 Alright, our first caller is David from California. Hey, what's up, David? How can we help you? Hey guys, how's it going? First of all, thank you for all that you do I really appreciate I've learned a ton from the YouTube channel I had a question about how to integrate Kettlebells into a three-day-a-week full-body type program Prior to the pandemic, I had been training like an upper-lower type split And then when gyms closed we tried a few home programs eventually settled on working with Kettlebells Which I actually enjoyed a lot in the absence of a barbell But when the second lock lock down kind of hit, you know, we finally couldn't take it We bought a rig for the patio, you know barbell squat rag all the stuff we need And I'm so happy to be kind of back lifting heavy weights And so I was able to recognize a ton of value from the kettlebell training which was new to me at the time So I guess my question is how can I best integrate some kettlebell training into more barbell dominant three-day-a-week full-body type program Still like optimize the benefits of both. Yeah, that's a good question I need more information though. What are your fitness goals because that that makes a difference Definitely strength strength aesthetics Okay, yeah, so you're looking to get stronger and look good. Okay, so I'm gonna look better So kettlebells are Another form of resistance just like dumbbells barbells, you know cables or even resistance bands And now if you're if your goals were a little bit different Let's say your goals were athletic performance or then my answer might be a little different But your your goals are pretty general. I want to get stronger. I want to look better in that case What you want to do is you want to look at the tools that you're gonna use for resistance training and use them In the with the exercises that they're best suited for for example If you're gonna do loaded squats and you want to go heavy It's hard to beat a barbell barbell is gonna be one of your best tools for heavy, you know loaded squats If you're gonna do a windmill Kettlebells are one of the best devices you can use and that mainly has to do with the way that the weight is loaded And how it sits on your forearm. So there's a few exercises. I love kettlebells for I love them for kettlebell specific exercises So like swings, obviously you want to do swings. You're gonna use a kettlebell over a dumbbell or barbell I love shoulder presses Overhead presses are awesome with a kettlebell. It's a totally different feel the weight sits lower on the arm So it's a shorter lever and it encourages this kind of straight line spiraling effect when you do an overhead press You could also use kettlebells for some exercises to change the way that the tension feels on the body for example When you do a fly a chest fly if you use kettlebells You'll notice you have a different feeling with the tension when you drop the weight and then when you bring it up because the weight Sits outside of your arms. So you could play with that, you know as well but honestly my favorite exercises with kettlebells are carries swings and overhead presses Turkish get-ups and What I say windmills those are probably the best exercise I could think of with kettlebells And I would put those in to replace dumbbell and barbell exercises for those kind of respective body parts or goals Yeah, it sounds to me and well, I know back in the day We had like a smaller program out is kettlebell for aesthetics, but we just basically took a lot of You know common exercises and we put them together in kind of an aesthetic type routine There's a lot of versatility with kettlebells is the point to that So, you know, if your goal is to get strong but also like really try and shape your body like there's a way to do that By loading kettlebells. I like to use them personally more for you know lateral type training and it really complements like barbell training very well because it's such a different stimulus and it's such a different way to You know load the body and have to account for that And like Sal said with with unique moves like windmills or bent presses Are things where there's a lot more rotation. So any chance that you can add rotation like in your rows and your overhead pressing You know any kind of pressing I think it's it's it's a very valuable tool for that because of the way it's loaded So I honestly I think that even if you have a an established barbell routine You're already doing you can also add that in is like accessory lifts So David I have a question for you. Are you are we looking to add the kettlebell? Exercises into the three-day week routine or are you looking to potentially complement that on off days with the kettlebells? Is that an option? Are we sticking with the three-day routine that because that changes my answer? Yeah, I'm not married to three days I mean I kind of was going with three days because once I switched back to Doing like a full full body routine. It just worked better for me But I think you know having the rig on my patio is maybe a little bit easier to you know get out there when I can So I think you know, I'm not married to three days necessarily. Maybe maybe more as a complimentary type of type of Okay, cool because that definitely changes my answer. So at first you I mean your main goal is strengthen the way you look So to be honest like running the three body three three day a week Barbell routine is going to get you the most strength and probably build like the best aesthetic physique now. I Love to use kettlebells. How I and your goals kind of align with kind of my goals So how I like to do it is I normally pick one two three max of these kettlebell Exercises that the guys both brought up and I might do that on just on an off day So like I have my three full full body routine day or routine and then in the middle in there I might do Turkish get-ups win meals and carries. That's it. You know It'll be a 20 30 minute type of routine and I'm just gonna practice the skill of those moments One thing that's cool about kettlebells is they they're definitely high-skill type of exercises and and takes a lot of practice to get Good at it. You probably I'll have to work on some mobility if you are limited in some movements Like win meals and things like that and like Turkish get-up, which I think is really challenging So I like to just pick one or two of those those movements and just practice them and get good at it And I would either one add them into my three-day week routine or two set a day aside where it's like This is my like kind of functional day. I'm just gonna work on mobility I'm gonna work on these two or three kettlebell movements and the goal is not to push the weight really hard It's just to get better at the movement That will carry over into your three-day routine and you're not your desired outcome when you're training the kettlebells It's more about the movement and the art of it and the skill of it Versus like really hammering the weight save the hammering the weights and your growth and your strength and changing your physique for the three-day A week routine that's how I would do it. And by the way, there's no wrong answer here I think everything that everybody said it works. It's really finding what works best for you Got it. That's awesome. No, that's it. That helps a lot. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. No problem, David Thanks for calling in Yeah, it's uh, you know, I never used kettlebell actually a lot of most people didn't use kettlebells for a long time And then I don't know it was probably what would you say like you wouldn't even find them in gyms back in the day No, I think it was well early 90s. I think it really started to take off. Yeah, but I didn't really see them Yeah, I was gonna say just don't remember 2000. Well, I guess I was an early adopter. Yeah Yeah, you were you were but even when you worked for me at hillsdale. There wasn't a kettlebell in there Yeah, that's true. It wasn't in the gyms. No, I had to go. I had to go see yeah There was always so I always had like and it started probably in 0506 I was gonna say like early 2000. Yeah 0506 I'd say I'd always have like one trainer that one guy who was like into like Different usually it was a rushing guy the guy who read povels book Yeah, well because two one of the main reasons why it wasn't adopted early by your normal big gym trainer was because it was like a $1,000 $1,500 certification. Yeah, it was very expensive. It was very expensive to get certified in kettlebells Nobody just nobody knew how to use them. You know, the irony is kettlebells are the original weights They're the free the first free weights were kettlebells. In fact, that's what that's what dumbbells were called because it was a bell That didn't make sound And then somebody created the dumbbell use the term and then they had to change the name to kettlebell But they've been around for a long time. You could see the very first strongmen who are using weights They didn't have dumbbells. They had barbells with round ends and then they had kettlebells And I didn't use them for a long time and to be quite honest, you know Aside from the kettlebell specific exercises like you're not going to do a swing with a dumbbell or a barbell very well at all Right. Um, there are some exercises. I think even traditional exercises. I think kettlebells are better for overhead presses I prefer a kettlebell overhead press to a dumbbell over if I had to pick and I like them both I'll do them both. But if I had to pick, I like the kettlebell version. Well, there's a reason for that, right? It follows the natural spiraling of the shoulder as you press for one and two It's loaded on the back of your wrist, which naturally Pulls pull your back. It helps hold the arms back behind you One of the number one problems when teaching a shoulder press to almost any and every client Is the the you know, the forward shoulders when they press up the arching of the low back Loading the kettlebells on the back of the wrist when you press it follows that spiral rotation and in addition to that It puts the weight on it's also just a fuller range of motion I mean you could do an Arnold press, I guess with a dumbbell, but with a kettlebell It's like it's ideal for for something like that. That's one of the oldest tools out there You know that has still has relevance today. So it's like one of those things like obviously It stood the test of time for reason