By now you've probably bought a course or two and a few books, you are probably asking yourself "what can one more course do for me"? My answer is just the truth; It won't do anything for you, not one thing.

You can look at it, put it on the best shelf in the house, keep it on the coffee table next to the new candleholder and it won't do a thing for you unless you hold up your end of the deal. Your end of the deal is getting-to-work on what's in the course and getting-to-work on it consistently. This course is short if you count pages, but its packed with plenty that I know you haven't seen before anywhere else. Plenty enough to keep you gaining for a lifetime. No zen-like oceans of tasteful white space, no charming clip-art from bygone eras, no half-page pull quotes. It just gives it to you straight-up and to the point in concise words and pictures. More than enough exercises and info to make sure you can have as much strength, power, gripping force and energy as you are up to working for. No weights, no exotic or expensive equipment, just this booklet and what you make of yourself from what's in it. I don't promise this course will do one thing for you, yet it sure will tell you how to do all kinds of good things for yourself.

This is the booklet on flexibility I always wanted to read but could never find, so I wrote it myself. It's an excellent companion to "The Booklet of Bodyweight Power" for people interested in real "all around fitness".

This booklet is not about wedging yourself into funny positions and just sitting. There are no "stretches" in this booklet. It's about enhancing flexibility by developing strength at further ranges of motion. Real flexibility is moving flexibility! Not only being able to go there but be able to apply force and control while you are there--being able to do something more than wiggle into a funny position and grit your teeth.

Martial artists, particularly grapplers will find much of interest in this booklet. However anyone interested in flexibility that they can use, will find just as much. Most writing on strength focuses on applying force and moving from standing, lying or at least comfortable and set up postions. This booklet focuses on applying strength and moving from wherever you are, by choice or necessity. I guarantee there are things in here you have never seen or tried. Just like its companion book on bodyweight exercise, this one isn't full of abstract theory, big pictures, pleasant graphic design elements or anything that isn't about getting down to the real work.

This booklet isn't about power cleans, box squats or "gym jumps" from rubber topped platforms. It's about getting yourself, people and things to move the way you want them to move and fast.

Ways of getting power that means something and is absolutely understandable from the moment you read and see the illustrations. Usually power is defined very abstractly--not in here. Usually power means how much you can pull or push up from the floor--not in here. The last time I looked most sports and martial arts aren't played in the up direction but down on earth where "at, out, through, by and over" are the ways to victory. This booklet is about that kind of power, the kind that counts down where the games are played and matches won or lost.

There isn't an ounce of delicacy in this book, there aren't any lifts that take years to learn or a coach to teach. There isn't anything you won't understand or can't do today. There are things to make, but they are extremely simple and and be put together in moments by anyone who can use simple tools.

This booklet can go very nicely with the others or stand on its own just as well. As usual, I assume you can handle information and just give you that information without wasting your time stretching the material out by every means possible. I don't want this to be a pleasant evening read in the den. I don't want this booklet to be material for erudite discussions. I want you to work and gain the benefits that come from doing the work starting the day it comes in the mail.

There are plenty of exercise books about what to do in limited circumstances-what to do if you have to "get along" in circumstances where there isn't a dumbell, barbell, chin-up bar or floor mat in sight. However, you get the feeling that much of what has been written is all just some kind of time wasting expedient, not something you would really want to do for real. I wrote this small booklet to change that.

There will be things in here you want to do, exercises and workouts you will likely want to try no matter where you are or what the circumstances. Alot of people who live in small houses, apartments or who travel don't have the luxury of lots of gadgets or heavy metal but there is no rational reason they can't be as strong or fit as they want to be. It starts out basic with a simple two exercise workout and goes all the way to some feats that are plenty tough for anyone, even bodybuilding techniques to eat up wasted "motel room teevee time" in a more productive way. Like the other booklets, the whole story is right there in words and pictures fast; so you can spend your time doing and improving rather than reading and guessing. It was fun for me to write and it should be just as fun for you to read and try

Many "bulked up" enlistees are surprised to find that pure gym strength doesn't translate well to military PT requirements; The military's need for a mix of cardio and strength endurance just doesn't match up well the slower paced reps/sets of bodybuilding style workouts- or the extra bodyweight that comes with it. There is an increasing interest in kettlebells because kettlebell training "hits" the same priorities as military PT.

Kettlebell training is basically a hybrid of the functional olympic style lifts (snatch, clean and jerk) with the higher reps found in dumbbell training; It's a very effective general fitness approach, but it's benefits to military PT really shine when it is incorporated as a complementary addition to the traditional bodyweight training trio of pullups, situps, and pushups. Physically, kettlebells are a steel or iron ball with a handle on it; Simple enough, but with some less than obvious implications. With the weight below the KB handle, KBs are much narrower than their dumbbell equivalents and allow the trainee to comfortably engage the hips,legs and lower back in the "swing" motion -sort of a high-rep deadlift. Once cleaned and "racked" to the shoulder, the round KB shape rests comfortably into the crook of the arm, allowing relatively higher weights with lower body motions like lunges and (especially) front squats.

Finally, when pressed overhead into the "lock" position, the KB's weight forms the bottom of a stable pendulum that allows the trainee to focus on the motion's form instead of overhead balancing ( you can even open-up your grip when the kettlebell is overhead). These simple kettlebell differences add up to the foundation of a surprisingly unique and effective set of motions and workouts. Trainees move the KB between these swing,rack and lock positions in a variety of motions and form fluid, high paced workouts with surprisingly heavy weights and high reps- hitting about the same strength-cardio mix that fast bodyweight circuits achieve with the additional functional benefits of flexibility and coordination of olympic lifting. The KB snatch, in particular, is a challenging all-in-one lift that draws on all the body's resources, and is often the basis for competitions based on the number of reps performed.

All this in a small ball that fits right in on the outdoor PT field. The kettlebell's features and advantages are introduced in several video previews on our site. Further, there's no need to abandon your traditional weight plates for expensive sets of single weight increment kettlebells; Adjustable kettlebell handles are available from Kettlestack which provide all the KB training benefits at fraction of the cost, along with a great range of weight adjustability. The key point is to try KB training and find out for yourself that it's an uniquely effective, challenging and fun training methodology with a great deal of carryover into military activities.

Two bodyweight exercises that are wonderful complements to kettlebell training are pullups and pushups.

Here's an interesting flavor of pushup that lets you dial in a fairly high level of difficulty. The main ideas are to

1. force the chest and arms to work outside of their standard grooves
2. avoid the bounce aspects of pushups.

The farther you go into the corner (lower and wider), the harder it gets. Warm up with standard pushups and then work towards the corners or make em harder by

1. using your fists for platforms (as shown) or using a pair of kettlestacks
2. adding a weight plate on your back
3. supersetting with kettlebell presses

Following the "300" movie there's been a lot of buzz of about an old fashioned idea - athletic "fast circuit" style training. This style of training works really well with kettlebells with their natural focus on strength-endurance.

Basically, we want to design a circuit that challenges a variety of larger bodyparts with relatively simple "whole body" motions and avoid burning out any smaller bodypart. A good starting point would be at least one "push/press" one "pull" and one "squat", but before we do the sets and reps read through for a paragraph or two to understand how the approach can be tweaked to suit your own strengths and weaknesses.

We'll start by introducing the three major metabolic pathways

• Phosphagen: short, explosive max effort.
• Glycolytic: sustained, intense but sub- maximal effort.
• Oxidative: aerobic activity.

Think about your muscles as the steam engine on an old fashioned locomotive; It's the stokers with the shovels (energy pathways) that are needed by even the strongest engine to get over the steep hills. If you want to get the most out of your training you need efficient high capacity energy pathways to achieve your best results, and you should consider training the entire body- not just from different angles of pressing/pulling motions (ala Aaaarnold) but with different energy systems. In particular, a strong glycolytic system is going to give you the energy reserves to blast those last few reps in a "regular" weightlifting working.

The type of workout we're talking about involves repeating a "big" superset like this

1. "

   Kettlebell Snatches (left hand then right hand)

   or a two-handed kettlebell snatch variation.

   
   
   
   
   
   

2. 
   Kettlebell_Overhead_Squat (left then right)

   
   
   
   
   
   

3. pullups
4. 

   Pushups
   
   
   
   
   
   

for a decreasing # of reps at say . . . 21,15,12.

So, you would perform

1. 21 Left hand snatches,
2. 21 Right hand snatches,
3. 21 overhead squats (left hand overhead)
4. 21 overhead squats (right hand overhead)
5. 21 pullups
6. 21 pushups

and then repeat at 15 and 12 reps.

With low reps (Phosphagenic) the muscles either can or cannot and the set is done. With very high reps, (oxidative or aerobic) one can achieve the runner's high over time- but there isn't much "burn". In contrast, you'll discover with the medium weight, high reps of a "300" type of workout the particular challenges and suffering of working the glycolytic energy system. It is like wrestling 3 rounds back to back or running 2 miles at a very fast clip.
The urge to stop is always there and since there is no one to compete against you will need to find your own internal motivation- A warrior fighting beside Leonidas is a pretty good mental picture of what it will feel like. A battle!

Depending on your fitness level, start out with a single kettlebell at a weight between 1/5 and 1/3 bodyweight. There's a total of 288 reps- not quite 300. Even though we are handling less weight, you will likely find this routine is easily adjusted to make it very challenging. Let's take a moment to understand the kettlebell moves and show you how to modify this routine to your own particular strengths and weaknesses.

SNATCHES & SWINGS

The kettlebell snatch is a great "whole body" challenging move- you drive the kettlebell overhead with a hip snap, but it also uses the shoulders and arms in unexpected ways from traditional bodybuilding moves. Like squats, the snatch puts you behind the cardio curve in a way that keeps the rest of the workout challenging. However, for beginners, it has several difficulties in that it requires a good bit of skill and a high aerobic capacity.

If skill at the snatch move is a problem, then swap in two reps of a heavy (1/3 BW) kettlebell swings for each pair of kettlebell snatches. For example, 42 swings instead of 21 LH snatches and 21 RH snatches. The two hands on one kettlebell swing is a simple brutal workout in itself. It also reduces the forearm fatigue which will come in handy later.

And finally, consider trying Bailsnatches ; By themselves, they are a whole afternoon of bailing hay, compressed into 5 to 10 very challenging minutes. In a 300 workout they form a great pivot move.

OVERHEAD SQUATS

The overhead squat has some great benefits in a circuit workout. It keeps the core muscles tight, works the legs, keeps the heart rate up.

Since the kettlebell has two unique stable positions in the rack (at the shoulder) and lock (overhead), the kettlebell overhead squat is not nearly the balancing act of its dumbbell equivalent; It is ideal for people that have reduced shoulder flexibility.

If you find that a single 1/3 BW KB isn't challenging enough, here are two variations:

Squat presses

1. Clean the kettlebell to the rack position
2. go down to the bottom squat position
3. Start pressing the kettlebell at the same type that you come up from the squat.
   This is not a jerk press, but one long smooth motion where mid-squat = mid-press.

Overhead + Rack Squat

Rack a second kettlebell while you lock out the first kettlebell overhead.
With two decent size kettlebells you have the weight to make a respectable front squat,
along with the additional challenge of keeping the first kettlebell overhead.
This can be a very real challenge!

Please remember that the second (racked) kettlebell will make it difficult to guide the first (overhead) kettlebell back down. For safety's sake, bring the overhead kettlebell back to the rack position before returning it to the floor.

Pullups:

Snatches are done,
your grip and traps are rested during the overhead squats,
and your lats are warmed up from balance the kettlebell overhead.
Time for pullups!
Note that this is only your first set and there are plenty of snatches to go, so use an overhand hook grip to save the forearms.

Pushups:

Do warriors get a rest during battle ? Remember, that in a no rest, fast circuit workout there isn't much difference between the first and last exercise You might find that pushups aren't so easy in this "300" workout , but if 21 reps is too easy then try some harder variations like

1. roundup
2. alternating sets of 1 arm pushups
3. weighted pushups with a 10 or 20Kg weight plate,
4. performing the pushups on your knuckles or using kettlebells as a platform.

Summary

In sum, we've got a relatively simple "no rest, fast circuit workout" that includes snatches , overhead squats , pullups and pushups and a few very challenging variations. With just 1 or a pair of kettlebells, a pull up bar and 20 minutes you can engage in a battle that will challenge your body and perhaps even your idea of a hard workout.

The Booklet of Bodyweight Power
By Bryce Lane

By now you've probably bought a course or two and a few books, you are probably asking yourself "what can one more course do for me"? My answer is just the truth; It won't do anything for you, not one thing. You can look at it, put it on the best shelf in the house, keep it on the coffee table next to the new candleholder and it won't do a thing for you unless you hold up your end of the deal. Your end of the deal is getting-to-work on what's in the course and getting-to-work on it consistently.

This course is short if you count pages, but its packed with plenty that I know you haven't seen before anywhere else. Plenty enough to keep you gaining for a lifetime. No zen-like oceans of tasteful white space, no charming clip-art from bygone eras, no half-page pull quotes. It just gives it to you straight-up and to the point in concise words and pictures. More than enough exercises and info to make sure you can have as much strength, power, gripping force and energy as you are up to working for.

No weights, no exotic or expensive equipment, just this booklet and what you make of yourself from what's in it. I don't promise this course will do one thing for you, yet it sure will tell you how to do all kinds of good things for yourself.

U.S. Mail $16.00 for each booklet +$4.00 S&H
Order "The Booklet of Bodyweight Power"
by pressing the button below:

A Mighty River of Steel
By Bryce Lane

This is the booklet on flexibility I always wanted to read but could never find, so I wrote it myself. It's an excellent companion to "The Booklet of Bodyweight Power" for people interested in real "all around fitness".

This booklet is not about wedging yourself into funny positions and just sitting. There are no "stretches" in this booklet. It's about enhancing flexibility by developing strength at further ranges of motion. Real flexibility is moving flexibility! Not only being able to go there but be able to apply force and control while you are there--being able to do something more than wiggle into a funny position and grit your teeth.

Martial artists, particularly grapplers will find much of interest in this booklet. However anyone interested in flexibility that they can use, will find just as much. Most writing on strength focuses on applying force and moving from standing, lying or at least comfortable and set up postions. This booklet focuses on applying strength and moving from wherever you are, by choice or necessity

I guarantee there are things in here you have never seen or tried. Just like its companion book on bodyweight exercise, this one isn't full of abstract theory, big pictures, pleasant graphic design elements or anything that isn't about getting down to the real work.

U.S. Mail $16.00 for each booklet +$4.00 S&H
Order "A Mighty River of Steel" by pressing the button below:

Fitness Secrets of the Road Ninja
By Bryce Lane

You are pathetic, weak, slovenly and trapped in a cheep motel on a boring business trip! What do you do?

There are plenty of exercise books about what to do in limited circumstances-what to do if you have to "get along" in circumstances where there isn't a dumbell, barbell, chin-up bar or floor mat in sight. However, you get the feeling that much of what has been written is all just some kind of time wasting expedient, not something you would really want to do for real. I wrote this small booklet to change that.

There will be things in here you want to do, exercises and workouts you will likely want to try no matter where you are or what the circumstances. Alot of people who live in small houses, apartments or who travel don't have the luxury of lots of gadgets or heavy metal but there is no rational reason they can't be as strong or fit as they want to be. It starts out basic with a simple two exercise workout and goes all the way to some feats that are plenty tough for anyone, even bodybuilding techniques to eat up wasted "motel room teevee time" in a more productive way.

Like the other booklets, the whole story is right there in words and pictures fast; so you can spend your time doing and improving rather than reading and guessing. It was fun for me to write and it should be just as fun for you to read and try!

U.S. Mail $16.00 for this booklet +$4.00 S&H
Order "Fitness Secrets of the Road Ninja"
by pressing the button below:

New! Throwing Your Weight Around
By Bryce Lane

This booklet isn't about power cleans, box squats or "gym jumps" from rubber topped platforms. It's about getting yourself, people and things to move the way you want them to move and fast. Ways of getting power that means something and is absolutely understandable from the moment you read and see the illustrations.

Usually power is defined very abstractly--not in here. Usually power means how much you can pull or push up from the floor--not in here. The last time I looked most sports and martial arts aren't played in the up direction but down on earth where "at, out, through, by and over" are the ways to victory. This booklet is about that kind of power, the kind that counts down where the games are played and matches won or lost.

There isn't an ounce of delicacy in this book, there aren't any lifts that take years to learn or a coach to teach. There isn't anything you won't understand or can't do today. There are things to make, but they are extremely simple and and be put together in moments by anyone who can use simple tools.

This booklet can go very nicely with the others or stand on its own just as well. As usual, I assume you can handle information and just give you that information without wasting your time stretching the material out by every means possible. I don't want this to be a pleasant evening read in the den. I don't want this booklet to be material for erudite discussions. I want you to work and gain the benefits that come from doing the work starting the day it comes in the mail.

U.S. Mail $16.00 for this booklet +$4.00 S&H
Order "Throwing Your Weight Around"
by pressing the button below:

Thanks for suggesting that Brycelane booklet on bodyweight. It is a great complement to kettlebell training. Those roundup pushups are fantastic as well!