Can You Juggle Kettlebells???

Hey Guys,

I've played around with kettlebell juggling in the past and had some fun with it.

But if you truly want to master this art than my friend Logan Christopher is your man.

He's giving away 35 minutes of video on getting started and advanced skills from a workshop people paid up to $1000 to attend.

Master Juggling Kettlebells

If you do anything with kettlebells you owe it to yourself to check out this video. You'll see all the benefits these fun skills can give you.

This isn't just for advanced people, although many people may think it is. Whether you're just starting out, or have been lifting kettlebells for years, you'll surely learn something new here.

Jump On The Bandwagon Now & Take Your Conditioning To The Next Level

Be Awesome & Juggle With Power & Might

P.S. And that's just the start. He's got some even more amazing things in store that will change the way kettlebell juggling will be done in the future.

Sneak A Peak Here

Test Your Mettle With This Workout

          I’m always looking to try new things, keep things fresh, fun and interesting. A lot of people do workouts that they end up hating, ones that feel more like a chore than an adventure and even ones where they jump right into so advanced they end up hurting themselves and quitting after that. Progression is a key but also there’s testing to see how you push yourself productively and safely without injuring or severely hurting themselves.

            This workout that I have picked out was on a whim and it requires only a couple pieces of equipment which is: A long rope (25-100ft) and it can be as thick as you can handle and a Lifeline Power Push-up Plus. It is cardio at it’s finest in my opinion and the objective is to move from one exercise to the other taking as little rest as possible. The two biggest factors is form and breathing. Speed is important to but nothing like form and the breathing.  This workout should be done preferably outdoors where there’s fresh air and getting Vitamin D to help boost the hormone levels. The exercises for the Power Push-up Plus are at 10/8/6 reps. Here’s how it’s broken down:

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

10 Deadlifts

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

8 Deadlifts

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

6 Deadlifts

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

10 Push-ups

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

8 Push-ups

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

6 Push-ups

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

10 Chest Pulls

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

8 Chest Pulls

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

6 Chest Pulls

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

20 One Arm Rows (10 each side)

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

16 One Arm Rows (8 each side)

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

12 One Arm Rows (6 each side)

30 Second Battling Rope Exercise

Total: 6 min. 30 seconds of Battling Ropes & 120 Reps of the Power Push-up Plus

            If it’s too much for you, break it down in half or whatever you’re comfortable with to start. The key thing is to keep going from one exercise to the other; it’s tough, simple and effective. You’ll be breathing hard, sweating and testing your will. If you don’t have these, I suggest you get them or if you have a dumbbell or kettlebell for the rows and deadlifts and do regular push-ups, use a towel for isometric chest pulls for 10/8/6 seconds. It’s a great workout that requires little equipment and can be done indoors or outdoors. Try it out, see how it goes and let me know what you think.

Be Awesome guys and always strive to find the adventure in training.

The Scrolls Of A Dying Art

              What is a dying art? It is a system of something that once thrived long ago and in the modern day has started fading away into a memory or became a joke even to the point where it’s not taken serious anymore. In the fitness world, lost arts from 100+ years ago have begun to fade into the memories of those who done them in the past and/or very few still do them for example: Muscle Control was an old-time art of the bodybuilders from the 1890’s to about 1950’s/60’s. This art thrived as it was a way to learn how to control your body from within to create muscular definition and/or mass naturally with the body’s structural alignment. This is one of many but only one had many exciting qualities that are now coming out of the ashes slowly and with power.

            One of these dying arts that are slowly rising like a phoenix is the Art Of Scrolling. What is scrolling you might ask; it is a style from the old-time strongmen that used long pieces of steel from thin to relatively thick that were bent into shapes or designs using only the hands and body. In the old books from the early 20^th century called this coiling or shaping steel. This was a mighty task to take because it works the body in ways that you have never felt before. To shape steel with your hands can be taxing but if you do it right it builds the tendons and muscles with strength that is unbelievable.

            I have personally have done some scrolling with tough steel and I’m going to tell you, it’s tough, it’s hard but it’s way more fun than most feats in the world of strongmen. You don’t need to be a strongman to get the best benefit. This can be used by athletes from all walks of life from martial artists to arm wrestlers to baseball and more. If you’re not interested in sports and just want a great workout, this will get the job one. The way your body has to shift to move the steel is uncanny and a lot of it has an isometric component to it. It will make you sweat and once you start to move the steel you have to keep going until it’s too difficult to move a single portion of the bend. You can create many designs that your mind can come up with and they may not always be the same.

            Today, very few people practice this art and some are incredible with various designs and shapes that boggle the mind. Imagine creating a wine holder with your own hands; a bow-tie, a couple loops, a swan and more with the power of your imagination and physical strength. Two guys that are keeping this art alive and giving you an opportunity to shine are Bud Jeffries & Jedd Johnson, two extremely strong and intelligent men that will show how to safely and with precise coordination how to turn a steel bar into a thriving piece of art that even Picasso would be impressed by. It is an art that has been fading for decades but with your help, we can bring this art of strength back into what it once was or what it could be with the modern strongmen of today. Build tendons of Iron Cords, build strength within every inch of your body and utilize your mind to create something that is beautiful and strong with character and imagination. 

Starting Out With Sledgehammer Training

            

          A friend of mine asked me the other day he was interested in working with Sledgehammers and wanted to know what exercises and weight to start with on the hammer? I gave him a little bit of it because that was what I could figure out to say at the time. To me, it’s a lot of fun and has many benefits in terms of muscle building, strengthening the tendons and building great lung power; but it’s also very demanding and when you start out too fast or too much weight it’ll hit you hard.

            To give you some ideas; I've worked with different types of hammers, the ones you get like at home depot, the Epic Sledge, Thor’s Hammer and others so each one has a different feel or a different set of ways to move with the hammer. Just the basic swing on a tire is crazy enough as it is but there are other exercises that don’t always require striking. When you work with a long implement, the leverage factor will be a bigger point to look at because the weight shifts and you have to move your body to where the weight is in order to move it.

            Some people like using the Mace and although it’s very useful in many ways, I like using a sledgehammer better because it has a better interest in what you can do in terms of lever work and working with weight at a more odd angle. The Mace has more of a rounded ball so it has a smoother way of moving, the Sledge has more of a 4 sided shape like a rectangle or square as the head of the hammer. When you start out, you want to feel how it works in your hands, how your body shifts with the weight and try different things and no matter what you try, your grip will be a factor. If you don’t have a good grip you won’t last too long.

            Start out with a good 7-10 hammer to get the feel for it. There’s a DVD you can get from Bud Jeffries that is part of his Monster Conditioning Program specific to Sledgehammer Training. If you don’t have a tire that’s fine you can still get great benefit from sledge training. The exercises you can do are nearly the same as if lifting a barbell or dumbbell but the weight is shifted to one side so you have to work the stabilizing muscles and your grip needs to be strong and tight. Here’s a website that shows certain exercises although done with a Mace you can do the same with a sledge. Play and experiment with various reps and sets.

            I highly recommend the Sledgehammers from Stronger Grip because if you want to add weight to the hammer; you can put in shot led or steel shot otherwise if you use a hammer like from home depot, it’s expensive to buy more hammers and prices vary depending on how heavy the hammer is. I also recommend you do get a tire because once you get the ground work for non-tire exercises you’ll eventually want to strike it. You can find tires at a junk yard that no one wants anymore or you can get Half Tires that take up less space and have better strikes to work on.

            When you work on getting good with the sledgehammer, your body will begin to change, your muscles will have more definition, your tendons will become stronger and your breathing will skyrocket because it takes strength to use the hammer the way these guys can show you and the heavier the hammer, the more your breathing becomes a factor. Your grip will become much stronger and have that crushing strength. Take your body and mind to Super Muscle level and watch your strength skyrocket in ways you haven’t had before.

The Journey To Super Muscle

           We all share a certain journey in our lives, our journey starts usually when we’re born but also there is a journey where it’s not always where you’ll go in life, it could be something you want to go after. In the case of strength training, some of us in the Physical Culture world are on a journey to create Super Muscle. What is Super Muscle you might ask? Is it having a big burly body like a Mr. Olympia? Is it having the body of a Powerlifter or is it having a body that can do all sorts of things? That is entirely up to you and what your goals are. To me, Super Muscle is having a strong, powerful and enduring body and learning to use it in many ways like lifting heavy weights, doing tough bodyweight exercises kind of similar to a Gymnast and doing high octane conditioning using various tools and programs that keeps you functional and channeling your inner power.

            There are people who say because of a certain age or genetics; they can’t build a great deal of muscle mass. Not true. Sure you may not look like another Arnold Schwarzenegger or Ronnie Coleman but you can build good solid and mighty muscle. Back in the golden age of Physical Culture there were men and women who at first were sickly, weak, overweight, and thin down to the bone but somehow managed to build crazy amounts of muscle and this was long before steroids and high level supplements became the stuff to build muscle. To give you an example, a man named Maxick who was a sick kid, didn't have a chance in hell in his youth to live a long and healthy life yet persevered and became a legend in weightlifting and bodybuilding by becoming one of the first men in his weight class (145 lbs.) to lift double bodyweight in the overhead press and was able to control the muscles in his body to move any which way he wanted. No matter what your age or by genetics big or small, you can create great muscle.

            In my opinion, Functional Muscle is far superior to today’s Bodybuilding type muscle. By functional I mean using your body to levels where it’s useful and can be used in a variety of everyday situations. Bodybuilding muscle is isolating specific parts of the body and not being able to use it in most everyday situations. Take for example my friend Bud Jeffries, one of the strongest men in the world (drug-free I might add) who’s around 6’1 and over 275 lbs. yet when you first look at him he doesn't look like the functional type of strongman but yet he’s extremely agile for his size, very agile and one of the most conditioned athletes of any size. He is one of the embodiments of Super Muscle.

            On your journey to develop Super Muscle, remember to work with other attributes because just building muscle isn’t always going to cut it. Learn to be agile, work on flexibility, build your balance and very importantly exercise your tendons an ligaments, they are the very foundation for your Super Muscle development otherwise you’re building useless muscles that can bite you in the ass. Here’s some ways to build Super Muscle…..

Lift Odd Objects

Practice Isometrics

Do Hard Bodyweight Exercises

Learn Muscle Control

Be Flexible

Do Thick Bar Lifting (Fat Gripz are optional to put on the bar or dumbbell)

Self Resistance Exercise

            All of these are very useful and you don’t have to do all of them, pick what works for you and run with it. Building Super Muscle isn't some thing you can get overnight, it takes time but you don’t have to punish yourself. Have fun, use your imagination and be creative. Your results will come when you make progress a little each time to make big gains. Do what works for you and have a blast with it. It’s only a matter of time before you achieve levels of strength you never believed at first but now are in your grasp.

            Picture yourself getting there, be mindful and get into the habit on never giving up what you want.