Variety = OVERWHELMED?

Variety = OVERWHELMED?

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“Which workout is good for _____ ?”

“Can I add _____ ?”

“Do I need to do _____ ?”

“Dr. Expert says I need to do ____, _____, and _____. What do you think?”

“Doing the same 1 or 2 exercises over and over again is boring. But everyone else says they're seeing awesome gains. Should I do ____ too?”

Here in America, we love the idea of “choice.”

Of course the problem is when you don’t know exactly what you want.

Then choice becomes overwhelming and many times you end up paralyzed in making a decision, so you punt until your brain stops hurting.

Which in the case of exercise is maybe never, because the trends and advice always seems to either be changing or contradicting itself.

That’s why I prefer OUTCOME BASED decision making.

1- What’s my goal?

2- What can get me there the fastest?

For men (and women - if you’re a woman reading this) -

As we age, read more we need to:

[1] Preserve and build muscle - fast-twitch “power” muscle

… Because we lose those as we age.

[2] Get stronger

… Because we naturally get weaker as we age. (See #1)

[3] Improve our metabolic health.

… Because most guys have eaten too much crap and drank too much booze so their bodies are either pre-diabetic or they have full blown Type 2 diabetes

[4] Improve our heart health.

… Because - see #3 above.

Kettlebells are the shortcut - the 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) for achieving this.

So while Billy Joe Jim Bob is running on the treadmill for 30 minutes, and then doing biceps curls and stability ball crunches afterwards…

You’ve already done a full body workout / training session and trained your fast-twitch fibers, your heart, and stoked the fires of your metabolism to burn hot long after your workout is over.

And the 80/20 Rule of kettlebell training?

The Double Kettlebell Clean + Press.

Mixed in with the Snatch.

Now not everyone can stomach a steady diet of Clean + Presses.

Or at least the thought of them.

So, you can apply what we use in Olympic lifting - “specialized variety.”

Instead of “just” the Clean, we have:

Power Clean

Power Clean from below the knee

Power Clean from above the knee

Power Clean from the hip

Power Clean from low blocks

Power Clean from high blocks

Etc, etc, etc…

So, applying this to your KBs…

Clean + Press

Clean + Push Press

Clean + Jerk

Clean + See-Saw Press

… For example.

You can also add in other beneficial exercises “big bang for your buck” exercises.

My favorite two are:

The Snatch

The Double KB Front Squat

Keep your reps low-ish at first to work your technique and strength.

Only push them higher when you feel confident you have both of those nailed down.

I’ll leave links to some resources for you with just enough variety but they won’t leave you overwhelmed.

Stay Strong,

Geoff Neupert.

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