How to Improve your Pull Ups Video: Part Two

Okay.....here it is. The long awaited part two video on how to increase your pull up power. In the last video I talked about the importance of shortening your abdominal muscles and literally ZIPPING up all the muscles in your torso. That means your pelvis and rib cage come close together before doing the pull up. That is what tightens up the midsection and creates more compression which in turns creates tremendous strength and power. Compression means more strength!!!!

In this video I talk about overloading your lats with a handstand push up against the wall and then immediately going over to the pull up bar and firing one perfect powerful pull up. Why does this work? Well, I don't really know but my guess is that the handstand push up overloads your lats to such a high degree that you end up hyper-stimulating the LATS to the point where your once slow weak pull up now feels fast and powerful. I had one of my clients do this and it really helped her!!!



Give it a try and give me you feedback!

Ropes and Kettlebells: Our New DVD!

We are excited to announce our new DVD, "The Revolution Solution: Combining Ropes and Kettlebells for Maximum Fitness and Fat Loss." We wanted to come out with an educational product that shows how we integrate Kettlebells and Ropes together. Ropes are an excellent compliment to kettlebells for many reasons.

This DVD is very unique as it explains in detail the foundational rope exercises that we use in our training studios in San Diego. If you have not used ropes you must try them because they get the body very fit and conditioned in a very short period of time. In the next 3 to 5 years you will start seeing almost every gym in the country with Ropes. We have been fortunate enough to always gravitate toward the best training methods and mark my words; ropes will be HUGE in the fitness industry.

Purchase Here

Here is what's covered in the DVD:

*Learn how to successfully integrate kettlebells and ropes for maximum fitness, fat loss and overall conditioning.

*Be an early adopter! Men's health recently called rope training the "2009 Best Cardio tool of the year." Be one of the first trainers in your area to use this incredible tool.

*Discover over 30 rope drills that you can instantly use and apply to your training.

*Learn how Franz and Yoana utilize kettlebells and ropes for power and speed athletes.

*Learn over 10 drills that combine ropes and body weight exercises.

*Learn how to successful design programs for your clients with kettebells and ropes.

*Learn how to perform the actual Kettlebell / Rope programs that Franz and Yoana use with their clients and in classes.

*Learn how to effectively SMOKE your client in less than 5 minutes with one Rope/ Kettlebell Complex.

Get the DVD Here!

If Civilization Ended today.....Would your fitness help you?

When I first took the RKC certification in April of 2003, I remember then Senior RKC Rob Lawrence saying that if civilization ended tomorrow, a kettlebell would be a practical way to stay fit because you could literally travel with it and bring with you wherever you went. Let's take a different scenario ( a rather scripted movie like end of days scenario, I know), imagine if civilization ended as we know it. No more ruling government, no technology, no civil laws or courts; just bands and tribes of people trying to eat, survive and protect themselves from nature and others.

Here is the question I ask of you: Would your current methods of fitness help you?

Could you survive? Would you have the strength, power, speed, explosiveness, agility and mental toughness to stick it out and protect you and your family? If this answer is NO, you probably stick to a fitness regimen of Pilates, Yoga, walking and Richard Simmon's "Sweating to the Oldies." I don't have a problem with people doing Yoga, Piliates (although I do have a problem of people sweating to the oldies with Richard Simmon) or even walking. There are wonderful things one can learn from Yoga and Pilates, and walking of course is a pre-requisite for living. The challenge I have is with the mindset that by themselves Yoga and Pilates as a stand alone system are enough to prepare you for living in perilous times.

Let's take Yoga for example. I know some Yoga practitioners that can flat out perform some amazing things. Handstands isometric puh ups, incredible balancing poses that would make spider man crincge, and many more. The health benefits to learning how to breathe properly and let go of tension obviously are a plus. But let's go back to initial quesion. Would this be the best way to condition your body and mind for an "end of civilization" scenario. I would argue that it is not the best way. A way, yes, the best way, no! Long static yoga poses do little to increase the CNS's ability to recruit the muscular system in an explosiv way that would be required. Yoga also would not help you lift a 200 pound boulder out of the way to make room for setting up camp.

Now for Pilates! YIKES! I think there are many principles that are beneficial in Pilates such as long spine and creating length in your structure. But to dedicate the majority of you time to performing exercsies lying on your back or in a prone position seem rediculous in my book. If you do Pilated please don't e-mail hate letters because I am not saying you cannot do Pilates or that there in zero benefit, but to EXCLUSIVLEY use pilates as your only method for fitness is a huge mistake. The load (springs) you use in Pilates is not real in my book. Pick up a heavy deadlift off the floor or press something heavy overhead. Even swinging a kettlebell blows away any functionality claims that the Pilates people swear by.

The bottom line......if your fitness doesn't make you function better and perform better while standing on your feet....... you wouldn't survive long if civilization ended. Is your Yoga and Pilates giving you the real world fitness you would need to survive? I am fully confident that people who include deadlifts, RKC style kettlebell training, some sprinting or intense type of running, bodyweight explosive exercises and odd object/strong man training would do very well in the scenario I am talking about. That doesn't mean you shouldn't stretch, do Tai Chi, Z-health and other parasympathetic activities, it just means you should perform standing full body movements such as :

• Deadlifts and all of their variations


• Cleans


• Snatches


• Squats


• Presses (both horizontal and vertical)


• Rows (pull ups as well)


• Shouldering exercsies with all sorts of different objects


• Lunges and Stepping patterns


• Jumping


• Climbing


• Crawling


• Sprinting


• Throwing (this would be very important for killing food)


• and more......

Those would constitue the basic movements you would need to be able to perform well and with precision.

Power to us all! I certainly hope civilization doesn't end tomorrow :)