By Somnath Sikdar

Recently, I had the unfortunate ordeal of vacationing in Jamaica.  Not only were we hundreds of miles from my kettlebells, between having breakfast delivered to our room, walking to the beach, relaxing on the beach, getting drinks at the beach, sitting in the Jacuzzi, taking a dip in the pool, and having a four course dinner every day when was I going to find time to workout?

 

Seriously, these are 2 of the 3 biggest excuses we hear when folks are reluctant to start the exercise regimen they need.

 

1. I’m too busy / I can’t find time to workout every day
2. I don’t have access to the equipment I need

 

Well, I have to agree with the first point.  You will never “find” time to workout.   If exercise and health are not a priority for you, it will always fall to the bottom of this list.  

 

Something will always come up first: work, kids, social life.    There is always something additional that needs to get done.  Trust me, as a small business owner, the work day never really ends, there is always something that I could continue working on.  Those of you with kids and families probably share a similar sentiment.

 

Why are we so busy?  Fundamentally, the reasons are good.  We want to maximize the fulfillment in our lives and our ability support and care for our families. 

 

Strangely, health—fitness—wellness, seems to fall way to the bottom of our priority list-if not dropped altogether.  

 

As you might expect, it needs to be at the top of the list!  Plan your day around your workout—your health regimen.  The other things in your life that need to get done, will get done.   Just because you worked out for an hour today are you going to shirk your required duties at work?  I don’t think so.   Are you going to neglect your kids and family?  I don’t think so.

 

Furthermore, I stipulate that prioritizing your workout, your fitness regimen will actually improve those other aspects of your life and your ability to optimize them.  

 

Collegiate athletes consistently perform better academically on-season, than off-season.  Why?  The discipline and structure that a busy practice and game schedule necessitates.   Student athletes must work diligently and effectively in order to succeed.  

 

Make the time.  Impose the discipline on your schedule and you can prioritize your health and continue to enjoy the other aspects of your life.

 

 #2 – no equipment

 

That’s even easier.   Realistically, a Kettlebell or even a few kettlebells is a VERY SMALL investment to make in your health.   However, you may not always be able to bring them with you.   That’s OK too.   Gravity is a beautiful thing, no matter hard we try, it seems to stay constant.   Simple bodyweight exercises and complexes are your solution.  Here’s an excerpt of one of my routines whilst in Jamaica.

 

Squat/Pushup Ladder

 

1 Pushup/1 Squat, 2 Pushups/2 Squats, 3 Pushups/3 Squats….you get the idea. Go up to 10 and back down.   It’s nothing revolutionary, but you can always come up with something, no matter how limited you are on equipment and space.

 

Short, simple, full-body and effective.

 

Stay tuned for our Body Weight Exercise eBook, it really is coming soon. 

 

Now, who wants to help fund Dragon Gym South?

( Consider this my thanks to all of those who bought my metcon book - I can't think of a better way to express my gratitude :p )

Come one, come all, and bear witness to the most ballbreaking, arduous, and punishing kettlebell complex of all time!

I assure you ladies and gentlemen that nothing is worse than this! At least not until I invent something worse...

But without any further ado - I present to you - the MahFahka!

I overdose on Jerks. You should too.

They don’t make action figures out of people who suck – Brian Petty


Don't fret just yet.

Because I’m going to school you on how to not suck, and if you already do suck, then I’m going to instruct you on how to officially “unsuck” yourself.

Now years of formal suckitude can be hard to repeal, but if you follow these guidelines, then you will have a solid foundation from which to build a new character.

So where to begin?

First and foremost, you have to physically “unsuck” yourself. It doesn't matter if you don't suck on the inside, because if you suck on the outside then you still just suck. Exogenous suckage must be dealt with before we can correct any endogenous suckage.

So chances are if any of the following apply to you, then you physically suck.

1. You’re fat.
2. You’re weak.
3. You’re fat and weak – the ultimate suck

Well dang, I’ve been both of those before, so I can tell you first hand how much it sucks to suck the ultimate suck.

But the good news is that I was able to "unsuck" myself, and you can to!

I’m going to offer you comprehensive solutions to your sucky problems.

Let’s first address this pesky "I'm fat" issue.

First, you must ask yourself why are you fat?

Are you fat because you suck? Or do you suck because you’re fat?

A sick irony I know. Because I was both. I was fat because I sucked. And I sucked because I was fat.

So what do you do? Simple answer – stop eating foods that suck!

The simplest solution to this is to follow my Concentrated Carb Dosing Regimen! If you haven’t gotten your copy of my free eReport on this, head over to the Colloquium (a place for people that don’t suck) and start to implement this right away. I promise that this will take care of your fat problem.

The great thing about the CCD regimen is that it doesn’t make you count calories, because we all know how much that sucks! Here's an interview I did discussing the benefits of Concentrated Carb Dosing.

Alright so sucky nutrition is taken care of. On to the more laborious part, which entails desuckifying your training routine!

First and foremost, you can’t unsuck your training routine if you don’t know how to train in the first place. That’s exactly why I put together my Introduction to Kettlebell and Barbell Strength training eBook, which teaches you just about everything you need to know when it comes to how to pick heavy things up and put them back down, like bench pressing without your shoulders sucking, and deadlifting without sucking up your back!

So let's say you do have a solid foundation. Now it’s time to unsuck your routine by kicking it into a higher gear. Intensity and suckage are mutually exclusive for the most part, assuming your intensity is intelligent.

Take my Force Velocity Training for example. It’s incredibly intense, yet intelligent and purposeful. It covers just about every realm of athleticism, and these workouts will pulverize you straight into manhood and out of suckville.

Catch my drift?

Try these on for size. One is an FVT Hip Dominant routine, the other a weight push up workout, and the last is a pulling and core routine.

What's the next step when it comes to "unsucking" yourself.

Well being successful at something can't hurt can it?

Now it took me a while, but I finally uncovered the formula for success, and if you apply it, then you will undoubtedly be successful in any and all endeavors.

It is as follows:

Success = Passion + Commitment + Perseverance

Let's take a look at what success is not - (thanks in great part to my pal Cal Coolidge for making this very clear to me)

Talent - Many, many people have talent. But it is all too common to see wasted talent in this world. Talent without perseverance is worthless. All natural talent can do is give you a competitive edge. But unless you apply yourself, then your talent is utterly useless.

Education - It's great to be smart. And you can read every "how to" book in the world, graduate Summa Cum Laud from Harvard, and have an IQ higher than Sarah Palin ( Oh, wait a minute...). But just like talent, your education is only as good as your commitment and perseverance. Wasted and/or fully unrealized intelligence is also a sad commonality  in America.

Merit - Just because you deserve something doesn't mean you will get it. Remember, success is where preparation meets opportunity.

You must be passionate about what you do.

Why?

Because intrinsic motivation > extrinsic motivation.

If you do what you do because you love to do it, rather than because you have to do it, you will experience a much greater deal of success and self-fulfillment. Intrinsic motivation fuels perseverance, and will see you through life's often grueling trials.

So I say if there is a way to monetize your passion, then see it done.

Learn how to further "unsuck" yourself in part 2 - coming soon!

This is something that I've really struggled with for the past couple of years. Ever since I started playing with metcon and using these strange kettleball things, while simultaneously minimizing the amount of carbs that I put into my mouth, something really weird started happening...

My stomach region started to transform...

WTF RIGHT?!

Here I am busting my ass trying to get in shape and what do I get? Really defined abdominal muscles and a very low body fat percentage. The joke's really on me I suppose...

Before I had nothing to worry about. These unpleasant looking rivets and valleys were appropriately covered up by layer upon layer of much sexier fat cells.

So where did I go wrong? What could I have done to prevent this disaster from happening? And if it does happen to you, what can you do to cover up those unsightly abdominal muscles, aside from being the guy that always wears his t-shirt into the pool? Well I'm not going to let you be that guy!

I'm going to give you a list of what you can do to prevent this from happening. You'll thank me later, hopefully before you're girlfriend breaks up with you for looking too shredded.

1. DO NOT WORKOUT LIKE THIS!

Metabolic Conditioning is an absolute no no when it comes to trying to keep your ugly abdominal muscles covered up.

Wow looking back I can't believe how stupid I was. You can almost see fat melting right off my body as I work through those complexes. But look, I'm relatively young so please don't hold my faults against me. We all learn through experience right? And I can tell you that my experience has taught me that if I want to keep cellulite on my frame, then I am to avoid metcon work at any and all costs!

2. Don't Pick Up Heavy Things!

This one really took me for a loop. For so long I completely though that picking up and moving around heavy things was good for you...that was until I started losing my precious body fat and building repulsive muscle mass. Gross.

Oh, and at all costs avoid any sort of heavy deadlifting or squatting, as they are both incredibly metabolically demanding. Trust me when I say that if you want to stay lovable and round, you're much better off doing some sort of Zumba or step aerobic class.

Well try try again until you succeed I suppose...

Here is another example of exactly what not to do when you're trying to stay portly and attractive to the opposite sex.

3. Do Not Restrict Carbohydrate Intake!

You're probably all shaking your heads right now and wondering how I could have made all of the classic mistakes when it comes to trying to keep your inflated and whale-like physique. Do I have no education whatsoever when it comes to maintaining corpulence? I can only hang my head in and shame, accept what I've done wrong, learn from it, and move on. I just hope that you can all learn and take a few things away from my mistakes...

So here's what I got out of this one. Apparently this silly transport hormone insulin helps to make you fat, especially if you're sedentary (which I should have been all along!). So the joke really was on me when I had this crazy idea to control and manipulate my insulin levels by targeting and restricted my carbohydrate intake.  I'd do some really stupid things like consume only 100 grams of carbs a day, and target them solely around my workouts. Well ladies and gentleman, I learned the hard way when I dropped well into the single digit body fat percentages that I had made a terrible mistake. But now I can now tell you something with full faith and confidence, and that's if you want to stay fat and actually have girls talk to you - then I beg you, do not follow my Concentrated Carb Dosing Regimen.


Follow these three simple rules and I promise you will never have to deal with offensive and deplorable abdominal muscle definition ever again.



May your fat be with you -




Pat

Objective: The physical augmentation of five human guinea pigs - To have them undergo a drastic aesthetic transformation while simultaneously enhancing performance.

Method: Force Velocity Training Protocol coupled with the Concentrated Carb Dosing Regimen. 4 Week cycles.

Prescribed Modus Operandi: Adherence to the strict training protocol and nutritional regimen. Weekly food and training journals along with Bi-weekly progress reports, measurements, and photographs.

Introducing the Test Subjects:

My name is Thomas, I am a 26 year old personal trainer that works/lives in downtown Chicago.I started getting into weight training I was 18,this was also the year I started doing local pro wrestling shows.Spent the next few years competing on shows under the tutelage of world traveled wrestler @theChrisHero. In that time I competed in 12 states and 3 different countries in including a 2 weeks tour of Australia in 2008.It was also in 2008 I decided I wanted to look into becoming a personal trainer seeing that the schedule is tailor made for a pro wrestler.Got my first training job in November of 2008 and was instantly hooked.Everyday I would research new exercises,pieces of equipment and different protocols for training.This is how I first learned of kettlebells and even though I wasn't a natural with them at first,I was hooked. Current certs I have are NESTA,HKC,FMS,and IHP MMA-SC.  Most of my training now is different metabolic circuits with kettlebells,trx,trx rip trainer,and Hyperwear's sandbells.The main thing I'm training for right now is the RKC in Chicago this September.So I've been working very hard on the 6 RKC movements and overall grip/pulling strength.I'm very confident this program will help with all of these things.Other than that I'm just looking to get stronger and move better,two things Pat know a lot about.Feel free to follow me on twitter @trk485

My name is Deanna Perry, I’ve recently turned 22 and am originally from the Poconos. I am a graduate from West Chester University School of Music with a degree in music education. I have a major in Saxophone and a minor in piano. As a 20 year old, I was on the verge of 300lbs and was miserable in my own skin. In the past year and a half I made the decision to change my life and take control of my health. It all started last April with being calorie conscious, and when I started getting results I began to do some research and started to work out. At first I could barely run around my block once (which is a little over a mile) but I kept trying and added on some fitness dvds. When I got back to school in the fall I had lost about 70lbs and was determined to keep it off. At West Chester I decided to try the Kettlebell class with Pat Flynn and quickly discovered the passion I had for Kettlebells and how much I enjoyed the workout. My greatest successes thus far in my “quest for health” is losing over 100lbs in over a year and completing a 5k in less then 26 minutes. Although I have had some success, I have had my share of failures including plateauing and making some wrong decisions when it comes to what to eat. Eating right and working out is a decision that is to be made every single morning and I intend to stick with it. My short-term goals are to stay motivated and always give 110%, if you get sick then you pushed hard enough. As well as losing about 20 more pounds to reach my “goal size.” My long-term goal is to continue this “quest for health” forever. Being healthy is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle, and I hope that I have the strength and determination to continue with it forever.

My name is Danielle.  I am a Dental Hygienist. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. I was an athlete in middleschool and highschool. I played volleyball and softball. I also played volleyball my freshman year of college. Then I transfered to the universit of pittsburgh where I entered their dental hygiene program. I quit playing sports and became extrememly sedentary. With never having established good eating habbits I began gaining weight rapidly. from 18 to 23 I managed to gain about 100 lbs. My top weight was 283. I am now 177 lbs. I work out 6 days a week. Typically 3-4 days of kettlebells, and volleyball and swimming on my off days. I am training for my rkc in september. I am stuck at a plateau of weight loss. My lowest was 155 about 2 years ago. I trained for and competed in an olympic triathalon. I was about one size clothing smaller than I am right now.  My goal is to get down to a size pant, I am currently a 12. I would also like to get my body weight low enough that I can perform full chin ups. I am really excited to start this new program!

I am a 30 year old Pre-Med/Psychology student at West Chester University, as well as a Certifed Yoga Instructor. In my early twenties I gained fifty pounds, and upon finally owning up to that fact at the age of 25, I started with a personal trainer. With a combination of weight training, diet modification and cardio (as well as being introduced to yoga), I lost all of the weight quickly and have kept it off to date. 

 

I enjoy yoga, running, hiking, dancing (especially Swing and Latin styles), climbing.....really anything that keeps me active. I also love to sing, and am currently singing with a band in the area.

 

I love to be challenged, but my weakness is that sometimes, when left to my own devices, I don't challenge myself enough. This is partially due to not always knowing how to progress (when to lift what and how much, etc.). There are so many schools of thought regarding when and how to eat and work out that it's easy for me to get lost in it all. Despite my current efforts, definition in certain areas of my body (especially my abdomen) have hit a plateau. I want to prove the plateau wrong.

 

My fitness goals are to improve my strength, stamina and muscle definition, but just as importantly, to continue challenging and bettering myself, physically and mentally.

My name is Jason, and I'm a 26 year old male from the San Francisco Bay Area.  I'm currently 6'2" and 195 pounds with a 37" waist and 44" chest.I've applied to be a guneia pig for this program beacuse I'd like to get to 6 or 7% bodyfat while gaining athletic fitness.  My whole life I've either been overweight or obese (but mostly obese).  During high school I was playing football and I weighed a hefty 280 pounds wearing size 42" jeans.  At that point I stopped weighing myself but I continued to gain more weight; and I wouldn't be surprised if I was flirting with the 300 pound mark. Before college I went on a "diet" where I ate 1 cup of white rice every day and ran 1 mile every morning and evening until I was down to 250.  I lasted about 6 weeks before I quit.  During college, I picked up a bodybuilding diet and doing bodybuilding type stuff.  I did the basics, incline bench presses, squats, and deadlifts with a few isolated lifts.  That got me down to 220 where I was stuck for several years. Recently I've tapered down to 195 thanks to a 6 month stint with AmeriCorp in Alaska (awesome time, I highly reccomend it!) and my stay in Hawaii where I was too poor to afford the proper amount of food and had to bicycle 25 miles to and from the nearest grocery store, and I went every other day.  Currently I swing kettlebells with turkish get ups and do pull-ups, push ups and dips between chairs. My background in athletics: In high school I played football, in college I did bodybuilding and brazilian jiu jitsu, since college I've gotten around town riding a 9 speed road bike (which I love!) and used to cycle 20 miles a day @ 17 MPH (averaged by my cyclometer).  Currently I'm into indoor rock climbing, and go bouldering about once every 10 days.  I also do some backpacking and it's a dream of mine to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada in one straight shot. My #1 goal for a long time has been (and still is) to get to 6% bodyfat,  I'd also like to improve my rock climbing abilities, run a 7 minute mile, complete the RKC challenges and do one legged squats and 1 arm push ups.  By accomplishing all this I'd gain better fitness, stamina, and look pretty damn good when I'm naked!  Thank you, and I look forward to sharing my results with you all!Jason

My name is Giovanna and I`m 48 years old ( 49 in 2 months ).
I`m Italian, I live in Roscoe Illinois, where we moved 6 years ago.
Sport has always been a passion of mine and I`ve been very active for
most of my life: I`ve practiced fencing, skiing, cross country skiing,
rock climbing and mountain biking.
In 2007 I discovered  kettlebells and they quickly became my passion.
I started training on my own in the basement to get ready for  RKC I.
In 2009 I became certified RKC II and in 2010 I attended the CK-FMS.
In January 2011 I opened a small strength facility in Roscoe.
I'm interested in this program because I want to see the impact that this training protocol combined with this diet will have on myself, both in terms of energy level and of body composition.

Giovanna

The test subjects will begin their regimen shortly. I will be posting updates often. Be sure to share your words of encouragement with them in the comment section as well as on the colloquium!


Until then, enjoy these hellish metcon complexes. Best served with a vomit bag.

By Steve Maze - CSCS, RKC, USA -W

Hello, my name is Steve Maze and I am the Program Director and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Dragon Gym in Exton, Pa. A little about myself, I am a graduate of Bloomsburg University in 2009, with a degree in Exercise Kinesiology and Sports Science with a concentration in Strength and Conditioning. I worked as an Intern Assistant Strength Coach at Drexel University’s Strength and Conditioning Program under Michael Ranking where I trained, coached, and instructed 14 Division-I sports teams. I also Interned as a Sport Performance Coach with Brett Fischer in Phoenix, Arizona at Fischer Physical Therapy and Sports Conditioning, coaching NFL, NHL, MLB, and NBA, professional athlete’s during their off-season strength and conditioning work outs. I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, a certified USA-Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach, a Certified Russian Kettlebell Challenge Level I Instructor, and a Functional Movement Screen Specialist.

Today I would like to discuss my number one piece of exercise and fitness advice. DO NOT work out, train, lift, exercise, or even move without some kind of PLAN! Now this doesn’t have to be the absolute perfect, best, most specific, individualized plan. However, there are three things it must have is a beginning, a middle, and an end. I could be wrong here, but I do not believe anyone in any history went to go achieve something with absolutely no thought, preparation, or diagram of how they might achieve it.

This is where I see so many people fail in the gym. They go in with the idea of achievement such as “I want to lose weight” or “I want to get ripped and strong”. But they immediately get lost in the jungle when they see huge male gorillas with 23 inch biceps doing preacher curls, or hot female cheetahs with 3% body fat doing 30 minutes of elliptical cardio. Then you think, “Hey if I do what they’re doing I will be and look like that too!” (and believe me when I say all of this, because I used to be, do, and think this exact way and I know you do to ). But, WRONG! Those are rare, mythological animals being experimented on by scientists and medical doctors. You, my friend, are an average chimpanzee or lazy tomcat that doesn’t know the difference between sprinting for your life from running on a hamster wheel.

Therefore you need a plan of action. You need a program that will turn yourself into that gorilla or cheetah.  It won’t come from acts of randomness (crossfit) that give you little tiny beads of sweat. A great way to start this idea is with a Training Journal. I was re-reading an old blog post from Jason Ferruggia, http://jasonferruggia.com/the-most-important-thing-gym/. He lays it all out here perfectly.

One other way is (if you are local in the Exton/West Chester Area), sign-up for our O.T.A. Strength and Conditioning Program at Dragon Gym. We give each and every client/student their own Training Journals along with a strength and conditioning program based on their own goals, physical capabilities, and lifestyle needs in order to track and achieve true results and progress. We turn the chimps into brute gorillas and the felines into cheetahs! For more information you can contact me at 610.363.7575 or a stevemaze@dragongym.com.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an application to offer themselves up as a guinea pig for my new Force Velocity Training Protocol. The response was overwhelming and it was very, very difficult for me to only choose five candidates, when there were so many great contenders.

You know who you are by now if you've been selected, and I will reveal their identities publicly in the next blog post.

Feel I was wrong for not choosing you? I'm open to appeals. Send me an email telling me why you know I'm wrong and why you'd be prime for this opportunity and I will greatly reconsider my decision based on how persuasive you are...

Anyways, here's some silly but effective push up variations for lactic acid training and pumping those pecs up for beach season. Enjoy!

What is lifestyle augmentation?

The following will give you the fundamental framework, please allow it to sink into your heart:

The responsibility of uninterrupted betterment.

I subscribe to the belief system that as humans, it is our principled responsibility to be on a perpetual pursuit of betterment. If you are not learning and if you are not improving, then you are dying. Lifestyle Augmentation is in relation to enhancing particular elements of your life for the better. You see, the pieces form the whole, and we aim to augment those pieces to craft a superior whole.

But the true question you should be asking yourself is not what, but rather why and why not?

Why the hell not?

Why not delete the obsolete?

Why not capitalize on and provide work for your full potential?

Why be complacent and self-satisfied with what you currently own?

Complacency hampers growth and development. It immobilizes the pursuit of betterment.  So yes, what I’m telling you to do is by no means be complacent. I’m telling you in no way ever be satisfied. And I’m telling you that what you have is never ever enough, nor will it ever be. You can be better. Always. And you will be better. I'm not talking in materialistic terms, but rather about self-development.


Stop borrowing life from tomorrow by burning up your today. After all, tomorrows are in limited supply.

We exist in a sphere of illusion that our time is infinite, only coming to terms that such fact be fallacy when our life is deep in the wee hours of the night. On our last legs as we attempt to prop ourselves up under the gloomy veil of death and we reflect upon our undertakings will you be proud of what you’ve done? Or will your ego be achingly repentant and your self-reflection merely be upon the sad realization of just how little you accomplished all your plans in life? And when you’re about to lose your lifeline will you be capable of hoisting your chin high in the air and announce with confidence that you lived life and you lived it damn well?

Remember, “A man's worth is no greater than his ambitions.” – Marcus Aurelius

Lifestyle Augmentation is about implementing permanent lifestyle changes and the institution of ambition.

So open wide and down a tall glass of valor, because the caravan of change is always passing by - but should you choose to travel with it is up to you.

Do not fear it. Accept it. Embrace augmentation.

Do not allow that bastard Father Time to foreclose on your life without you first having your say.

It's time to make your first lifestyle augmentation. Are you ready?

The most imperative augmentation must be to liberate your life of all toxicity possible. This is also possibly the most difficult augmentation to implement, and you will quickly realize it to be a lifelong quest within itself. But what you must do is strive to purge yourself of all noxious habits, relationships, thoughts, and behaviors. Because toxicity is the enemy of an optimized and fruitful lifestyle, as it anchors and slows you down like over-sized luggage, and if you surround yourself with enough toxicity, your character will surely itself become toxic. Poisonous habits you must rupture, and detrimental bridges you are obliged to burn.

From cognitive reprogramming to demanding your venomous significant other to finally beat it, there are many a ways to rid yourself of toxicity.

So how do you identify toxicity?

The evaluation process is reasonably simple. Again simple does not mean easy...

Is this someone/something making you better or worse?

Let’s focus in on relationships (meh…)--------à

“Don’t ever burn a bridge”, my sweet mother once told me. And although she said so with the best intentions, I detect broken logic in such a statement. Sorry mom, I still love you anyways, but your wrong. What I’m telling you is that some bridges absolutely should be burned, and they should be burned to a total cinder.

Who you surround yourself with ultimately plays a deep role into your character development. Are the people you encircle yourself with making you better or are they making you worse? If you believe they are making you better, be sure to identify exactly how they are doing so. Now this is only an easy evaluation if you have the ability to sport the white cap of objectivity, which unfortunately most of us cannot do in such emotional circumstances.

Love. The deadly red hat of emotions. It distorts our perception, warps our mind, and fashions a rather unkind confirmation bias. More of us have been there than not I’m afraid to say. I’m talking about that dreadful, unhealthy relationship from which we are unable to disconnect because of the seemingly impervious chain of love shackled around our feet. While all the signs of toxicity may be present we ignore them and seek out only information to reinforce our confirmation bias. But in the long run we will all pay the price if we do not address the objective warning signs of toxicity within a relationship, regardless of our emotional point of view.

In the context of a relationship (romantic or platonic) on no account will you ever allow any of the following to take place if you wish to rid yourself of toxicity.


1. Lying

2. Manipulation

3. Abuse – physical or emotional

4. Condescension

5. Lack of compassion, care, and/or commitment

 

Should any of the following warning signs rear their unsightly head, it’s time to take an objective step back and evaluate whether or not this is a relationship you truly want to cultivate or one that you should destroy.

Yes, it is difficult to demolish a relationship, especially one in which you are emotionally bonded and socially committed to. But the short sting of a clean cut will greatly outweigh the cancerous effect that encouraging a toxic relationship will have in the long run.

So go forth and analyze your relationships, both platonic and romantic. Dig deep, and look closely for all visible (and non-visible) signs of toxicity. Now realize that not all signs of toxicity mean that a relationship should be destroyed, but they all should certainly be addressed. This is the first crucial step to riding your life of toxicity and setting out on your quest of perpetual betterment.

Changing gears completely; let's talk training.

There's a new bright line on the horizon of strength and conditioning-

I call it Force Velocity Training - which will be fully revealed in my upcoming eBook.

But what I can reveal to you at this time is this - that FVT will change the way you train and the results that you obtain. Guaranteed.

I am currently recruiting guinea pigs - 5 guinea pigs to be specific. If you are interested, email me immediately at Hardstylekettlebells@yahoo.com. Here is what your tasks will entail

1. You must follow the full FVT program with absolutely no deviations - except of course for those that are absolutely unavoidable. What this means is that you must be able to train at least 5 days a week, and commit an hour to training each day.

2. You must follow the Concentrated Carb Dosing regimen (with slight modifications based on your profile) with absolutely no deviations - no exceptions on this one.

3. You MUST track progress - both perceptible and imperceptible (Photos, measurements, bf %, etc - all of which will be explained to you should you be chosen)

4. You must have access to the given equipment - barbells, kettlebells, pull up bars, medicine balls, bands, and more - basically a fully equipped gym!

What YOU get out of being selected as a guinea pig

1. A free copy of the FVT eBook which includes the full program, videos, and a wealth of other information

2. A strong, powerful, and chiseled physique that only this level of training and commitment to such a refined nutritional protocol can deliver.

3. Free consulting from myself and/or Master Somnath Sikdar at anytime while on the program

The time limit for recruitment is two weeks. Make the topic of the email Force Velocity Training and answer the following questions:

1. Your name, age, and gender
2. Athletic background - it is NOT a requirement to have an athletic background
3. Briefly describe to me your current training program and what you consider to be your major strengths and weaknesses
4. Briefly describe to me your current nutritional regiment and supplementation
5. What your primary fitness goals are

Five simple questions is all. I will announce the chosen one's after two weeks time so that everyone may follow along with their progress.


The concept behind FVT is simple, but incredibly (and brutally) effective. You take a movement pattern - it may be an overhead push, a horizontal push, a knee dominant movement, hip dominant movement, etc and you simple ride down along the force velocity curve in one gigantic complex.

The following demo videos will give you an idea of what the hell it is exactly that I'm talking about. I look forward to hearing form many of you!

Booya

My biggest accomplishment this week however was my St Bernard puppy learning her first trick. Congrats to Lola

By: Som Sikdar RKC

There are basically two types of timed sets.  The first is performing a set for a given amount of time; for example, performing bench press repetitions for 30 seconds.  Here the primary focus is building muscle endurance.   Everyone has a "slowing down" point regardless of weight and you may want to break through that barrier.  By the way, if you want to get a "muscle pump" this is a good way to go.   


For an instant chest explosion try this:  - Bench press with a 60% RM or higher.  3 sets.  30 seconds of bench press. 30 seconds rest.  


Personally, I think this type of timed set is better suited for ballistics over grinds.   30 seconds on/30 seconds off is a tried and true formula for kettlebell swing conditioning.  Well executed swings will easily get you within 60-70% of your max heart rate.  From there, you can modify the work to rest ratio or overall workout duration to suit your specific conditioning goals. 


The second type of timed set is having a prescribed number of sets and reps and performing each set "on the clock".  This can be done with ballistic movements or grinds.  In either case, it works quite well.   


One great example is the kettlebell military press.  Your goal is twelve sets in twelve minutes.  Perform 3 repetitions on the right and the left every minute on the minute.  You will be amazed that in a short period of time you have moved a large volume of weight.  Let's say that your kettlebell of choice was the 24Kg.  At 36 reps per arm, you just pressed 1728 Kgs overhead in 12 minutes.  Now, does that number mean anything in isolation?  No, not at all.  However, you have just imposed some discipline and honesty into your training.  From there you need to evaluate your current performance levels as well as your goals/needs and implement a sensible plan. 


Similarly, the kettlebell snatch is another great exercise under the rubric of timed sets.  Perform 5 snatches per arm every minute on the minute.  Voila! You've just completed 100 snatches.  Again, this doesn't mean much alone.  But it gives you a data point.  Remember, you need at least two points to draw a line. 


So, what's the implication?  Well, there are a couple. 


1. For most of us, time is a valuable commodity.  Performing your sets on the clock will enable and force you to get your work done on time.  Putting in the time is not enough.  Seek to get the most out of it.   


2. Timed sets establish a consistent way to take data points and somehow relate that to the abstract notions of getting fitter, better, stronger, etc...


3. Timed sets intrinsicly create a goal oriented training mindset during a given session, but more importantly fit very well into a goal oriented framework over a longer term.  The obvious example is the RKC snatch test.  Not only must you complete 100 kettlebell snatches, but they must be completed under the time constraint of 5 minutes.  Now we have a second data point and can begin to draw that line.  Remember 100 snatches in 10 minutes?  From this point you have to double your efficiency.  How do you get there?  That's where good programming comes in and timed sets help you establish that roadmap.   Moreover, similar goals can be set throughout your training cycles in order to keep you motivated and moving forward.   Last year, I used timed sets to reach a goal of moving 50 times my bodyweight with double kettlebell clean and press in ten minutes.  At that time it was 3750 Kgs or approximately 78 reps with 24s.  From there, the math was easy.  I needed to work up to 8 reps a minute for 10 minutes.  


There are a couple caveats.  Don't ever force a rep, do a bad rep, or do a set to failure.  If you don't hit your numbers on a given day, that's OK.  Getting unnecessarily injured is not.  Additionally, training with timed sets IS NOT the best way to achieve absolute strength gains.   If you want to increase the 1 rep max of a certain lift you need longer rest periods between sets.  

Unless you have some specific 1RM goals timed set training will work well for you.  You will achieve strength gains as well as significant body composition improvement.   Arguably, the conditioning effect, requisite discomfort tolerance, discipline, and pseudo-urgency will have better carryover to other athletic endeavors and everyday life than a high 1RM lift will alone. 






Another method to consider is the interleaved timed set.  You can pack a lot of work into a short period of time and still have long enough rest periods to focus on strength development. 


Here are some examples from our training this week:


Wednesday: 
Double Kettlebell Front Squat alternated with Double kettlebell Clean and Press. 
24 Kg Kettlebells
5 reps of Squats on the Odd minute and 5 reps of DCP on the even minute.  
10 Sets of each --> total time 20 minutes. 


Friday
Barbell deadlift alternated with Double kettlebell clean and press. 
225lbs on the barbell, 24 Kg Kettlebells
3 reps of DL on the Odd minute and 3 reps of DCP on the even minute
16 sets of each --> total time 32 minutes.


Head over to the Colloquium to post your questions!