It is the only way to get stronger.

Lets be honest here – working on a weakness is uncomfortable, painful and agonizing.

Unfortunately, the only way to address a weakness is to work on it and go through the discomfort and shame.

Why is it so tough, anyway? My guess is that a along with legitimate physical discomfort there is much mental distress – our ego gets uncomfortable. We ignore our weaknesses to feed ourselves a story of how awesome we are. Focusing on a weak link, brings us to a reality that we may not want to see.

Regardless of what we want, our weak links are here to stay unless we look at them, examine weakness in detail and address it.

What is your weak spot and what are you doing to address it?

[Tree climbing?! Are you insane? Do I look like a monkey to you?!]

I’ll be honest, I’m starting to get used to odd looks (disbelief?) from my clients when I ask them to do certain things like climb a tree.

Why do I ask these nice people who trust me with their health and fitness to regress to a monkey-like stage?

You see, tree climbing is a shockingly effective test of body strength and function. Not only that, tree climbing is a downright fantastic way to further develop strength (especially upper body strength), function, and flexibility.

Can you climb a tree? If the answer is ‘probably no’ then you need to work on your strength, flexibility and function.

What exactly do I mean by ‘tree climbing’?

There are few ways of doing it.

• My favorite way to Tree Climb is to climb around a tree without touching the ground (see the video below, featuring one of my clients, Paul Dickinson – black belt in Aikido, currently living in Tokyo, Japan)

• You can also literally climb a tree so that your feet are resting on a branch
• You can go around a tree (see that video) but without using your legs. Think of using the tree as glorified monkey bars
• You can also do all of the above with a kettlebell attached to you (fun, fun, fun… trust me on that one)

Enjoy!

My results were superb (I’m way above suggested fitness level of a 15 year old boy). In addition to giving yet another boost to my self esteem, the test got me thinking about the adequacy of Physical Education and such fitness tests.

Here is what I had to endure:

• Sit and Reach (aka Flexibility Test)
• Sit Up test (aka Core test)
• Push Up test (aka Upper Body Strength and Endurance test)

Sounds nice, right?

After all, we test all the important aspects of fitness: flexibility, core and upper body strength and endurance. There is something missing in the list.

Back strength!

I know, I know.. I may sound like a crazy old man but back strength is critical to our health and not enough time is spent educating, testing and developing back strength.

“You shouldn’t be lifting that”, “It’s too heavy for you”, “stop it, you going to hurt your back”, mothers around the world scream in unison. From the very beginning we believe (most of us, anyway. I was kind of a ‘thick’ child when it came to lifting things and never listened to my mother) that our backs are as fragile as peace in Middle East.

Our Physical Ed teachers are not helping either. You are considered strong if you can press much weight above your head, bench press a lot (or do a bazillion push-ups) or climb a rope well, although most schools can’t even afford a rope these days. So we are stuck with push-ups/bench presses, crunches and touching toes.

As we go through college, we repeat same mantras that our school teachers, magazine workouts and ‘buff’ friends told us. Bench press, leg press (occasionally), pull-ups, lots of bicep curls (if you are a guy) and hours of treadmill walking/running if you a girl.

As a result of such disjointed exercises, back muscles are engaged only partially at best. Back muscles become the weak link, making it difficult to walk, sit or stand for very long without discomfort and pain.

Those who are considered ’strong’, suffer even more and are prone to more back injuries.

Why?

They believe that they are strong and thus far more likely to lift something heavy. Since lifting a heavy object (be it a couch, mattress, or a pony) heavily involves back muscles (even if you ‘lift with your legs’) these ’strong man’ break in half from pain.

If I had a dollar for every time a ‘buff’ guy came to me with a complaint that when he walks around a mall with his girlfriend his back is killing him, I could pay for college for both of my kids with that money.

As a result of such misguided effort, back pain is more common than ever.

Strong back muscles are critical to our health, vitality, function and quality of life. Those muscles are responsible not only for bending and flexing of the spine but also for spinal stabilization and support.

How to reclaim back strength:

• Start Russian Kettlebell training
• Do yoga and pilates
• Do deadlifts and squats
• Walk and hike regularly
• Stop going to the gym and enjoy more natural movements

Russian kettlebells are very effective at creating a bullet proof back.

Without getting in further details, training with kettlebells involves much bending, directly engaging lower, mid and upper back muscles. Through out an average training session, kettlebell lifters do 400-600 bends without realizing it.

How did kettlebells help you with your back strength? What back problems did it address and solve?

What’s next?

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[What?!]

Your favorite exercise is harming you by throwing your body out of balance.

The key to this seemingly crazy statement comes from understanding posture and muscle balance.

Depending on your posture, some exercises will be easier to do. Those tend to be our ‘favorites’. Our bodies, like water, always look for the path of least resistance.

Let me give an example to clarify my mumblings:

an average guy loves exercising upper body and consistently neglect legs.

[Why?]

Guys have a tendency to have a higher center of gravity. An average guy loves doing upper body exercises because it is easier for him, literally. Working out lower body takes more effort (it’s farther away from center of gravity) and therefore is hard and often neglected.

Most women, on the other hand, have lower center of gravity. As a result, lower body training is much easier for them. This is why most women hate upper body routines. It much harder than exercising legs! The result? You guessed it, many women forgo upper body training or spend very little time on it resulting in weak upper body.

Ok, well, that is very generic. How is your specific favorite exercise is harming you?

Lets say that you are a guy who loves push ups (or bench presses – anything that you get to press away from your chest is a ‘like’). It’s your favorite. You do it often and enjoy it. You are good at it.

When one does that much pressing, chest muscles become strong (no surprise there). It is bad news, however, since now we have a muscle imbalance to deal with. Chest muscles overpower back muscles. As a result, shoulders roll forward and stay there, pulled by chest fibers.

[Yeah, well, just go work on the back!]

Yes, that is the answer, the problem is that at THIS point working on the back is very hard and uncomfortable. Because of strong pull of chest muscles, back muscles fibers become stretched and weak. At this point you would have to select back exercises very carefully and focus on proper technique. Even a pull-up would not be very effective, as the person with chest/back imbalance would be much more likely to use their arms to pull themselves up and the back would be neglected yet again.

What to do

• Choose variety of movements
• Do exercises that are ‘hard’
• Focus on ‘big’ movements involving many muscles

The best thing you can do for your body is to provide variety of movement.

What do I mean?

• Get out of the gym and go climb a tree
• Play with your kids on a jungle gym
• Play basketball
• Use kettlebells
• Do yoga
• Try pilates
• Hike
• Climb things (trees, rocks, be creative)
• Have fun

Little by little your body will balance itself out and you will find yourself doing thing with ease.

What’s your favorite exercise and how do you think it is harming you?

Kettlebell training produces outstanding results and helps body to work and function better.

As muscle balance is restored everything improves: strength, endurance, flexibility and balance.

My favorite type of outcome is the one that comes with a bit of surprise and bewilderment.

I call them bonuses (LOVE ‘em!)

This week (very exciting!) one of the clients noticed her dizziness and lightheadedness were greatly relieved and almost gone (she had the symptoms for over 40 years).

Any exercise that required lowering of her head was out. Dizziness would set it and we could not continues.

We stuck with ‘upright’ exercises… and now, we don’t have to!

Here is what “Allison” says about the experience:

“Last fall (2007) I started working with Denis on my individual goals:
“balance, strength, flexibility”.

I’ve had “forever”: fear of heights, and becoming dizzy when my head is way down, then up. Head-downward exercises that were impossible several months ago are now just fine.”

Note that “Allison” was not dizzy while exercising.

If you feel dizzy, please don’t reach for you kettlebell and start swinging it.

There are different causes of dizziness, see your doctor first.

To learn more about dizziness visit Pennsylvania Neurological Associates.

Have you experienced ‘bonus’ results from kettlebell training?

I’m here to help. Really.

My outcome is to help you with your fitness and health goals.

So help me help you.

What are you interested in?

• How to get stronger with russian kettlebells?
• How to lose weight?
• Better eating habits
• Product reviews?
• How to stay motivated?

I’m open for questions (suggestions too).

Let me know if you have questions about specific kettlebell technique, drill or exercise.

Ask your question as a comment or email it to me (denis@workoutiq.com)

I will answer as many as I can.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Russian Kettlebells will save your life and sanity (if you do them, of course).

How?

We have stress from time to time. Some of us love the adrenaline and choose (sometimes subconsciously) to bathe in stress any time we get a chance.

For most, however, stress is a red flag indicating that we are not spending enough time on things that are important and non urgent.

There are only 24 hours in a day. Everyone wants something… Ugly urgencies creep up and inject us with deadly ooze of stress. Without a system to prevent it, there is no escape.

Not sure what I mean? Visit to a doctor is perfect example.

If we focus on the important and non urgent (walking, exercise, stretching, proper nutrition) then a visit to a doctor is going to be a routine check up. Walk in a park – no stress!

If, however, we let things go and force our body to confront us (chronic joint and muscle pain, heart disease, cancer) then a doctor’s visit becomes a very stressful endeavor.

Your health is important, wouldn’t you agree? We have only one body and yet, somehow, health is close to the bottom of our priority lists for most.

Give yourself a gift of health, vitality and energy. You deserve it! After all, you are the best person you know!

Pick up a kettlebell and go to something useful!

Do you have a fitness vision? “I want to lose some weight” doesn’t count.

What is the ultimate fitness outcome you are looking for?

Where you end up down the road depends what you do and think today.

They key is tap into your desire (hey, you are the only one who knows what you want) and come up with an outcome, the vision for your health and fitness.

Make it big. Make it desirable and fun.

Do you see it?

Personally, I want to be the hottest grandpa around (I have good 20-30 years before becoming a grandpa, but hey, it’s a vision). My fitness outcome is to be functional, strong and more fit in my 60’s and 70’s than guys in their 20’s and 30’s.

My health and fitness vision includes:

• Total physical independence
• Strength and stamina to enjoy my life through out my 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s
• No joint or muscle pain
• Running around and playing with my grand kids (I’ll be having quite a few!)
• Being able to hike, walk or run well into my 80’s (stay the heck away from Rascal Scooter)

When I read my list (I look over it daily), it makes me want to go and do something for my health RIGHT NOW!

Very powerful motivator. Anytime I’m thinking ‘exercise..boo’, going over the list gets me off my behind. It works.

Do yourself a favor and create a fitness and health vision for yourself.

Where do you see yourself in ten, twenty, thirty or forty years? Wheelchair or bike seat? It is your choice, you know… What you do today, will determine what happens tomorrow.

What’s your fitness vision?

If asked whether we want to burn fat, most of us provide an enthusiastic ‘yes!’.

Great!

Often, however, there is a bit of discrepancy between what we say and what we do(shocking!)

What we do, often takes us in an opposite direction.

There are simple and doable(a winning combo in my opinion) strategies for igniting metabolism and burning more fat.

Ready for the insight? Ok, here is goes: to lose more fat we must eat more.

Simple? Yes, but not really.

• Eat BIG breakfast(breakfast gets to be your biggest meal!)
• Eat MEDIUM lunch(keep your lunch manageable and smaller than breakfast)
• Eat SMALL dinner(get in the habit of having a small dinner)

AND do 2-3 snacks in between.

The point?

Feed the body so that it doesn’t go into starvation mode where metabolism slows down.

The food, of course, needs to be high quality, nutritionally dense food to give your body what it needs.

Make it a must, commit to yourself and try this for a month.

Note that it is NOT a diet. You can eat all of your regular foods.

Make it habit and reap the benefits.

Enjoy!

Today I’d like to share with you proper pull up form, I call it postural pull ups.

Correct pull up form is the key to proper engagement and strengthening of back muscles.

Since so many of us have rolled shoulders due to lifestyle, many are unable or unaware of proper form.

Ready?

Start from a dead hang. Grip the bar slightly wider then your shoulder width.

Tighten your abs and Start Pulling yourself up.

As you do so, you elbows should go to sides and NOT flair forward.

Make sure to squeeze shoulder blades and let your lats do all the work.

To do this correctly, arms must stay within frontal plane. This ensures proper back engagement. You will feel some arm work but most of the force will be generated by you powerful back muscles.

This will be hard. If you can do 20 regular pullups, your count will go down to 4 or 5.

As your back gets stronger, you will be able increase the number of repetitions and enjoy increase in overall function, strength and power.

Stay strong!