idahokettlebells.com Blog

November 11, 2020

IKSC Blog: November 11, 2020

IKSC Blog: November 11, 2020

Steve Maxwell is a huge influence on what we do at IKSC. I was fortunate to have been able to take a few of his courses a few years back. Here is a great perspective on what quality training should look like if you’re over 45 years old.

 

I go on and on about vitamin D, one of our big three supplements. Here are some recent articles on our other two, zinc and
magnesium.

I’ve recommended blue light blocking glasses in the past and how they can help with making your sleep time more productive. I remember one guy that said after wearing them in the evening, he would fall asleep before his favorite nightly TV show

This is an interesting study about how your maximal exercise capacity might affect your outcome if you contract our favorite virus these days. This shouldn’t be a surprise, the stronger your heart and lungs are the better lots of things go.

Latest on the downside of chronic cardio There is a reason that we don’t spend much time in what is called the “junk zone” of aerobic training, which is hard but not hard enough to be true max effort, and yet too hard to provide good aerobic base building.

Video of the Week:

July 17, 2020

IKSC Weekly Links: July 17, 2020

IKSC Weekly Links: July 17, 2020

Book recommendation! Finally got my hands on this after having it on pre-order for a few months. I’ve learned a ton from both authors over the years and have followed this book’s progression for the past few years. Here’s more about it and where to get one: https://www.sacredcow.info
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After working with countless people with tennis elbow and hand issues from lots of desk time over the years, it is pretty common for these issues to just go away when you get things moving and working. Never needed to look up a study on it, but here’s one anyway. It’s not like we really set out to “cure” anything, it just seems to work.
Tennis Elbow and Mouse Arm

Diet and metabolic health are keys to immunity. This is one of the reasons I emphasized being even more strict with my diet and my dietary recommendations (don’t give into stress eating) when things started getting rough a few months back.

Looks like I was not a complete idiot about that advice. Some big brains seem to share that theory.
“…As of 30 May 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that among COVID-19 cases, the two most common underlying health conditions were cardiovascular disease (32%) and diabetes (30%)”

Coronavirus and Diabesity

Listen to this podcast interview! Seriously.
It might be a little tough to grasp for smoothbrains that get their health advice or knowledge from news sources or are addicted to being “Google experts” on a given topic. It will be hard to swallow for those that seem to revel in fear.
This will take more than a 30 second scan to process and think about. It might also be the best advice you’ll get about dealing with a contagious global virus. You can find the Wise Traditions Podcast on iTunes, as well.
Proactive During Pandemic

The average grip strength of young men has been dropping for the past few generations. When I shake hands with young men and young women these days I find that most young women are a lot more likely to give a firm handshake and have strong hands than guys. In this study, they found an interesting correlation between that and a country’s top athletes.
” For every 1kg increase in population GS, the medal tally increased by 36%”
Medals and Grip Strength

Video of The Week: Pretty cool information on rowing.

March 21, 2020

IKSC Weekly Links: March 21, 2020

One of my favorite spots

One of my favorite spots


IKSC Weekly Links: March 21, 2020

This is a good article from a friend’s blog on gut health. Most of these things will sound familiar, if you’ve been to any of my nutrition classes. Autoimmune diseases cover a wide range of things, so if you have a chronic skin issue or allergies, you might look into it. This also includes thyroid conditions. I talk about these things related to diet often, but Heidi Toy is a real expert on it.
Healing Your Gut

Here’s a good article on ways to help your immune system stay strong. Always useful, but sure can’t hurt to hear right now.
Boost Immune System

You always hear people talk about “doing cardio.” I hate that term. “Cardio” is largely activity-specific. Meaning running makes you good at running and biking makes you good at biking. Strength-interval training will get you to the same place body-composition wise, but when you consider all the things that you gain from a good strength program, it is clear what is a better use of your time. No one ever got stronger or increased mobility jogging or riding a stationary bike. They will make you better able to do those things.
Strength -vs- Running for Cardio

Kettlebell intervals have the highest calorie burn of any exercise. I’ve written and spoken extensively on this study since it came out about 10 years ago. There are many things that are misleading here. Something to think about is that even if you do think calorie burn as a result of exercise is of major importance, you aren’t really burning enough to make a huge dent in bodyfat. That part is going to come from diet.
Oh, and for those that are interested, I used a very similar program prior to this study and it does work as well as anything. While it’s not mentioned in the here, the exact program they used is called “Viking Warrior Conditioning” by Kenneth Jay, but I think his book was published later.
Best Way To Burn Calories

Video of The Week: Press reset with breathing. Take a minute to do this daily. This is good for stress levels. Use this position if it is comfortable, modify if-needed to make yourself comfortable.

February 29, 2020

IKSC Weekly Links: February 28, 2020

IKSC Weekly Links: February 28, 2020

Here’s a great article on one of our staples, the Goblet Squat. Dan John’s stuff mirrors a lot of what we do here. Happy to say that a lot of that has to do with just finding these things out via trial and error and lots of reps. If you want to read more, look him up. He also has a podcast now that is worth listening to.
Dan John Goblet Squat

Your gut and brain are connected. Junk in= Junk out. We all know this, but still a good read.
Processed Food = Junk Brain

If you want to live a long time, get comfortable being uncomfortable. I plan to live long and hard and then drop dead.
Discomfort = Long Life

High blood sugar equals low testosterone. Not a surprise. Insulin and leptin are master control hormones. If they are messed up because of high sugars, then everything else will be downstream. That is one of the first things I teach in my nutrition courses.
Blood Sugar and Hormones

Video of the Week: An interesting video about rowing trends. “Boutique” rowing studios are starting to be a thing. Trends are not something I follow (because one of my theories is that the longer and more proven a training system has been around the better it is), but you just might see more dedicated rowing interval classes in the future.

January 31, 2020

IKSC Weekly Link Blast January 30, 2020

IKSC Weekly Link Blast January 30, 2020
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Thanks for everyone’s patience last week when I was away. The Original Strength cert I went to was pretty high-level. I was gratified to see that what I’ve been teaching was largely inline with what they taught. University strength and conditioning coaches, a neurologist, a few physical therapists, acupuncturists, and a bunch of other health and strength professionals were there. I was lucky to get in and I will be the only one in Idaho certified in that system. Like a lot of stuff we do at IKSC, we are ahead of the curve for the Boise area.
Kettlebell training, ancestral health and nutrition, and neurologically correct movement patterns have been baked into our training for years. Generally, we are about five years ahead of what goes on locally.

More on the benefits of intermittent fasting.
Good Stuff About Fasting

The eyes should lead all movement. Think in terms of proper human movement, not in “exercise land” where things are based on doing some gym exercise and not something that reinforces a proper human movement and proprioceptive response. This is essential for sports performance, injury prevention and strong movement patterns.
The Eyes Lead

Until just recently, it was impossible for humans to exist without consuming animal proteins. It is only through global shipping and micronutrient supplements that people now have that option. Looks like Weston A. Price found the closest thing to a native vegan culture, though: Cannibals.
No Vegans, Just Cannibals

The less carb-dependent you are, the longer stretches you can go between eating. Having to eat frequently is a sign something is very wrong. It’s not the way we are designed to operate. We are apex predators, not grazing animals.
Low-Carb Makes Fasting Easy

Video of the Week:
Consistent with one of my philosophies of training. “Work the body from the tips of the toes to the fingertips.” This is what Gichin Funakoshi said of Karate training. Ask me about specific wrist and forearm mobilization exercises, if you want to add them in to your repertoire. My toes won’t do some of the things he shows here, due to destroying a few of them over the years in martial art.

January 13, 2020

IKSC Weekly Link Blast: January 13, 2020

IKSC Weekly Link Blast: January 13, 2020

New evening schedule!
Schedule

Focus on making your last rep just as strong as your first, and train to be successful, not end in failure. This has always been a strategy for building strength. Looks like it works for building muscle size, too. The goal is to stimulate new growth, not annihilate yourself.
Training to Failure

To burn more fat/fuel, build a bigger engine (muscle). You don’t necessarily need a bigger chassis to put a bigger engine in a car. Most of us won’t naturally get appreciably larger with increased muscle mass, but we’ll move a lot better with a bigger powerhouse and an efficient fuel system.
Fat Loss Training

I don’t make blanket recommendations on probiotics. There is a lot we don’t know about the gut biome, and much of it is completely individual, based on genetics, medications, stress, sleep, life experiences, diet, disease history, etc., etc…. We just don’t know what we don’t know. You have to experiment with what makes you look, feel and perform better. That won’t be an overnight project.
Probiotics

Video of The Week: Worth re-watching for some of you that may have seen this before. Perhaps even more relevant during these months of little sunlight. I’ve actually taken his advice recently and hit up a combination tanning and red light therapy bed for a few minutes about once a week. Placebo or not, I think it helps my mood and motivation.

December 27, 2019

IKSC Weekly Link Blast: December 27, 2019

IKSC Weekly Link Blast: December 27, 2019

Exercise and Brain Health: I suggest that it’s not just the complexity of the exercise, but the level of force exerted that affects how much brain matter you use during an exercise. Increased force production comes from greater motor-unit recruitment, faster motor-unit firing rates, and more motor-unit synchronicity. Meaning, the more force you produce, the more muscles and nerves your brain has to fire to operate the system.
Your Brain Needs Exercise

You can include crawling movements in with the exercise described, but note they are often programmed in Level I versions of many of our sessions. I wouldn’t waste your time with them if I thought they weren’t beneficial.
Bird Dogs

More on fat loss and lifting weights. Doing “cardio” for the sake of burning calories is pretty much useless.
Fat Loss

You are not a slave to your genetics in most cases. Your genes might load the gun, but you decide whether to pull the trigger.
Genetics and Health

You have to move in ways your body was designed to move if you want to train hard without injury. Everything we do at IKSC is designed to reinforce strong movements outside the gym in sport or daily life.
Damaging Training

Video of the Week:

December 7, 2019

IKSC Weekly Link Blast: December 7, 2019

Leslie Gluch in fog
IKSC Weekly Link Blast December 7, 2019

Get strong and be able to move well. It’s the best thing you can do for your mind and body.
oliquingroup.com/Arthttp://main.piclesMultimedia/Articles/Article/2687/Why_Exercise_Is_Your_First_Line_of_Defense_Against.aspx

Things you can learn from an exclusively carnivorous diet, brought to you with a little common sense from Mark Sisson. I vary from 90% carnivore to 100%. I still eat starchy tubers about once a week, and something I notice is I want more fermented things like kimchee, or saurkraut now and then, but one thing is for sure, it won’t hurt you to try this. I experimented with this first back in about May of 2018, after learning more about who Shawn Baker was and some of the superhuman things he could do. I think one of the main reasons people report feeling so good eating this way is because they were waaaaayy low on protein to start with and if all you eat is meat, fish, and eggs, you’ll get enough protein.
https://www.marksdailyapple.com/8-things-we-can-learn-from-the-carnivore-movement/

Avoid being dogmatic in your nutrition. I eat a diet that is about as close as I can get to what humans evolved eating, but it’s not because I think it makes me part of some paleo, low-carb, or carnivore “club.”
https://www.jenniferaguilar.net/thebrainblog/2019/12/6/i-dont-belong-to-a-food-tribe-and-i-bet-you-dont-either

Dan John is one of the best strength coaches around. I always like it when his views align with things I’ve found to work well over the years.
https://www.t-nation.com/training/how-to-train-for-non-stop-fat-loss

Video of The Week:
(Something I’ll add. What you do with your feet and ankles affects everything. That’s where the kinetic chain starts.)

November 21, 2019

IKSC Weekly Link Blast November 21, 2019

IKSC Weekly Link Blast November 21, 2019

Eat like a predator, not prey. In this case, eat like the conqueror, not the conquered.
https://decentpropaganda.com/what-the-mongols-ate-for-success/

Lats are one of your most important core stabilization muscles. We don’t usually think of them that way, but they are.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-what-all-strong-athletes-have-in-common

Good write up on nutrition documentaries in general here.
https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/the-game-changers-exposed

Another good one from T-Nation. I remember when this article first came out, I’d just learned these crawls at a Steve Maxwell workshop and a few days later this showed up. Perfect timing.
https://www.t-nation.com/training/reflexive-strength-and-spider-man

Most of the stuff in Men’s Health is junk, but this article cites two extremely reputable people, Dan John and Prof. Stuart McGill. Not surprisingly, one of our staples, the loaded carry is the topic.
https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19548559/best-loaded-carries

Here’s an old post about trying to out-train the dinner table. http://idahokettlebells.com/blog/?m=201101

Video of The Week:
Should tie into what we talked about in our last nutrition class.

November 14, 2019

IKSC Weekly Link Blast November 14, 2019

IKSC Weekly Link Blast November 14, 2019

 

I do a class on inflammatory foods and inflammation now and then, but this article is one of the best I’ve ever read on inflammation as it relates to diet and exercise.

https://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-inflammation/

 

Before you decided to dive into buckets of sugary junk this Thanksgiving, you might take a look at what was likely on the table at the first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving lobster and oysters, anyone?

https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal

 

This study on L-carnitine might show one of the reasons people see so much success on a pure carnivore diet: They are eating a bunch of red meat, and generally going long stretches without eating. Red meat is rich in L-carnitine.

(Think, Vince Gironda steak and eggs diet: Two meals per day, eight hours apart with nothing but steak and eggs in mass quantities.)

https://www.ergo-log.com/l-carnitine-makes-fasting-easier-more-effective.html

 

More on our trapbar deadlifts. Kettlebell suitcase deadlifts work the same way.

http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1352/The_Best_Deadlift_Youre_Not_Doing.aspx

 

This would seem to apply to women, as well. Muscle and strength is your friend if you plan to age well.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/921097

 

Video of the Week:

Pavel Tstatsouline is quite a character, but his info on stretching and just about anything to do with strength and conditioning is great. Showing off the hairy chest must be a Russian thing.

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