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The latest in kettlebell sport, health, fitness, strength, aerobics, nutrition, lifestyle

HOW TO TURKISH GET UP WITH 100lbs

8/30/2020

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This exercise has been used as a quick assessment tool for movement quality because the parameters for both joint mobility and system stability lie at the upper boundaries of what is considered functional.  When performed with increasingly heavier weights, there is a high neural demand on cognition and motor control.  Thus, this exercise can neither be rushed nor performed without 100% focus.

As renowned physiotherapist and FMS founder Gray Cook remarked, symmetry, bodyweight management, strength, and stability can all be addressed with the Turkish Get Up because despite not working many prime-movers, "[it] really blasts your stabilizers" and "stabilizers are what give you the mechanical advantage to be stronger".

As the legend goes, if you wanted to learn how to lift you would find your local, village strongman and ask him to teach you.  The strongman, knowledgeable in such matters understood that not everyone had the focus, determination, coordination or even physical well-being it takes to begin much less endure years of brutal training.  In order to separate the wishers from the workers, the strongman would decree:
"This is the Get-Up.  You must perform it on both the left and right sides equally.  When you can do it with 100lbs I will show you how to lift."
The Turkish Get-Up truly is one of the most accessible ways to assess both quantitative and qualitative parameters of physical fitness.  Not only will a TGU performed with light-to-moderately heavy weight keep you in the best shape of your life, but it also a mighty feat of strength when attempted with a maximal load.

The Turkish Get Up includes both an ASCENT and a DESCENT.

TGU: ASCENT

STEP 1: FLOOR PRESS
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With KB on the floor, insert deep into the handle. Pull hand into chest and roll to back. Press bell from shoulder to a vertical lockout. Use both hands if necessary.
STEP 2: ROLL TO ELBOW
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With one leg bent and one straight, drive through the foot of the bent leg to turn the hips over and provide inertia for the roll. Simultaneously pull your elbow underneath you by digging it into the floor. This is the only step when speed is your friend.
STEP 3: POST TO HAND
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Keep your eyes on the bell and maintain upward pressure through the elevated arm. Keep bottom shoulder packed tight, press the base of your palm into the floor and pull your hand underneath your torso while maintaining active pressure into the floor.
STEP 4: HIGH BRIDGE
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Keep eyes on the bell and maintain pressure through both arms. Drive through your foot to lift your hips into a fully extended hip position.
STEP 5: BRIDGE TO KNEE
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You are about to support yourself and the bell on only two points of contact - so be ready! Most of your weight is in your bottom arm here so take it slow and DO NOT take your eyes off the bell! Pull your foot underneath your body, slightly turning your hips to clear the floor with your knee. Plant the knee directly underneath your torso. If you have trouble running your knee into the floor, it's usually due to not turning the hips.
STEP 6: HIP SHIFT
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Keep your trunk stiff, eyes on bell, and simultaneously pull your hips under your shoulders as you lift your torso off from horizontal to vertical.
STEP 7: ADJUST YOUR FEET
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The geometry of the TGU (and your body) is imperfect. Thus, some adjustments may be required in order to take a proper lunge step.
STEP 8: KNEELING TO STANDING
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Don't get cocky! Keep your eyes on the bell, maintain active lockout, keep shoulder blade anchored, and PULL FORWARD into a bilateral stance. DO NOT push back into split squat stance and then step forward. The former utilizes your glute/ham strength and hip stability to ascend, the latter your quad strength and knee stability.

TGU: DESCENT

STEP 1: REVERSE LUNGE
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Keep your front heel down on the lunge! Feel the bell's weight in your hip. Guide yourself down slow. No shortcuts here.
STEP 2: HIP SHIFT / POST
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Maintain active lockout, keep eyes on the bell, shift hips out to lower your torso towards the floor. Don't just fall over. Try not to reach behind your knee. Your foot-knee-hand placement should create at least a modest angle.
STEP 3: SHOOT
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This is where many failed attempts end - take this step slow. Remember you are only on two points of contact as you shoot your leg through. Do not overreach as it will shift your center-of-mass too far resulting in destabilization. This step ends when the heel touches the floor.
STEP 4: PLANT YOUR BUTT
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Get your butt on the floor as soon as you can following the previous step.
STEP 5: SLIDE TO YOUR SIDE
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I have found this technique to be more reliable and predictable than simply reversing the ascending steps. Dropping to the elbow is not usually the issue, but rather getting to the back without dropping awkwardly or directly loading a flexed thoracic spine. Maintaining a stiff arm while sliding out allows a controlled descent at constant speed. People with poor shoulder ROM may have trouble with this step, but then again those people probably cannot TGU without a bent bell arm.
STEP 6: ROLL TO YOUR BACK
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After your lat/side makes contact with the floor you can safely and smoothly roll to your back. Get to your back before unloacking your arm. Many rush this step. Achieve stability in the lying position, and then lower the bell with both arms. Congrats! Now repeat it on the other side!
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Designing a Weight Training Program for home (BASIC)

3/26/2020

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Start Somewhere, Start Now
  • Don’t wait around for someone to tell you WHICH exercises to do, or HOW MANY reps to do, or HOW MUCH weight to use
  • Making something a sustainable part of your lifestyle involves acting on intrinsic motivations: do the exercises you LIKE to do, do the number of reps you CAN do, and lift the amount of weight that FEELS good for you
    • The Gym: the benefit of machines is that they guide your exercise selection (you don’t have a choice), while at the same time allowing you the freedom to choose which machines you want, and explore which exercises and muscles you ENJOY training
    • Classes: make note of exercises you enjoyed in class.  Maybe they are a good fit for your own home program
    • From Scratch: look for a program online and give it a try at home - if you like it, keep it, or make minor adjustments to make it a ‘best fit’
Training Specificity
  • Some sources indicate the human body has over 800 muscles, while some indicate there are 700 named muscles, of which only 300 may be of practical relevance to specialists who deal directly with anatomy
  • Some strength athletes exclusively train Bench Press, Deadlift, and Squat, with maybe some accessory sled dragging, shoulder shrugs, crunches, and cardio thrown in
  • These athletes tend to be the ‘strongest’ in the world (think powerlifters, strongmen, and olympic weightlifters)
  • The more complex an athlete’s routine, the further down the strength ladder they tend to be, but the higher on the athletic ladder they are - this is representative of the ‘specificity of training’
  • If you train a specific thing, you get better at it: practicing piano makes you a better piano player, but just because both a piano and a guitar make music doesn’t mean playing piano makes you a better guitar player
    • Complementary Carryover: However, becoming a better musician gives you an ear for music and dexterity for picking up other instruments
    • In training, all exercises can be complementary.  However, excelling at an exercise requires training that movement specifically

Cover Your Bases
  • Identify all the muscle areas you want to develop; identify exercises you want to get better at
  • Consult a resource that has organized exercises by muscle group
  • Choose 1 exercises for each muscle group YOU want to develop
  • Make time for practicing exercises/movements YOU want to get better at (i.e. sports, yoga poses, supplementary activity)
  • Perform 1-2 sets of each exercise to a level of fatigue YOU are satisfied with
  • Log your session, make a note of anything relevant (e.g. “I felt really weak today”, “I could hardly finish the second set of these”, “My back feels funny on these”, “I don’t think I do these right”, “This felt too easy/hard, increase/decrease the weight next session”, “This was awkward with my home set up - find an alternative”, etc.)

  • Follow the principle of progressive overload

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Adapting Your Training For Health & Longevity

2/13/2020

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Sometimes we get so caught up with the idea of "optimizing" our training that we find ourselves unable to switch gears. You don't have to be at your strongest, leanest, and fittest all the time - in fact, many strength athletes and coaches would argue against it.

"You can't have the peaks without the valleys"

Often times life gets in the way, and unfortunately we may often perceive this as a nuisance or detriment, when in fact life's inconveniences serves as a natural mode of deloading our body from mechanical stress. The downside of course is that life's inconveniences are typically fraught with mental stresses, so we have to manage those too.

Training can be very simple, or it can get very complicated. For most people it should be the former, but also remember that without practice, everything is complicated in the beginning. Acquiring skills and honing requires ACTION and AWARENESS. You must take action, but also be aware of the feedback you get from your body: the nuances of the exercise, the consequence of making mistakes, the systemic impact of the whole workout, the muscle messaging you get afterwards (Stiffness, soreness, pain, etc.), and how you adapt to that feedback. Below is a list of the ACTIONS you must take when developing your training regimen, and the part you should pay most attention to (AWARE).

ACTION - Start with the general approach - try many exercises
BE AWARE - of which ones you like best (you are more consistent when you do things you enjoy)

ACTION - Narrow your repertoire - identify a movement fundamentals checklist
BE AWARE - that when training for strength, the human body expresses mechanical efficiency within a limited series of patterns that serve as the basis for all variants (e.g. Hinge Pattern, it's derivatives include: unilateral DL, Good Morning, Hip Thrust, Glute Bridge, Inverted Plank, Hardstyle Swings, Softstyle Swings, Snatch, Clean, Broad Jump, Sprinting, Sumo Deadlift, Medball Slam, Over The Shoulder Throw / Keg Toss, ....). Start with the simplest form, and master it before experimenting.

ACTION - Train all these movement patterns 2-3x weekly, with undulating intensity
BE AWARE - that there is a minimum effective dose for training adaptions. 2x / week / muscle group or pattern is typical, with 3x / week showing a mild advantage. If you try 3x / week per movement but you find recovery taking a hit, go back to 2x / week. This presumes the presence of adequate sleep, hydration, nutrition, stress status.

Undulating intensity means:
E.g.
Mon - LEGS: HEAVY, 5-8 reps, 8-10 hard sets
Thurs - LEGS: LIGHT, 12-20 reps, 6-8 sets to fatigue
If doing a third day, start with an extra light day - OR - if you are doing SPLIT TRAINING (i.e. LEGS/CHEST/BACK/ARMS all diff days) then you can have 1 extra FULL BODY day to hit ALL MUSCLE GROUPS. Keep it medium intensity, 3-4 sets per muscle group/movement.

ACTION - Predetermine your light and heavy days
BE AWARE - that when left to make the decision yourself, freedom of choice tends to reinforce your bias. So if you tend to find it difficult not going hard every session, without a set program to follow you may find yourself training every session hard & heavy and be on the fast-track to possible overtraining syndrome, AS WELL AS possibly leave some metabolic training adaptations on the table. If you tend to hold yourself back, then if left to decide you will find yourself likely not reaching your minimum effective training stimulus.

The above suggestions aren't meant for you to "optimally strategize your training periodization protocols" (don't I sound so scientific and smart?)....these are just minimum standards to ensure that the time you invest in the gym pays dividends back to your body and psyche.
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The Most Important Cue For Kettlebells!

11/15/2019

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Video Key Points:
  • Connect the arm to the body!
  • Lower body propels the bell, the arms do not "lift" it
  • Connection allows you to transfer force from the lower body to the bell
  • Connection should occur as early as possible - the hinge follows connection
  • Connection should be maintained throughout the ENTIRE swing phase - arm only leaves body because terminal hip extension propels the arm away
  • FAULT - hip hinge occurs too early; connection not achieved
  • Breaking at the hips early and failing to make connection increases moment arm of the movement, increasing spinal shearing forces
  • More space between the bell and hips = less space between the bell and floor
What is connection?

Connection means connecting the arm holding the kettlebell to your body (i.e. the hips) in order to conduct the force of your hip drive into the bell.
This is the foundation upon which kettlebell swinging works.  You cannot create a ballistic swing if you don't have connection, because you cannot launch the bell (i.e. arm) off a surface it was never connected to.
Connection means more power, but it also means lifting safer because it shortens what is referred to in the study of biomechanics as the moment arm.
A moment arm is the length between a joint axis or fulcrum and the line of force acting on that joint.
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This is my interpretation of the line of action in a kettlebell swing.  I'm not a physics wizard so if anyone else is well studied on lines of action and moment arms feel free to add your take if you feel like there is a significant discrepancy with what actually happens during the swing.
Basically, the longer the line of red dots (moment arm), the more stress the back lever undergoes.  Not connecting to the hips also displaces the relative load higher up the spine to the scapula (anchor) increasing the risk of back injury.  So example (A) exhibits less risk and less stress, whereas example (B) exhibits more risk and more stress.

It cannot be stressed enough how fundamentally crucial this concept is.  If you don't get this concept then you should not be lifting.  It's fine if you're working on it, and really it's something you should ALWAYS be working on.  But not adhering to this principle makes you a back lifter, and a back lifter is not a safe lifter.

Play safe!

Coach Solly
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Fitness is not a routine, fitness is the pursuit of excellence.  Quit the enter(train)ment.

5/29/2019

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Fitness is not a routine. Fitness is the pursuit of excellence. The pursuit of excellence is your routine. If you don't understand that, then you forgot why you started in the first place. #bodybuilding #Fitness #motivation #excellence #personalbest #bebetter #progress

— Ballistic Strength Gym (@sollysnatches) May 15, 2019
"I'm so unmotivated", "I need a new routine", "I need something different", "I got bored of my old program"...

Do these sentiments sound familiar?  I hear this stuff all the time, and it's one of the many things that drive me batty. 

I've been training for over 20 years, and I've been training others for just over a decade, so believe me when I tell you I've heard it all.  I know how the average person perceives exercise; I know their good habits and I know their bad habits; I know why most people start and stop exercising; I know the success and failure rates; I know what separates them from me.  I know this from experience, and I know this from the abundance of exercise physiology, psychology, behavioural, and epidemiological research.

There's always some new article or book that convinces people of the obscure missing piece to their daily regimen that will magically be the one thing that sends them over the top of whatever obstacle(s) have been keeping them back.  But I, as well as the scads of coaches who actually work with people one on one (not just write books or articles), know that those who fail to accomplish their goals, whether fitness-based or otherwise - do so because they neglect the fundamentals, the basics - not the nuances.

Fundamentals account for 90-95% of success, whereas nuances are largely unnecessary components of the bigger picture.  A machine can be "finely tuned", but it can nonetheless perform its job as directed without fine tuning.  Fine tuning just means it does the job with less wasted energy.  The irony when it comes to a goal like weight-loss is that wasted energy IS the goal.  The less efficient you are, the more energy you expend, and the more weight you lose.  In contrast, getting fitter is a process of becoming more efficient at a given task - whether physically (e.g. stronger muscles move weight easier), or physiologically (e.g. more and larger mitochondria and RBC's allow you to use oxygen more efficiently).  This is why, in part at least, you find it difficult to maintain your weight-loss momentum from month to month.  You've picked all the low-hanging fruit (the easy weight), and now you have to work a bit harder and/or longer to get more weight off.

If you have a fitness goal, which also accomplishes health goals by proxy, you only need to worry about doing the basics, repeatedly, over a long enough timeline to see your goals through, and with the intent of doing so as best you can while acknowledging that you can always improve:
  1. Do not overfeed yourself - or starve yourself
  2. Do not restrict or avoid foods or food groups
  3. Be active, regularly - but not obsessively
  4. Get enough sleep
  5. Avoid "all-or-nothing" attitude towards life
  6. Pay attention to what you are doing, and learn from your mistakes
  7. Strive for excellence; do the best you can; do better over time


Do NOT worry about silly, dichotomous thinking and biohacking BS such as:
  1. Should I eat all my carbs at the start of the day or at the end of the day?
  2. Should I sleep all at once or take micro-naps through the day?
  3. Should I eat low carb or low fat?
  4. Should I go Vegan or Carnivore?
  5. I should count every calorie...or...Calories don't count if I do this diet!
  6. Tracking food is obsessive compulsive, so I'm going to intermittent fast instead and create a binge eating disorder - yay!
  7. I should only do only the BEST exercises, otherwise exercise isn't worth doing!
  8. I'm 44, overweight, poor diet, high BP, and no training experience or formal guidance in exercise.... time to start training for that marathon and eating only meal replacement shakes!
  9. I need to eat only low-glycemic carbs, less than 25g at every other meal, across 10 meals per day, between the hours of 12pm and 8pm, paired with only lean or vegan protein, every other day on my rest days where I only do fasted, low-intensity steady-state cardio first thing after I wake up.  Unless I'm on a carb load refeed - in which case I eat only 2 meals per day, immediately after my workout if 1 hour or less, otherwise before my workout if 1 hour or more, at 1500 calories each, containing 200g of mixed carbs each meal, with fats as low as possible to speed up gastric emptying and maximally stimulate insulin to "drive nutrients into my cells", along with at least 0.1g per kg/bodyweight of leucine to stimulate muscle protein synthesis from a protein source that is either only lactose free, gluten free, egg-free, free-range, grass-fed, organic, and ethically butchered....unless it's Saturday - in which case YOLO!!!!!!!!

We need to stop this nonsense.  These examples are all indicative of behaviour that attempts to circumvent long term commitment to the process, in favour of an easier way to the prize.  There isn't one.  This is true in life, as well as fitness.  For this reason, I find it typical that those who fall for these shortcuts and empty promises of success without effort tend to display a similar kind of half-assed approach to their jobs and home life.  Your "new routine" should be seeing your current routine through to the end.  Are you bored with progress?  If you are bored it's because you're just going through the motions, and in the beginning that was enough to keep you interested.  If you're bored it's because you never identified what your goals were, and thus you don't know why you started your routine in the first place.  That or you need a reminder - progress is the goal, not entertainment.

How you do fitness, is how you do life, work, and family - "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" - John Wooden

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