Tuesday, 30 June 2009
40 Lifts for Lent - The Manual for Heavy Lifting with Kettlebells - On Sale Now!
The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. The Manual for Heavy Lifting with Kettlebells is finally here! That's right Tommy's spent many months planning and preparing this manual after what became a rather well followed challenge called '40 Lifts for Lent', remember it?!
His challenge led him to put together not only what happened in the 40 days but what he feels makes up the most comprehensive guide to lifting heavy kettlebells out there. It's got everything you need to start lifting and will inspire you to press, snatch and pick up heavy kettlebells over and over again!!
The Manual Includes:
- 38 Different Lifts with colour pictures and technique tips
- 12 week strength program
- 1 Super set training session
- A 40 day lifting challenge session
- Tips on Nutrition
- Tips on programme design
- Tips on recovery
- My 40 Lifts for Lent Diary and Experiences
- My top 5 favourite lifts
- Key Techniques and Principles of Lifting
- The Benefits of lifting heavy kettlebells
Don't miss out on this chance to get your copy of the '40 Lifts for Lent - The first and only manual for lifting heavy kettlebells.
Get ready to start lifting what you once thought was never possible, with great tips and techniques to help you press, pull, and lift more!
To purchase your copy of the 69 page colour manual click here and download it for only £14.99.
That's right only £14.99 for all of this!
This introductory offer won't be around for long and soon it will go to its full price of £19.99.
So download it now and start lifting today!!!
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 16:57
2 comments
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
40 Lifts for Lent - The Manual for Heavy Lifting with Kettlebells
There's more to just lifting a heavy kettlebell than you'd think and I would know, I've done 40 days of it! That's right, in 2009 Lent came around and whilst others were cutting out bread or chocolate I was lifting a 40kg kettlebell for 40 repetitions every single day. Ok so it's not the traditional thing to do for Lent, but ever the man for a challenge this seemed like the perfect way to give my training an extra boost. Now I'm no stranger to kettlebells, in fact I've been lifting them for over 5 years and in that time have travelled the world learning the art off others. Oh and this wasn't the first time I'd picked up a 40 kilo kettlebell either, in fact I've used the old 40's on a regular basis. Generally just for a bit of fun at the end of a training workshop or when my friend doesn't believe me that I can press a couple of them above my head!I know what you're thinking right now… where's the challenge in that? This guys done it all before and that's where I'd stop you and say "you try lifting that thing every day for 40 days" and that's where this became a challenge. Having to repeatedly pick myself up to lift everyday, come up with different ideas, try new things and all at the same time as running a business and training other people. That's where the challenge came in.
Although this was a challenge there were plenty of other reasons why I wanted to do this. Being in the fitness industry and having a life long interest in training and development I wanted to see what this type of training would do to my body. There were a number of different things I wanted to look at
- muscular development
- my body weight
- performance increases
- connective tissue development
- discovery of new exercises
- learning new techniques for lifting
- Increases in range of motion
- Seeing what my body was capable of!
So that was it, that was the challenge set, all I had to do was start lifting and that's exactly what I did!
About the Manual
Before I plough straight in to what I did and blabber on about the hardships of what I went through, this manual is not really about me, it's about you and getting you lifting heavy kettlebells. Why? Because there are huge benefits to lifting heavy weights and when they come in the form of a kettlebell, it's even better. There are a multitude of aims for this manual and yes I do want to tell you about my experience, because it was fantastic. But I also want to give you the background knowledge to start lifting heavy bells; the do's and don'ts; the how's and why's and when's and when not's.
The Manual is now on sale, you can get your copy of The Manual for Lifting Heavy with Kettlebells by clicking here
For a limited period only, the cost for the manual is £14.99
Dont miss out on the opportunity to get the only manual for heavy lifting with kettlebells.
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 14:06
0 comments
Kettlebell Chair Pressing
Back in 2007 BJ and I took the trip to Greece to train with the World Kettlebell Club and Valery's old coach Filikidi. It was in Greece that I first discovered the chair press. After seeing Filikidi perform them I thought it was just another tough lift and one that they did for a bit of show boating. But, since learning more and more about the art of lifting kettlebells and the skill it requires I can now see why the chair press has its place in kettlebell lifting. The chair press comes under the category of an assistant lift, just like the jump squats and one arm swings. They are there to help you develop the competition lifts. I never really understood this concept until actually training properly for the sport and I now see the immense benefits that assistant exercises hold. This short article is only really about the chair press but those other assistant lifts are just as important.
The Chair Press
After seeing it performed in Greece my initial thought was to get involved and do it myself to see what I could lift. I tried all of the variations, to challenge myself and keep it interesting but that was about it. I didn't really see any other reason for doing it. As I mentioned above, training for the sport, I have now seen the purpose for this lift. If you watch the video of me performing this lift, hopefully you'll see the crossovers to the 2 arm jerk instantly. It's these crossovers that make the chair press such a good lift for competitive jerks.
If you look at the position achieved when resting, the elbows are tucked into the body and the thoracic is flexed. This position is very similar to the resting position we achieve in the 2 arm jerk. In fact, it actually helps us achieve a better rack position as it helps to increase our range across our thoracic spine. The ability to flex our thoracic spine in the jerk is very important. Without that flexion we would struggle to find a resting position for our elbows, thus making it much harder on our arms when resting in the rack.
The next point is the movement pattern that we actually perform, in particular across the shoulder and thoracic which is exactly the same as the jerk and therefore another great cross over for jerk development.
The chair press gives us the chance to work on our hand position, rack position and overhead position. On top of all of those benefits, the range of movement we get out of our thoracic spine is fantastic. For those reasons the chair press should be in anyone's kettlebell sport program. It's in mine on a weekly basis along with some of the other assistant lifts and I am enjoying it already!
Happy Lifting!
For more information on kettlebell sport programs go to the forum.
To see the clip of the chair press click here
To read about the Trojans Lifting Club, click here
The Chair Press
After seeing it performed in Greece my initial thought was to get involved and do it myself to see what I could lift. I tried all of the variations, to challenge myself and keep it interesting but that was about it. I didn't really see any other reason for doing it. As I mentioned above, training for the sport, I have now seen the purpose for this lift. If you watch the video of me performing this lift, hopefully you'll see the crossovers to the 2 arm jerk instantly. It's these crossovers that make the chair press such a good lift for competitive jerks.
If you look at the position achieved when resting, the elbows are tucked into the body and the thoracic is flexed. This position is very similar to the resting position we achieve in the 2 arm jerk. In fact, it actually helps us achieve a better rack position as it helps to increase our range across our thoracic spine. The ability to flex our thoracic spine in the jerk is very important. Without that flexion we would struggle to find a resting position for our elbows, thus making it much harder on our arms when resting in the rack.
The next point is the movement pattern that we actually perform, in particular across the shoulder and thoracic which is exactly the same as the jerk and therefore another great cross over for jerk development.The chair press gives us the chance to work on our hand position, rack position and overhead position. On top of all of those benefits, the range of movement we get out of our thoracic spine is fantastic. For those reasons the chair press should be in anyone's kettlebell sport program. It's in mine on a weekly basis along with some of the other assistant lifts and I am enjoying it already!
Happy Lifting!
For more information on kettlebell sport programs go to the forum.
To see the clip of the chair press click here
To read about the Trojans Lifting Club, click here
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 13:16
0 comments
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
New Trojans Lifting Club T-Shirts
Introducing the Trojan Lifting Clubs all new official club t-shirt.
This will be on sale in approximately 2 weeks in the following styles: 
- Mens Fitted T
- Women's Fitted T
- Athletic Vest
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 13:55
2 comments
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Footy Training this week.
The Rugby League team I've been training for this season has a mid season break without a game for 3 weeks. We gave the boys last week off and this week was time to 'smash them up a bit'. The following sessions were performed on Monday and Wednesday of this week:Monday:As we normally play on Sunday's, Monday nights are usually recovery sessions. As we are on a break this Mondays session looked a little different.Movement Prep: inside outs, outside ins, reverse lunges etc......BB Snatch prep.Exercise 1a. Power Cleans 5*3Exercise 1b. Vertical Box Jumps 5*6Exercise 2a. Clean Pulls 4*5Exercise 2b. Broad Jumps 5*5Lateral bound Giant set 3*:Opposite toe touch with bound 6 each sideContinuous low speed skater 6 each sideContinuous upright speed skater 6 each sideAll done bounding as far as possible laterally.Burpee Last man standingI have Andy Marshall to thank for this drill. I had the boys stand in two lines facing off against each other, opposite a man of similar size and fitness ability. They then performed burpee pyramids. My line does 1 burpee - your line does 1burpee, my line does 2 burpees - your line does 2 burpees, 3burpees- 3burpees .....We made it to 20 (most of us did). That's a total of 210 burpees. The coaches were on hand to ensure technique and decent height was achieved.We then had a cool down and stretch bewfore we went home to bed!!Wednesday:I could still feel my abs, glutes and quads from Mondays session. I think it was the Burpee last man standing that finished me off. Wednesday was last night and it was a partial assessment. Durign the off season and from timt to time I've had the boys run 400ms- 400s are brilliant regardless, however they are conditioning specific to Rugby League as a set of 6 lasts roughly a minute and 400s roughly the same.Last night I wanted to mix it up a bit, but I also wanted to know how their conditioning has held up. So I administered the Litvinov Workout. I came across this reading a Dan John article. Sergey Litvinov was a World Champion hammer thrower in the early eighties and his levels of strength and conditioning as well as ability with the hammer were awesome.The following is an adapted Litvinov workout:I set up four squat stands on the track. The bars were weighted between 60 and 80kgs. Stronger guys used 80kgs and not as strong 70 and 60. The idea is simple, Squat with weight 8times then run 400ms, rest 2mins then repeat 4 times.As I now play ( I only started mid season as a final fling) I did this session, however I had only done one of the previous 400 track sessions (the boys had gotten up to doing 6 with one at every 2:45mins), and I have to admit it was bloody hard!My 400ms times on the back of 8 squats were:1. 1:172. 1:223. 1:274. 1:31OK but not great. The first time is fine my recovery needs to be better- we'll see what happens next week!We then played some touch and other skill related games for 30minutes. It was a short yet brutal session.The team is Championship 1 and semi professional so these sessions are within their abilities. The concepts however can be adapted for your perosnal training sessions and group training sessions.Any questions drop me an email. bj@optimallifefitness.comBJ Rule
The Rugby League team I've been training for this season has a mid season break without a game for 3 weeks. We gave the boys last week off and this week was time to 'smash them up a bit'. The following sessions were performed on Monday and Wednesday of this week:Monday:As we normally play on Sunday's, Monday nights are usually recovery sessions. As we are on a break this Mondays session looked a little different.Movement Prep: inside outs, outside ins, reverse lunges etc......BB Snatch prep.Exercise 1a. Power Cleans 5*3Exercise 1b. Vertical Box Jumps 5*6Exercise 2a. Clean Pulls 4*5Exercise 2b. Broad Jumps 5*5Lateral bound Giant set 3*:Opposite toe touch with bound 6 each sideContinuous low speed skater 6 each sideContinuous upright speed skater 6 each sideAll done bounding as far as possible laterally.Burpee Last man standingI have Andy Marshall to thank for this drill. I had the boys stand in two lines facing off against each other, opposite a man of similar size and fitness ability. They then performed burpee pyramids. My line does 1 burpee - your line does 1burpee, my line does 2 burpees - your line does 2 burpees, 3burpees- 3burpees .....We made it to 20 (most of us did). That's a total of 210 burpees. The coaches were on hand to ensure technique and decent height was achieved.We then had a cool down and stretch bewfore we went home to bed!!Wednesday:I could still feel my abs, glutes and quads from Mondays session. I think it was the Burpee last man standing that finished me off. Wednesday was last night and it was a partial assessment. Durign the off season and from timt to time I've had the boys run 400ms- 400s are brilliant regardless, however they are conditioning specific to Rugby League as a set of 6 lasts roughly a minute and 400s roughly the same.Last night I wanted to mix it up a bit, but I also wanted to know how their conditioning has held up. So I administered the Litvinov Workout. I came across this reading a Dan John article. Sergey Litvinov was a World Champion hammer thrower in the early eighties and his levels of strength and conditioning as well as ability with the hammer were awesome.The following is an adapted Litvinov workout:I set up four squat stands on the track. The bars were weighted between 60 and 80kgs. Stronger guys used 80kgs and not as strong 70 and 60. The idea is simple, Squat with weight 8times then run 400ms, rest 2mins then repeat 4 times.As I now play ( I only started mid season as a final fling) I did this session, however I had only done one of the previous 400 track sessions (the boys had gotten up to doing 6 with one at every 2:45mins), and I have to admit it was bloody hard!My 400ms times on the back of 8 squats were:1. 1:172. 1:223. 1:274. 1:31OK but not great. The first time is fine my recovery needs to be better- we'll see what happens next week!We then played some touch and other skill related games for 30minutes. It was a short yet brutal session.The team is Championship 1 and semi professional so these sessions are within their abilities. The concepts however can be adapted for your perosnal training sessions and group training sessions.Any questions drop me an email. bj@optimallifefitness.comBJ Rule
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 10:33
0 comments
Footy Training this week.
The Rugby League team I've been training for this season has a mid season break without a game for 3 weeks. We gave the boys last week off and this week was time to 'smash them up a bit'. The following sessions were performed on Monday and Wednesday of this week:
Monday:
As we normally play on Sunday's, Monday nights are usually recovery sessions. As we are on a break this Mondays session looked a little different.
Movement Prep: inside outs, outside ins, reverse lunges etc......
BB Snatch prep.
Exercise 1a. Power Cleans 5*3
Exercise 1b. Vertical Box Jumps 5*6
Exercise 2a. Clean Pulls 4*5
Exercise 2b. Broad Jumps 5*5
Lateral bound Giant set 3*:
Opposite toe touch with bound 6 each side
Continuous low speed skater 6 each side
Continuous upright speed skater 6 each side
All done bounding as far as possible laterally.
Burpee Last man standing
I have Andy Marshall to thank for this drill. I had the boys stand in two lines facing off against each other, opposite a man of similar size and fitness ability. They then performed burpee pyramids. My line does 1 burpee - your line does 1burpee, my line does 2 burpees - your line does 2 burpees, 3burpees- 3burpees .....
We made it to 20 (most of us did). That's a total of 210 burpees. The coaches were on hand to ensure technique and decent height was achieved.
We then had a cool down and stretch bewfore we went home to bed!!
Wednesday:
I could still feel my abs, glutes and quads from Mondays session. I think it was the Burpee last man standing that finished me off. Wednesday was last night and it was a partial assessment. Durign the off season and from timt to time I've had the boys run 400ms- 400s are brilliant regardless, however they are conditioning specific to Rugby League as a set of 6 lasts roughly a minute and 400s roughly the same.
Last night I wanted to mix it up a bit, but I also wanted to know how their conditioning has held up. So I administered the Litvinov Workout. I came across this reading a Dan John article. Sergey Litvinov was a World Champion hammer thrower in the early eighties and his levels of strength and conditioning as well as ability with the hammer were awesome.
The following is an adapted Litvinov workout:
I set up four squat stands on the track. The bars were weighted between 60 and 80kgs. Stronger guys used 80kgs and not as strong 70 and 60. The idea is simple, Squat with weight 8times then run 400ms, rest 2mins then repeat 4 times.
As I now play ( I only started mid season as a final fling) I did this session, however I had only done one of the previous 400 track sessions (the boys had gotten up to doing 6 with one at every 2:45mins), and I have to admit it was bloody hard!
My 400ms times on the back of 8 squats were:
1. 1:17
2. 1:22
3. 1:27
4. 1:31
OK but not great. The first time is fine my recovery needs to be better- we'll see what happens next week!
We then played some touch and other skill related games for 30minutes. It was a short yet brutal session.
The team is Championship 1 and semi professional so these sessions are within their abilities. The concepts however can be adapted for your perosnal training sessions and group training sessions.
Any questions drop me an email. bj@optimallifefitness.com
BJ Rule
Monday:
As we normally play on Sunday's, Monday nights are usually recovery sessions. As we are on a break this Mondays session looked a little different.
Movement Prep: inside outs, outside ins, reverse lunges etc......
BB Snatch prep.
Exercise 1a. Power Cleans 5*3
Exercise 1b. Vertical Box Jumps 5*6
Exercise 2a. Clean Pulls 4*5
Exercise 2b. Broad Jumps 5*5
Lateral bound Giant set 3*:
Opposite toe touch with bound 6 each side
Continuous low speed skater 6 each side
Continuous upright speed skater 6 each side
All done bounding as far as possible laterally.
Burpee Last man standing
I have Andy Marshall to thank for this drill. I had the boys stand in two lines facing off against each other, opposite a man of similar size and fitness ability. They then performed burpee pyramids. My line does 1 burpee - your line does 1burpee, my line does 2 burpees - your line does 2 burpees, 3burpees- 3burpees .....
We made it to 20 (most of us did). That's a total of 210 burpees. The coaches were on hand to ensure technique and decent height was achieved.
We then had a cool down and stretch bewfore we went home to bed!!
Wednesday:
I could still feel my abs, glutes and quads from Mondays session. I think it was the Burpee last man standing that finished me off. Wednesday was last night and it was a partial assessment. Durign the off season and from timt to time I've had the boys run 400ms- 400s are brilliant regardless, however they are conditioning specific to Rugby League as a set of 6 lasts roughly a minute and 400s roughly the same.
Last night I wanted to mix it up a bit, but I also wanted to know how their conditioning has held up. So I administered the Litvinov Workout. I came across this reading a Dan John article. Sergey Litvinov was a World Champion hammer thrower in the early eighties and his levels of strength and conditioning as well as ability with the hammer were awesome.
The following is an adapted Litvinov workout:
I set up four squat stands on the track. The bars were weighted between 60 and 80kgs. Stronger guys used 80kgs and not as strong 70 and 60. The idea is simple, Squat with weight 8times then run 400ms, rest 2mins then repeat 4 times.
As I now play ( I only started mid season as a final fling) I did this session, however I had only done one of the previous 400 track sessions (the boys had gotten up to doing 6 with one at every 2:45mins), and I have to admit it was bloody hard!
My 400ms times on the back of 8 squats were:
1. 1:17
2. 1:22
3. 1:27
4. 1:31
OK but not great. The first time is fine my recovery needs to be better- we'll see what happens next week!
We then played some touch and other skill related games for 30minutes. It was a short yet brutal session.
The team is Championship 1 and semi professional so these sessions are within their abilities. The concepts however can be adapted for your perosnal training sessions and group training sessions.
Any questions drop me an email. bj@optimallifefitness.com
BJ Rule
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 09:25
0 comments
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Newsletter 28th May 2009
This is posted here as we had techincal difficulties last week sending it out to everybody:
In this weeks issue we have: an interview by Tommy Matthews and yours truly talking about the Trojans Lifting Club and my experiences in Greece with Valery Fedorenko.
We have a great interview with EKI Danny Cadwallader talking about the amazing success he has had with his clients, some of which have lost up to 7 stones and dropped 14 dress sizes. This is also a special week for us as we Unleash the Trojans! We’re unveiling the Trojans logo in this newsletter.
Interview
Tommy took the time out last week to ask myself a few questions regarding the Trojans Lifting Club, my time at a Greek Kettlebell Sport training camp, running one of the UK’s first ever Kettlebell Sport competitions and our Advanced Kettlebell Instructor course. To check out the video interview in full please visit:
www.olfeducation.com
Danny’s Secrets to Fast and Effective Fat Burning.
This week I spoke to Danny Cadwallader regarding some of the tremendous success he has had implementing Kettlebells into his clients training regimes. He has had one client drop from size 24 to sizes 6 to 8 and another from size 20 to size 10, other clients are kicking harder and running faster, to read more please click here
Unleashing the Trojans
The Kettlebell Sport Lifting Club I set up on my return from the Greek training camp this year now has a name and an aim.
The Trojans symbolise strength and resilience, I couldn’t think of a better name to symbolise two of the characteristics required for Kettlebell Sport. The Trojans aim is to compete in Kettlebell Sport.
To read about the Trojans and to check out our Trojan logo Click Here
Online Resource Centre
If you're and EKI the latest updates on the resource centre are for you! All EKI's can now get access to the Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course Resources, including technique clips and teaching tools. If you're looking for a recap, then sign up today for free and start learning!
Go to www.olfeducation.com
Upcoming Courses
Upcoming Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course's Click on the links to book now!
06.06.09 - 07.06.09
London
13.06.09 - 14.06.09
Edinburgh
20.06.09 - 21.06.09
Birmingham
27.06.09 - 28.06.09
Dublin
04.07.09 - 05.07.09
Bath
01.08.09 - 02.08.09
Newcastle
05.09.09 - 06.09.09
London
12.09.09 - 13.09.09
Manchester
The Next Advanced Kettlebell Course is:Click on the link to book now!
25.07.09
London
The Next Olympic Weight Lifting Course is:Click on the link to book now!
11.07.09 - 12.07.09
London
10.10.09 - 11.10.09
London
Upcoming Performance Boxing CoursesClick on the links to book now!
06.06.09
Newcastle
13.06.09
Birmingham
25.07.09
London
19.09.09
London
26.09.09
Manchester
10.10.09
Dublin
Keep lifting and stay strong,
BJ & Tommy
In this weeks issue we have: an interview by Tommy Matthews and yours truly talking about the Trojans Lifting Club and my experiences in Greece with Valery Fedorenko.
We have a great interview with EKI Danny Cadwallader talking about the amazing success he has had with his clients, some of which have lost up to 7 stones and dropped 14 dress sizes. This is also a special week for us as we Unleash the Trojans! We’re unveiling the Trojans logo in this newsletter.
Interview
Tommy took the time out last week to ask myself a few questions regarding the Trojans Lifting Club, my time at a Greek Kettlebell Sport training camp, running one of the UK’s first ever Kettlebell Sport competitions and our Advanced Kettlebell Instructor course. To check out the video interview in full please visit:
www.olfeducation.com
Danny’s Secrets to Fast and Effective Fat Burning.
This week I spoke to Danny Cadwallader regarding some of the tremendous success he has had implementing Kettlebells into his clients training regimes. He has had one client drop from size 24 to sizes 6 to 8 and another from size 20 to size 10, other clients are kicking harder and running faster, to read more please click here
Unleashing the Trojans
The Kettlebell Sport Lifting Club I set up on my return from the Greek training camp this year now has a name and an aim.
The Trojans symbolise strength and resilience, I couldn’t think of a better name to symbolise two of the characteristics required for Kettlebell Sport. The Trojans aim is to compete in Kettlebell Sport.
To read about the Trojans and to check out our Trojan logo Click Here
Online Resource Centre
If you're and EKI the latest updates on the resource centre are for you! All EKI's can now get access to the Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course Resources, including technique clips and teaching tools. If you're looking for a recap, then sign up today for free and start learning!
Go to www.olfeducation.com
Upcoming Courses
Upcoming Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course's Click on the links to book now!
06.06.09 - 07.06.09
London
13.06.09 - 14.06.09
Edinburgh
20.06.09 - 21.06.09
Birmingham
27.06.09 - 28.06.09
Dublin
04.07.09 - 05.07.09
Bath
01.08.09 - 02.08.09
Newcastle
05.09.09 - 06.09.09
London
12.09.09 - 13.09.09
Manchester
The Next Advanced Kettlebell Course is:Click on the link to book now!
25.07.09
London
The Next Olympic Weight Lifting Course is:Click on the link to book now!
11.07.09 - 12.07.09
London
10.10.09 - 11.10.09
London
Upcoming Performance Boxing CoursesClick on the links to book now!
06.06.09
Newcastle
13.06.09
Birmingham
25.07.09
London
19.09.09
London
26.09.09
Manchester
10.10.09
Dublin
Keep lifting and stay strong,
BJ & Tommy
posted by Tommy Matthews @ 13:35
0 comments
