Kettlebell 101: Simple & Sinister™
Accept no compromises.
Between power and conditioning.
Between strength and flexibility.
Between being an athlete and looking like one.
Enter the kettlebell—the only training tool able to deliver all aspects of extreme fitness with no compromises.
No-one knows how to wield this tool better than StrongFirst, the kettlebell ground zero.
Taking the Kettlebell 101 workshop is like walking into the pages of Pavel’s ground-breaking book Kettlebell Simple & Sinister. You will learn:
- The kettlebell exercises that deliver great gains while having the steepest learning curve
- The Swing—build a back of steel, sprinter’s glutes, fighter’s conditioning, and a blue-collar grip
- The Get-up—forge resilient shoulders and bullet-proof abs
- The Goblet Squat—develop a killer blend of strength and flexibility
- Kettlebell safety and other boring stuff that pros swear by and amateurs ignore at their own risk
- Insider strategies for long term sustainable training to reach your goals
- Pavel’s “Alt-S&S” programming—totally in line with the book, yet with unique wrinkles
The day after the workshop you will be able to hit the ground running towards your goals.
Kettlebell 201: The Rite of Passage
To attend this workshop, you need to be competent in swings, get-ups, and goblet squats. Ignore at your peril. You can learn these skills from our Kettlebell 101 workshop.
Once you have reached the impressive yet realistic “Timeless Simple” standard, you have choices to make. Stay on a monastic diet of swings and get-ups, slowly chipping away at “Sinister.” Or try something “same but different”: the snatch plus the clean and military press, the classic Rite of Passage.
The Snatch is “the Tsar of the kettlebell lifts.” Thanks to more muscles working and twice the distance travelled, it accomplishes even more than the esteemed swing. Achieve total body explosive power, ruthless conditioning, and a vice like grip. Burn fat like never before. All with a lighter kettlebell—save space in your home, car trunk, or deployment kit.
Once we have taught you the skills with our usual attention to detail, we will send you off to succeed with a Strong Endurance™ snatch plan.
The one-arm Clean-and-Press will rival any other pressing exercise when it comes to shoulder strength and muscular development. It is untouchable when it comes to shoulder health, thanks to its ergonomic perfection.
The military press comes equipped with the “Rite of Passage” type programming—possibly the most reliable progression ever.
Three versions of the ROP—“Jurassic,” “907 Hypertrophy,” and “Heavy”—will keep you gaining for a long time.
Kettlebell 201 ROP sets high goals—and gives you the skills and the roadmap to reach them.
Do you have what it takes?
Kettlebell 301: SFG Ready
You have been around the kettlebell block. It is time to set your sights high: the SFG Kettlebell Instructor Certification.
Among the many challenges you will have to face at this life changing event are the double kettlebell drills. The “double trouble”…
If you have enough strength and muscle mass to satisfy you, stick with single kettlebell training.
If you do not, read on.
For all the good arguments made by the “functional training” advocates in favor of training one side of the body at a time, they missed one key point. Once you have reached a certain level of strength and muscular development, it is difficult to go beyond if you stick with unilateral loading, be it with a single kettlebell, or some other modality. You will not find NFL linemen who arrived by doing “Bulgarian split squats.”
The strongest people stand on both feet and press and pull with both hands when they lift. Because no unilateral exercise can replicate the jolt to your endocrine system delivered by a heavy bilateral load.
(None of the above diminishes the value of training one side at a time to pursue the body symmetry while preparing oneself for the life’s asymmetry. No point in blaming the screwdriver for being a poor hammer.)
Double kettlebell training has an unforgivingly high entry barrier: mobility, stability, and symmetry of an Olympic weightlifter or a yoga expert. You had to pay your Kettlebell 101 and 201 dues before taking on the 301.
