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Kettlebell The latest 'Hot Trainer' in the UK

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Paul_Cole9

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Is this man. He made £12m last year. Note his 'KB presses' at 4.12, with his elbow flared, shoulder out of the socket, and leaning his head. Also, his swings are front raises.

Not only is his technique appalling, he is grossly annoying. He sounds like Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins on helium.

How on EARTH do these people prosper?
 
Are you sure this is the video you meant to post? Because not only I can't see the kettlebell press or raises... There's no such thing as "4:12" at all! :D
 
Paul_Cole9 said:
How on EARTH do these people prosper?
Click to expand...

Maybe it's something to do with the never ending stream of idiots that cue up to buy his B.S. The eat more and do less mantra is sure to lure the lazy ones in droves.

It was like Jamie Oliver and Jane Fonda had a child and he grew up in the kitchen dressed in lycra pumping pink hand weights.

I didn't see any kettlebells either.
 
I've seen both video and I fear I might have an answer to your question: television.

Nowadays all sorts of garbage get thrown into it. This guy is good looking, fit and he's got appeal: all you need to do is point a camera while he does something and sell it like the one most important innovation in human history while it is, in fact, garbage. The majority of people won't care about his actual skills and knwoledge, they'll just follow. It bothers me a lot because almost everyone I know or interact with has access to the Internet and can verify one's credibility in few, very simple steps. No one is curious about anything anymore!

I stopped watching TV not because I think of myself as a superior mind and snob it, but because I was fed up of all the nonsense.

Now, 12 m quids seems like a lot to me, given the fact that he would make almost as much as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but I'm not arguing: the point you made is very clear!
 
Thanks for posting this
A I like a good laugh
B it just goes to prove how ignorant /lazy /gullible people are I am no expert but even I can see his technique needs work
 
He demonstrates a shoulder press, not a military press, and that is what he does. I've seen worse, truth be told.

-S-
 
Steve, I appreciate your posts and have benefited from them and I don't want to sound like a know-it-all-better guy, but the press people usually speak of when they say kettlebell military press is not a military press either. Military refers to the food stance of old military personal (at the end of a marching exercise I think)-> during the press your heels should touch each other while your feet form an open V.

I know this is basically all semantics, but if we open up the "box of terminology in training/fitness" and say that his press is ok, because it's a shoulder press and not a press (as tought in the SF system), then we need to address this issue, because this forum is accessible to the public and there're a lot of people who are new to KBs and different terms for the same movement could possibly confuse them.
 
Stuff like this used to make me really mad. Then I realized that there is just so much bad information on the internet regarding every topic you can think of. Really, it's just a drop in the bucket.
 
I have to first look at this from a cultural standpoint. People see this guy, charismatic, handsome, fun loving, and that is a great sales pitch for whatever this guy has going on. From making food to fun workouts to running on the beach. Who doesn't want to be this guy? He hugs people on the streets and everyone wants to be his friend. The appeal is incredibly primal. Workouts like his (and I mean that, there are countless people who produce content with a comparable concept) are a way for people to participate in his awesomeness and can maybe be a source of awesomeness for themselves as well. After all? Don't you want to be awesome? I see it with guys who are interested in body building who look at dudes who are huge and want to look like that and with ladies who see bikini models who see her and want to look like that. YouTube is full of "bikini kettlebell" videos where a professional model will showcase a 15 minute routine that will have some large variety of movements that are done with a 5-10 pound kettlebell. I have friends who show these to me and they figure it is superior program because "look how good she looks!".... Well yeah, she is 5'11" and 20 years old and her job is to be a bikini model, I expect her to look good but I don't attribute that to some oddball 15 minute routine she is doing on YouTube. People look at who the workout routine is coming from and think that must be the trick. You want what they have so you do their program to get it. This is also a symptom I feel body building has ruined for physical culture, that the entire point of exercise is to look a certain way and if your looks match up to some ideal you are 'in shape' so people assume the entire purpose of weight lifting is to look good.

What brought me in to the kettlebell and the SF program is that it is high concept. Its not just a salad bar of workouts and movements and go try a bunch of stuff until you hurt yourself. Its a high concept and detail oriented approach. What I find upsetting about these other kettlebell videos is that they show a 'swing' and then act as if its just some easy thing and people start swinging (usually wrong and often wrong to the point of being health hazard) . The swing should be treated with a fair bit of respect and broken down and progressed towards.

I think the cultural winds are shifting and will hopefully continue to shift. People will see physical culture as something you must do for life and not something you only do for vanity.
 
I'm always torn. When you see someone demonstrating with questionable technique or questionable diet advice it makes you frustrated.

On the other hand we have a society plagued with obesity and inactivity diseases - if someone can motivate them to change then great. If he made 12 million from it im both impressed and possibly jealous
 
Now I've seen the kettlebell vid I'm even less impressed. It seemed like a how to DIY disk herniation video.

He's enthusiastic about almost everything else but the way he bends and twists when he picks the bell up or sits it back down is setting a bad example. It seemed to happen almost every time he picked it up or sat it down. All I could think of was Stuart Mc Gill's spinal test rig where a bending moment was placed on a spine to make it fail when I watched that. The guy in the vid took it further and added a twist.

If someone is earning money teaching people to lift iron they have a responsibility to teach them to respect it. It may well be fine for a young man to bend and twist like that for years with no problems but over the long term it will catch up to most people.

Does he even have any accreditation or is he just peddling his own self taught ideas ?
 
Kettlebelephant said:
Steve, I appreciate your posts and have benefited from them and I don't want to sound like a know-it-all-better guy, but the press people usually speak of when they say kettlebell military press is not a military press either. Military refers to the food stance of old military personal (at the end of a marching exercise I think)-> during the press your heels should touch each other while your feet form an open V.

I know this is basically all semantics, but if we open up the "box of terminology in training/fitness" and say that his press is ok, because it's a shoulder press and not a press (as tought in the SF system), then we need to address this issue, because this forum is accessible to the public and there're a lot of people who are new to KBs and different terms for the same movement could possibly confuse them.
Click to expand...
You raise a good point. I have pressed with heels together, and have suggested it to several students who've like it - all this with a kettlebell.

I didn't say his press was OK, just that it was what he said it was, which was a shoulder press. And I have seen worse, much worse. If this represented as bad as it gets - and it doesn't - then I don't think we'd be in a terrible state.

The press we do at StrongFirst is rightly called a Strict Press as I understand these terms.

We must also realize that Pavel, in his books, has changed the meaning of some of these terms and lifts, e.g., the PTTP side press is done with one knee unlocked. It's a significantly different thing, IMHO, than the traditional side press in which a wide stance is used and both knees are locked. But Pavel explains his choice of lift names, and why he's modified them, so I think that's all fine.

And what may we conclude from all this? Not much, I'm afraid. As with any language, we have to agree on the meaning of our terms before we can imbue our conversations with meaning.

Thank you again - good points and a good subject to discuss.

-S-
 
Riley O'Neill said:
What brought me in to the kettlebell and the SF program is that it is high concept. Its not just a salad bar of workouts and movements and go try a bunch of stuff until you hurt yourself. Its a high concept and detail oriented approach.
Click to expand...
Well said, @Riley O'Neill, and welcome to StrongFirst.

We describe ourselves here as elite but not elitist, and what you've said is in keeping with that perspective. If we are able to not only improve the lives of those people who realize what StrongFirst is, but can also change the perspective of some people who hadn't considered paying attention to the details and the high concepts the way we do here, then we will have really accomplished something. Our strength has a higher purpose.

-S-
 
Thanks for the welcoming. I have been reading the articles for some time and I am really happy that I get to participate in the discussion. The StrongFirst mentality has really helped me with how I see physical culture.
 
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