 week period is a maintenance phase that takes place early in the year (aka ski season.)  The next is a free period.  I can choose something new to focus on each year if I like (example:  KB, barbell, BW, etc).  The 3rd period is dedicated to preparing me for the hunt and the 4th is pre-season for skiing.

The programs I build for these 12 week periods involve lifting (kettlebell and bodyweight), sprinting, hiking, jumprope, fight training (for fun), daily walks and stretching.  I find it to be a very good all around program.  It does have its drawbacks though.

As you can see, it’s very general in nature.  As you can guess, I make an inch of progress in 100 different directions.

2015

This year, I’m going to try something different.  For the 1st (2) 12 week periods, I’m going to do Simple & Sinister.  I’d love to accomplish the Sinister goal.  My goal for now is to accomplish the Simple goal.  I believe it will build a healthy base of strength, movement and conditioning prior to my 3rd 12 week period or cycle that will still be dedicated to hunt preparation.

During these (2) 12 week periods, I will still do some fight training 2 times per week.  These training sessions are usually preceded with 4 x 3min rounds of jumping rope.  I also plan on maintaining my daily habit of walking 1 mile at lunch.

What really excites me is how simple the logistics are for this program.  I’ll have my kettlebell in my office (home or work) and do the same thing on the same time each day per week.  I won’t have to drive to the foothills for my sprints or for my hikes.  My sessions will take roughly 25 minutes each and I’ll be able to go on about my day.

Each year, I put myself through a week of simple testing.  These tests are not perfect, but I use them as a barometer for my overall fitness. I suspect that some of the things I test myself on will suffer slightly and some will improve.  I also suspect that I’ll still be pretty generally fit yet stronger overall, similar results to when I did the “Rite of Passage” program on deployments.

This approach will allow me to maintain balance with my fitness while having a priority.

My fitness priority for 2015 is accomplishing the Simple Goal*.

WHEN I reach that goal, I will move on to attempting the Sinister Goal**.

I want to do all of this while maintaining a bodyweight of 180lbs or less.

What’s your fitness priority this year?
 
 

*Simple goal:  100 1 arm swings in 5 minutes using a 32kg kettlebell and 10 turkish get-ups in 10 minutes using the same kettlebell. (16kg for ladies)

By Jeff Fish

As we travel on our career paths, we will inevitably encounter events that can alter our course and lead us into direction we may never have seen coming. This evolution of a belief system, or philosophy, is sometimes presented to us when we least expect it.

These events can make us wonder, “Is this what is best”? Have I been missing some key pieces that can make my skill set more effective? Can I blend this into my existing methodology? Now, when faced with some of these experiences that really make us take notice, the ones that are truly significant professionally: there are options.

• Some of us will sit up for hours or weeks at a time and try to poke holes into what we have learned to test its validity and determine for ourselves if this information has relevance.
• Some of us that will shoot it down immediately because it does not echo or support what I am doing today.
• And some of us that are not aware that an amazing learning opportunity just passed us by.

When I first met Pavel, he forced me to decide which of the three scenarios I would choose.

It was a little over 10 years ago, and I had been in the performance business as a strength and conditioning coach for close to 15 years. I had great success learning and growing through the collegiate and professional ranks. I now was challenged with my first, and maybe only, opportunity to lead an NFL team as a Head Strength & Conditioning Coach.

I had developed thousands of athletes during my career and felt confident to do it at the highest level of sports. However, there were always some questions in the back of my mind that I could not answer through the textbooks and historical reading I would flood myself with. The periodization books I had learned from did not always produce the results as promised with all my athletes – I could not figure this out, as some of these athletes were my hardest workers. I knew there were gaps in my system and it drove me crazy that I couldn’t figure it out. How do I manage this? How can I produce the results and shield the professional athlete from these gaps? It was like trying to hide the scratch you put on your parents’ car while on a date.

That’s when two lights flashed for me. One was the FMS, and the other was the Kettlebell.

For the purposes of this article, I will discuss the kettlebell and its role in my athlete development process. I was fortunate to be introduced to Pavel many years ago, at almost the same time I had implemented the FMS with a full team. I knew from my first conversations with Pavel that he and I shared many common beliefs. He had a toolbox that looked familiar to mine, but his contained something different. That different tool broadened my scope of athlete development.
 

Enter the Kettlebell

My introduction to the Kettlebell was challenging, humbling, and inspiring. As I obsessed with trying to learn the basic KB movements, I knew it was changing how my body felt.

I had to master these movements before teaching it to any athletes. I also knew the athletes had to experience immediate success in order to keep their attention, and be able to add movements in the future. It had to be challenging and fun, I wanted them to realize after they sat at their locker following a workout that the KB had snuck up on them and crushed them – the Afterburn!!
 

I began implementing a few movements that I thought many of the athletes could benefit from based on what our team deficiencies were, and what I felt comfortable teaching to 80 athletes by myself. So I began with KB Armbars, KB Front Squats, and Single/Double Arm KB Deadlifts. I prescribed these to the athletes with specific needs – basically trying to address shoulder, core, and lower body issues.

What I saw was shocking.

Elite caliber athletes were wrestling with a 16kg KB as they tried to stabilize an armbar. Some of these athletes where 400+ lbs Barbell Bench Pressers. The greatest element in this experience for the athlete was the feedback they were receiving from the KB – the KB became an assistant coach for me. The KB would reinforce my words that the athlete had a deficiency that they had to improve upon in order to reduce the risk of injury. Many athletes are competitive by nature, so now all I needed to do was supply the proper challenge to each athlete. This would lead to an increase in athlete interest in their own training, it elevated the amount of individualization they received, and this all led to a significant increase in athlete motivation.

As I detailed each athlete with their technique, and followed each movement with loaded patterned movements, I began to realize something very exciting. I could see with my own eyes the movement abilities of the athletes improving. I could see increased mobility and greater control during heavy exercises – and with this greater strength and power outputs with less discomfort during and after workouts.

I can’t tell you how many times I heard from other peers in the coaching world that focusing on movement was a waste of time and that it could not be implemented in team sports. Meanwhile, I was doing it on a daily basis and seeing the benefits. Now that does not mean my teams were not training with weights – some people believe that training is an either/or proposition. For example, either you train with weights or machines. If you train with weights, then you have to go heavy all the time. If you subscribe to Olympic lifts, then that’s all you use to train your athletes. If you mention the word “corrective exercise”, then you must only use bands to train with. Now these are generalizations, but back then these statements tended to lump strength and conditioning coaches into categories. So I had an identity crisis. I was training with barbells, doing Olympic lifts and explosive training, utilizing Kettlebells for many training objectives, and bouncing it all off movement assessments to hold myself accountable.
 

I began to implement more exercises: Military Press, TGU, Swings, Single-Sided and Bottoms-Up variations of presses, squats, and single leg movements. Now we were using the KB as part of our corrective exercise, our strength training, and our conditioning. I started to refine my programming and set/rep/rest schemes accordingly. I used myself, my staff, and proper direction from Pavel always in advance before implementing. However, in the early years, I needed more information before team implementation of new concepts. I wanted to get a sense of the subjective elements the training was producing, and I wanted to see the influences of the training on different body types. I knew what I felt and experienced, but I wanted to get some unbiased observations thrown in as well.
 

The NFL Practice Squad

In the NFL you have a small group of athletes assigned to what is called the Practice Squad. The Practice Squad members are part of the team and have a valuable role. They do not play in the games, however they provide the team with a look at the upcoming opponents’ tendencies and tactics. They practice hard while running the plays that the coaching staff feels the opponent may try to use.

I took the same approach with the practice squad. My passion is athlete development, and I wanted to develop each of them beyond what other teams where doing in order to help them reach their goals quickly, which is being a member of the active roster as soon as possible (a bigger paycheck for the athlete). I would implement new KB exercises and methods with the practice squad during the season as a preview to what methods I would utilize with the team in the following off-season training. If I found positive results with the Practice Squad in the Fall, I would feel great about inserting the new plan into the team in the Spring. This approach can also be used at the college level with the redshirt athletes.
 

The Get-Up

I mention this because during one season, another light flashed for me. While working with the Practice Squad, I noticed they all were moving exceptionally well over a short period of time. I had recently spent a few weeks detailing an exercise in a slow, painful way. I wanted the athletes to nail this highly-technical movement. These athletes had been through numerous movement assessments and I had a good idea of how each of them moved as they were with me for 14 weeks before the season, and some for multiple years. But this group started to look different in terms of their movement efficiency than the other athletes on the active roster who were also doing their corrective exercise program.
 

The only difference within the workouts was one exercise: the Turkish Get-Up. I dedicated an entire session, one day a week, of this exercise with the Practice Squad. We began by getting rock solid at the ½ TGU, then progressed as each individual showed competency. The implementation of the TGU raised the average improvement on our movement assessment – the improvements were not achieved with more corrective exercises, as I once believed. I had just learned a valuable lesson that allowed me to take my program to a higher level of movement efficiency.
 

The NFL Lockout

That brings me to another significant event that also showed me how much I could truly influence movement. First, we have to track it with precision. I had compiled many years of data when the NFL lockout struck in 2011. That basically meant that all the athletes had to train on their own away from the team training facility and I was not able to have any contact with them until the lockout lifted. It lifted as the start of Training Camp was to begin, not giving me any time to prepare the athletes for the most demanding portion of the yearly schedule. The injury risk numbers had risen to a level that I had never witnessed before as the athletes had been away for up to 7 months. My plan was to go all-in on reducing these risk factors as quickly as possible.

Another significant event was born from this lockout, in the following Off-Season Period, the amount of time I would be allowed with the athletes would be reduced significantly. I knew what I had done in the past to positively influence movement, but this would have to change completely. My challenge was clear: How to continue to improve movement and performance output with severely limited time.

I remember having a coffee with Pavel discussing my plan and asking for his expertise on this. In his brilliant way, he helped me walk through the plan. There were a few obstacles to navigate in order to reach my goals. The obstacles included:

• less time with the athletes
• no interaction with the athletes for four full months prior to the Off-Season
• I no longer had the ability to condition the athletes as part of my lifting and running plan as in previous years
• they would be asked to be in competitive situations much sooner than in the past (injury risk factors now more in play)
• and my training, although in the non-competitive time of the year, was taking a back seat to on-field practice.

I knew I had a responsibility to prepare the team above our previous standards with less resources. The solution was to install a general preparation program that accomplished these goals fast. I needed to enhance strength, power, muscle mass, metabolic conditioning, flexibility, and reduce body fat and risk factors. An 8-week all-Kettlebell Collision Course was adopted.
 

The Plan

I spent many weeks teaching the exercises and progressions to my two-person staff before the athletes arrived to start the program. The first week was spent teaching the techniques of the base KB exercises and performing our battery of tests and assessments. Not surprisingly, after not having contact with our athletes for four months, their scores were below what we normally had seen in previous years. We used a four-day-a-week plan with single KB movements used on one day, double KB movements used another day, TGU and Windmills on another day, and numerous complexes and chains (metabolic) on another.

I began to notice drastic changes after three to four weeks. I recognized our techniques improving, the KB weights began to increase to impressive amounts, the competitive energy in the weight room was electric, and many athletes were telling stories of the daily naps that hit them out of nowhere.

Another amazing sight was watching the reduction in time spent returning the heart rate between sets of Swings, Cleans, and Snatches. We would monitor heart rate on our metabolic day and only allow an athlete to begin the next set when their HR returning to the assigned value. All HR were displayed on a screen and the athlete watched his numbers lower, then started the next set. By week eight, the team had achieved a conditioning level beyond expectations. To watch how quickly a team of 80 athletes could lower their heart rate was impressive – it was an accumulation of all the drills done during the week.
 

Lessons Learned

Then, I got another flash of light, a “what the hell effect” moment. After analyzing the data gathered at the end of the program, I realized we achieved a greater overall team improvement in movement efficiency than in any of the previous off-season programs. So now I realized, we were stronger, more explosive, more lean, could work all day and recover quickly, and our movement quality had increased dramatically.

How did this happen? How could that happen in less time than in previous years? We did less corrective exercises than ever? I realized that even when we don’t see them at first glance, circumstances force us into the greatest learning lessons imaginable. I was worried about the challenge, the obstacles where enormous, but I gained a tremendous amount of insight into human movement and performance.

I incorporate those lessons into each athlete/client/team I work with today. I have learned that less can be more in most situations, and knowing the key elements of movement can improve performance quickly. I’ve learned that filling in a gap in your overall methodology, or into an individual’s profile, will always be a benefit.

There is a special feeling you get when you spend countless hours preparing your team/clients to the proper techniques of KB training. I remember seeing three of my athletes with completely different body types performing KB Front Squats and all three had identical postures and joint angles at the torso, hip, and knee. One of these athletes was 5’8”, the second was 6’1”, and the third was 6’7” and they all looked like the same body that had been photo-shopped at different sizes. Or the amazing sight when you have a line of athletes all doing KB Swings and as you stand to the side and that moment hits where they suddenly synchronize their movements and several athletes now move as one with perfect hinging mechanics. These are training memories that are magical in my opinion – these snapshots are reflections of the quality work you have put in to coaching.

In this day and age of new technology and new exercise equipment, and specialization at a premium in youth sports, it is ironic how the oldest tool in training still lends the greatest number of benefits. Let’s all of us continue to be great teachers of technique and safety, and influence others to the world of benefits of this simple tool.

By Pavel Tsatsouline, Chairman

A couple of weeks ago Al Ciampa, SFG wrote an excellent blog entitled Where Do You Go After Simple.  In it he outlined a “serious endurance” swing protocol.  I strongly recommend it to those who want to take their conditioning to the next level.

If you choose to hold the course to the “Sinister” goal while sticking to “easy endurance” type training, here is another option.

Albert Einstein famously quipped, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”  I pushed Kettlebell Simple & Sinister programming to the very edge of his statement, to the verge of being too simple.  I have done it on purpose, in order to eliminate any possible excuses that you might have for non-compliance.

I intentionally removed load variability or “waviness”, as Russians call it.  Just bang out your 100 daily swings and 10 get-ups, like brushing your teeth.  All of your attention is on technique and power, and zero brain cells need to be involved in analyzing your workout, attempting to change it.

Once you have put in your time and effort, and reached the “simple” goals—16kg for get-ups and 24kg for swings for ladies; and 32kg in both events for gents for the specified sets, reps, and times—you may carry on using the same simple template inspired by old-time strongmen.

Or, you may start “waving” your volume in the manner of Soviet weightlifters.  Multiple studies have documented the greater effectiveness of “waved” training for experienced athletes.  Here is how:

The first step is identifying your monthly volume.  Note that the “month” I am referring to is not a calendar month but a block of four weeks.

S&S is intended to be practiced daily but most people end up doing it five days a week.  For swings, the numbers then add up to (5 days x 100 reps = 500 reps a week) x 4 weeks = 2,000 reps a month.

When the training load is static, every week makes up 25% of the monthly total.  “Waviness” describes the pattern of making some weeks’ number of lifts (NL) greater than this average, and other weeks’ NL smaller.  Soviet weightlifting specialists proposed the following classification:
 

Weekly volume as a percentage of the monthly volume

(Roman, 1968; Chernyak, 1978)

Many successful combinations of percentages have been arrived at through painstaking experimentation by the Soviets.  We shall go with 15, 20, 30, 35%.  These percentages are named, respectively, deloading, maintenance, developmental, and stress-developmental.

With a 2,000 rep monthly total we arrive at 300, 400, 600, and 700 reps per week.  Again, waviness means making the volume of some training periods both greater than and less than the average, while maintaining the same average.

Note that the weeks do not have to be arranged in the above order.  Experiments have demonstrated any order to be effective for different reasons.  300-700-400-600, 400-600-300-700, or any other combination of these four numbers, will make you stronger.  So just pick one, and make sure to use a different one next month.  Your choice can be random, or influenced by your plans.  For instance, if you are climbing a mountain on week two and want to do a bare minimum of swings, assign the lowest NL, 300, to that week…  Or, if you have a competition in your sport on week four, then taper the volume towards that week: 700-600-400-300…  Make the week after Thanksgiving the highest volume week of the month…  You get the idea.

When you are planning two months back to back, make sure that you do not use the same NL in the last week of the first month and the first week of the second month.

Due to the fractal nature of this type of planning, one must also vary the volume within a week.  Use the table below.  Note that the number of training sessions changes depending on the week’s volume.  This was a standard operating procedure for Soviet weightlifters on whose methodology the “From Simple to Sinister” program is based.

As with weeks, any order of the above percentages is acceptable for different reasons, and should be varied.  Make sure that the NL on the last day of one week does not match that of the first day of the next week.

To make your life easy I have written up the first three months of your “From Simple to Sinister” swing training:  
 

For your training load on “From Simple to Sinister”, you will use the next bell up from the one that allows you to do 100 swings in 5min, on any day—the one that you “own”.  Go up 4kg for ladies and 4 or 8kg for gents.  E.g., a lady who has reached the “simple” goal with 24kg should swing 28kg.  A gent who has bagged 32kg should train with 36kg or 40kg. (Or both, but that would complicate the planning.)

There is no need to time your rest periods, except on the test days appearing in the last week of every month.  Just rest long enough to maintain maximal power output.  Obviously, 180 reps will demand longer rest periods than 80.

As in the original S&S template, on days when you are dragging your tail, do two-hand “shadow swings” with a kettlebell close to 30% of your bodyweight or lighter.  Soviet weightlifting specialists discovered that cutting back on weight and focusing on speed-strength “creates favorable conditions for recovery processes in the body.” (Chernyak, 1978)

On the last Friday of each month, test yourself with a timer going off every 30sec.  If you feel your power about to drop off, switch to a lighter bell for the rest of the 100 reps.  If you are still going strong after 100 with the target weight, keep going as long as your power does not fade.

If you have made 100 in 5min with confidence and power, increase the weight next month.  If you did not make it to 100, or, you did but it took a great effort, stay with the weight for another four weeks.

There are no bimonthly two-handed swing tests on the “From Simple to Sinister” plan.

This plan was designed for someone who does exclusively swings (and goblet squats at the beginning of each session) for the lower body.  If you want to figure out how to introduce another squat or hinge into the mix, you are on your own.

You can continue training the get-up in the usual S&S manner: five singles per arm almost every day.  Or, if you feel up for it, add variability to your get-up training using the swing plan as a template.  Note that the volume dynamics for different lifts are independent.  In other words, a 30% week or day for swings can correspond to 15, 20, 30, or 35% for the get-up.  Do not try to introduce a pattern (e.g. making them go up in sync or at counterphases) where there should be none.  If you are interested in the logic and wisdom behind this type of Soviet weightlifting based programming and how to apply it to your strength lifts, the Plan Strong seminar is right down your alley.

More power to you.

Have you read and applied Kettlebell Simple & Sinister?

Please review it on Amazon.  

By Mike Connelly, SFG II

Part 1

The Marine Corps is the most feared and respected fighting force on the planet.  The storied history of the Corps is a seemingly endless report of instances of honor, courage, and commitment; the core values of the Marine Corps.  Having experienced this tradition firsthand, I can tell you that the reputation was earned through a training system that is second to none.  From bootcamp, to occupational schools, to continuing education, the Marine Corps knows how to assess a situation, form a plan, and execute it with extreme efficiency.  As instructors and practitioners of physical culture, we stand to learn a lot from an organization that has seen it all and continues to produce excellence.

To list what the Marine Corps does well would be an endeavor that I just don’t have time for so for both my sake and yours, I will limit this conversation to a few, broad physical training aspects of the Corps’ culture.

• Keeping it simple.  Without getting political, I will just say that the Marine Corps is not on the top of any “who needs new gear or facilities” lists sitting up in Washington.  That was always ok with us.  As a matter of fact, we took great pride in performing above and beyond expectations with less than desirable quality or quantity of supplies.  This mindset also rang true in our physical training.  Organized PT (Physical Training) sessions rarely included any equipment outside of a pull up bar and even that was not a constant.  Through a regimen that includes very basic exercises, the Marine Corps creates and maintains a fit and ready fighting force.  Outside of PT, we did a lot of loaded carries.  When it comes to keeping it simple in the exercise realm, it is hard to beat the loaded carry.  See weight, pick weight up, carry weight for a set distance, put weight down.  Congratulations!  You are now stronger than when you first laid eyes on that weight!

• As Dan John says, “Keeping the goal the goal.”   If you want to be proficient with a movement or score well on a test, you must practice what is required of you often.  At least 3 times a week, Marines gather on the Platoon level and train.  We run, do calisthenics, pull ups, push ups, and maybe even go through the standard USMC obstacle course (that was always a special treat).  The intensity of training varied through distance of runs, volume of exercises, and duration of training.  One thing was always constant though, we are training movements that will be tested through the PFT or standard combat training drills.  There were no frills and no distractions from accomplishing what was expected of us and therefore very few had a hard time maintaining at least the minimum standards.

• Chaos.  As I mentioned before, the Corps has a standard obstacle course that you will find duplicated on just about every Camp around the globe.  At first glance, it seems like there would be nothing to it for any physically competent individual.  Throw in people yelling at you (Not like when you get yelled at by your dad.  This yelling comes from what seems to be the depths of hell and is guaranteed to rattle your train of thought.), exhaustion from prior activity, and maybe even a loaded rucksack and some rain and you have yourself a training event that will test your ability to perform a task under stress.  You know what Marines have to do a lot of the time?  Perform tasks under stress.  So this is a fine tuned instrument for dialing Marines into the idea that no matter what we encounter, we have a job to do and we are going to do it.  Outside of that, Marines are also very, very good at handling things when they don’t go their way.  Plans are great but they rarely survive first contact so be prepared to adapt your strategy and stay in the fight!

That is a very short and general glimpse at what is done very well in the physical culture created by the Marine Corps.  And while perfect does not exist in this world, my beloved Corps has done a stand up job of adapting to the demands of being a world class fighting force and overcoming the obstacles laid out by an often tumultuous world for 239 years.

As outstanding as the Marine Corps’ training regimen is, as with anything else, there is always room for improvement.  My mindset on training has changed since my days of wearing PT belts as I have since dedicated my attention to studying better ways to train the human body.  My thought that the best way around a wall was through it has been replaced with more subtle and insightful strategies and because of that I feel I am more resilient than I have ever been.  Notice I kept that to “more resilient than I’ve ever been.”  I’m not going to throw out the obligatory “I’m stronger than I’ve ever been” because me-at-21 would rip me-at 38’s arms out of socket.  But I will say that I now see how I could have been even stronger as a twenty-one year old Marine.

Here are a few ways that I would humbly suggest the Marine Corps adapt their training to address some gaps that were existent during my service.  My thoughts are that if the following movements were tested there would be fewer injuries in training and an even more effective fighting force would be in place.

• Sprinting.  I was fortunate to never have been required to serve in combat.  Having said that, I can’t imagine that there are too many instances in combat where my pace in moving from one spot to the other would match that of a PT run.  In our organized PT, we never did any sprints which does not really reflect the demands that would be put on our body in combat training.  In assault drills, we were taught to time our advancements by saying, “I’m up.  They see me.  I’m down.”  This meant we would start saying that as soon as we showed ourselves from behind cover and would be down in the prone position or behind cover by the time we recited “I”m down.”  This was the optimal time spent exposed in order to increase your chances of not being recognized and “addressed” by the enemy.   It is my understanding that this is an issue that is starting to be addressed in Combat Fitness Testing.

• Squatting/Hinging.  Marines do an awful lot of picking things up and putting them down.  Rucksacks, ammo cans, water containers, other Marines… you name it, we’ve picked it up off the ground and put it back down again.  The body squat or hinge were relatively under-practiced in our regimented PT, and it was never tested, yet a great portion of the work we did required us to constantly perform a squat or hinge of some sort.

• Front Loaded Lifts.  I would recommend front loaded lifting not only for the enormous strength and “armor” building benefits but also as a balance to the large amounts of back loaded lifting Marines do.  A lot of our training was done with a rucksack of various weights on our back and our bodies slightly bent over.

• Assessments/Instruction.  The last thing I would add is some form of assessing the individual Marine’s performance and guided instructions on how to address that assessment.  Most of us exercised on our own outside of regimented PT but really had no idea how to get better at what we may have needed to get better at in order to up our PT score or our performance in training.  Sometimes the issue lies outside of just performing the desired exercise a lot to get better and that was something that eluded me during my service days.

There are a couple of takeaways that I would like to address here as I feel they will answer some popular questions with coaching; especially coaching groups.  Keep it simple.  More often than not, my answer to questions about how we do things at Rebell is, “Dial it back and stick to the basics.”  The manual that we are taught from as StrongFirst instructors has been written through years of experience from our lead instructors.  Stay the course that has been provided to you.  Establish goals and trim the fat off of your training.  I think that one of the largest factors in people not hitting their goals is over complicated or ambiguous programming.  Stick to the necessities with little to no fluff and you will reach your goal much quicker.  Have a plan but be ready for the inevitable detour.  If your programming hits a snag (in group training this is almost a guarantee) keep your cool, reassess, and move forward from there.  These simple yet effective guidelines have helped keep the Marine Corps the most effective fighting force on the planet for centuries!

Part 2

Having served in the Marine Corps, I have conversations from time to time with people who wonder what it was like to serve in the best fighting force on the planet.  “Strong people stand up for themselves.  Stronger people stand up for others.” That’s an old adage that was passed on to my nephew from his Papa.  To me, there are no other words that culminate the spirit of my beloved Corps.  We are a group of men and women that at some point decided that we wanted to put our lives on the line to help others that needed us.  There is plenty of evidence to support this view.  Just turn on the news and you are likely to see the Marines in the middle of someone else’s trouble.  Whether it be through humanitarian efforts or digging trenches and fighting persecuting forces around the globe.  We truly are the world’s 911 force.

There is a side of our service men and women that we do not hear about too often, if at all.  For most of these young men and women the battle that started in a foreign land does not often end there.  It follows them home and erodes away at their everyday lives.  It consumes the people that they used to be and leaves an empty shell void of hope.  A very sad reality is that twenty-two of these heroes commit suicide each day.  That sounds like a number that is hard to believe, but I can assure you that it is very real and very well may be underestimated.  These men and women, who so selflessly toed the line to help others, now need our help to gain the lives that they deserve;  healthy, prosperous lives supported by those who love them and care enough to help them with the aftermath of their service

In the middle of this silent battle there are some that have stood up and taken the initiative to fight.  These are men and women that have experienced the trauma and anguish that so many have fallen to over the years.  Their mission is stated clearly; “We take pride in supporting veterans and ensuring their success in life.”.  They do this through many ways, including matching veterans up with mentors, providing professional counselling, and educating the public on this epidemic.  As strong as these men are, they need our help.  This is not a battle that they can win on their own.

For their years of service, Marines live a fast paced and active lifestyle.  Coming out of that lifestyle can prove to be a tough transition both mentally and physically.  As facility owners, we can help.  We have the means to provide a serviceman or woman an environment they have grown accustomed to and provide an outlet for some of the anxiety that comes with the transition to civilian life.  This sounds like a simple solution and it is in reality, but the impact it can have on a veterans life is a big positive.

On October 26th, SFG Level 2 Paul Lyngso brought some of his students from Burr Ridge Kettlebell Club to Rebell Strength and Conditioning to engage in a small battle on behalf of our nation’s warriors.  We, along with hundreds of facilities nation wide, and even some overseas, participated in The Raider Project Challenge.  We put ourselves through a gruelling one hour workout to raise funds.  It was a huge success with thousands participating, but the fight is not over.

Lifting twice your bodyweight off the floor is strong.  Reaching your hand out and lifting someone else’s body weight off the floor is stronger regardless of how much they weigh.  We can make an impact. There are many ways that we can get involved with this effort.  If you know someone that has served, reach out to them.  Let them know that you are there if they need help.  Let them know that you are there for them just as they were there for all of us.

The Raider Project is just getting started with their mission and while it has been a strong start, it is a long road that they will be travelling.  They need our help!

For more information on The Raider Project : http://www.raiderproject.org

To make a monetary donation to The Raider Project : https://www.crowdrise.com/donatetoraiderproject

I would like to thank my friend and much younger Marine brother, Matt Patruno, for helping me get this together.  A combat Marine, Matt has opened my eyes to so many ways that we can help our nation’s heroes.  I am very grateful for that.  And, as he has done at so many points of my career, Dan John who helped me get the many thoughts I had on this together.  Thanks for being a mentor that leaves nothing to be desired.

Godspeed StrongFirst,

Mike Connelly
Co-Owner/Co-Founder Rebell Strength and Conditioning
SFG Level 2 Instructor

Mike Connelly might be the kindest scary man you’ll ever meet.  A large, impressive figure with a big beard and huge smile; people might sense his jovial humor and confuse him with a gentle giant- and they’d be accurate.  Just add tattoos, drive, and some of the most intense physical training in the world.  He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1997 – 2001.  Though his service never saw live combat, he provided security for weapons and prisoner transports and was an instructor of marksmanship.  Besides his military career, he has spent his entire life in Chicago, a name he pronounces with the true accent of a “Second City” son.  Through his years as a resident, he developed deep roots to his city which spread into the motto of the business he co-founded, Rebell Strength and Conditioning.  The true hearted strength gym promotes the altruism: Strength – Community – Education, raising over $45,000 for various causes in the little over three years they’ve been open.  Never forgetting his brothers in arms, his personal passion projects tend to involve supporting military veterans and their families.  His personal family is also expanding this February when he marries the love of his life, Jaime, and officially adopts their dog-child, Bowie.

Mike believes in love, honor, and bacon.  And he is strength of character exemplified in a man doing great things for the people and community around him.

In Strength,
Kim Weston SFG/SFL