Ok, so i see this article "Jackie Warner's Beach Body Bootcamp" and i get excited because it shows her with a kettlebell.
Now, i am a huge fan of her reality tv show "Workout", but i don't watch it for fitness tips. i just love the drama.
Here is an example of why I don't watch it for the workouts:
She's using a kettlebell for triceps kickbacks.
Are you serious? Use a freakin dumbbell if you are going to do small movements!
Why would you have a beach body bootcamp with kettlebells and not do any swings? It's like the best fat loss movement of all time!
I have my clients do swings even if they don't have a kettlebell!
Basically, Jackie recommends doing a bunch of lame dumbbell moves, but using a kettlebell.
Thus Jackie shows us how kettlebells magically transform lame dumbbell moves into lame kettlebell moves.
And here is one of my clients, Kendra, demonstrating what a real kettlebell bootcamp workout looks like.
Look, the only reason you use a kettlebell is to do really big, athletic movements.
And those big, athletic movements produce the biggest fat loss results.
If you're going to do movements that don't produce any results for fat loss, you might as well use a dumbbell. Or a machine. Or a teddy bear.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ok, I admit it, I stole that title from a T-Nation article. Who stole it from Shakespeare. But it sounded like such a cool way to say that…
Kettlebells are creeping into the mainstream.
And mainstream trainers don't know how to use them.
There is nothing magic about a big iron ball with a handle. That's all a kettlebell is.
It's just really easy to hold onto for really kick ass fat loss movements like the swing.
Just remember – what you want in your workout is a bunch of big, kick ass, athletic movements!
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Josh News: It's my birthday!
If you've been following me on Twitter, you know that my wife, Laís, bought me an X-Vest 8484 Firefighter edition 84lb weighted vest for my birthday!
That's 'cause my birthday was the August 19th. But you probably won't get this until the 21st or 22nd. Anyway, the X-Vest is awesome.
So far I've loaded it up with 16lbs for pushups and bear crawls. The plan is to work my way up to 84lb pushups, body rows, and bear crawls.
Something else I'm really, really stoked about:
Next week we fly to Vegas to hang out with the 10 top online trainers in the world! They tell me I'm number 10 =) I'm kicking it with guys like Ryan Lee, Jim Labadie, Mike Geary, Vince DelMonte, Scott Colby, Jayson Hunter, Kyle Battis, Craig Ballentyne, and Arnel Ricafranca. It's going to be the mastermind session to end all mastermind sessions. It's un-freakin-believable that we're all going to be in the same room kicking ideas around.
And then when Laís flies in it's going to be awesome 'cause it's her first time in Las Vegas ever!
Oh, and then for my other birthday present, Laís bought me a MacBook for the trip! It's soooooooo cool!
This was the best birthday ever. But it had nothing to do with the toys. Don't get me wrong, the MacBook and the X-Vest are cool, but really what made this birthday was getting to be with my wife. We were apart for 15 months when we were getting all of the fiancee visa paperwork together, and so now every holiday we get to be together is gold.
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By Josh Hillis, RKC Level 2
If you want to know what real workouts look like, check out my two newest books:
Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss For Women – www.fw4fl4w.com
and Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss for Men – www.fw4fl.com
"I ripoff Josh Hillis' workouts to use with my clients on a regular basis." Dave Whitley, Senior Russian Kettlebell Challenge Instructor, and owner of Nashville's best fat loss bootcamp.
For information about kettlebell classes in Denver, click here:
© Joshua Hillis 2008
Hi Josh,
I was not sure how to contact you. I bought Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss for Men – http://www.fw4fl.com and I think they are great and it is a great style of workout. Some feedback: I think the layout could be changed so the instructions are closer to the beginning. I think that would be helpful. I believe a little more detail on the explanations of how to progress through the workouts would be helpful. So, for example, when you say 2×20 does that mean do that exercise twice for 20 reps or do all exercises as a circuit twice etc. Maybe including your suggestion for a warm up would also be good. I do not recall seeing anything about a warm up. The videos are really helpful. I just think the book needs a little more explanation. I am sure a FAQ section might clarify a lot questions. Thanks.
Happy Birthday Josh! I’m glad your bday was great; you deserve it. Keep writing your articles – I LOVE THEM. You give the best fitness advice, and you always make me laugh too. I get so excited when I get one of your new articles in my email. I too have been watching kettlebells enter the mainstream and it’s a scary thing…
Candice
Hi Blair, thanks for the feedback. I’ll start working on a FAQ next week.
Hey Candice, I’m stoked you like my articles!
T.C. Luoma DOES share a lot in common with Shakespeare, so I understand the confusion, but you actually stole the line “Something Wicked This Way Comes” from MACBETH. Cheers–Andrew
Andrew, thanks so much! ‘Course now I feel like an idiot, but at least I’m a little more well informed.
I gotta admit, I’m not up on my Shakespeare =) I really need to balance out all of my reading about fitness with some time spent studying the classics.
I thought it was a pretty awesome turn of a phrase. No wonder.
Hey Josh,
Congrats on the nice birthday gifts, and especially the invite tot he mastermind group. That’s a hell of a group of successful guys. BTW are you going to be at Ryan Lee’s bootcamp next month??? I just booked my flight today and will be there Thursday…
-Justin
Arggg I am so jealous! Will Pat Rigsby be there too? Man I would love to meet and just soak up all the knowledge I could from these guys! Tell them if they ever want the opinion/views from your average every day person who buys these products I would LOVE to come along one day!!
Congrats on the fun b-day presents too!
Love the video and still can’t wait till I can get the fighter workout book!
Thanks!
Hey Josh,
When I see a bikini pic like this of Jennifer Aniston:
http://healthyhollywood.com/2008/07/07/
jennifer-anistons-diet-and-workout-secrets/
and then below it, it says that she got this body through the zone diet, cardio, and yoga, I think that it was mostly her diet, and not the cardio and yoga, that got her looking this way. I think the zone really limits caloric intake. (BTW, I think she looks great in a bikini but could stand to have some more muscle.) Whenever I hear that a celebrity stays in shape with yoga, I secretly think that the person must be successfully limiting their calories and that the yoga doesn’t have anything to do with it. thoughts?