Conventional weight training and even extreme kettlebells training can and will produce the aforementioned nightmare scenario for some people practicing the martial arts, if your program is heavy on the body building aspects and lacks martial arts specific exercises. We'll get into those in a moment. The point is that if you train like a lifter, you'll perform like one, with a sluggish response and poor explosiveness. If, on the other hand, you craft a kettlebell routine that is not only sport specific, but emphasizing strength, explosiveness, flexibility and endurance you'll find that you'll not only gain strength, but more speed and power. Power = strength X speed, so your kettlebell workouts should be geared to cover several areas.

The main areas you'll want to make sure and cover in your training include strength and endurance, martial arts specificity, economy of motion, and mental and physical toughness. Let's take a quick look at each of them.

Strength and endurance is an obvious choice to make an integral component of your kettlebell training. There is a great need in the martial arts to be able to have strength and endurance in spades, available to you at any given point in a match. There are times when performing many different combinations that being less tired than your opponent will give you the edge. The anaerobic training that a well rounded, martial arts specific training program can bring is a definite aid to the sport. Exercises such as snatches and cleans and jerks can go along way toward this goal.

Economy of motion is an important part in almost any martial art, the thinking being that you want to use the path of least resistance. Why dispense more energy than you have to when you can dispose of an opponent with a fraction of your strength and energy.

Mental and physical toughness come into play by the very nature of both kettlebell training and the martial arts themselves. There is a toughness required in the martial arts that is a requisite item. This is enhanced by kettlebell training through the extreme nature of the training, as well as the mental desire needed to even train with kettlebells. You have to be a pretty tough individual to deal with the pain a program like this offers, and this translates well to the martial arts.

The last category is that of martial arts specificity. This is vitally important to us as we want to make sure that any training we do with kettlebells for the martial arts are very sport specific. All of the exercises must be included with the thought of improving our performance in the martial arts, and not strength training for strength training's sake. Spend no more than perhaps a quarter of your training time on strength building, no matter what the source. You want to spend the bulk of your time practicing the sport, not the training.

If you plan to incorporate kettlebell training into your arsenal, then make sure you take the ti

First of all, set yourself a goal and write it down! Studies show that less than 3% of us actually write down our goals, but when we do, we are far more likely to achieve them. Take stock of where you are just now, and where you’d like to end up. If you are seriously overweight or have not attempted this type of extreme training before, you be doing yourself a favor by visiting your doctor first, but once cleared, begin!

Make sure you do this type of training at least three times a week. Some people like to train 5-6 days, using different exercises to work different muscle groups. This is fine and you may want to get there eventually, for that will increase the cardio work you’ll be getting and rev up the metabolic machine even higher, thus hastening the process, but at first be sure to have a routine that you will stick to. An abandoned kettlebell routine will not help you lose much weight at all!

Make sure to craft not only a challenging workout routine, but a sensible food plan as well. Eat plenty of protein, fresh fruits and vegetables, and watch those simple carbs. Everyone is different, and your food plan won’t look like mine, but just be sure to make sure this will be a plan you can stick with for some time. Some people who dive into this type of training go for an extreme diet plan, and while this may yield short term results, you may have difficulty sustaining the process.

Some of the more popular kettlebell workouts for weight loss include exercises like cleans and snatches, Turkish Get-ups, most any of the swings, (especially these!) and windmills. Some of these may be difficult for a beginner, so make sure you have an instructor or workout partner with you to not only maintain proper form but to minimize the chances you’ll hurt yourself. Kettlebells exercises for weight loss are best performed with heavy weights, low reps, in several sets, with an active rest between sets. An active rest can be as little as walking or jogging in place, or as active as jumping rope. You’ll soon see what you can handle.

Kettlebells can be a terrific tool for weight loss. Just be sure to combine them with
a sane eating plan and a set of written down goals, and you’ll soon be amazed at the kind
of results you be seeing! Or not seeing, as in the extra weight!

For most people new to kettlebells it's definitely advisable to start out with a routine consisting of some of the more basic kettlebell exercises before advancing on to some of the advanced training. This applies to you even if you're a serious lifter from way back, as a firm foundation in the basics is essential to success in any discipline, and even more so in kettlebells. For the best results with kettlebells, technique and form MATTER, so take the time to learn the basics and do them right.

That said, lets look at a few of the basic exercise and how you can form a great workout routine with them.

You want to craft a workout that emphasizes whole body conditioning, and for that reason you'll want to include exercises that address the body core, the legs, the shoulders, the chest and the back.

For the core, start with exercises like a bent press or a windmill. Others you might include would be the Turkish get-up, and the side press.

For your chest, employ different variations of the presses, such as the military press, and the floor press. You may move on to some clean and press exercises as well when you feel ready.

For your legs some of the squats are in order, typically exercises like the double front squat, hack squat and one-legged squat, double swing and double snatch.

For your back almost any of the swings will address this area, as well as some dead lifts.

For the shoulders, try to include some bent over rows, as well as Renegade rows, one arm rows and kettlebell pull ups.

You'll need to find the right combination of these exercises along with the proper weight you need to start with, and proceed from there. Don't be afraid to change up the order and emphasis of the workouts from time to time. Also make sure to not overwork one muscle group at the expense of others. Kettlebells is a full body conditioning program, and you actually risk injury (not to mention deformity!) if you leave out a muscle group.

You need to make sure you're training at a high intensity level three days a week to get the strength and cardiovascular workout that kettlebells can provide. Most of the above can be done with only one kettlebell, or there are one arm versions of the exercises out there. Make sure to take around ninety seconds rest between sets. make sure not to train when you are overly fatigued. kettlebell training requires that you give it the best you've got to offer, and the technique and form aspect is crucially important to success to with kettlebells.

Make a plan and follow that plan for a good amount of time. Keep a journal, recording your progress, and the exercises and weights used. This is a useful tool in your ongoing conditioning program. Train with a partner if possible. The town of you can push yourselves further than you may have been willing to go alone.

Training with kettlebells can be a physique and indeed a life changing regimen. Make sure you give it the seriousness and time it deserves, and you'll find yourself not only a whole new level of health, strength and fitness, but a more confident, fun and active lifestyle!

MARTIAL ARTS & BOXING
There are obvious crossovers here, and in fact kettlebells have this kind of activity rooted deep in their history, having been (and still are) a major training method in the Russian Secret Service, the FBI, Marine Force Recon, and many other organizations that employ fighting techniques as part of the job. So it was a natural that martial arts and boxing would pick up on this. In fact, kettlebell training probably relates more to these two sports than others. The core exercises found in kettlebell training complement the physical endurance aspect of these sports famously.

FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL & BASEBALL
The part played by explosive strength in these sports cannot be underestimated, and kettlebell training can make the difference in these sports. The point has been made that while athlete A may well be able to bench press 400 pounds a few times when fresh, what will his strength level look like in the fourth quarter? Many times you see these large linemen sucking wind, lacking explosiveness and strength just when they need it most. Many NFL and other athletes are just beginning to realize just how much of an edge they can acquire with this type of training. One athlete sold on kettlebell training (and you can tell by looking at his physique!) is Tight End Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers. One can only wonder what the difference would be for those athletes who used performance enhancing drugs had they instead employed training regimens such as the ones we’re talking about here. I believe that the same benefits without all the side effects as well as all the associated legality issues could be achieved using these training methods. But then it’s all about shortcuts, isn’t it? The sport specific benefits for basketball would include not only an enhanced endurance capability, but strength capabilities inside the paint. For baseball, the ability to turn faster and more powerfully on a swing may make the difference between a foul pop and a home run.

Now let’s look at a few sports you might not have associated with kettlebell training.

SURFING
The ability to take huge hits by the water in late drops and hard turns, as well as overall body toughness for wipeouts and enduring paddling out through heavy surf. The balance aspect would also benefit from kettlebells training.

GOLF
The amount of power in a golf swing generated by a lean and powerful core has never been more evident than today. One has only to take one look at Tiger Woods and see what a superb core can do for you. We may never know Tiger’s specific workout routine, as this appears to be a closely guarded secret, but we do know that he employs not only weights, but a host of closely associated regimes as well. It would not surprise me to learn that kettlebells have a role here. Nevertheless, the elements of core conditioning as well as golf swing specific exercises can have nothing but a tremendous effect on conditioning for golf, as long as they are done with a good stretching program along with them.

TRIATHLETES
Triathletes, along with almost any other endurance sport athletes, can find kettlebell training hugely beneficial to their sports. The endurance factor along with the Joint Mobility (JM) factor together make kettlebell training very attractive for triathletes.

CLIMBERS
The ability to maintain strength in your arms and hands, particularly fingers, is what makes kettlebell workouts attractive to climbers. Needing a lot of hand and finger strength over an extended period of time makes this a ideal regimen for them.

Whatever your sport, kettlebell training brings a lot to the table, and is something you would be well advised to look into!

Caveat: Be VERY careful with this exercise because for the majority of it the kettlebell is above your head while you are balancing it from a precarious position. I am not responsible for anyone dropping it on their head or other body parts!! (I didn't invent this exercise.)

Here's how you do them:
- Lie down on the floor (preferably on a rug, rubberized or carpeted surface) with your hands at your sides and a kettlebell within grip reach of one of them.
- Grip the handle underhanded, as if you were going to curl it it.
- Curl it upwards so that your lower arm is now pointing upward, holding the kettlebell.
- Now press the kettlebell towards the sky, rotating your hand towards you so that you end up in what feels like a one-armed bench press position.
- Using your kettlebell arm, start to lean over to the side of your free hand by shifting the KB slowly over to that side above you.
- Lean over far enough that you can now get up on your free-hand's elbow.
- Pop up on your free hand side from elbow on the floor to hand on the ground with your arm straight/stiff.
- Start to stand up by getting one knee on the floor, and the other foot planted.
- Now push upwards with your legs, keeping the kettlebell above your head the entire time.
- Once you're standing, reverse the process to end up back on the floor on your back.
Do a few reps on one side and then on the other and I guarantee you'll feel like you did something.

I highly recommend that you first try this without a kettlebell, just going through the motions, and then with a fairly light weight to get a sense of how to balance something above your head.

Enjoy!

Before I knew kettlebells existed, I used the common bodybuilding-type workout to get in shape. Up until that time, I had my greatest achievement physically using the approach from Body-for-LIFE. After a while I fell away from that and eventually discovered kettlebells and Pavel Tsatsouline's particular approach to exercise and strength training.

Since I happened to document both methods with photos, I thought this might be a good way to demonstrate how these two different methods lead to differences in physical appearance. The photo on the left was achieved through mainly kettlebell workouts and the photo on the right via traditional bodybuilding techniques.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="http://kettlebelltraining.net/images/kettlebell-bodybuilding.jpg" />

(Results on the left achieved using the methods taught in the Lose the Last 10 Pounds eBook.)

I was a bit leaner in the photo on the left, but I think the differences are pretty obvious. Using kettlebells I didn't have as much of a "rounded" look to my muscles as in the bodybuilding photo. KBs lead to more of a lean, tight look than the BB method.

Pick your method, pick your look.

Of course you can combine both methods and get a little of each as well.

I was mainly interested in trying some creative ways to help my lower back pain and scoliosis, so I decided that perhaps if I just clean and pressed a kettlebell and held it overhead for a while, one side at a time, that might do me some good.

Well I started out the first day with the 36lb KB, and that went just peachy, holding it overhead for about a full minute on each side. The second day I did it again, but then I decided that I should try it with the 54lb 'bell. It wasn't too much trouble, until I decided I should bring it back down to shoulder position doing a slow negative.

Bad idea.

It didn't feel like I really injured myself, but a couple of days later… holy cow. I could barely move my left (weaker) arm. It's feeling better today, although it's still bothering me, but now I'm going to have to lay off for a while to make sure it heals and I don't aggravate it.

Just a little reminder that just because you could lift at a certain level once, doesn't mean you can lay off for a month and then go right back to the same level. The funny thing is that if I had just waited a week before tackling the bigger kettlebell, I probably would have been fine.

I started out real easy, just going through each exercise and concentrating on proper technique. I try to do the workout at least 3 times a week. The first week, even though I thought I was going easy, I was really tired and sore. My lower back also bothered me a little so I don't bring the kettlebell up as far when doing snatches and I concentrate on holding my midsection tight during the top of the movement (great ab workout).

I want to lose body fat so am concentrating on high rep snatches. I do anywhere from 100-160 snatches per workout and am increasing every week. I work in other exercises concentrating on different movements/body parts each workout – pressing movements, legs, pullups, etc. I can now do 20 snatches at a time with my KB fairly easily and am going to make it heavier. Each workout only lasts from 15-30 minutes.

I haven't lost as much weight as I'd hoped probably because my workouts aren't long enough yet but have noticed an overall increase in stamina. Also, the chronic pain caused by two herniated disks in my upper back seems to be less than before starting this program.

I plan on continuing the kettlebell workout through the summer and then perhaps going to a kettlebell/PTP [Power to the People] cycle in the fall. I am 42, blessed with natural strength for my gender/age but can't seem to lose that last 10lbs. Right now I am about 23% bodyfat but would like to get under 20%. I used to run alot which helps me lose fat, but three knee surgeries have now made running very painful. Other than kettlebell workouts, I also walk (fast) a least 4 times a week and participate in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu once a week.

Any advice on helping lose body fat would be appreciated. I try to eat a diet high in protien and low glycemic carbs.
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