I am very proud of the quality of people we have at Nashville Kettlebell.

I am also confident that we have the best program available for movement, strength and fat-loss.

Beginning today and running through the end of June we will be having a 12 week contest in which bodies will be transformed and lives will be changed.

This is not your typical “transformation contest” in the sense of Body for Life or that godawful TV show.

The criteria is not appearance, inches or pounds lost on the scale.

It is very easy to focus on the wrong thing once we have set a goal for ourselves. We feel like we are trying very hard when in fact that energy is very often misplaced. We can become so focused on the idea of the goal that we forget the importance of the steps we must take to get there. Achieving any goal is the result of a lot of small steps in the same direction.

The single most important factor is not the outcome, but the day-to-day compliance to a plan. I refer to this as “creeping incrementalism”, a term I lifted from Marty Gallagher.

The scoring system is designed to give regular feedback on your progress at completing a variety of activities that have a common factor- Compliance.

Compliance, the act of sticking to a plan over time is the key to success. Anyone can go crazy and work out for 90 minutes a day, six days a week and quit after a week and a half. Compliance and consistency over time is where success is born.

The idea of a fitness-based contest is nothing new, but with the wide range of folks we have at Nashville Kettlebell, I wanted to make it fair for everyone to compete. So performance, appearance and weight loss, the things these kind of contests usually measure, are out. What is fair though, is compliance.

We will be measuring compliance to a plan. This way veterans and beginners can compete against each other on compliance rather than bodyweight, body fat percentage or strength levels.

Prepare to have your minds blown.

The confusion about  training, cardio exercise, aerobic training and fat loss still permeates the brains of the general public, especially ladies. 

I want all you ladies to get off the stupid treadmill and start lifting things. Heavy things that will make you stronger.

I ran across THIS ARTICLE  that talks about why ladies should not be afraid to lift heavy stuff in training.  There are 12 reasons, but three of them happen to be the the top three things  that I keep hearing from ladies who contact me to find out if Nashville Kettlebell is the place for them. These are three  goals that are  consistenly being achived by NKB members.

Sure you can try to do it on your own. But if you come to Nashville Kettlebell I promise you three things:

You’ll burn more calories.

You’ll lose more fat.

Your clothes will fit better.

“But I don’t want to get bulky!”

Nikki Snow RKC does a getup with a 70lb kettlebell.

 Kristen McBryde RKC doing swings with an 88lb kettlebell.

You mean you don’t want to bulk up like these ladies?

Get off the stupid treadmill. Lift something heavy. Become more awesome than you ever imagined you could and be the envy of your friends.

“Joining NKB 15 months ago is by far the most positive thing I have done for myself in over two decades. I feel transformed! At the age of 52, I never imagined that my body could feel and move as it did when I was 35. Aches, pains, as well as dysfunctional movement patterns that had crept into my life after 30+ years of running and sitting behind a computer 10 hours a day have all but disappeared. Not only have kettlebells improved my running, but my overall balance, mobility, and stamina have seen marked improvement as well. I feel truly blessed to have stumbled upon David Whitley and Nashville Kettlebell!

 David’s generosity and willingness to share his wealth of knowledge and experience in the world of kettlebells (as well as other health and fitness related subjects) is limitless. Every time I attend one of David’s classes, I feel confident that I will be challenged…yet only as far as what is safe for my present physical condition. He somehow finds a way to motivate each and every student, from the very beginner to those who are more advanced. Best of all, David makes the class educational and yet so fun that waking up early to attend his 6am classes is something I look forward to! I leave each class feeling more energetic, stronger, and smarter than when I walked in! Dragon Door as well as those who attend class at NKB should be as grateful as I am to have David Whitley as an instructor.   

There is no comparison! Having worked with various personal trainers for strength training over the past two decades, and trying a multitude of different classes (Spinning, Pilates, Yoga, Pure Barre, etc.), nothing has provided the overall results that I am currently seeing as a result of kettlebell training. In order to see these kinds of results (better movement, increased strength, more endurance, etc.), I would have to combine several of these activities which would probably consume 7+ hours a week…and then I’d still have to just hope for the best. Three 40-minute NKB classes per week give me the results I desire…and more time to enjoy other things!

Having been an avid runner for 30+ years, and having been plagued by injuries for the past several years, I came to NKB 15 months ago hoping to be able to be able to improve my hip strength and mobility so that I could continue to run injury-free. I just wasn’t ready to hang up my running shoes yet! Not only have I been able to run free of pain and injury since I started attending NKB classes, but I also successfully trained for and ran in the Women’s Half Marathon here in Nashville in September 2010…shaving off 27 minutes from my finish time as compared to when I ran in the Country Music Half Marathon in April 2009 (pre-kettlebells)! That’s what David and nine months of RKC kettlebell training helped me achieve.”

-P.J. Olsen, Nashville TN

Consistency over time.

If there is a “secret” to success, this is it.

Even a perfect exercise program and the ideal diet will fail to produce any kind of result if it is only followed for 4 days. Paraphrasing Mark Reifkind, MRKC, I would rather see someone train twice a week for 15 minutes every day for a year than start a 5-day per week, hour per session program and stop after three weeks.

One of the best ways to stay consistent with your exercise is to do it with someone else. This is one of my favorite things about our group training at Nashville Kettlebell. Everyone trains together, has fun, shares in the success of the rest of the group. The members inspire each other to accomplish more than they would if they were left alone. This is what they have told me and it reflects what I see actually happening on a daily basis.

“What should I eat?”

Eating foods that support your fat-loss efforts does not have to be complicated or miserable. It is also not necessarily the easiest thing in the world to change. You remember from our discussion on your mind, you have to live by your decisions. You must make conscious and informed decisions about the food you consume.

 I defer to someone WAY smarter than me on this one. His name is Dr. John Berardi.  Dr. Berardi is one of the top sports nutritionist in the world. His approach is very sensible and doable.  It begins with a few simple rules for fat loss:

• Decrease Calories
• Increase Protein
• Replace grains with greens
• Replace bad fats with healthy fats.

Dr. Berardi has also put together a FREE 5-Day Precision Nutrition Video Course for fat loss, which gives a practical introduction to his approach to nutrition. To get it, click HERE

 In addition to Dr. Berardi’s nutritional advice, I offer the following suggestion to improve consistency with diet: Keep a food diary.

Why? Because when you do this you find out what you are actually eating. I know you think you know what you are eating. You probably are eating more than you think. No, you are CERTAINLY eating more than you think. Don’t believe me? What did you have to eat from the time you got up until you went to bed last Thursday? If you don’t remember, then you probably ate more than you think. Every single time we have implemented this strategy at Nashville Kettlebell, our clients report an increase in results.

The only way to combat this is to write it down, and you have two choices of when you can do it: either before or after you eat it.

Writing it down AFTER is what I call documenting. It is simply making an accurate recording of what happened. This is where I start most of my clients simply because I cannot tell you what changes you need to make until I know what you are already doing. I recommend you begin there as well.

Writing it down BEFORE is called planning. Once we have decided on a nutritional strategy, we plan in advance and write it down. Then it is a simple matter of executing the plan.
 

I was looking through an old notebook yesterday and realized that this week marks the fifth anniversary of when I began doing group kettlebell classes in Centennial Park park. This was planting the seed for what would become Nashville Kettlebell.

We started out with three people, I think, and I hauled the eight or so smaller kettlebells that I owned at the time in the back of my car, unloading and loading them for for every class. Class grew over the next couple of years as we swung, squatted and rolled around in the dirt.

In the winter I rented space in the back of a gym. As you can see here, it was dusty, cold and there was scrap lumber and miscelleanous junk piled up in the corners.

Last year in May we opened our curent locaton at 944 4th Ave South in Nasville. We’ve come a long way. I look forward to the next leg of the tip. Will you be there with us?