Above, Valery Jerking a Girl Overhead! NOT easy to press humans over your head! 

Over the weekend Valery Fedorenko instructed at my gym on the proper ways of Kettlebell Lifting, just as the sport is performed in Russia. Clean and Jerk, Push Press, Snatch and Swings.

Lots of details go into these 4 exercises - pretty crazy stuff.

The really cool thing was seeing how much of a carry over the KB Lifting had to strongman.

 Valery loved all the odd objects in my gym and so he began to play….flipping a 600 lb tire, jerking a 150 lb globe dumbbell, push pressing a 125 lb anvil with ease!

Valery only weighs 180 lbs or so, but his technique on the tire flip was amazing. I have seen 300 lb Football players unable to budge that tire!

I always believed in Kettlebells, regardless of the naysayers who demanded they were a fad. I saw how they taught athletes to be agressive yet efficient at the same time with a loaded object. This is something many athletes are missing.

When you can clean and jerk heavy kettlebells you will quickly see how other full body lifts become easier rather quickly.

Start tearing into them bells!

In Strength,

Zach Even - Esh

P.S. - Want to learn the way we use Kettlebells at the USC Gymnasium? Check em’ out right here.

P.P.S. - Or, you can get even more advanced HERE.

Above, 1 arm high pulls with a 150 lb Globe dumbbell.  

Strength training seems to teeter totter between ultra basic to ultra fancy and then back to ultra basic.

Fancy never worked too good, yet people cry and moan when they see the basics are encouraged. They then claim they were the originators of these basics whether it’s with a barbell, a sandbag a stone or a variation of certain bodyweight exercises.

I have books from the 1800’s with all of this information. It is powerful, powerful stuff. It’s powerful because I use and so do my clients.

Still, I’m hungry to learn more. So today, i took part in Day 1 of Valery Fedorenko’s American Kettlebell Club Certification. Valery is a world champion in Girevoy Sport, aka, Kettlebell Lifting.

Now, although he is a world champion, he still has a Coach. And, although he is a world champion, he utilizes ONLY the basics to improve his lifts. Why the basics? You know the answer: They Work!

I have also said this before: Everyone knows how to bench press, squat and deadlift, yet VERY few are moving hundreds and hundreds of pounds in these lifts. The basics can be tweaked and combined with other movements to increase your results dramatically.

The magic of program design is critical, but more importantly is your desire and determination combined with your discipline to keep working those basics over and over again.

The complainers of basics who bed for fancy training will always be talkers and skinny, those with the grit and determination to sweat and get under the bar will rise to the top.

Which one are you?

In Strength,

Zach Even - Esh

P.S. - The ultra basics can be found here. They work, but they also require VERY hard work.