Pavel Tsatsouline Quotes

Everything in your body is interrelated and isolation is a myth.

If you think you are only strong if you can lift a certain number, whatever that number is, you will feel pretty weak most of the time. Strength is not a data point; it’s not a number. It’s an attitude.

Shrugging your shoulder and/or letting it move forward will destroy your shoulder and your power alike—whether you are punching, benching, or doing pushups.

HOW TO GRIND YOUR DEADLIFT Mentally prepare for a steady, relentless effort, as opposed to having a speed mindset. Pre-tense. Pressurize. Squeeze the bar off the floor, don’t jerk. “Lift the barbell powerfully-steady, applying a maximal effort along the whole lift.” (Smolov) Aim for a constant, low, acceleration towards the lockout. There is more than one way to pull big.

Tensing your abs will amplify the intensity of the contraction of any muscle in your body.

Push from your armpit, rather than your shoulder.

Understanding is a delaying tactic…,” as one novelist put it. “Do you want to understand how to swim, or do you want to jump in and start swimming? Only people who are afraid of water want to understand. Other people jump in and get wet.

Take a close look at a squat, barbell, or bodyweight—it makes no difference. Both the quadriceps and the hamstrings are working toward the common goal of standing up. The quads are extending the knees, and the hammies are extending the hips.

An aside that will appeal to the well-rounded reader: A creative high that increases physical and mental work capacity is accompanied by noradrenaline secretion. Perhaps this explains why the samurai were equally proficient at war and poetry.

doing the perfect kettlebell swing alone is superior to 99 percent of the sophisticated strength and conditioning programs out there.

Russians are easy to spot, even if you dress them like Buckingham Palace guards. They are “the white people who look seriously ticked off,” as Army Ranger vet Ellis Jones, RKC, has put it on our forum.

Vodka at night. Pickle juice in the morning (the best thing for a hangover). Throwing some kettlebells around between this hangover and the next one. A Russian’s day well spent. The ‘kettlebell’ or girya is a cast iron weight which looks like a basketball with a suitcase handle. It is an old Russian toy. As the 1986 Soviet Weightlifting Yearbook put it, “It is hard to find a sport that has deeper roots in the

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Academician Amosov’s ‘1000 Moves’ Morning ‘Recharge’ Complex 1. Squat –100 repetitions 2. Side bends –100 repetitions 3. Pushups on the floor –50 repetitions 4. Forward bends –100 repetitions 5. Straight arm lateral raises overhead –100 repetitions 6. Torso turns –50 repetitions 7. Roman chair situps –100 repetitions 8. One legged jumps in place –100 repetitions per leg 9. Bringing the elbows back –100 repetitions 10. ‘The birch tree’ –hold for the count of 100 11. Leg and hip raises. Lie on your back and bring your feet behind your head while keeping your legs reasonably straight. –100 repetitions 12. Sucking in the stomach –50 repetitions

You shall gain but you shall pay with sweat, blood, and vomit, Comrade.

Every two weeks take a kettlebell one or more sizes lighter than the one you are currently swinging. Pick a swing variation—two-arm, one-arm, hand-to-hand, mixed—and enjoy the pain.

It does not matter if you can do 1,000 punches if none of them can knock out your little sister.

Never contest for space with a kettlebell.

When the Russian kettlebell meets an American steak, it is a beautiful thing.

I’m not as good as I once was, but I am as good once as I ever was.

The one-arm snatch is the Tsar of kettlebell lifts, fluid and vicious. It will quickly humble even studly powerlifters. The forces generated by this drill are awesome. “How can it be if the weight is so light?” you might ask. –Through great acceleration and deceleration. F=ma, force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. Would you rather roll a 500 pound barbell over your toes or drop a 72 pounder from seven feet? I rest my case.

You can think of the snatch as a clean to the point above your head. Do not even think about taking it on until you have mastered one arm swings and cleans! Stand over a kettlebell, your feet about shoulder width apart, your weight on your heels. Inhale, arch your back, push your butt back, and bend your knees. Reach for the bell with one hand, the arm straight, while keeping the other arm away from your body (initially you may help yourself by pushing with the free hand against your thigh but it is considered ‘no class’ by most gireviks). Swing the bell back and whip it straight overhead in one clean movement. Note that the pulling arm will bend and your body will shift to the side opposite to the weight. But you do not need to worry about trying to do it that way; just pull straight up and your body will find an efficient path in a short while. Do not lift with your arm, but rather with your hips. Project the force straight up, rather than back—as in a jump. You may end up airborne or at least on your toes. It is OK as long as you roll back on your heels by the time the bell comes down. Dip under the K-bell as it is flipping over the wrist. Absorb the shock the same way you did for cleans. Fix the weight overhead, in the press behind the neck position for a second, then let it free fall between your legs as you are dropping into a half squat. Keep the girya near your body when it comes down. As an option, lower the bell to your shoulder before dropping it between the legs. Ease into the one arm power snatch because even a hardcore deadlifter’s hamstrings and palms are guaranteed to take a beating. Especially if your kettlebells are rusty like the ones I trained with at the ‘courage corner’. It was a long time after my discharge before my palms finally lost their rust speckled calluses. Unlike the deadlift, the kettlebell snatch does not impose prohibitively strict requirements on spinal alignment and hamstring flexibility. If you are deadlifting with a humped over back you are generally asking for trouble; KB snatches let you get away with a slightly flexed spine. It is probably due to the fact that your connective tissues absorb shock more effectively when loaded rapidly. Your ligaments have wavy structures. A ballistic shock—as long as it is of a reasonable magnitude—is absorbed by these ‘waves’, which straighten out like springs.

The Official Soviet Weightlifting Textbook Girevoy Sport Competition Training Guidelines (Falameyev, 1986) Train three times a week on non-consecutive days, preferably at the same time of the day. In the beginning limit your sessions to 30 min and your load to 3 sets per exercise in two arm exercises and 3 sets per arm in one arm drills. Select a weight that enables you to do 5-16 repetitions in a given exercise. Perform your exercises through the full range of motion. Breathe deep and smooth without excessive straining and breath holding. Rest for 2 min between sets. Calmly walk around. Train the one arm snatches, presses, and C&Js in 3-5 sets. Complete all the sets for the weaker arm first. Once a week work both arms back to back without setting the kettlebell down on the platform. Perform 2-3 such competition style sets. Do extra snatches with the weaker arm. Pay a lot of attention to the development of your wrist strength. Before tackling the competition-level, two arm/two kettlebell C&Js, master one arm/one KB C&Js, with a special emphasis on the weaker arm. Train the two arm/two kettlebell C&J in 6-8 sets. Include two different kettlebell exercises in a training session and follow them up with 2-3 barbell exercises. As the competition approaches, the number of barbell exercises in a session is decreased, so is their volume.

WORKOUT #1 1. Double arm swing to warm up. –x20 2. Military press (strict). –x10 3. Clean and push press. –x10 4. Cleans. –x10 5. One arm side press. –x5 (each side) 6. Overhead one arm squats. –x10 7. Lunges. –x20 8. Sumo deadlifts. –x20-50 9. Wrestler’s bridge press. –x10 10. Turkish get ups. –x5 (each side) 11. Janda or Ab Pavelizer situps. 12. Chin up ladders. –alternate with a partner. The circuit is done with no rest between exercises for one set of the above repetitions with kettlebells that weight about 23.6 kilograms or 52 pounds each. The workout is under 15.00 and I attempt to lessen the time every workout. Zack and Steve Maxwell are ready to take on their kettlebells.

Falameyev advises to start training with 16kg, advance to 24 kg in four to six weeks, and later to dvukhpudoviks. Beginners are not supposed to train longer than 30 min per workout. Three workouts a week on non-consecutive days, preferably at the same time of the day, are the rule of thumb.

In the beginning of your career, the Russian expert advises you to limit your load to three sets per exercise in two-arm exercises and three sets per arm in one-arm drills. You should select a weight that enables you to do no less than 5-6 and no more than 15-16 repetitions in a given exercise.

Repeat the one arm snatch in 3-5 sets, first with the left (if it is the weaker one), and then for the same number of sets with the right arm. For some sessions, perform the complete cycle of the exercise by switching the kettlebell from hand to hand. Pay a lot of attention to developing your wrist strength. Snatch more often with the weaker arm.

Train the press in a similar fashion. First, give an adequate load to the weaker arm (3-5 sets till substantial fatigue), then to the strong one. Once a week, perform a full cycle of the exercises (in 2-3 sets—as in a competition): press the kettlebell out with one arm until total exhaustion, and then repeat the drill with the other arm, without setting the kettlebell down on the platform.

If a kettlebell were a person, it would be the type of a guy you would want [on your side] in an alley fight. —Glenn Buechlein, powerlifter

Called girya in Russian, this cannonball with a handle has been making better men and women for over 300 years. In imperial Russia, “kettlebell” was synonymous with “strength.” A strongman or weightlifter was called a girevik or a “kettlebell man.” Strong ladies were girevichkas or “kettlebell women.

Not a single sport develops our muscular strength and bodies as well as kettlebell athletics,” reported Russian magazine Hercules in 1913.

Kettlebells are compact, inexpensive, virtually indestructible, and can be used anywhere. The unique nature of kettlebell lifts provides a powerful training effect with a relatively light weight, and you can replace an entire gym with a couple of kettlebells. Dan John, Master SFG[1] and a highly accomplished power athlete, famously quipped, “With this kettlebell in my bedroom I can prepare myself for the Nationals.

StrongFirst: Kettle-bell-focused fitness program founded by Russian fitness guru Pavel Tsatsouline

Time to start by buying a 300 pound Olympic weight set: a barbell with plates.

This is how powerlifting world champion Donnie Thompson swings. This is kime. Thompson took his deadlift from 766 to 832, and added 100 pounds to his bench press in nine months with hard style kettlebell training.

The bike is efficient—and fat people can ride it forever.

We do not tolerate weakness at StrongFirst. You do not have a weak arm and a strong arm—but a strong and a stronger one.

You are to do nothing else during this practice—only lift the kettlebell and move for active recovery. There is no chatting, looking at members of the opposite sex, watching TV, fooling around with your phone (absolutely no phone), taking a drink of water, or going to the bathroom. Just training. Your session is barely half an hour long; stay focused.

Apart from safety, there are many reasons to lift and lower your weights slowly: three to five seconds on the way up and three to five on the way down is the Power to the People! rule. First, muscular tension drops off as the velocity increases. Considering that tension is what we are after, it is a dumb idea. Just note that the athletes with the most spectacular muscular definition are those from sports requiring slow exertions, such as gymnastics.

The confidence of amateurs is the envy of professionals.

It is hard to understand the logic of governments—both Russian and American—that encourage inmates to strength train, but Russian prisoners lift kettlebells as well.

What is a kettlebell? It’s a cannonball with a handle. It’s an extreme handheld gym. It’s a statement: “I’m sick of your metrosexual gyms! I’m a man, and I’ll train like a man!” Lifting a kettlebell is liberating and as aggressive as medieval swordplay. It’s a manifestation of what Ori Hofmekler has called the “warrior instinct.

Guys name their kettlebells like they name their guns. They paint them with their units’ coats of arms. They get tattoos of kettlebells. The Russian kettlebell is the Harley-Davidson of weights.

Start with one kettlebell; the table on the next page will help you pick the right one. If you have the funds, get a set of three or four kettlebells, referring to the table for sizes.

In Russia kettlebells are a matter of national pride and a symbol of strength. In the olden days, any strongman or weightlifter was referred to as a girevik, or “kettlebell man.” Steeled by their kettlebells, generation after generation of Russian boys has turned to men.

2001 was the year of the kettlebell. Dragon Door published The Russian Kettlebell Challenge and forged the first US made Russian style cast iron kettlebell. RKC, the first kettlebell instructor course on American soil, also kicked off in 2001. Given the kettlebell’s harsh reputation, most of my early students looked like they came from the federal witness protection program. People often ask if Steve Maxwell and I are brothers. Steve, I love you, man, but I don’t think it’s a compliment for either of us.

Do you need two kettlebells of the same size? —Not yet. Double kettlebell drills are great—look what they have done for Senior RKC Mike Mahler—but they are not for beginners. Get good with one bell, address your strength imbalances, work up to the snatch and press goals listed toward the end of this book, then we’ll talk.

An average woman should start with an 18-pounder. A strong woman can go for a 26-pounder. Most women should advance to a 35-pounder.

Anatoly Taras, a special operations veteran and a leading hand-to-hand combat expert in the countries of the former Soviet Union, believes that once a fighting man can do 50 snatches per arm, switching hands only once, with a 24-kilogram kettlebell, he has reached the point of diminishing returns. “People of a certain personality type will ask, why not [really crank up those numbers]?” says Taras. “You could if you have the time and the desire, but it is not necessary unless your goal is setting records. Having set a few records of this kind will not make you fight any better.

The Red Army and the kettlebell are inseparable. Every Russian military unit has a gym called “the courage corner.” Every courage corner is equipped with kettlebells. While other countries waste time testing their troopers with push-ups, Russia tests repetition kettlebell snatches with a 53-pound kettlebell. “The rank and file of the Red Army was magnificent from a physical point of view,” marveled Lt. Gen. Giffard Martel, chief of the British military mission to the USSR during World War II. “Much of the equipment we carry on vehicles accompanying the infantry is carried on the man’s back in Russia. The Russians seem capable of carrying these great loads. They are exceptionally tough.

Siberian scientist Shevtsova (1993) verified what is obvious to any girevik. She studied 75 gireviks with three to five years of experience and recorded a long-term decrease in the heart rate and the blood pressure. The kettlebellers had what Russians call “a cosmonaut’s blood pressure”: 110/70 in the summer and 114/74 in the winter. They clocked an average resting heart rate of 56 beats per minute. The heart rate took a dive not just at rest, but also during and after exercise. And the time it took the heart to slow down back to normal, after exercise, also decreased. Besides, the experienced gireviks’ systems had also adapted to be better “primed” and ready for upcoming action.

A girevik is characterized by a balanced development of all organs and musculature with significant hypertrophy of the muscles of the shoulder girdle.” (Rasskazov, 1993).

The subversive Vodka, Pickle Juice, Kettlebell Lifting, and Other Russian Pastimes was published in 1998. The article was extremely well received by the most ruthless critics in the strength world. I started getting mail from guys with busted noses, cauliflower ears, scars, or at least Hells Angels tattoos. Incredulous, I told my friend and editor John Du Cane about it. He thought for a minute and said: “Let’s do it! I’ll make kettlebells and you teach people how to use them.

Russian kettlebells traditionally come in poods. One pood, an old Russian unit of measurement, equals 16 kilograms, approximately 35 pounds. The most popular sizes in Russia are 1 pood, the right kettlebell for a typical male beginner; 1 1/2 pood, or a 53-pounder, the standard issue in the military; and the “double,” as the 2-pood, or 70-pound kettlebell, is called. Doubles are for advanced gireviks.

Heavy kettlebells are traditionally called “bulldogs. “Heavy” is in the eye of the beholder; we usually dump the bells heavier than 32 kilograms in that category. 48 kilograms is as heavy as traditional kettlebells go, but it does not stop Russia’s strongest from going heavier. Weightlifting legend Yuri Vlasov was heartbroken when someone stole his custom-made 56-kilogram kettlebells.

When We Say “Strength,” We Mean “Kettlebell.” When We Say “Kettlebell,” We Mean “Strength.

The kettlebell delivers extreme all-around fitness. All-purpose strength. Staying power. Flexibility. Fat loss without the dishonor of aerobics. All accomplished in one to two hours of weekly training. All done with one compact and virtually indestructible tool that can be used anywhere.

An average man should start with a 35-pounder. What is “average”? —Given the bench press as a typical, albeit misguided, standard of strength, men with a bench press under 200 pounds should start with a 35-pounder. If you bench more than 200, a 44 that weighs as much as a big barbell plate will do the trick. Unless you are a powerlifter or a strongman, you have no business starting with a 53.

Since I introduced the Russian kettlebell to the West in 1998, it has become a mainstay in the training of champions in sports ranging from powerlifting to MMA to triathlon. Elite special operations units have made the kettlebell an integral part of their training. They have discovered that kettlebells deliver extreme all-around fitness—and no single other tool does it better.

A typical mistake is setting the kettlebell down sloppily, with a rounded back and the weight on the toes, following a hard (and often perfect) set of swings or snatches. Don’t! Mentally stay with the set until the kettlebell is safely parked. Lower the kettlebell in a way you would if you were planning to do another rep. Then let go, and only then relax.

Kettlebells have been rediscovered by a new generation of modern athletes seeking ways to gain an edge over the competition. It’s at once both a puzzling and predictable reemergence. Kettlebells have pure Slavic origins and have been at the heart and soul of Russian sport-strength training for more than a century. Regular use of heavy kettlebells develops strength with staying power; call it sustained strength. This type strength makes itself available over an extended period of time.

Sustained strength is different from short-burst strength. Sustained strength is an athletic attribute particularly prized by wrestlers, boxers, mixed martial artists, football, basketball, hockey and lacrosse players. The common thread is participation in athletic events of long duration where last minute flurries make the difference between winning and losing, between 1st and 8th.

Another athletic attribute associated with the regular use of kettlebells is the acquisition of “in-between” strength. Powerlifters, bodybuilders and athletes who train using modern day iron-pumping tactics are tremendously strong within the technical confines and boundaries of the specific exercises they practice, but often brute strength need be administered from an odd angle, a quirky position, a less-than-optimal push or pull position. Kettlebells fill in the gaps and spaces that separate conventional exercises, one from another, and build elusive in-between strength.

Kettlebells stake out the gray zone between the two disciplines. Users handle significant poundage virtually non-stop for the session duration. Workouts are brutal affairs as the athlete tugs, throws, lifts, flings, powers or finesses the bell, singularly, or two at a time, in a wide range of patterned exercises for multiple sets and reps. In a typical progressive resistance exercise the motor-pathway is narrow. When using a progressive resistance machine the groove is narrower yet. A kettlebell uses a broad motor pathway that forces whole series of muscles to work in a coordinated fashion to complete the proscribed exercise. The ‘gaps’ are attacked and the space between conventional weight training movements are filled in.

A natural athlete moves from his hips, never from his back or knees. Hips-first movement is safest for your back and knees—and most powerful.

I dare you to find a single exercise, kettlebell or not, that delivers more benefits than the kettlebell swing! Senior RKC instructor Steve Maxwell, a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu World Champion, has flat-out stated that doing the perfect kettlebell swing alone is superior to 99 percent of the sophisticated strength and conditioning programs out there. The swing is exactly what its name implies: a swing of a kettlebell from between your legs up to your chest level. The arms stay straight but loose; the power is generated by the hips. The motion is akin to the standing vertical jump, except the energy is projected into the kettlebell rather than being used to lift the body.

The kettlebell is one of the best grip and forearm developers in existence. It has been hailed by such grip greats as John Brookfield. Dr. Fred Hatfield, a powerlifting legend and strength training expert, once quipped, “The best grip exercises are always going to be pulling at heavy weights ballistically.” High-rep snatches forge steel trap fingers and painfully pump the forearms to new growth. Their action is similar to the ballistic repetitive loading of rock climbing.

To build a superman, slow movements and quick lifts are required… I have a fondness for two particular lifts. The two hands snatch and the bent press. The two hands snatch… is the best single exercise in existence when practiced as a repetition movement in various forms [read the one-arm snatch —P.T.]. The bent press brings into play every muscle of your physique and builds superstrength through all the body.

Never go to failure but vary the difficulty of your sets. For example, your estimated best in the side press is four reps. Some sets do one or two reps, others three. Play by the seat of your pants.

Generally perform no more than five reps per set in various presses and side bends. It is better to increase the difficulty by upgrading to a heavier kettlebell, selecting a more difficult press (e.g. the military rather than the side press), moving slower, pausing at different points of the lift, compressing the rest periods between the sets, or performing more sets of five reps. Use the above techniques by themselves or in any sensible combination.

Periodically speed up or slow down the movement from the comfortable pace. For example, snatch at the limit of your explosiveness or at a near stall. When pressing, lowering the kettlebell fast but lifting it slow or vice versa is an option. If you have been following the Power to the People! workout, alternate a 2-4 week period of kettlebell training with a PTP cycle.

Do not freak out about training the same movement or the same body part for two or more days in a row. It is a standard operating procedure among Russian athletes. For example, the Russian National Powerlifting Team benches up to eight times a week. The key to successful frequent training is constant variation of the loading variables: weights, reps, sets, rest periods, tempo, exercise order, exercise selection, etc.

Do not be afraid to push into slight overtraining and then back off with lighter workouts. As a Lithuanian saying goes, “A river with a dam has more power.

Ludvig Chaplinskiy wrote in the Russian magazine Hercules in 1913, “Kettlebell lifting more than any other sport relies on nerve strength; its sensible practice strengthens the nervous system, mindless practice destroys it.

Right before the hunk of iron has reached its destination quickly dip your knees and get under it. This action has been compared to putting on a sweater. Finish in the position shown.

Twice a week, a hard 12 minutes of the U.S. Department of Energy “Man Maker.” The Man Maker is a painfully simple workout that was devised and implemented at a federal agency’s academy by Green Beret vet Bill Cullen, RKC. Its template is simple: alternate sets of high-rep kettlebell drills—swings in our case—with a few hundred yards of jogging. Do your swings “to a comfortable stop” most of the time and all-out occasionally. Don’t run hard; jogging is a form of active recovery. Senior RKC Mike Mahler prefers the jump rope to jogging, another great option.

TASK: CLEAN Condition: Pick up a kettlebell, swing it back between your legs as if for a swing, and bring it to the rack in one smooth movement. Then drop the kettlebell back between your legs and repeat the drill for reps. The clean. Standard: 1. All of the points that apply to the swing, minus the straight-arm requirement on the top. 2. Don’t dip your knees when racking the kettlebell. 3. The kettlebell, the elbow, and the torso must “become one” on the top of the clean. The shoulders must be pressed down. 4. The arms must stay loose, and the hips must do all the work. 5. The kettlebell must travel the shortest distance possible. 6. Unacceptable: scooping; banging the forearms; stressing the back, elbows, wrists, or shoulders. Ladies should not hit their breasts with their arms or the kettlebells for health reasons.

1. Your press is only as good as your clean. a. Make the kinetic energy of the clean go straight down to your feet. b. Brace your full body before the impact. c. Store the energy of the clean like a spring. 2. Stay tight. a. Brace (don’t suck in) your abs b. "Breathe behind the shield," while keeping your abs "braced for a punch." c. Cramp your glutes. d. Tense your quads and pull up your kneecaps. e. Crush the kettlebell handle. 3. Use solid shoulder mechanics. a. Keep your shoulder down. b. Press and lower from the lat. c. Don’t press the kettlebell; push yourself away from it. d. Press in an arc rather than straight up. Push out against the body of the kettlebell with your forearm.

TASK: KETTLEBELL SNATCH Condition: Snatch a kettlebell for repetitions with one arm and then the other. Standard: 1. All of the points that apply to the swing, (see pages 44-45) minus the requirement to keep a straight arm. 2. Pick up the kettlebell, swing it back between your legs, and snatch it overhead in one uninterrupted motion to a straight-arm lockout. The snatch. At the lockout, the arm must be level with the head or behind the head. 3. Catch the kettlebell softly without banging your forearm or jarring your elbow and shoulder. 4. At the lockout, the arm must be level with the head or behind the head. 5. Maintain the fixation for a second with the arm and legs straight and the feet and body stationary. 6. Lower the kettlebell between your legs in one loose, uninterrupted motion without touching the chest or the shoulder, and snatch again.

Pick a kettlebell you can clean and press—a clean before each press, that is—roughly five to eight times. C&P it once with your weaker arm, switch hands and put it up with your stronger arm. Rest. Two reps. Another short break. Three reps. Then start over at one. Do three ladders, for a total of 18 repetitions, the first week; add a ladder the next week and a ladder the week after. Five ladders, total 30 reps. You will stay with five ladders from now on. Although the top “rung” of each ladder, especially the last, should be tough, you must not fail! Never train to failure! If you want to know why, read Power to the People! The Party is always right.

The fourth week keep the number of ladders at five, but now try to work up to 4 reps. In the beginning you might only do one (1, 2, 3, 4) ladder and four (1, 2, 3) ladders. It is fine. Don’t struggle with the top-end sets; improve without maxing out. Stay with it until you get 5 x (1, 2, 3, 4)—50 quality repetitions and almost no sweat! You may have guessed what you are supposed to do next when you are ready: 5 x (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), or an awesome 75 repetitions with a heavy kettlebell! As before, do five ladders and patiently work up to five rungs in every one of them. Take a couple of days off and test yourself with a heavier kettlebell. You will be impressed with your strength. Then

Lift heavy and stay fresh. “Grease the groove,” to use The Naked Warrior terminology.

Girevoy sport, on the other hand, is a working class sport. Kettlebells are cheap, no platform is required, and almost anyone can master the skills in a short period of time from a book or a video.

The clean draws its name from the requirement to bring the weight to your shoulders in one ‘clean’ movement. Pick up the kettlebell off the floor, the same way you would for the one arm swing. Note that the starting position for all the pulls, swings, cleans, and snatches is identical. Swing the kettlebell back and then immediately toward your shoulder.

It’s no secret that kettlebells were standard equipment for Eastern Bloc strength athletes and old time strongmen—they are excellent for swings, laterals, rowing and a variety of throwing-related movements.

Stand up and place the edges of your hands into the creases on top of your thighs. Press your hands hard into your “hinges” and stick your butt out while keeping your weight on your heels. I learned this neat trick from Kathy Foss Bakkum, RKC, God rest her strong and kind soul. It will teach you to go down by folding at your hip joints rather than bending through your back. Glenn Hyman, DC, RKC, stresses that this bit of instruction has been instrumental to the terrific success he has had rehabbing his patients with kettlebells

The heavy kettlebell is determined to bend your wrist backward. Don’t let it happen! Stick your hand far inside the handle so the weight rests on the heel of your palm. Then counter with the wrist flexors, the muscles that gooseneck your wrist.

Don’t let your knees go forward. Ideally, your shins should be close to vertical. If you do not feel your hamstrings tighten up when you descend, you are squatting wrong. Imagine that you are wearing ski boots and your ankles cannot bend. If you own a pair, why imagine? Wear them. You cannot help but learn to fold in your hip joints.

To make sure you’re swinging without using your arms, attach a lifting strap or very short rope [or a towel] to a kettlebell... “Try a few swings. If you’re driving the weight up with your hips, the bell, rope, and arm should all be in one line throughout the rep. If you’re using your arms, your hands will rise up above the strap and bell.

Here’s the idea: If you generate a lot of lactic acid during your weight-lifting sets, your body will then produce more growth hormone. Growth hormone helps your body release fatty acids from your fat cells, which you then use for energy. Result: You get muscle from lifting weights, and you lose fat.

The one arm snatch will work as many muscles as a single exercise could. It strengthens the back, from the tips of your traps all the way down to your butt, every bit as well as the deadlift.

Perform your exercises in a circuit. Allow at least a few minutes of rest between the sets; do not rush if your focus is strength. Compress the rest periods to favor endurance, muscular and cardiovascular, over strength. Do not practice exercises which require great coordination, e.g. the bent press, if you choose brief rest periods.

The order of the drills in the rotation is up to you but it is a good idea to alternate harder and easier (for you) exercises and/or sets. For example, do a set of five reps in the difficult military press, then ten reps in the relatively easy two-arm snatch pull.

In elite athletic circles the word is spreading as in-the-know Americans are purchasing ancient Russian fitness equipment, resurrecting old exercise philosophies and obtaining significant gains in cardio conditioning, muscle tone and strength as a result. Call it the Slavic Retro Fitness Craze: kettlebells are rustic and raw and are lifted and swung and tossed in specified patterns to produce specific muscular and cardiovascular results. The apparatus has a system, a philosophy of usage, first formulated in Czarist Russia.

Sustained strength doesn’t just happen, it is nurtured and developed. Through the use of multiple sets conducted with little rest and often high repetitions using exercises with exaggerated range-of-motion, sustained strength is gradually built up, and over time improved and extended. The transition takes time and patience and lots of practice.

Pick a kettlebell that works you without killing you. Once a month try a conservative max. Let me know how you do on the dragondoor.com discussion site.

Kettlebell cleans and snatches are not curls; the arms barely pass the force generated by the hips. Should your arms tense up, especially on the downswing, you are asking to tweak your elbows

To generate enough lactic acid to promote fat loss, you have to extend your sets to about a minute, then rest for a minute, then move on to your next set. (Nobody said it was easier than aerobics.)

Kettleweights are also the working class alternative to plyometrics.

The total number of sets is up to you, anywhere from three to as many as twenty sets per exercise are acceptable but should be varied.