It seems people are still getting injured using kettlebells, even with all the great resources out there, like StrongFirst and RKC.
I guess the number of bad resources outweigh the good.
Or maybe it’s just the “killer workout” mentality that so many unqualified trainers bring to the table with this “cool new kettle-ball workout.” I dunno. But it has to stop.
So I put together a video series specifically about keeping your elbows and biceps healthy because I’d received some questions about that.
The cool thing is, when you implement what you learn in this series, you’ll keep everything else healthy too – like your lower back, shoulders, neck, hips, and so on.
Watch the video below.
Technique is the key to making long-term strength gains.
Technique is the key to achieving your fat loss goals.
If you want to learn more about the proper techniques you should be using for the double kettlebell exercises, check this out.
I’ve been around the fitness industry a LONG time – 20 years. I’ve seen a lot of stuff come and go. And a lot of stuff that hasn’t left that should.
One of the things that has bled from the rehabilitative/health industry over into the fitness industry is the idea of “corrective exercise.”
You know, strength imbalance here, work these muscles with these exercises there. That sort of thing.
There are some really smart people in this field, and a lot who should just stick to their day jobs. (Know what I mean?)
One of the things that inevitably is fixated on is posture.
Or poor posture.
Now hold on a second here, cause I know what you’re thinking – posture is B-O-R-I-N-G. And you’re right. I’m already bored writing about this. (Kidding.) I’d rather talk about sexier stuff like how to increase your press a bell size or the latest methods to rip off 5 pounds of fat in a week. (They do exist, by the way – one of my clients, who’s 50, lost 4 pounds in a week and she’s already an experienced KB user. But I digress…)
Anyway, here’s the deal with posture – if you want a bigger press, or to lose fat, then your posture better be great.
Why?
Well because if it’s not, and you look like this guy to the right then everything from the crown of your skull is going to be off – misaligned. And that means that ALL of your muscles are going to be working improperly. Hence, movement dysfunctions and compensations. And hence the need for all this corrective exercise.
Not only that, there’s increased stress on your body as an organism as a whole, and that messes up (good scientific term there) everything in your body from hormones to digestion.
Here’s an interesting idea or thought or concept:
What if by taking care of your posture, you could “automatically” correct some, if not all of your movement dysfunctions/compensations and get instantly stronger without having to do “more work”?
Doesn’t sound too far fetched does it? I mean, after all, gaining our upright posture was what we were made to do and moving from a “normal” posture was where we lived before we were told to “behave” and “sit still,” right?
The Problem With Modern “Posturology”…
Do a web search for “posture” or “forward head posture” a.k.a “chicken-necking” as we refer to it in the KB world, and you’ll find a wealth of information. Some good, some not so good.
I’ve tried some stuff over the years – from the “strengthening this and stretching that” routines, to standing tall and creating a “tall or long spine” and the results were – ehhh… So-so. Not only for myself but also for my clients as well.
And yeah, here it comes – the self-deprecating disclaimer – I just must not have been smart enough to understand the information and how to apply it nor how to communicate it to my clients. Funny though, cause I passed the “tests” that said I was. Hmmmmm… maybe they just wanted my money…
Oh yeah, where was I?
That’s right – what didn’t work in correcting posture.
So, what I’m about to say next, take with a grain of salt, cause I haven’t had any x-rays done. Therefore, all my “evidence” is anecdotal. And it’s definitely not peer-reviewed, so it must not count for anything.
If you want to improve your posture, and everything associated with it, you must do what you did to gain it in the first place – forget all that isolated PhD stuff.
Yes, yes, working your deep cervical flexors works. Yes, training your deep core muscles works. All of it “works” for awhile until it doesn’t. That’s because these are symptoms – weaknesses caused by poor posture, not necessarily the cause of poor posture.
See, there was on thing that you did as an infant – around 6 months old or so – maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later, just before you crawled – that helped set your posture. (Sure, you did this during the crawling stage too.)
What do I mean by “set your posture?”
This simple little “exercise” helped set your spinal curves – your neck, thoracic, and lumbar spinal curves. And when you start doing this again, your posture will automatically improve.
Instantaneously.
It’s called Rocking.
Here’s a pic:
Now the really cool part is that anyone can do this anywhere. It’s an amazing reset and it works pretty well, which is why we included it in Original Strength.
But sometimes, we need to “back the truck up” and do some regressions. If you remember yesterday’s epic post of the “fat guy” doing a muscle up (how could you not?) I said I’d show you one of my favorite reset regressions.
It’s called “Commando Rocking” and it’s very “tactical.” 😉
Watch this video Tim made for you where he explains it.
Good stuff, right?
Here’s some more good stuff about it – like why we’d use it.
Lots of times, people who have had lower back injuries or lower back pain have hyper-mobile lumbar spines. Their spines move too much. Usually this is because their hips don’t move enough and neither do their thoracic spines. Sometime, their necks move too much as well. (Ahem… looks in mirror… ok, this USED to be me and if I sit too much in front of the computer my body tends to revert back to these patterns especially if I skip my resets.)
So, they can rock really well. Or it looks like they’re rocking really well. But what they’re really doing is compensating and using their hypermobile necks and lower backs to rock.
Yes, this still “works” and is beneficial to a degree. But we can make it more so and make them really get into their hips, and open up their thoracic spine by making them do Commando Rocking.
And yes, if you’ve been to an RKC, you’re right, this does look similar to the Tactical Frog stretch. Similar. But still different.
How?
Well, sure, it’s an accurate assessment of your squat depth, temporarily, but by actually rocking with your head up we are stimulating your vestibular system, and resetting your nervous system, increasing proprioceptive feedback, training your core stability, and actually gaining hip mobility and stability.
Sure, there’s a little more to it than that, but that’s the gist.
Rocking, especially Commando Rocking is a powerful and more importantly quick tool you can use to improve your posture in your own home without any special equipment or outside intervention.
Like I mentioned, Commando Rocking is ONE of the Rocking Regressions we teach at our Original Strength workshops.
For more information on these regressions and regressions for the resets found in Original Strength – like why we use them in the first place and how they can help you – go here.
I’ve always been fascinated by the upper body strength of male gymnasts. These guys are studs. Their muscularity is phenomenal and their strength, well, absolutely amazing.
Unfortunately, I’ve always sucked at gymnastic type movements. Until recently.
(Ok, I still suck, but not as badly as I once did.)
I’ve always wanted to do a Muscle Up – where you hang from the bar and pull yourself on top of it in one quick motion/movement. But I could never do it.
I trained some components of it last summer – ring dips, and false grip ring pull ups, along with a bunch of L-Sit pull up and dip variations, but haven’t done much of them this year. Every once in awhile I’ll get a hankering and try this puppy. The closest I’ve gotten was while in Boston at the SFG in April. I haven’t tried it since then, until last Sunday. I went up the street to the park and just “did it.”
Here’s some video proof:
Just so you know, I’m not bragging. (Even though I am 40 and weigh 210 pounds. 😉 )
I believe you can do this sort of thing too – maybe you even have your own “muscle up” – that thing, that movement, exercise, or weight that eludes you no matter how hard you try to do it.
Maybe it’s a number on the Snatch Test.
Maybe it’s trying to get your 1/2 bodyweight press.
Maybe it’s just trying to get rid of a nagging injury or issue.
My point is, I’m not “special” – at least not in that way.
If I can do this sort of thing – you can too.
What’s my “secret?”
Well besides being bullheadedly stubborn to a fault, I’ve done nothing but use the resets found inside Original Strength.
It’s taken me 3 years to get here, but I think I can safely say that I’ve fully regained my reflexive stability. Not a bad trade off considering I never fully developed it as a kid and went for 36-37 years without it.
For a time investment, I’ll take that any day. It only took me 3 years to recapture and reclaim what I never fully developed as a child and compensated for under the heavy weights for years.
How exactly did I do it?
I’ll tell you that in a minute, but first, I wanted to show you video proof.
First, here’s a video of me doing a Power Snatch from above the knee (Hang Power Snatch) with 100kg (220lbs) after a high pull with the same weight. I did it the day after the 275/9. Here’s what’s significant about it: I haven’t trained the Olympic lifts for 2 1/2 years. And the last time I snatched that weight from that position at 205lbs was… Can’t remember – maybe never. When I quit WL I was 215/220lbs – a weight I had maintained for about 5 years.
Here’s the second video. It’s me doing a set of squats with 315 for 10 reps about 5 minutes after that 275 for 14 I showed you in the last post. I haven’t done that weight for those reps in 10-15 years, again, at a bodyweight of 205.
Now I don’t show you those videos to show off or brag, because certainly those numbers are nothing to brag about. They’re average strength numbers, maybe slightly below. BUT, they are significant because I haven’t hit those numbers in at least a decade, and when I did them I was at a heavier bodyweight. Now I’m 40 and I’m supposed to be “declining.”
The Truth is just the opposite: I’m getting stronger day-by-day and feel better than I have since my 20s, heck, maybe even my late teens.
Now for the REALLY cool video that will blow your mind…
This is a video of my good friend (like a brother really) Tim Anderson. Tim weighs a whopping 155lbs soaking wet. In this video, he does a Get Up – a BARBELL Get Up – with 135lbs. And he did it on the spot – I called him and asked him to shoot some video of it. Now here’s the kicker – he hasn’t been training the Get Up at all.
Pretty freaky, right?
I think so.
Here’s the video and then we’ll discuss some more…
OK, you have to admit – THAT was IMPRESSIVE, right?
So how’d Tim get the strength to do that?
And more importantly, what does that kind of strength show?
Well, in order to do that kind of strength feat, Tim has to have all his reflexive stability – his Original Strength. Which he does.
So how did he regain it?
Simple.
He behaved like a child. (As did I.) He did “childish” things. Stuff that many “experts” would look at and dismiss because they are “too simple.”
But the fact of the matter is both Tim and I have used the complex for long periods of time. We regained some ground, but never all of it. So I guess we’re both either too stupid (probably not Tim – statistics major with a photographic memory, maybe me) or the systems we were using were too complex (quite possibly) or some combination of the two.
Regardless, reclaiming your reflexive stability – your Original Strength – is simple, easy, and fun. Best of all, it can be done without “precision” anywhere, anytime, with no special equipment in as little as 5 minutes a day.
Sound too easy, too simple?
It is.
To quote a lady who attended one of our seminars, “It’s stupid simple.”
Tomorrow I’ll show you what I mean by behaving like a child and EXACTLY how to reclaim your reflexive stability – your Original Strength – your God-given birthright of movement.
So we’ve been talking about about the concept of reflexive stability and its impact on your strength training and your results.
Specifically, I put forward the argument that all your aches, pains, and injuries – and all movement dysfunctions and compensations – come from a lack of reflexive stability.
I then showed you just a taste of what I’ve accomplished since having identified this loss and have been specifically addressing it over the last 3 years.
Today, let’s do a simple test – two actually – that will give you an idea of whether or not you have lost some of your reflexive stability.
Don’t worry – they’re easy.
In fact, the first one, my two year old son can pass with ease.
Here it is:
The Bodyweight Squat.
The bodyweight squat tests your lower body reflexive strength or rather, lower body dominant reflexive strength – whether or not you can move your lower body easily and effortlessly.
Here’s a quick video demo from Tim. (He did it on the fly – it’s kinda “ghetto”…)
A couple of quick pointers here:
1. You shouldn’t have to pressurize, power breathe, or use tension to get down into the squat. If you do, you’re using feed-forward (conscious) techniques to accomplish a subconscious (reflexive) activity.
2. You should be able to hold yourself in the bottom comfortably, again, without using any feed-forward strategies.
3. You should be able to maintain your balance in the squat without falling forward or backward.
4. Same thing to stand up – it should be effortless: No grunting, power-breathing, abdominal bracing – nothing. Just stand up with ease.
If you can’t squat without meeting those criteria, you’ve lost some of your reflexive stability.
(Don’t worry – it’s VERY simple to get back – and very natural too – nothing complex either. The “fixes” are easy to do and VERY powerful in their effects/results. More on them in a bit.)
Ok, test #2 (Which I don’t think my 2 year old can pass yet…)
The Push Up.
Ah, yes, the lowly Push Up. How many ways can we screw you up? Let me count the ways…
But I digress.
The Push Up is a great way to check your upper body dominant reflexive stability.
But, there’s a way to do it and a way not to, so don’t discount this humble little “test” right off the bat.
Here’s a video from Tim (also “on the fly”):
Now, Tim gave some good basic cues.
Let’s go deeper.
There are some other things you need to be aware of here:
1. Just like the Bodyweight Squat, stay away from feed-forward tension. So no abdominal bracing, no buttcheek squeezing, no power-breathing, etc. Just push yourself off the ground.
2. Like Tim said, the body should remain as one piece. No sagging, twisting, or turning.
And, yep, it’s that simple.
So What’s It Mean If You Can’t “Pass” These “Tests”?
It simply means that you should devote some of your attention – a whopping 5, maybe 10 minutes out of your entire day – to regaining your reflexive stability. Again, it’s easy to do – nothing complicated.
Why Should You Reclaim Your Reflexive Strength?
Quite simply, it’s your birthright.
You were made to have it and use it. And now that you’ve lost it, you’re physically leading a sub-par life. If you’re ok with settling for less than the best, which is very easy to have, by the way, then ignore this stuff. Go watch Real Housewives Of Wherever-ville or American Idle… That’s your perogative.
However, if you’re interested in moving and living a vibrant, healthy, fulfilled and joyful life, free from aches, pains, and movement restrictions, then reclaiming your reflexive stability (or as Tim said in the videos – reflexive strength – the words are interchangeable) will help you do it.
Not only that, but all your results depend on it – fat loss, conditioning levels, strength gains. Think about it: If you’re body isn’t moving the way it’s designed to, you’re automatically leaving results on the table that you shouldn’t. If you can’t move the way you originally were designed to, then you’re compensating, which means you’re not as efficient as you should be. And that means slower progress, regardless of the goal.
As I’ve said before, at 40 years old I have more energy, more strength, and move better than I ever have. And it’s all because I reclaimed my reflexive stability.
Here’s a quick video of some more of what I’ve been able to accomplish since I’ve been focusing on this.
This was taken two days after the video I posted in the last blog. It was also filmed after performing 30 minutes of grueling advanced reflexive stability work. There’s 275lbs on the bar and I do 14 reps with it (I thought I did 15 at the time but apparently I can’t count – same thing happened last video – did 9 and thought I did 10…) – something I haven’t been able to do in 15 years – since my mid 20s. Again, my bodyweight is around 205lbs.
When you focus on reclaiming your reflexive strength, you’ll be able to perform again like you used to – or in Tim’s and my case – better than you used to.
Now go ahead and raise your hand if you wouldn’t want to do that…
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