Courtesy of the Dragon Door forums

Not wanting to plagiarize Geoff Neupert but I thought I would copy and paste a very thought provoking and simple answer to 99% of all questions:

"Ok admittedly, I have been trolling the forums of late. (And, no, this post won't be redirected to my blog...) I've noticed something very disturbing - when asking about certain programs, or books being sold on DD, the answer inevitably arises, "Yeah, but can I add {insert favorite exercise(s) here}..."

And I get that, I really do, because I have my favorite exercises.

But I wanted to (without sounding like a jerk) ask a question back -

"What is your goal? Or rather, what is it EXACTLY you want to accomplish?"

That really should be the first question you measure all answers against.

Here's a possible sample conversation:

Trainee: "Should I do Viking Warrior Conditioning?"

Me: "I dunno - what are you're goals?"

Trainee: "To be a Bad-A$$!"

Me: "Ok, what does that really mean - how does it play out? What's it look and feel like? What are some numbers that you could put up on certain lifts that would, in your mind, qualify you as a Bad-A$$?"

Trainee: "I dunno..."

Me: "Ok... go think about what that would look like and get back to me with your answer."

Ok, that may be a little extreme, so here's another well-meaning question that I've been asked several times - "Should I do Kettlebell Burn or Kettlebell Muscle?"

Me: "I don't know - what are your goals? If you want to shed fat and get lean, do "Burn." If you want to pack on some muscle in a short amount of time, do "Muscle.""

So, you see, really, the answer to "Can I...? " or "Should I...?" is really dependent on YOU and YOU ALONE.

All these programs and books are resources or guides for you to follow to help you get to your goal. Just make sure the program you use matches your goal. If your goal is fat loss, then Return of the Kettlebell is not the program you want to be using, because it's intent is to help you gain weight, not lose it.

So, what's a girevik to do who just wants to "get in shape?"

Well, first, define what "get in shape" means. To quote my buddy Josh Henkin, RKC TL, "Round is a shape." What's it mean to YOU?

If you're still not sure, here's a general guide that will prepare you to just be flat out awesome from using kettlebells.

1. Enter the Kettlebell (Combine with Super Joints and Relax Into Stretch and Fast and Loose on your "variety days" - 12 weeks. Minimum. More like 18-24.
2. Rest a week.
3. The Naked Warrior - 12 weeks
4. ETK Redux - 4-6 weeks
5. Return of the Kettlebell - 12-24 weeks.
6. Rest a week. Maybe 2.
7. Kettlebell Muscle - 12 weeks.
8. Rest a week.
9. Cycle back thru 1-8.

Total possible training time = 82 weeks. Or just over 1 and a half years of training time.

Now, you may not agree with me, but this "flat out kettlebell awesomeness" is just what I would do based on what I know, what I've read, and what I want. It may not be EXACTLY for you. But it meets my goals - Strong and muscular.

I hope that makes sense.

Thoughts?"

http://kbforum.dragondoor.com/kettlebells-strength-conditioning-forum/144835-answer-question-can-i.html

I include this more for my own benefit than that of anyone else :)

Rite of Passage

The past two weeks have seen me embark upon the Rite of Passage program from Enter the Kettlebell. This is my second attempt with this program having done around 5 or so weeks of it earlier in the year.

At the moment I am working on 5 ladders x 1 rung on my light day, 5 ladders x 2 rungs on my medium day and building up to 5 ladders x 5 rungs on the heavy day. The first heavy day was 5 x 3 with the intent of doing 4 ladders x 3 rungs on Sunday.

My variety days at this stage have been a bit non-existent. Tossing up whether to go with deadlifts or to do as Pavel suggests in the book and work on cleaning, snatching and doing get-ups with the 24 kg bell. I think I might opt for the deadlifts and kick them off from tomorrow.

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The running has temporarily ground to a halt. The Rite of Passage at this stage is leaving me a bit fatigued so I'm playing it safe and just doing the three days of KB'ing and then progressively add in the variety days. It's not to say that I won't run (the weather isn't helping I'm not going to lie) but will just insert them as I see fit.

Sunday 18th July

Well it's been a big couple of days. Relocated from Newport to Pascoe Vale South. Consequently there hasn't been much to report on the training front. Did some swings last Thursday but other than that, the moving of many boxes has taken the place of the kettlebell.

Enjoyed a 30 minute run in the new surrounds. Opted to run from home along the Moonee Ponds Creek track. Didn't get a great vibe from it so I'm going to run from the Coburg Lakes precinct. Will be a bit more scenic and should have plenty of other path users.

Plan at this stage for the next couple of weeks is to continue on with the Program Minimum. Going to intersperse planks into my swing days as opposed to jogging for my active rest. Intend on running at nights as well so hopefully with a healthy diet, some swings, get-ups and running I should see some results on the waist line and body.

Friday 9th July

The past two days have gone well.

Swing day yesterday which once again saw me crank out 160 swings over 8 rounds.

This morning - cranked out 5 get-ups with each arm.

Pretty satisfied with the program thus far. No soreness. Was able to go for a run on Tuesday night without any fuss. Planning on going out again tonight for another 20 mins and maybe a spot of swimming or mountain biking over the weekend.

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Dragondoor Australia are hosting a couple of beginner workshops in a month or so's time. Andrew Read, an RKC, is going to be teaching the swing, get-up and goblet squat over a three hour period. Will definately attend as it will be a great opportunity to see where I'm at with my technique with the benefit of getting feedback and correction. Should be good!

Tuesday 6th July

First a summary of Monday - ETK w/up of face the wall squats, halo's and pumps followed by 12 mins of swings (20x) and 1 min of jogging. 8 rounds for a total of 160. Felt pretty good during the swings. Focusing on tightening the glutes and bracing the abs. Need to work on my breathing rhythm.

This morning was again the ETK warm-up followed by 5 get-ups in each arm. Really felt good during the get-ups. Been attempting the get-ups in the Kalos Stenhos style with the hip arch. Do need to get a copy of the Kalos Stenhos DVD as the get-up is going to be a fundamental movement for me going forward.

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Entertaining the thought of getting back into some riding. We are moving next week so there'll be a little more time available. That and the fact that there are some good rides fairly close to home. A mate is working out a price for me on a Wilier Izouard with Ultegra (2009 model) or I'm contemplating a Giant TCR Alliance 0 from Lygon Cycles for $2299 with the '10 model Ultegra. Hmmm...

Back at it...again!!

This is almost the story of my athletic/fitness career....back at it :)

After a few fruitless months of barbell lifting, crossfitting, etc I have re-committed myself to the Program Minimum and ETK. Kicked things off on Friday morning for some face the wall squats, halo's and pumps and then 12 minutes of swings and jogging. Finished with 8 rounds for 160 swings.

Day 2 was this morning with the same warm-up with 5 minutes of Get-ups. Finished with 5 on each arm.

This program is amazingly simple and doable. Upto 25 minutes twice a week and another 2 x 15 minute sessions is very achievable. The times that I have felt great have been on the PM. I'm not giving myself a time limit. Will just evaluate it on a week by week basis.

The goal is to get back under 80kgs. This means at least an 8 kg weight/fat loss and potentially 10 kgs. I'll supplement the PM with some running, swimming and MTB'ing. Weighing up the option to purchase a road bike via a repayment scheme through work ATM. Given that we are moving in a couple of weeks and will be a lot closer to work, I will be able to allocate a bit more time to training/athletic goals. Will have to see!

Back into Program Minimum

Well it's been several weeks since my last blog update and in that time my training has been somewhat erratic. When I say erratic I mean flittering between running and lifting weights. There has been attempts at Power to the People deadlifts as well as HIT style bodybuilding training. Thrown into that mix was an attempt to get running again.

It has been some time since I have ran for any more than two days in a week so I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of soreness in my first couple of runs. The longest run has been just short of 40 minutes so I'm not up to the 2 1/2 hour efforts from a couple of years back but still it's a start. Added to this is the fact that I'm carrying at least 8 to 10 kg's more than when I last made a fist at running and at least 14 kg's heavier than when I last competed in triathlon back in 2006.

There are a number of pretty significant events coming up so I want my training to go onto automatic pilot for a bit. Meaning that I don't want to be umming and ahhing about what I'm going to do.

So the plan is to do the Program Minimum from Enter the Kettlebell over the next 4 weeks in the morning. Monday and Thursday - man makers consisting of 12 mins. of swings and jogging (barefoot) and Tuesday and Friday - 5 mins of get-ups in the kalos stenhos style. I'm going to do this in the morning so that if nothing happens in the PM from a workout perspective then at least I've ticked a box. In the PM I'm tossing up between doing a crossfit style on-ramp program or to continue running. Time will tell.