No kettlebell during vacation?

Just got back from my honeymoon from barbados. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort. The food was great and fresh and offered manageable portions. Their so-called "fitness center" was far from being stellar. Just your old school cardio equipment, ancient nautilus machines, standard benches and dumbbells. The heaviest dumbbell was less than 12kg, 25lbs. What am I to do with just this and no kettlebell? Well, there is plenty to do with just giving space...which was limited.

Dead lifted: 5 reps x 5 sets of 200lbs

Punching bag and gloves: 2 mins intervals of left/right and right/left combos, with feet constantly moving

Turkish Get Up: 2/2 x 5 with 25 lb dumbbell

Snatch: 10/10 x 5 with 25 lb dumbbell

Sprints with five fingers shoes: tennis court did sprint drills along the lines forming a "M" back and forth 15 secs x 6

Felt great and worked during this workout!!!

I recommend folks join the club and break away from mindless exercises!!! Get FOCUSed!!!! and do things well!!!

-Manh

Kettlebells for sale!

We've got Kettlebells ranging from 15lbs to 50lbs for sale, as well as foam rollers and sticks (myofascial release sticks). Also, essential Dragon Door reading material--The Naked Warrior, Enter the Kettlebell, and Power to the People.

Kettlebell Training - Physical AND Emotional

Anyone who has spent any time with kettlebells knows all about the physicality of kettlebells. Pound for pound there is really nothing that even comes close the efficient effective qualities the kettlebells possess. But for those of us who have gotten familiar with the kettlebells, and have done our time practicing and burning through programs and moved on to a deeper understanding of what the kettlebells have to offer, we know that the physical aspects are really just one part of the training.

When I talk to athletes or anyone in general who likes to perform well, one of the things I like to point out is how kettlebells are great for the amount of hard work they provide, but just as important is how they also in a very short period of time can bring you right up against your quitting point where you get to decide for yourself if you want to push on, or bail. Now this is an important state to get familiar with if improving performance, at any level, is to be achieved. That is the difference between those who do and those who don't; those who do, in the heat of the moment, choose to dig in and push on through to the finish line.

For me, I relate it to skiing a steep, super long, difficult chute in waist deep powder........you are lovin' it, it's what you have always wanted, but it's long with no real way out so you have to be able to dig in and get it done! You have to be able to call on a deeper more primal part of yourself that knows it will survive. It's intense, but for those of us looking for peak experiences it's something you have to get use to. Kettlebells can get you use to that feeling, and they can do it for you in your living room!!!

Anyone who has done any long swing or snatch sessions knows exactly what I mean. If the program calls for multiple sets of swings with little rest for 10-15 minutes, and you do them all like you mean it, you WILL reach a point where you start to wonder if you will be able to sustain your pace until the end of the segment. Usually somewhere around 2/3 of the way through you start thinking, "this is gonna be hard to finish!" It's at that moment that the learning happens. This is where you find out what you REALLY can do. This is where you learn what intense REALLY feels like. This is where you find out what work REALLY is. This is where you also learn that you will survive and recover and live to do it again another day. Getting use to this feeling is as important to performance as having physical skills.

So as you progress in your kettlebell practice, and as you feel yourself getting stronger, remember that how far you go really has little to do with the kettlebell, and a lot to do with what is going on inside your head. If every time the kettlebells present a challenge you back down, then yeah, you will still probably be stronger than most people you know because they probably don't play with kettlebells; but you WILL have trouble reaching higher levels of performance. Your ability to suffer gracefully is really a bigger factor at the higher levels of performance than anything else so it is something that you must train. You must train yourself to be unaffected by the metabolic upheaval that a worthy physical challenge presents. You must find a way to experience this feeling on a regular basis so that when it happens in your everyday events you are able to adapt and overcome. Handling this feeling is literally a SKILL that you must refine. It truly is the difference between good and GREAT!!!

So grab those kettlebells, crank out a long round of swings, snatches, long presses, whatever.........and learn to smile in the face of struggle. Learn to do that and you will be the last one standing! Enjoy the pain comrades!!!

Power to you,
Cabell

The Western Disease

Symptoms include:
Poor posture; obesity; lack of mobility; lack of stability; poor flexibility--weak. Now, it's not entirely your fault. Our culture encourages these things. The television is on ALL the time, so you spend free time sitting on the couch watching it. Portions just keep getting bigger and bigger, and in our bigger-stronger-faster culture we have developed ways to make food more effeciently, but at the cost of quality.

So, years and years of doing sitting on the couch, watching TV, eating crap food leads to, well... you see the picture. This of course compounds and snowballs until it's VERY hard to reverse what you've done to yourself.

Thankfully, the body is an amazingly versatile and adaptive organism. Little changes every day will make all the difference. Instead of sitting on the couch while you're watching television, do some mobility work. Work your hips, you need it, desperately. Spend some time in the bottom of a squat: heels planted, butt back and down, chest up, pushing your knees open to the side. Twice a week, exercise. I'm not talking about hopping on the elliptical or treadmill. Don't let yourself be fooled, if those worked all that well there wouldn't be only out of shape people on them. Learn how to properly squat and deadlift, they will do more for you than you know right now. Instead of ordering the pasta when you go out, get meat and veggies--not deep fried. Seriously, don't go all vegetarian on me because you want to lose weight. You need protein. Animal protein. Drink water instead of soda. When you go to Starbucks get COFFEE instead of a milkshake disguised as such.(This point I'm rather adamant about, mostly due to my slight addiction to wonderfully roasted coffee).

Little changes here and there. That's all I'm asking for, not a complete lifestyle change. Eventually, the positive and healthy things you do for yourself could snowball as well, as you start to love the way it makes you look and feel. It all starts with a few minutes a day and then consistency over time.

-James

Favorite Posts

Hey guys, I wanted to know if there's a particular post that we've done so far that anybody really liked, or wanted to know information about, or just wanted to have a second edition of it. Post your thoughts to comments!

-James

Relax into stretch

I stretched for years....then I learned to relax and get loose!

One of the steps in going from average stretching techniques, and therefore average results, to superior techniques is learning that muscle length is more about letting the tissues relax and let go than it is about stretching the tissues like rubber bands. The pros know that simply pulling on tissues a while is NOT the best way to gain range of motion. They know they must learn to relax (not to be confused with comfortable and happy).

If you start with a bad premise you get nothing but bad results.

The garbage premise is: In order to make the tissues longer you must stretch them.

The truth is the muscles are already long enough.....they just don't know it. The trick is in learning the skills necessary in order to allow the muscles to relax to their full potential. Most of us are carrying around so much low level tension that we don't even know what fully relaxed is. So we must learn how to release it.

That's right, we have to learn how to do it. This again is another example of how everything we teach at Active Escapes is a skill. Strength is a skill. Endurance is a skill. Mobility is a skill. Flexibility is a skill. I prove this to students all the time when I get them drop into a rock bottom squat or touch their toes for the first time since they were a kid......and I do it in 15 minutes! There is no way I could do that if I had to wait for their tissues to grow longer. By using the Relax Into Stretch and the Forced Relaxation techniques, I use natural nervous system responses to down regulate the stretch reflex and, presto, the muscle relaxes and the joint moves further. We do magic, not miracles.

The difference between the good and the great is that the great ones do the basics just a little bit better than everyone else. If you want to be great, quit yanking on your muscles like piano wires and learn to Relax Into Stretch!

-Cabell

Join the Culture

When it comes to getting fit and resilient most people realize that they are going to have to train more and train more often, and then do that for a long period of time. The problem is that for beginners and for those just trying to get back into a routine having the motivation to get it done is not always easy. By yourself, it's easy to be into it this month and then start to slip the next (even if you are not a beginner). It's easy because most of us are surrounded by people who have no idea what real training is. We are surrounded by people who can't move at all, by people who when they do move move poorly, and by people who actually think 30 pounds is heavy! Hanging out with these people makes it very easy to start to believe that, just like them, "I am doomed to weakness and injury."

Fear not! We are here to help. Part of becoming fit is the training, but another large part of the equation is joining a new culture, one made up of people who are strong, fit, capable and are proud to show it. Active Escapes is a school of strength where we teach students how to tap into themselves and discover skills they never knew they had. But it is also a culture of healthy, resilient people who don't even bother to join in on the average conversation about exercise because we know the average person has no sense of the levels of fitness we aspire to. I have multiple students in their 70's for instance doing drills with 40, 50, even 70 pound kettlebells in their hands.....weights their peers can only relate to by thinking about how much it would hurt them to try themselves. It's simply a cut above everything the average person knows and therefore they can't relate.

So if you want to join us at the front of the pack, you will need to train and train regularly. But, you will also have to leave the old weak culture behind and join a new one - one that does not settle for the soft life the average person leads. Get yourself involved - attend the kettlebell classes, buy some books and DVD's, get on the blog, go to youtube and check out the kettlebell drills (search "keep2movin"), visit our facebook pages, etc. Practice alone is good, but to get over the top you need to surround yourself with like-minded people. Come join in, become a comrade, you will stand out among your friends. I guarantee it!

Power to you,
Cabell

Full Body Power - The Athlete's Weapon

What is it about great athletes that stands out when you watch them? Is it their bulging muscles, is it how much they can bench press, is it that they can go for an hour on the treadmill? No, none of those things matter at all to top level athletes. What elite athletes are looking for is the ability to perform, and to be able to do so efficiently and effectively. This means they are looking to move smoothly and almost effortlessly while managing to create enormous levels of power. They are looking to drive a golf ball 300 yards. They are looking to serve a tennis ball 130 mph. They are looking to release large amounts of energy in a very short period of time. They are looking to find ways to create more full body power in everything they do. That's the thing that stands out when you watch the best athletes do their thing.

The biggest problem I see in the average person's approach to training is that most will, due to a lack of information and understanding, head to the gym and jump right into a bodybuilders workout model. You know the one, some basic "cardio" and then on the machines - leg curls, leg extensions, etc. - and maybe a few free weight exercises - curls, bench press, etc. The problem is that no top level coach would ever have his or her athletes doing these routines. Programs like that are great for body building and maybe getting a burn, but due to the isolation of the muscle groups, it does very little towards teaching your body to move and operate and a single powerful unit. In fact it actually facilitates disassociation of body parts which is the opposite of what an athlete wants.
See, great coaches and athletes know that having muscles on your body does not equate to top performance. They know that the ability to create energy and then project that energy towards a single effort is way more valuable. Training in isolation is in fact almost the worst thing you can do if you are trying to milk every last ounce of power out of your body and do it without putting on any extra weight to have to carry around (which is very inefficient). An athlete is way more concerned with what their nervous system is doing vs. how big their muscles are. An athlete whats to train to create perfect orchestration of movement without any wasted effort. They are looking to make energy, store energy, and then release that energy towards a single target. They are looking to overpower the opponent.

Enter the kettlebell.

Kettlebell training the way we at Active Escapes and the RKC teach it is about just that, learning to get strong and create full body power. Period. Kettlebell drills are designed to force you to learn to recruit all the stored energy in your body and then direct that energy into the kettlebell and out of your body. Learning to train with kettlebells really has nothing to do with building muscles and everything to do with learning how to suck everything out of you that you have to offer. It's about learning to harness the power of your nervous system and then release it, uninterrupted, from your body. It's about learning to be comfortable and sturdy in the face of struggle. It's about learning to hold your ground regardless of the intensity of the moment. Any of that sound like something an athlete might want?

So if bodybuilding is your gig, have at the machines. Pump those curls. Knock out those bench presses. Best of luck. But if improved performance through improved athleticism is your goal, leave the old models for the amateur's and start learning how to actually use your body. Get yourself some kettlebells and learn how to use your entire body in everything you do. Discover the power inside you just waiting to be released. Tap into - Full Body Power!

Power to you,
Cabell

James's workout 9/21

Warm ups, then 5x5 deadlifts at 235.

Easy, light. It's the most I could fit in today, and frankly, I'm tired. I trained Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu consecutively last night, and I've got a BJJ tournament in October, so I'm keeping my outside work light and short, conserving my energy for more time on the mat. I'm fairly confident no one will beat me because I wasn't strong enough or had enough conditioning to last on the mat, so my focus is almost entirely on improving my submissions. I'll keep you all posted on anything that I feel is worth noting.

-James

Youtube Videos

If you want to see examples of all the basic drills, go to youtube and search "keep2movin."

Or click here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/keep2movin