Kettlebell Workouts with Master Geoff Neupert

What Is The “Kettlebell Sandwich?” When I was a kid, and even well into college, I lived off sandwiches. My favorite as a child was Oscar Meyer salami, Velveeta cheese, and Kosciusco mustard (if that’s how it’s even spelled – it’s been so long). Man, I could eat tons of them! In fact, there was awhile when I was a wee one that it was the only sandwich I remembered that I would eat! So good! In college I moved on to more exotic things, like Gyros from the “Grease Trucks” at Rutgers. Man that tsziki sauce is great! But I never did man up and get a Fat Cat – 2 burgers, cheese, fries and some other stuff all on a sub roll. Of course you have your favorite sandwiches and of course you’re probably wondering what sandwiches have to do with kettlebell training, if anything at all. Lots, actually. The “Sandwich” is #4 on the list of “5 Ways To Successfully Mix Kettlebells And Barbells .” 4. The “Sandwich” Essentially, the Sandwich is placing kettlebell work before and after your barbell work – ...

“I’m Finished!” At least that’s how you may feel after these types of training sessions. 5 Ways To Successfully Mix Kettlebells And Barbells – Part 3. 3. Finishers What is a “finisher?” It’s something you do at the end of your workout/training for a variety of reasons, such as metabolic conditioning, mental toughness, fat loss, general conditioning, or some combination of any of the aforementioned reasons. My favorite finisher of all time, ever, involved a heavyweight wrestler, a hill, and two 100 pound plates at Rutgers during the summer of ’98. But some of my other ones involve using kettlebells. There are many things you can do with kettlebells at the end of your training session. Here are some ideas: Swings for time or sets or reps Snatches for time or sets or reps Get Ups (just as brutal as Swings at the end) High rep Clean and Jerks Complexes or Chains Carries – Farmer’s, rack or overhead Let’s take a closer look. Swings for time or sets or reps. Grab a medium kettlebell and dec...

Ok, here’s the deal – you won’t give up your barbell training but you want to use kettlebells. You’ve got a bunch of the ball-things lying around and you want to incorporate them into your traditional training. I get it. Been there, done that. Still do it. You can too. The more options you have available, the more likelihood you’ll find a variation that fits your temperament and the more success you will have. There’s some scientific evidence that unilateral movements have a stronger stimulatory effect on the nervous system – i.e. make you [temporarily] stronger – than bilateral movements. Not only that, but the theory goes that over time you can correct side-to-side imbalances, addressing the “parts of the whole” if you will, and make the bilateral movement stronger. I want to look at the short-term stimulatory effects of unilateral movements – specifically the kettlebell movements, and show you how to incorporate them into your training for greater gains in strength and muscle. 2. Fe...

5 Ways To Successfully Mix Kettlebells With Barbells You may not be using barbells right now. Don’t worry – this information is still for you because you’ll get some new ideas on how to structure your kettlebell training programs. There seems to be so much great information about kettlebell training it’s hard for the average person to know where to start and to actually be satisfied with that starting point. Many of us come to kettlebell training from a background of barbell lifting (myself included) and recoil at the thought that kettlebells are the “only tool you need.” Limiting ourselves to “just one tool” isn’t going to happen. There was a great thread started on the RKC Instructor forum about combining kettlebell and barbell training together so I thought I’d post my thoughts/experiences for you to use and learn from so you can skip making the same mistakes I did. Movement Prep. Feeders. Finishers. The “Sandwich.” Blocks. 1. Movement Prep. “Movement Prep” is now a term that’s rep...

5. Block Training. Block training is a way of organizing your training for optimal progress. A block is a period of time that you specify. Block training allows you to alternately focus on and train specific attributes of your sport or training and keep making progress without stalling on any one of them. Pavel based Return of the Kettlebell, a muscle building program using only kettlebells, on the block system. (If you don’t have RTK, you should get it, even if you don’t want to pack on muscle because it’s an outstanding study in brilliant program design.) For example, you can alternate blocks focused on strength with blocks focused on power. You can use it by mixing kettlebells and barbells . I suggest using 2-4 week blocks, depending on your training goals. (Me? I like mine shorter. 10-14 days are good. But I’ve had success in the past with 3 week blocks.) Here’s how you might set up your program if general strength and conditioning is your goal: Block A: Barbell. Deadlift, Militar...