Transcription
Over 1,800 days, nearly 5 years, I committed to kettlebell training. I had no idea that a simple piece of iron would become such a big part of my life. What started as just another tool in my toolbox as a personal trainer turned into a journey of learning and growth. It was about mastering the skills, learning the rich history of kettlebells, diving into the expertise and the scientific realm of kettlebell training, and talking to various experts from all around the world.
I went deep into the rabbit hole, and yes, I've lost some muscle compared to my bodybuilding days, but I've gained more physical qualities such as more endurance, flexibility, mobility, more strength, and an enjoyment of training that I didn't have before. You see, I liken a kettlebell workout to being a hunter-gatherer. You have to be quick, fast, explosive, slow, deliberate. You have to squat, you have to stand, you have to jump, you have to run, and all these physical expressions can be experienced in one kettlebell workout. But I'm glad that I sidestepped this chase of only one physical quality being hypertrophy because I understood that if I continue down this journey, it might be detrimental to my body image, my mental health, and my ability to move.
Now, before we go on, here's a quick little disclaimer. This video isn't for everyone. If you're just a bystander looking at this video, you might be thinking, "Alright, that's an extremist fundamentalist view." If you are, however, in the perfect target audience for kettlebell training, then this has the capacity to change your life. And if you're over 40 and you want to become fit, strong, and lean without going to the gym twice as fast, then download my free ebook in the first link in the description. [Applause]
Great. With that, great. This video is divided into different sections. In the first section, I want to talk about my story because I want to share with you how I became a kettlebell expert and what qualifies me to give you this information that I'm about to share right now. In section number two, we're going to talk about the best exercises and one of the most powerful workouts that you can do, understanding the intricate basics of kettlebell training and its uniqueness. In section three, we talk about kettlebells versus other tools and building muscle because, like I mentioned, I come from the bodybuilding type of background, but I soon realized, thanks to the kettlebell, that I have to open up a little bit. And finally, I want to share one massive learning experience that can help you take your kettlebell journey to the next level. It is very empowering, and I'm glad to share this with you.
So, let me give you my story first. When I started and opened up my personal training gym, I just thought about adding a couple of tools to my toolbox because if you listen to very popular trainers online, they tell you that as a trainer, you have to have lots of material to work with. And I agree to a certain extent, and I disagree for various reasons that are outside the scope of this video. After I got started with kettlebells, I quickly realized that the kettlebell is humbling me in a way that I haven't experienced before. So I reached out to a legend in the kettlebell sphere, and that is Steve Carter. And in June 2019, he flew over from the States to Switzerland to certify Angie and me in my gym.
The pandemic happened, and from then on, we've decided to dedicate every training minute that we have available to kettlebells. This means we trained on a daily basis, almost from Monday to Sunday, because we were streaming our workouts to our audience with kettlebells. And this gave us a head start because if you want to become better with a certain tool, it requires a certain skill set, and in order to improve that skill set, you have to spend lots and lots and lots of time with it, and you have to geek out a little bit if you really want to master it.
I decided to open up my own kettlebell podcast, and on that podcast, which has close to 100 discussions with kettlebell experts from around the world, I have learned even more, adding to my level of knowledge about one of the best pieces of iron that you can use. After learning from so many experts on my podcast, I started developing my own expression of kettlebell training. However, I did not steer away from the original concept too much. I just gave it my own spin, and that led me to delve into the realms of Bruce Lee, who says, "I have no style as a style. I have no limitation as a limitation."
And what really helped me understand where I was in my kettlebell journey was Bruce Lee's three stages of expertise. In stage one, which we call the stage of innocence, you are just learning. In stage two, you jump into the stage of information. Now, it's all about learning. There's less of you and more of the existing scientific principles that you have to learn. In stage three, you are finally at the stage of innovation. This is where you become a master, venture out on your own, and give your own spin on the basics that have been proven to work. And I consider myself now at stage three. I have a bird's-eye perspective and a fairly good understanding of the kettlebell sphere, and I use this to my advantage to help people from all around the world become strong, fit, and lean without having to go to the gym.
As I was crossing the realms of the kettlebell sphere, I got in touch with these different styles and certain arguments. I understood that the kettlebell sphere is a very small community, loving, knowledgeable, understanding, but there's also some type of gatekeeping perspective that permeates its foundation. And I believe that this gatekeeping perspective originates from Pavel Tsatsouline and John DuCaine's idea. These two guys were responsible for the modern renaissance in the 2000s when they started with RKC, what later turned into StrongFirst, which is Pavel's own baby. Pavel was powerful at marketing. He was the tough guy instructor, and you are nothing. And this stick that was used as a marketing tactic worked like magic.
This philosophy nurtured a culture where people told you that if you don't do a swing, clean, or snatch, or any of the powerful kettlebell exercises that you can do the proper way, and with proper way, I mean referring to only one source who has all the answers, then you're doing it wrong. This is a human issue, and I was caught by it, not only from one side of the spectrum but also from the other side because I consider myself being an inhabitant of all these different realms that exist in the kettlebell sphere. Yes, I've carved my own path, but at the same time, I realize that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. But adding my own spin was just a logical conclusion given how much time I spent with the tool and my experience, which is not only from training and working out with the kettlebell by myself for over 1,800 days, but also teaching it to absolute beginners who never touched a kettlebell before.
I also developed my own coaching philosophy, and there's one particular anchor in this philosophy that I'm going to share at the end of this video, which I believe will empower you to pick up a kettlebell and get started right away. Now, compared to other training modalities, kettlebells stand out for their versatility. And my biggest issue is that mainstream fitness does not seem to recognize or realize the powerful benefits that a kettlebell can give you. If we look at the different training modalities, which are all from the same family, they're just different members, we can say that every particular idea of training, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, machines, bands, have a particular set of benefits. Dumbbells can give you a solid full-body workout focusing on building solid muscle. Barbells are the epitome of building strength. Machines are the number one choice of bodybuilders, and kettlebells are the jack of all trades and the master of none.
And if we look at these different descriptions, I believe that a certain type of demographic gravitates towards the kettlebell because what if I told you that there's one particular tool that can give you everything? A little bit of strength, a little bit of power, a little bit of more endurance, a little bit of muscle, a little bit of more flexibility, all at the same time? You would consider this as most bang for your buck. You'd say that this seems to be a high return on investment in terms of effort that I put in, I get lots of benefits because I don't have to sit down on a bench and curl to build my biceps, and then after I've done a couple of sets, I have to step on a treadmill and then focus on my cardio. You don't have to do this with a kettlebell. You do a clean, we take care of cardio, endurance, strength, mobility, muscle, everything at the same time.
The issue of the kettlebell is that it doesn't specialize. But if you are into general fitness, you don't have to specialize because specializing is only reserved for athletes. Athletes have a particular way of how they prepare. In stage one, they prepare their GPP, also referred to as general physical preparedness. This means in the GPP phase, you want to bring your body up to speed. You want to improve its general fitness, all these physical qualities that I've mentioned, you want to bring them up a notch because you want to prepare your body for stage two, which is SP, which we call the special physical preparedness. Now, all the work that you've spent in building up your general fitness is now used to specialize because specializing requires even more dedication, more skill, a higher level of fitness. And in stage three, you jump into the competitive phase, and stage four is post-competitive.
If you're into general fitness, stage two is not even relevant for you. You don't have to become a master at the snatch. You don't have to spend 10 minutes and do as many reps as possible, and you don't have to swing a 92 kg kettlebell. You just want to take care of your general fitness. That's why it makes sense to pick up a tool that gives you so many things all at once.
Now, let me give you a rundown of the most powerful kettlebell exercises. On this channel, we dedicate lots of time in many videos to individual exercises and workout routines that you can check out by yourself if you're interested in learning more. What I want to do right now is just give you a bird's-eye perspective. I think there are nine exercises that can give you the most bang for your buck, and these nine exercises are three particular ones that are unique to the kettlebell, and they give you these unique benefits that many of you are probably looking for. A little bit more strength, especially in the midsection area, where many of us, especially over 40s and 50s, are banged up, pain issues, and it most of the time radiates from the midsection. And the kettlebell strengthens that part in a way that is soft for the joints and that is a lot of fun.
So, now, exercise number one will be the deadlift (watch one-arm version). The deadlift builds your posterior chain, which are the muscles right around that area: lower back, hips, legs, and of course, the front row as well. Now, exercise number two is the squat (watch). Now, since it involves the word squat, we already know that it trains your legs. But because it is a front squat and you hold the kettlebell in front of you, it requires an upright posture, which also trains your upper body. That's why I consider the goblet squat to be a full-body exercise. And next to its powerful benefits to the midsection, many of these kettlebell exercises that I show you are full-body. You have to throw your whole organism into the execution of these particular exercises, which again saves you so much time because you take care of everything in a very short time frame.
Exercise number three is the row (watch one-arm version). With that bent-over posture, my stabilizers have to work in a static position, which requires strength and local endurance. And by pulling the kettlebell up, I focus on my biggest back muscle right here and here, these two wings that we have at our left and our right side, respectively. Exercise number four, lunge (watch). We have some nice stretching going on right here at the front side of the legs. We have a stability component, and this can give you a better drive, which can help your walking and increase your upright posture because you're strengthening the hips. And this exercise can also be very beneficial for athletes who want to run and need power when they get started. So, stretching the muscles to their utmost capacity and then strengthening them at the same time is a match made in heaven.
Exercise number five, the press (watch single-hand). The press is an expression of upper body strength and requires your upper body to be as engaged as possible. Yes, for many of us, this looks like only a shoulder exercise, but your lats are involved, your chest is involved, your arms are involved. And as you use heavier weights, your stabilizer muscles, because we only use one side, it's the unilateral approach of kettlebell training, are also active. Exercise number six, carries. The simplest of them all. You grab a kettlebell and you start walking. Exercises like this are often times overlooked because they're not flashy, they don't look sexy, but they give you massive and powerful benefits. The suitcase walk is an iteration of the farmer's walk where you have two kettlebells and you walk around. And there's a reason why farmers are so strong.
Now, these next three exercises that I'm going to show you, I call them the Holy Trinity: the swing, the clean (or the clean and press, or the clean and jerk), and the snatch. These three exercises are unique to kettlebells. Watch. Similar to the deadlift, with an added component of momentum, and momentum requires your stabilizers to be as active as possible. It also improves your kinesthetic literacy because if you add momentum to an exercise, it means that your muscles have to communicate with each other even better. You have to understand when to contract, and you have to understand when to relax.
Exercise number two is the little brother from the swing, the clean. You get all the same benefits from the swing with an added component of the upper body where we have to pull the kettlebell up and rack it close to the body. Now, exercise 2A, next to clean, will be the clean and press or the clean and jerk (watch). Clean and press: you can strict press it, you can push press it, or you can jerk it. And now we have entered the most bang for your buck territory because a clean press trains every muscle in your body, and you can then decide, do I want to take rather a strength endurance or explosive route with the push press or the jerk, or do I want to mix strength and endurance into one by using the strength endurance capacity of the clean and then focusing on strength only with a strict press? And finally, we have the snatch. And according to research, the snatch trains every major muscle in your body (watch).
And there you have it. These nine exercises can give you everything that you need in terms of your fitness. Now, let's take a look at the bird's-eye perspective of a kettlebell workout. What makes the kettlebell so unique is its unbroken. Neither a machine, a barbell, or a dumbbell can be used to train in an unbroken fashion with a weight that can really challenge you. In many cases, you have to put the weight down, relax, take your time, and then get back at it again. Not so with the kettlebell, not even with the weight that challenges you, because I can go unbroken with 24s, 28s, and 32s if I program them properly. And this taps into a special kind of endurance that the East Europeans refer to as hybrid or special endurance.
Now, in our example with these nine exercises, we can say, you know what, let's do 10 reps per exercise, with the exception that for farmer's walk, I would walk 100 meters per side, or suitcase walk in that regard. So, what would that look like? We would start with the deadlift, one, two, three, let's say this is number 10. Ten rows, two, let's say this is number 10. Squat, let's say this is number 10. Going a little bit advanced here, rack lunge, let's say this is number 10. I'm now getting a little bit of active rest with a hand-to-hand sway, let's say this is number 10. And you get the idea. All of a sudden, I can move with the kettlebell through time and space, owning it, becoming a part with it, becoming one with it. And this is a unique factor of kettlebells which elevates your enjoyment. And this means you can crunch a workout down into 10 minutes and still get a lot of work done.
And just in case if you're wondering what kind of kettlebell I'm using, it's the Pro Kettlebell by my friend Nikolai Popov, proudly made in the USA. There are five things that I love about the Pro Kettlebell. Number one, the contoured arm pockets that fit well on the clean as well as with the snatch. This means beginners will feel right at home, and professionals can get rid of their calluses on their forearms. The second thing I love is the high-quality texture finish on the handle, which doesn't turn your hands into hamburger meat when you do lots of swings and ballistics in general. And this also means that you don't have to use a lot of chalk. Number three is the ergonomics. The Pro Kettlebell is a little bit smaller than the standard competition kettlebells, which means the weight sits closer to your center of mass. You feel it in the rack position, and you get that immediate superflow feeling when you engage into the ballistics. Number four is the wide hollow core base, which makes it a safe option if you do kettlebell exercises on the floor, such as a handle push-up. Number five is the second grip because of the wide hollow core base, which lets you do curls and presses and exercises that you can do with other kettlebells. There are even more benefits, such as a safe option of a magnetic weight chip that you can add inside the hollow core base of your kettlebell and make it heavier. Check the link in the description to get your Pro Kettlebell right now, and don't forget to use our code LEISHTOCK to get 10% off your next purchase.
Now, in this final section of the video, I want to give you a power tip that empowers you to pick up a kettlebell, go outside, buy yourself a Pro Kettlebell, and then get started immediately. You don't have to be a master of technique in order to reap the benefits of kettlebells. I know the kettlebells seem intimidating, and as I've mentioned in the beginning, some players in the kettlebell sphere played heavily into this intimidating aspect of it so that onlookers look at it and think, "Wow, this is so crazy. This looks so difficult that I have to learn this properly." And you're not wrong if you think that you need some technique and you need to learn it in order to have your enjoyment go through the roof. But what I'm trying to say is there are no prerequisites. Even in the beginning, your swing, your clean, your snatch, they will look bad, but you will still gain some benefits. And as you get the proper information and then lay it down on top of thousands and thousands of reps, you will develop a solid feel for these particular exercises. It's just a tool, and yes, while it requires some skill, getting started immediately always makes the most sense.
Finally, I want to leave you with a powerful piece of experience which can help especially men who think, "I want to build solid muscle, and I come from the bodybuilding days, and will I lose muscle? And what do I have to do because the kettlebell is probably not the best tool to build muscle?" The kettlebell does build functional muscle, muscle that performs, and that works, and that looks good. However, if you add bodyweight exercises, push-ups, burpees, pull-ups, dips, especially as you are a little bit more advanced into your workout schedule, I guarantee you that you will look like a sprinter. You will get that Greek god physique without having to use chemicals, without having to sign up for a gym membership. I think the kettlebell and bodyweight are powerful, and they are a match made in heaven. Granted, if you want to look big and strong, I'm assuming you don't want to look like this because you're watching this video in the first place to maybe get away from this idea. I still want to leave you with a nugget of wisdom.
If I go to a car manufacturer and I'm just a normal guy who wants a fast car, fast for me means that the car manufacturer is building a car that is fast on average based on my level of expertise and knowledge. If I go into the Formula 1 or racing in general, and I talk to these guys, and I say, "I need a fast car," fast is relative and takes on a completely new form. And this is a great analogy of building muscle. Will the kettlebell build muscle? Yes, especially from a functional perspective. But if you want to add a little bit more on top of it, which might happen later down the line, then bodyweight is a great option for you. Here's the next thing that you have to do: clean and press that like and subscribe button. Share with a friend who's also interested in kettlebells. And if you made it this far, download my free ebook in the first link in the description called "The Kettlebell Code."
If you're over 40, 50, or 60, you don't have a lot of time, but you still want to take care of your fitness, you don't want to go to the gym, and you want to get a fit, strong, and lean body as fast as possible, this is where the kettlebell shines the most. It takes care of so many aspects of physical qualities in such a short amount of time. That's why it is perfect for you. And you want to get started, you want to get a head start, you want that road to success immediately with a little shortcut. I can give it to you with my ebook, so download it right now in the first link in the description.