CrossFit PC Workouts

The CrossFit PC Menu

2007-03-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

CrossFit Pierce County workouts are broken down into 5 different categories based on how long the workouts in that section take to complete. The briefest and most intense workouts take up to 3 minutes to perform and fall under the heading Explosive. Our Short workouts take from 3 to 10 minutes, Medium 10 to 20 and Long from 20 to 45 minutes. Workouts that take longer than 45 minutes to complete are called Epic. Some workouts that are shorter than 45 minutes but that are particularly brutal may also be considered Epic…Painstorm XX comes to mind.

WARM-UPS

Yellow Rain

The name Yellow Rain for the exercise comes from the fact that I use yellow slam balls and once this gets going it is raining yellow balls. The obvious “Keep a lookout for falling objects” warning is in effect. You can start with everyone on a ball or start from one end and you can go for time (I usually go 2 minutes) or for some set number of throws. We push press the ball, underhand throw the ball (both for height) and slam the ball going all the way through however many balls are out with each type of throw before switching.

Man in the Middle

You’ll need some medicine balls (both Dynamax and slam balls work here) and a group of 3, 4 or 5 people. The idea is that each of the people outside the circle pitch the ball they have to whoever is in the middle. The man in the middle then push presses, underhand throws or slams the ball depending upon which kind of ball is thrown or what pre-arranged throw order is decided. The person feeding the slams will throw the ball up from underneath so the man in the middle can “catch” the ball with his hands on top and go directly to the slam. With 4 people go for 4 minutes switching out whoever is in the middle every minute.

Rage Box Throws

Two people stand on opposite sides of a plyo box or 4 opposite one another around a tractor tire with one medicine ball per pair. Slam the ball and go down and get it on the bounce. Stand and go to a squat clean and stand with a thruster/wall ball type throw the ball to your partner. Once rid of the ball jump onto the box/tire. Your partner does the same exercise and throws to you just before he jumps. Go for time, reps or whoever needs the bucket first. Run and Throw We use 6, 8 and 10 Valeo Balls (rubber medicine balls with a bit of a bounce – look for them on Ebay) and run a quarter mile throwing the balls ahead of us. We use one less ball than we have people so that whoever is without the ball runs to recover and throw the next ball thrown. The throws are chest throw, underhand facing forward, and backwards over your head. Throw as high and as far as you can, minimize the amount of roll with your throw.

Valeo Ball Bounce

Get in a circle with 3 or more people and use the Valeo balls. Use one less ball than you have people. Do a ball slam as hard as you can for as much height as you can get and turn quickly to your right (if throwing clockwise) to catch the ball being bounced at you. Go for at least two minutes.

Net – Ladder - Rope

No time thing here, just go up over the cargo net, up and down the 45 degree rope ladder and up and down the rope. We do each one twice.

Jump up – Pullup - Roll up

Jump up to the pullup bar and do a pullup, then roll up knees to elbows. If the bar is open at the top and you have the room you can add a pullover. You can also do a burpee at the start so that you do a burpee – jump up – pullup – roll up – pull over. Many people have difficulty with the pullover and the trick is to do the upside down pullup as high as possible so that when you drop your feet over the bar the bar is at least at your waist if not higher. Don’t just flop down to lower yourself, do a controlled descent in an L-sit.

Slam Toss

Partners face each other with a 30 lb slam ball. One will slam the ball and the other will catch it on the bounce and then stand and toss it a la wall ball back to the slammer. Don’t stand and then throw, instead come up out of the squat and launch the ball with your legs. The slammer will slam and the tosser will toss for 10 reps each and then switch so that the slammer tosses and the tosser slams. You can also go for a minute and switch if you prefer to go by time.

Tire Rotation

Put slam balls of different weights around a big tire. Do Ball Buster, Ball Slams, Rage Ball or some other slam ball exercise for 1 or 2 reps each and then rotate for some number of times around. At the end of each slam jump on the tire before the rotation and make sure the jump comes up out of the crouch from the slam.

Over - Unders

Set out your weight bench. Hop over the bench and then crawl back under it. Simple. Not easy, but simple. Excellent little lung burner to have as a 10 rep event in a larger multi-exercise workout.

Tire Flip and Hop Through

Pretty self-explanatory – flip the tire then jump through and run around and repeat. With 3 people you can have the first person flip the tire and jump through, the second person just jump through and then the 3rd flips and jumps through. Keep rotating like this for some fixed number of flips or distance or max reps in some pre-established time.

SPUDs
Swinging Push Ups and Dips.

Set your rings about waist high or so and put out a pair of boxes, chairs or benches in front of and behind the rings with both just a little lower than the rings. Start in a pushup position, feet on the box behind, toes within about 6 inches of the forward edge of the box. Do a pushup. As you get to the top of the pushup tuck your feet under quickly and swing your feet through to the other box. STAY TIGHT or you will fall through to the floor. If you fall through…don’t let go of the rings. Kick your feet up onto the other box and land on your heels. Do a dip and at the top of the dip kick your feet back to the pushup box and start again. Do 10 of them, 5 reps each, and you will notice that it gets harder and hard to stay tight as the reps progress.

DROOL
Dumbells – Rocks – Odd Object Lifts.

Set out some heavy stuff in the form of dumbbells, kettlebells, sand bags, rocks, steel log (you can make your own with a 2 foot section of plumbing pipe, bumpers in the middle, screw down collars to hold it tight and T-joints on the ends for handles) a beer keg, plastic barrel full of sand or whatever you have at hand and rotate through each for 3 reps or so. Be sure to do cleaning, pressing, swinging and squatting movements to maximize muscle recruitment. Go through 2 or 3 times and you will be ready for anything.

Rage Ball Kick Ups

Put a slam ball at your feet and a big tire or bench behind you. Drop down for a burpee with your hands on the ball and kick your feet back onto the tire. Do a pushup. After the pushup drop your knees so that you have come off your toes and are now resting on your shoelaces with your knees bent. Extend your quads hard so that you go up into an ugly handstand with your hands still on the ball. Drop your feet back down close to the ball and stand with the ball to a squat clean. When you come back up with the ball launch it into space as if doing wall ball. Catch the ball on the way back down, press it up and then slam it. Now do it again.

Air Squat Tire Jumps

Do 5 air squats and on the 5th one jump up onto the tire or box. Do the jump from the full squat position, don’t stand and then jump.

Burpee Tire Jump

Do a burpee and then from the squat jump up onto the tire or box. This is great to combine with Air Squat Tire Jumps so that you do 5 squats and then the jump and when you come down off the tire do a burpee and when you jump down from there do the 5 squats again.

Mae West

35 lb Thruster - 3
35 lb Colleen and Jerk - 2
52 lb Snatch - 2
135 lb Clean - 2
Ball Buster-1 30 lb slam ball (2 balls)
195 lb DL -3
44 lb KB Clean and Jerk -3

Mae West consists of the above 8 exercises around two large tractor tires. The only change to the regular Ball Buster explained in the first section is that at the at the end of the exercise while still partially in a squat from the slam with your legs loaded with the downward effort, jump up with one foot on each tire or both on one tire if you prefer. Reps are shown and are designed so multiple people doing the exercise will finish in about the same time and rotate together. With the KB Clean and Jerk, DB Thruster, Colleen and Jerk and Snatch you do a jump on the tire at the end of all the reps. With the DL, Ball Busters, and Clean it is after each rep…you will notice this changes from exercise to exercise so that with every other exercise you switch from jumping after each rep to jumping at the end of the set of reps. This can be done for 2 laps around at a leisurely pace as part of a warm up or 3 or more times around at high intensity as a workout. You can adjust the loads, laps and reps to create the desired training impact or you can change any or all of the stations to suit your training needs or equipment list.

Explosive

2007-03-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

The workouts in this section should take less than, or at least very near 3 minutes to perform and should be executed at maximum intensity for the duration of the workout. These components are generally done as part of the warm up or as part of a larger workout.

Colleen and Jerk

Greg and Lauren’s little girl is Colleen and in her honor Greg came up with the Colleen and Jerk which is a dumbbell hang squat clean and three jerks. Feel free to add a burpee at the beginning to make it a little harder. Adjust the reps and weight as necessary but 10 rounds for time with 35 lb dumbbells is a good place to start.

Colleen’s a Jerk

Do a burpee to a pair of dumbbells but kick your feet back onto a box or bench. Do a pushup then pull your feet back under yourself and then do a squat clean. Stand and do three push presses with the first one being done as a thruster. Try for 10 as quickly as you can. Decide for yourself how heavy to make your dumbbells.

Road Rage

Put one slam ball on either side of a tractor tire (150 lbs or so) with one far enough away to not be in the way when you flip the tire. Start with the ball closest to the tire. Burpee with hands on the ball Stand with the ball to a squat clean Stand again and press the ball overhead Slam the ball Jump on and off the tire Flip the tire Jump into the tire and out the other side Next rep is with the other ball coming back the way you came 10 rounds for time

Ball Buster

Burpee with hands on the ball Stand with the ball to a squat clean Stand and throw the ball into the air wall ball style Catch the ball the press it back up Slam the ball 10 rounds for time

KB Flip and Dip

Two hand KB swing with flip and catch At the bottom of the swing do a Sumo DL High Pull Release at the top and squat under to catch in a full squat by the bell Stand and throw the bell up wall ball style Catch by the handle and lower to begin the swing cycle again 10 rounds for time

Jumping Pullups

Put a bench under your pullup bar that is of a height that allows you to have a bit of squat room with your arms fully extended. The first few reps will seem fairly easy but you will want to keep a steady pace. Jump up so that you get your chin over the bar and go back down to full arm extension. 100 reps as fast as possible

Burpee Hops

Put a DB in each hand, light ones – 20 lbs is plenty. Do a burpee (every time I say burpee in this text the pushup after you kick your feet back is assumed) and after you stand back up do a broad jump as far as you can. Do this for a specific distance rather than a number of hops in order to promote max effort jumps. Twenty yards or so is tough, thirty or more is a killer. A hard sprint at the end of each direction is most rewarding. Thank Dave Werner of CFN for this one.

Burpee – Clean – Squat - Thruster

Get a pair of 44 lb kettlebells and set them at your feet. Do a burpee with your hands on the KB handles, kick your feet back up and clean the bells to a full squat and then shoot up with a thruster. Repeat for time, reps, dizziness…whatever.

Thor

Grab a 10 lb sledgehammer and beat your tractor tire into submission with 100 hits as fast and has hard as you can. No gravity drops here, max effort slams each time. Swing the hammer with both hands together near the end of the handle and recover it by catching it on the bounce and sliding your hand up near the hammer head. Switch sides with each swing. Just like ball slams get a bit of a jump into each hit.

Short

2007-03-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

These workouts are in the 3 to 10 minute range and though not executed quite as explosively as the workouts in the previous section still require a very hard effort and as much intensity as possible while maintaining form and complete range of motion.

Olivia

DB Thruster (35)
Pullups
Ring Dips
KB Swing (52)
Rounds of 15, 12, 9

Samantha

Press (7-5-3) (85 lbs)
Push Press (7-5-3)
Push Jerk (7-5-3)
Pullups
Rounds of 21-15-9

Clean or unrack a barbell to the clean position and press it 7 times, push press it 7 times then push jerk it 7 times (21 reps) and then do 21 pullups. Then do 5 of each with 15 pullups and 3 of each with 9 pullups.

Uma

DL + Box Jump (190)
Pullups
Push Press
Rounds of 15-12-9

Violet

5 Tire Jumps
10 KB Swings (52)
15 Sledgehammer Hits
5 rounds for time

Xanthra

DB Snatch
DB Clean and Jerk
Alligator Crawl (approx. 30 feet)
Rounds of 15-12-9

Zena

3 Power Clean (135)
Sprint 50 yards
3 Push Press (2 x 52 lb KB)
Sprint 50 yards
5 rounds for time

Mr. Rabbit

Put two big tires side by side with about 2 feet of distance between them. On the long axis put a barbell loaded to 135 or whatever you want to clean. On the narrow axis (one of the ends) put a pair of 45 lb dumbbells or whatever you want to use for thrusters and a Dynamax ball to check for squat dept. Hop in and out one of the tires and go to your clean and do 5 reps. Then hop through both sets of tires to your thruster weights and do 5 thrusters. Repeat this 5 times alternating back and forth between cleans and thrusters.

Baseline

500 Row
40 Air Squats
30 Situps
20 Pushups
10 Pullups

This is done as a single round for a beginner’s baseline workout and should be under 10 minutes. Two rounds makes it Double Play and that is in the Medium section. Three rounds makes it a Hat Trick and a long Medium or a short Long. Finally you can do 4 rounds which is called Quad Runner and with this one rotate the rep count exercise to exercise for each round.

Blackjack

7 Thrusters (75)
7 Pullups
7 Burpees
7 Rounds for Time

Medium

2007-03-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

Workouts that take from 10 to 20 minutes fit into the medium category. As the time component increases the intensity component is tempered a bit in order to be able to complete the workout. Still the objective is to have a fast time (while maintaining proper form) and you have to go hard to do that.

Cindy

5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats
As many rounds as you can in 20 minutes

Diane

Deadlift (225)
Handstand Pushups
Rounds of 21-15-9

Elizabeth

Clean 135
Ring Dips
Rounds of 21-15-9

Big Phat Helen

Run 800 (First run only, subsequent runs are 400)
21 2-hand KB Swings (52)
12 Pullups
5 Rounds for time

Isabel

Snatch 135
30 Reps for Time

Jackie

Row 1000 Meters
50 Barbell Thrusters (45)
30 Pullups
Once through for time

Pauline

KB Snatch (44)
Ball Slams (40)
Wall Ball (20)
SDLHP (36 lb KB’s)
Rounds of 15-12-9

Queasy

Row (Calories)
Thruster (35)
Pullups
Push Press (75)
Rounds of 15-12-9

Ramona

Barbell Clean and Jerk + Front Squat (115)
Ball Buster (40)
DB Burpee + Squat Clean + Thruster (35)
KB Flip and Dip (44)
Rounds of 10-8-6

Tanya

SDLHP 2 x 36 lb KB
Ring Dips
Pullups
Push Press (75)
Rounds of 15-12-9

Wendy

Squat Clean + Thruster (44 lb KB)
Ball Slam (40)
Rounds of 15-12-9

Yvette

Run 400
Thruster 2 x 25 lb DB
Ball Slams (30)
Rounds of 21-15-9

Sucking Chest Wound

Sideways tire hop in and out big tire, burpee on the far side return x 2, burpees each end
2-hand KB swing (52) x 10
Squat clean + Thruster x 3
Pullups x 10
5 rounds for time

A Nice Run Ruined

Run 400
21 KB Swings (52)
15 Ball slams (30)
9 Pullups

Run 400
21 KB Snatches (44)
15 Wall Ball (20)
9 Pullups

Run 400
21 DL (185)
15 Ring Dips
9 Pullups

Run 400
21 Push Press (75)
15 Power Cleans (115)
9 Pullups

Blurred Vision

Row (Calories)
Pullups
Hang Power Snatch (75)
Wall Ball (20)
Ring Pushups
Push Press (85)
Rounds of 15-12-8

Big Phat Helen

800 meter run (1st run only) 400 meter run (each subsequent run)
21 Swings
12 Pullups
5 rounds for time

Franlizabeth

Barbell Thruster (75)
Pullups Cleans (115)
Ring Pushups
21-15-9

Frelen

800 meter run
15 DB Thrusters (35)
15 Pullups
5 rounds for time

The 100

10 Back Squats (135)
10 Clean and Jerks (135)
10 Road Rage (30 lb slam balls)
10 Ring Dips
10 KB Swings (52)
10 Colleen and Jerk (35 lb DB) 1
0 Wall Ball (20 lbs) 10 Pullups
10 Flip and Dip (44)
10 DL (190) + Box Jump

The 200

10 Dead lifts (190)
10 Box Jumps
10 Ring Dips
10 Pullups
10 KB Swings (52)
10 Ball Slams (30)
10 DB Thrusters
10 Hang Power Cleans
10 2-Hand KB Push Press (44)
10 KB Snatches 5/5 (52)
2 rounds for time

The 300

25 Pullups
50 Tire Jumps (or box jumps)
50 Ring Pushups
50 Situps
50 KB Snatches 25/25 (44)
50 Ball Slams (30)
25 Pullups
Blaze through once for time

Five and Dime

5 BB Clean and Jerk
10 Pullups
5 Box Jumps
10 KB Swings
5 Ring Dips
5 rounds for time

Frelen

800 meter run
15 DB Thrusters (35)
15 Pullups
5 rounds for time

Strung out – Backwards – Upside Down Fran

Run 800 – 600 – 400
Thrusters and Pullups after each Run
9-21-15

Do Me With a Wire Brush

Row 1,000 or Run 800
21 DB Thrusters (36)
21 Ball Slams (30)
21 Tire/Box Jumps

Row 500 or Run 400
15 Wall Ball
15 KB Snatch (44)
15 Ring Pushups

Row 250 or Run 200
9 2-hand KB Push Press (44)
9 Barbell Power Cleans (135)
9 2-hand KB Clean and Jerk (44)

Kill Bob

Row
Ring Pushups
Pullups
Box Jumps
Clean and Jerk (95)
Ball Slams (30)
21-15-9

Ninja’s Mile

Run 400
21 KB Swings (52)
21 SDLHP (75)
21 KB Push Press (36)

Run 400
15 KB Snatches each hand (44)
15 Ring Dips
15Pullups

Run 400
9 Deadlift/box jump (190)
9 Rage ball with burpee (40)
9 Double KB clean and jerk (44)

Run 400

Kelsie’s Naptime

10 Deadlift (190)
15 Box Jumps
20 Air Squats
10 Power Cleans (115)
15 Pullups
200 Row
3 rounds for time

Little Runny Angie

Run 400 + 50 Squats
Run 400 + 50 Pushups
Run 400 + 50 Situps
Run 400 + 50 Pullups
Blast through once for time

Dirty Name

Row 1000
50 45 lb barbell thrusters
40 30 lb Ball Slams 3
0 pullups
20 75 lb Push Press
10 115 lb Power Cleans
Blast through once for time and commune with Pukie

Hearts on Fire

20 OHS with 20 lb
20 2-Hand Swings (52)
Tire Drag with 36 lb added 50 yards Step out of harness and do 15 air squats
Continue same direction 150 more yards do 15 pushups
Run back to Tire and drag it backwards to the start
3 Rounds for Time

Air Sick Bag

25 Air Squats
20 Calories Rowing
15 Wall Ball (20)
10 Box Jumps
5 SPUDS
3 Rounds for Time

Iron Lung

Row500
20 Air Squats and Jump (5 squats + Jump 4 times)
15 Ring Pushups
10 Pullups
5 Burpee/Tire Jumps

Babylon 5

5 DL/Box Jump (230)
5 Squat Clean/Thrusters (115)
5 Rage Ball/Tire Jump (30)
5 KB Clean and Jerk (2 x 52)
5 Barbell Snatch (75)
5 Rounds for Time

Sensory Deprivation

Row 500/Run 400 Rotate each set
Hang Squat Clean (115)
SPUDS
Pullups
Push Press (95)
Repeat 4 times rotating reps of 12-10-8-6

Chum bucket

Row (Calories)
Wall Ball (20)
Barbell Hang Power Snatch (65)
Ball Slams (30)
Rounds of 21-15-9

Fight Gone Bad

Row (Calories)
Wall Ball (20)
Sumo Deadlift High Pull (75)
Box Jump
Push Press (75)

Fight Got Worse

Row (Calories)
DB Thrusters (2 x 25)
Pullups
Ring Pushups
KB Snatch (44)
Air Squats

Continuously Running clock, change exercises every minute, max reps at each station for 3 rounds. Tally score for each round and add rounds together for total score.

Lactate Pursuit

Tabata Squats
Tabata Ring Pushups
Tabata KB Snatch (44)
Tabata Tire Jump

4 sets (rather than 8) repeated twice with the 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off carried through for both sets. No extra rest between sets.

Hearts on Fire

20 OHS with 20 lb
20 2-Hand Swings (52)
Tire Drag with 36 lb added 50 yards
Step out of harness and do 15 air squats
Continue same direction 150 more yards do 15 pushups
Run back to Tire and drag it backwards to the start
3 Rounds for Time

Seppuku (Ian Carver)
10 L-pull ups 10 Ring push-ups 10 Knee to Elbows
10 rounds for time

Brussel Sprouts (Connie Morreale)

200 meter run
100 meter walking lunges
50 sit-ups
25 pull-ups
25 push-ups
50 back extensions
100 walking lunges
200 meter run

Molon Labe (Come and get them) (Franklin Shogie)
20 Burpees
400m sprint
20 30lb Dirtbag Thrusters
25 Squats
10 Pullups
20 Walking Lunges
3 rounds for time

Iron Legs (Jerry Berg)

100m sprint
50m walking lunges w/ 70lbs
25 pushups
5 rounds for time

You Want Fries with That?

5 Landmine Snatch – Press – OHS (45)
10 Floor Wiper with press in between each left/right rep (95 lb log)
5 Snatch – Catch – Thruster (Snatch and release handle catch bell overhead) (44)
10 Dbl. DB DL – Power Clean – Thruster reps of 4-3-3/3-4-3/3-3-4 (35)
5 Bear Complex (95 lb barbell)
3 rounds for time

The idea is some guy comes to the drive through and makes a huge complicated order and the crackly teenager’s voice always asks, “You want fries with that?” This workout uses 5 different implements for each of the 5 exercises and you can feel free to change what you are lifting based on what you have available.

Double Ugly (Connie Morreale)

10 TGU (30 lb bar)
20 Double Unders
30 Walking OH Lunges (30 lb bar)
40 Pushups 30 KB swings (44 lb)
20 Floor Wipers (95)
10 Burpee Box Jumps
2 Rounds for Time

The Nail in my Coffin (Ian Carver)
20 Squats (135)
9 DB Shoulder Press (45)
15 L-Pull Ups
10 Dips
15 Squats
15 Press
12 L-Pull Ups
12 Dips
10 Squats
21 Press
10 L-Pull Ups
15 Dips
1 Round for Time

Garbage ( Bryan Gollhofer)
500m Row
10 Hang Power Snatch (75)
20 Box Jumps
10 OHS (75)
20 Kettlebell swings (52)
20 Push Presses (75)
20 Sit Ups
20 Supermans
3 Rounds for Time

Leonidas

Cone Sprint with band
100 lb log clean + 2 presses
Sledgehammer hits to big tire
Tire flips
Tire drag (weighted to 88 lbs)
Rage Box

1 minute rounds with 10 seconds to switch stations
1 minute off after all 6 stations are completed
Max reps/distance for each round
3 rounds

Partial Angie Ascending

Run 400
Pull-up
Pushup
Situp
Squat
Run 400

After the run do each of the exercises once, then twice then 3 times and so on until you get to 10. If you go through once like that you will have done 55 reps of each exercise. If you go back down the ladder (without repeating the 10) you will have done all 100 reps.

20 Pieces of Angie

5 Pullups
5 Pushups
5 Situps
5 Squats
20 rounds for time

Glen’s Dream

Row 500
10 Axel (thick bar) Push Press (95)
10 DL + Box Jump (190)
10 Ring Pushups
20 Air Squats
3 Rounds for Time

Hypoxia

Row 250
5 2-hand Squat Clean/Thruster (2-36 lbs KB)
10 Push Press (95)
20 Alternating Anchored Snatches ( 2-36 lb KB)
10 Burpee – Jump in then out of big tire and repeat
3 Rounds for Time

Disneyland

Row (Calories)
Push Press 75
Pullups
Ring Pushups
KB Snatch (36)

Set up a timer for 3 minutes on and a 1 minute rest. Do as many reps or calories as you can in the allotted 3 minutes. You can rest and put down the equipment as needed but you only get 3 minutes for your reps and 1 minute to change stations. Once through for a total which for me was very similar to my FGB score.

Renaissance

25 Double Unders
10 Squat Clean Thruster Slam (Rage Ball)30 lb ball
25 Box Jumps
10 Squat Clean Thruster 2 x 25 lb dumbbells
25 2-hand Swings (52)
10 Hang Squat Clean Thruster 75 lb barbell
3 Rounds for Time

The Second Renaissance

5 Deadlift (230)
10 Box Jumps
5 Push Jerk (125)
10 Pullups
5 Power Clean 125
10 Ring Dips
3 Rounds for Time

Absolution

Floor Wipers
Ball Pass V-Sits
Back Extensions
Knees to Elbows
Ab Roller
10-8-6

Fourplay

4 Bear Complex (Squat Clean – Press – Back Squat – Thruster)
4 SPUDS
4 Clean and Jerk (125)
4 Burpee-DL-BJ (190)

Turkish Bath

Swing – Squat Clean – Thruster – Snatch (36)
Turkish Get Up
5 Box Jumps
5 Burpees
5 Rounds

Stick Time

10 Power Snatch – OHS
10 Walking Overhead Lunges
10 Squat Snatches
10 Power Clean – Push Jerk
Run 400
4 Rounds for Time

Long

2007-03-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

When the workouts go from 20 to 45 minutes in length we consider them long workouts and try to get in about one of these each week. The effort level remains high but must be adjusted based on individual fitness in order to be able to complete the workout. Don’t go out too hard or you might not be able to finish.

Angie

100 Pullups
100 Pushups
100 Situps
100 Squats
Do each in turn finishing each before you start the next.

Barbara

20 Pullups
30 Pushups
40 Situps
50 Squats
5 rounds for time, 3 min between each set

Chelsea

5 Pullups
10 Pushups
15 Squats
Each minute on the minute for 30 minutes

Linda (aka 3-bars of death)

Clean ¾ BW
Bench Press BW
Deadlift 1.5 x BW
Rounds of 10-9-8…1 Continuous

Mary

5 Handstand Pushups
10 One legged Squats
15 Pushups
Max rounds in 20 minutes

Nancy

400 Meter run
15 OHS (95)
5 rounds for time

Death to the Infidel

Run 400
30 Air Squat
15 Clean and Jerk (115)
10 Pullups
5 Ring Dips
3 rounds for time

Fractured Runny Angie

Run 400
25 Pullups
25 Pushups
25 Situps
25 Air Squats
4 rounds for Time

Hit and Run

6 DL + Tire Jump (190)
10 Hammer hits to tire
6 Power Cleans (135)
10 DB Thruster (35)
Run 40 yards between each exercise 3 rounds for time

Sucking Chest Wound

2 Side hops through big tire with burpees at each end (up and back twice)
10 - 2- hand KB Swing (52)
3 Squat Clean Thrusters (95)
10 Pullups

Latch’s Jacket O’ Pain (Slightly modified)

Row 1,000 meters
Push Press 100
Row 750 Push Press 75
Row 500
Push Press 50
Row 250 Push Press 25
Blast through once for time

Gene’s Cloak of Despair

Row 1,000/Run 800
25 Push Press (75)
25 Pullups
25 Ring Pushups Alternate row and run 4 rounds for time

Sweater of Discomfort

Row 500
Push Press 50
Row 400
Push Press 40
Row 300 Push
Press 30
Row 200 Push Press 20
Row 100 Push Press 10

Vest of Tribulation

Run 400 or Row 500
40 Push Press (75)
15 Pullups
15 Ring Pushups
4 rounds for time

Sherpa Shuffle

Heavy back pack, tire drag, suitcase carry (I used 40 lb DB’s) 75 yards Leave tire and continue with back pack and suitcase carry 75 more yards Leave DB’s or whatever is in your hands and continue with the backpack Go 75 more yards, turn around and pick up implements as you go back to the start 20 lb DB Burpee Hops for 20 yards then sprint to Jennifer’s house and back (400 yards) Burpee Hops back to the start Uphill sandbag run for 75 yards – 15 pushups, 20 squats – run bag back to start 5 step ups with each leg onto tractor tire with bag on shoulders 20 squats to tractor tire with bag on shoulders Tire drag sprint to mail box (75 yards or so) 15 pushups with hands on tire, 15 squats with butt to tire, 15 overhead press with tire Backward tire drag run to start 5 KB swings (52), 10 tire jumps, 15 hammer hits to tire repeated 5 times 40 lb DB Farmer’s Walk 100 yards 75 lb overhead press walk 50 yards 40 lbs Waiter’s Walk +Farmer’s Carry 25 yards and switch for return 50 lb BFR Carry and or 80 lb Heavy bag carry Hex Bar DL walk 190 lbs 50 yards EZ run for 1 mile

Bloody Sunday

5 Log lifts then Tire Drag with 36 lbs added 5 BB Snatches (75) then Tire Flip x 5 5 Squat Clean (95) then Yoke Walk (145) 5 Deadlifts (230) then Farmer’s walk (85 lbs each hand) Do each lift then move the implement 50 yards down range. Leave the implement there, do 15 pushups, run 150 more yards and do 15 air squats then run back to the start and do the next pair of exercises. Do 2 rounds returning the equipment to the start the second time around.

Steaming Entrails

50 Jumping Pullups
40 Parallette Hip Ups (facing up)
30 Situps
20 GHD Wallball
10 Knees to Elbows

50 Jumping Dips
40 2-hand KB Swings (44)
30 Hollow Rock
20 Ab Roller
10 DB situp press (25)

50 Jumping Pullups
40 Parallette Hip Ups (facing down)
30 BB OHS
20 Back Extension
10 Leg Shooters on Ball
Blast through once for Time

Bar None

KB Thrusters
KB Colleen Burps and Jerks
KB Renegade Rows
Run 200 meters with one KB
KB Snatch 10 left 10 right
KB Clean and Jerk 10 left 10 right
KB Swings 10 left 10 right
Run 200 meters with one KB back to start
Scale KB accordingly but 36 pounders ought to be about right
3 Rounds for Time

Artifical Limp

Back Squat (135)
Box Jump
Row (Calories)
Box Jump
Deadlift (190)
Box Jump
DB Thruster (35)
Box Jump
Wall Ball (20)
Box Jump
Rounds of 12-10-8 for Time

Heavily Armed

Kettlebell Snatch (52) 5 left 5 right
Ring Pushups
Barbell Hang Power Clean
Ring Pushups
Barbell Push Press (95)
Ring Pushups
Pullups
Ring Pushups
Kettlebell Clean and Jerk (2 x 44)
Ring Pushups
Rounds of 12-10-8 for Time

Rude Awakening

20 Snatches (44) 10 L/10 R
20 2-Hand Swings (44)
20 Clean and Jerks 10 L/10 R

10 Barbell Snatch (75)
10 Push Press (95)
10 Clean and Jerk (115)

5 Back Squat (BW)
5 Bench Press (BW + 15 lbs)
5 Deadlift (BW x 1.5)

2 rounds (That’s the Rude Awakening).

Collateral Damage
10 SPUDS
20 Wall Ball (20)
30 Row (Calories)
40 Jumping Pullups

10 KB Snatch (52)
20 Hollow Rock
30 Ball Slams (25)
40 KB Swings (44)

10 Barbell Clean & Jerk (115)
20 Ab Roller
30 Box Jumps
40 Jumping Dips

10 Hang Power Snatch (75)
20 Dumbbell Thrusters (2 x 25)
30 Pullups
40 Push Press (75)

Blast though once for time

Just Shoot Me

Run 400 meters

The Bear
Full squat clean + Press
Lower weight behind the neck for a Back Squat + Push Press
From the overhead position in one continuous movement Thruster
Reps of 5-4-3-2 for this exercise

3 Weighted Pullups
5 Dead Hang Pullups
7 Kipping Pullups

3 Barbell Press
5 Barbell Push Press
7 Barbell Push Jerk

4 rounds for time

Escape from Alcatraz

50 Hammer Hits
Drag tire with 36 lb KB 50 yards
Bring KB with you and run 150 more yards
25 Hot Potato Squats (Flip KB by handle hand to hand in rack position each squat)
25 DARC Swings
25 KB pop over pushups (one hand on tipped over KB, alt. over the top each pushup)
25 Snatches (Total)
25 Hollow Rock
25 Clean and Jerks (Total)
Run with KB back to the tire, put the KB in the tire, drag the tire back to the start
Row 500 meters
25 Ring Pushups
Climb up and over cargo net
10 Knees to elbows
15 Hollow rock
20 Situps
10 Heavy sandbag cleans with Box Jump after each
10 DB thrusters (Single 35 lb DB alternating hands at the top of each thruster)
10 45 lb barbell thrusters
25 Air Squats
Run 400
Once through for time

Sweating Buckets (Chris Stowe)

KB swings (52)
Box jump
SPUDs
Thrusters (95)
KB flip and dip (35)
Wall ball (20)
Weighted PU (BW+25lb)
15-10-5

Balboa (Chad McBroom)

100 Jump Rope
400 meter Run
10 Bodyblasters (Pushup, pull-up, rollup)

4 rounds for time

The 400

20 Calories Rowing
20 Wall Ball
20 KB Swings (52)
20 Pullups
20 Burpees
20 KB Snatches (44)
20 Box Jumps
20 Ring Dips
20 Ball Slams
20 Push Press (75)
2 rounds for time

The 500

50 Calories Rowing
50 Situps
50 Ball Squat Cleans (25)
50 Single KB Push Press (44)
50 Jumping Pullups
50 Tire Jumps
50 Jumping Dips
50 Hammer Hits
50 Parallette Hip Raises
50 Double Unders

“Annie Are You OK”

Row (Calories)
Dumbell Thrusters (25)
SDLHP (75)
Medicine Ball Clean (30)
Wall Ball (20)
Rounds of 21-15-9

Evil (Ian Carver)

10 Romanian Deadlifts
10 Hang Power Cleans
10 Push Press
10 Front Squats
95 Lb Barbell for all exercises – as continuous as possible w/o setting bar down
5 Rounds for Time

Got Air?

10 Romanian Deadlifts
10 Hang Power Cleans
10 Push Press
10 Front Squats
10 Pullups
Run 400
3 Rounds for Time

Double Ugly (Connie Morreale)

10 Turkish Get Up (30 lb bar)
20 Double Unders
30 Walking Overhead Lunges (30 lb bar)
40 Push-ups
30 KB Swings (44)
20 Floor Wipers )95)
10 Box Burpees
2 Rounds for Time

Dirty Thirty (Connie Morreale)

.30 mile run
30 Pulls on C2
30 Double Unders
30 KB Swings (44)
30 DB Push Press (35)
30 Box Jumps
30 Pulls on C2
30 Double Unders
30 Sit-ups
30 Back Extensions
30 Burpees
30 Pulls on C2
30 Double Unders
30 Walking Lunges

5 Ton Hammer (Ian Carver)

5 Squat Cleans (135)
5 DB Deadlifts (100 Lb. per side)
5 Rounds for Time

Halo (Ian Carver)

10 Single Arm DB Press (55 lb DB 10 reps each arm)
10 Single arm DB Snatch
10 Single Arm DB Bench
10 Single Arm DB Swings
10 Medicine Ball Slams
10 Burpees
3 Rounds for time

Air Assault

Jump Rope 100
10 Pullups
10 Ring Dips
Row 200
20 KB Swings (52)
20 Ball Slams (30)
Run 400
40 Air Squats
40 Situps
3 Rounds for Time

Ursa Major (Ian Carver)

5 Bear Complex (95 Lbs)
10 Bench Press (Bodyweight)
15 DB Deadlifts (90 Lb DB’s)
20 Floor Wipers
3 Rounds for Time

Hard (Ian Carver)

Box jump
Bench Press (body weight)
L pull ups
Thrusters (35 Lb DB)
Swings (55 Lb DB)
21-18-15-12-9

Ivan the Terrible (Ian Carver)

100 Rope Jumps
50 Lunges
50 Push ups
50 Sit ups
100 Rope Jumps
40 Lunges
40 Push ups
40 Sit ups
100 Rope Jumps
30 Lunges
30 Push ups
30 Sit ups
100 Rope Jumps
20 Lunges
20 Push ups
20 Sit ups
100 Rope Jumps
10 Lunges
10 Push ups
10 Sit ups
1 Round for Time

Pain Compliance (Ian Carver)

400 M Run
Push Press (95)
Single arm KB swing (36 pounds – # reps per side)
Single arm OH Squat (45 Pounds - # reps per side)
21-15-9

Boy Named Sue (Tim McFarland)

Push Press (95)
Squat Jump
Continuously running, clock starting on the minute. First minute is one rep, 2nd minute is two reps and so on.

Grenade (Ian Carver)

400 M Run
30 Bench Press (Bodyweight)
15 L-pull ups
3 Rounds for Time

Ataxia (Ian Carver)

25 Deadlifts (135)
25 Pull ups
20 Deadlifts (135)
25 Push Ups
15 Deadlifts (135)
25 Sit Ups
2 Rounds for Time:

Recovery (Leonid Soubbotine)

5 Pistols each leg
5 Swings
5 KB Push Press
5 Knees to Elbows
5 Box Jumps
5 Ring Pushups
5 Pullups
5 Rounds for Time

Get Up (Leonid Soubbotine)

30 overhead bb walking lunge
30 Turkish Get Ups (15 each side)
30 Man Makers (DB squat, pushup, renegade row, deadlift, repeat)
30 Hang power clean
30 wall ball
30 windmills (15+15)
30 pullups.

Man-up (Chad McBroom)

21 Ring Dips
9 KB Swings (36 lbs)
6 Renegade Man-Makers (20-lb DB)
15 Ring Dips
6 KB Swings (36 lbs)
12 Renegade Man-Makers (20-lb DB)
9 Ring Dips
3 KB Swings (36 lbs)
18 Renegade Man-Makers (20-lb DB)
1 Round for Time

Gorilla Grod (Tim McFarland)

10 Plyo Pushups (1 hand on medicine ball, alternating hands explosively each rep)
20 Gorilla Pullups (from the bottom position of a squat, explode to the bar and pullup)
30 Ball Slams (25)
20 Gorilla Pullups
10 Plyo Pushups
20 Gorilla Pullups
30 Ball Slams
20 Gorilla Pullups
10 Plyo Pushups
1 Round for Time

Bad Snake (Ian Carver)

100 Rope Jumps
21 Knee to elbows
50 Push ups
15 L-Pull ups
100 Rope Jumps
15 Knee to elbows
35 Push ups
12 L-Pull ups
100 Rope Jumps
12 Knee to elbows
20 Push ups
9 L-Pull ups

Le Grand Century

Row 250
25 2-hand swings with 44 lb KB
25 Hammer hits to tire with a 10 lb sledge
25 Pullups
25 Push Press with 75 lbs
4 rounds for time

Homer (Tim McFarland)

10 Pullups | 1 Box Jump | 1 Ring Pushup | 10 Box Jumps
9 Pullups | 2 Box Jumps | 2 Ring Pushups | 9 Box Jumps
8 Pullups | 3 Box Jumps | 3 Ring Pushups | 8 Box Jumps

…and so on.

The Big Dripper

Row 250
5 Deadlifts (230)/Box Jump (Deadlift then Box Jump each set)
10 Barbell Thrusters (95 lbs)
15 Burpee Pullups
20 Air Squats
25 Push Press (75)
50 KB Snatches (36 lbs) 25 right 25 left
100 Rope Jumps
2 Rounds for Time

Party with the Girls

Elizabeth – 400 m Run – 21 Squat Cleans (75) – 21 Ring Dips
Angie – 20 Pullups – 20 Pushups – 20 Situps – 20 Squats
Kelly – 400 m Run – 30 Box Jumps – 30 Wall Ball Shots
Fran – 21 Thrusters (75) – 21 Pullups
Helen – 400 m Run – 21 Swings (52) – 12 Pullups
Grace – 30 Clean and Jerks (75)

Change Up

Run 400
25 Air Squats
20 Jumping Pullups
15 2-Hand Swings (44)
10 Situps
Row 500
10 Air Squats
15 Jumping Pullups
20 2-Hand Swings
25 Situps
Run 400
20 Air Squats
10 Jumping Pullups
25 2-Hand Swings
15 Situps
Row 500
15 Air Squats
25 Jumping Pullups
10 2-Hand Swings
20 Situps
1 round for Time

20 Pieces of Angie

5 Pullups
5 Pushups
5 Situps
5 Squats
20 Rounds for Time

Up the Down Staircase

5 Floor SPUDS
10 Burger Flips
20 Double Unders
30 Ring Pushups
40 Air Squats
50 Jumping Pullups
40 Flutter Kicks
30 Situps
20 Lunges
10 Under Overs
5 Squat – Tire Hops

Air Burst

5 BB Power Snatch (75)
10 Back Squat (135)
15 Push Press (85)
20 KB Snatch 10/10 (44)
25 Double Unders
50 Jumping Pullups
3 Rounds for Time

Threepeat

3 DB Squat Clean – Thruster (L – R – Both hands) (35)
6 Box Jumps
9 Pullups
12 Ring Pushups
15 Air Squats
18 KB Snatches 9/9 (44)
21 7-7-7 Press, Push Press, Push Jerk (85)
3 Rounds for time

Epic

2007-03-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

Brutally long (45 minutes or longer) or just plain brutal…like Painstorm XX, and it’s an Epic.

Jacob’s Ladder

25 Wall Ball
25 Row (Calories)
25 Ball Slams (25 lb ball)
25 Power Cleans (115 lbs)
25 KB Swings (52 lbs)

20 DB Thrusters (35 lbs)
20 Pullups
20 Hammer Hits to Tire
20 KB Snatches (44 lbs) 10/10
20 Ring Pushups

15 Push Press (85 lbs)
15 Clean and Jerk (105 lbs)
15 Hex Bar DL/Box Jumps (190 lbs) (20” box)
15 GHD Situps
15 Barbell Snatches (75 lbs)
10 Front Squat (85 lbs)
10 KB Swing/Flip – SDLHP/Squat/Throw
10 Pullups
10 KB Double Clean and Jerk (44 lbs)
10 Ring Dips
5 Road Rage 5 Pushup/Pullup/Rollup
5 Colleen and Jerk with Burpee
5 HSPU (Hand Stand Pushup)
5 Snatch/Back Squat/Thruster/Front Squat

Hour of Power

Power Clean (95)
Wall Ball (20)
Pullups
KB Push Press (44)
Rowing
KB Snatch (44)

You have only one hour to complete the workout and no more than 10 minutes per exercise.

Jacob’s Ladder Mod 1

25 Wall Ball (20 lb ball)
20 Pullups
15 Push Press (85)
10 Swing-flip/SDLHP squat catch
5 Road Rage

25 Row (Calories)
20 DB Thrusters (35)
15 Clean and Jerk (105)
10 Ring Dips
5 Pushup/Pullup/Rollup

25 Ball Slams
20 KB Snatches (44)
15 DL-Box Jumps (190)
10 Double KB C&J (44)
5 Snatch-back squat-thruster-front squat (75)

25 Cleans (115)
20 Hammer Hits
15 GHD Situps
10 Pullups
5 HSPU

25 Swings (52)
20 Ring Pushups
15 Barbell Snatches (75)
10 Ring Dips
5 Colleen and Jerk with Burpee (35)

Painstorm XX

Brought to you by:
Karl Steadman and the good folks of Crossfit Manchester UK (coming soon).
One minute at each station with a running clock as with Fight Gone Bad. You get one minute off after each 5 events and rotate from A to B to C to D and then do it again for a total of 40 minutes of work time. If you can’t do muscle-ups set the rings at a height where you can do a jump assist through the transition. If you can’t do handstand pushups do pushups with your feet elevated as high as you can go.

Rotation A
1 – Handstand Pushups
2 – Muscle Ups
3 – Air Squats
4 – Sit Ups
5 - Pullups

Rotation B (36 lb KB)
1 – 2-Hand KB Swing
2 – KB Snatch (L)
3 – KB Walking Lunge
4 – KB Snatch ®
5 – KB Goblet Squat

Rotation C (95 lbs)
1 – Push Press
2 – Sumo Deadlift High PUll
3 – Split Jerk
4 – Power Clean
5 - Thruster

Rotation D

1 - Burpees
2 – 10 Meter Sprint
3 - Pullups
4 – Military Press
5 – Row

Me Love You Long Time

Run 1/4 mile
50 KB Snatch 25/25 (44 lbs)
50 D-Ball Slam (25)
50 Calories Rowing

Run ½ mile
40 KB Swings (44 lbs)
40 Pullups
40 Push Press (75)

Run ¾ mile
30 Ring Pushups
30 Hang Power Cleans (95)
30 Wall Ball

Run 1 mile
20 DB Thrusters (35)
20 Sandbag Clean and Jerk (35)
20 2-hand KB Push Press (44)

Gilligan

Bike 30 minutes
Row 20 minutes
Run 10 minutes

3 rounds for distance

Star Search

Row 500
Push Press (95) 10, 9, 8, …1
Pullups 1, 2, 3, …10
KB Push Jerk (52) 10, 9, 8…1
Hang Power Snatch (75) 1, 2, 3, 10

10 rounds with rep changes as shown

Kettlebell Lifting for CrossFitters

2006-09-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

Tom Corrigan RKC
Kettlebell Lifting for CrossFitters
Notes by Eugene R. Allen

On Saturday 051306 Kurt Bowler hosted a kettlebell seminar at his Puyallup, Washington facility - Rainier CrossFit - instructed by Tom Corrigan RKC and assisted by Samantha Young RKC. Samantha was recently featured in Pavel’s Vitalics magazine and is a national champion diver who just got a full ride scholarship to Berkeley. She recently did two hundred and forty some snatches with a 26 pound kettlebell in 10 minutes at a bodyweight of about 120 lbs. Samantha told us that kettlebell training and CrossFit has helped her diving substantially by improving her endurance for longer training sessions and her explosive power off the board.

For the Hard of Reading:

If you have a really short attention span and the patience of a 5 year old with a can of Coke and half gone basket of Halloween candy and you want no part of what you consider to be data mining from this document to get a nugget of information here and there you can use, allow me to present the Cliff Notes version:

Grab bell by the horn

If you are going to clean or snatch your bell grip it all the way to the horn (that’s the vertical part that sticks up out of the round part of the kettlebell) on the thumb side of your grip. This way when you clean the bell the handle will be sitting at an angle downward and away from your thumb and on the heel of your palm.

Swing down thumb down, swing up thumb up

Have you ever noticed that when an RKC swings their arm sans a bell as if doing a one handed swing they have their thumb sticking out and it points down as they swing their arm down then up at the back of the swing? When they swing their arm forward their thumb points downward as their arm arcs up but at the top of the swing their thumb begins to turn up. The idea is to go around the corner rather that over the top in order to minimize the impact of the bell on the back of your wrist. You can apply this concept to the snatch and make it less of an over the top movement and more of a soft roll around your wrist movement…with a little practice.

Pressing tips

Begin your presses with your forearms vertical rather than against your chest in the rack position. As you press the weight upward allow your forearms to drift out to the side as they go upward but do not let your biceps line up with chest until your elbows are above or at least in line with your shoulders.

Breathing tips

Remember that Coach is a big advocate of breathing and thinks we should all do it. Especially when exercising. Tom suggested a sip of air when you begin your movement that goes to the belly and tightens up your abdomen. Then squirt a little air out at the completion of the exertion phase of the exercise only to suck in a bit as you return to the start. Short quick breaths.

Eyes forward

Don’t look down as you do your KB work but don’t look up either. Keep your eyes facing forward. The exception here is when doing things like the Turkish Get-up, the squat snatch or other similar lifts where you have to look at the kettlebell.

www.k2fitness.net

These kettlebells have the exact same feel as the Dragon Door bells insofar as the handle height, thickness and horn width but with the added attraction of a very nice glossy painted finish and a cheaper price than Dragon Door. The painted surface is very smooth but is not slippery and they look terrific. They are not simply a painted version of some other kettlebell, they have a nice raised K2 logo and if you like DD bells you will love these. Unlike the PowerMax KB’s you can get both hands into the handle for the swings and when you do the H2H stuff the bell swings evenly. The PM bells have a heavier handle relative to the weight of the bell so when you release it the handle does not rotate consistently and it makes it hard to catch. The K2’s have a sort of uptown gym look as they have a high tech shine and finish as compared to the flat, caveman sort of appeal of the Dragon Door bells of the Party and they take paint very well in case you want to personalize them. (The photo is of DD bells and PowerMax bells).
Tom warned us right off the bat that CrossFitters are strong enough to hurt themselves, the implication being that it is very important to up your dose of KB weights with caution so as not to go from the cutting edge of fitness to the…ummm, I don’t have a clever finish there but his point was to get the form down first with a lighter bell and then go up in weight only after your form is solid. The rest of this line is here just to make it even with the picture.

Swing Progression
As an indicator of just how important the squatting motion is in KB work, it was the very first thing we did. Tom had us all squat to rock bottom and loiter there for a bit as he took a look at our positions. You know the drill, feet about shoulder width apart with the toes very slightly out, knees track over the toes but not past them, hold the curve in the lower back, weight on the heels, back flat, shoulders pulled back, chest out, head up and eyes forward.
Satisfied with our squats we put kettlebell between our feet at the midpoint of our arch and squatted down until we could grab the handle. Then we stood up with it for a KB deadlift. You are not bending over of course but rather sitting back as if sitting down on a box. Stick your butt back and be careful not to collapse, sit with control folding at the hips and then stand with the bell the same way, but in reverse.
After a few slow reps we picked up the speed a bit for a rhythmic deadlift being certain to push with the heels driving vertically. It was easy to see that the harder upward acceleration with the legs lent itself to the lifting of the kettlebell and created the swing. With the addition and moderation of a forward and slightly upward thrust of the hips the swing can be adjusted from a very low hip height movement through chest high, chin high or all the way overhead in the American swing which is the CF method.
Notice how Samantha’s head is just slightly behind her heels here as she does a low swing. She needs to counter balance the weight of the bell with that lean and she has just thrust her hips forward to get the bell to swing. This is not an arm lift at all but an extension, a projection of the bell though the power of the legs and hips. Here Tom is demonstrating the next level of swing progression by having a partner hold his hand at your belly button height and swing the weight up to where it just touches their hand. It is to develop the accuracy of your swing so that you can send it to whatever height you want through the proper degree of hip thrust. After we did this we added a bit of power and Tom showed us that with sufficient leg and hip extension you can launch yourself off the ground in a flat footed hop which demonstrates the power of the movement. He made a point to remind us that you should not try to leave the ground but rather to simply, forcefully, powerfully extend your hips. Leaving the ground is just evidence of how much power you are creating with your swing.

If you have trouble with your hip extension and can’t seem to do anything but throw the middle of you generally forward, try this drill. Lie down on your back as Samantha is doing here and put a ball between your knees. Squeeze your knees together to isolate your hips and lift your hips up and down to get a sensation for what a proper hip thrust should feel like. You will notice that your hips don’t go straight up and down but rather upward and backward slightly (toward your head) so that if you were standing up the movement would be belly button slightly upward not straight ahead. Having the ball between your knees insures you are using your hips to do the movement rather than just hiking yourself up and down by extending your legs.
Keeping this sensation in mind get back up and do some swings in such a way that you extend your legs downward thorough your heels and your hips forward to project the kettlebell away from you. Since the weight is limited in its forward motion by the attachment to your shoulder, the kettlebell will rise in a short arc and it is the arc of travel you want to influence with your forward and upward hip thrust. Sip of air in on the way down and a short squirt of air out as you swing the bell upward.
Swing Variations

Take your kettlebell for a walk. Rather than just hanging out in place try some walking swings for a change of pace. Just as you get to the top of your arc take a quick step with each foot winding up with your feet side by side again as the bell goes back down. Be sure to step with the same foot first each time so you don’t have to think about your feet. Begin with just a few steps on a flat, level surface then add more steps, then go up hill then try stairs. Careful on the stairs. Tricky.

Try one on for size. When you have the two hand swing well in…um, hand, give one hand swings a go. Be sure to center your hand as you swing so that you pass the bell between your legs and not into a knee. You will have to compensate for the asymmetrical loading by pulling back the shoulder and hip on the side holding the kettlebell and really focus on the hip extension and forward/upward thrust of the hips to generate enough power to get a proper swing
When you tire of setting the bell down to switch hands, switch at the top of the swing and as your bell dexterity and timing improve try letting go at the top of the swing and then grabbing it with the other hand. This is not a beginning concept to be sure but certainly something easily attained with practice. For more details on letting go of the bell and grabbing it again; in other words, passing it Hand2Hand, check out Jeff Martone’s wonderful trio of videos on the topic of kettlebell juggling. Great stuff.

The Clean

Moving the bell from the floor to the position the girls are showing here is called the clean. Once the bell shows up in this position it is called the rack. Check out the racks on these girls. Red has her wrist bent a bit and the bell is not held in the hollow of her arm. It is a bit too far to her right so that the bottom of the bell protrudes outside the line of her body. Black has the bell pulled in tightly so that it is being supported by her body rather than by her arm. Her hand is near her centerline and the bell, her hips and her feet are in alignment. This rack position is very important and is the place from which the overhead lifts, the squatting movements and repetition cleans are done. Thanks to Amy and Amy for showing off their racks.
To learn how to clean properly, that is to get the bell from the ground into the racked position, it is best to start from the rack and work backwards from there. To do that start with a kettlebell between your feet and grip it to the left of center with your right hand all the way up against the horn. Stand with the bell and do a sort of cheat curl so that you use your left hand to help lift and situate the bell in a solid rack position. The bell sits in the hollow made by your bicep and forearm, your wrist is straight and the bell handle sits diagonally from the web of the thumb to the heel of your hand, fingers are loose as there is no need to tightly grip the kettlebell and you have your hips slightly forward to line up the bell, your hips and your heels.
Talk a walk with the bell like this and get used to the position. It should be solid and not require muscular effort to maintain. If it does, your alignment is wrong and you have to adjust the position until your skeleton supports the weight not your muscles. After you switch sides a few times and get accustomed to the rack position we need to lower the weight. Gravity is a great help here and can be relied upon to do just about all of the work. Let it. The bell should be fairly secure where it is so it won’t fall to the ground by itself. In order to do that you need to get your body out from under the weight with a tiny shuck with your shoulder and a rearward movement of your hips. You can make the bell fall straight down and then stop the descent just before it hits the ground by tightening your grip and tensing your body to receive the weight or you can let the bell fall slightly forward so that it swings in an arc back between your legs. You do the first one to repeat the dead hang type clean with the lawnmower pull and the second one with the arc if you are doing a swing clean.
Cheat curl the bell back up to the rack position and continue lowering the bell as described until the movement is smooth and thoughtless. The lowering of the bell now becomes the first part of the movement and the clean the second. Having established the downward path simply reverse the movement and quick as you please there’s your clean.

COOLEST THING I LEARNED AT THE SEMINAR

When you get some instructional DVD’s about kettlebell lifting you will occasionally see an RKC doing the swing movement without a kettlebell as a demonstration of the range of motion. You may notice that when he is at the bottom of the swing he will rotate his hand so that his thumb is facing up when his hand is way back between his legs. Then when pulling back up his hand will rotate in time with the raising of the arm so that his thumb is sideways when his arm is horizontal to the ground rotating to a thumbs up position at the top of the swing. Swing down thumb down, swing up thumb up. In addition to being a very theatrical way to hitch hike this motion provides a wonderful rotation to the kettlebell that allows it to “go around the corner” when doing the clean or snatch rather than flopping over the top and bashing the bejesus out of your forearm. This rotational movement is especially useful for high repetition cleans and snatches and when timed properly seems to use just slightly less energy than the pull/push, putting on a sweater thing you do with the snatch to make the handle rotate around the bell to reduce the impact. The thumb rotation method takes a little practice in order to get the timing down, but once you get the feel for it you will find that both your swing and clean take on a completely new look and feel and you will suffer just a little bit less from BFS.

Battered Forearm Syndrome

Tom had some old gym socks with the foot part cut off for anyone that wanted to enjoy that experience (he insisted they were clean) and showed us the wraps the gireveks use in competition. For the wildly reckless or incredibly tender, football type soft forearm pads can be used to soften the blow until the proper clean technique is mastered. It is a good idea to start with some sort of padding in order to not scare away new people who decide that kettlebell lifting causes forearm pain and injury and is to be avoided.
In addition to going around the corner rather than over the top with both the snatch and the clean, it is important to absorb the shock with the legs. Don’t just let the bell, especially a heavy one, just fall onto your arm and certainly don’t stand up into the descent, instead absorb the shock with a slight knee bend just as the kettlebell lands. This becomes less and less necessary as the hitch hike hand rotation is mastered because the bell never really falls on you.

Preparatory Exercises for the Clean

For those that still struggle a bit with the clean movement because they can’t seem to pull high enough or they pull at the wrong angle or they move their hand the wrong way at the top of the pull, here is the fix. Try some high pulls (envision Sumo Deadlift High Pull) with a single bell to about nipple height. The pull comes straight up and the bell should be horizontal at the top of the pull. This is called the lawnmower pull and it does not have an outward curving arc. In order to do this high pull properly you must forcefully extend the legs downward and the hips forward as you pull upward. At the top of the pull the bell will be weightless for a moment. Repeat this movement several times to get a feel for when the bell just sits in space neither rising nor falling. It is at that moment that you want to punch yourself in the face. Sorta. To practice this uppercut kind of movement have your partner hold the bell for you at the height where the weightless thing happens. They are to manipulate the bell so that you don’t have to carry any of the weight as you move the handle thorough a specific range of motion. You begin from the position where your fist, elbow and bicep are all in line parallel with the floor at about shoulder height with the bell also horizontal to the ground and facing away from you being held by your partner. Bring your whole arm, hand down a few inches as you rotate your hand (and the handle) inward and as your elbow continues to drop bring your hand upward toward your face as if you were going to punch yourself to the jaw. Your hand traces a U shape and the bell winds up in the rack position. Bring your hips forward (not your shoulders backward) to line up the kettlebell, your hip and your foot just as the bell nestles itself in the crook of your arm. Do enough reps with your partner to get a feeling for the U shape your hand will describe in the air and with a light kettlebell do several high pulls and just when you feel the bell float draw that U shape with your uppercut making sure the bell goes around your wrist and not over your fist. Don’t let the bell bang your arm – if it does you are probably letting the bell flip over the top of your fist. Remember to let the bell’s mass just rotate on its own central axis with the handle moving and the mass of the bell just hanging out in space as your fist and wrist go from above to below the bell, and be sure to absorb the shock with a slight knee bend just as the bell gently settles into the rack position. Well done. Nice rack.
Another preparatory exercise Tom presented was the six-gun. Imagine the old west gunslinger doing a quick draw and firing from the hip. Do the same with your bell but refrain from shooting anyone. The handle is vertical with your thumb facing up. You swing the bell between your legs with your hand in this alignment throughout the swing. It doesn’t take much of a flip of the wrist to have the bell rotate around your wrist into the rack position at the top. Remember the thumb rotation thing? Put that together with this six-gun movement and you will have no trouble at all getting the hang of getting the bell to go around the corner to avoid BFS.

Grace or Power?

When you do your pulls for either the clean or the snatch you can swing the bell in an arc or you can do a lawn mower type straight pull. The swing takes advantage of momentum the straight pull is more direct and powerful. You can do the straight pull with a bit of a rearward swing or really challenge yourself by doing it from the dead hang position.
To further muddy the technique waters we have the Girevoy sport method which is a bit different from what Tom has been presenting here. If you watch a Girevik do the clean or the snatch (which will be addressed soon enough) you will find that have a very slow and methodical metronomic movement that uses a bit less bend in the legs and a bit more bend in the back. Girevoy sport is done for maximum reps so energy conservation is a key component of each repetition. I mention the difference here so that you don’t watch a video of a competition and think that you have been taught incorrectly. The forum on www.dragondoor.com is a great resource for all things kettlebell and you will find a huge pool of KB information there.

Kettlebell Front Squat

Remember our focused effort on the squat at the start of the clinic? Well, put that together with a racked kettlebell and you have a single kettlebell front squat. Be sure to keep a nice flat back and as erect a posture as you can manage. Resist the urge to look up in the air and try to look a bit more forward instead. Feet are just slightly wider than the hips, toes slightly out, knees tracking over the toes, a sip of air into the belly and hold it on the way down, puff the air out as you press with the heels to get back up, keep the elbow tucked inside the thigh to avoid contact. The guy in the center is doing a thruster but at the bottom it is the same as the front squat. He could stand a slightly wider stance and it would be better for him to look a bit less upward and a bit more forward. You can do the front squat by itself of course, but to add a degree of difficulty do the:

Kettlebell Thruster

If you put together the front squat with a push press you create the thruster. Just as with the barbell thruster the bells move in time with your squat. From the racked position take a sip of air to pressurize and stabilize your torso and sit back to a full squat. (In each of the squat photos of Amy I caught her just as she was on her way up, the squat should be to a lower position and with the feet just slightly closer together). Exhale as you get to the top of the squat and continue the upward movement of the kettlebells unbroken, don’t stop at the top of the squat and then press the bells. The bells should not stop their upward track from the bottom of the squat to the top of the press. By the same token the downward movement is also unbroken so the bells follow a continuous downward and upward motion without any pause in between. The movement from the bottom up is not simply a standing motion but rather an upward explosion with a powerful thrust through the heels, with that power being transferred to the kettlebells so that they seem to float off the shoulders at the top of the squat. At that moment when the bells are weightless and have lifted slightly off your shoulders continue the explosive effort upward with the arms to push press the bells the rest of the way overhead to lockout.
Amy is doing the movement with two kettlebells but you might want to start with just one. In fact, if you have not done it before do it with no weight or a roll of Lifesavers in order to get a feel for the timing of the movement. With one kettlebell the weight will be less of course but the balance will a bit off as well and you will have to account for that with tension in your torso to keep from leaning over on the weighted side. Keep a steady even tempo and avoid pausing at the top of the squat. Instead drive through your heels and put the power of your legs into the push press.

Press – Push Press – Push Jerk

The first, and least powerful method for getting the bell overhead is called the Press and is simply an upward movement of the weight to an overhead, locked out position. To begin the Press adjust your forearm from the rack to a more vertical position, pressurize and extend the arm upward. As you push up rotate your forearm to the outside but don’t let your upper arm get parallel to your torso until your elbow is at least as high as your shoulder. Pressing with your elbow too low will create shoulder issues. The bell will go slightly behind your head at lockout for balance and proper alignment. Just as with a barbell press, when the kettlebell is overhead “look through the window” by extending your head thorough the window frame of your arms. This is the finish position for each of these lifts. When pressing the weight the lowering part stays under tension so that you can reverse the movement and get the weight back overhead, maintaining a vertical forearm.
The Push Press is next and is much like the Press except it has a leg dip just prior to the pressing movement to lend power from the legs to the arms. In fact, it is more of a leg movement than an arm movement when done properly and can handle much more weight than the Press alone. The Press is as simple drive of the weight upward. The Push Press is a dip and drive. The dip is just that, not a squat, just a slight bend in the knees and a powerful extension.
The Push Jerk begins the same way as the Push Press does but it finishes differently. The dip and drive is the same but then there a second dip to get under the weight. The timing must be such that as the bell gets to where it floats at the top of the drive with the legs, begin extending your arm as you dip under the weight. You are not pushing the weight up but are rather squatting down under the weight and extending your arm fully to catch the weight in a supported from the bottom position. As with the other lifts lockout at the top and peek your head forward so the weight is slightly behind your head.
Remember that with the Press the forearm begins from a vertical position. With the more ballistic Push Press and Push Jerk you will be using more weight and it is better to absorb the weight back into the rack position rather than to the bottom of the Press position. When you lower the kettlebell from the lockout be sure to use your legs like shock absorbers so as not to be punished by gravity’s insistence that the weight be back on the ground.

Split Jerk

Unlike the barbell split jerk which is done to allow the movement of greater weight overhead, the kettlebell split jerk is not really necessary to move greater weights but it does wonders in creating incredible cardio/respiratory and muscular endurance demands from the exercise. From the rack position jump the foot forward on the side holding the weight and other back so that you have your feet about shoulder width apart and your rear knee near the ground the front foot facing directly forward. Don’t float but rather explode downward as you drop under the weight and stomp your feet as you do with the barbell jerk. Very explosive and very, very fast.
The Kettlebell Snatch

Here are three snatch variations (for those of your familiar with Nicole’s picture and know she was really doing an OHS – keep it to yourself. Looks just like the end of a perfect squat snatch so let’s leave it at that). The idea is that you are moving a weighted object from the ground to overhead in one swift and powerful motion. You can do it with a barbell, you can do it with a dumbbell and you can do it with a kettlebell to either a squat or just as with the split jerk you can do a split snatch, or you can stay standing.

Here’s some great snatch info from the Dragon Door website.
The Competition Kettlebell Swing Snatch
Jim Trench, RKC

Jim Trench, RKC won the 1st Tactical Strength Challenge, Ready to Defend! Division, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is based out of Stamford, Connecticut where he trains clients one on one, in small groups, visits local gyms to promote KB’s sharing the value of the KB and holds private workshops for the trainers of these facilities in the proper use of the KB. He is currently enrolled in the CFA program in association with AIMR a recognized standard for ethical behavior and advises small businesses in the fitness industry via business plans, budgets, and marketing for market share. Contact Jim at JimTrench@infinite-knd.com

I picked up my first KB in February of 02 and started doing swings, cleans, and snatches. The cleans and snatches punished my forearms for a couple of weeks, and then it just clicked. The unnecessary pain I induced on my forearm stopped. No bang, no pain, it felt…pure. From that day on I never had a problem snatching any Kettlebell, including the bulldog.
I did not execute my first swing snatch until the RKC Certification in September. At the certification Jeff Martone led us in a post lunch “warm up” on the final day of the certification. He did 30 snatches each arm quick jog, then 20 quick jog, and finally 10 and in the process created a new reality for me. It wasn’t that he did 30 that was impressive…but the fact that it looked like he was just getting started. I am a trainer, my condition level sets the standard for what I expect out of the people that I train. I was in the low 20’s when he got to 30. Expectations I have for my clients never exceed my own expectations. My expectations rose. During the course Jeff said train smart not hard. This went against my philosophy in the sense of priorities, my focus is always go and keep going hard, fatigue to me, in part, is a matter of focus, technique suffers because I lose the focus to see through the fatigue, I had lost touch with the in part and made it a big part. So I had to take a step back and see how I was going. I mean, come on, the guy’s cranking snatches out like there nothing, so I contemplated the statement…and started to critique optimal form and how proper technique equated to maximum endurance, i.e. high repetitions.
EXECUTION• When indoors I always perform my Kettlebell exercises barefoot. Outdoors the same, weather permitting.
• Always respect the KB and the potential damage it can inflict upon you through lack of focus, awareness, and/or fatigue.
• Pick your KB up with tension in your abs to protect your back. • Your stance must be wide enough to let the kettlebell safely pass without hitting your knees, otherwise it should be close to your comfortable stance for a maximal jump. • The foot position should be comfortable. The knees must track your feet.• Throughout the exercise your back must remain FLAT. THAT DOES NOT MEAN UPRIGHT. In order to keep your shins near vertical you will have to fold over at you hips while keeping your back FLAT.
• From the standing position, abs tensed, initiate the swing portion by pulling your hips back and swinging the Kettlebell through your legs attempting to maintain near vertical shins. The bell should swing somewhere between your knees and upper thigh. This is body type justified. You must find the optimal position. • Important: efficient, controlled, power breathing. Match the breath with the exertion. • This step is critical for success: The Swing Factor gives you momentum and loading power, the goal is to fully utilize this factor. No wasted energy. If you go too far out with the KB energy dissipates outward not upward as it should. Go too tight and you are depriving yourself of the Swing Factor. This is body type justified. You must find the optimal position.
• In this step your weight transfer goes from your heels towards your toes, your hips explode forward and up, this is not done passively but very Aggressively, and the KB is going up.
• Visualize a line moving along the centerline of your body, and always keep your energy and focus on keeping the inside of the KB along that line • On the ascension your elbow is somewhere between 150 and 170 degrees. This is to allow for the punch out that is required at the top of the motion for a smooth landing. • As the KB reaches the zone between your neck and your eyes, full lock out your knees and maximally contract your glutes for best explosion. If done on the 2nd floor, the force with which you drive into the ground should shake the floor and any objects in the vicinity.
• If this step is done correctly the KB should feel extremely light to weightless through this portion.
• As the KB enters eye level manipulation begins. As you are flicking your wrist execute the punch out to elbow lockout. If done properly you will know it. The flick of your wrist is a very subtle move. Your wrist should end up in the neutral position, straight line between knuckles and elbow.
• From the top position, weight on your heels, AGGRESSIVELY flick the KB back over your wrist, pulling hips back, keeping the shins as vertical as possible. Where the grip should be on the handle is body type specific. I personally have long fingers and like to catch it on my fingers for the descent. • Same factors must be considered as on the way up. The deeper you can squat down, keeping your shins near vertical, good balance and a strong base, the longer you will go.
• Mental checklist: field of vision, hip initiation, weight on heels, back flat, one fluid motion, explode, and ENJOY!!!

WORKOUT

Set 1: 5 reps with a 2.5 KB each arm.
Rest period of 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest period execute the lunge hip flexor stretch from Relax into Stretch.
Set 2: 5 reps with a 2 pood KB each arm then 10 reps each arm.
Rest period 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest execute Karate Stance Groin Stretch from Relax into Stretch.
Set 3: 5 reps with a 1.5 pood KB each arm, then 10 then 15.
Rest period 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest execute the Crawling Lizard from Relax into Stretch.
Set 4: 5 reps with a 1 pood each arm, then 10, 15, and 20.
Rest period 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest execute Hip Flexor Quad Stretch from Relax into Stretch.
VARIATIONS

(1) Start with high reps and descend to 5 reps each arm.
(2) Go all out with first set, once you reach 10 with the heaviest KB you work with add in 5 reps each arm. Work up to 20 each side before progressing to the next level.
(3) The stretches are endless to incorporate. I target stretches that focus on the weak links, taken from Relax into Stretch and Super Joints for the most part. (4) Time yourself taking into account the amount of time you stretched and how you felt after doing 3 minutes vs. 30 seconds of stretching at the end.
(5) Start with the light KB and go up the pood level with the descending reps.
(6) Go down and then back up.
(7) Go down no stretching and back up with stretching and vice versa .
(8) Attempt with no stretching for time.
A variation of the swing snatch would be to end up on the tips of your toes and remain in that position. This is a great way to critique body awareness at lockout. The goal is to come off your toes because you want to not because you have to. The definition of a snatch: from the deck in one fluid motion bring the weight to a lockout over head. How you accomplish this is your business. The optimal snatch looks effortless. No two swing snatches will be the same: flexibility, strength, mind-body connection, grip strength, lactic acid thresholds, height, weight, etc. all play a role in what you will ascertain as the most efficient technique for you. The least you can do is have someone critique your form, the best you can do is have someone with knowledge experience, and success critique your form. Now whether that means Pavel, an RKC instructor, somebody you train with, a spouse, or just a friend is up to you.

Conclusion

So there you have it, three hours with Tom. The core elements were first of all insuring you have a good squat because proper kettlebell movements require a powerful extension of the hips. Remember to try that ball drill if you have any trouble with hip extension. We did the two hand swing, the clean, the press, push press and push jerk, and the snatch. Tom showed us preparatory movements for each of the elements such as the deadlift, partial swings, the six gun and the assistance clean and variations on a theme such as one hand swings, walking swings (to which you can add an incline or stairs) thrusters which are a CrossFit staple and the split jerk or split snatch. What became very obvious in our very informative 3 hours was that if you get bored with kettlebells, it’s not the fault of the kettlebells. The variations, combinations, alterations, substitutions, and technique adjustments/refinements will keep you busy for years. Tom Corrigan RKC
Kettlebell Lifting for CrossFitters
Notes by Eugene R. Allen

O
n Saturday 051306 Kurt Bowler hosted a kettlebell seminar at his Puyallup, Washington facility - Rainier CrossFit - instructed by Tom Corrigan RKC and assisted by Samantha Young RKC. Samantha was recently featured in Pavel’s Vitalics magazine and is a national champion diver who just got a full ride scholarship to Berkeley. She recently did two hundred and forty some snatches with a 26 pound kettlebell in 10 minutes at a bodyweight of about 120 lbs. Samantha told us that kettlebell training and CrossFit has helped her diving substantially by improving her endurance for longer training sessions and her explosive power off the board.

For the Hard of Reading:

If you have a really short attention span and the patience of a 5 year old with a can of Coke and half gone basket of Halloween candy and you want no part of what you consider to be data mining from this document to get a nugget of information here and there you can use, allow me to present the Cliff Notes version:

Grab bell by the horn

If you are going to clean or snatch your bell grip it all the way to the horn (that’s the vertical part that sticks up out of the round part of the kettlebell) on the thumb side of your grip. This way when you clean the bell the handle will be sitting at an angle downward and away from your thumb and on the heel of your palm.

Swing down thumb down, swing up thumb up

Have you ever noticed that when an RKC swings their arm sans a bell as if doing a one handed swing they have their thumb sticking out and it points down as they swing their arm down then up at the back of the swing? When they swing their arm forward their thumb points downward as their arm arcs up but at the top of the swing their thumb begins to turn up. The idea is to go around the corner rather that over the top in order to minimize the impact of the bell on the back of your wrist. You can apply this concept to the snatch and make it less of an over the top movement and more of a soft roll around your wrist movement…with a little practice.

Pressing tips

Begin your presses with your forearms vertical rather than against your chest in the rack position. As you press the weight upward allow your forearms to drift out to the side as they go upward but do not let your biceps line up with chest until your elbows are above or at least in line with your shoulders.

Breathing tips

Remember that Coach is a big advocate of breathing and thinks we should all do it. Especially when exercising. Tom suggested a sip of air when you begin your movement that goes to the belly and tightens up your abdomen. Then squirt a little air out at the completion of the exertion phase of the exercise only to suck in a bit as you return to the start. Short quick breaths.

Eyes forward

Don’t look down as you do your KB work but don’t look up either. Keep your eyes facing forward. The exception here is when doing things like the Turkish Get-up, the squat snatch or other similar lifts where you have to look at the kettlebell.

www.k2fitness.net

These kettlebells have the exact same feel as the Dragon Door bells insofar as the handle height, thickness and horn width but with the added attraction of a very nice glossy painted finish and a cheaper price than Dragon Door. The painted surface is very smooth but is not slippery and they look terrific. They are not simply a painted version of some other kettlebell, they have a nice raised K2 logo and if you like DD bells you will love these. Unlike the PowerMax KB’s you can get both hands into the handle for the swings and when you do the H2H stuff the bell swings evenly. The PM bells have a heavier handle relative to the weight of the bell so when you release it the handle does not rotate consistently and it makes it hard to catch. The K2’s have a sort of uptown gym look as they have a high tech shine and finish as compared to the flat, caveman sort of appeal of the Dragon Door bells of the Party and they take paint very well in case you want to personalize them. (The photo is of DD bells and PowerMax bells).
Tom warned us right off the bat that CrossFitters are strong enough to hurt themselves, the implication being that it is very important to up your dose of KB weights with caution so as not to go from the cutting edge of fitness to the…ummm, I don’t have a clever finish there but his point was to get the form down first with a lighter bell and then go up in weight only after your form is solid. The rest of this line is here just to make it even with the picture.

Swing Progression
As an indicator of just how important the squatting motion is in KB work, it was the very first thing we did. Tom had us all squat to rock bottom and loiter there for a bit as he took a look at our positions. You know the drill, feet about shoulder width apart with the toes very slightly out, knees track over the toes but not past them, hold the curve in the lower back, weight on the heels, back flat, shoulders pulled back, chest out, head up and eyes forward.
Satisfied with our squats we put kettlebell between our feet at the midpoint of our arch and squatted down until we could grab the handle. Then we stood up with it for a KB deadlift. You are not bending over of course but rather sitting back as if sitting down on a box. Stick your butt back and be careful not to collapse, sit with control folding at the hips and then stand with the bell the same way, but in reverse.
After a few slow reps we picked up the speed a bit for a rhythmic deadlift being certain to push with the heels driving vertically. It was easy to see that the harder upward acceleration with the legs lent itself to the lifting of the kettlebell and created the swing. With the addition and moderation of a forward and slightly upward thrust of the hips the swing can be adjusted from a very low hip height movement through chest high, chin high or all the way overhead in the American swing which is the CF method.
Notice how Samantha’s head is just slightly behind her heels here as she does a low swing. She needs to counter balance the weight of the bell with that lean and she has just thrust her hips forward to get the bell to swing. This is not an arm lift at all but an extension, a projection of the bell though the power of the legs and hips. Here Tom is demonstrating the next level of swing progression by having a partner hold his hand at your belly button height and swing the weight up to where it just touches their hand. It is to develop the accuracy of your swing so that you can send it to whatever height you want through the proper degree of hip thrust. After we did this we added a bit of power and Tom showed us that with sufficient leg and hip extension you can launch yourself off the ground in a flat footed hop which demonstrates the power of the movement. He made a point to remind us that you should not try to leave the ground but rather to simply, forcefully, powerfully extend your hips. Leaving the ground is just evidence of how much power you are creating with your swing.

If you have trouble with your hip extension and can’t seem to do anything but throw the middle of you generally forward, try this drill. Lie down on your back as Samantha is doing here and put a ball between your knees. Squeeze your knees together to isolate your hips and lift your hips up and down to get a sensation for what a proper hip thrust should feel like. You will notice that your hips don’t go straight up and down but rather upward and backward slightly (toward your head) so that if you were standing up the movement would be belly button slightly upward not straight ahead. Having the ball between your knees insures you are using your hips to do the movement rather than just hiking yourself up and down by extending your legs.
Keeping this sensation in mind get back up and do some swings in such a way that you extend your legs downward thorough your heels and your hips forward to project the kettlebell away from you. Since the weight is limited in its forward motion by the attachment to your shoulder, the kettlebell will rise in a short arc and it is the arc of travel you want to influence with your forward and upward hip thrust. Sip of air in on the way down and a short squirt of air out as you swing the bell upward.
Swing Variations

Take your kettlebell for a walk. Rather than just hanging out in place try some walking swings for a change of pace. Just as you get to the top of your arc take a quick step with each foot winding up with your feet side by side again as the bell goes back down. Be sure to step with the same foot first each time so you don’t have to think about your feet. Begin with just a few steps on a flat, level surface then add more steps, then go up hill then try stairs. Careful on the stairs. Tricky.

Try one on for size. When you have the two hand swing well in…um, hand, give one hand swings a go. Be sure to center your hand as you swing so that you pass the bell between your legs and not into a knee. You will have to compensate for the asymmetrical loading by pulling back the shoulder and hip on the side holding the kettlebell and really focus on the hip extension and forward/upward thrust of the hips to generate enough power to get a proper swing
When you tire of setting the bell down to switch hands, switch at the top of the swing and as your bell dexterity and timing improve try letting go at the top of the swing and then grabbing it with the other hand. This is not a beginning concept to be sure but certainly something easily attained with practice. For more details on letting go of the bell and grabbing it again; in other words, passing it Hand2Hand, check out Jeff Martone’s wonderful trio of videos on the topic of kettlebell juggling. Great stuff.

The Clean

Moving the bell from the floor to the position the girls are showing here is called the clean. Once the bell shows up in this position it is called the rack. Check out the racks on these girls. Red has her wrist bent a bit and the bell is not held in the hollow of her arm. It is a bit too far to her right so that the bottom of the bell protrudes outside the line of her body. Black has the bell pulled in tightly so that it is being supported by her body rather than by her arm. Her hand is near her centerline and the bell, her hips and her feet are in alignment. This rack position is very important and is the place from which the overhead lifts, the squatting movements and repetition cleans are done. Thanks to Amy and Amy for showing off their racks.
To learn how to clean properly, that is to get the bell from the ground into the racked position, it is best to start from the rack and work backwards from there. To do that start with a kettlebell between your feet and grip it to the left of center with your right hand all the way up against the horn. Stand with the bell and do a sort of cheat curl so that you use your left hand to help lift and situate the bell in a solid rack position. The bell sits in the hollow made by your bicep and forearm, your wrist is straight and the bell handle sits diagonally from the web of the thumb to the heel of your hand, fingers are loose as there is no need to tightly grip the kettlebell and you have your hips slightly forward to line up the bell, your hips and your heels.
Talk a walk with the bell like this and get used to the position. It should be solid and not require muscular effort to maintain. If it does, your alignment is wrong and you have to adjust the position until your skeleton supports the weight not your muscles. After you switch sides a few times and get accustomed to the rack position we need to lower the weight. Gravity is a great help here and can be relied upon to do just about all of the work. Let it. The bell should be fairly secure where it is so it won’t fall to the ground by itself. In order to do that you need to get your body out from under the weight with a tiny shuck with your shoulder and a rearward movement of your hips. You can make the bell fall straight down and then stop the descent just before it hits the ground by tightening your grip and tensing your body to receive the weight or you can let the bell fall slightly forward so that it swings in an arc back between your legs. You do the first one to repeat the dead hang type clean with the lawnmower pull and the second one with the arc if you are doing a swing clean.
Cheat curl the bell back up to the rack position and continue lowering the bell as described until the movement is smooth and thoughtless. The lowering of the bell now becomes the first part of the movement and the clean the second. Having established the downward path simply reverse the movement and quick as you please there’s your clean.

COOLEST THING I LEARNED AT THE SEMINAR

When you get some instructional DVD’s about kettlebell lifting you will occasionally see an RKC doing the swing movement without a kettlebell as a demonstration of the range of motion. You may notice that when he is at the bottom of the swing he will rotate his hand so that his thumb is facing up when his hand is way back between his legs. Then when pulling back up his hand will rotate in time with the raising of the arm so that his thumb is sideways when his arm is horizontal to the ground rotating to a thumbs up position at the top of the swing. Swing down thumb down, swing up thumb up. In addition to being a very theatrical way to hitch hike this motion provides a wonderful rotation to the kettlebell that allows it to “go around the corner” when doing the clean or snatch rather than flopping over the top and bashing the bejesus out of your forearm. This rotational movement is especially useful for high repetition cleans and snatches and when timed properly seems to use just slightly less energy than the pull/push, putting on a sweater thing you do with the snatch to make the handle rotate around the bell to reduce the impact. The thumb rotation method takes a little practice in order to get the timing down, but once you get the feel for it you will find that both your swing and clean take on a completely new look and feel and you will suffer just a little bit less from BFS.

Battered Forearm Syndrome

Tom had some old gym socks with the foot part cut off for anyone that wanted to enjoy that experience (he insisted they were clean) and showed us the wraps the gireveks use in competition. For the wildly reckless or incredibly tender, football type soft forearm pads can be used to soften the blow until the proper clean technique is mastered. It is a good idea to start with some sort of padding in order to not scare away new people who decide that kettlebell lifting causes forearm pain and injury and is to be avoided.
In addition to going around the corner rather than over the top with both the snatch and the clean, it is important to absorb the shock with the legs. Don’t just let the bell, especially a heavy one, just fall onto your arm and certainly don’t stand up into the descent, instead absorb the shock with a slight knee bend just as the kettlebell lands. This becomes less and less necessary as the hitch hike hand rotation is mastered because the bell never really falls on you.

Preparatory Exercises for the Clean

For those that still struggle a bit with the clean movement because they can’t seem to pull high enough or they pull at the wrong angle or they move their hand the wrong way at the top of the pull, here is the fix. Try some high pulls (envision Sumo Deadlift High Pull) with a single bell to about nipple height. The pull comes straight up and the bell should be horizontal at the top of the pull. This is called the lawnmower pull and it does not have an outward curving arc. In order to do this high pull properly you must forcefully extend the legs downward and the hips forward as you pull upward. At the top of the pull the bell will be weightless for a moment. Repeat this movement several times to get a feel for when the bell just sits in space neither rising nor falling. It is at that moment that you want to punch yourself in the face. Sorta. To practice this uppercut kind of movement have your partner hold the bell for you at the height where the weightless thing happens. They are to manipulate the bell so that you don’t have to carry any of the weight as you move the handle thorough a specific range of motion. You begin from the position where your fist, elbow and bicep are all in line parallel with the floor at about shoulder height with the bell also horizontal to the ground and facing away from you being held by your partner. Bring your whole arm, hand down a few inches as you rotate your hand (and the handle) inward and as your elbow continues to drop bring your hand upward toward your face as if you were going to punch yourself to the jaw. Your hand traces a U shape and the bell winds up in the rack position. Bring your hips forward (not your shoulders backward) to line up the kettlebell, your hip and your foot just as the bell nestles itself in the crook of your arm. Do enough reps with your partner to get a feeling for the U shape your hand will describe in the air and with a light kettlebell do several high pulls and just when you feel the bell float draw that U shape with your uppercut making sure the bell goes around your wrist and not over your fist. Don’t let the bell bang your arm – if it does you are probably letting the bell flip over the top of your fist. Remember to let the bell’s mass just rotate on its own central axis with the handle moving and the mass of the bell just hanging out in space as your fist and wrist go from above to below the bell, and be sure to absorb the shock with a slight knee bend just as the bell gently settles into the rack position. Well done. Nice rack.
Another preparatory exercise Tom presented was the six-gun. Imagine the old west gunslinger doing a quick draw and firing from the hip. Do the same with your bell but refrain from shooting anyone. The handle is vertical with your thumb facing up. You swing the bell between your legs with your hand in this alignment throughout the swing. It doesn’t take much of a flip of the wrist to have the bell rotate around your wrist into the rack position at the top. Remember the thumb rotation thing? Put that together with this six-gun movement and you will have no trouble at all getting the hang of getting the bell to go around the corner to avoid BFS.

Grace or Power?

When you do your pulls for either the clean or the snatch you can swing the bell in an arc or you can do a lawn mower type straight pull. The swing takes advantage of momentum the straight pull is more direct and powerful. You can do the straight pull with a bit of a rearward swing or really challenge yourself by doing it from the dead hang position.
To further muddy the technique waters we have the Girevoy sport method which is a bit different from what Tom has been presenting here. If you watch a Girevik do the clean or the snatch (which will be addressed soon enough) you will find that have a very slow and methodical metronomic movement that uses a bit less bend in the legs and a bit more bend in the back. Girevoy sport is done for maximum reps so energy conservation is a key component of each repetition. I mention the difference here so that you don’t watch a video of a competition and think that you have been taught incorrectly. The forum on www.dragondoor.com is a great resource for all things kettlebell and you will find a huge pool of KB information there.

Kettlebell Front Squat

Remember our focused effort on the squat at the start of the clinic? Well, put that together with a racked kettlebell and you have a single kettlebell front squat. Be sure to keep a nice flat back and as erect a posture as you can manage. Resist the urge to look up in the air and try to look a bit more forward instead. Feet are just slightly wider than the hips, toes slightly out, knees tracking over the toes, a sip of air into the belly and hold it on the way down, puff the air out as you press with the heels to get back up, keep the elbow tucked inside the thigh to avoid contact. The guy in the center is doing a thruster but at the bottom it is the same as the front squat. He could stand a slightly wider stance and it would be better for him to look a bit less upward and a bit more forward. You can do the front squat by itself of course, but to add a degree of difficulty do the:

Kettlebell Thruster

If you put together the front squat with a push press you create the thruster. Just as with the barbell thruster the bells move in time with your squat. From the racked position take a sip of air to pressurize and stabilize your torso and sit back to a full squat. (In each of the squat photos of Amy I caught her just as she was on her way up, the squat should be to a lower position and with the feet just slightly closer together). Exhale as you get to the top of the squat and continue the upward movement of the kettlebells unbroken, don’t stop at the top of the squat and then press the bells. The bells should not stop their upward track from the bottom of the squat to the top of the press. By the same token the downward movement is also unbroken so the bells follow a continuous downward and upward motion without any pause in between. The movement from the bottom up is not simply a standing motion but rather an upward explosion with a powerful thrust through the heels, with that power being transferred to the kettlebells so that they seem to float off the shoulders at the top of the squat. At that moment when the bells are weightless and have lifted slightly off your shoulders continue the explosive effort upward with the arms to push press the bells the rest of the way overhead to lockout.
Amy is doing the movement with two kettlebells but you might want to start with just one. In fact, if you have not done it before do it with no weight or a roll of Lifesavers in order to get a feel for the timing of the movement. With one kettlebell the weight will be less of course but the balance will a bit off as well and you will have to account for that with tension in your torso to keep from leaning over on the weighted side. Keep a steady even tempo and avoid pausing at the top of the squat. Instead drive through your heels and put the power of your legs into the push press.

Press – Push Press – Push Jerk

The first, and least powerful method for getting the bell overhead is called the Press and is simply an upward movement of the weight to an overhead, locked out position. To begin the Press adjust your forearm from the rack to a more vertical position, pressurize and extend the arm upward. As you push up rotate your forearm to the outside but don’t let your upper arm get parallel to your torso until your elbow is at least as high as your shoulder. Pressing with your elbow too low will create shoulder issues. The bell will go slightly behind your head at lockout for balance and proper alignment. Just as with a barbell press, when the kettlebell is overhead “look through the window” by extending your head thorough the window frame of your arms. This is the finish position for each of these lifts. When pressing the weight the lowering part stays under tension so that you can reverse the movement and get the weight back overhead, maintaining a vertical forearm.
The Push Press is next and is much like the Press except it has a leg dip just prior to the pressing movement to lend power from the legs to the arms. In fact, it is more of a leg movement than an arm movement when done properly and can handle much more weight than the Press alone. The Press is as simple drive of the weight upward. The Push Press is a dip and drive. The dip is just that, not a squat, just a slight bend in the knees and a powerful extension.
The Push Jerk begins the same way as the Push Press does but it finishes differently. The dip and drive is the same but then there a second dip to get under the weight. The timing must be such that as the bell gets to where it floats at the top of the drive with the legs, begin extending your arm as you dip under the weight. You are not pushing the weight up but are rather squatting down under the weight and extending your arm fully to catch the weight in a supported from the bottom position. As with the other lifts lockout at the top and peek your head forward so the weight is slightly behind your head.
Remember that with the Press the forearm begins from a vertical position. With the more ballistic Push Press and Push Jerk you will be using more weight and it is better to absorb the weight back into the rack position rather than to the bottom of the Press position. When you lower the kettlebell from the lockout be sure to use your legs like shock absorbers so as not to be punished by gravity’s insistence that the weight be back on the ground.

Split Jerk

Unlike the barbell split jerk which is done to allow the movement of greater weight overhead, the kettlebell split jerk is not really necessary to move greater weights but it does wonders in creating incredible cardio/respiratory and muscular endurance demands from the exercise. From the rack position jump the foot forward on the side holding the weight and other back so that you have your feet about shoulder width apart and your rear knee near the ground the front foot facing directly forward. Don’t float but rather explode downward as you drop under the weight and stomp your feet as you do with the barbell jerk. Very explosive and very, very fast.
The Kettlebell Snatch

Here are three snatch variations (for those of your familiar with Nicole’s picture and know she was really doing an OHS – keep it to yourself. Looks just like the end of a perfect squat snatch so let’s leave it at that). The idea is that you are moving a weighted object from the ground to overhead in one swift and powerful motion. You can do it with a barbell, you can do it with a dumbbell and you can do it with a kettlebell to either a squat or just as with the split jerk you can do a split snatch, or you can stay standing.

Here’s some great snatch info from the Dragon Door website.
The Competition Kettlebell Swing Snatch
Jim Trench, RKC

Jim Trench, RKC won the 1st Tactical Strength Challenge, Ready to Defend! Division, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is based out of Stamford, Connecticut where he trains clients one on one, in small groups, visits local gyms to promote KB’s sharing the value of the KB and holds private workshops for the trainers of these facilities in the proper use of the KB. He is currently enrolled in the CFA program in association with AIMR a recognized standard for ethical behavior and advises small businesses in the fitness industry via business plans, budgets, and marketing for market share. Contact Jim at JimTrench@infinite-knd.com

I picked up my first KB in February of 02 and started doing swings, cleans, and snatches. The cleans and snatches punished my forearms for a couple of weeks, and then it just clicked. The unnecessary pain I induced on my forearm stopped. No bang, no pain, it felt…pure. From that day on I never had a problem snatching any Kettlebell, including the bulldog.
I did not execute my first swing snatch until the RKC Certification in September. At the certification Jeff Martone led us in a post lunch “warm up” on the final day of the certification. He did 30 snatches each arm quick jog, then 20 quick jog, and finally 10 and in the process created a new reality for me. It wasn’t that he did 30 that was impressive…but the fact that it looked like he was just getting started. I am a trainer, my condition level sets the standard for what I expect out of the people that I train. I was in the low 20’s when he got to 30. Expectations I have for my clients never exceed my own expectations. My expectations rose. During the course Jeff said train smart not hard. This went against my philosophy in the sense of priorities, my focus is always go and keep going hard, fatigue to me, in part, is a matter of focus, technique suffers because I lose the focus to see through the fatigue, I had lost touch with the in part and made it a big part. So I had to take a step back and see how I was going. I mean, come on, the guy’s cranking snatches out like there nothing, so I contemplated the statement…and started to critique optimal form and how proper technique equated to maximum endurance, i.e. high repetitions.
EXECUTION• When indoors I always perform my Kettlebell exercises barefoot. Outdoors the same, weather permitting.
• Always respect the KB and the potential damage it can inflict upon you through lack of focus, awareness, and/or fatigue.
• Pick your KB up with tension in your abs to protect your back. • Your stance must be wide enough to let the kettlebell safely pass without hitting your knees, otherwise it should be close to your comfortable stance for a maximal jump. • The foot position should be comfortable. The knees must track your feet.• Throughout the exercise your back must remain FLAT. THAT DOES NOT MEAN UPRIGHT. In order to keep your shins near vertical you will have to fold over at you hips while keeping your back FLAT.
• From the standing position, abs tensed, initiate the swing portion by pulling your hips back and swinging the Kettlebell through your legs attempting to maintain near vertical shins. The bell should swing somewhere between your knees and upper thigh. This is body type justified. You must find the optimal position. • Important: efficient, controlled, power breathing. Match the breath with the exertion. • This step is critical for success: The Swing Factor gives you momentum and loading power, the goal is to fully utilize this factor. No wasted energy. If you go too far out with the KB energy dissipates outward not upward as it should. Go too tight and you are depriving yourself of the Swing Factor. This is body type justified. You must find the optimal position.
• In this step your weight transfer goes from your heels towards your toes, your hips explode forward and up, this is not done passively but very Aggressively, and the KB is going up.
• Visualize a line moving along the centerline of your body, and always keep your energy and focus on keeping the inside of the KB along that line • On the ascension your elbow is somewhere between 150 and 170 degrees. This is to allow for the punch out that is required at the top of the motion for a smooth landing. • As the KB reaches the zone between your neck and your eyes, full lock out your knees and maximally contract your glutes for best explosion. If done on the 2nd floor, the force with which you drive into the ground should shake the floor and any objects in the vicinity.
• If this step is done correctly the KB should feel extremely light to weightless through this portion.
• As the KB enters eye level manipulation begins. As you are flicking your wrist execute the punch out to elbow lockout. If done properly you will know it. The flick of your wrist is a very subtle move. Your wrist should end up in the neutral position, straight line between knuckles and elbow.
• From the top position, weight on your heels, AGGRESSIVELY flick the KB back over your wrist, pulling hips back, keeping the shins as vertical as possible. Where the grip should be on the handle is body type specific. I personally have long fingers and like to catch it on my fingers for the descent. • Same factors must be considered as on the way up. The deeper you can squat down, keeping your shins near vertical, good balance and a strong base, the longer you will go.
• Mental checklist: field of vision, hip initiation, weight on heels, back flat, one fluid motion, explode, and ENJOY!!!

WORKOUT

Set 1: 5 reps with a 2.5 KB each arm.
Rest period of 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest period execute the lunge hip flexor stretch from Relax into Stretch.
Set 2: 5 reps with a 2 pood KB each arm then 10 reps each arm.
Rest period 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest execute Karate Stance Groin Stretch from Relax into Stretch.
Set 3: 5 reps with a 1.5 pood KB each arm, then 10 then 15.
Rest period 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest execute the Crawling Lizard from Relax into Stretch.
Set 4: 5 reps with a 1 pood each arm, then 10, 15, and 20.
Rest period 30 seconds to 3 minutes: during rest execute Hip Flexor Quad Stretch from Relax into Stretch.
VARIATIONS

(1) Start with high reps and descend to 5 reps each arm.
(2) Go all out with first set, once you reach 10 with the heaviest KB you work with add in 5 reps each arm. Work up to 20 each side before progressing to the next level.
(3) The stretches are endless to incorporate. I target stretches that focus on the weak links, taken from Relax into Stretch and Super Joints for the most part. (4) Time yourself taking into account the amount of time you stretched and how you felt after doing 3 minutes vs. 30 seconds of stretching at the end.
(5) Start with the light KB and go up the pood level with the descending reps.
(6) Go down and then back up.
(7) Go down no stretching and back up with stretching and vice versa .
(8) Attempt with no stretching for time.
A variation of the swing snatch would be to end up on the tips of your toes and remain in that position. This is a great way to critique body awareness at lockout. The goal is to come off your toes because you want to not because you have to. The definition of a snatch: from the deck in one fluid motion bring the weight to a lockout over head. How you accomplish this is your business. The optimal snatch looks effortless. No two swing snatches will be the same: flexibility, strength, mind-body connection, grip strength, lactic acid thresholds, height, weight, etc. all play a role in what you will ascertain as the most efficient technique for you. The least you can do is have someone critique your form, the best you can do is have someone with knowledge experience, and success critique your form. Now whether that means Pavel, an RKC instructor, somebody you train with, a spouse, or just a friend is up to you.

Conclusion

So there you have it, three hours with Tom. The core elements were first of all insuring you have a good squat because proper kettlebell movements require a powerful extension of the hips. Remember to try that ball drill if you have any trouble with hip extension. We did the two hand swing, the clean, the press, push press and push jerk, and the snatch. Tom showed us preparatory movements for each of the elements such as the deadlift, partial swings, the six gun and the assistance clean and variations on a theme such as one hand swings, walking swings (to which you can add an incline or stairs) thrusters which are a CrossFit staple and the split jerk or split snatch. What became very obvious in our very informative 3 hours was that if you get bored with kettlebells, it’s not the fault of the kettlebells. The variations, combinations, alterations, substitutions, and technique adjustments/refinements will keep you busy for years. Oh, and don’t forget that you can juggle these things. Check out Jeff Martone’s Hand2Hand Kettlebell DVD’s. He shows you how to do release and catch moves which add another very fun, interesting and demanding element to your KB training.

Oh, and don’t forget that you can juggle these things. Check out Jeff Martone’s Hand2Hand Kettlebell DVD’s. He shows you how to do release and catch moves which add another very fun, interesting and demanding element to your KB training.