Five Minute Friday #1

Dec 4,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

Today’s five minute Friday is a fast drill of basics that will get your heart rate up and work all of your muscles. These exercises can be done with a relatively heavy bell so don’t cheat yourself, use a weight that will challenge you. I recommend approaching this drill already warmed up and ready to go. We will start with alternating swings, then into cleans, push presses and finish with snatches without putting the bell down for five minutes. One of the many great things about kettlebell training is the ability to get a great workout in a short amount of time and with very little cost. This drill exemplifies that with simplicity and challenge;

Articles

How To Build A Home Gym On A Budget

Dec 2,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

The variables here are space and budget, you may have one, both or neither of these assets but determination is all you need.

Our primary objective is simple, two acquire the equipment necessary to do more with less. To keep things to a minimum while getting the most out of your time investment. Most people should be able to see amazing results with less than a hundred dollars invested in something that will never break or wear out.

Lessons

How To Squat

Nov 27,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

Squatting is very difficult for many people simply because they lack the necessary range of motion to move down into their hips. If you have an anterior pelvic tilt, your tight quads and hip flexors will likely overpower your under active glutes and hamstrings and cause your hips to shift back, not down. This will be accompanied by forward lean of the torso and turn the movement into a bend. Bending is fine when done properly, but there are some circumstances where a squat is the safest and most efficient movement. Find out why the squat is so important and how to perfect the movement in this video.

Articles

Is Science Flawed?

Nov 25,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

I am not a scientist but to be the best in my field I must use science every day in order to provide the people that follow my teaching with the best information possible. This puts me in a unique position to do a stress test to the information that is being put in front of us by scientists.

The most common predicament that I find myself in is that science often contradicts itself. This is usually because a person with a theory sets out to do some experiments to prove their theory correct. Science should be people trying to find out the truth about something, not prove themselves right! Often a group of individuals that fund a given study may have a significant financial benefit if the science shows that their product is safe or effective. Twenty experiments may be performed, some of them support and others disprove the theory and in the end, only the ones that support a theory are the ones published.

Endurance Workouts

Hells Bells

Nov 21,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

When you first start learning kettlebells the versatility of them becomes clear, this quickly turns into the creation of some cool combination drills that you couldn’t do with a dumbbell or barbell.

During one of my experiments I came up with a drill that seemed to flow better than any others and hit every muscle just right. It was such a complicated series that I couldn’t give it a name based on the moves involved and just called it hells bells. Moving forward a decade, this combination has stood the test of time and now I’m bringing it to you.

Lessons Training as We Get Older

Training as You Get Older Part III

Nov 15,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

In my years of training clients I have been in a unique position to observe things in people’s posture and movement that many people would never think about. I have pointed out to people postural deviations that they knew they had, but never realized the cause or connected that their back pain was due to the tightness in their hips.

Articles Weight loss & Nutrition

How To Support Your Body When Fighting A Cold

Nov 15,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

The weather made quite a sudden shift here in San Diego recently, from very hot to quite chilly in what seemed to be a day or two. As the temperature dropped, my wife and I noticed our six month old got a very mild case of the sniffles. Fortunately, with the help of the immunizing power of breast milk the little guy got better in two or three days. Whatever he caught, however, traveled to my wife and then to me. In today’s blog I would like to share with you my strategy for kicking a cold and what exercises I did while I was fighting the bug. Both my wife and I recovered quickly, in fact, I can’t say I was sick, just that I was fighting something off, which both of us did in under a week. I did have one day with a mild body ache, which is always my most obvious symptom when I get sick, which fortunately is rare.

Articles

Nine Exercises You Can Do Anywhere

Nov 8,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

Anyone that has been following Kettlebell Movement or is plugged in to the culture of fitness probably knows some basic bodyweight exercises. Squats, lunges, bending, twisting pulling and pushing can all be done body weighted and provide great results.

Lessons Training as We Get Older

Training as You Get Older Part II

Nov 6,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

Postural deviations aren’t unique to older people, and just because you are advancing in years doesn’t mean you have bad posture. However, what is commonly the case is that any postural deviations that are apparent become more problematic and pronounced. I also think that as you get older, things like fixing your posture rank higher in your goals than when you are younger and trying to take on the world.

Strength Workouts

Push with Pull Progression Kettlebell Training

Nov 2,2015 / By Peter Hirsh / No Comment

This workout is a classic method for training, using a pulling exercise with a pushing exercise as a super-set. Pulling works your back, and in todays examples, your glutes and hamstrings too, we’re hitting the entire posterior chain. As we progress through various pulling exercises, we will add a set of push ups between every set, including in between switching hands. The push ups will work entirely different muscles, mostly your anterior chain, both will use your abs and deep core muscles. The pulling exercises are going to challenge your grip and the push ups will give you a quick chance to let your grip recover, something to consider every time you put together a workout. Pull ups on the same day as heavy deadlifting will rarely allow you to challenge the big muscles because you won’t be able to hold on!