Coach Kanygin's Blog

You can spend it on things that matter to you or not.

Key here is knowing your goals and what is important.

Once desired outcome is clear, decision is easy. A simple question of 'will this get me closer to my goal?" makes it easier to say 'no' to time wasters in your life.

Have a desired outcome of being healthy, functional, fit, lean and strong? Screening and filtering events against that goal will make it easier to pick up those kettlebells and eat cleaner.

Have a goal of closer family? Turn off computer/phone/ipad and spend time with kids and significant other.

Have a clear goal. The rest is easy.

We have only so much strength. It's limited and finite.

To get the most out of it, we must maximally optimize our strength resources.

We optimize our strength through proper technique.

As a result, by improving technique components of trajectory, leverage, weight distribution, distance and muscle groups engaged and others, we can get a lot more out of our strength reservoir.

Following video tutorial serves as an example of rational use of strength through technique adjustments.

If you haven't already, watch Advanced Rotational Snatch Technique video. It's free to watch as a part of my 'Kettlebell Systema University free sneak peek" promotion.

This video tutorial is about 30 minutes long, so get really comfortable :-)

This means there are no shortcuts.

Sometimes in order to get to your desired outcome, you have to walk the walk.

Kettlebell training is no exception.

To get stronger, lift heavy kettlebells.

To improve conditioning, do kettlebell circuits or anything that gets your heart rate up.

To improve mobility, stretch.

The difficult part is being consistent, finding time to train and staying motivated.

No shortcuts...

What keeps you moving and training?

What is kettlebell training good for?

Does it translate to sports, martial arts and other activities?

Kettlebell training is great at improving strength, conditioning and biomechanics.

This means you can move better and more effeciently, handle heavy things and run up and down the field/court and outrun your competition.

Kettlebell training cannot improve sport specific skills.

It will not make your three point shooting better in basketball, for example.

Use kettlebell training for conditioning but don't forget sport specific training.

Are you an athlete? How did kettlebell training effect your sport performance?

Decent shoulder mobility is necessary to do well in kettlebell sport.

If you can't lockout kettlebells overhead with good alignment, you wont' be able to stay relaxed.

Kettlebell trajectory will also suffer a great deal.

You won't be able to do an efficient second dip to make short or long cycle jerk lift flow.

The good news is that shoulder mobility will improve with practice.

Integrating mobility and flexibility training into your training is a critical step to success in kettlebell sport and overall improvement of functionality and biomechanics.

Stretch often and watch your reps increase.

Find my favorite mobility drills, exercises and routines for shoulders and thoracic in my ebooks.

(Ebook download is free for Kettlebell Systema Univesity members. Become member for instant access)

Now is time to took back and analyze mistakes and progress that was made.

Do you remember the goals that you made last year?

What happened?

Examine last year. Sit down, sip vodka and walk through it.

Based on what you discover, make new plan for next 12 months.

Remember, that faling to plan is planning to fail.

Keep your eyes on prize, move forward and 2012 shall be the year of awesomeness.

Happy New Year!

Even in Russia, motherland of kettlebell sport, people do it because they love it. For most it's a hobby that they do in their spare time.

What is it about kettlebell sport that keeps people engaged for many years?

I asked that question to myself.

Why am I continuing to use kettlebells?

• Conditioning
• Strength
• Stress relief - hour of kettlebell training is like a meditation
• Healthy joint mobility
• Muscle balance
• Improved biomechanics
• Improved spinal mobility

Why do you train with kettlebells?

When most people are introduced to kettlebells and kettlebell training they have no idea how diluted, invented and unauthentic this introduction really is.

It's amazing how distorted concepts become when marketers get involved.

How did you learn about kettlebells? How did your understanding change over time?

In today's world there are more distractions than ever before. Youtube, facebook just to mention a few.

Everyone is competing for our time and attention.

What's left for us?

Now is the time to give yourself a gift of time and attention.

Pay attention to yourself for once.

Log off of facebook and go throw some kettlebells around.