The “No-Plan” Plan By Brett Jones January 2, 2025 - I’m about to make a potentially heretical and controversial statement. Ready? Here we go—You don’t need a goal. And what’s more…you don’t need a plan. Let’s all take a moment to catch our collective breath. A student once said to me, “I need a goal.” And my response was, do you? Do you need a […]
A Strong Plan for Shift Workers By Andrew Russell December 19, 2024 - Based just outside Belfast, I’m a busy husband, dad to two boys, and a 20-year shift lab worker (and still counting—until my lottery numbers come up). Shifts can put a lot of demands on an individual’s time and energy and may limit training time, but the benefits of training, despite these challenges, are numerous for […]
Introducing Super Sinister By Richard Ulm December 5, 2024 - In addition to being the school of strength, StrongFirst has created a culture built on pushing one’s limits, both physically and mentally. In 2013 Pavel published Kettlebell Simple & Sinister, in which he introduced a now infamous test of one’s strength, mobility, power, and overall resilience. Thus far, 72 men and 125 women have successfully […]
Strong Endurance™ for Dutch Women’s Eight Rowing Selection “Project 2020” Preparing for the Olympic Games By Thom Van Der Meer November 21, 2024 - Background From 2017 to 2019, I was fortunate to support the Dutch “Project 2020” women’s eight rowing selection as a strength and conditioning coach. My task was to create and perform the day-to-day physical strength training to complement the large number of weekly rowing sessions the team performed. The team was formed in a slightly […]
Triple Gear Military Press Protocol—An Experimental Case-Study By Lars Schönemann November 7, 2024 - Introduction In 2023, Pavel published an article on the StrongFirst blog raising the question “Will You Gain More Strength by Varying Your Lifting Speed?” and afterwards published another article with examples of using different lifting speeds to increase one’s strength in the double kettlebell front squat (“The Triple Gear Squat Protocol”). This article outlines how […]
Novocaine Training Part II: The Decision-Making Process By Justin October 17, 2024 - Background In part one, the concept of Novocaine Training and some of the specifics of exercise selection and session details were explained. The concept is to include enough variation to avoid accommodation, yet not so random that long-term improvement does not occur. The specifics of the program are constantly evolving but the concept remains the […]
Achieving a Three Times Bodyweight Deadlift with Both Stances By Mark Valenti October 3, 2024 - “We grow old and the young look at us and never see that once we made a kingdom ring for love.”—Uhtred of Bebbanburg Turning fifty is a milestone in most people’s lives. A time to reflect on five decades of experience and on moments both good and bad. In the spring of 2024, with my […]
A Call to Arms—The Case for Direct Arm Training By Aleks Salkin September 19, 2024 - Over the past few decades there has been a curious trend that has slowly but surely seeped its way into the hearts and minds of an alarming number of iron rats, both professional and recreational alike. That trend? The belief that you don’t need to directly train your arms. The claim goes a little something […]
Just Swing a Kettlebell: Undertaking the “Simple” February Swing Challenge By David Mendenhall September 5, 2024 - My Background I’m a 55-year-old male (schoolteacher by day) who weighs 177 pounds and stands just over 5’9”. The focus of my forties, honestly, was CrossFit. This included eight years of WODs, Metcons, and hero workouts. I learned a lot, attaining multiple certifications including CrossFit L1 and L2, weightlifting, gymnastics, and a myriad of other […]
Climbing Out of Adversity By Abbey Gottinger August 22, 2024 - In September of 2023 our gym, Axistence Athletics, hosted an All-Terrain Conditioning™ seminar taught by StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor Derek Toshner and StrongFirst Certified Team Leader Kenneth Bolyard. Walking into the gym I was surprised to see Jin, one of our gym members. I was only expecting to see our coaching staff, who enjoy nerding […]
Absorbing or Catching?—What the Kettlebell Reverse Half Snatch Can Teach You By Brett Jones August 8, 2024 - One of the lessons I learned over 22 years ago at my kettlebell certification with Pavel was that there is a huge difference between catching a water balloon and absorbing the incoming water balloon. Especially in below-freezing temperatures! “Catching” the water balloon usually results in getting wet, as the catch causes the balloon to pop. […]
A Three-Year Journey with ETK By Osvaldo Aponte July 25, 2024 - The year is 2006, and one of my personal training students was inquiring about my next training plan. Student: So, what’s your next routine, Os? Me: I’m doing a program called Enter the Kettlebell (ETK). Student: What is that? Me: I’ll be doing kettlebell clean & press three times a week, snatches once a week, […]
Pressing Strength Carryovers By Debbie Hayes July 11, 2024 - In our StrongFirst system, there are many “a-ha” or “what the heck” moments that are identified as carryover effects. These carryovers translate into unexpected strength gains, better movement, and endurance in other lifts you haven’t specifically been training. This is an exciting part of the training process, when your lifts become easier, and you find […]
Defeating Limited Training Time: A Modified Built Strong Program By John Kenny June 20, 2024 - I usually say, “I’ve never gotten to see Game of Thrones,” to highlight how busy my life is. For the past nineteen years, I’ve worked full-time in Emergency Services, doing shift work. Additionally, I’ve owned and operated Access Health and Fitness in Dublin with employees for twelve years. I’m also married with three level-headed, non-stress […]
A+A Light—How Snatching Half Your Bodyweight Can Prepare You for the StrongFirst Kettlebell Snatch Test By Harry Westgate June 6, 2024 - The SFG I is a challenging certification, but if I can do it, just about anyone can. I was never the most naturally gifted athlete. But with an intelligent and consistent approach to training, I was able to turn up at the event very well prepared for what was to come. My preparation for the […]
Strength in Numbers: Can You Really Get Strong in a Group Fitness Class? By Ryan Humphries May 23, 2024 - Years ago, after a Plan Strong™ seminar, I had a chance to ask Pavel a question. Me: “What do you think the biggest issue is in the fitness industry?” Pavel: “I don’t have enough time to answer that question, but I will tell you that there is far too much entertainment.” I understood exactly what […]
A Pressing Matter By Vic Verdier May 9, 2024 - Most athletes know kettlebells have many benefits, especially the ballistic skills (e.g., the swing, snatch, and clean) which are almost impossible to do with any other tool. However, what may be less known is that kettlebells give us the opportunity to improve grinds as well as develop strength in the process. One of those grind […]
My Minimalist Training By Fulvio Giglio April 25, 2024 - My journey to StrongFirst started with questions that were always on my mind, “What is strength? What does it mean to be strong?” I pursued this question through fighting, training, studying, and researching how to become strong, both physically and mentally, and obviously the name StrongFirst came up. Everything I read was intriguing, so real […]
Do It Yourself Hand Care By Kenneth Bolyard April 11, 2024 - Remember when you were a kid and your parents always told you to brush your teeth? Well, like a lot of kids you might have let it “go in one ear and out the other” and either forgot or just plain refused to do it. Then one day you might have had a regular check-up […]
Strength Programming in the 2022-2023 Season for an Italian Professional Soccer Team By Mauro Franzetti March 28, 2024 - Most of us know the important role strength training plays in sports. This also applies to soccer, where the quality of technical skills is fundamental. During the 2022-2023 season, with the help of Fabio Zonin, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, I designed a training program based on StrongFirst principles for Pro Vercelli Calcio a soccer team […]
Breathing—A Key Factor to Competition Success By Mira Kwon Gracia March 14, 2024 - What if I told you I could let you in on a little secret to keep you cool as a cucumber at a test event or competition? If you are a human being, I am sure you have, at some point, been nervous or maybe even hyperventilated at an event where you knew everyone was […]
Spreading the Load By Sven Rieger February 29, 2024 - StrongFirst is built upon universal strength principles that are applied to the three modalities we teach: kettlebell, barbell, and bodyweight. Although our focus is on these specific modalities, our principles can be applied to any training tool. StrongFirst principles translate complicated, scientific methods into simple, applicable programs that can be immediately applied to training. Our […]
Put “Vascular” into Your Cardiovascular Training for Greater Endurance and Fat Loss By Pavel Tsatsouline February 13, 2024 - In intense full body exercise our hearts can supply only 1/3-1/2 of the muscles. To deal with this limitation, blood vessels in muscles and organs that are not too busy constrict while those in the working muscles dilate. This redistributes the blood flow, delivers more oxygen where it is needed most, and eases the work […]
The Iron Monkey Deep Six Challenge By Jason Giles February 1, 2024 - Many years ago, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor Jon Engum published an article using his Deep Six practice that tested an instructor candidate’s readiness to pass the SFG Level I Certification. The plan is simple: 3-5 rounds of a complex composed of the six fundamental kettlebell skills: swing, snatch, clean, military press, squat, and get-up. The […]
Variable Effort and the Triple-Tier Plan By Fabio Zonin January 18, 2024 - For over a decade at StrongFirst we have advised against pushing sets to failure and advocated towards always keeping a few reps “in the tank.” In recent years we have heard more and more often from well-known strength coaches, and on the web, about the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and Reps in Reserve (RIR). […]
Simple and Sinister—Help, I’m Stuck By Brett Jones January 4, 2024 - “Dedication, absolute dedication, is what keeps one ahead.”—Bruce Lee Simple & Sinister embodies the quote above. Dedication to achieving Simple and continuing to Sinister has led students on multiple-month and multiple-year journeys. A rarity in today’s scrolling-based attention-span world, the dedicated pursuit of the S&S goal is a worthy endeavor. However, dedication can and will […]
Beast Tamer Transformation: The Spear Drill By Vinicius Murad December 21, 2023 - I’ve always been the kind of person who likes competition and challenges. And events in my life usually happen at an interesting time (mostly late). I became interested in Kung Fu at fifteen. When I was twenty-two, I started playing volleyball. At thirty-one I picked up a kettlebell for the first time and at thirty-six […]
How to Navigate the Strong Endurance Universe By Pavel Tsatsouline December 12, 2023 - Strong Endurance™ is our umbrella term for all anti-glycolytic training methods. Anti-glycolytic training is “anti-HIIT” that trains you to produce less lactic acid instead of tolerating more of it. AGT is used by many Eastern European national teams in a variety of sports: judo, cross country skiing, rowing, full contact karate… Broadly, there are three […]
The Ten Commandments of SFG Level I Kettlebell Cert Prep By Aleks Salkin December 7, 2023 - Back in a weird and wild world known as 2001, a man known affectionately by his growing list of die-hard followers as “The Evil Russian” had a novel idea: Why not put together a fitness certification that actually required you to prove that you were…you know…fit? Tests of strength, stamina, and real-world physical abilities took […]
The Kettlebell Forward Press for a Resilient Rotator Cuff By Steve Freides November 9, 2023 - Fabio Zonin, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, and I independently discovered and practiced the same movement: a standing forward kettlebell press with a static hold. When I described it to Fabio and sent him a video, Fabio said, “Hey, I do that, too!” and subsequently Fabio invited me to discuss the new kettlebell exercise on an edition […]
Four Progressions to Conquer the One-Arm Pushup By Catherine Buck Le October 26, 2023 - When I first attended the StrongFirst Bodyweight (SFB) Certification in 2016, I failed the one-arm pushup test that weekend. Having recently passed the SFG Level I Certification seven months prior, I was new to StrongFirst methods and strength training and still in the early stages of becoming strong. Fast-forward to today, 2023, I have now […]
The Art of Appreciating One Thing By Pavel Tsatsouline October 24, 2023 - (An Excerpt from Kettlebell Axe) “Do you know what the difference between great people and regular people is?” says a coach to an athlete in Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s novel Don’t Die Before Death. “A great person is a gardener of self. He cuts off the unnecessary branches.” In AXE, as in other types of training, pros […]
Clean and Jerk A+A Training for the Minimalist By Nathan Barnes October 12, 2023 - Introduction After reaching timeless Simple in March of 2020, I decided to try out The Quick and the Dead (Q&D), while maintaining sport-specific training on the pushup which is part of my military testing. Pleased with the results of Q&D, I decided to continue with the program, but I had a problem. The book suggests […]
Alice in Kettlebell Wonderland and the Cruiser—a Perfect Kettlebell Plan for a Busy Person By Fabio Zonin September 28, 2023 - You want to build strength and rock-hard muscles, but your busy schedule hasn’t allowed you to train regularly, you are under time constraints, and your sessions need to be time efficient, flexible, and engaging? Keep reading, I’ve got something for you. The plan I’m about to share is something I designed for my wife Alice, […]
The Snatch: The Tsar of Kettlebell Lifts By Derek Toshner September 21, 2023 - How to perform the kettlebell snatch: start with a kettlebell on the ground in front of you, swing it back between your legs, and bring it into an overhead lockout position in one uninterrupted motion. My Introduction to Snatching Most people are introduced to kettlebells through swings and get-ups, and rightfully so. I, however, was […]
Iron Cardio with a Strength Bias By John Spezzano September 14, 2023 - Introduction I’ve been a fan of Brett Jones’s “Iron Cardio” program since he first told me about it. I think it’s an excellent regimen for maintaining and improving general fitness, which at 54 years old, is my primary goal. Naturally, I do have other more specific performance goals, one of which is to eventually (finally) […]
Deadlifts: Common Misconceptions and Practical Tips By Jeremy Park September 5, 2023 - I felt a pop and folded like a house of cards. Two years ago, I herniated a disc during my top deadlift set. I was training earlier than usual so my body was rather stiff. Despite a brief warm-up, I loaded up the usual 405 pounds and got into position. Arms straight, hips hinged, and […]
Preparing Swimmers for the Olympic Games: A Three-Year Strength and Conditioning Plan Using StrongFirst Principles By Loïs Monaco August 31, 2023 - In September 2018, I was fortunate to join the elite swimming club Olympique Nice Natation (ONN) as a strength and conditioning coach. Fortunate because this meant working with Fabrice Pellerin, one of the World’s most technical coaches. Fabrice trained athletes that won nine medals at the 2012 London Olympics. As the strength and conditioning coach, […]
Cheat Cleans as a Strength Builder By Brian Wright August 17, 2023 - At the SFG I, where many of us learned to use kettlebells as strength tools, we are first taught the swing. As we’ve heard StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor Emeritus, Rif say, “the swing is the center of the kettlebell universe.” The instruction of the swing is then followed by the get-up, the squat, the press, […]
Upstream Strength Strategies By Hector Gutierrez Jr. July 31, 2023 - “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”—Paul Batalden, Medical Expert In his book, Upstream: How to solve problems before they happen, Dan Heath talks about how upstream decisions can have a greater impact on downstream results. He also explains the difference between upstream decisions and preventative measures (being proactive is not […]
The Triple Gear Squat Protocol By Pavel Tsatsouline July 20, 2023 - In a recent article, I explained how varying your lifting speed can help you gain more strength. Today I will show you a couple of ways of applying this knowledge to boost your squat, barbell (back, front, Zercher) or kettlebell (goblet, double front). 3 x Gear Squat Protocol #1 The simplest thing you can do […]
Rediscovering Resilience: Unifying Literacy and Strength By Alcides Aleman July 6, 2023 - “No man may indeed become wise before he has had his share of winters in this world’s kingdom.”—Author: Unknown (Date: Impossible to Determine). The moment I read that out of an incredibly old selection of British literature in graduate school, I knew it would hold weight when I occupied a position in which I could […]
Hardstyle Kettlebell Snatch vs. Barbell Snatch By Rebecca Rouse June 22, 2023 - Introduction One of the very first principles learned in the school of hardstyle kettlebell training is that “power comes from the hips.” In the kettlebell ballistics (swing, clean, and snatch), the hips are largely what drives the lifter’s ability to move a weight from back between the legs to the end point of the movement. […]
Will You Gain More Strength by Varying Your Lifting Speed? By Pavel Tsatsouline May 31, 2023 - With this article we would like to give you a taste of what you are about to learn at Programming Demystified, a new seminar with Pavel, Fabio, and Hector, this October in Phoenix, AZ or in your living room. Over a century ago Ivan Lebedev, a big name in strength training in imperial Russia, suggested […]
The Get-up and the Shoulder Mobility Dilemma By Tony Gracia May 17, 2023 - The get-up is one of the foundational exercises of kettlebell training. I suspect that most people who follow StrongFirst are quite familiar with this exercise. If you are a StrongFirst Certified SFG Instructor, then no doubt you have done many repetitions of them on your own and at your Certification. If you have read Pavel’s […]
Putting the Wind Beneath the Stones, Part II By Sven Rieger April 29, 2023 - Lifting the Dinnie Stones is a challenge for which strength enthusiasts from all over the world travel to Scotland. Donald Dinnie not only lifted but carried the “Steens” across the Potarch Bridge in 1860—a feat that would not be replicated for more than a century. In 1972, somebody was finally able to do what he […]
Putting the Wind Beneath the Stones, Part I By Sven Rieger April 20, 2023 - In the fall of 2020, I decided to take on a unique goal: lifting the Dinnie Stones in Scotland. Having watched STONELAND multiple times and seeing John Odden, StrongFirst Certified Elite Instructor, and Jason Marshall, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, lifting the “Steens” aroused the urge to achieve this great feat. Little did I know that […]
Punch the Clock By Dan Cenidoza April 6, 2023 -I think it was Dan John who said something to the effect that “the majority of your training will be a ‘punch the clock’ kind of session.” The younger generation might not be familiar with the expression “punch the clock”—it refers to a time clock where employees had to punch holes into a paper timecard […]
Enter the Kettlebell+ for the Army Combat Fitness Test By SFC Marty Bishop March 23, 2023 - The Fall 2019 implementation of the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) raised many concerns within my unit. The pushup, sit-up, and run events of the old Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) were replaced by six events: a three-rep max low handle trap-bar deadlift, a standing power throw with a 10lb medicine ball, a two-minute maximum […]
Three Pillars for Healthy Aging By Dr. Pope Moseley March 9, 2023 - In 1922, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) wrote a memoir of his time in the desert entitled “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.” In his reflection, he talked of his experience with the tempering of the soul. The word “tempering” is often associated with the process of making something stronger and more resilient. In this article, […]
The Power of Simplicity: How Get-Ups and Pullups Enhanced an MLB All-Star’s Program By Jimmy Yuan February 23, 2023 - When it comes to training, most people tend to trend in the direction of complexity and novelty. Whether that’s an athlete finding fancy movements they think will make a favorite pro-athlete look cool on social media or a coach wanting to show how competent they are in shaking things up, doing newer or more difficult […]
Blindfold Training for Mental Focus By Malou Fehlbaum February 9, 2023 - In my last article, “From Wheelchair to Sinister: The Importance of Mental Strength,” I wrote about the power of mental strength. I am back today to discuss the mind once more, but this time the importance of mental focus and its place in the progression of our practice. As students of strength, we are all […]
Pick Your Perfect Program in 2023 By Brett Jones January 26, 2023 - “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner The quote above from the classic poem describes the availability of programs for the trainee. Programs, programs everywhere, nor a one to follow… It can be classic “paralysis by analysis” and the search for the “right” program […]
![Surfing the Waves to Timeless Sinister By Pavel Macek January 11, 2023 - “Each time [the waves] fall, they never fail to rise again.”—Josh Billings You earned the stripes of “Timed Simple.” You took the time and mastered the weights between Simple an](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fb0dfd031dda92101ddd056/76746832-62f0-43af-a0d0-8305ae7e82c2/heavy-one-arm-swing-macek-featured-450x450.jpg)
Surfing the Waves to Timeless Sinister By Pavel Macek January 11, 2023 - “Each time [the waves] fall, they never fail to rise again.”—Josh Billings You earned the stripes of “Timed Simple.” You took the time and mastered the weights between Simple and Sinister (40kg for gents both in the swing and the get-up, 28kg in the swing and 20kg in the get-up for the ladies). Now, you […]
Seven Steps to Strength: Programming as a Science Experiment By Pavel Tsatsouline January 2, 2023 - Truth comes out of error more readily than out of confusion. —Francis Bacon What do successful athletes not blessed with Olympic genes have in common?—Patience to tweak their training, one variable at a time, until they have found “their” way. Contrast that with a typical trainee who impatiently switches programs before he has had a […]
The Snatching Walking Protocol for Endurance Athletes By Derek Toshner December 24, 2022 - A growing population of endurance/ultra-athletes and coaches are moving towards StrongFirst programming. These athletes and coaches bring questions on program design utilizing Strong EnduranceTM protocols. In this article, I will share the snatch walking plan I’ve designed using one of these protocols. Most of my students use this plan at the end of many months […]
Bench Big by Improving Your Mobility By Dr. Michael Hartle December 15, 2022 - When creating the StrongFirst Lifting (SFL) Manual as well as the accompanying SFL Barbell Certification, we developed standards for the five tests administered at the SFL. These standards are based on the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) and the USA Powerlifting (USAPL)’s “Rules of Performance.” Some of the SFL standards are identical to theirs and some […]
How to Increase Power with “Grinds” By Antonio Squillante December 1, 2022 - The good old days of bigger, faster, stronger are long gone. We know better now. Times have changed. The game of strength has new rules. It is not just about strength. It is about strength AND speed. It is about power. Force and Power Swinging a 32kg kettlebell is challenging, but we can all agree […]
Staying Fit While Deployed By Eddie Penney November 10, 2022 - Having spent 20 years in the U.S. military, most of it during the Global War on Terror, I’ve seen my share of deployments. I rotated into combat zones seven times as a Navy SEAL, twice as a member of Team 2, and five times as a member of the Tier 1 SEAL unit. Staying fit […]
Kettlebell Simple & Sinister: Tips for Heavy Goblet Squats By Pavel Macek October 24, 2022 - “I like my weights heavy and my squats down low.”—Anonymous The kettlebell goblet squat is THE “squat for the people.” The prying goblet squat from our Kettlebell Simple & Sinister curriculum is a great mobility drill that will unlock your hips and pelvis. A regular goblet squat (without prying) is an excellent foundation for the […]
Kettlebell Simple & Sinister Quest: Through Adversity to the Stars, Part II By Pavel Macek October 19, 2022 - (If you missed the first part of Pavel Macek’s S&S quest, read it here.) Sinister Quest Continued “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”—Leonardo da Vinci, 1452. My failed “Sinister” test attempt wasn’t a failure—it was a lesson. I went back to the drawing board, deloaded, focused on perfecting my technique, and gradually started to climb up […]
Kettlebell Simple & Sinister Quest: Through Adversity to the Stars, Part I By Pavel Macek October 17, 2022 - “If the Way is high, accordingly it has a great number of obstacles.”—An ancient saying I will be honest—I can’t think of a better foundational strength and conditioning program than Kettlebell Simple & Sinister (S&S). Three mobility drills, two main lifts, and stretching. Done. Rinse. Repeat. Reap the tremendous benefits of this simple, yet very […]
How to Deadlift a Barbell Every Day By Hector Gutierrez Jr. October 12, 2022 - “If something is important. Do it every day.”—Dan Gable. The most feared and revered barbell lift. The most neurologically taxing exercise. The “king of all lifts.” The list of ways to describe the barbell deadlift goes on and on. In December of 2021, the question that wouldn’t leave my mind was: “Is it possible to […]
Avoid the Traps of Intuitive Training By Brett Jones September 22, 2022 - An Excerpt from Iron Cardio By Brett Jones, StrongFirst Director of Education “It’s a trap.” —Admiral Ackbar Intuitive programs can fall into a few traps: Always intense Always increasing Increasing reps per set Not doing the math Chasing the clock Always Intense The “always intense” trap is the sneakier of the five. You think you […]
A StrongFirst Protocol for Mountain Hunters By Keith Wood September 1, 2022 - I exist in a dilemma. One of my favorite pastimes is Western hunting, usually in the mountains. I love the animals, love the physical beauty of the terrain, and I love the challenge. The problem is that I live, work, and train on a coastal plain—low and flat. For two decades, I struggled to find […]
Timed Sets By Glenn Pendlay August 25, 2022 - An Excerpt from American Weightlifting by Glenn Pendlaywith James McDermott and Mike Prevost A note from StrongFirst: Although the author is speaking of the Olympic barbell lifts, “timed sets” can be successfully applied to the deadlift and some other lifts. I got the idea for timed sets from Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell, who uses […]
10 Reasons to Avoid Training to Failure By Geoff Neupert August 11, 2022 - Do you remember when you started lifting weights? I do. My very first workout was a biceps workout with Chris Read, a senior, and the 140lb starter on the wrestling team, who was built like a mini-Ah-nold, at the base gym (RAF Lakenheath, England). I was a gangly, 15-year-old sophomore. We did straight bar curls. […]
Mobility for a Stronger Barbell Front Rack By Jeremy Layport July 28, 2022 - Brett Jones, StrongFirst Director of Education, has a saying, “I can be talked into just about anything.” Brett is referring to your individual context for doing something—the reason WHY you choose to do what you are doing. The same question can be applied to your barbell front squat training: Why are you doing front squats? […]
Four Sinister Success Stories By Grzegorz Palaszewski July 14, 2022 - If you’ve read Simple & Sinister by Pavel, you understand the amount of work it takes to attain the “Simple” goal alone, and how much more work and dedication it takes to reach the “Sinister” goal (both goals are shown in the table below). This article outlines the training plans of three of my students […]
Minimalist Kettlebell Training for Maximal Returns in BJJ By Mike Torres June 30, 2022 - Last year, the primary focus of my training shifted. For my entire adult life, I had been both a strength enthusiast and a martial artist—in that order. When things started to open back up and I was able to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) regularly again, I decided to swap these priorities. I would, for the […]
Optimizing the Kettlebell Military Press Grip—For You By Brett Jones June 16, 2022 - “All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.”—Max McKeown We all know, hopefully, that learning is an ongoing process that is never complete. After 20 years of kettlebell training, we continue to learn, and our most recent lesson might just help a lot of you with your military press goals. What led […]
The Paradox Breathing Crunch for Stronger Abs and Bigger Lifts By Andy Bolton and Pavel Tsatsouline June 7, 2022 - An Excerpt from Deadlift Dynamite The paradox breathing technique, developed in the USSR by opera singer Alexandra Strelnikova for applications obviously unrelated to lifting, will teach you how to tense your abs while “packing” your belly with air. Lie on your back with your legs straight.[i] If you are top heavy, anchor your feet under […]
Kettlebell Deadlift ➔ Barbell Deadlift By Andy Bolton and Pavel Tsatsouline May 31, 2022 - An Excerpt from Deadlift Dynamite If you know your way around the kettlebell, you have an unfair advantage when it comes to learning barbell skills. Start with a barbell half-deadlift because it is less demanding of skill and flexibility. And it really teaches you to drive the hips forward, an essential element of Andy’s competition […]
How I trained to become a Guinness World Record Holder By Jackie Vazquez May 12, 2022 - “Strength has a greater purpose.” The very famous words of our leader, Pavel Tsatsouline, ran through my mind over and over. I had lost my older brother to suicide the Summer of 2021 and felt a burning desire to “do something about it.” That’s when I found an organization at West Bend High School called […]
Keeping A Resilient Back as We Age By Dr. Stuart McGill April 28, 2022 - Meeting Pavel for the first time about twenty years ago changed my life. It is a story that has been told in these pages before. I was impressed with this quiet gentleman who knew so much about training systems far from the American tradition. We discussed the eloquence of Russian sport science that produced performance […]
A Strength Plan for Professional Soccer Players By Mauro Franzetti April 14, 2022 - In team sports, soccer being a prime example, the time available to train an athlete’s physical strength is quite limited. The majority of training is spent performing tactical and technical sport related exercises. Keeping this in mind, I planned a new strength program for Renate Calcio, one of Italy’s professional soccer teams, around two fundamental […]
The SFG II Snatch: A Test Prep Program By Aleks Salkin March 31, 2022 - “Only he deserves power who everyday justifies it”—Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish Diplomat Ain’t no two ways about it, friend-o: if you’re training for your SFG II Kettlebell Certification or recertification, probably the last thing you want to think about is preparing to tango once more with your long-time arch nemesis: the SFG Snatch Test (100 snatches […]
A Simple Journey: Bicycles, Bones, and Kettlebells By Tom Whipple March 17, 2022 - The Happy Valley Women’s Cycling (HVWC) team is an organization committed to advancing women’s cycling. Their mission is to provide cycling opportunities for females of all ages and ability levels. Based in central Pennsylvania, the team members ride and race in multiple disciplines, including road, gravel, and mountain. They are the only female cycling team […]
How Built Strong Helped Me Achieve Sinister By Jose Luis Cortina March 3, 2022 - The Goal: Sinister When I first looked for advice to achieve the Sinister goal of Kettlebell Simple & Sinister by Pavel, the response I received was to focus all your training on swings, get-ups, and goblet squats. I like to listen to others and then make my own decisions based on a combination of research […]
Go Ballistic—The Jerk for Barbell and Kettlebell By Mira Gracia February 17, 2022 - The kettlebell jerk is one of the most misunderstood lifts. Many people believe it takes a ton of upper body strength in order to execute heavy weights. This is where the misconception lays. The purpose of a jerk is purely to move a weight from the rack position to the overhead lockout. What makes the […]
20 Years and 20 Observations By Brett Jones February 3, 2022 - In February of 2002 a group of 22 students assembled for the second ever kettlebell certification with Pavel. From water balloons, mattresses, and a very different teaching progression, it was life-changing to say the least. Out of the first group came many of the original senior instructors and the organic development of the School of […]
The Best All-Around Training Method EVER By Pavel Tsatsouline January 20, 2022 - It is a tall order for a training method to live up to the title of this article—but one does. It checks off the following boxes: ☑ Power ☑ Strength ☑ Muscle hypertrophy ☑ Fat loss ☑ “Cardio” ☑ “Work capacity” ☑ Longevity through mitochondrial adaptations ☑ It “gives you more than it takes out […]
Break up with Your Strength Tool of Choice By Pavel Tsatsouline January 3, 2022 - Back in the USSR many gyms were closed in the summer “for repairs.” Out of necessity, lifters and bodybuilders switched from barbells to kettlebells and bodyweight for a couple of months. When they returned to the bar in the fall, after a brief re-entry most were able to set PRs. If you take a planned […]
Mastering Your Press, Part II By Fabio Zonin December 16, 2021 - In my first article, “Mastering Your Press, Part I,” I addressed specific ways to test your press and find weak areas by analyzing how your body responds to pressing a heavy kettlebell. Paying attention to where your press breaks down when things get heavy is an important aspect of mastering your press. Although there are […]
Mastering Your Press, Part I By Fabio Zonin December 9, 2021 - When I’m invited to teach at an SFG I StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor Certification, I always request to lead the military press. I love teaching the military press and, pardon my lack of modesty, I’m very good at it. An average gym rat might classify the kettlebell military press as just another exercise for delts and […]
Kettlebell “What The Heck” Effects and Training Firefighters By John Heinz November 12, 2021 - Background Physical preparedness is one of many attributes that firefighters need in order to execute their job in a safe, effective manner. Although the job of structural firefighting is the same for both career and volunteer, the ability to maintain physical preparedness is not. Unlike career firefighters whose work schedules allow them to meet the […]
Take Your Kettlebell for a Walk By Abbey Gottinger October 28, 2021 - Background Strength and endurance are not normally associated with one another when developing training protocols. A strength athlete is thought of as someone who can lift heavy weights in a gym, while an endurance athlete is known for a high aerobic capacity. If you’ve read the StrongFirst article “The Kettlebell Mile” by Dr. Mike Prevost […]
Mind the Drop—Tame the Arc for Better Snatches By Sven Rieger October 14, 2021 - A few weeks ago after seeing StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, Pavel Macek, do a Goblet Squat with a kettlebell equal to his own bodyweight I had a great conversation with him about achieving such impressive results. He said, “I am stubborn, patient, and I think a lot about the stuff I do when I practice.” […]
Is That a Squat or a Hinge? By Brett Jones October 1, 2021 - “Clarity affords focus.”—Thomas Leonard The Debate I received a response on one of my Instagram posts showing some 40kg one-arm swings that first made me chuckle and then made me think. “Squat more than a hinge…The kettlebell is too heavy for you…Build up to it, you’ll get there.” The swing is what I define as […]
Get Stronger with One Kettlebell By John Spezzano September 16, 2021 - Backstory In January 2021 I led the programming section at an SFG Level I certification. I wanted the attendees to grasp some programming concepts and be able to create an effective program with just one weight. So, I decided to build on what I had heard Fabio Zonin, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, discuss regarding a […]
Young, Light, and Strong By Nolan De Leon September 2, 2021 - Introduction After spending my teen years being bullied and feeling inadequate, I decided to stop listening to all the other voices and listen to my own. I wanted to chase something that no one would think was possible: to be the youngest and lightest Beast Tamer in the world. This meant that I would need […]
How to Achieve Your First Pistol Squat By Michael Perry August 19, 2021 - The pistol squat is one of the best exercises to develop strong, flexible, and resilient legs, but it also requires skill, practice, and consistency. When I started practicing pistols in 2005, I didn’t have a roadmap or a solid progression, I just kept practicing until it got easier. Once I got acclimated to training pistols, […]
No Time…No Problem—Minimalist Training Solution By Tony Gracia August 5, 2021 - There are times in life where your circumstances do not allow for much training. I am in one of those times as I write this. The only way for me to allocate an hour at a time to train would be to cut into my sleep, which would be a poor trade off considering the […]
Nail the SFG II Press Test with this Six-Week Plan By Catherine Buck Le July 22, 2021 - So, you’ve decided to train for the StrongFirst SFG II Kettlebell Instructor Certification. Prepare to get stronger, go deeper into the skill of strength, and learn a lot about yourself. Like any goal worth chasing, earning your SFG II requires perseverance, grit, and coaching. In addition to retesting your SFG I skills and five-minute snatch […]
“Step Up” Your Adventure Training By Kenneth Bolyard July 8, 2021 - Do you like good food? I mean really good food? I love great food! Have you ever had an epic meal that was so good you could recall exactly when and where it was, even years later? The best meal I have had in years was during my visit to Italy with my comrades from […]
More Mass with Minimal Gear By Myren Fu June 24, 2021 - With training equipment running at an all-time low due to COVID-19 lockdowns, most people have access to nothing but their bodyweight and minimal equipment and are left scratching their heads with what to do besides countless fundamental exercises and “HIIT.” There are only so many dips, pushups, and pullups that one can do when it […]
Burpees and Kettlebell Swings for Improved Athleticism By Todd Cambio June 10, 2021 - We are StrongFirst. Therefore, we know kettlebells. We know the many benefits they can have. The swing is why you get into kettlebells right? Well, it was for me. What I realized after practicing with kettlebells for many years was that I got better athletically. Simply put, the kettlebell swing exudes athleticism. The swing has […]
The Kettlebell Mile By Mike Prevost May 27, 2021 - The Kettlebell Mile is the product of a two-decade long search for a way to simultaneously train strength and aerobic capacity. It seems so obvious now, but the best ideas are seen as such only in retrospect. I had much learning and tinkering to do first but finally, the science and my experience (and that […]
All-Around Training for the Tactical Athlete By Justin May 13, 2021 - In the movie “Remember the Titans,” Coach Boone is the new head football coach of the first integrated school in Virginia. The school staff and parents immediately begin criticizing him. As they are preparing to leave for pre-season camp, Boone is carrying his playbook—a very thin portfolio of plays. Assistant Coach: “Awful skinny playbook in’t it?” […]
Finding the “Easy” in Simple and Sinister…and Life By Anna Cannington April 29, 2021 - I believe one of the secrets to thriving in life is seeking out difficult challenges, and then finding the “easy” within them. Let’s think about your diet, for example. Do you want to suffer, deprive yourself, starve, and hate the foods you get to eat in order to improve your body composition and other diet-related […]
Chop Wood, Carry Water…Repeat By Jason Marshall April 15, 2021 - “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”—Zen Buddhism The Essential Must be Done Regularly After some rare downtime, I was watching the show “Life Below Zero” on the Nat Geo channel. It’s a documentary TV series about the daily challenge of living off the grid in remote areas of the […]
Be as Strong as You Look: 8 Weeks of Built Strong Training By Mike Torres April 1, 2021 - In the first days of quarantine, when things shut down and the composition of my days changed overnight, I came to a quick realization: I may never again have an opportunity quite like this to train for muscle mass. I was a 43-year-old father of two with a time-consuming day job who had been training […]
How I Achieved Five Reps of the Iron Maiden By Jackie Vazquez March 18, 2021 - The Goal The idea of the Five-Rep Iron Maiden was planted in my head back in 2018 after completing the Iron Maiden Challenge at The Dome in Chicago. Training for something as big as Iron Maiden takes years of practice and after training for something for so long, it’s hard to be “finished.” Ben Eisenmenger […]
Increase Your Pressing Strength and Overhead Stability with the One-Arm Barbell Press By Craig Marker March 4, 2021 - The one-arm strict barbell press is a challenging press that will build strength and muscle stability. Pavel recommended the side press in Power to the People! and this stricter variation is a valuable addition to your strength training regimen. The prehabilitation and rehabilitation benefits of the strict barbell press are tremendous as the grip and […]
Strong Endurance in Schools to Strengthen the Next Generation By Jason Avelar February 19, 2021 - Strengthen Our Youth I currently teach at one of the best physical education schools in America. Prescott Junior High School was featured in the documentary “The Motivation Factor” which stresses the importance of being physically active. A big part of the documentary is the price American society is paying for not focusing on physical education […]
Preparing for BUD/S By Eric Frohardt January 28, 2021 - Training has always been a passion of mine, actually it’s been more of an obsession. To say that I love to train would be an understatement. I need to train. Despite this obsession, it’s important for me to have a goal or at least an objective. These goals have taken several forms. The specific training […]
From Wheelchair to Sinister: The Importance of Mental Strength By Malou Fehlbaum January 14, 2021 - In June 2003, I was injured during my apprenticeship to become a truck driver. An 830kg stone, the size of an oak barrel, fell from my truck and hit me on my lower back as I was standing leaning forward. The result was three broken vertebrae, a broken pelvis, and both legs broken all the […]
Introducing the StrongFirst “WOD” By Pavel Tsatsouline January 5, 2021 - “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.” This caption for a New Yorker cartoon nails the “FOMO” mentality of a “workout of the day.” Then why, might you ask, is StrongFirst jumping on the bandwagon and introducing its own “WOD”? Please read on. The biological law of accommodation states that the response of an […]
How to Improve Your Performance by Rebalancing Your Body: A Lesson from a World Record Strongman By John Brookfield December 17, 2020 - I would like to share a training method with you that is rarely understood in the realm of fitness but so powerful it completely saved me from persistent hip discomfort and tension within a few days. Over the course of a few months, I saw improved performance while hiking steep hills and a more powerful […]
Bench Press More by Optimizing Your Bar Path By Dr. Michael Hartle December 3, 2020 - When I teach the bench press during the StrongFirst Lifter Certification, the path of the bar section is one of my favorites. In the deadlift and the squats (Zercher, front, and back), the bar path is generally a straight, vertical line. However, in the bench press, many people curve the bar path from the start […]
The Snatch Pyramid: Optimize Your Snatch Training By Tony Gracia November 19, 2020 - Kettlebell snatches are one of my personal favorite lifts. They are athletic and explosive. They can be done with a variety of weights, tempos, rep schemes, and in my experience, give more “what the heck” (WTH) effects than anything else. There is a unique and gratifying sense of completion when you lock out each rep […]
Special Operations Selection: How to Train for the Stress and Ambiguity of the World’s Toughest Test By Craig Weller November 5, 2020 - Co-authored by Jonathan Pope - Special operations selection courses are not just physically challenging. They’re also incredibly mentally and emotionally stressful. One of the most common ways of creating this stress is to shroud students in a constant cloud of ambiguity. You never know what’s coming next, how long it will last, or how much more […]
Stop Fearing Heavy Weights By Fabio Zonin October 22, 2020 - Results are What Matter For decades I have heard about thousands of training related products that claimed to work magic for athletes, oftentimes supported by “abstracts” of research and clinical studies. But very few of them were ever mentioned again just a couple of years later. Similarly, the internet and social media expose us to […]
The Goldilocks Kettlebell Protocol By Kate Hardy October 8, 2020 - As the COVID-19 quarantine closed gyms and found many of us stuck in small spaces with little equipment, kettlebells suddenly became a hot commodity. When a single piece of equipment gives you the ability to build strength and endurance in equal measure—all while taking up very little of that precious space—they are bound to be […]
A Minimalist Kettlebell Program for Busy Professionals By Brian Wright September 24, 2020 - I often describe that my personal training career took a fortunate turn in the road when I attended my very first kettlebell level 1 certification back in 2009. I had already been training for a number of years, held several nationally accredited certifications, and was three years out of grad school with a master’s degree […]
One-arm/One-leg Pushups and the Center of the Universe By Chris Hook September 10, 2020 - The Swing is the Center of the Universe If you have been to a StrongFirst kettlebell certification or course, chances are that you have heard this statement. It doesn’t mean that we only do swings, or that we always do swings. But the swing is at the core of the kettlebell quick lifts: one- and […]
Never Quit By Sara Brownstein August 27, 2020 - I am a SFG Level I candidate scheduled to attend the certification in Las Vegas in February 2021. In truth, my goal is to reach the StrongFirst Elite status which means instructor status in all three modalities that StrongFirst teaches: kettlebell, barbell, and body weight. The SFG Level I is the important first step in […]
“160 Seconds a Day Keep the Doctor Away!”—Burn More Fat and Improve Your Health without Breaking a Sweat with a Simple Swing Protocol By Fabio Zonin August 13, 2020 - There is an old Italian proverb that reads “One apple a day keeps the doctor away.” I took the liberty to substitute the apple with 160 seconds. Let me tell you why I did so. The Upsides and the Downsides of Technology Over the past decades the continuous technology innovations have gradually and constantly made […]
The Versatility of Pyramid Training By Stew Smith July 30, 2020 - This workout is likely as old as the pushup itself and I am not sure who created it. Maybe the Aztecs or Egyptians. Who knows? Pythagoras was into triangles and math so maybe the Greeks. Whoever invented it, it has been a classic workout of mine since the 80s, when I learned it in my […]
Kettlebell “What The Heck” Effects and Training Firefighters By John Heinz November 12, 2021 - Background Physical preparedness is one of many attributes that firefighters need in order to execute their job in a safe, effective manner. Although the job of structural firefighting is the same for both career and volunteer, the ability to maintain physical preparedness is not. Unlike career firefighters whose work schedules allow them to meet the […]
Take Your Kettlebell for a Walk By Abbey Gottinger October 28, 2021 - Background Strength and endurance are not normally associated with one another when developing training protocols. A strength athlete is thought of as someone who can lift heavy weights in a gym, while an endurance athlete is known for a high aerobic capacity. If you’ve read the StrongFirst article “The Kettlebell Mile” by Dr. Mike Prevost […]
Mind the Drop—Tame the Arc for Better Snatches By Sven Rieger October 14, 2021 - A few weeks ago after seeing StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, Pavel Macek, do a Goblet Squat with a kettlebell equal to his own bodyweight I had a great conversation with him about achieving such impressive results. He said, “I am stubborn, patient, and I think a lot about the stuff I do when I practice.” […]
Is That a Squat or a Hinge? By Brett Jones October 1, 2021 - “Clarity affords focus.”—Thomas Leonard The Debate I received a response on one of my Instagram posts showing some 40kg one-arm swings that first made me chuckle and then made me think. “Squat more than a hinge…The kettlebell is too heavy for you…Build up to it, you’ll get there.” The swing is what I define as […]
Get Stronger with One Kettlebell By John Spezzano September 16, 2021 - Backstory In January 2021 I led the programming section at an SFG Level I certification. I wanted the attendees to grasp some programming concepts and be able to create an effective program with just one weight. So, I decided to build on what I had heard Fabio Zonin, StrongFirst Certified Master Instructor, discuss regarding a […]
Young, Light, and Strong By Nolan De Leon September 2, 2021 - Introduction After spending my teen years being bullied and feeling inadequate, I decided to stop listening to all the other voices and listen to my own. I wanted to chase something that no one would think was possible: to be the youngest and lightest Beast Tamer in the world. This meant that I would need […]
How to Achieve Your First Pistol Squat By Michael Perry August 19, 2021 - The pistol squat is one of the best exercises to develop strong, flexible, and resilient legs, but it also requires skill, practice, and consistency. When I started practicing pistols in 2005, I didn’t have a roadmap or a solid progression, I just kept practicing until it got easier. Once I got acclimated to training pistols, […]
No Time…No Problem—Minimalist Training Solution By Tony Gracia August 5, 2021 - There are times in life where your circumstances do not allow for much training. I am in one of those times as I write this. The only way for me to allocate an hour at a time to train would be to cut into my sleep, which would be a poor trade off considering the […]
Nail the SFG II Press Test with this Six-Week Plan By Catherine Buck Le July 22, 2021 - So, you’ve decided to train for the StrongFirst SFG II Kettlebell Instructor Certification. Prepare to get stronger, go deeper into the skill of strength, and learn a lot about yourself. Like any goal worth chasing, earning your SFG II requires perseverance, grit, and coaching. In addition to retesting your SFG I skills and five-minute snatch […]
“Step Up” Your Adventure Training By Kenneth Bolyard July 8, 2021 - Do you like good food? I mean really good food? I love great food! Have you ever had an epic meal that was so good you could recall exactly when and where it was, even years later? The best meal I have had in years was during my visit to Italy with my comrades from […]
More Mass with Minimal Gear By Myren Fu June 24, 2021 - With training equipment running at an all-time low due to COVID-19 lockdowns, most people have access to nothing but their bodyweight and minimal equipment and are left scratching their heads with what to do besides countless fundamental exercises and “HIIT.” There are only so many dips, pushups, and pullups that one can do when it […]
Burpees and Kettlebell Swings for Improved Athleticism By Todd Cambio June 10, 2021 - We are StrongFirst. Therefore, we know kettlebells. We know the many benefits they can have. The swing is why you get into kettlebells right? Well, it was for me. What I realized after practicing with kettlebells for many years was that I got better athletically. Simply put, the kettlebell swing exudes athleticism. The swing has […]
The Kettlebell Mile By Mike Prevost May 27, 2021 - The Kettlebell Mile is the product of a two-decade long search for a way to simultaneously train strength and aerobic capacity. It seems so obvious now, but the best ideas are seen as such only in retrospect. I had much learning and tinkering to do first but finally, the science and my experience (and that […]
All-Around Training for the Tactical Athlete By Justin May 13, 2021 - In the movie “Remember the Titans,” Coach Boone is the new head football coach of the first integrated school in Virginia. The school staff and parents immediately begin criticizing him. As they are preparing to leave for pre-season camp, Boone is carrying his playbook—a very thin portfolio of plays. Assistant Coach: “Awful skinny playbook in’t it?” […]
Finding the “Easy” in Simple and Sinister…and Life By Anna Cannington April 29, 2021 - I believe one of the secrets to thriving in life is seeking out difficult challenges, and then finding the “easy” within them. Let’s think about your diet, for example. Do you want to suffer, deprive yourself, starve, and hate the foods you get to eat in order to improve your body composition and other diet-related […]
Chop Wood, Carry Water…Repeat By Jason Marshall April 15, 2021 - “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”—Zen Buddhism The Essential Must be Done Regularly After some rare downtime, I was watching the show “Life Below Zero” on the Nat Geo channel. It’s a documentary TV series about the daily challenge of living off the grid in remote areas of the […]
Be as Strong as You Look: 8 Weeks of Built Strong Training By Mike Torres April 1, 2021 - In the first days of quarantine, when things shut down and the composition of my days changed overnight, I came to a quick realization: I may never again have an opportunity quite like this to train for muscle mass. I was a 43-year-old father of two with a time-consuming day job who had been training […]
How I Achieved Five Reps of the Iron Maiden By Jackie Vazquez March 18, 2021 - The Goal The idea of the Five-Rep Iron Maiden was planted in my head back in 2018 after completing the Iron Maiden Challenge at The Dome in Chicago. Training for something as big as Iron Maiden takes years of practice and after training for something for so long, it’s hard to be “finished.” Ben Eisenmenger […]
Increase Your Pressing Strength and Overhead Stability with the One-Arm Barbell Press By Craig Marker March 4, 2021 - The one-arm strict barbell press is a challenging press that will build strength and muscle stability. Pavel recommended the side press in Power to the People! and this stricter variation is a valuable addition to your strength training regimen. The prehabilitation and rehabilitation benefits of the strict barbell press are tremendous as the grip and […]
Strong Endurance in Schools to Strengthen the Next Generation By Jason Avelar February 19, 2021 - Strengthen Our Youth I currently teach at one of the best physical education schools in America. Prescott Junior High School was featured in the documentary “The Motivation Factor” which stresses the importance of being physically active. A big part of the documentary is the price American society is paying for not focusing on physical education […]
Preparing for BUD/S By Eric Frohardt January 28, 2021 - Training has always been a passion of mine, actually it’s been more of an obsession. To say that I love to train would be an understatement. I need to train. Despite this obsession, it’s important for me to have a goal or at least an objective. These goals have taken several forms. The specific training […]
From Wheelchair to Sinister: The Importance of Mental Strength By Malou Fehlbaum January 14, 2021 - In June 2003, I was injured during my apprenticeship to become a truck driver. An 830kg stone, the size of an oak barrel, fell from my truck and hit me on my lower back as I was standing leaning forward. The result was three broken vertebrae, a broken pelvis, and both legs broken all the […]
Introducing the StrongFirst “WOD” By Pavel Tsatsouline January 5, 2021 - “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.” This caption for a New Yorker cartoon nails the “FOMO” mentality of a “workout of the day.” Then why, might you ask, is StrongFirst jumping on the bandwagon and introducing its own “WOD”? Please read on. The biological law of accommodation states that the response of an […]
How to Improve Your Performance by Rebalancing Your Body: A Lesson from a World Record Strongman By John Brookfield December 17, 2020 - I would like to share a training method with you that is rarely understood in the realm of fitness but so powerful it completely saved me from persistent hip discomfort and tension within a few days. Over the course of a few months, I saw improved performance while hiking steep hills and a more powerful […]
Bench Press More by Optimizing Your Bar Path By Dr. Michael Hartle December 3, 2020 - When I teach the bench press during the StrongFirst Lifter Certification, the path of the bar section is one of my favorites. In the deadlift and the squats (Zercher, front, and back), the bar path is generally a straight, vertical line. However, in the bench press, many people curve the bar path from the start […]
The Snatch Pyramid: Optimize Your Snatch Training By Tony Gracia November 19, 2020 - Kettlebell snatches are one of my personal favorite lifts. They are athletic and explosive. They can be done with a variety of weights, tempos, rep schemes, and in my experience, give more “what the heck” (WTH) effects than anything else. There is a unique and gratifying sense of completion when you lock out each rep […]
Special Operations Selection: How to Train for the Stress and Ambiguity of the World’s Toughest Test By Craig Weller November 5, 2020 - Co-authored by Jonathan Pope - Special operations selection courses are not just physically challenging. They’re also incredibly mentally and emotionally stressful. One of the most common ways of creating this stress is to shroud students in a constant cloud of ambiguity. You never know what’s coming next, how long it will last, or how much more […]
Stop Fearing Heavy Weights By Fabio Zonin October 22, 2020 - Results are What Matter For decades I have heard about thousands of training related products that claimed to work magic for athletes, oftentimes supported by “abstracts” of research and clinical studies. But very few of them were ever mentioned again just a couple of years later. Similarly, the internet and social media expose us to […]
The Goldilocks Kettlebell Protocol By Kate Hardy October 8, 2020 - As the COVID-19 quarantine closed gyms and found many of us stuck in small spaces with little equipment, kettlebells suddenly became a hot commodity. When a single piece of equipment gives you the ability to build strength and endurance in equal measure—all while taking up very little of that precious space—they are bound to be […]
A Minimalist Kettlebell Program for Busy Professionals By Brian Wright September 24, 2020 - I often describe that my personal training career took a fortunate turn in the road when I attended my very first kettlebell level 1 certification back in 2009. I had already been training for a number of years, held several nationally accredited certifications, and was three years out of grad school with a master’s degree […]
One-arm/One-leg Pushups and the Center of the Universe By Chris Hook September 10, 2020 - The Swing is the Center of the Universe If you have been to a StrongFirst kettlebell certification or course, chances are that you have heard this statement. It doesn’t mean that we only do swings, or that we always do swings. But the swing is at the core of the kettlebell quick lifts: one- and […]
Never Quit By Sara Brownstein August 27, 2020 - I am a SFG Level I candidate scheduled to attend the certification in Las Vegas in February 2021. In truth, my goal is to reach the StrongFirst Elite status which means instructor status in all three modalities that StrongFirst teaches: kettlebell, barbell, and body weight. The SFG Level I is the important first step in […]
“160 Seconds a Day Keep the Doctor Away!”—Burn More Fat and Improve Your Health without Breaking a Sweat with a Simple Swing Protocol By Fabio Zonin August 13, 2020 - There is an old Italian proverb that reads “One apple a day keeps the doctor away.” I took the liberty to substitute the apple with 160 seconds. Let me tell you why I did so. The Upsides and the Downsides of Technology Over the past decades the continuous technology innovations have gradually and constantly made […]
The Versatility of Pyramid Training By Stew Smith July 30, 2020 - This workout is likely as old as the pushup itself and I am not sure who created it. Maybe the Aztecs or Egyptians. Who knows? Pythagoras was into triangles and math so maybe the Greeks. Whoever invented it, it has been a classic workout of mine since the 80s, when I learned it in my […]