I was a teenage P.E. failure.
In my sophomore year in high school, I could barely manage 4 1/2 pullups. It put me in the low group, with all the fatties and flabbies, who seemed to break a sweat just wearing their t-shirts, gym shorts and sneakers.
But I was not to be deterred. Every day at …
Generally speaking, the best over-all exercises you can do today replicate the type of manual labor our ancestors engaged in a century ago, or less. Even the little abdominal wheel (as seen on TV!) works the same muscles of a chambermaid scrubbing the kitchen floor on her hands and knees (in Edouard Muybridge’s series of …
Lately I’ve been wondering why so often, the heaviest available kettlebell in most stores is 20-25 pounds–which is fine for women, but for guys, not so much. And this has been the case, not only at the big discount superstores, but in several of the sporting goods stores as well, which also carry kettlebells in …
At the community service center behind our church, early Sunday mornings are dedicated to an exercise class. Our usual leader has taken the past few weeks off to run in some local races–she’s a veteran marathoner and avid advocate of all things running. In her absence, she’s left me in charge. (Big smile here….)
Now, I’ve …
There’s still time to fit in a few of those apple cider rides before all that rain, ice and snow, so befitting a state shaped like a mitten, which inevitably will come. And if winter comes, can spring be far behind? The answer, of course is, Yes–too far! In the meantime, what are you going …
Hot on the heels of my rant about mainstream trainers who don’t know how to use a kettlebell, comes Sherri Powers with this announcement: the Oak Park YMCA is now offering kettlebell classes, with none other than Mike Neller, of the Trainer’s Studio.
This is kettlebell training done right! Call 517-699-9622 and take advantage of this …
Well, it’s official: kettlebells have entered the mainstream in Lansing: available now at Target–and even Meijer’s! So, now what?
It’s an issue that troubles fitness trainers like Josh Hillis. Josh is a certified kettlebell instructor and owner-operator of Josh’s Garage in Denver, Colorado. He’s seen the publicity generated by the slick, nationally syndicated fitness magazines; seen …
Funny, but it seems that whenever I introduce people to kettlebells, they’re intrigued with the notion that they can burn fat and tone up their muscles, if all they ever do is the swing (and that other…thing). They seem to go hard of hearing on the Turkish Get-Up (One of the few who’ve …
“The heaviest weight that you can lift is the weight you cannot lift.”–(Pavel, quoting someone else)
In a park somewhere in Moscow, not many years ago, a pudgy teenager happened upon an abandoned 53-pound kettlebell (loose kettlebells seem as common to Russia as stray dogs). Elated with his new find, he tried to lift it to …
Monday found me doing an extended kettlebell drill that I took from Gabi Katschthaler’s Hungarian Courage Corner: two minutes of the one-hand swing, snatch, clean and jerk, “Viking” push press, snatch, and transfer to the opposite hand for more of the same; rest a minute, and repeat for about ten rounds. Even on a cool …