Author Archives: Tim Shuman

The Jerk

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If you know me you know I love the Big Bang exercises, starting with the Shoulder Press. One of the cousins of the press and another Big Bang movement is the Jerk. But for some reason, this movement scares people. They over analyze until they are paralyzed and ultimately never learn the movement. Here is how I break the Jerk down to make it simpler for my athletes. The biggest thing to remember is: Dip, Drive, Dip, then you Stand tall. It really is that simple.

*****First you need to have your mobility worked out… especially your thoracic mobility. Any ankle, hip, or shoulder issues and this move will make them worse. I require at least an FMS score of 2/2 in the shoulder before we begin to practice the Jerk.*****

These are the steps and movements I use to lead up to the Kettlebell Jerk.

Step One:
Loaded Holds. Clean a pair of heavy ‘bells and hold them in the rack position for time (30 secs, 1 min , 2 min). Here you’re learning to get comfortable under some heavy weight.

“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.” ~ Pavel Tsatsouline.
You’re also learning to brace -to really brace- your midsection. At this point you really want to spend some time  finding your Center of Gravity ( CoG ).
As with any rack position, root down, draw up your knee caps, glutes pinched, abs braced, lats flexed, shoulders in the back pockets.

Step Two:
The Dip. This is what really gets people frustrated with this lift. I think of the dip as a short squat or quarter front squat. This is a weightlifting FS not a powerlifting FS ( think more of a Goblet Squat). If your dip is too short you won’t move the ‘bells high enough to lock out. If your dip is too deep, you lose the mechanical advantage of the knee. You have to find that sweet spot (to get technical, Russian science says 11% of the height of the lifter is the depth).  As you practice this, think of compressing a very powerful spring that you’re going to let go. DO NOT hold/pause at the bottom of your Dip. Again find your CoG while moving.

Step Three:
The Drive. Start adding a bounce to your first Dip, while keeping the CoG between your mid foot and ankle joint. Start with your dip then explode out of the hole! The ‘bells should float at the top. Ride them back to your rack position and as soon as your arms contact your rib cage,  dip again to use your big muscles ( legs ) to distribute the force and repeat.  Here, again, you’re getting used to the weight and finding your CoG. Once you have a solid controlled bounce where the ‘bells reach at least parallel to your forehead, it’s time to move on.

Step Four:
Overhead Holds. Similar to the above but with a moderate set of ‘bells. Again you are getting comfortable with the weight overhead. Shoulders packed, hold for time. Start adding in your dip, with control, no explosion yet. Here your looking to groove your CoG with the weight overhead.Hand position is important here. Your going straight up from the rack.  There should be no outward motion of the arms. The closer to mid-line the safer you are.  One of my rules of thumb is when you look up at a ‘bell over your head you should be able to see the fat part of your thumb. If you only see iron you have issues ( this works for Pressing, and TGUs as well ).  This hand position has minimal movement in the shoulder joint keeping it in a safer position. And since the body of the ‘bell wants to come straight down if its over your face, it’s harder to bail out if things go wrong. 

Now to put it all together:
Get your mind right.

Clean your ‘bells. Root down, get comfortable.
First Dip
Drive, this is that ‘all or nothing’ point, you’re fully committed here… explode!
Second Dip, drop below the ‘bells to lock out your arms to catch weightless ‘bells overhead. In Kettlebells the start of a movement looks a lot like the finish, so this dip should look like the first.

Stand

You’re finished. Simple right?

We’ll add one more “D” the Drop. This is how you get the ‘bells back to the rack.  Ride the ‘bells back to the rack position and once your arms come in contact with your ribs, add a third dip, that looks like the first and second, to use your legs to catch the weight.

Return to the start position. You’re ready to go again.

Heels, up or down… this is always up for discussion.  All our Kettlebell movements drive through the heels, so, In my opinion, you should drive through the heels for Kettlebell Jerks. Just know that heels up or down are acceptable within the kettlebell community. Find what works best for you.

Don’t avoid this Big Bang movement, for for hip and leg power, shoulder stability and strength and to turn you body into a fat melting machine, Jerks are hard to beat. Enjoy..

Simple and Sinister

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Bringing the focus back…pavel1

Justin brought the sexy back,

now Pavel has brought the focus back.

In our world of strength we push the issue of; Patterning, Drilling, and Rep-ing. This being done until the pattern is no longer feed fwd thought process but the automatic “go to” movement, so the exercise can be done when fresh or dog tired without diminishing safety.  A simple example would be the Swing.. This movement ,” simple in its complexity, yet beautiful in its simplicity, ” is a BIG Bang for your buck movement. So much so it is called the “Center of the Kettlebell Universe”. Swings are the Foundation of many programs, we have 10000 Swing Challenges, we see 1000 Swing days, throughout the year and other great challenges.. But the question comes, from those Swings is How many are solid Swings? How many of those 1000/10000 Swings are just mailed in? In our world of Patterning we tend to get lazy and just let the body take over. I’m guilty of this myself, been there done that..

 But now, enter  “Simple and Sinister”. Pavel’s new book on what else, the BASICS.. He takes our beloved Program Minimum, adds a few warm up tweaks, flips it around then calmly demands FOCUS. Gone are the get what you can get done reps in “X” time.. Now your limited, 10 sets of 10 solid Heavy, Hardstyle/Strong/Pavel Swings anyway you want for 100 total quality reps. You notice right from the cover, Pavel’s free hand is used in the single hand Swing. It’s not off to the side, it’s tense right in front of him. You can see the irradiation being used to produce “Total Body Tension” in that Swing. FOCUS.  Patterning is great, but without focus they just become, reactions, add focus, they become intentions, intentions lead to more. More; strength, power, fat loss, cardio, flexibility, mobility. And isn’t that what we want?

Now the Get Up gets knocked around a bit as well. Gone are the time of just getting up. Now the heavy weights come out. I believe it was Jeff O’Connor who I first heard say ” We use light weight for corrections, but heavy weight corrects you’. Get Ups with heavy weight really grab your attention. You will focus on owning each position when there is a heavy iron Bell over your head.

And of course where would we be without a test to find baseline?

5 minute Swing test. As many Heavy one arm Swings in 5 minutes. Switch and rest as much as you want.. As you move through “Simple and Sinister” program you will see this number go up…

I recommend it..

Original Strength; What can you learn about movement from a baby?

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Have you noticed Original Strength (OS) is being mentioned everywhere lately?  You are probably wondering – what is OS?
Original Strength is a series of movements including rocking, rolling, nodding, and crawling.  It uses basic actions that even a baby can do.

These movements are used to:
•       Build a resilient body and improve your quality of life!
•       Improve your energy, focus and performance!

•       Immediately improve your athleticism and strength!

•       Overcome nagging injuries and issues quickly!
•       Rebuild the movement patterns you were born with!

Don’t worry – it is not complicated!  In fact, a baby could do them!  OS incorporates movement patterns you have been doing since you were a baby! OS takes you back to the basic/primal movement patterns we used to start walking. Yes everything a baby does before they can actually walk.
You are probably thinking, “I’m an adult, do I really need to be crawling, rolling around the floor?” Your body was not designed to be hunched over a keyboard all day! “The body is built to Move” (Tim Anderson). So back to the baby movements, OS uses these to reset the body and teach you to reconnect the “X” pattern of the body musculature.
Now you’re most likely wondering, “does it work?”
Long answer, “Yes”.

So, I’m bigger than the average Picnic basket-stealing bear. I like to pick up heavy things, and yet I have a slight issue. I have fusion in L3, 4,5 causing  18% loss of mobility (legally handicapped in 48 states). I find that I lean more towards breathing techniques and quadruped wide knee rocking with head nodding, as my daily GTG.  Neck rolling, upper body rolling, lower body rolling when my back is really giving me trouble. My go to OS Reset between heavy sets is standing cross crawling (SCC). With SCC, I use various speeds depending on the heavy movement, if it’s a fast movement I go with a slow SCC and vice versa. These are great for slowing down and taking a breather between sets.  These simple resets keep my back moving and give me a strong, stable base to pull and press heavy.
But don’t take my word for it. Orlandokettlebells is proud to present Original Strength Orlando, August 24th and 25th. That’s two days with Tim Anderson and Geoff Neupert, the founders of Original Strength, to learn the exact techniques, learn teaching progressions, and most importantly ask the questions you want to know.

Check it out here.

http://orlandokb.com/original-strength/

 

Just get it done.

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Seems People love to make empty promises to themselves. I want to do “X” by “Y”. Strike up the band, fireworks, Yah Rah Rah, then when “Y” comes around the goal of “X” is nowhere to be seen..
I’m sure you have heard/see these many, many times but here you go once again..

4 steps to get it done..
Step 1 Goal Setting
Set reachable short tem goals that can be quickly achieved with a slight amount of effort. Then set another and another, these mini goals quickly stack up and steam roll in the direction of a bigger goal. When you set these goals build a support group. Find like minded people and resources to help keep you focused on your goals.
Step 2 Commit yourself to change
Look back at where you’ve been, at what got you to where your at now, habits, attitude, actions. Now change them, they didn’t work so change them.

Step 3 Understand Setting and Keeping Your Priorities
Get your priorities in order. Who is going to do “XYZ”, that you absolutely have to do, if you can’t? You should be priority one, and as you progress through your goals this priority should never shange

Step 4 Live it
When you reach a goal let people know about it. Tell them how, teach them. The more you help others do what you have been able to do. This will motivate you to keep your commitment.

Sounds to easy doesn’t it. It is.

Two Pints

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I found this all over the inter-web, it’s a great life lesson to follow

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 glasses of red wine………

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, without speaking he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full of golf balls? They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two pints of Beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
Now, said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.’

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else; the small stuff.

If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘There is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.’

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. Do one more run down the ski slope. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of pints of Beer with a friend.’

Share this with a friends.

Comparisons

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Barbell Vs. Kettlebell.

Comparisons are everywhere; Push/Pull, Dead Lift/ Squat, Carnivore/ Veagan, Ga/Fla Football. And so on, you get the point. As a Strength Coach many of these questions come up all the time, and this is a big one. So lets get into this.

Barbell…

This could easily be called the King of the Strength equipment. You want to Pull heavy weight off the floor, Push heavy weight overhead, Drive it off your chest or stand up with it then squat Ass to Ankle an then stand again.. Barbell. These have been around forever and are definately the main stream go to equipment. When you hear, What do you Squat, Bench, Deadlift no one is talking about a Kettlebell, Dumbell or Machine, its Barbell movements..  Any self respecting GYM/Fitness Center has them, whether shiny chrome ones in the dress pretty to exercise Global Gyms or the dark almost rust colored ones found in the Hardstyle “SHUT UP AND LIFT” dungeons and sweat boxes. With the latter you just know those bars could tell stories of massive weight hosted.. So the Barbell gets it done, and can be found almost anywhere..

Kettlebell…

Ugly little hunk of iron.. Used in the 17th century to hoist cargo off barges, (they have been around longer than Barbells 19th century) workers soon found out they could be hoisted for incredible strength gains. Russian style Kettlebell movements utilize a total body concept. Abs braced, Shoulders packed, Lats firing, Glutes pinched, Quads drawing up the knee caps and Feet rooted through the floor. Now these techniques are used in other Strength Modalities, but you get a truer sense of them with Kettlebells. It’s has been stated ( by to many names to quote ) That you can do anything with a Kettlebell that you can do with a Barbell, Dumbbell or Machine with increased safety, with twice the results and in less time.

So what’s the Rub?

Kettlebell movements improve Barbell movements.

The KB Swing improves the BB Deadlift, the Double KB Press improves the Competition Lift ( Standing Press ), The KB Snatch and Clean improve the Olympic Snatch and Clean, and so on.

Now enter the Vicious Cycle, Improved KB movements lead to Heavy Barbell movements, lead to Heavier KB movements, and so on..

 

So which is better???? Truth is that depends on you….

 

 

 

 

Sam Clemens

Little Carb Rant

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Here is a little exert of a Nutrition Blog from my friend Clifton Harski of BA Training in San Diego. Cliff is an interesting character but knows his stuff.

From that article:

nobody agrees on carbohydrates and how many are a good idea. My thoughts: eat real food. You can’t overeat vegetables. You’ll shit on yourself if you eat too much fruit. And it’s really hard to overeat MOST animal products. Just don’t be an asshole. I’m pretty well firmly believing that carbohydrate timing can be optimized by placing it into the post workout window, or at the end of the day so long as you worked out that day. Broadly speaking, the leaner you are and the more muscle mass you have the more carbohydrates you get to have. At this point, after a certain small amount (in a range a state later) I basically see carbohydrates as a supplement for performance, not something you need for health. If you are looking to kick ass in the gym or in a sport, you need more of them. I’m not saying always be in ketosis-I’m saying have metabolic flexibilty where you can go no carb days, low carb days, and occasionally have more some days. Having to rely on gluconeogenisis all the time is probably too stressful for the body-for brief periods it probably provides some sort of benefit, as is the case with most things I think. Simple as that. If you are looking to lean out, you probably would do well to have less of them, at least for a while. I don’t see

the debate ever ending, but I would be shocked if within the next 5 years we don’t start seeing sweeping recommendations across all fitness/health communities that involve LESS carbohydrates. Just understand that we probably don’t need to
Here is a little exert of a Nutrition Blog from my friend Clifton Harski of BA Training in San Diego. Cliff is an interesting character but knows his stuff

“optimize” our carb intake, and that a range of 25% of your BW in grams of carbs to 50% of your BW in grams per day is plenty for feeling awesome and staying lean in the absence of high intensity workouts. Carb up more on high intensity days. I basically just made those numbers up…but they make sense to me.

Dae Ye Hoist? How much Stone?

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“If you want to Press a lot, you have to Press a lot”

This is a phrase that has been spoken and heard, written and read for many years. To some its in one ear out the other. To those who love the Competition Lift aka the Press its scripture.

But what does it really mean? At first read its seems a litte redundant. So lets break it down. “If you want to Press a lot(A), you have to Press a lot(B)”. So if a lot(A) means weight then a lot(B) means weight? Not so, a lot(B) means volume, high volume. So if you want to press heavy weight you need to press heavy weight for a lot reps aka volume. Ball park ranges are from 100-160 reps throughout a week.  But Pressing heavy weight with those rep numbers will kill you, right? Nope, not if your smart about it. Enter ladders, 1,2,3,4,5 reps to combine for one set, that’s 15 reps broken up. These type of reps help to keep you rested so you can produce quality reps, (no point to Pressing  with poor quality reps, all you really do is building poor movement patterns detrimental to your goal) and the volume adds up fast. Three five rung ladders over a course of three days and you’re at 135 reps, quick.. Just make them quality reps..

Return of the Kettlebell…..

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OK so I'm on RoTK to unload my Brain.. Again great thing about it, is its all done for you.. Simple right... So we know if you want to improve something you have to practice it. But what happens to everything you're not focusing on while your practicing the one thing.. You'll lose it? No but it will diminish. Enter the Block System, various Scientists who are cited in the book, come to find that short blocks keep all skills moving in the right direction. (Blocks, being a measure of time. How much time you spend on any specific movement.) RoTK uses two-week blocks of Grinds and Ballistics. Focus of the Program is Muscle size and strength. This is where the Grinds come in. The Ballistics are use for cardiovascular endurance and power, but really are unloading weeks for the Grinds..

Ballistic Block- Here we break out one of the Big Dawg movements, Clean and Jerk.. Yes you could call these Quick Grinds if your going real heavy, but these are for endurance in RoTk, so you back off the weight and look for volume.. I’m running 32kg on the medium days and 40kg on the heavy. Now the light day is the Viking Press, which is only a Push Press started from the top.  That Day I spend time with the 24kgs. The light day shouldn’t be skipped. You are to use the Push Press as a way to get your hips moving fo rthe Jerk.

Those that ran “Enter the Kettlebell” know you had all day to enjoy that program, not so with RoTK. Your on a time limit 45 min. Nice huh, quick get in get out. Yeah but its an all out 45min. But so worth it.. SO three days of practice and two of variety you’re looking at about 2;30 hours per week. And that is for everything.. Not bad.. Who needs to spend three hours a night in the Gym, who has the time?

Unloading

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If you’re pushing heavy weight for and extended period of time you know this is tough on the body. This is where an unloading phrase should come in to let you recover/rest to keep moving forward.  I am currently on one of these phases, so I’ve switched over to ROTK for a couple of rounds. Those of you who are familiar with Return of the Kettlebell may be wondering how this is an Unloading phase. Good question, I’m using ROTK to Unload my Brain.. Yes my brain. Being a Professional Strength Coach I am programing day in and out. So when it comes to my own weightlifting/movement practice programing is the last thing I want to do. If you’re in the field you know the worst athlete/client you can coach is yourself. ROTK lays it out for you on a silver platter, sets/reps/day/percentages and ever base weight. Simple, direct to the point, all you have to do is Get your mind right and show up. So remember you not only need to unload your muscles but your mind as well.

But this phase of my programing isn’t just for the brain, I am unloading the muscles as well. I’m starting in the middle of the cycle, since I have done this program several times ( if you are in your first couple runs or never have used ROTK I highly recommend you start from the beginning ) . And will be running the cycle that doesn’t use tweenies. My starting Kettlebells will be 40/24kg, which is less weight than I’ve been using but will increase the volume.. Actually looking forward to the ballistic phase of this. It’s curious that Pavel smiles almost chuckles when you mention you’re doing ROTK, He is not called the “Evil Russian” for nothing..