OLF-blog

Results from the Pilot Study

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:45:00 +0000

Below are the graphs showing the results from our pilot study at York st John's University. Firstly a big thank you to John Gray for working with us on this and being the brains behind it all. Secondly, although just a pilot study and not conclusive set of results, these graphs do show some really interesting results.

John has taken a look at the initial results and has the following observations:

you appear to sustain high (80-90%)exercise for 4 minutes.
Doing intervals is possible and it appears that it may be possible to tailor, depending on using either time or reps, to sustain a %HRR training zone and therefore develop a specific endurance component.
It seems that you don't reach a steady state after 5 minutes which would indicate that you are working anaerobically throughout, but, due to the length of time the force output can be maintained, this would appear advantageous for developing anaerobic endurance.

"it could be suggested that there appears an cardiovascular and muscular endurance advantage to adding swings and snatch to a kettlebell training routine. From the observations of similar movements with bar and dumbbell, the development of these components might not be possible to a similar degree with traditional weight training methods due to the inability to sustain the force output for a comparative length of time."

John Gray 2008

Kettlebell Research With York St Johns Univeristy

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:07:00 +0000

Last week the Extreme Kettlebell Team went to York St Johns University to start their research into Kettlebell training. We had a great 2 days working with John Gray of the Sports Science Department. Our aim was to start exploring what effects kettlebells had on the human body. This meant that we would have to do some work! Firstly we were maximal tested on the treadmill, to allow us to relate the kettlebell exercises to our maximal output. This pilot study has set up some great studies which we are now setting up and are looking for people to take part. So any EKI's out there reading this who fancy contributing to the UK's first major scientific kettlebell research project should get in touch with us ASAP.

We spent the first day testing the our bodies physically, pushing ourselves to the limits and looking at the heart rates achieved at those limits. This was a great day and although immensely hard we have gained some really interesting results. The next day we woke up feeling like we did when we first used a kettlebell 5 years ago! Stiff and warn out we went back into the laboratories and started working on some initial analysis of the bio mechanics of the kettlebell exercises and their similarities/differences to olympic lifting and dumbbell lifting.

Although currently all the work is just part of a pilot study we aim to have some concrete results by the end of the year. We are also working closely with some athletes and students on studies looking at the effect kettlebells have on performance over time.

Keep an eye out for all the results of the pilot study which will be posted on the forum shortly.

Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course - Newcastle

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:24:00 +0000

Fitness First Newcastle were the kind hosts of the the first EKI course in Newcastle and what a huge success. We had 18 trainers take part and 18 trainers finished with their full EKI certification. So firstly congratulations to you all for completing the course and secondly it was great to work with such an enthusiastic group of trainers. On a personal level, obviously great to be back up north, but it was also great to see so many trainers from the area taking part. It looks like the north really is loving kettlebells, we already have 20 trainers booked into the Manchester course and it's over a month away.
Highlights for the weekend were definitely the guys challenging each other with the 40KG kettlebell. Turkish get ups and 1 arm presses seemed to be order of the day, with the guys getting up with ease with a 40kg.
With a wide range of backgrounds it was good to see some great discussions and questions coming up. It was also the first chance for the Extreme Team to present some of their research from York St Johns University, the pilot study ran last week produced some interesting results which we'll be posting shortly on our forum, so keep an eye out for this.

Once again thanks to all the group in Newcastle, best of luck with your training and look forward to seeing you on another one of our courses in the near future.

Georgina's Departure!

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:19:00 +0000

On a sad note, Georgina will be leaving the company shortly as she is moving away from London to the leafy suburbs of Cambridge. I hope most of you have come into contact with George at some stage over the last year and a bit. She has been a complete asset to The Optimal Life Fitness Group and will be hugely missed. Her talents and skills have helped us develop our services and products immensely. Her effort and approach to her role were second to none. We wish her all the best for the future and we hope she enjoys the countryside!

Good luck Weller!

Performance Boxing Educational Course

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:53:00 +0000

Performance Boxing
Boxing for group training instructors and personal trainers
Performance Boxing designed by Johnny Lewis

The Performance Boxing course has been designed to give the fitness instructor or personal trainer the skills and knowledge to:

- Safely design and implement boxing into group fitness or personal training.
- Display and teach the correct technique and movement for punching and holding focus pads and coaching mitts.

- Communicate positively with class participants and client to create positive relationships that will ensure people will be returning to your class or Personal training session
- Successfully structure group training and personal training sessions and have the skills to vary sessions so participants never get bored of your routines

Who is Johnny Lewis?

Johnny is Australia's leading boxing trainer who has trained five World Champions - including Jeff Fenech and Kostya Tszyu - and who has also been involved in training the Australian Rugby League Team and many NRL and AFL teams.
Johnny's practical techniques for training Australia's greatest boxers have formed the Performance Boxing course.
With Johnny's practical knowledge Corey Bocking who works with us in Australia desinged Performance Boxing and has successfully run this course in Australia for 2 years.

Who is Corey?

Corey is a fitness professional, who has trained many professional athletes' including some of Australia's leading boxers. Corey has worked for two of Australia’s leading Universities and has lectured for the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association presenting their level 1 course.

Course Leaders in the UK & Europe
B.J. Rule and A.J. Philips

With our strong affiliation to 'Peacock Gym' in London we will also be bring along some of the UK's top amateur boxers and possibly even some pro's to present to students.

This is a fantastic addition to our educational portfolio and one which we believe will be hugely successful in the UK.

Course Outline:

Introduction to Performance Boxing
Physical Execution
Learn the key techniques punching and padding
Fighting Stance
Punching Technique
Focus Pad Technique
Hand Wrap Sequence

The Boxing Instructor
Learn how to teach effective sessions and get the most out of your clients.
Communication
Instruction
Interaction

Structuring a Class or Personal Training Session
Learn how to design the perfect session that will give you great results
Group Training Options
Designing a Boxing Workout that Works
Personal Training Options

Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course London July 08

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:41:00 +0000

The Extreme Kettlebell Team have just had a great weekend in London working with a group of 23 fitness trainers from across the UK. The challenging and intense Extreme Kettlebell Instructor course was the order of the day and I think by the end of the weekend all the guys were pretty happy to be finished. Thankfully they were still smiling as you can see on the group photo.

Well done to all the guys for completing the course, I hope you had a great weekend and look forward to hearing from you soon, good luck and keep lifting!

We now head for Newcastle on the first weekend of August and then to Holland and Germany before coming back to the UK to run a course back in London and to top off a busy 2 months we'll be in Manchester mid September. To get details on our EKI courses and our Olympic Lifting Courses go to http://www.optimallifefitness.com/

The First Olympic Weight Lifting Course

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:25:00 +0000

The Optimal Life Fitness Group has launched the first Olympic Weight Lifting Course designed for Fitness Professionals. The 2 day course covers all of the lifts and their assistant exercises. The approach taken is to teach all of the parts of each lift so the trainer has a full understanding of where to start and how to improve. The course also comes with an in-depth manual describing all of the lifts and their component parts.

We have just run our first course this weekend, held in central London at one of our training venues. The course was a huge success, all of the trainers passed the practical and theory assesments. Although a little warn out after 2 days of lifting, the feedback was fantastic. With such a successful course already done, we have announced our second date.
This will be on the 13th - 14th September in London. For more information on this course, please go to the Olympic Lifting section of our website or call our sales team on 02077313133.

Have a look at the photos below to see what the guys were getting up to.

Extreme Kettlebell Education and Escape Fitness

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:25:00 +0000

The Optimal Life Fitness Group has partnered with Escape Fitness to run all of their Kettlebell Education. We spent yesterday at Escapes training facilities, educating the sales team and giving them a little workout! They are now ready to offer gyms a full kettlebell package, the kettlebells and now the Extreme Kettlebell Educational Training.
I see this partnership as a great way to spread the word about quality kettlebells and education. I'm looking forward to the future and to seeing kettlebells make an appearance in gyms across the UK on a large scale. With both companies working together this gives us the best chance of ensuring the fitness industry has access to quality Kettlebell training.

Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course - Holland

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:35:00 +0000

We have just run our 3rd 2 day Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course in the Netherlands for Fitness First. Held in Roosendall, we had 13 PT's attend the course. There are now over 40 EKI's in Holland some of which are also Advanced EKI's.
More news from Holland... We have just taken on Mark de Wit (EKI) as our Master Trainer for Holland. Mark has now taken over the organisation and running of EKI courses in Holland and also the sales and distribution of Extreme Kettlebells. The next EKI course in Holland will be on the 23rd - 24th of August. For more information on this course please either contact Mark on the details below or contact our sales team. If you are based in Holland and want any Extreme Kettlebells you can contact Mark directly and he will be able to deal with your orders.

Mark de Wit
mark@optimallifefitness.com

Esporta Romford Extreme Kettlebell Instalation

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Fri, 02 May 2008 08:59:00 +0000

After a Succesfull installation at Esporta Chislehurst, it was the turn of Romford. I spent a full day at the club working with the trainers and then the members. We installed the Extreme GYMBells into the club and immediately we had members taking an interest. Over 40 Members signed up for a free trial session with one of the trainers and I got a chance to demonstrate and talk to the members about the benefits of kettlebells. All of the instructors passed the course and were straight into using the kettlebells that evening, as you can see from the photos.

Extreme Kettlebell at Fitness First France

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:52:00 +0000

The first trip to France for kettlebell training and installation has just taken place. We have installed Extreme Kettlebells into 4 of the Fitness First clubs in Paris, inlcuding the brand new club in St Germain. As well as the installations, the package included our 4 hour workshop. So in my best French, the personal trainers of Paris had their first introdcution into kettlebell training. A keen group of trainers got to grips with the basics quickly and were soon snatching and cleaning the kettlebell with ease.
Well done to the group, it was a pleasure working with you for the day and I look forward to hearing about the success you're having with kettlebells.

Fit Pro Convention

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 11:24:00 +0000

2008 was the Optimal Life Fitness Groups first year at the Fit Pro Convention. With a van full of kettlebells we travelled up to Loughborough to set up for the convention. Once again, the huge inflatable Extreme Kettlebell was flying proud as you can see in the photo.

The team had a great 3 days on the stand and showing the crowd what Extreme Kettlebells can do on the demo stage. We even started to do our demos with the music from the Fit Pro shop! It made for a great 15 minute workout and something that we've carried on doing for all of our demo's.

For us, it was a good opportunity to speak to personal trainers from all over the UK. Since the Fit Pro Convention we have now started our Extreme Kettlebell National Tour, where we will be visiting Cities across the UK running our 2 day Instructor Course. To see the venues and dates for these please go to our calendar of dates

Esporta Chiselhurst Training and Installation

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:58:00 +0000

This week we were in Chiselhurst for the day to educate their Personal Trainers and install Extreme Kettlebells into the club. The trainers completed the 1 day 'Introduction to Kettlebell Training Course' They now have a full set of Extreme Kettlebells and are looking forward to getting all of the members into kettlebells. I actually went down there in the evening to introduce some of the members to kettlebells and run some short intro sessions for them. I hope the members will get to grips with the kettlebells as soon as possible. There are now Esporta trainers across the UK that have done the course and are now using kettlebells.
So if you're in an Esporta club at any point, look out for the kettlebell trainers.

Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:42:00 +0000

TEAM GERMANY TAKE ON EXTREME KETTLEBELLS WITH STYLE!

This was the first EKI course we've held in Germany and it was a great success. The personal trainers worked harder over the 2 days and showed great commitment. Performance levels were very high and allowed for a high level of teaching, introducing the group to some challenging new exercises and kettlebell techniques. All of the trainers are part of The Fitness Company, Germany's largest health club chain and part of Fitness First.

Well done to all who took part.

'Great effort guys, I was really impressed to se such great commitment and enthusiasm, looking forward to seeing you back in Germany soon'.

We are now installing Extreme Kettlebells into Fitness Company clubs across Germany and running workshops and EKI course across the country. The Kettlebells are available for personal trainers who have done the course to use with their clients. The Fitness Company will be introducing a Kettlebell Triple Pack:- 3 x 30 minute personal trianing sessions to introduce customers to Extreme Kettlebells.

The next 2 day EKI course is on the 26th - 27th of April in Berlin. To book this course go to:

http://www.olfstore.com/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=139

or email info@optimallifefitness.com

Extreme Strongman Training Day

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Great News! we've set up our first Extreme Training Day of 2008 and it's coming very soon. We will be holding all the best events and all the great challenges will be waiting for you! The Tyre Flip, the Beer Kegs, the Farmers Walk, plus many more, there may even be a truck pull!
The next Extreme Strongman Training day will take place Sunday 20th January at:

Fit Club Wymondham. Unit 14 Chestnut Drive, Wymondham, Norfolk, NR18 9SB.
From 10am to 2pm.
There will be a prize for the winner, (TBA)
There are changing facilities at the site and you can also buy food there.

The cost for the day is just £10.00, to book it and for more information just call the Fit Club direct on 01953606665. There are limited spaces for this event, so the earlier you book the better.

Optimal Life Fitness News- Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:34:00 +0000

Optimal Life Fitness News

The Optimal Life Fitness Group has had a busy 2007 and we would like to thank all of you for being a part of it. We would also like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year

Outdoor Extreme has gone from strength to strength with more parks and more sessions at more times. As well as our London parks (Highbury Fields, Wandsworth Common, Battersea Park and now Clapham Common) Outdoor Extreme is now being run in Glasgow, St Albans and Boreham Wood. Outdoor Extreme recommences on the 7th January, for more information and to book follow this link: http://www.outdoor-extreme.com/

Our Extreme Kettlebell Instructor course has seen over 250 people become qualified EKI instructors in both the UK and Europe with people travelling from Israel, Malta, Portugal, Sweden and Holland to name a few of the countries. We will continue to tour the course throughout the UK and the continent in 2008. In November we launched our Advanced Kettlebell Instructor course which went down very well. Our next EKI course is on the 2nd and 3rd of February at the Peacock's Gym in Canning Town, London to book a place: http://www.olfstore.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=96

Our European expansion continues as soon as the first week of January where we will be educating trainers at Fitness First clubs in both Germany and France. This relationship along with education also sees us installing our bells and racks to clubs throughout the continent. In the UK we have trained trainers at DC Leisure's, Esporta's and others as well as smaller
boutique clubs like KX Gym and The One Aldwych so on the education front we have also been quite busy.

The sale of our brand of kettlebells; the Extreme Kettlebells has been brilliant. In fact in some cases we haven't been able to keep up with demand, to those of you who had to wait for bells we are really sorry, we hope you put them to good use when they did arrive and made up for lost time! If you would like to purchase bells go to here: http://www.olfstore.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=1

Please note that the Optimal Life Fitness office will closing on Friday the 21st of December and will be reopening on Wednesday the 2nd of January 2008. We will not be offering next day delivery for our products during this period.

To all of you we would like to thankyou for your support and custom in 2007 and we hope that our relationship with you can continue throughout 2008 and beyond.

The Extreme Kettlebell Membership

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:05:00 +0000

You are now one of a special team of Personal Trainers; you have some great new skills that stand you in a great position to succeed in a very competitive market.
You are an Extreme Kettlebell Instructor and with this you are ahead of many other personal trainers in the country. You have taken a step forwards to put you at the fore front of the industry. You have now have skills that will get your clients results, fast. Employ them and you will grow and expand your business.

The Optimal Life Fitness Team has designed a great new package which gives you the chance to make the most of your new Extreme Kettlebell Instructor status. It's very simple and will allow you to utilize the best known brand of kettlebells and kettlebell training in Europe.

What do you get?

- To use our Extreme Kettlebell Logos on all of your promotional and advertising material.
- Primary Contact Trainer - you will be contacted whenever a potential client enquires about training in your area.
- You will be listed as an Extreme Kettlebell Instructor on our new 'find a kettlebell instructor' section of the website. In this section you can have a photo of yourself, a link to your website and all of your contact details.

How do you sign up?

It's very simple, all you need to do is agree to the terms of the License Agreement which protects the copyright of the logos and we'll do the rest.
- We'll put your details up on the 'Find a Kettlebell Instructor' Section.
- We'll notify you when a client enquires about training.
- We'll send you the logos so you can utilize them in your promotional material.

Only Extreme Kettlebell Members will get this offer

You will get all of this for just £40.00 a year. That's the price of one personal training session for most of us.
The Optimal Life Fitness Team will continually add to this package and as a member of Extreme Kettlebells you will carry on benefiting from new opportunities and extra special offers on new products, new educational courses and affiliations with other fitness companies.

To sign up for the Extreme Kettlebell Membership please contact Georgina Weller on 02077 31 31 33 or email: georgina@optimallifefitness.com

Become Part of the Family.

The license is an annual agreement and must be renewed at the end of the year.

Children 'not exercising enough'

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:57:00 +0000

Children ‘not exercising enough’

I remember as a kid (in primary school) we use to go swimming with school once a week. At this time (just over twenty years ago) there only use to be one or two overweight (we used the word fat) kids out of a class of about thirty. To be honest they weren’t even that ‘fat’, soft would be a better term.

How times have changed - Just the other week I was doing a few laps at the local swimming pool and in all honesty out of about fourty- eight to ten year olds I could not see a rib or an abdominal muscle anywhere, in fact I don’t think under all the blubber there was any muscle anywhere.

What’s going on?

A lot of things are going on. Or not going on depending on how you look at things. Two of the main reasons for the increase in ‘fatness’ in the last twenty years are:

1. The modern diet is too full of sugar
2. We are just not active enough

Sugar is a huge problem. Never in the history of man have we ever had such an over abundance of sugar. It’s no coincidence that the rise in metabolic disease (diabetes, CHD, obesity) and the link to sugar is becoming more and more apparent.

Why do we like sugar and have an affinity for sweet things? – The answer is Evolution. Sugar provides us with energy and without it we would not survive. We can’t survive without fat (or protein for that matter) either but naturally we use to get this in the correct amounts, animal fat, vegetable fat, nuts and seeds. As a survival mechanism (in times when food is scarce) excess sugar can be converted and stored as fat so we can survive.

Our bodies haven’t changed since we stopped swinging from trees- since we evolved, so we still convert and store excess sugar as fat. Fast forward to now we have a whole lot of excess sugar in our diets and therefore a whole lot more is getting stored as fat.

Science and nutritional bodies didn't initially help, either they didn't know or they knew and didn't tell us but high carbohydrate (is sugar or converts to sugar) low fat diets were quite in vogue in the 80’s and 90’s. Think of the old food pyramid- breads and cereals, fruits (all sugars) and vegetables were on the bottom two tiers. Fats were on the top. The theory and reasoning outside of the conspiracy theories (concerning the billion dollar wheat and sugar industries) was the thought process that fat makes us fat. This is true to an extent but what was missed out on was that excess sugar also makes us fat.

And we certainly have an excess, especially considering our inactive lives. It’s well documented that we don’t partake in enough physical activity. Nobody walks anywhere anymore, especially not kids, there is less PE, sports and activities in our schools. The streets and roads are too busy and unsafe to play in- we just don’t move anymore. According to the British Heart Foundation ‘Children living in inner-city areas are not getting enough exercise … '. Other interesting statistics from the British Heart Foundation’s study: ‘found more than half of schoolchildren asked watched tv or played computer games for more than four hours every day... less than half said they exercised at break or walked to school … the level of inactivity was worse among girls … ’ (taken from a story from BBC NEWS/Health 23/11/2007).

Combine our current inactive lifestyles (not much energy expended) with our high sugar diets (more energy in) and we have an energy surplus. If this energy isn’t being used we store it as a fat. Hence there were so many soft (fat) kids at my swimming pool.

None of this is news. But we still don’t seem to be doing much about it.
Can anything be done? The answer is that a lot can be done.

Firstly we need to consume a lot less sugar in our diets. Secondly we need to exercise or at least be more active. A lot easier said than done- not really.

Concerning less sugar in our diets we need to start reading labels to check how much sugar there is (be careful of low fat foods these are normally extremely high in sugar). The majority of our sugar should come from fruit and vegetables anything else will be processed.

Concerning more exercise or activity we need to find a sport, go the gym, but generally we just have to do more, move more, walk more, walk to the shops, take the stairs increase activity more of the time. Don’t watch as much telly, or eat that doughnut, can the video games; get outside and move!

We all need to take responsibility for ourselves and for our children, parents need to not let their kids eat so much (particularly), fair enough they can’t control what their children put into their mouths but they can control what’s in the cupboards and fridges!

BJ Rule

Christmas Special

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:47:00 +0000

Yes it's Christmas time and Optimal Life Fitness are putting a great sale on all Kettlebells from 16kg upwards. So if you need to get your hands on some bells before Christmas. Do it Now! There's 15% off until Christmas.
Call the office on 02077 31 31 33
or buy online at www.olfstore.com

Karla Fabri - EKI Malta

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:36:00 +0000

Karla Fabri is a Sports Scientist graduating from the University of Edinburgh Scotland in 2003 and later qualified as a Body Control Pilates Instructor with Body Control Pilates London. Karla is also a qualified Vibrogym trainer and is presently studying with the American College of Sports Medicine as a Health/Fitness Instructor to work on preventive health programs in corporate, commercial, and community settings aimed at low- to moderate- risk individuals or persons with controlled diseases, such as hypertension, obesity or asthma.

Karla came over from Malta to take part in the recent Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course in London. She is now the only EKI in Malta and will be using her new skills with clients from varies backgrounds. Karla has used her vast knowledge of the human body and performance to great success, working out of an exclusive Health Resort in Malta, the Fortina Spa. She has access to a huge arrange of specialist equipment and has worked with numerous performance athletes.
Her credentials and Experience are as follows:

Extreme Kettlebell Instructor course - Optimal Life Fitness, London
Advanced Open Water Scuba Diving - PADI - Divewise Malta
Pilates Advanced Registration Workshop
Body Control, London Lynne Robinson
Standing Pilates - Body Control, Lynne Robinson
Vibrogym & Pneuback (Powerproducts) Kevin Barclay Webb
Ante Natal & Post Natal Pilates - Body Control, London Lynne Robinson
Hydrotherapy in Rehabilitation - Medical Clinic
Body Control Pilates Instructor Course - Body Control, Edinburgh Lynne
Aspects in Pain - Fortina Medical Clinic
Bachelor of Science (BSc) - University of Edinburgh

Kettlebells in Malta are sure to be a successm, with great weather and beautiful beaches, it,s the perfect place to keep fit. If you ever go to Malta look out for the Fortina Spa.

Good luck with your training Karla and form all the Optimal Life Fitness Team we hope you have great success out there. Look forward to seeing you on the Advanced course next year.

Uri Hirsch - Advanced EKI from Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:33:00 +0000

Uri Hirsch, Born in 1969 in Ramat Hasharon Israel, has been a fitness Instructor since 1991, specializing in Pilates training, Yoga, kettlebells & Functional Training. He Owns a Personal Training Studio in Ramat Hasharon Israel. During his career he has always developed his skills and knowledge base to stay at the top of his game. This was clear to see when he came all the way from Israel to take part in the Extreme kettlebell Instructor Course, not only that, he came back 2 weeks later to take part in the Advanced Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Course! That's some serious commitment and for that reason we thought we'd add Uri as our first EKI from far away.

His experience has come from many areas, as you can see from below:

Wingate Institute School for Coaches and Instructors:
Gym Instructor & advanced Gym Instructor
Vinyasa Yoga Instructor & advanced Instructor
Mat & Equipment Pilates Instructor
Precision cycling Instructor & Topspin Instructor
Posture & Kinesiology Instructor
Karate 2nd Dan black belt "combined martial art"
Extreme Kettlebell Instructor
Advanced Extreme Kettlebell Instructor

Seminar abroad
3 Day Perform Better Functional Training Summit, Long Beach, CA

Correspondence courses:
Core Conditioning Exercises - C.H.E.K institute
Primal Pattern Movements - C.H.E.K institute
Dynamic Medicine Ball Training - C.H.E.K institute
Swiss Ball Exercises - C.H.E.K institute

Now Training and learning:
Yoga
Olympic Weightlifting
Kettlebells
How I got to know about Kettlebells?
'I first got to know the kettlebells in the Functional Training Summit, Long Beach L.A. Then I started to explore this type of training and to mix it with yoga and Pilates. As far as I know I'm the only one in our country who studies this training. Also I read an article in an Israeli daily newspaper about kettlebells and learned through that about Tommy Matthews, searched Optimal Life Fitness on Google, found you and got to the Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Training course.'

Uri, the Optimal Life Fitness Team wish you the best of luck with all of your career developments and success with your business. Thanks for coming to the courses.

All the Best
Tommy

Extreme Kettlebell Instructor Success Stories

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:22:00 +0000

We are now looking for any success stories from our EKI's or any stories that you feel are interesting. We will be covering all EKI's who have travelled that little bit further to join our course. Over the last year we have had people travelling from all over the world to train with us, so we thought it would only be fair to write a little about them. So look out for amazing stories of trainers travelling from far a field to take part in our Extreme Kettlebell instructor course.

The First Extreme Kettlebell Workshop in Frankfurt

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:33:00 +0000

The Fitness Company - Frankfurt held their first Extreme Kettlebell Workshop 8th November. Personal trainers from the Fitness Company attended the 4 hour workshop and got their first real taste of Extreme Kettlebell Training. We will now be heading out to Germany and the rest of Europe more often to introduce kettlebell training to more trainers working for Fitness Company and Fitness First. Our next trip is planned for early January where we will be running some kettlebell training sessions at the Fitness First Kick Off event in Berlin. This video shows the trainers in Frankfurt getting to grips with the kettlebells.

Ask the Expert

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:16:00 +0000

I am a 39 year old banker who sits most of the week without too much moving. I do get to the gym 2-3 times a week where I do some weights using the machines in the gym and finish with ab work. I find that regardless of the effort and how many crunches I do I just can't move the fat around my belly and love handles. Can you suggest exercises that will help get rid of my excess fat?

Name witheld

I would need to look at your programme and evaluate your lifestyle (nutrition, sleep, stress) and postural/structural needs before making concise recommendations. But I can suggest the following in terms of exercise:

1. You need to use large compound movements to train with. These are exercises that use a lot of muscle and cross multiple joints. Exercises such as Squats, dead lifts, pushes and pulls. If standing up even better. If you normally train on machines get an exercise specialist or trainer to teach you these movements.

2. Add some form of interval training to your sessions. You may add intervals at the end of your weight sessions or on the days in between. Intervals are where you perform a short burst of exercise and then rest, then repeat. Try performing sprints where you work for a minute, rest for a minute, do five circuits of these.

The above are just two adjustments that you can make to your training. Add these and you will help melt the fat off your midsection.

BJ Rule

Why Kettlebells

noreply@blogger.com (Tommy Matthews) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:05:00 +0000

Many of you have now been using Kettlebells for the best part of the year. Some of you have just begun to use them. I am sure you'll agree they are a fantastic tool. We have achieved a lot of good results in the Outdoor Extreme sessions, a lot of these results can be attributable to the effectiveness of the bells. A lot of you have had questions about what they are and why they are one of our main tools of choice. The following should help to answer some of your questions.

What are they? Kettlebells are traditional Russian training tools. They were originally a tool of some sort, used as a weighted tool and are called girya in Russian. Russian Strongmen were called Gireviks or kettlebell men. Kettlebells have been used for hundreds of years to train strongman, wrestlers and athletes. Strongmen from the turn of the 20th century from all over Europe trained and used Kettlebells as part of their shows and in their training. The strongman in the current Britain Tour of the Moscow State Circus, Bikram uses them in his show and for his training.

Why we use them? They are a fantastic portable tool, that can and has been described as a complete handheld gym. The fundamental kettlebell lift - the Swing - is possibly the greatest single exercise ever. Steve Maxwell, a Brasilian Jiu Jitsu World Champion and Conditioning Specialist, claims that doing the perfect swing is alone superior to 99% of the sophisticated strength and conditioning programmes. The swing is a whole body conditioner, there is not a muscle that isn't used while you swing. Muscles that due to current lifestyle trends are neglected, primarily glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors and lower backs are used to full range range of movement in the swing. They are also strengthened like nothing else with the Swing. This can lead to prevention, as well as rehabilitation, of lower back pain. The main causes of which are proven to be weak as well as tight lower back muscles, weak glutes and hamstrings and tight but weak hip flexors. The swing alone strengthens and utilises a full range of motion (stretches) all these muscles making it a fantastic exercise in attacking lower back pain.

As well as the benefits of the kettlebells the exercises we have selected are responsible for increasing strength, giving you a better posture, stronger bones and joints, and increasing stamina by improving your heart and lung function. The kettlebells and the exercises are specifically chosen to prevent and rehabilitate injury, which can be caused from activity (tennis, skiing injuries) and from inactivity- sitting at a desk all day! Kettlebells and the exercises used by them have been found to be effective muscle builders and fat burners.

Over the last few years Ketlebells have had a resurgence and somewhat of an invasion into the west. US military and special forces have begun to use them because of the benefits due to their effectiveness and versatility. They are used by Russian weighlifters as a cross training tool as well the Russian Special Forces. The RKC course I recently attended in the US, had World Champion Powerlifters, Martial Artists and all kinds of Athletes, Trainers, Physio's, Chiropractors and Medical Practitioners in attendance.

Hopefully this has answered some of your questions about kettlebells, what they are and how they work, your results and the way you feel should be doing that anyway!

Keep Swinging!!