"Enter the Kettlebell" by Pavel Tsatsouline

• While other countries waste time testing their troopers with push-ups, Russia tests repetition kettlebell snatches with a 53-pound kettlebell.
• Kettlebell lifting is one of the best tools for all-around physical development.
• Russian kettlebells traditionally come in poods. One pood, an old Russian unit of measurement, equals 16 kilograms, approximately 35 pounds.
• The most popular sizes in Russia are 1 pood, the right kettlebell for a typical male beginner; 1 1/2 pood, or a 53-pounder, the standard issue in the military; and the "double," as the 2-pood, or 70-pound kettlebell, is called. Doubles are for advanced gireviks.
• An average man should start with a 35-pounder.
• An average woman should start with an 18-pounder. A strong woman can go for a 26-pounder. Most women should advance to a 35-pounder.
• Tight hip flexors act like brakes that zap your strength.
• Kettlebell sumo deadlift checklist:
• Your arms are straight; the legs are doing all the lifting.
• Your knees are pointing in the same direction as your slightly turned-out feet.
• Your heels are planted. You are sitting back, rather than dipping down or bending forward.
• Your back stays straight throughout. Don't confuse "straight" with "vertical"! "Straight" in this context means "not rounded."
• You are looking straight ahead, not up or down, at all times.
• To practice the sumo deadlift do, face-the-wall squats. Your goal is to be able to pick-up a kettlebell, with your toes touching the wall.
• The Halo:
• Hold a kettlebell upside down by its horns and slowly move it around your head.
• Work up to progressively tighter circles.
• Keep your glutes tight--"pinch a coin"--to protect your back.
• The Pump:
• Start in a dive-bomber pushup.
• Scoop your hips until you are in a cobra position.
• Rotate your hips left and right in the cobra position.
• Train in a place where there are no concerns about property damage or injury to anyone--including yourself.
• Everything in this program must be practiced barefoot or in flat shoes without cushy soles.
• If the bell wants to twist your elbow, shoulder, or any other joint in a way it is not supposed to go in our species, don't' fight it. Abort! Guide the kettlebell to fall harmlessly, and move out of the way if necessary. Move those feet.
• The need to warm up before exercise is an old wives' tale, but you do need a cool-down if you are coughing up a hairball. If you stand, sit, or lie down gasping for air following a hard set, your heart has to work unreasonably hard.
• Don't come to a complete stop until your heart rate and breathing are halfway down to normal.
• A natural athlete moves from his hips, never from his back or knees. Hips-first movement is safest for your back and knees--and most powerful.
• Stand up and place the edges of your hands into the creases on top of your thighs. Press your hands hard into your "hinges" and stick your butt out while keeping your weight on your heels. It will teach you to go down by folding at your hip joints rather than bending through your back.
• Bend back, not forward, when stretching your back.
• Avoid slouching, and perform five backbends immediately before and after lifting.
• "Stay tight"--maintain a tight muscle corset around your waist to protect your back. The abdomen should neither suck in nor protrude. Useful imagery is bracing for a punch.
• Tame the arc and your problems are solved. On the way down, it is done by tossing the kettlebell back rather than down, so your forearm almost hits you in the groin. "Hike pass." On the way up, the answer is not pulling with the biceps, but rather yanking the shoulder back, like starting a lawn mower.
• Tightening the arc by outrunning the kettlebell with your fist makes the catch soft.
• Pull your shoulder into your body the way a turtle pulls in its head when you are supporting the kettlebell overhead.
• You will start your desissification with patient practice of two staples of the Russian Kettlebell Challenge, the swing and the get-up.
• The swing is what its name implies--you are swinging a kettlebell from between your legs up to your chest level and back, using your hips to power the movement, as you would if you were jumping.
• The get-up is just as aptly named. Start out lying on your back holding a kettlebell up with a straight arm, as if you have just finished a one-arm bench press. Without jerking or unlocking the elbow, stand up and then slowly lie back down.
• To make sure you're swinging without using your arms, attach a lifting strap or very short rope [or a towel] to a kettlebell. Try a few swings. If you're driving the weight up with your hips, the bell, rope, and arm should all be in one line throughout the rep. If you're using your arms, your hands will rise up above the strap and bell.
• The towel will exaggerate your mistakes, provide you with feedback, and teach you how to swing right--in minutes.
• On the top of each swing, loudly call out the number of each rep. What you are shooting for, eventually, are sharp exhalations synchronized with the finish of each swing. This is the way martial artists and boxers breathe when they punch.
• Sharply inhale through your nose when the kettlebell has almost bottomed out behind your legs.
• Don't relax until the bell is safely parked.
• Minimum routine (Simple & Sinister):
• Always warm up with: face-the-wall squats, halos, and pumps.
• Twice a week, for 12 minutes, alternate sets of high-rep kettlebell swings with a few hundred yards of jogging.
• Twice a week, for 5 minutes, continuous get-ups, switching hands every rep.
• Kettlebell swings and snatches done for 10, 100, and even more reps are unbeatable for developing championship conditioning.
• Pulls strengthen the legs and hips without over developing them.
• Volume is measured in kilos or pounds; it is the total weight you lift in a workout.
• Intensity, quite simply, is the average weight lifted in the workout.
• Effective strength building demands doing a lot of reps per workout with a heavy weight.
• Do clean & press ladders:
• C&P once with each hand and rest.
• C&P twice with each hand and rest.
• ... 5 times ...
• This is one ladder.
• Repeat this 5 times.
• Build up to this by limiting your reps for each ladder.
• The complex science of muscle building can be summed up with a simple instruction: get a pump with a heavy weight.
• You will make even greater gains in your upper-body strength by adding pull-ups to your routine.
• Use the same sets and reps that you use for your presses and alternate sets of presses and pull-ups: press left, press right, pull up, press left twice, press right twice, pull-up twice, etc.
• Do your high-rep kettlebell pulls on the same days as the presses, after the presses. Your workout is prescribed in minutes, not reps.
• After your pulls, do a few back bends instead of slouching.
• Effective training is "same but different." The exercises remain the same, but their intensity and volume are always different.