The Kettlebell Figure 8 is one of the many unique abdominal movements you can perform with a Kettlebell. However, I personally believe that almost all Kettlebell movements work your core region.

Here’s how to perform the Kettlebell Figure 8 exercise:

• Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Place one kettlebell directly beneath and in between your legs. Keep your abs tight and back straight as you grab the Kettlebell with one hand.
• Now push the Kettlebell backwards, through your legs and grab it with the other hand. Swing it around to the outside of your other leg, and swing back past through your legs and grab it with the original hand.
• Think of dribbling a basketball.

The Kettlebell Figure 8 is best done with lower repetitions. It is not like a traditional sit up or crunch, where you need to perform lots of repetitions in order to feel the movement.

In fact, you’ll feel it within the first repetition. Start off slow and get the technique right or else you can very easily injure your your lower back or pull a hamstring muscle. And, just like all Kettlebell movements, do not let theKettlebell control you.

The first time I taught this to a friend of mine, he started swing the Kettlebell violently from one side of his body to the other. I told him to stop, put the Kettlebell down, and practice the movement without the Kettlebell.

Then I gave him a light dumbbell to practice the movement with. Don’t be a macho man (or woman). If you can’t handle the weight, practice it with no weight, and then with a light weight.

For more instruction on Kettlebell exercises, along with some high intensity workouts, check out the Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution program. Click here for more information.

Many barbell and dumbbell movements can also be done with a Kettlebell, although a Kettlebell provides a different stimulation. Here’s how to perform a Deadlift with a Kettlebell:

• Start off standing with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Place the Kettlebell on the floor a few inches in front of your toes, in center line between your feet.
• Bend your knees and squat over the Kettlebell. Rest your weight on your heels and hips while keep your back straight. Keep your core tight, shoulders back, and eyes looking forward throughout the entire movement.
• Grab the Kettlebell with both hands. Make sure your palms are facing towards the ground and knuckles facing forward. Keep your arms straight as you lift the Kettlebell off the floor.
• Lift the Kettlebell with your entire body. You should feel the movement in your abs, hips, legs and lower back. Bend your elbows out to the side as you continue to lift the Kettlebell towards the chest.
• Pause and return the Kettlebell slowly to starting position. Remember that this is not a power training movement like the swing and snatch and should be done with caution and control.

The Kettlebell Deadlift is used more as a warmup and technique practice exercise as opposed to an actual Kettlebell exercise in a workout. This is because most people can Deadlift a large weight, anddeadlifting a Kettlebell is a rather easy task.

My suggest is to use this movement as part of a warmup and to choose more difficult movements as part of your workout. You can even use the Kettlebell deadlift to help you build up strength to perform the Kettlebell swing, and later, the Kettlebell snatch.

For more Kettlebell exercises, workouts, and training tips, check out Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution. Click here for more information.

Hi,

With Christmas gifts and New Year’s Resolutions only a few weeks away, here are the top 5 workout and health gift suggestions.

It doesn’t matter if you’re buying for someone or if you want to know the best fitness gifts to ask for, these are some really cool fitness present suggestions.

#5 – A Gymboss Timer

One of the best ways to help you with your intervals is to use the GymBoss Interval Timer. It costs just $19.95, and you can program it to help you keep track of any sort of intervals you may use. Click here to grab yours today.

#4 – A blender to create delicious blender drinks and meals

For about $60-$100 you can get a machine to blend up fruits, veggies, nuts, protein powder, and seeds to create a nutrient dense complete meal to overcome busy mornings or to create the perfect snack or dessert. Once you get started “blending your nutrition”, you’ll be amazed at what you can create.

#3 – A chin up bar

If you have a spot to put a chin-up bar in your house, you can work your upper body better than any other piece of equipment. It also allows you to do some killer ab exercises.

#2 – A kettlebell

With a kettlebell, you can burn calories, do intervals, work your abs, build strength, and completely sculpt your body. Beginner women
should start with a 12-18 pound kettlebell while beginner men can start with an 18 or 35 pound bell. You should be able to find quality kettlebells at a local sports store or online from a site called DragonDoor.com.

#1 – Kettlebell Workouts

Once you give or get the Kettlebell, you’ll also need workouts, and the best source for beginner and intermediate kettlebell-bodyweight workouts is the Turbulence Training Kettlebell Revolution program.

These kettlebell workouts use the #1 piece of total-body home workout equipment and you only need a tiny bit of space to get an amazing workout. It’s perfect for your New Year’s fat loss program, especially if you hate going to busy gyms.

Click here to get this program.

And remember: This program is guaranteed to work for you. You have nothing to lose – and it is the perfect program for anyone in your family or group of friends who loves to workout.

So those are the 5 best fitness presents you can give – or receive – this year.

Happy Holidays!

Parth Shah
PS – Don’t forget…

…A full 28-week program complete with challenging Kettlebell Exercises & bodyweight drills designed to help you incinerate body fat and build muscle in less time than ever!

These workouts combine tried and true TT Supersets with the most cutting edge fat burning kettlebell drills and circuits known to man. You will get lean and toned and get 6-pack-abs on this program.

Click here to get ready to get started with Turbulence Training.

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author – The Truth about Six Pack Abs

If you’ve been looking for a different training technique to break out of a rut, eliminate the boredom, and bring on new results, “complexes” may be just what you’ve been looking for.

If you’ve never heard of “complexes” before, the basic concept is that instead of repeating the same exercise for multiple reps to complete a “set”, you sequence one rep of several different exercises right after one another and repeat the sequence several times to complete a “set”. It’s basically like performing a routine, instead of just mindlessly performing a typical “set”.

This type of training is excellent to work a huge amount of musculature in a short amount of time, and definitely takes your workouts to a whole new level of intensity. The conditioning aspect of this type of training is amazing, as you’ll find yourself huffing and puffing after repeating a sequence a mere two or three times.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d have to say that this type of training probably elicits a good growth hormone response as well, due to the large amount of full body work completed in a given time period. But that’s just my guess.

I like to incorporate about 5 exercises into my complexes. Any more than that and you might start to forget what’s next in the sequence. Here’s an example of a killer barbell complex that really gets me fired up:

Example Barbell Complex

1. high pull from floor (explosive deadlift right into upright row in one motion);
2. barbell back to thighs, then hang clean (explosively pull bar from knees and “catch” the bar at shoulders);
3. barbell back to floor, then clean & jerk;
4. barbell back to thighs, bend over, then bent over row;
5. barbell back to thighs, then finish with Romanian deadlift

Use a weight that you can still handle for your weakest lift of the bunch, but keep it heavy enough to challenge you. Try to repeat the sequence 2-3 times without resting… That’s 1 set. You could progress over time on this routine by increasing the amount of times you repeat the sequence in each set, or by adding sets on subsequent workouts before eventually increasing the weight.

For example, say you completed the above complex with 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 3 sets in today’s workout. Next time you perform the workout, try to do 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 4 sets. Once you successfully complete 5 sets with 155, increase the weight 5 or 10 lbs next time, and drop back to 3 sets. This is a great way to make improvements over time, while cycling your training volume.

Now I’m going to show you a great kettlebell complex that really kicks my butt. If you don’t have a kettlebell, you can use a dumbbell, but I’d highly recommend picking yourself up a kettlebell… very convenient to have around when you want to bang out a quick intense workout at home without going to the gym.

I’ve been training with kettlebells for a little over a year now, and can definitely say that they’ve dramatically improved my strength, body composition, and overall physical capabilities. If you’re not familiar with kettlebells, they are an old eastern European training secret that has just started to take the US by storm over the last few years. Many elite athletes are using kettlebells as their preferred training tool for serious results.

I’d recommend just starting off with one bell and learn all of the single kettlebell drills first, before delving into the double-bell drills. Just one kettlebell coupled with some bodyweight exercises can literally be enough to comprise your own home gym, without any other equipment necessary. Or a kettlebell can just be a great alternative workout to incorporate into your routines once or twice a week. Either way, it opens up a whole new world of training for you.

Example Kettlebell Complex

1. one arm swing
2. one arm snatch, keep the bell over head;
3. one arm overhead squat;
4. bell back down to bottom, then one arm high pull;
5. bell back down to bottom, then one arm clean & press

As with the barbell complex, repeat the sequence (without rest) 2-3 times with each arm. That’s one set…and one hell of a killer set at that! Try increasing from 3 to 4 to 5 sets on subsequent workouts with a given weight before increasing your sequence reps. If you’re not drenched in sweat with your heart beating out of your chest after that complex, you either went too light, or you are a mutant freak!

Since dumbbells are more accessible to most people than kettlebells, now I’ll show you how to put together a good dumbbell complex.

Example Dumbbell Complex

1. upright row with each arm separately then both together
2. front lunge with one leg, then the other
3. back lunge with one leg, then the other
4. curl to overhead press
5. keep dumbbells at shoulders and squat

Again, the same type of sequencing and progressions explained with the barbell complexes work great with the dumbbell complexes. I think a great strategy is to alternate barbell complexes on one day with kettlebell or dumbbell complexes on alternative training days.

For example, you could do barbell complexes Monday, K-bell or D-bell complexes Wednesday, and back to barbell complexes on Friday. Maybe hit some sprints and bodyweight drills on Saturday; then Monday would be K-bell or D-bell complexes again, Wednesday would be barbells again, and so on. Give this program a try for a month (if you dare), and you will be one hardened individual!

For more killer full body training routines and a fully comprehensive nutritional analysis for developing the lean chiseled body that you’ve always wanted, don’t miss out on my internationally best selling program with over 250,000 users in over 155 countries –
The Truth about Six Pack Abs.

Image by fitness 102 I love superset workouts. Some of my favorite workouts involve combining bodyweight and kettlebell workouts. It just so happens that there is a trainer who’s come out with a full workout program that uses this strategy of superseting bodyweight and kettlebell exercises to create intense fat burning workouts.

His name is Chris Lopez, and the name of his program is Kettlebell Revolution. You definitely need to check out this guy’s program. Click here for more information.

This is the third workout of the Fat Loss is a Battle series:

You can substitute the running for any cardio option. Make sure you perform the cardio exercise for 2 to 3 minutes.

The other exercises may be sustituted for easier variations. You can also use kettlebell or dumbbell exercises and perform the workout using the same format.

Choosing a Starting Point

The progressions for this workout are organized a bit differently then previous workouts. I have three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, with five seperate sublevel within each fitness level. My suggestion is to start with level one of your particular level of fitness, and steadily progress each week. If the first workout is too easy, then you can attempt the next level two to three days later. It is ideal to perform each level once a week, although with proper nutrition you may be able to recover at a faster rate.

Beginner

Level Five

Perform 1 round of:

Run around the block
10 Pushups
8 Leg Pullins
5 Squat Jumps

Level Four

Perform 1 round of:

Run around the block
Rest 30 seconds
10 Pushups
Rest 30 Seconds
8 Leg Pullins
Rest 30 Seconds
5 Squat Jumps

Level Three

Perform 1 round of:

Run around the block
Rest 30 seconds
5 Pushups
Rest 30 seconds
4 Leg Pull-ins
Rest 30 seconds
3 Squat Jumps

Level Two

Run around the block
Rest 30 seconds
5 Pushups
Rest 30 seconds
4 Leg Pull-ins

Level One

Run around the Block
Rest 30 seconds
3 Pushups
Rest 30 Seconds
2 Leg Pull-ins

Intermediate

Level Five

Perform 2 rounds of:

Run around the block
20 pushups
15 Leg Pullins
10 Squat Jumps
5 Burpees

Level Four

Perform 2 rounds of:

Run around the block
20 Pushups
15 Leg Pullins
10 Squat Jumps
5 Burpees
Rest one minute

Level Three

Perform 2 rounds of:

Run around the block
20 Pushups
15 Leg Pullins
10 Squat Jumps
5 Burpees
Rest two minutes

Level Two

Perform 2 rounds of:

Run around the block
10 Pushups
8 Leg Pullins
5 Squat Jumps
3 Burpees
Rest Two Minutes

Level One

Perform 2 rounds of:

Run around the block
10 Pushups
8 Leg Pullins
5 Squat Jumps
Rest Two Minutes

Advanced

Level Five

Perform 5 rounds of:

Run around the block
25 Pushups
20 Leg Pullins
15 Squat Jumps
10 Burpees
5 Kettlebell Clean and Press

Level Four

Perform 4 rounds of:

Run around the block
25 Pushups
20 Leg Pullins
15 Squat Jumps
10 Burpees
5 Kettlebell Clean and Press

Level Three

Perform 4 rounds of:

Run around the block
25 Pushups
20 Leg Pullins
15 Squat Jumps
10 Burpees

Level Two

Perform 4 rounds of:

Run around the block
20 Pushups
15 Leg Pullins
10 Squat Jumps
5 burpees

Level One

Perform 3 rounds of:

Run around the block
20 Pushups
15 Leg Pullins
10 Squat Jumps
5 Burpees

We know America’s fat. What are you going to do about it? You can start by being in shape. Then people will come up to you and ask you how you got in shape. You can either teach them the right way, or tell them to go to Tastefully Driven and read all the posts by Parth Shah. Read more.

6 rounds of:

• 5 reps Narrow Supinated Grip Chin-ups
• 10 reps Pushups
• 10 reps One-arm KB Squat Thrust
• 12 reps Lateral Lunges
• 12 reps Sit-ups

The one-arm KB Squat Thrust proved to be extremely difficult. Here’s how you do them: hold a kettlebell in one hand, drop down into push-up position, and perform a pushup with one hand on the ground and the other wrapped around the kettlebell. Now pull-in your legs and stand up. It’ basically squat thrust with one hand wrapped around the kettlebell handle. The kettlebell also puts some extra stress on your hips as you stand up. I want to steadily transition to doing these with one hand. Overall, the workout was great. Time was 46:43.28, a little longer than I’d expected, but intense.

Check out the puhups and chin-ups videos. I will have to do a video for the one-arm KB Squat thrust, as I couldn’t find anyone who did them that way. The sit-up links out to a seal doing a situp. Pretty funny. And finally, I went much deeper on the lateral lunges. That’s another video I’ll have to make.

For some reason, I’ve caught the bodyweight bug again. Try these other intense workout: Bodyweight Exercise Routines

For those that have read my post An Analysis of Weight Loss methods and Program (don’t worry if you didn’t, it’s a long one), know that I developed a pretty intense program. The program was great but one thing I had not factored in was the time factor. Perhaps that is a program I can pursue during the summer, but certainly not right now.

After trying some of the workouts on my own, and then playing around with a few other methods, I’ve decided to really sit down and see what I need to go. What exactly are my goals?

This time I incorporated a few more “environmental” factors:

Goal One: Continue to burn fat

This is an obvious one. I have been doing a good job of steadily burning off fat putting on muscle. Now its time to take everything I’ve learnt and take it up a notch.

Goal Two: Remove exercises which stress knee

I’ve been complaining of a knee problem for the past few weeks. It doesn’t seem anything serious, but I should still lay off the knee for a while until I get it diagnosed. Besides, my lower body is huge. I’ll still be incorporating one or two lower body exercises. I’ve noticed that nothing happens to me when I squat, but it’s the “Reaching” exercises such as swings and pulls, and “balance” exercises like overhead squats that cause the pain.

Goal Three: Lower frequency of training

Until I graduate, time will be a big factor in my training. Hence, a lower frequency is most likely going to come about naturally. If I have time, I’ll train. If I don’t, I won’t. But the goal is to get in at least 4 workouts a week.

Goal Four: Be able to do 20 straight pull-ups

This is a goal I’ve had for a while, but never really focused too much on it. I believe my max is around 8 or 9. This will work in two phases: 1) Include the pull-up in regular training and 2) develop pull-up specific workouts. Phase 2 will come about only after I’ve achieved the desired levels of body fat.

Primary goal is to burn fat. But one must keep in mind all the other factors that affect their training before they develop one. Hence, I’ll be alternating between the following two workouts with slight modifications along the way to gradually increase the intensity level:

Day One

Kettlbell Press 8 reps
1 minute Shadow Boxing
Pull-ups 4 reps
1 minute Shadowboxing

Stretching: 15 minutes

Day Two

Medicine Ball Twist and Chest Push 8 reps
Run 1 lap
Jump Squats 15 reps
Run 1 lap

Stretching: 15 minutes

I’m unsure as to how many rounds I’ll be performing. Be sure to check out my workout log in the near future for updates.

I trained a few guys over the winter break. Not one of them came back after the workout I gave them. They made great promises, and I even agreed on a price with one of them, but still they never came back. I’m not the type of person to hunt people down. If you don’t want to train, then don’t train. It’s not my problem you’re having health problems or are going to have health problems when you get older.

For some reason I’ve always been one to improve upon mistakes and address weaknesses. Recently I realized that I needed to improve upon my diet. So I took the plunge, started talking to people and did some of my own research to improve this aspect of my life.

Many people realize that they need to change certain aspects of their life, but when they realize just how difficult it is, they rationalize their way out of it. In fact, this happens to me all the time. Just this morning, I wrote myself a workout that I realized I wasn’t able to complete because of the fact that I would not be able to perform all the reps that I had sought out to on a particular exercise.

I thought about sitting down and coming up with a new training program and “revamping” everything. I’ve been through this millions of times. It goes back to the whole idea of there not being a perfect training program. If I would have sat down and came up with a new program, I would have ended up wasting at least an hour trying to find the new “perfect” technique, then figuring out how to apply it to my new routine, etc., etc.

Instead, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and thought about why I was working out in the first place. My goal is to get cut. As cut as possible so that I can get that six-pack. Despite your training style, a six-pack is like a trophy that you want. In reality, it means nothing, but you still want it because it shows people that “hey, this guy actually achieved something.” Maybe my motivation is all wrong, but that’s my goal. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with myself if at some point in my life I did not hold the type of aesthetic conditioning which allowed me to see a six pack.

This is what I thought about, and instantly I picked up my kettlebell and started just working out. I just winged the rest of the workout and ended up having one of the most intense training sessions ever.

Moral of the story: sometimes you just have to workout. From the moment you wake up to the moment you pick up that weight, your brain and body will give you every reason in the book not to train. Just ignore it and train. You’ll be satisfied later.

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