Formosa Fitness

I have a series of new kettlebell videos that I made to introduce complete beginners to the bell and how to use it. If you have any experience with the KB at all, you'd likely find the clips tedious to watch. Again, they're for beginners because that's what we have in Taiwan. Almost no one here knows how to use the KB so I'll have to spend lots of time introducing how to use it over the next few years and this is one way of doing it. Chinese translated versions will be coming soon.

The clips show basic techniques and finish off with a basic circuit that people can use to work out for 10-20 minutes.

This is the deadlift.

Picking up the kettlebell is the most basic action you practice with it. Don't hurt yourself on the first move. Here are some details to keep in mind:

1. Unlock the knees

2. Bend down from the hips. The motion requires you to fold at the hips, NOT the waist. Keep the back flat as you sit back into the hips.

3. Keep your head up to make sure you don't flex the back.

4. Grab the KB with both hands.

5. Tighten the abdomen like someone is going to punch you there.

6. Lift the KB with the glutes and hamstrings NOT by flexing the lower back. Squeeze with the butt muscles and the hammies.

7. Lower the KB to the ground and repeat keeping your head up. This is just the basic lift and when you get good at keeping your back straight, you don't have to look forward all the time.

Short swing

This is a good second basic motion. The idea is to just start getting the kettlebell moving once you've deadlifted/picked it up. Here are some details:

1. Push the kettlebell forward with your hips NOT the arms. Have the arms rest against the pelvis with the KB hanging in front.

2. Make the swing short so you can get used to the momentum.

3. As the KB comes back toward you, don't let it crash into your groin! As it swings back, move your hips back in time with the KB.

4. As the KB swings between your legs, thrust it out with the hips again by pushing the arms with the pelvis. Don't use the arms to generate force.

5. Repeat

Swings

This is the first of the classic KB moves. The deadlift and short swing have prepared you for this. Here are some details:

1. Push the kettlebell forward with your hips NOT the arms. Have the arms rest against the pelvis with the KB hanging in front.

2. Make the swing longer as you get used to the momentum. Chest height is a good target at first. As you get better, you can swing the KB higher.

3. As the KB comes back toward you, don't let it crash into your groin! As it swings back, move your hips back in time with the KB.

4. As the KB swings between your legs, thrust it out with the hips again by pushing the arms with the pelvis. Don't use the arms to generate force.

5. Squeeze the butt muscles as the KB goes out to help add force to the movement. Also keep the abs tight as if someone is going to punch you there to help protect the lower back.

6. Repeat The one-arm swing is pretty much the same as the two-arm swing. The only difference is that the body will be turned slightly because you're using one hand instead of two.

Squat progression

After practicing deadlifts and swings, you're ready for some squats. This is a basic progression and introduces some ideas for using the squat in your workout. Squats in the video include: easy front squats, sumo pulls, front squat, squat to overhead pull. With the squats, try to stay as upright as you can and bend from the hips, NOT the knees. Do not initiate the action with your knees. This is a common mistake. Start the motion by bending from the hips and sit your butt back. Then squat down to the ground. I recommend parallel at first before you try to descend deeper. To ascend, push your feet into the ground and push with your legs hard against the ground. Keep your abs tight as if someone were going to punch you there. Keep your head up and looking forward. With the overhead press variation, straighten the arms at the end of the movement. Then control the KB as it falls from the position. Don't let it hit the floor.

Basic circuit

This is a basic circuit that puts the deadlift, squat, swings, and over head pull/push together. You should practice each of those motions through sets and reps first before doing this circuit. For example, do the deadlift, swings (2 and 1 handed), squats, and overhead pull/push each for 3 sets of 10 reps.

It looks like this:

deadlift 3 sets of 10 reps

rest in between each set

swings 2 handed 3 sets of 10 reps

rest in between each set etc.

After you're comfortable with the basic workout above, start adding sets and reps, and cut down the break time in between sets. Once you get proficient at that, do this circuit all the way through, no breaks between exercises, and either take a brief rest in between circuits or start the circuit again immediately. You can repeat this circuit 3-4 times for a ten minute workout or do it 6-8 times for a 20 minute workout. Have fun.

台灣第一位合格壺鈴健身教練.

(下面)他是我老師Steve Cotter, IKFF的創辦人及總裁.

壺鈴上課 時間: 星期一,三,五 9:30-10 a.m. 和7:30-8 p.m. 請先打電話給我0912287898 還是email: formosafitness"at"pixnet.net. 來試試看吧!

First of all, if you weren't a man (or woman) before you trained with Steve Cotter, you surely will be afterwards. The International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation certification that I just went through in Malaysia was the hardest thing I've ever done -- both mentally and physically. I'm trying to think of something comparable and all I can come up with was going through US Army basic training. Even though that was two months of 4-hours-a-night sleep and 4-5 mile runs every day, it was also spaced out over two months. And I was 25 years old at the time. This cert felt like two months of basic training crammed into two days. That's how tough it was.

The cert covered all the major kettlebell lifts that you'd expect and a few that I didn't: swing, clean, snatch, press, front squat, overhead squat, etc. I was nervous going to the cert because when you take a seminar from someone that can jump onto a table from a low single leg squat position multiple times

then you have to expect some real intensity. So I prepared hard before going. But I had no idea how hard it was going to be.

In addition to technical discussion of the lifts and practice of those details, Steve had us do a long set for every single technique covered -- many lasted ten minutes and a few were longer. I hadn't trained for that.

The worst sets were the 10 minute press set, the four minute double KB front squat set, and the 12 minute overhead squat set. I had only done overhead squats a couple of times before the cert because I didn't realize Steve considered them that important. Well, he does.

Ten solid minutes of pressing the KB was excruciating. The only rest positions allowed was the rack and the lockout. And after three minutes or so, the rack was no comfort because we had been training all day. It was an epic struggle to keep the position tight because my postural muscles gave out. I tried to rest a lot at the top and that worked well -- for a while. Then there was no rest postion that was comfortable. It became a battle of pure will as I struggled to keep the bells from falling on the ground -- something I'm proud to say I didn't let happen even once.

The double KB front squat was only four minutes but maybe the toughest set for me. I had never held a double rack of 16kg KBs for that long, let alone tried to do front squats for four minutes. My whole body was shaking.

I told a fellow trainer after the cert that I felt bulletproof after going through that. Overcoming a challenge of that magnitude gives you tremendous confidence.

That's what our lives are missing and what hard physical training with kettlebells, bodyweight, etc. can bring back. We get a sense of accomplishment after doing an extremely hard training like this that we can't get from our incredibly boring jobs or lives. And isn't a sense of accomplishment, the feeling that you are getting somewhere, what many of us want and need?

We all need a challenge from time to time and if you're looking for one of the hardest, the IKFF cert is the place to get it.

這種是DRAGON DOOR(DD)的壺鈴.

他們很漂亮,對不對? 這種是比較專業的.

http://www.shihan.com/The-Complete-Guide-to-Kettlebell-lifting-Book-and-DVD/

Mine came in the mail today so here's a review.

First, it's the best book for kettlebell techniques I've ever seen. It's leaps and bounds better in that department than anything else out there. Just nothing else compares IMO. The pictures are all in color, there are a lot of them, and the tips naturally cover things people should look out for. The addition of "bad form" pics will help steer people away from common errors, but these errors will be common sense to a lot of people that have used kettlebells for a while.

The content closely mirrors Steve's Encyclopedia of Kettlebell Lifting DVDs, especially volume 1. I say that because volume 2 had the BOSU, etc. in it and this book doesn't have any of that stuff.

There are a couple of techniques I don't remember seeing before in the encyclopedias -- like Push and Pull, seated pressing, and a few others. But most everything here was in the DVDs.

The only negative about the book was that there was nothing about programming. Anyone who's looking for that won't find it here and that's a big drawback for some people who are confused about programming (like me). If a long chapter on that had been included, this would have been THE one-stop shop for KB anything and everything. But without it, I feel there's a gap because people won't know how to put all the various techniques into a workout.

The accompanying DVD has short clips of everything in the book. Steve doesn't say anything in the clips, meaning that this book and DVD combo doesn't make the encyclopedia DVDs obsolete. There was a lot on those DVDs that isn't in this book/DVD, especially the second set.

As an aid to learning the KB techniques, this is the resource I've been looking for. I've been wanting something to show people without having to refer to the DVDs or actually pick up a KB and start swinging. I've also been looking for something to use as a reference in my training space and this is it.

I highly recommend the book.

P.S. Shihan is now running a $20 off promotion on the book. Get the savings while you can!

Mike Mahler's tukish get up.

There's an interesting link up over at IGX on the Turkish Getup. The Turkish get up (TGU) is an exercise that got blended into the kettlebell mix by Pavel of RKC/dragon door fame. It was taught to him by Steve Maxwell. Thing is, it used to be just a move among a small set of kettlebell movements, but in the DVD talked about in the thread, the hype has now made it into THE ONLY MOVE YOU EVER NEED.

Additionally, the level of detail that IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY OR YOU WILL HURT YOURSELF has sky rocketed. BTW, the caps here are on purpose. This is how this stuff is marketed in the kettlebell world. Everything is the latest MUST HAVE! Or THE ONLY WAY TO DO IT!

I understand marketing to an extent and people are trying to get other people's attention. That's actualy REALLY hard to do (haha, see my use of caps?). People are inundated with media so no one pays attention to anything. You have to scream your head of to be heard. So the claims have to be more and more outrageous to get people's attention.

But something else is going on here and that's taking something that is useful at a certain level of detail and making it overly complicated.

As a taichi teacher,  I could write an entire book and produce a DVD just on the first move of the taiji form. I could say, "It's all the taiji anybody would ever need" or some such garbage. And that might be true to an extent. I could certainly provide a depth of detail and knowledge about it that very few people have.

But of what use is that level of detail to people?

Taichi beginners don't need anywhere near that amount of complexity. They wouldn't understand it anyway. It would bore most people to death. The only people that would want it are kooks like me that do this stuff all day every day.

Same goes for the kettlebell techniques. There's certain details you want so that you don't hurt yourself. Everyone needs these because using the kettlebell relies on technique. But the problem is that you can get consumed by the deeper levels of technique if you aren't careful.

As the thread at IGX says, the kettlebell used to be seen as the "AK-47 of fitness" that the "working man" could use to get fit. Then it became a hyper-detailed geekfest where you needed a PhD. just to figure out what people were talking about.

Bottom line for me is that a certain level of detail is desired but beyond that I tend to reject endless debates about technique because I've been down that road before. Endless BS debates about techniques WILL KILL your spirit and desire to do these exercises.

And that's the whole point in the first place: exercising. Getting out there and just doing it.

So don't get hurt but also don't let technical talk get in your way of exercising. Just because some level of detail is good doesn't mean that a lot is great.

Everyone has their version of the 300 workout but I guess it's more of a concept and an inspiration than anything else. The workouts revolve around hard training as inspired by the movie. So here's a "Spartan workout" that I did yesterday for kettlebells:

100 swings

100 snatches

100 cleans

Total: 300 reps

I did these in long sets and took one minute rest in between the three sets. I used the 16kg kettlbell and hope to work up to the 20kg next. It was a hell of a workout and there was a puddle of sweat around me.

These long sets are an important piece of kettlebell training. They increase work volume -- your ability to move weight repeatedly over longer time -- and that's the whole point of kettlebell training in the first place. These ARE NOT just dummbbells in disguise. How you use them is quite different.

These longs sets are also absolutely necessary for discovering the "groove" for the techniques. I say that becasue it was only yesterday during this workout that I felt I truly understood the swing for the first time. There's a groove that the kettlebell must travel in and you need long sets to find it. They improve your technique as you struggle with the bell. You get more and more tired so you have to find more and more efficient ways of moving the bell. Only long sets will show you that.

I also do most everything with the 16kg kettlebell these days. I rarely use the others except an 8kg and a 12kg to warmup. I'm stressing technique and mastery of the bell, but I do throw in some heavy bell work on other days. More on that later.

So if you've been training kettlebells for a little while and your hands are conditioned, try out the 300 workout above and let me know how you did!

This is a clip of the RKC certification and just looking at it, you can see why these guys have the reputation for the hardest cert in kettlebell training. It's three days long and the emphasis is on running the gauntlet of various lifts including the snatch test and the football field length walking set of presses. Hard stuff for hard men! Um...yeah.

This is another look at the cert with the Russian Anthem playing in the background. Be sure to have vodka handy while you watch. Looks like I'd need some after completing that kind of training.

This second features Steve Cotter about halfway through. Be sure to catch him doing pistols up on a table repeatedly. Wow. And the clip ends with Steve Maxwell (with the farmer tan) leading the group through a final challenge. Good stuff.

I'm very, very excited by this! The Complete Guide to Kettlebell Lifting is Steve Cotter's first book and I've already ordered it. I was looking for a master level text on kettlebells and this looks to be the one. I'm a big fan of Steve's (obviously) so I wanted something by him. I saw it had come out this morning so my copy is already on the way. I'll review it when it gets in.

This is my warmup that I do for kettlebelling. The basic movements are around the body passes, halos, wrist twists, up and down dogs to warm up the back, and windmill stretches. I also usually do some body weight squats but I didn't film those.

Please subscribe to our video page: http://www.youtube.com/user/FormosaFitness

I'll be updating it frequently with new material.

This is Steve Cotter, an excellent kettlebell instructor and the head of the IKFF kettlebell federation.　

Below is a two-part interview in which he talks about his background and his training. Lots of insights here. Enjoy.

20公斤壺鈴

很多人聽到"健身"的時候就說，"我不要我的身體變大!

他們的印象是英文的"bodybuilding."　就是這個:

對了,這個圖片是假的,不是真的!

壺鈴健身會帶給您什麼樣的身材? 在這裡跟大家介紹一下:

他是PAVEL, 最有名的壺鈴健身教練.

她是MISSY BEAVER,很有名的壺鈴健身教練.她是PAVEL的學生.

她是Ｋａｔｈｅｒｉｎｅ　Ｈｅｉｇｌ，Ｍｉｓｓｙ　Ｂｅａｖｅｒ的學生．她的身材並沒有太大，是不是？

他是Ｓｔｅｖｅ　Ｃｏｔｔｅｒ，很有名的壺鈴健身教練，他也練習神龍唐手道，這是很厲害的台灣功夫．

Ｌａｎｃｅ　Ａｒｍｓｔｒｏｎｇ也用壺鈴健身．

她是Ｌａｕｒｅｎ　Ｂｒｏｏｋｓ，也是Ｐａｖｅｌ的學生，也是很有名的壺鈴教練．

Ｍｉｋｅ　Ｍａｈｌｅｒ，很有名的壺鈴教練．

Ｓｔｅｖｅ　Ｍａｘｗｅｌｌ也是很有名壺鈴教練．他５５歲！

＂健身＂的意思不一定是英文的ｂｏｄｙｂｕｉｌｄｉｎｇ．不一定是＂Ｉ　ｗａｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｈｕｇｅ！＂

壺鈴健身不一樣！大家不要怕！

上課時間: 星期一到五 9:30-10:00 a.m.,星期一,三,五7-7:30 p.m.星期二,四11-11:30 a.m.請先打電話給我0912287898. 來試試看吧!

今天我買了100多的壺鈴. 它們快來了!

Today I ordered over 100 kettlebells. They should be here in about 5 weeks or so.

The Turkish getup is one of the harder kettlebell exercises. Definitely not for beginners. It requires a lot of coordination and skill with the kettlebell. But you can work up to it with this great progression from Art of Strength. By breaking it down like this, the getup can be worked step-by-step until you can do the whole exercise fluidly, which should be your eventual goal.

Let me know if this works for you.

I love this video by Pavel from dragondoor.com. It really shows his character as he talks about how the kettlebell has been eradicating weakness from the Russian genepool for over 300 years. Pavel's a blast.

I got a call last night about selling kettlebells that I really appreciated because it allows me to talk about an aspect of my business that isn't widely understood. First of all, we will be selling kettlebells in Taiwan very soon. Please stay tuned to the blog for updates! I've already ordered samples that looked great. The second order is on its way. Second, the economics behind the business side of it isn't so clear. I hope to clear it up a bit with this post.

I do this to try to be as open and honest as possible so I hope that's appreciated.

Heavier kettlebells are more expensive to import in ways that aren't obvious.

For example, let's say that I import some 4kg kettlebells and a 32kg kettlebell. I could buy 8 of the 4 kg kettlebells for the same weight as the 32kg kettlebell.

4 x 8kg= 32kg

1 x 32kg=32kg

So we see that from a shipping point of view, the weight would be the same. Yes, the bulk of the total package is also part of the shipping price but between the two (especially regarding kettlebells) the weight is the more important factor. They don't tend to come in large packages except for the GS model (I'll explain later).

So continuing the example, let's say (again, this is just an example!) that I charged NT$1500 for one 4kg kettlebell and NT$5600 for the 32kg kettlebell. Let's see what I could potentially make (gross, not net):

4kg: 8 x 1500= NT$12,000

32kg: 1 x 5600= NT$5,600

Difference: NT$6400!!!

As you can see, that's a huge potential profit difference. The result is that the larger the kettlebell, the lower the profit margin. By the way, the larger kettlebells do cost more to produce, as well. But I think that's fairly obvious.

A consequence of this is that larger kettlebells will be priced much higher than lower ones to try to minimize the shrinking profit margin but hopefully not beyond affordability. Still, larger kettlebells will tend to be specialist items that will need to be priced accordingly.

Again, I give this brief glimpse behind the curtain so that potential customers will understand some of the complexities of the business.

As always, we appreciate your business.

壺鈴是什麼呢?

簡單來說，壺鈴是從俄國流傳出來的一種健身工具。

在早期時代，壺鈴是被使用來訓練俄國軍隊，和表演特技的大力士們，後來經過改良，壺鈴不再只有令人望而怯步的大鋼砲呎吋，小巧可愛的四公斤重壺鈴，大小就像個小盆栽一樣，連初試重量訓練的女性朋友們，都可以輕易使用。

看~是不是很美?

壺鈴可以提供最完整的全身性訓練，是其他健身器材和運動所無法比擬的。

• 全身性運動 
• 骨質密度增高
• 勁與力增加
• 柔軟度提升 
• 耐力持久
• 體重減輕

壺鈴=kettlebell This is a great trainer named Anthony from Art of Strength and the Punch Kettlebell Gym. He's certainly one of the main driving sources behind kettlebell training. This clip gives his recommendations for the size kettlebell that you should start with.

In my opinion, he skews a bit heavy. I'm not sure why. I guess he's extremely serious about what he does and he wants others to be as well. But I would recommend most people go lighter than what he suggests, especially from what I'm seeing of both foreigners and natives here in Taiwan. I can't think of a single person, for example, that I would suggest start with a 32kg kettlebell. It would just be too hard to learn proper form.

So the reason I call this part one is that I hope to record my own clip and put it on youtube for weight recommendations based on the people I've met in Taiwan.

Briefly, my initial recommendations would be 8kg for nearly all women and 12-16kg for men -- 12 being for the deconditioned men among us and 16 for the more conditioned. If you're a really, really big guy then 20-24kg might work for you. But I would want to see some serious strength in that individual before I would recommend that weight. 

The main problem I see so far in educating people about kettlebell lifting is the fact that it is COMPLETELY different from the normal barbell/dumbbell lifting people are used to. I see this mistake every time I hand someone a kettlebell and they try to do a bicep curl with it. That's not what a kettlebell is for. It's not just an oddly shaped dumbbell.

How to use the kettlebell properly is beyond the scope of this article, but as I get into the blog and the videos it will become clearer and clearer that kettlebell training is a different type of training -- a type that most of us are not used to -- but one that has the potential to bring unique results in terms of fat loss and conditioning.

Because it's a different type of training, there is a bit of a learning curve to getting the technique -- hence the need for weight recommendations for beginning kettlebell buyers.

Stay tuned.