It could be the “big things.” I never thought much of Double Kettlebell Cleans because I have such a history with the O lifts. Maybe, just maybe, it could be because I never did them right! Something as simply as the “V” position changes the lift forever and, if you need to be gassed, go right ahead and do a set of ten. Not enough, add some Front Squats.

I’m not sure most people reading the book will understand the challenge of the training system outlined. A double snatch followed by double presses followed by Front Squats? Good luck!

There is not enough hyperbole in my body to express how much I like this book. We are at an amazing time in the community. The new Kettlebells from the Ground Up, Kenneth’s new V02 Max book and this book and DVD show the maturation of the RKC. It is not enough to just get people tired…any fool can do that! It is important to manage rest period with effort, proper alignment, proper tools, proper load and a systematic approach to whatever goal is in the sights. ROTK is now the standard, the very high standard, of what to expect in the RKC texts.

To say that this work is “amazing” is an understatement. Anyone who plays with kbells must use this book as a resource. Completing the program and goals set in this book is a worthy fight for any man.

—Dan John, RKC TL, Murray, UT

In any overhead kettlebell exercise you should position the handle in such a way that the heel of your palm under your pinky is loaded and your wrist is not bent back. Once that is taken care of you have two different grips, parallel and diagonal, to choose from for different exercises.

In the former you are gripping the center of the handle and the handle is parallel to your fist. The parallel crush grip is essential for strict military presses. Not only does crushing the handle up your strength through the phenomenon of “irradiation” (see Power to the People!), the pressure on the thumb pad activates the mechanoreceptor or “button” responsible for recruiting your biceps. Surprisingly, the biceps is very involved in strict presses: the long head flexes the shoulder, or raises the arm. Which is why powerlifters walk around with big bis, without dishonoring themselves with curls.

The above does not apply to push presses, tempo presses, and jerks. These drills use the legs and/or the rib cage to start the movement, do not need the biceps’ help, and only need strong triceps to finish the lift. Thus gripping the handle or loading the thumb pad is not necessary. With this requirement out of the way you now are able to load the triceps “button” on the heel of the palm even more. It is accomplished by gripping the handle unevenly, with the thumb touching the corner, and making the handle sit diagonally across the palm with the weight resting practically on the wrist. Now you don’t have to grip the handle at all and may passively fold your fingers.

In addition to relaxing the biceps, which are more of a liability than an asset in push presses and jerks, further fortifying the triceps, and sparing the grip, it is worth using the corner grip for your push presses and jerks for the purpose of disassociating these quick lifts with your presses.

In the good ole’ days when Olympic weightlifters still pressed, Soviet specialists warned about a possible negative skill transfer between jerks and presses. The latter demanded relaxing the arms and the former insisted on tightening them. Get the two confused, and you are weak in both lifts.

A kettlebell lifter has the luxury of different grips that will help him to keep his strict press and push press/jerk skill sets separate. A slightly different rack will help as well.

As for other exercises, keep your fist closed to connect the load to your biceps and get a more comprehensive stabilization for your shoulder in get-ups and windmills. You don’t have to crush grip the handle as hard as you do in presses though. Do crush in bent presses, as you need the extra “guy wire” of the biceps for stability in this heavy lift.

Snatch with a parallel grip. The diagonal grip encourages the kettlebell and the lifter’s body to go into a spin, which forces the girevik to be less explosive. Open your hand when you do high rep snatches, as in the Enter the Kettlebell! Rite of Passage. But do grip the handles when locking out your double snatches for extra control and stability.

Order the Return of the Kettlebell book and DVD set

The first thing you'll want to consider when beginning training with kettlebells is your workout space. Kettlebells are heavy, unforgiving implements that will do much damage to anything or anybody even slightly fragile around them, so be sure to give yourself plenty of room, preferably outside, on grass or dirt, as long as you make sure your surface is flat and neither to slippery or too sticky. You want to be able to not slip, as well as to perform maneuvers with your feet. Inside on a rubber mat can be good. Never on a wooden gym floor.

Try to wear shoes with flat bottoms or go barefoot, as you want to have your foot in contact with the floor.

Working with kettlebells will almost certainly develop major calluses on your hands, and you need to come up with your own solution to deal with this. If you don't, and simply let nature take it's course, then the resulting tearing off of the callus will give you an unplanned vacation. You know yourself what has worked for you in the past; simply make it a priority to take extremely good care of your hands, paring down the calluses when needed, and treating them with appropriate lotions and creams.

When working with kettlebells and they are about to drop from your grip, let them! Do not attempt to catch your kettlebells, or you'll most certainly regret it. At worst you have a hurt floor, which is a whole lot better than a hurt you! Remember these are heavy iron implements; get the heck out of the way! Rest assured that you will drop them from time to time, but if you make it a hard and fast rule not to try and catch it or otherwise direct it you'll most likely avoid injury.

Many times beginners lose their grip on their kettlebells because they have trained to the point of exhaustion. This is entirely unnecessary. You can get all the benefits you desire without putting your safety in jeopardy.

Some things to remember when training with kettlebells would first include making sure that you use proper form when lifting the kettlebells from the floor. This means to makes sure that you lift with an arched back, not a rounded one, and to endeavor to keep your shoulders back and square. No rounding forward of the shoulders! This keeps the bulk of the work onto the scapula and lats, not the shoulders and neck, where a lot of kettlebell injuries come from. Keeping your shoulders back, or "packed" will result in a better workout posture and allow you to use your maximum strength available when performing the exercises. By rounding and over-extending the shoulders, you open yourself up for the possibility of injury, and ask very small muscles to do the job that larger muscle groups ought to be doing.

Keeping a proper angle in your wrists while performing kettlebell exercises is also extremely important. You wan to keep your wrists very straight, and do not bend them. Besides the obvious strain that bending them puts on your tendons. For most all except a few more advanced kettlebell techniques the wrist is held straight, so practice this as a matter of course, especially for the basic exercises.

Try and keep a balanced position with your head and neck, neither too far forward nor backward. It's best to keep your head aligned with your body, that is, if you are bending over forward, your head will be naturally aligned in that aspect as well, not straining to stay forward and erect. One of the oldest maxims in sports is that where the head goes, the body goes, so make sure not to overdo this by bending too far in any direction. Stay as natural as possible.

Now for a few words about the way you approach your training with the kettlebells. If you are going to take on an exercise program as extreme as kettlebell training, then you may want to give it the priority it deserves. Training with kettlebells is in and of itself an incredibly strenuous activity, and if you hope to combine this with another type of physical activity or sport such as martial arts, then you might do well to do the kettlebell training first, because if you come to this type of activity already fatigued, you stand a good chance of at least not getting what you want out of this, and at worst, hurting yourself. Coming into this type of training tired and unfocused can lead to bad results in many ways. Just don't go there! If you want to invest tie time and energy to train with kettlebells, then make sure to take it seriously and do it right.

Take the time necessary to learn the exercises properly, and to execute them as they are intended to be done. Kettlebell training is very specific, and while this type of exercise gets all the "in between" areas of muscular development, the regimen is still quite uniform, and for good reason. Learn the proper technique for each exercise, and you'll be rewarded with better results and less chance of injury.

Training with kettlebells can not only change your physique, but you whole state of health. Learn to do the basics of kettlebell training right, and you'll find that not only will you progress faster, but you feel better doing so. Make sure to set yourself up to become of the kettlebell success stories!