I have good news to report:

If you don’t work out and want to start, you need to do a lot less than you think to achieve fat loss, strength, less stress, or whatever your goal is.

If you work out too much and are experiencing fatigue, stress, sleep problems, and perhaps injury – then you will get better results by doing less work.

Why to let a professional design your workout for you

Do you want to put on that new roof or get someone who installs three roofs a week for the past twenty years to do it?

Why does a program like Enter the Kettlebell! work so well?

Because you let Pavel, or whoever the professional programmer is, do the thinking and programming for you.  You can’t mess it up, so long as you do it.  You always know what your next workout is going to be.  Just make sure their are testimonials to back up the credentials of the professional programmer.

Its like having a good accountant or financial advisor.  You sit back and let them to the work so you can play with your cats, go bowling, or read The Federalist.

Here’s two things that happened when I “hired” Pavel to design my kettlebell workout (I bought the book):

1.)   Didn’t do the mobility and flexibility moves Pavel suggests…after awhile got injured.  Didn’t follow the program closely enough.  Yes, the minor stuff is something you have to do, its there for a reason.

2.)  Took Pavel’s advice and skipped the variety day and didn’t do too much (some poor souls would always try to add another program on top of Pavel’s program.  That’s a recipe for stress and failure)…so I hit the goals of the program.

The Secret to Effective Programming: Less is More

The latter point regarding not doing much hits upon an immortal lesson for programming your workouts, that might be considered counter cultural:

Less is more.

I read about a very strong, world class deadlifter Jeff Steinberg who recently PRd: 655×2 at a bodyweight at around 177.

Now Jeff is in another cosmos than perhaps everone, but I found something interesting in his programming, something that us mere mortals can apply to what we’re doing, generally.

He did ONE deadlift session per week.  It was a hard session and he did other complimentary work plus his sport during the week, but his bread and butter was the ONE session per week.  He did three four week blocks (only 12 sessions) and even skipped one!

So we shouldn’t panic if we miss a workout.  REST IS GOOD.

I asked Geoff Neupert about programming deadlifts and chin ups per his Permanent Weight Loss exercise plan.

I had been doing two days a week, one 5×5 with lighter weights and one 3×3 going a bit heavier.  I was concerned this “wasn’t enough” or I might be “doing something wrong.”

Geoff basically had me look at the big picture, beyond the lifting to other aspects of my life.  I’m a pretty busy person, several jobs, and have a family to take care of.  The last thing I need is to do too much with my workouts.  He said three days a week of pulling (for fat loss) is ideal, but for someone like myself there’s nothing wrong with two days a week.

In fact, the lighter load is much better because two days a week means less stress on my body and more time to do other things, like doing sodokus and watching Family Feud.

Talk about perspective.  Its easy doing two days a week when you put it like that!

The Problem with Today’s Fitness Industry

Dan John talks about one of the big problems in the fitness industry these days.  People want to train like Spartans, Ultimate Fighters and Professional Football players.  Those things are all cool, don’t get me wrong.  I want to fight off the zombie attack just like the next person.

BUT:

Why do so many people compound the stress of their lives and accelerate aging and injury by killing themselves in the gym?

If you are going to spend time working out, at least consider these two things:

-How is what you are doing fitting in with the rest of your life?  Is it helping you or hindering you?

-How is what you are doing now going to affect your body in 20-30 years?

Andrea talks about how she does not do long, marathon workouts.  She does relatively short sessions, 10-15 minutes a few times a week.  And if you’ve seen her, well, you know she is in very good shape and looks very young.

There is a scientific basis for the results that come from low stress, short, anti aging workouts.

But still, some people are set on really long, drawn out, “hardcore” workouts.

500 snatches, 100 pushups and 100 pull ups 3 times a week is fun, and if you can do that you are a strong person, but if you keep doing that you are going to mess up your body.  I think something like Crossfit is a cool idea, but I’m interested to see what that kind of workout over time does to this generation of athletes.

Some Feedback from Our Subscribers on “Less is More”

“I am, at 60, learning to train ‘smarter’. I am going back to the basics: how to use my kettlebells safely, in proper form. How long I workout, is NOT important, doing the moves in good form, safely IS.” – Vanessa

“love it…right on.

best results in my life in the past 1 year with ETK, PTTP and Dan
Johns 40 day program” -Chris

Short AND Long Term Vision

We are hardwired for two ways of thinking: what is immediate and what is long term.  Unlike animals we can look into the future and reason and predict the same.

We can say “I’m not going to eat this cookie in front of me (immediate) because my goal is to lose 40 pounds by this summer (long term).

Work Out Abuse

Working out is like anything else, it can be abused.  Working out improperly, whether with poor form or too much volume or too much weight, can mess up your body just as much as it can conduce to your overall health and well being, the assumed reason you bother to work out in the first place.

The Ageless Body is about training intelligently for strength and well being today and how it will affect our body 20 years from now.

Equally important to actually working out is what you do and what you DON’T do.

Here is some interesting scientific backing about why this works (and not to mention a way to get your hands on over 90 of these destressing, anti aging exercise PROGRAMS…not single workouts but entire programs).

Not only do you save a ton of time and have more energy from doing shorter anti aging workouts, you’ll also learn how this is a big secret for relieving stress in your life.

by Sean Schniederjan, RKC

This October will be 4 years since I’ve entered the world of the RKC.  It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done physically.  I thought I was going in to learn kettlebells and to test my guts, but the weekend ended up changing my life.

Kettlebells sucked me in from the first workout I experienced back in 2005.  I don’t know if it was the immediate strength I felt in the posterior chain, the strength I felt in my grip, or such a soaring heart rate gained in such a little amount of time, I was absolutely hooked.  As Bob Weir says in the Grateful Dead documentary Festival Express in their trans-Canadian journey by train, “we had achieved lift off.”

There was only one place to go with this enthusiasm, the RKC.  I didn’t go because I wanted to be an instructor necessarily; I just wanted to soak in the Taj Mahal of kettlebell training with Pavel.  The testimonials from doctors to professional athletes to strength coaches affected me.  I had to go.  I read about how the three days of intense training coupled with high levels of instruction on the precise use of the kettlebell made this an experience that went beyond run of the mill workshops.  The fact that it had routinely humbled experienced athletes and trainers, with a 30% fail rate, lured me in via a challenge.  This thing had it all.

It took several years to arrange  things.  It didn’t hurt that I moved from Texas to Saint Paul, 10 minutes from Dayton’s Bluff, but it still took roughly 3 years to get signed up.  October 2008.

Unfortunately, something happened to me while playing with a pair of 88 pound bells a few months prior to October 2008.  Lacking the requisite lat and core strength (probably best achieved from bodyweight training that I’d neglected) I attempted a double front squat that was more than I could handle.  My back went into flexion at the bottom and an even line of level 10 pain shot out both sides of the upper lumbar spine.

At the time of the injury, all I could see was the RKC weekend looming a few months ahead.  Unlike the unsuspecting rube who signs up not knowing the intensity of the weekend that lies ahead, I was fully aware that the weekend was “the eliminator.”  This fresh injury was incompatible with the three day war with kettlebells.

Registration was not cancelled or postponed.  There were a few months to recover.  Time heals (some) wounds, and by the time the workshop arrived my back was fine.  The bad thing was that I wasn’t able to train, at all, for those two months leading up to the weekend save a few light go rounds with a 16kg bell days before the weekend.

I arrived in the worst shape I had been since starting kettlebells.  I walked into Dayton’s Bluff afraid.

How to Pass the RKC

Despite being deconditioned and more than a little fearful of getting run over and killed, I did have three years of swings, snatches, cleans, Turkish get ups, and presses under my belt.  Were it not for the that, I would have failed.

What specifically allowed me to get through the weekend was completing the Rite of Passage from Enter the Kettlebell!  In 2007 I put in my time doing swings and snatches, along with a ton of TGUs and presses, as prescribed in the program and hit 240 on the SSST.

High rep swings and snatches reenforces proper grip, which is:

The Easy Way to Correctly Grip a Kettlebell

The way to do this is hold the bell as far to ends of your fingers as possible without letting go of it.  If the bell is down in your palms, then you will get meat grinder hands.  Brett Jones told me he agreed at the meet and greet dinner we had before the weekend.

I did get some minor tears in new places from the sheer enormity of the volume of work we did that weekend, but I didn’t have to wear gloves or cut out socks or doing any taping.  Hand care from grip know-how goes a long way.  I wouldn’t want to do three days of swings with Freddy Krugger hands, and thankfully I didn’t have to.  If I had, I would have quit.  Avoid the additional stress of taping and practice gripping your kettlebell the right way.

How Many Swings at the RKC?

We had a woman in our group at the RKC who counted the number of swings we did, and if memory serves me it was between 700-800 per day.  It’s my understanding that this fluctautes…but still.  This is on top of the demands of having to learn the system well enough to teach it, and the myriad of other workouts and constant mini-workshops on what is taught.

But if you’ve done a whole bunch of snatches in 10 minutes with a somewhat heavy bell that is easily achievable by following ETK, then you can do a whole bunch of swings and snatches dispersed out over three days.  Its still not easy, but your baseline is solid.

So my three (four) things for the passing the RKC are:

1.         Pass the SSST following ETK.  Since you do more get ups than pressing at the RKC and Get Ups strengthen your pressing anyway, do Get Ups more than pressing in your ETK training.

2.         Master gripping the KBs as described above (handles away from palms as close to the ends of fingers as possible without letting go of the bell).

3.         Meet with an RKC or someone who knows good form, especially if you are hurting yourself by using KBs.  Distinguish good pain and bad pain.

4.         Don’t injure yourself in close proximity to the workshop

There are many ways to prepare, but this might be the simplest.  Adding some things such as squats and bodyweight training (push ups, pull ups) would not hurt.  Read the requirements carefully.  There is a pull up test now that they did not have in 2008.

Don’t attempt this course if you are new to kettlebells.  Put your time in before, I’d say at least 6 months-1 year of practice and workouts under your belt.

I won’t forget seeing that guy, who was fairly ripped and strong looking, but failed his snatch test miserably because he had probably picked up a kettlebell maybe two times before showing up, if that.

One more thing: Squats

The most difficult workout for me and for the candidates at the RKC I assisted at in June 2010 was the squat workout on day two.  My memory prevents me from even considering the one I did in 2008, but the one in 2010 was the Dan John Special: 10 swings, 10 goblet squats, 9 swings, 9 goblet squats…on down to 1/1.  Now keep in mind that this is later in day two, after you’ve done a lot of other stuff for almost two solid days.

My point is, make sure you are doing some squats in your training to get your leg strength up to par.  I wasn’t able to do much squat training because of the injury, and that was a huge detriment.  IMO that squat workout is a big “hump” to get over during the weekend.

What Happened

I survived the weekend physically, but it was close.  By day three I remember feeling like a zombie.  I passed the technique tests and the grad workout, but the concentration needed to safely administer the teaching portion of the RKC requirements was not happening.  I was rightfully failed for a substandard job on the teaching segment.

The author, in the white shirt, smiling big to mask the pain. Note: no tape on hands.

I will never forget the verdict discussion with my team leaders.  I wouldn’t receive the RKC title.  There was a lot of compassion on their end.  They knew it had been a three day battle for survival.  They saw that I didn’t walk away like a few of the others that started the weekend but left early.  They saw me close to the edge during Jeff O’Conner’s sadistic squat workout. But facts are facts and I did not safely teach kettlebells to my victim.  That was a dramatic few minutes sitting around that table.

It proved to not be a big deal, because a few weeks later I met with my team leader with a fresh mind and body and demonstrated the requisite skill set in teaching kettlebells safely and received the title I had wanted.

What Happened After That

I didn’t want to just learn from Pavel, I wanted to work with him.  I liked his sense of humor and we had a mutual disgust of communism. I ended up arranging a strength workshop on the beach in Ventura, CA called Hardstyle Ventura with Pavel.  It has been successful for three straight years.  This past year about half the attendees set PRs following Pavel and Master RKC Geoff Neupert’s protocols for heavy double kettlebells.

This was not originally a part of the plan

This has led to a new interest, marketing.  I like telling people about these things, I like trying to find people who can be helped by these things.  Pavel introduced me to John DuCane and we have been working together to promote Andrea’s Ageless Body Workshop, which is growing since its introduction to the market last year.  We have more sign ups for the upcoming workshop from less than a month of marketing than what we did last year from 4.5 months of marketing.

I have a passion for this project because I know that athletics and strength training are wedded to risk, and there are a lot of men and women with joint issues, especially messed up shoulder and hips.  Andrea’s workshop is made to help these issues so that they can move forward with effective kettlebell training.

I was amazed that one of the participants at our first workshop said that he had level 7 shoulder pain and was unable to press prior to the workshop.  He said that after day 1 his pain level was down to zero and during day two his pressing was back, he was repping a 20kg bell thanks to Andrea’s instruction.

We thankfully captured his powerful testimonial on video.

The RKC was the entry way for these new and powerful experiences for me (entry gauntlet might be more accurate).  That challenging weekend was the beginning of a journey I didn’t know I would be on.

So thank you to John and Pavel for not letting the kettlebells remain in the dungeons, but taking a huge risk and presenting them to the market effectively.  They’ve changed a lot of lives, and I’m one of them.

The fact that they made this not only a workshop, but a huge challenge is part of the fun.  I’m not in the armed forces and never played high level sports, so I can look back at this weekend and say “I survived.”  How can that not make you an all around stronger -and stronger willed- person?

If you have the guts and will to claw your way through that weekend then what can you not get through?

If you love kettlebells, for their own sake or for the gold standard of teaching, and you like a challenge, go to the RKC.  If you think you need to take it easy and do a weekend that will help with the joint problems from years of forces against your body and learning kettlebells in a more laid back environment before taking on the RKC, spend two days with Andrea first.  Here’s some footage of an RKC’s impression of the Ageless Body Workshop.

Are you going to the RKC?  Did you pass the RKC?  What did you think?  How did it affect you and your life? Feel free to post your story in the comments.

Many instructors say that the kettlebell swing is the starting point for all or most kettlebell exercises.  There is something even more fundamental and it is something that most people brush over.  I’m talking about the kettlebell deadlift.  If you look at the top google searches for how to swing a kettlebell not much is said about the kettlebell deadlift and how it is the foundation of a proper, safe, and effective kettlebell swing.

If you are interested in anti aging, and keeping a relatively pain free, strong and well conditioned body as you age for whatever your sport or activity may be, I suggest learning and doing the following BEFORE jumping into a butt kicking kettlebell swing workout.

The Deadlift: First for a Reason

The kettlebell deadlift, NOT THE SWING, is the starting point of a successful kettlebell career.  It, along with mobility and flexibility training that are built into making a more structurally efficient deadlift is the starting point of “The Ageless Body” in my system.  If your deadlift is wrong, everything after will be affected for the worse.  Spend time getting this dialed in!  It will pay off down the road when you are knocking off sets of kettlebell swings.

Getting your deadlift “dialed in” requires you to understand the HINGE movement. The hinge allows you to learn to move from you hips first and let the knees move as an “after thought”. In other words hips first – knees second. All the while the pelvis and spine remain neutral. It’s worth spending some time with a qualified instructor to guarantee the correct movement pattern to create a stronger, safer and more powerful kettlebell swing.

The key to deadlifting is staying in your own optimal range of motion which means not rounding your upper (thoracic spine) and lower (lumbar spine) back.  Improper movement, rounding, of the upper and lower back not only leads to injury, it accelerates aging.  Bad posture increases aches, pains, and aging while good posture helps prevents aches and pains, increases strength and helps your body fight aging.

The kettlebell deadlift slows things down so that you can work on the basics of hip movement needed for kettlebell ballistics such as swings.  At my Ageless Body workshops we spend considerable time working on getting the spine and hips neutral, and we do this in the context of the kettlebell deadlift.  The deadlift is the place to work on spine and pelvis neutrality, NOT the swing.  By the time you are swinging you are moving too quickly and its harder to work on these things.

We spend time opening up the hips by working on the hip flexor stretch, among other drills, and thoracic mobility drills plus several key shoulder stretches that opens up the thoracic spine and shoulders.  I show you several of these in my Kettlebell Boomer DVD and Ageless Body Book.

What To Do if Your Are Rounding Your Back

A huge advantage to kettlebell deadlifts is that there are so many variations.  In addition to the number of bells you can use, sumo (wide stance) or conventional (narrower, shoulder width stance), suitcase (bell or bells  outside feet) or traditional (bell or bells inside feet), I’m talking about the variation of the HEIGHT of the platform from which you are deadlifting.

Raising the bell (or whatever you’re lifting) is important because when teaching spine neutrality, it takes greater amounts of mobility to keep the spine neutral the closer the bell is to the ground (or on the ground or even below the “ground” with certain set ups we won’t get into here).

Keeping Your Spine Neutral

Why is spine neutrality important?  Most importantly, keeping a neutral spine in a kettlebell deadlift or kettlebell swing is the safest AND strongest position for your back.  The spine transmits force when it is in the neutral position.  Rounding your back, generally, leads to injury and weakness.  When you round your back to lift (there are a very few exceptions with some elite powerlifters who round their backs as a specialized techniques that do not apply to the majority of the population) this indicates you are shifting the load of the weight from the hips and glutes, where the load belongs, to the lower back.  Deadlifting with a rounded back, again, is a recipe for injury.

But a lot of people do not have the hip mobility to come all the way down to pick something off the ground without rounding the lower back.  So we elevate the bell or bells off of boxes.  I like using yoga blocks.  You work reps within your optimum range of motion, the range that allows you to pick up the bell without rounding your back.

Train your body to lift in YOUR biomechanically optimal position.  Own it.  Then move to a shorter box and work on that range of motion until you own that one, and so forth until you are lifting from the ground.  This takes  discipline.  If you care about your spine you will be patient and not lift beyond the limits of your mobility.

Ways to See if Your are Rounding Your Back

A lot of people aren’t aware they are rounding their backs when they deadlift.  Another easy way to work on this is to use a broom stick or dowel to place along the back of the spine to keep it neutral while hip hinging.  Hip hinging is simply standing with feet shoulder distance apart and sitting back, so that your hips move back and not your back or knees.

Another component of the safest and strongest biomechanics for deadlifting is not just keeping the spine neutral, but keeping a neutral pelvis.  This means not having too much of an anterior (forward) or posterior (backward) pelvic tilt.

Your Posterior Chain and “Core”

You will discover by simply lifting a kettlebell with proper form the wonders it will do for your posterior chain (the key to a healthy backside, posture, and a firm butt) and even strengthen the abdominals “core” because of their role in stabilizing the spine.

Think of the spinal muscles and abs as the “tent” that protects the spine.

Having the habit of moving and loading the hips when lifting something removes stress on the back and knees and is therefore a key principle to a pain free back.

There is more to the hip hinge for keeping spinal neutrality in the kettlebell deadlift or swing.

Most people will ignore this drill because it looks simple and the benefits are hidden.  If you are disciplined and practice the deadlift often, then you will enjoy the benefits of a long athletic career and more muscle (muscle mass decreases as we age).

Tips on a Better Deadlift, and then the Swing

Stand with feet shoulder width apart.  Place a kettlebell in between your legs. Sit back and reach for the kettlebell maintaining neutral spine with shins nearly vertical and hips loaded. If you can’t reach the kettlebell maintaining this structure, raise the kettlebells up onto a platform of some kind to guarantee proper alignment, as we discussed above.  Make sure the platform is just the right height, not too high and too low. Second, if you are performing the exercise on your own, use a mirror to watch yourself from the front to help you keep your hips and shoulders straight and in alignment.

1. Stand with feet shoulder width apart.  Place a kettlebell in between your legs.

2. Start pushing your hips back. “Sit back,” do not bend over.  Keep your pelvis and back in a neutral position. DO NOT let your back round.

Sit back to load the hips. Loading the hips makes your back happy.

3. Keep your lats and upper back engaged and don’t let your shoulders roll forward or shrug up. Let you arms stay against the body as long as possible, and reach straight down for the kettlebell.  To what extent do you use your lats?  There is SOME lat engagement and stability, but it’s not a mobility or strengthening drill per se for the lats and shoulders.

4. As you reach for the kettlebell make sure the shoulder picking up the kettlebell is engaged at the lat. Think about keeping your shoulder blade glued to your spine. Notice your arm can pendulum down while your scapula is still pulling in and down the back. If your upper back rounds or your shoulder drops as you move your arm forward you have lost the connection of the arm to the body.

5. Push your hips foreword to full lockout.  It helps to squeeze your glutes together to achieve full lockout.

Helps to squeeze the glutes to achieve full hip extension in the lockout

When this exercise is done correctly, you should feel your hip and leg loaded and your abs and lats engaged.

The Kettlebell Swing

The swing is the “mother of all kettlebell drills”.

It is the “second foundation” from which all other lifts are based.  The basis of the swing is the explosive hip drive, which you should first learn from deadlifting.  Don’t even think about starting to swing until your deadlift is dialed in!

The swing adds a more explosive hip load and hip thrust known as “ballistics.”

The hip mechanics of the deadlift and swing are identical, but the intention is different.  With the deadlift you are lifting the bell up into a lockout position.  In the swing, you are using the explosiveness of your hip drive to project the bell in front of you.

As in the deadlift, you should feel your hip and leg loaded and your abs and lats engaged.

Without mastering this most basic of ballistic moves, you will not be able to take on more complicated kettlebell moves such as the snatch and front squat.

The swing is most important tool to create a strong and healthy back, and powerful hips, which is the basis, all athletic movement.

And of course if you program the swing correctly, it will literally melt fat off your body.

Key points:

1.    Hips and lower body follow a deadlift pattern NOT a squat pattern.

2.    Back must remain straight or neutral throughout the movement

3. Sit back, not down.

Grab the bell and sit back, don't lean or squat

POWER MOVE: NOTICE THE START TO THE DEADLIFT AND SWING IS EXACTLY THE SAME EXCEPT FOR THE PLACEMENT OF THE KETTLEBELL

4. Shins remain as vertical as possible with little to no forward movement of the  knees.

5. Keep heels down and knees must track toes.

6. The feet may turn out SLIGHTLY no more that 45°

7. Actively “hike” the bell behind you, forcefully loading the hips.  This is not a soft  move, “throw” the bell back with the inside of your forearms hitting your inner  upper thighs.  Notice the hip and thoracic mechanics from the deadlift are still there in the kettlebell swing.

Forcefully Hike the bell back at the same time as flexing the hips in order to load the hips

8. Fully extend the hips and knees by squeezing your gluts at the top.

9. Body maintains a straight line at the top; do not let your upper body lean back.

Glutes Sqeezed, a "Standing plank" KB in Straight Line with Arms

10. Kettlebell is an extension of your arm, your shoulder may not shrug up or  forward.

11. Use biomechanical breathing, inhale sharply near the bottom and exhale sharply  as your hips fully extend- not when the kettlebell reaches the top.

Conclusion

Most people have no business jumping directly into kettlebell swings.  Working on hip and shoulder mobility and strengthening them with strategic mobility and stretching exercises and working on the deadlift within the framework of your limitations is the best method for building safe, strong, and effective swings.

It takes some discipline and work, but it is worth it for building an “Ageless Body.”

If you want more, much much (much) more Master Instruction on the safest and most effective (with power to reduce aches and pains) kettlebell instruction plus mobility, sign up for the 2 DAY Ageless Body Workshop.  Save $200 if you register by MIDNIGHT January 31: www.agelessbodyworkshop.com

We’re pleased to announce the newest 2 day Ageless Body Workshop:

Go HERE for more details.

Here are some reviews of Andrea DuCane and what the participants of the first 2 day Ageless Body workshop said:

“The Kettlebell Goddess possesses a razor sharp mind and the kind of attention to detail that separates the high-end professionals from the also-rans.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           -Pavel Tsatsouline, Chief RKC Instructor, author of “Enter the Kettlebell!” “Relax into Stretch,” and “Super Joints” and Introducer of Kettlebells to the Western World

“….it makes me do what I know I need to do but won’t.”   -Dan John, Senior RKC and Masters Weighlifting Champion and Author of “Easy Strength”

Testimonials from the Inaugural Ageless Body Workshop:

This is the question of the day.

New York Times article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body” is currently ranked no. 2 on their website

I respect yoga.  Yoga has existed for over 5000 years and has helped countless people regain health and flexibility that is useful for anti aging.

But we need to understand what yoga is and its proper context as both a mode of training and its relation to anti aging.

The New York Times piece cites a yoga teacher of 40 years, Glenn Black (not Glenn Beck) and gives some of his insights on the benefits and cautions of yoga.  ”Black is, in many ways, a classic yogi: he studied in Pune, India, at the institute founded by the legendary B. K. S. Iyengar, and spent years in solitude and meditation.”

To say Black is merely saying “proceed with caution” in the practice of yoga is an understatement:

Black has come to believe that “the vast majority of people” should give up yoga altogether. It’s simply too likely to cause harm.

So what is yoga for then?  Who is it for?

Instead of doing yoga, “they need to be doing a specific range of motions for articulation, for organ condition,” he said, to strengthen weak parts of the body. “Yoga is for people in good physical condition. Or it can be used therapeutically. It’s controversial to say, but it really shouldn’t be used for a general class.”

Our primary concern is for people who train flexibility, whether yoga or other similar modalities WITHOUT a strength component to balance it out.

Black points out where most yoga poses originated, and how they did not emerge from and for the sedentary, modern day American:

According to Black, a number of factors have converged to heighten the risk of practicing yoga. The biggest is the demographic shift in those who study it. Indian practitioners of yoga typically squatted and sat cross-legged in daily life, and yoga poses, or asanas, were an outgrowth of these postures. Now urbanites who sit in chairs all day walk into a studio a couple of times a week and strain to twist themselves into ever-more-difficult postures despite their lack of flexibility and other physical problems.

It isn’t just flexibility for the sake of flexibility that is a problem for all bodies, its the teachers who measure themselves and their abilities by how fast they can get you into more advanced poses, that aren’t good for you anyway!

“Today many schools of yoga are just about pushing people,” Black said. “You can’t believe what’s going on — teachers jumping on people, pushing and pulling and saying, ‘You should be able to do this by now.’ It has to do with their egos.”

It should go without saying that an instructor respect the clients’ abilities.  The health and anti aging of the client is the goal.

And perhaps the biggest problem is the condition some of the teachers are in:

When yoga teachers come to him for bodywork after suffering major traumas, Black tells them, “Don’t do yoga.”

In all Ageless Body workshops, Andrea uses a movement screen -to assess strength and flexibility- and a few chosen, proven flexibility exercises that both rehab the body, relieve aches and pains – but are also conducive to kettlebell and bodyweight strength exercises.

Strength and mobility are the basics of building an Ageless Body.

I work with people frequently who have what I refer to as “yoga bodies.”  These bodies have too much flexibility and not enough strength.  They are usually injured or susceptible to injury.

Think of it this way: Newborn babies’ bodies have huge amounts of flexibility (to protect themselves) but no stability, or strength, even enough to stand up.  As they develop, they gain strength and stability.

As we age, we have to keep both of these qualities, ease of movement and strength.  Both must be trained, intelligently.

Pavel mentions the two opposite extremes: The hulky powerful whose face turns red when he ties his shoe, and the yogi who can contort themselves into a pretzel but cannot lift 100 pounds without hurting their back.

Obviously, training your body for extreme feats of flexibility and strength at a certain age, when your goal is health and longevity, gives you diminishing returns.

An Ageless Body is comfortable in flexibility and strength exercises.

As our bodies age, they need strength.  Strength is ESSENTIAL for longevity.  Kettlebell and bodyweight strength training combined with strategic flexibility exercises, some borrowed from yoga – will help you obtain an Ageless Body.

Remembering Enter the Kettlebell!

By Sean Schniederjan RKC

The reason kettlebells are so popular is because a.) they work and b.) they work.  Just do swings (safely) and see how you feel.

Some people simply get addicted after that first time.  They get over exuberant and start talking about kettlebells all the time, harass their family and neighbors about how great they are, and constantly think about the next time they can ballistically load the hips with their beloved kettlebell.

I was and remain one of these people.  I’ve since mellowed out with the harassing family and friends part (they just aren’t on our level, lol) and instead put on workshops where I can be around like minded people who can appreciate a set of swings.

Why ETK

One of my fondest memories of the early part of my kettlebell lifting “career” was realizing and confronting a problem.  I had gotten to the point where I could snatch a 53 pound kettlebell fairly well.  I felt comfortable.  But the problem came when I first tried to do the secret service snatch test.

I could put together some nice sets of 10 r / 10 l so if I really kicked it into gear, doing 200 total snatches in 10 minutes shouldn’t be a big problem.

The first try ended badly.  At 120 total snatches in about 7 minutes I was done and done.  I think I blacked out for a little bit.  Never before or since have I been that out of breathe and winded.  I was stumbling around in the backyard trying to pull myself together.

200 snatches in 10 minutes was a problem.  A big problem.  And I had no idea how to increase my numbers in the dramatic fashion that the test required.

Then…something happened.  A how to book on conquering the secret service snatch test AND increasing your press written by Pavel himself was released back in 2006.

2006…Those were the Haight-Ashburydays of kettlebells.  It was before the scene split up and a lot of the RKCs left to form their own businesses.  And EVERYONE (on the dragon door forum) was doing ETK.  It might as well have the only kettlebell program in existence.

Ageless Body?  There was no Ageless Body.  Kettlebell Burn?  RETURN of the kettlebell?  Easy Strength?  Kettlebell Sport?  IKFF?  Z-Health?  Those kettlebells that look like purses endorsed by some bleached hair abomination at Walgreen’s?

In those days we rolled the dice before we did swings.  Back in the day we took a week off before testing our press.  In those days it was OK to do 75 presses on each side with a relatively heavy kettlebell on your heavy day.  We only snatched on the easy day….Medium and Heavy days we were doing swings and a lot of pressing.

The dd forum was like this:  Have you done your ladders?  Have you done your test day?  What did the dice roll today?  Some guy just nailed the SSST!  This comrade just barely missed his goal press.  Someone just made a useful spreadsheet!

And the stuff was so much better back then…people were PRing left and right.  The majority was all about one, or two things.  Everyone shared the same workout consciousness.  If someone wasn’t getting it, 20 people would chime in and offer help.  And it was always the same: just do the program as it was written.

I won’t bore with the details here but suffice it to say that hitting the SSST felt really damn good.  It did for everyone back then who broke through to the other side.

That program worked.  It was written at the time were KBs were getting big but hadn’t exploded yet.  And everyone was using it.  Everyone wanted to earn their own “Rite of Passage.”  When you got there the elders were there waiting to congratulate you.

I wrote an article back then that I’ve since lost, but remember saying that you could take elite level athletes and they would fail the SSST miserably on their first try.

If you can handle 200 snatches in 10 minutes with a 24kg bell that is no joke.  It’s a fast and easy way to doing something, not elite by any means, but something not many people, even athletes can handle.

You can walk a little taller knowing that you’ve conquered a test that a Secret Service Agent has to pass (Pavel tells the narrative of the SSST in the book).

Now that I’m a little older, a little wiser (not really) I can still look at the book and see there is more to it than tools to passing the snatch and press test.

There is “Ageless Body” type stuff in there.

-The Joint Mobility moves – the halo and “pump” are essential to hip and shoulder joint health.  I never did them back then and that caused some problems.

-Don’t snatch too much, especially if you’re pressing.  Improve your conditioning by doing swings instead and spare your shoulders.

-The Turkish Get Up will make anything you do stronger.

-You can ignore the variety days.  Just rest up and recover.  You’ll make progress faster.

You can still get the book but you can’t get that atmosphere back.  Those times are gone forever.

But the how to book and the immortal program remain:

Enter the Kettlebell!

By Andrea Du Cane, Master RKC

Ageless Knees

Understanding How the Knees Work

Ask anyone over the age of 30 if they have ever had knee problems and the likely answer will be yes.  Knee pain is one of the most common complaints among all age groups, athletes and fitness/lifestyle backgrounds.

One of the reasons for the vulnerability of the knee, is the way the knee is designed.

It’s a hinge joint held together only by ligaments that connect the femur (thighbone) to the tibia and fibula of the lower leg. These lower bones connect the knee to the ankle and the femur connects the knee to the hip. There is no ball in socket, like the hip and shoulder, just the ligaments holding the knee in place.

Add to this structural challenge, the fact that the knee is the link between the upper body and the feet. To put it bluntly it takes a beating! It has to support the weight of the body while being vulnerable to injury do to its inherent design.

That’s the reason so many people have knee pain and injuries.

How to Improve Knee Function

What can be done to help prevent knee injuries and pain? The first step is to build up the muscles that support the ligaments of the knee and the second is to encourage proper function and movement of the hips and knees.

The beauty of the pattern for the RKC swing, is that it simply achieves both objectives; proper movement patterns and strengthening of the muscles that support the knee itself.

Keeping the angle of the hinge close to or just a bit beyond 90* while under load, is key to preventing knee pain. For instance, I have a client in her 60’s who was an avid runner until she wore away the cartilage of the knee. Now she has bone-on-bone pain unless she is extremely careful about how she moves and where she is putting her weight. When she first started training with me she could not squat and had difficulty in all her “hinge” and deadlift patterns.

This is key; knowing how to move from the hips and not push the weight forward over the patella (kneecap), is what makes or breaks the pain/movement cycle.

Now she can not only Kettlebell deadlift close to her bodyweight, she can double front squat to rock bottom.

The Hip Hinge and How it Helps Knees

The first step is to learn how to push the hips backwards while letting the knees start to bend – only as needed – to create the hinge/deadlift pattern. Another way to look at this is thinking about keeping the shin as vertical as possible as the hips move backwards. However you achieve this, it is going to take the load off the knees and put the load on the hips where it should be.

Kettlebell deadlifts, followed by Kettlebell swings are the best way to build up the knee. Within the deadlift patterns, I’ve found that single leg deadlifts can also be very beneficial in strengthening all the muscles of the leg, all the way down to the big toe! Just make sure not to torque your knee if you start to loose your balance, just put your foot down or hold onto a chair for support in case you loose your balance.

Kettlebell Progressions for Knees

I’d recommend starting with the Kettlebell deadlift, where the Kettlebell is placed between the feet and building up in strength. Then go to the 2-handed Kettlebell swing. When moving onto the dynamic Kettlebell lifts, be very careful not to “jam” the knees back into hyperextension, instead think about “pulling” up the kneecaps as the knees lock out.

Once your knees are feeling good and your legs strong, move on to the single leg deadlifts and goblet squats. Always making sure you keep the shin angle close to verticle while performing the movement.

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I learned some cool neck mobility drills from Andrea at the Ageless Body workshop.  They’ve really helped my neck and shoulders.  She shares some of them in the Ageless Body Book.

I asked Andrea why neck mobility matters.  Check it out:

Why is Neck Mobility Important?

By Andrea DuCane, Master RKC, CK FMS

Neck or cervical mobility is extremely important in the overall health of a person.

Structurally, it is very important because the spinal column connects to the brainstem at approximately C1 & C2. If there is a problem in this area, you can develop many physiological and neurological problems.

The neck is supposed to be very mobile to allow for the head to move freely. This of course, is to allow for humans to respond to stimuli in their surroundings using their visual and auditory systems.

Because of the extra mobility and the weight of the head the cervical spine is very vulnerable to damage to the vertebra. Car accidents, falls, working at a desk and even just getting older can result in limited range of motion and lead to pain, headaches and various other health problems.

One of the most important things a person can do is try to regain the mobility and stability of the area. Gentle neck mobility exercises can help to restore some of the mobility and perhaps lessen pain and other symptoms.

For obvious reasons, if you have severe neck pain you need to be seen by a specialist. I am not going to go into Chiropractic or other medical care, that is a personal choice, but if you have neck pain, please check with your doctor or chiropractor.

A few other causes of neck pain: sitting at a computer or desk that is not correctly adjusted for you, sleeping with the wrong type of pillow, certain types of athletics and movement.  Here are a list of the most common types of activities that can cause neck tightness, mobility issues and pain: cycling, martial arts sparing or boxing, some dancing, running and swimming can all cause neck pain in some people.

Of the above, cycling and spinning classes are probably the worst for neck health.

If you enjoy long bike rides or spin classes, you will need to do lots of gentle neck mobility exercises before and after you workout.

There is another interesting fact that has been studied at great length.  A healthy neck corresponds to a stronger athlete. This has to do with the fact of the brain stem extending down into the upper cervical area.

What’s extra interesting in this fact, is that during exercise you can weaken your body by how you hold your head. For instance, when you squat if you hyper extend your neck during the squat your nervous system will protect itself by making you weaker. So next time you squat or press, try and keep your neck as neutral (natural curves of the neck) as possible to be as strong as you can be.

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