bodyweight training

Common Kettlebell Fat Loss Mistakes And How To Fix Them

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I spent the last weekend in beautiful San Diego – specifically in La Jolla at Revolution Fitness with my good friends Franz and Yoana Snideman.

Saturday I taught an RKC Recert which went very well.

The RKCs really liked the updated and streamlined teaching progressions.

Sunday, I taught a Kettlebell Muscle workshop.

Everyone there set PRs in multiple lifts – everyone achieved deeper, more controlled Front Squats. Many people set new PRs in the Press, the Double Snatch, and the Jerk.

It was very cool.

But at the end 3 of the ladies came up to me and asked my why they all crashed at the beginning of Phase 4 of “Burn.”

Upon further questioning, it turns out they were making a very common mistake:

They were exceeding they’re recovery capacity.

In other words, they were doing too much and not resting enough.

But how is that possible when “Burn” is only 3 days per week?

Simple.

1. They were doing A LOT more than just “Burn” 3 days a week. One was teaching multiple kettlebell classes every day. All 3 were taking intense kickboxing classes 2-3 days extra per week. So they weren’t following “Burn.”

They were doing WAYYYY more than “Burn.”

2. Upon even further questioning, it turns out that they weren’t as diligent as they needed to be with their eating – they weren’t eating enough. Yeah, weird, I know. But you actually need to eat more than you think to fuel your training/workouts – even on a fat loss program. So by their own admittance, these 3 lovely women weren’t getting the calories they needed to fuel and recover from their training/workouts.

3. Both overtraining and under-eating are actually the 2 best ways to sabotage your fat loss efforts. More is not better. Less is.

I can only assume, because I didn’t ask, was that they might have been a little bored with “Burn.” After all, it’s only kettlebell training for fat loss.

There’s no mixing of modalities like bodyweight or barbells or anything like that.

Funny how timing works out – I just interviewed my friend and fellow RKC Chris Lopez about how to combine kettlebells and bodyweight training for fat loss.

Some people “need” more than just kettlebell training. And that’s fine – we’re all wired a little differently. So it makes good sense that we should address how to effectively mix training methods like bodyweight training and kettlebells in such a way as to not overtrain and continue seeing results.

You really need to read it because Chris exemplifies what it means “not have time” to workout. (He’s got 5 kids and 2 businesses – Yikes!)

He covers 3 things you need to consider when training for fat loss (or anything else for that matter).

And we start to get into mixing kettlebells and bodyweight training.

Here’s part 1 –

GN: Tell us a little about yourself Chris – your background in the fitness industry, etc.

CL: I’ve been in the fitness industry for 14 years now. Like a lot of us “trainer-types”, I was an athlete growing up and started working out to improve my performance in my chosen sports – baseball, basketball and then eventually volleyball. Being not very tall for basketball or volleyball (I’m 5’11”) I became obsessed with vertical jump in my junior and senior years of highschool. That’s where it pretty much began for me.

I had a PE teacher and coach who was a standout volleyball player and could dunk a basketball off 2 feet at a height of 5’8”. He was big on bodyweight training and training to get strong. He was one of the first ones to tell me that if I trained like an athlete, not only would I perform like one, but I would LOOK like one as well. From there, I was hooked. I followed him around. Did push-ups and pistols when he told me to and began to see great results.

From there I went to university (we don’t call it “college” up here in Canada) and studied Human Kinetics. I also played varsity volleyball for a couple of years and used my teammates as guinea pigs to some of my training methods. Back then, circa 1997, the “fitness industry” was still evolving and personal training was still thought of as a luxury that only the uber-wealthy could afford. The strength & conditioning field up here wasn’t something that everyone bought into yet either. Nonetheless, I took the plunge, got certified first as a CPT and then as a CSCS and never looked back.

Between that time to the present I went from doing bodyweight training, to machine training, to bodybuilding style training, to balance-board “functional” training, to Olympic lifting and on and on. Funny, it’s been a full circle, but now I’m back to using bodyweight training and kettlebells (of course) as the foundation for my training practice.

Currently, I hold a BSc HK from the University of Guelph, I have my CSCS designation, I’m the first ever Certified Turbulence Trainer and am a very proud RKC.

GN: Chris, you’ve got a unique personal story about kettlebells – please tell us how you got into kettlebells and what they’ve done for you since your first touched them.

CL: I got into kettlebells mainly out of necessity. Like many folk these days, I’m incredibly busy – I have 5 kids, I run 2 businesses, I coach a competitive volleyball team, I’m an assistant coach with the Canadian National Beach Volleyball Program and I really, really like my wife, so spending time with her is right there on the top of my list. That said, I’m still a coach and a trainer and know that in addition to being strong and fit, I have to look strong and fit as well. The problem was that – given all the things above that I am very passionate about – there wasn’t a lot of time to do “traditional gym workouts”.

GN: That’s a very full plate!

CL: Yeah, I found that if I can train at home, using my own bodyweight and kettlebells, I can get an even better workout than if I spent 15 minutes driving to the gym, finding a parking spot, changing, etc, etc.

So before our 3rd was born (she is 6 now), I started to really get into kettlebells and bodyweight training and the results that I was getting were staggering.

I felt like I could move better, I felt healthier, I was lean AND strong and – going back to the whole reason why I started training in the first place – I could jump higher.

I would use kettlebells at the training studio that I was working out of and people started to take notice and started asking questions (one of those people, in fact, was Craig Ballantyne, creator of Turbulence Training).

I started to regularly incorporate kettlebell swings, snatches and goblet squats into my programming after reading Pavel’s books and articles by yourself, Brett Jones, Steve Maxwell, Mike Mahler and the like.

All in all though, I got into kettlebell training because I didn’t have a lot of time to train. I found that I could get all that I was looking for in 1/3 of the time by just being able to train at home using kettlebells & bodyweight.

GN: Those are fantastic reasons that I think a lot of people overlook. And certainly, if kettlebells worked for you with your busy schedule, they’ll work for anybody.

Why do you like using kettlebells for fat loss and what kind of results have your clients and customers seen?

CL: I think it’s common belief in our world that the Holy Grail of fitness is the ability to burn fat and build muscle at the same time. According to legend, all the stars have to be aligned in order for this to happen – diet, training, lifestyle, stress levels, etc.

Now, by no means am I saying that kettlebells are the way to this “Holy Grail”, but in my 14 years of experience in this industry, I have never seen any other training method work in transforming my clients’ bodies in the least amount of time than when they started training with kettlebells.

Now, keep in mind, that this is just MY experience as a trainer. I’ve trained hundreds of clients in my 14 year career using various different methods. And, no disrespect to those that use other methods, but using kettlebells has become my go-to because it simply works.

Mind you, these days I only really train clients in small groups or privately in their homes and therefore space is an issue. I run a few BYOKB classes and so my clients usually only bring a single kettlebell to our class.

So, I love using kettlebells for fat loss, initially because of its versatility and portability.

You can train anywhere – in your living room, in the park, in the parking lot of a hospital when your wife is in labor (long story) – without sacrificing the quality of getting a great workout.

One of the fad terms these days is “Metabolic Resistance Training” (using resistance training with almost inadequate rest periods to elicit a metabolic response in the body) which, as far as I’ve known, is the essence of what kettlebell training has been for the past 10-12 years.

Using a training method like this has been known to “spare” hard earned muscle while creating a furnace effect in the body that incinerates fat.

All that said, it makes sense to me to use kettlebells to try to get to “the promised land” of fat loss & muscle gain.

GN: What are some major mistakes you’ve seen people make when using kettlebells to lose fat? Give us your top 3 please.

CL:

i. Probably the biggest issue that I’ve noticed is that people see using kettlebells as their “magic bullet” and fail to understand that diet & lifestyle both play MAJOR ROLES – possibly more than the training effect – in the fat loss equation.

If we break things down into percentages with average training session taking 45 minutes, 3 times per week, then we’ve got a total of 2 hours and 15 minutes of TOTAL training time.

There are 168 hours in a week, so training only accounts for 1.3% of the total time that you have in a week!

Therefore, the question that EVERYONE needs to ask themselves if they are trying to lose fat, gain muscle or look better is “What am I doing in the other 165.75 hours (or 97.75% of the time remaining) in my week to help with my results?” I call this “The Rule of 165”.

Training isn’t the be all and end all of looking great. There are so many more factors involved.

Losing fat is NOT EASY – although, the equation to do it is SIMPLE – so once someone recognizes that it is about more than training, then they’ll be in the right mindset to achieve all they can from any good kettlebell program.

ii. Not addressing and/or correcting movement issues first.

A lot of what we teach as RKCs is the ability for our clients to move correctly and efficiently. This is the one thing that I often see neglected by trainers who start out with fat loss clients.

Correct movement is the foundation for ANY training program and something that needs to be addressed FIRST ABOVE ALL ELSE prior to anyone using any type of program – be it strength, hypertrophy, fat loss, whatever.

Without correct functionality and correct movement patterns, without cleaning up form and technique in your foundational kettlebell lifts and movements, clients will end up injured and/or not achieving anywhere close to their potential.

iii. Thinking that being strong isn’t part of the fat loss equation.

After movement, the next issue that people don’t understand is that they need to gain/achieve an appreciable level of strength. This is something that you’ve hammered home for me when we first spoke almost a year and a half ago and something that has been reiterated by the likes of Pavel & Dan John especially.

I think Sr RKC Dan John had the best analogy when he said (and I’m paraphrasing) that strength is much like a glass that you are trying to fill. The stronger you are, the bigger your glass is and therefore the more you can put into it – ie. the easier it will be to achieve your goals if you have a certain level of strength.

So pound for pound, if you’re not very strong (if you’re working with a shot glass), you won’t get as great results as the individual whose got a goblet the size of the beast, if you know what I mean.

I guess the take home is that having a certain level of strength should be something that everyone should be gunning for – from housewives to 80 year old grandfathers.

That doesn’t mean that you have to train for strength prior to everything else. Strength elements can be built into fat loss programs and into programs that build muscle, but they should never be without.

GN: Those are great points that I’d dare say most people fail to take into consideration when using kettlebells or anything else for fat loss. Speaking of which, you have a great fat loss program which we’ll talk more about later and in it, you mix kettlebells and bodyweight training. Why do you like mixing or combining the two together? What are some of the benefits you’ve noticed?

CL: Bodyweight training, in my opinon, is the PERFECT compliment to kettlebell training. I honestly think that when the training gods came together to match training modalities, they said that KBs and Bodyweight were all that anyone would ever need.

With a lot of my clients, a lot of the benefits of what I’ve noticed has been mental. I know that clients somewhat enjoy having to put down the kettlebell to superset their swings/snatches with some complimentary bodyweight exercise.

Supersetting bodyweight exercises into the program gives clients that mental break thinking that they are resting because they are not holding the kettlebell.

We’re almost – and I hate to say it – “tricking them” into thinking that they’ve got a break, all the while they are doing more work because they are doing a low impact bodyweight exercise.

From a strength standpoint, I find that a lot of people are lacking in basic relative strength and because of that, the advanced stages of the program incorporate a bodyweight strength based exercise. Nothing will get you moving better, and get you stronger than moving your own bodyweight through space doing exercises like pistols and chin-ups.

Certainly some great points Chris brought up here for us all to consider. I strongly urge you to evaluate your own training in light of them.

We’ll talk more with Chris tomorrow.

The 2 Best Bodyweight Exercise To Add To Your Kettlebell Workouts

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I’ve written pretty extensively over the last 4 to 6 months about the benefits of bodyweight training. In fact, I just finished up about 4 months of almost exclusively bodyweight training – centered around pull-up varations, pistols, and parallel dips.

I’ve gotta tell you, I haven’t felt this good in a long, long time.

I can basically roll out of bed and do a pistol on each leg. I believe this is an important litmus test – as the Pistol is a key indicator of your “reflexive stability.”

And that was something I couldn’t do before I focused on bodyweight training.

Bodyweight Exercise #1: The Pistol

For that reason alone the Pistol is my #1 bodyweight exercise you should look to incorporate into your kettlebell training.

It’s a key indicator to your overall health and performance.

I don’t care how strong you are with a bar or pair of kettlebells, if you can’t do a bodyweight Pistol – without counterbalance – you’ve got some work to do. In the long run, you’ll be stronger.

And as an addendum, you might be wondering just how strong you can get by doing bodyweight Pistols. I recently just put a pair of 24kg kettlebells in the rack and did a Pistol on each leg. (It was a 9 out of 10 on the RPE scale.) So really, the sky’s the limit.

I’ve written at length about the Pistol – click here to check the ol’ archives.

Bodyweight Exercise #2: The Chin Up

Not the Pull Up, the Chin Up. It’s performed with your palms facing you.

And there are several good reasons for this.

1. Most people type or write all day.

This places a long duration load on their shoulders, internally rotating them. The lowly Chin reverses that loading and aligns the wrists and elbows.

2. Loaded stretching and combination cinching of the front of the body.

This is actually pretty cool when you think about it. The front of the body becomes short and tight from sitting all day long. You can very easily stretch it out and then load it by doing Chins. You can also decompress the spine and increase your spine health. Once you can get strong enough you can add weight to your Chins. This will make the front of your body contract in a healthy way, unlike sitting.

Here’s an interesting side note:

We in the fitness industry say that loading the posterior chain is good for countering sitting. I agree to some extent.

But I also disagree.

You have to address the abs too. And not just all the trendy counter-rotational stuff that’s being popularized. You actually have to get some trunk flexion and rotation in there too. (If you don’t believe me, go back and study your child development…)

So the Chin Up is a way to help get this done.

3. Functional Antagonistic Balance (FAB?)

I can’t remember where I first learned this – probably Gary Gray or Vern Gambetta about 15 years ago. However, I forgot all about it until Jedd Johnson of the Diesel Crew reminded me about this in one of his bending DVDs.

Essentially, it’s performing the opposite movements to your main sporting and/or exercise/training movements.

The Chin Up is a great FAB exercise for pretty much all kettlebell training. Here’s why:

KBs.                                      v.                    .Chins
– palms pronated                                  – palms supinated
– feet loaded                                            – feet unloaded
– spine loaded                                        – spine unloaded
– posterior chain emphasis                – anterior chain emphasis
– extension dominant                          – flexion dominant
– lower body intensive                          – upper body intensive

And of course there’s my current favorite version of the Chin – a Chin with an “L-Seat.”

This is where you raise your legs so they’re parallel with the floor and then hold them there throughout your set. Great stretch on the lats, great load on the abs.

How To Incorporate Chins And Pistols Into Your Kettlebell Workouts

There really is no right way. But here are some simple ideas.

1. Work the Pistol and its variations before all ballistics work.

Treat it like practice and you’ll actually open up your hips and make your Swings, Snatches, and Cleans that much better.

2. Work the Pistol in combination with the Get Up.

Do a set of GUs, then work Pistol variations. Go back and forth between them. Each will make the other better.

3. Do a set of Chins after all upper body kettlebell work, like Presses.

This is a great pairing for double kettlebell work.

4. Do a set of Chins after all ballistics work.

Again, another great pairing with exercises like the Double Swing or Double Front Squat.

There are some ideas to get you started.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Pistol Perfection – Getting Started With Pistol, Part 3

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In this, the last part of this series, I’ll cover the last step I’ve used to regain my bodyweight Pistol – the ultimate non-kettlebell kettlebell exercise.

If you missed Parts 1 and 2, here they are – Part 1. Part 2. (By the way – got the blog fixed and the pictures uploaded for Part 2 if you want to see them.)

Now you’ve got the Counterbalanced Pistol and the Decline Pistol down pat. Or maybe not totally, but you’re cruising along nicely and are ready for the real thing.

So that’s exactly where you go next – a Bodyweight Pistol.

Now the first time you try it, you may fall over on your butt, like I did. No problem-o.

Here’s what you do in that case – and it was the #1 thing that helped me finally nail this sucker:

Use High Tension Techniques.

Yep – I realize they’re not exactly en vogue right now in some circles, but there’s no denying they work if and when you use them correctly.

So, focus on the following:

– Squeeze your fists.
– Tense your abs.
– Pull your butt to your heel.
– Power breathe on the ascent.
– And use the tip I gave you yesterday about the elevated leg.

Now I’m not going to go into the detail about why this works. That’s Pavel’s expertise. And, if you’re going to seriously practice the Pistol, you should read The Naked Warrior. (I have it. It’s a gold mine. There’s information in there that transcends the Pistol.)

Anyway, so that’s how I finally nailed my first true bodyweight Pistol.

For me, the fist-squeezing and the pulling my butt to my heel really were the two that helped me the most. You’ll have to play with all of those cues to see which is the most effective for you. And remember, we’re “playing” here, so there is no right or wrong or fail. It’s just play. It’s just re-learning body mastery, which is why the Pistol is such a great exercise.

On Foot Placement

The best way to make sure your feet are placed or set correctly for the Pistol is to simply start with your feet together and your ankle bones touching. Most people get this.

But where most people fail is letting the arch of their foot collapse. Big No-No.

When you lose the arch of your foot, the lower leg internally rotates. This in turn makes the femur internally rotate. Now you’ve lost control of your hip. So you won’t be able to “pry” open and stabilize your hip. So, you’ll most likely collapse into the bottom. And if you don’t fall over immediately, it’ll sure be tough going to stand up without full use of your hip musculature.

So how do you overcome that?

Well, first, work on creating and maintaining your arch. There are plenty of ways to do that, but they’re beyond the scope of this article. (Sorry, not trying to leave you hanging, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic for another time.)

Second, direct your intent while standing on your foot.

Try this but start on 2 feet.

Scrunch up your feet – try to make them shorter. You’ll know you’re doing this correctly when you see your foot get wider as your big toes travel toward the midline of your body and your arch rises. Now squeeze the ground without losing the arch.

Once you’ve got that, stand on one foot and do it.

Once you’ve got that, now it’s time to aim your knee.

HUH?

Yeah, you may not have heard anyone talk about this but it’s critically important for success. And probably most people who are naturally good at Pistols probably do this intuitively, but I had to figure it out on my own, thanks to the trusty right knee pain that Pistols usually create.

So here’s what you do:

Push your knee out over your third and fourth toes and beyond.

This maintains the arch in your foot.

It also keep your hip open.

And when you are sitting in the bottom position, it makes it that much more comfortable and easier to stabilize.

Plus, when you go to stand up, all your bones and joints are aligned, allowing your muscles to direct the force straight down into the floor instead of trying to prevent the leakage caused by a wobbly knee or ankle.

By practicing this, I’ve been able to virtually eliminate all the knee pain in my right knee while doing Pistols. All of it. And it feels great!

What To Do With Your Hands

Earlier I suggested making fists.

I no longer need to. I am able to generate the right amount of tension during each Pistol without using this.

But for me, since I have a very long torso in relation to my inseam/leg length, I have found that my arms cannot at this moment go straight out in front of me. This is because this shrugs my shoulders – unpacking my shoulder joints and closing my hips down. (This is due to the fascial systems in the body. I can go into this some other time. Or maybe I’ll write a book on the Pistol and cover all the cool kinesiological concepts and tricks in there…)

So instead, I project them down and out, sometimes almost touching the floor.

And this brings me to an important point which a gentleman emailed me about – does leg length/inseam matter?

Yup. It sure does.

I think it’s easier for people with longer legs and shorter torsos to do Pistols than people like me with short limbs and long torsos. Someone will undoubtedly argue with me and jump on and say the opposite is true with squatting. To which I will reply that it isn’t.

Why is this the case?

Well, think about it.

You only have so much muscle length and therefore so much leverage in your leg to counterbalance the weight and length of the torso. To make up for that you need an exceptional amount of coordination and strength in that leg to counterbalance the mass of that torso.

And that’s what most people fail to see about this exercise and the squat pattern in general. That increased center of gravity and mass must be overcome by less muscle mass, rather than more, like it is in the case of a long-legged, short-torso squatter, such as my wife.

But I digress. This particular post isn’t about biomechanics. We’ll save that for another post sometime.

All that to say, my arms are projected somewhat down. (My wife on the other hand can project them straight out.)

Sets, Reps, Rest, and The Such

Many of you have asked how to incorporate this into a program. Well, being known as a “program guy”, I suggest that you follow a loose template that would look like the following:

1. Counterbalanced Pistol (CPi)

– Multiple sets of 1-3 reps. Get control, form, feel down.
– Multiple sets of 3-5 reps. Build strength.

2. Decline/Wedged Pistol (DPi)

– Multiple sets of just “isometrics” – holding and balancing at the bottom for feel and confidence.
– Multiple sets of 1-3 reps.
– Multiple sets of 3-5 reps.
– Multiple sets of 5-10 reps.
– Multiple sets of 10+ reps.

Of course, this is based on your rep range preferences. But I do believe in (and practice) higher rep sets of Pistols.

3. Bodyweight Pistol (BPi)

Follow the same format as the Decline/Wedged Pistol.

I think this is a good starting point for program design for most people. And you can certainly alternate your training days between 1 and 2 and 2 and 3. I currently alternate training days between Decline Pistols and Bodyweight Pistols.

Sometimes, I’ll even load kettlebells into the rack position as a way to overload the BPi’s . This is the ultimate form of body control and mastery as far as I’m concerned. I look forward to the day when I can load a pair of 48kg kettlebells into the rack and knock off a rep or two.

Hopefully you’ve found this series on “Getting Started With The Pistol” helpful. Again, if you want to know even more about the Pistol, and get a deeper understanding of it with some other Pistol regressions and assistance exercises, I strongly urge you to grab Pavel’s, The Naked Warrior if you haven’t already.

Pistol Perfection – Getting Started With the Pistol, Part 2

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In my last blog post I gave you my reasons and a starting point for what is in my opinion, the best non-kettlebell kettlebell exercise there is for your legs – the Mighty Pistol.

In this second installment, I want to share with you the second phase of my progression in my journey, which is significant for anybody trying to learn, achieve, or perfect the Pistol.

I’m pretty sure this will help you out, because I’m not supposed to be doing Pistols.

My orthopedic surgeon said I should refrain from doing all flexion exercises below 90 degrees at the hip joint and all loaded hip flexion exercises. They will aggravate the connective tissue damage (multiple labral tears), and the cartilage damage, and the arthritis I already have.

Of course, I’m stubborn and hate the thought of being told “no” so, I set about to figure out a way to do all this pain free with an improvement in function. To make matters worse, I am also missing cartilage under my right kneecap which has altered the way it rides on the knee. All this to say, that if I can do Pistols successfully with this kind of damage, you most likely, with persistence, will be able to do them too.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV. Nothing in this post is to be construed as medical advice. If you have medical issues precluding you from doing any of these exercises, discuss it first with your physician.)

So now you’ve gotten the kettlebell counterbalanced Pistol under control. You feel pretty good – comfortable doing them, and have even gotten a significant amount of volume under your belt with them. And maybe you’ve spent some time doing some serious strength work, progressing up a kettlebell size or two.

Here’s Where You Go Next –

The Decline Bodyweight Pistol

It’s time to remove the counterbalance.

(DISCLAIMER #2: Yes, can you believe it – 2 disclaimers in one post? As you know, I am not very technologically savvy. I had my wife take pictures for you to insert into this post to help you out. After modifying them and whatnot, I cannot for the life of me get them into this post. Sorry.)

Use a wedge – as high as you need to, but preferably no more than an inch-and-a-half (about the height of the wedge in a weightlifting shoe) and start practicing.

wedges to train the Pistol
Different wedge thickness using books

You can use a book where you elevate your heel or you can use a hill.

I started with the book but quickly moved to the hill outside my house. It feels more natural and for some reason, provides a sense of greater stability and balance.

Don’t worry if you don’t feel comfortable or can’t maintain your balance.

Pistol on a decline
The Decline Pistol

You can do what I did and just sit at the bottom playing with your balance point by placing one hand or another on the ground and just giving your body some time to adjust.


Finding your balance point

Think of it not only as learning, but as play and you’ll be a lot more successful with these. Because transitioning from a counterbalance to bodyweight only, no matter whether you can Pistol a Beast in the counterbalanced position the Pistol will just feel different – almost weird.

You’ll use a lot more of your abs and in a different way than with the counterbalance. It’s hard to describe to you in print. You’ll just have to feel it, and you’ll know it when you do.

Why The Decline Works

Many of us lack that reflexive stability we spoke about in the last post. This means our bodies won’t give us the “extreme” ranges of motion we want from them (in this case full active ankle dorsiflexion, knee flexion, and hip flexion) because it can’t dynamically stabilize (and therefore protect) all of our joints at one time. In the Pistol, I believe this shows up as a lack of full active ankle dorsiflexion (pulling the foot back toward the shin).

The decline accommodates for this lack. It allows us to get a sense – almost the full experience actually – of the bodyweight Pistol and all that is required from the body to perform it.

I used to think that using a heel wedge or decline was somehow “cheating” – that I had to “earn the right” to do a full Pistol. I then realized the fallacy of my thinking and figured that using the “assistance” of the wedge/decline would pattern the resemblance of a true bodyweight Pistol much better than no Pistol at all! (Duh!)

The decline also allows us to learn how to create the space inside our bodies to perform a true bodyweight only Pistol. Because, as I can tell you from experience, the difference between the Counterbalanced Pistol (CPi)and the Bodyweight (BPi) only Pistol are incredibly different.

In the CPi, your energy and attention are somewhat compressed. That is to say, that you’re using the irradiation from your grip to facilitate your core contracting and you are also lowering your center of mass to accommodate for your lack of mobility.

In the BPi, you actually have to project your energy away from your balance point (your foot), much like an animal sprawling to recover its balance. In fact, “sprawling” is actually a great way of looking at how you need to perform the BPi. Your balance point is your foot, and you are projecting your energy – sprawling – with both your hands and your elevated foot. This takes a tremendous amount of coordination and effort when you first get started. And the decline/wedge helps you get a feel for this.

The Key To Making This Transition Work

The key here threefold:

1. Make it Easy.

Start with a decline or wedge that’s higher than you think you need. Get some good quality reps in. Sit here. Find your balance point. Discover what it feels like to project your energy. Discover the differences between your left and right sides, as there are most likely some. What are they? Do arm and head positions change from one foot to the other? How so? Can you replicate them from rep to rep?

2. Make it Fun.

This part really picks up where #1 left off. Notice the differences between sides. Make physical or mental notes of them. Replicate them. Make this a form of “play.” Again, this is a process of discovery. If you make it such it will become fun. When you get tired, stop. Don’t force through or push through anything. (See #1.)

3. Go Slowly.

There’s no hurry here. Make this process enjoyable. Practice when you feel like it. The more frequently, the better for skill acquisition. But remember, there’s no hurry. Enjoy the journey and you’ll get there sooner than if you try to force and rush this.

How Well Does This Work?

Well since we are all essentially the same (human – 46 chromosome) it will work basically the same for everybody. But since we are all unique, some will find great benefit in the decline/wedged Pistol like I have. For some it will be a quick transition to the full Bodyweight Pistol. Others, will really labor here and have to do some work.

I personally love this stage. I am still using it with great success. My most recent accomplishment was 75 Pistols each leg or 150 total just last week. For me, it’s a very good way to build the volume necessary to learn the skill and acquire the strength. And I’m seeing it transfer over to my strict Bodyweight Pistol.

So once you’ve passed the Counterbalanced Pistol, give this one a shot. If you’re already comfortable with the counterbalance, move right along to the decline.

I hope you find these as enjoyable and helpful as I have in my quest for Pistol Mastery.

Feel free to leave your comments here. Just like yesterday – leave at least 10 and I’ll finish up the installment tomorrow, including some of my key discoveries about load placement on your foot.

Kettlebells v. Bodyweight – Which One’s Better?

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Which one is better for fat loss – that’s the question.

But before I answer that, I just wanted to let you know that I got 150 Pistols tonight in my training session – 15 sets of 5 each leg. I was on a slight decline, but still – I’ve never approached anywhere near that volume tonight.

And I feel strong – really strong.

And like I mentioned the other day, I’m getting leaner – again. Waist is at a 15 year low (and I’m not on a fat loss program).

Now I don’t write that to brag, because there are many, many people who can do way better than that. I just highlight my work tonight because it proves my point – so let me get back to that…

Funny how we tend to set up a false dichotomy with questions like the one I started the blog with – which is better for fat loss – kettlebells or bodyweight exercises.

Either – or.

Why not both?

Or, here’s a novel concept – why not cycle the two?

That is one of my preferences.

Most people don’t know this, but the body responds really well to contrasting stimuli. For example, running cycles of low reps, heavy loads, with higher rep ballistic type loads, like Pavel set up in RoTK. (I first heard about this concept from a Romanian coach, Georg Marom, back in ’98 at Yale University after taking my USAW Club Coach Course.)

And usually, when progress stalls, the further you can go from what you’ve currently been doing, the easier it is to jump start progress and get the results you’re looking for once again.

For example, I’ve been doing heavy extension based work for years – both barbells and kettlebells. Tons of Olympic lifts, and tons of kettlebells.

The one thing I hadn’t done?

Bodyweight exercises and flexion-based exercises. Let alone combined the two like I’ve been doing recently.

As a result, I’ve started seeing massive progress once again. My Pistol numbers are an example.

Why is this important to you?

Here are three reasons:

1. Because if you’re not seeing the progress you like or want, it may be time to step away from your kettlebell(s) for a season and get back to the basics – bodyweight training.

There are “super coaches” like Vern Gambetta, who believe that you shouldn’t even touch a weight until you’ve mastered the ability to move your own body. And training with your own body can produce superior results in areas such as relative strength – just look at gymnasts.

2. Sometimes you just need a change – a fresh stimulus to reinvigorate your training again. I can subsist on a relatively spartan diet of training exercises. But even I need to shake things up every once in awhile. My new training program has been “just what the doctor ordered.”

In fact, I think it was Dan John who talked about matching your training to the seasons. I don’t remember how he set his up, but the summer seems like the perfect time to me to train with bodyweight only – it’s light and fun – just like the summer itself.

(I guess barbell work or double kettlebell work could be fall and winter, and single kettlebell work could be spring…)

3. Bodyweight training can be challenging – even hard, but without leaving you with the “beatdown” feeling of heavier forms of training. Like I mentioned in my last post, you can make bodyweight exercises harder just by modifying or challenging the leverage – like holding an “L-sit” doing Pull-ups for example. Or you can do your bodyweight work on an unstable surface, like a pair of rings, for example.

There are so many options that make this just plain old fun. I did my Pistols with my shirt off in the parking lot outside my studio this evening. Why shirt off? Well it certainly wasn’t to show off my massive pecs (I don’t have any). It was so I could soak up the sun and get my daily dose of Vitamin D. Plus, do you know how good it feels to feel the sun beat down on you while exercising? I LOVE it.

So, if you’re stuck, and you need to make progress again – wanna see your “six-pack” or strip off some excess body fat for that beach trip later this summer, put your kettlebells down and do the opposite of what you’ve been doing.

Spend some time getting reacquainted with your body again. Here are some bodyweight only workouts that meet all the requirements we’ve just discussed. You’ll find them challenging, fun, and you’ll love the results you get from doing them. They’re just what the doctor ordered. Check them out.

I’ll keep you posted on my continued progress. My goal is 5 sets of 20 consecutive reps of Pistols on each leg. So 100 total each leg or 200 total. I think I’ll get them by the end of the year.