idahokettlebells.com Blog

Your swing is never perfect. Strive to work better, not harder.

Proper kettlebell swing training is not simply about using more weight. There is an optimal weight for everyone’s individual anthropometry. Owning this movement pattern will increase force production in nearly every area. The value is in owning this movement perfectly, not just pushing pounds. A fast, fluid and powerful swing with a kettlebell of the optimal weight is far superior to one with a heavier bell, even though the perceived exertion is more.

Key points:

1) Fold at the hips rather than squat at the knees or bend at the waist.

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Supplement and Nutrition Product Scam Test:

1) Does the supplement company immediately discuss a “business opportunity?”

*If so, the supplement company makes more money off of the person signing up to sell the stuff than it does from profit margin of the actual physical product.

2) Do they ask for hundreds of dollars for their business starting kits or fees? Are there various “levels” of opportunity, based on how much you are willing to plunk down?

*They ask for hundreds of dollars for “starting kits” because this is how they make money…making money off of would-be sellers, not from the product itself.

3) Do you see their products sold in the standard retail marketplace? Or, are they only available after attending special meetings that discuss marketing opportunities?

*Their products are not available on the standard market because they can’t compete, unless they are sold where there are no competing products.

4) Are the majority of sales made to the general public? Or are the distributors and end-users one and the same?
*It is not a legitimate business. It is a pyramid scam.

Beware that Facebook is a huge open range for network marketing scams.

As my friend James Allen Stanton said:
“Network marketing: It still works, because people are still stupid.”

Turkish Getups

For the most part, you can totally “geek out” on the getup. There are probably 1,000s of good articles online from a variety of differing sources on the getup. What’s more, is that you will find that it combines elements of many staple strength, mobility, and stability exercises in one package.

The getup is best learned in person, by an experienced instructor. After that it will easily take 500-1000 correct repetitions in order to understand well, before you will effectively be able to teach others.

The getup trains several different movements. No doubt, if we put our heads together we could probably come up with a dozen more.

In fact, in one exercise the getup fulfills all of Tudor Bompa’s (the father of periodization training for sports) 6 Basic Laws of Strength Training. These are used to ensure the value of an exercise selection for any sports strength and conditioning program.

1. Develops joint flexibility.

2. Develops tendon and ligament strength.

3. Develops core strength.

4. Develops the stabilizers.

5. Trains different major human movements.

6. It focuses on elements of strength that are necessary, while not being a new, gimmicky exercise.

Here are a few things the getup trains:

-Horizontal pressing

-Unilateral overhead stabilization throughout a full range-of-motion.

-It is both an open-chain and closed-chain movement at different stages.

-Lunging, hip hinging.

-Rotational and anti-rotational strength.

-It requires strength and stability for the entire shoulder complex.

-Thoracic spine mobility.

-Contra-lateral movement.

-Breath control.

-Core stabilization.

-Balance and proprioception.

IKSC Programming Philosophy

Instructors in any system should be experts in the movements. They must know when to stop you and when to push you beyond your limits. They must know the best massage guns and only recommend you them when you are in immense pain to avoid you getting addicted to them. You can’t teach something you can’t do well yourself. No one respects an instructor that dishes out training that he or she has not, could not, and will not complete themselves. 

The goal of any legitimate instructor is to build clients’ strength and conditioning levels, while preventing future injury. It is the de facto purpose of exercise. Intelligent program design and proper knowledge and supervision are vital to minimize injury risk, with maximal benefit.

There is a fine line between training that provides ample hormetic effect, and that which causes injury and excessive stress. Coupled with improper nutrition, rest, and recovery, what might be an extremely effective program can quickly overstress a focused and motivated person. The goal is to train smarter, not harder. Any idiot trainer can make up a “hard” workout, but not any program will make a client stronger and more resilient.

Valid reasons to include an exercise are:

* Proven to build strength and prevent injury.

* Place a huge metabolic demand on the system.

* Build functional, useable range-of-motion (and prevent injury in end-ranges).

* Increase balance and coordination.

* Increase force coupling ability, motor unit synchronicity, and motor unit firing rate.

* Build neuromuscular efficiency.

Dumb reasons to include an exercise are:

* It creates soreness.

* It is hard to do and learn.

* It looks cool on video.

* “I saw it on TV.” (i.e. CrossFit Games, UFC Unleashed, etc.)

Purpose Behind Each Movement 

It is important as an instructor to ask why you are doing each exercise programmed into a session. “Because is looks cool” is never a valid reason, and it is not just for entertainment purposes. “Enter-train-ment” is not good work, even though it is rampant in the mainstream fitness industry.

Building Strength -vs- Demonstrating Stunts or Feats of Strength

The goal is to build strength progressively through quality movement, increased resistance, force production, injury resistance, and work capacity. Each training session should be about building those things, not making every training session a competitive event. Save that for the competition floor or playing field. No one care if you “win” your workout.

Time-Tested Tools and Movements

One thing that is true in fitness is that the longer a piece of equipment or exercise has been around, the more likely it is to be effective. Bodyweight exercises like pushups, burpees, squats, lunges and pull-ups have been used for conditioning for eons, and pretty much always work. Kettlebells, barbells, medicine balls, rowing, and sled pulling are certainly not new, either.

Low-risk/High-Yield

Exercises with a high injury risk are to be avoided. Olympic barbell lifts like the clean & jerk and snatch are appropriate for a very small percentage of the population, and even then, only under the supervision of a certified and experienced weightlifting coach. For most of the general population they just aren’t necessary and the risk far outweighs the reward.

A strength and conditioning program is not a sport. Athletes use a strength and conditioning program to prevent injury, not risk injury by performing stunts. Clients will not train if they are injured.

In addition to the obvious liability risks, the damage word-of-mouth can do as a result of injury is devastating. By contrast, IKSC’s fundamental exercises have a proven track record of low injury potential, and improving client’s performance and quality-of-life in many ways.

Low-skill/High-Yield

It is important that selected exercises are easy to learn and teach. Remember that as trainers, we love to delve into the minutia of each exercise and movement. Clients are usually not this way. It is important that they spend the time allotted to working. Athletes have limited time for strength training in relation to sport skill training.

Tudor Bompa’s 6 Basic Laws of Strength Training for Athletes

Prof. Tudor Bompa is regarded as the father of sports periodization training. As a strength coach, Bompa coached 11 medalists (including two gold medalists) Olympic and world championship competition. He himself was an Olympic rower. IKSC uses his 6 Basic Laws of Strength Training.

1) Develop Joint Flexibility.

2) Develop Tendon and Ligament Strength.

3) Develop Core Strength.

4) Develop the Stabilizers.

5) Focus on movements, not individual muscles.

6) Don’t focus on what is new, but on what is necessary.

IKSC’s 3-Level System

IKSC’s tiered group training system is broken into three basic levels. Level III is generally the most technical and most challenging, Level II is intermediate, and Level I is a very basic, beginner workout.

The higher levels generally entail more volume or more weight, but this is not always the case. It is more that they just require the client have more familiarity with a wider range of exercises.

The ultimate goal is to allow a group with a wide disparity in ability to train simultaneously with equal results. As you begin to build rapport with your regular class attendees, you will begin to gauge your programming for them each day.

Example:

4 mixed Tabata rounds. Alternate between both exercises for each 4-minute interval. 4-minute rest between intervals.

Level III

Double kettlebell 1/2 Snatch and Hindu pushups.

Level II

2-arm swings and regular pushups.

Level I

Jog in place and hard plank holds.

Idaho Kettlebell Strength and Conditioning:
Crawling and Rolling Drills

BABY ROLLS
Roll from front to back to (stomach to back). Do each roll three times in each direction.
1 Roll over with head only (don’t use your legs or arms to help). The eyes lead.
2 Roll over with arm and head only. The eyes lead.
3 Roll over with head, arm and leg. The eyes lead.

BABY CRAWLING

On hands and knees, crawl in each direction for one minute. Eyes always focus forward.

1 Crawl forward, making sure that the opposite hand and knee touch simultaneously.
2 Crawl backwards, making sure that your opposite knee move at the same time.
3 Crawl laterally.
4 Crawl in a square. Four “steps” in each direction.
ADVANCED CRAWLING

1 Leopard crawl: This is almost identical to baby crawling, but keep your knees off the floor and hips even with the shoulders. Your head stays up with the chest pushed forward. Take small steps at first—this uses every muscle in your body. Crawl forward for one minute, and then crawl backwards for one minute. Take care to keep the opposite limbs moving simultaneously.
2 Spider-Man Crawl: This demands strength, balance, and constant attention to alignment. THIS IS NOT A “bear crawl.” Hips stay below shoulders. Do not allow the spine to sag or hips to rise. Head and chest stay high. Eyes forward.

Hunger, Hormones, and Appetite.

Idaho Kettlebell Strength and Conditioning

Jim Beaumont CSC, Certified Sport Nutrition Specialist, Primal Blueprint Certified Expert. (208) 412-6079 www.idahokettlebells.com

This is a brief overview of the way the hormones insulin, leptin, and cortisol work and how they relate to appetite and body composition.

Hormones: A complex subject, but let’s focus on a few basics for now.

This brief summary will be in the simplest, plainest terms, and be provided within the context of fitness and body composition. It is not presented to treat any medical condition, or assist with any serious health concerns. For those concerns, anyone…with a shred of sense, will consult a licensed physician, not a strength coach and sport nutrition specialist.

Many nutrition programs focus on calories, strict meal plans, and ratios of macronutrients (carbs, proteins and fats). This is partly due to a lack of knowledge of some basic hormones, but it also reflects on the fact that humans’ hormonal responses to types of food, or the lack of it is a complex and confusing subject. It is a lot easier for a fitness professional to give a strict caloric number than explain this relationship.

Hormones are Chemical Messengers.
Things like fat storage and muscle building are controlled by hormones. For now, we are going to focus on only a few: Insulin, leptin and cortisol. These three are key hormones that must be addressed when discussing fitness or body composition. Every bite of food you eat affects your hormones. Calories are much less important than hormonal response.

Insulin
Insulin is there to maintain blood sugar levels and body fat. It also works to shuttle nutrients throughout your cells for repair and maintenance (and for building muscle and recovering from hard training).

When it comes to body composition, consider insulin your fat-storage hormone. It converts excess blood sugar into fat. Any blood sugar level above what your body requires causes your insulin levels to spike, and excess blood sugar to immediately be stored as fat.

Example:
Let’s say my blood sugar is a number, 100 points. My body is happy there. It doesn’t want to be less or more. If my blood sugar raises, say to 200 points after eating a Snickers bar or slice of bread, my body will secrete insulin to bring the blood sugar back down to 100, where it wants to be.

So, my blood sugar went from 200 down to 100. Where did that extra 100 points go? It went straight to my fat cells – into storage- for later in case I need it for energy. The problem is, most people don’t need the extra energy. They are storing fat for a famine…that never comes.

Insulin makes fat: That’s what it does. More insulin, more fat storage. Less insulin, less fat storage. Insulin is elevated for approximately three hours after eating or drinking anything that causes insulin levels to rise. High insulin levels stop any fat burning and keep your body in fat storage mode continually.

If we eat sugary carbs (all carbs are sugars) on a regular basis, our body has to constantly secrete insulin (and store fat) to deal with the excess blood sugar. The better our body responds to insulin and the better it is at regulating blood sugar, the less fat we store.

In other words, the more insulin sensitive we are, the less fat we store and the better we can get nutrients where they need to be.

The problem is that our insulin sensitivity decreases the more we bombard ourselves with excess sugar. As a result of this, more insulin is secreted and the more fat is stored.

In the case of type II diabetes, type II diabetics are not able to make enough insulin to keep blood sugar at healthy ranges, and must get shots of insulin to keep the sugars down. Diabetes is one of the world’s biggest health problems and ties into obesity and high blood pressure. Just Google “insulin resistance” with heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. and you will find connections.

Increasing insulin sensitivity means less fat storage, better nutrient transport, and more stable blood sugar.

Leptin
Leptin lets our bodies know how much “fuel” we have stored up for energy or tissue repair. It also helps to regulate appetite.

Leptin is like the gas gauge in your car. It signals that you have enough nutrients to conduct your activities or to build muscle. If your leptin sensitivity is high, then your gas gauge is working correctly and your body knows you have enough fuel. If not, you think you need to add fuel, because our bodies are programmed to keep the tank full. Thus, you are hungry when you don’t need to be.

In normal, healthy people if leptin is present and receptors are sensitive, feeding is inhibited. Leptin also helps your body access stored bodyfat as fuel…if you take more than four hours between meals. This is because insulin levels will be elevated after eating, and the hormone insulin is thought to block leptin.

In essence, if you go more than four hours between meals, your body gets a “snack” on stored bodyfat. Taking 6-8 hours between meals is preferable.

The more often we eat, the less sensitive we are to leptin. The receptors “wear out.” Your “gas gauge” doesn’t register correctly.

I practice intermittent fasting for up to 24 hours about every week or so in order to increase my leptin sensitivity (more on that another time). I don’t blanket-recommend this, however. This is a personal choice.

Having a basic understanding of these hormones will help provide a reference for the nutritional recommendations I make. This is useful for those who want to understand the reasons I recommend things like banning grains, sugars, dairy, and excessive fruits from your diet, and why I do not subscribe to the idea you need to eat frequently throughout the day, like many fitness personalities recommend.

Cortisol
Think of cortisol as your body’s “stress hormone.” This can be a good thing or a bad thing. When you are placed in a stressful situation, cortisol elevates in order to give you more focus, energy, mental clarity, and injury resistance. This is supposed to help us get through a short-term crisis. We can handle it in that context. We are simply not built to have this hormone “turned on” all day, every day as many of us do.

Chronically elevated cortisol levels induce insulin resistance, poor carb tolerance, increase hunger, and increase abdominal fat relative to other areas of the body. Ultimately, this leads to poor glucose tolerance and more hunger, which leads to more indulging and a reduced ability to handle the food (especially carbs), which leads to elevated blood sugar and weight gain.

Elevated cortisol levels are caused by many things in society that our ancestors simply didn’t have to deal with. This puts us at odds with our DNA. These things include:

* Inflammatory diet. A typical American gets about 70% of calories from foods that that were not available 100 years ago.
* Constant exposure to screens
* Stressful work conditions, commutes, and 24/7 availability
* Exposure to bright light after dark
* Over exercising
* Toxic relationships
* Chronic health conditions
* Social media and 24 hour, instant news media
* Lack of quality sleep

Tips to Increase Insulin Sensitivity (Things you can start doing immediately).

1. Reduce total carbohydrate load to 50-150grams per day, with these carbs coming from vegetables and limited fruit. If fat loss is a goal, keep that on the lower end of the scale (50-100grams per day). A competitive athlete or bodybuilder can handle more than this, because those carbohydrates are used as fuel.

2. Do not start your day with a carb source. This is when your body is the least insulin sensitive. This sets up a roller coaster of high and low blood sugar throughout the day. Instead, start with meat, eggs, fish and nuts.

3. Take fish oil.

4. Make sure you are getting enough magnesium and zinc.

5. Try to get the majority of your carbs after training for the day.

6. Start each meal with a protein source.

7. Don’t drink calories. Your body expects to chew food in order to receive nutrients. The only general exception to this are things like bone broth (or a post workout shake for additional nutrients for someone that does not have a fat loss goal).

8. Eliminate all grains and sugar…and DO NOT substitute with gluten free alternatives.

9. Get 8-10 hours of sleep per night. Repeated nights of poor sleep can severely compromise insulin and leptin sensitivity and elevate cortisol levels.