The David Boles Bells Blog.
Ring Them Boles Bells!
“Ring them bells
from the sanctuaries
’Cross the valleys
and streams”
Pressing Kettlebells Over the Age of 50!
Kettlebells for Stamina and Heart Conditioning
Sometimes, it just isn’t enough for your heart health to merely concentrate on your anaerobic Kettlebell strength. We also need to push up our heart rate into the aerobic range — but not the Acrobatic range! — in order to get the fullest sense of a properly conditioned heart.
How Influencers Ruined Fitness
There’s nothing more disappointing than finding a new fitness coach to follow online — and you start to get into what they’re teaching, and their philosophy of working out — and then, they betray you with a “link in bio” or they’re next posing with a bottle of “poop tea” or they want to charge you for private coaching or they want you to buy the clothes they’re modelling.
Using the Right Heart Rate Monitor
If you have any interest at all in improving your health, you are going to need a consistent way to measure your heart rate in a reliable, and recordable, way. Here are three of the ways I record — at least as best as I can with available technology — and measure, my heart rate during the day, and while exercising. All three of these heart rate monitors work via Bluetooth and my iPhone.
The Clanging Halo
We best learn by mistake, and not by perfection. As a friend of mine taught me long ago, “Practice Makes Permanent, not Perfect.” Today, I am here to confirm that sage advice with the story of this morning’s Kettlebell Halo warmup.
Flat Shoe Society
I have two types of flat-soled shoes I like to use: Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars, and Merrell Vapor Gloves. I’ve been wearing Chucks for 40 years — today, you can buy 80 different fashion versions of them online, but they’re all still flat shoes — and I’ve been wearing various iterations of the Merrell Vapor Glove for longer than four years.
Cardio Health Comes From Strength, Not Cardio
Good cardio health, to me, means lowering your blood pressure. You lower your blood pressure by working your heart in the right, most efficient, way. Weightlifting can build muscle, but just lifting heavy things is not always the best way to keep a predictable cardio result.
On Being Loose Under Tension
The enemy of strength, and endurance, is tension. When your body, and mind, are tense, the rest of your body stiffens, resists, and the risk of injury increases. The goal of a righteous Kettlebell routine is to be strong — and tense in all the right places — while also being loose in all the other right places.
Gaining Grip Strength
If you use Kettlebells to build arm, torso, and shoulder strength, please know you are building up your grip strength, too! Grip strength is important because it determines how many grocery bags you can carry at a time, how long you can hold onto your perilously hanging friend over the rocky cliff, and how many pounds of pressure your hand can create to crush a can, cut some tin, or shake a hand!
Sleep Your Way to Strength
Sleep is vital. I never used to believe that when I was younger because I worked a lot, I went to school a lot, and I was fine — or so I thought — sleeping 4-5 hours a night for decades. There was work to be done, I can sleep in my grave. However, now that I am older, and more brittle, and maybe just a wee bit wiser, I accept the importance of sleep now as non-negotiable.
Do You Need a Kettlebell Coach?
You can always choose the path of self-revelation. You can read Kettlebell books. You can join Kettlebell online forums. You can watch a lot of Kettlebell videos. You can find some great Kettlebell workouts demonstrated on social media. You can make it work for you without having to spend any money on a self-professed professional.
Problem with Timed Sets
I am not a fan of timed Kettlebell workout sets. Timed sets are when you set a countdown timer, or a countup timer, and you perform Swings, or Presses, or whatever — within a certain time frame before the clock runs out. Sometimes you move the bell for only a part of a minute. Other times you do as many reps as you can within a minute.
You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Shirt!
If you’re just starting out with working Kettlebells, you’re soon going to be in for two big surprises. First, you’re going to lose a lot of fat fast on your torso; and second, you’re going to get a stronger, more muscular back! As you move your Swing, your Latissimus Dorsi muscles will begin to bud, and then pop!
You are a Kettlebell Athlete
Yes, we are old. Yes, we are sometimes brittle. Yes, we are often not as strong as we wish to be, and yet must become — but that doesn’t mean we, as Kettlebellers of Age, don’t deserve the rapt attention of our cardiologists, and our doctors. We have special needs that need to be addressed, and examined, because we are not normal folks for our years.
Basic Kettlebell Workout Template
Now that I’ve recovered from my injury, I am ready to set up — and share with you — my basic Kettlebell workout routine template that you can use, and modify as you see fit. I will fill most of the week for you with exercises you can use, modify, and add to in order to make up your own routine. Don’t train every day. Skip a day between heavy workouts. Or skip two days. Use these routines only as suggestions for what might best fit your body.
Your Poop and You!
There’s nothing worse than starting a Kettlebell routine, and then feeling that recognizable call of nature when you have to park the bell, and then go park yourself on the porcelain throne! Then you have to clean up, and return to your workout, and then worry about building up a bit of swamp ass in the gym, or stinking up your home gym.
The Geoff Neupert Interview that Never Was
Sometimes people surprise you in displeasing ways. Today is one of those days. A month ago, I contacted Kettlebell coach, and author, Geoff Neupert. I offered him a Q&A interview here in Boles Bells to answer Seven Questions; he accepted. The interview was supposed to be a big part of our BolesBell.com launch on March 11, 2021.
The Creapure Miracle Review
Today, I’ll share a quick review of three micronized Creatine powders I’ve been using. I take 5g 30 minutes before my workout and another 5g after my workout. On rest days, I only take 5g. Over the last month, I’ve lost 5 pounds of fat, and gained 10 pounds of muscle, and the only change was adding Creapure to my routine, and then being able to increase my base Kettlebell weight from 20kg to 24kg.
Acrobatic Kettlebell Artistry
If you have been studying Kettlebell videos online, or via Social Media, you may have noticed some Gireveks (Kettlebellers) who not only Swing a Kettlebell, but who then flip the bell in the air, or catch it behind their back, or toss the bell across their body to grab it midair.
Natch of a Kettlebell Snatch
I built a Kettlebell trainer with a thick wooden dowel and a length of chain attached to either end of the dowel. I grab the dowel — representing the handle of the Kettlebell — and the drape of the chain represents the bell part of the Kettlebell. The idea of the game, the training, is to move the dowel handle/chain bell in a Snatch from the floor to the final position without having the chain bang on the forearm. Sure, the chain is a movable moment, and that’s the point of it. You can train the movement without smashing your arm.
Advanced Kettlebell Recovery Workout
Here is my Advanced Kettlebell Recovery Workout, and the main difference between this step, and the Intermediate step, is that I am back to my base Kettlebell weight, a 24kg bell, that sort of caused the injury in the first place because I was trying to do too much. I also do Yoga, stretching, and a 30-minute walk each day.