Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin ? - My comments

My comments:

The correct name of the article should be :
"Why poorly designed exercise programs and a bad diet won't make you thin?"
I would have loved to post a comment on Time, but you do not get the chance to do it. Therefore I will post a comment right here in my KB blog.

If you want to read the article here it is: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857-1,00.html

The author of this article is John Cloud. As I understand from the article and from the pics, poor John never got great results from training.
In his article he even says that "I still have gut fat that hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn't all the exercise wiping it out? ".

Why didn't John never got good results after years of exercise ?
First he, like many others, thinks that exercise is mostly aerobic type of training.

If you want to lose fat, the most important thing you have to do is strength training. Good old, basic, progressive and intense strength training.

What does strength training do:
- it burns calories (about 70 - 80 % of what cardio burns for the same ammount of time)
- burns also some extra calories after the training for recovery
- builds muscle - 2.2 lbs (1 kg) bulids at rest 50 extra calories , so 5 extra lbs (2 kg) of muscle will help you burn 35000 extra calories equals to 5 kg of body fat, within one year. Building muscle will help you prevent fat regain.
- increases your testosterone and growth hormone production

What is good strength training.

All the kettlebell drills are valuable; beside KB also barbells and dumbells are very good:

- squat, deadlift, standing press, bench press, bent over row

Body weight drills can also work wonders:

- one leg squat, pistol squat, hindu squat, push ups, one hand push ups, dips, chin ups, gorilla crunch.

What is John wright about is that the calories you spend doing cardio equals to the calories you control in your diet in terms of fat loss.

Maybe his article is not so bad. I am sure he thought a lot before taking it to be published. The truth is that many people are scrambling like John is, running the rat race on the treadmill while munching on muffins, pizzas and chocolate.

Strength training rules even if your goal is fat loss.

Beside good training you also need to watch your diet. Calculate your daily caloric needs and count your calories. You do not need to keep on counting calories a lifetime, but you need until you get to knowledge and understanding about how much do you really eat.

Dietary guidelines
- split the total calories between 4-6meals, taken at equal intervals (200-800 cal for a meal);
- eat the meal according with the latter activity-(ex: if you have to work in the office for the next hours take a light meal 250 - 500 cal, 90 min before training take about 400 - 800 calories, mainly from carbohydrates) ;
- drink plenty of liquids (water, green tea, fruit juices, milk) during the day, at intervals, without waiting to be thirsty (at least 2-3 liters a day), more in hot weather and during and after training;
- while exercising keep a full bottle with you and sip every few minutes; you should aim to eat the same amount of liquid as you lose through sweating;
- eat fresh food, do not store it for a long time, do not overcook it ;
- eat plenty of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables- due to phytochemicals, fibers and vitamins contained, the fruits and vegetables, along with cereals are the best for supporting a good health and a prolonged life ,free of diseases;
- have a varied diet, including foods from all the food groups, and well balanced (see the food pyramid);
- one hour after the training eat a meal rich in animal protein and carbohydrates;
- do not eat late in the evening (after 21:00), or eat some fruits and vegetables;
- at least once or twice in a week eat deep sea fish for its omega 3 fatty acids and/or some olive oil ;
- avoid or limit alcoholic beverages intake - the alcohol contains 7 cal per gram and it can ruin your diet, along with other unwanted effects;

Train hard

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At this moment I am unable to access Blogger, because it is blocked in China.

I will continue to post so keep reading.

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Physical conditioning with kettlebells for MMA fighters


Without doubt MMA fighters are some of the fittest athletes on the planet. As a fighter you need good performance for every physical quality: strength, speed, endurance, skills and flexibility.

If your are not well conditioned as a sport player or a single event athlete you may lose games, your opponents will score goals and points over you; if you are not fit and participate in MMA competition you will get your own dear ass kicked.

The single main goal of martial arts is to defeat a stronger opponent. If you can not achieve this, there is no point in training martial arts; just improve your strength and impose your will on your adversaries. If you are not fit enough the you may often fail to achieve this single most important goal of martial arts; you will get beaten by less skilled, but better conditioned opponents.

I have seen many athletes who overlook physical conditioning training, thinking that just skill is important. If you want to know the importance of physical prowess just think about women martial artists fighting men. It is extremely difficult for women athletes to triumph over men, mostly because of physical conditioning level.

What physical qualities do you need to improve as a MMA fighters and what drills you can use?

Strength

You need to consider more aspects of strength:

Maximal general strength

Maximal general strength is the basic for every other aspect of strength. To develop maximal strength train with heavy weights (1-5 RM 85 – 100% x 1 RM) and low repetitions (1 – 5 reps).

KB drills for maximal general strength:

- Standing KB press
- Windmill
- KB pistol squat
- Bent press
- Turkish get up (TGU)
- Gladiator row

Explosive strength

Power is king in every athletic discipline. The ability to apply maximal strength in shortest time possible makes the difference between great strikers and novices.

To develop power you need to practice explosive drills. You can train with very heavy weights and maximal acceleration for low reps (1-5 RM for 1-5 Reps).
You can also use lightest weights (30 – 70 % x 1 RM), and use maximal acceleration for 6 – 15 Reps. Stop the drill when you begin your explosiveness begins to drop.

KB explosive drills for power: (you can practice these drills using one or two KB)

- KB swing
- KB snatch
- KB clean
- KB jerk
- KB clean & jerk

KB throws outside on the sand or other soft terrain: two hands overhead behind, two hands forward, two hands up, one or two hands with torso twisting, etc.

Strength endurance

If MMA combat rounds would be just 30 seconds you wouldn’t need strength endurance, but with multiple rounds of 3 to 5 minutes you need.

For developing strength endurance use 60 – 70% x 1 RM loads for sets of 15 – 30 reps. You can tie different drill together for an extended circuit up to 3 – 5 minutes. Maintain a moderate tempo of execution.

KB drills for strength endurance:

- Turkish get up
- KB standing press
- KB bent press
- KB pistol squat
- Double KB squat
- Two hands anyhow
- Gladiator row
- Farmer’s walk

Explosive strength endurance

If you watch beginner amateurs fighting you will notice that punching turn into pushing by the end of the rounds. If you want to maintain your whip and snap until the end of the fight, you need specific training.

Use explosive drills performed for time 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes. Use the heaviest loads you can handle for the period of time and maintain a moderate pace.

KB drills for explosive strength endurance

- KB snatch ( aim for 100 snatches in 5 minutes; you can change hands as you wish)
- KB swing
- KB clean @ jerk
- Double KB jerk

MMA specific strength

Fighters need especially good strength for the core muscles, forearm muscles, hip muscles and shoulder joint muscles.

Core strength

The real power behind the punch comes from your big and strong hip and leg muscles. Lower body strength transmits to the fist through the core; that is one of the reasons you need good core strength.

Almost all kettlebell drills train the core. Some drills are especially good for core strength:

- TGU
- Windmill
- Bent press
- Double KB squat (with KB on rack position)
- Double KB standing press
- Gladiator row

Forearm strength

When you grab the opponent with a strong grip it is scary for him. Strong grip is especially important for wrestling and grappling.

Because the KB center of gravity is away from the handle when you grip the KB you need to use your forearm strength to maintain a good wrist alignment. When performing ballistic drills, because of the inertia, the stress upon you gripping muscles is very high, so all ballistic drills are great grip strength developers.

The most challenging KB drills for your grip are:

- Snatch
- TGU
- Clean
- Farmer’s walk
- Bottom up standing press and awkward grip press (with the body of the KB inside the wrist, left or write side)

Hip strength

Your most powerful muscles should be your hip muscles which stand behind your hip thrust.
When you learn to punch and kick using your hips, no matter your body size, you will be a threat for any opponent, even much bigger than you.

The best KB hip strength drills are:

- KB swing
- KB snatch
- KB pistol squat

Shoulder strength

In MMA the shoulder is one of the most vulnerable parts of your armor. If you get caught in a lock or if you fall on your hands, your shoulders might get hurt. Training with kettlebells, your shoulder muscles, tendons, ligaments and articular capsula will all get tougher.

KB drills work your shoulders in almost every possible angle and range of motion.

- TGU works your shoulders starting with the hand extended in front of your body when you lie down, finishing with the arm above your head in line with your body.
- Windmills train your shoulders on the side plane
- Shoulder press, floor press, gladiator row train your front, middle and rear of your shoulders

Cardiorespiratory endurance

If you got no “wind” by the end of the round you are in major danger. Great MMA fighters are able to keep the same pace from the beginning, until the end of the fight; the greatest fighters are even able to fight multiple contest during the same night.

Some athletes train with long runs for improving the cardiovascular ability; long runs do not make too much sense for fighters training program because they are aerobic and do not have enough intensity. The fighters energy during combat is assured mostly through anaerobic energy delivery pathways with often maximal bursts of effort.
If the athletes train long enough on long running, they might even hinder the peak power ability, because the body will adapt for long time, moderate intensity efforts; they might as well change to another discipline, maybe cross running.

The best and most specific way of training for cardiorespiratory endurance is prolonged power effort and circuit training.

KB training for cardio power

- KB swings ( start with rounds of 1 minute and build up to 5 minutes rounds; increase the kettlebell weight when you can easily complete 3 rounds of 5 minutes each)
- KB snatch – perform 100 reps within 5 minutes. If you can do it with a 20 kg KB you are good, with 24 kg you are very competitive, with 28 kg you are one of the best, with 32 kg you are world level. I have not heard of any heavier than this.
- KB clean & jerk – do them at a faster pace

Flexibility

Even if flexibility is not the main goal of KB training, because of some KB drill range of motion, your specific flexibility will improve.

KB drills which improve flexibility

- Windmill
- KB swing
- KB side press
- TGU

Example of weekly conditioning training cycle for MMA fighters:

First I write the sets number and after the reps number( ex 5 x 8 means 5 sets x 8 reps)

Training A

1. KB pistol squat 5 x 5 ( left and right leg)
2. KB shoulder press 5 x 5
3. KB heavy swing 5 x 8
4. TGU 4 x 3 ( each set is performed like this – one rep right hand, one rep left hand, one right, one left, one right, one left)
5. Snatch 5 min 100 reps

Training B

1. KB gladiator row 5 x 6 ( each hand 6, 12 reps in total per set)
2. KB floor press 5 x 5
3. KB windmill 5 x 5
4. Double KB jerk 100 reps (try to do these 100 reps using the least possible number of sets)
5. Swing 3 sets x 3,4,5 minutes each ( between 3,4,5 minutes choose the duration you can sustain)

Training C

1. Clean & jerk heavy 5 x 4
2. Bent press 5 x 5
3. Two hand anyhow 4 x 2
4. Passes between legs 3 x 2 min
5. Circuit: Swing 2 hands 15, Swing left hand 15, Swing right hand 15, Snatch left 15, Snatch right 15 2 sets x 3,4,5 minutes

Training D

1. Double KB squat (rack position) 5 x 6
2. Double KB Clean and press 5 x 5
3. Double KB one leg deadlift 5 x 5
4. KB snatch heavy 5 x 3
5. KB Swings 500 reps (perform them within the fastest time possible; you can rest briefly)

You can arrange these sessions as you like:
A, B, C, D, A
D, A, C,D, C
Etc

Train at least 2 times a week, with a better frequency of 3 – 6 times per week.
Every session should take less than 60 minutes.

Advance your MMA ranking by doing conditioning training with kettlebells.

Alex Moisescu

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The first Kettlebell Instructor Certification in China, 2009,July,20-22

From 20th to 22nd of July 2009, in Beijing China , I held the first Kettlebell trainer certification from China.

12 trainers registered and completed the 3 days course which was structured with theoretical lessons in the morning and kettlebell training in the afternoon.

The theoretical course content was The principles of athletic training, how to design training programs, how to lose fat and kettlebell facts.
The practical course included almost all kettlebell drills, and in the end Group Exercise with kettlebells.

At the end of 3 days the trainers passed a written examination about how to safely and effectively teach kettlebell drills, passed a practical test for Swing, Windmill, Snatch and Clean&Jerk .

The Kettlebell challenge was kettlebell snatch:
Two of the trainers managed to complete 100 snatches with 20 kg kettlebells, and the rest of them with 16 kg. The tree girls which attended the certification completed the challenge with an 8 kg kettlebell.

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Kettlebell training programs

1. Train 2 – 7 days a week

2. Alternate between very high overall intensity, high intensity and moderate intensity training sessions

3. Train 10 – 45 minutes each session

4. According to your level choose between 1 – 6 sets per exercise

  Example of training programs

  Training A

1. KB swing 2 sets x 20 reps             warm up

2. KB shoulder press 3 sets x 5 reps  (left/right) 95 % intensity

3. KB squat 4 sets x 8 rep               (two KBs on shoulders) 80% intensity

4. KB windmill 3 sets x 6 reps           (left/right) 90 % intensity

5. KB floor press 3 sets x 8 reps       80 % intensity

6. KB swing 6 sets x 25 reps            1 min rest in between sets

  Training B

1. KB swing 2 x 20

2. KB side press 3 x 5 (L/R)            95 %

3. KB swing 6 x 8 (L/R)                  80 %

4. KB Turkish Get up 3 x 2 (L/R)      70 %

5. Pull ups  5 x n                          (if you are a stud hook a KB on your belt)

  Training C

1. KB swing 2 x 20

2. KB clean & jerk 4 x 5              (L/R)   95 %

3. KB bent over row 4 x 8           80% (double KB)

4. Dips 4 x 8                             80 % (hook a bell on your belt)

5. KB swing 8 x 25                     rest one min between sets

  Training D

1.KB swing 8 - 15 min

Alternate between right hand swings, left hand swings, two hand swings, right hand snatches and left hand snatches.

  Training E

1. KB snatch  10 x 5               90 %

In the beginning I suggest to train just one move on each training session. Perform it 8 sets x 3 – 6 reps. Train like this to get the feeling for each drill.

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What size kettlebell should I start with?

It would be nice to have a full set of bells 4 – 48 kgs (increments of 2 kgs, every weight 2 bells)．However this is not very easily affordable, so in the beginning you can begin with a set of 2 kettlebells.

Choose a big one for strength moves (shoulder press, floor press, bent over row, one leg squat, windmill, heavy snatches, etc) performed for 1-8 reps and another lighter one for endurance explosive cardio drills ( swings, snatches, etc) usually performed for hundreds of reps at once.

Your big one should be as heavy as you can almost press it overhead once. For shoulder press start with yielding press, work your way up to normal presses up to 10 reps per set, than increase the difficulty of the drills with the other presses (pause press, awkward grip, bottom up press, etc).

The smaller kettlebell should be half of the weight of the big one.

Alex pressing the 56 kg “monster”.->>

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The kettlebell – why isn’t more popular today?

   By now you should have red quite a few articles explaining why training with kettlebells is so good. Significant improvements in functional strength, core strength, grip strength, explosive strength, explosive endurance, plus a warrior physique all are normal outcomes of structured kettlebell training.

   If the kettlebell delivers so well, why it can’t be found in every fitness club, gym, training center or home? Why isn’t a staple device for fitness and conditioning?

   I will try to find an explanation for the fact that the kettlebells are not very popular today:

   First I think it is about the marketability of the product. You can not dress too sexy this black hunk of iron with a handle. Because of this you can not earn too much money selling kettlebells. You earn much more selling high tech chromed machines, with electronic monitors and anatomy charts attached to them than you might earn selling kettlebells. So the top brands who sell fitness equipment have no interest in promoting kettlebells.

You will not get rich selling apples (even if everybody knows that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”), but you might get rich selling a magic potion extracted from a secret plant in an underground laboratory, plant which grows only above 8000 m altitude on the top of the Himalayas, even if no real scientist doesn’t really have a clue about this plant.

   The second thing, also related to marketing, is that fitness clubs prefer to use rows of treadmills with cable TV and IPod connection to lure customers into fitness, than promoting the black and heavy cannon balls. Some club owners might even be scared that this inexpensive training device might deter paying members away from clubs.

So the fitness clubs have no interest either in promoting kettlebells to the potential customers.

   Third I think is the straight approach to fitness you get by training with a kettlebell. When you see the kettlebell you know instantly that there is no way around; just heavy, exhausting lifting and guts. You can not fool around with a kettlebell, you can not pretend to exercise the way you can do with machines. The only way to fool yourself with a kettlebell is to use a kindergarten kettlebell, but you would be ashamed to use such a small iron ball if there is chance that someone else might see you. The vast majority of people would choose the easy way anytime, especially when is about physical effort. They are hoping for results while training with the lightest possible effort. Or even better with no effort whatsoever: “I have tried, but fitness is not working; at least not for me”.

   The forth reason I think of might be the fact that you need to master certain skills in order to train with a kettlebell. It is not so easy as 1,2,3; you need to spend at least a few hours mastering the lifting techniques before training with a kettlebell. Again most of the people would flock to easier ways for physical training.

   The fifth reason should be that training with a kettlebell you have no “special exercises” for the “problem” areas of your body: abdomen, buttocks and the back of your arm. By “special exercises” I mean stupid and ineffective abdominals, butt blasters and triceps kickbacks. If you know the basics you know that you can achieve visible results just with basic training and a sound nutrition.

   These are the reasons I can think of to explain why the kettlebell is not very popular today.

   I am sure that in the future the kettlebell will regain its status and be again crowned as the king of training devices, because it deserves this place.

   Train hard !

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