Crawling… what’s the big deal and why is it so important for your exercise routine? Original Strength Specialist Chris Lopez will show you why the crawl is a big deal.

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It’s another sunny day in Costa Rica today.

They say that the rainy season has started, but yesterday the sun has been shining brightly all day long until about 5pm.

And then the rain comes to cool things down.

As a result of the amazing weather, construction on our off-grid shipping container home has been accelerated and we’re almost finished the guest house – which we’ll be moving into as soon as it’s done.

In addition to that, the weather has allowed me to get a hot & sweaty double kettlebell workout in while rocking the NEW #AlphaDAD T-Shirt.

Thanks so much if you voted for your favourite #AlphaDad t-shirt design.

I gotta say – with absolutely NO BIAS, whatsoever – that this has to be the softest, most comfortable t-shirt that I’ve got in my wardrobe…

These are Premium Next Level Tri-Blend T-shirts that are great to wear on the weekend, at the gym or while you’re kettlebell training or just lounging around at home.

Get your #AlphaDAD T-Shirt HERE.

With the weather getting warmer, I’d encourage you to get outside and get some exercise in.

If you live in the northeast, especially, I’d be willing to bet that you aren’t getting enough Vitamin D – since most of us don’t get enough of it during the autumn and winter months.

AND, the darker your skin tone, the more Vitamin D you require.

So someone like me – with...

Ahhh… Mondays! It’s a cloudy one here today in Costa Rica. Nice and cool. Makes for a nice change from the 100 degree temperatures we’ve been having EVERY-SINGLE-DAY.  Sorry, I’m not complaining Funny, when it’s too hot, we want the rain. And when it’s too rainy, we want the sun. The problem is the word “too” – it means different things to different people. Our kettlebell workouts are like that as well. What’s too hard for one person may be too easy for another. And that’s where the “Missing Workout Ingredient” comes into play. What is it? REST. This isn’t what you think – so hear me out. Just like we need rest from the sun – rain – and rest from the rain – sun, we also need to factor in REST into our workouts. Most of us like to see how much work we can do. Me especially. I’m a work-a-holic.  But more work doesn’t necessarily mean you’re more productive – that you see more results. It only means you did more work. With our workouts – the KEY to seeing success – i.e. RESULTS – is to remember the following: “It’s not how much work you do, it’s how much you can recover from.” -Geoff Neupert, Master KB Instructor   For example, our Rottweiler puppy, Phife, has finally found his stride with his sleep schedule… …He’s made it all the way through the night without waking up for the past couple of weeks getting up consistently around 5:30am. As a result – both Rozanne and I took some well-deserved...

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This past weekend I was in Denver, Colorado speaking at a Personal Trainer’s conference.

The topic of my presentation was “Everyday Strength: DAILY”…

Or…

“How to develop the habit of strength with your clients everyday”….

There’s a growing opinion out there right now that says even if you do the prescribed 30 minutes of exercise, 2-3 times per week…

…That still isn’t enough to combat 8-10 hours of sitting.*

So my talk was about the development of a daily practice of strength.

It was about how your 3x per week kettlebell workouts aren’t enough if you’re just sitting on your keister at work and then getting back on it when you get home to watch Game of Thrones (or whatever the kids are watching today).

So I talked about how you can implement strategies – in just 12 minutes per day – that will allow you to build strength, increase mobility in joints and get rid of those “creakies” that you wake up with every morning.

Remember, our training must help us support an already active lifestyle and NOT give us the only means of an active lifestyle.

So doing something everyday allows us to actually live an active life and not just rely on our 3x week kettlebell workouts.

Yes, you are busy.

Yes, you have responsibilities.

Yes, you may think that you don’t have time.

But making time for 10-12 minutes of movement…

-going for a ruck (walking with a heavy backpack on)
-doing some easy kettlebell swings
-crawling (leopard, spiderman, baby or a comination of...

Do you remember WHY you first started training? What inspired you?   What motivated you?   What lit that spark inside you to want to be better? For me, it was in 1986, when my dad brought home a VHS copy of Rocky 4 after it just got released on video. I was a pudgy little 9-year-old.   You know, the kind of kid who was always last in line after the recess bell rang to call everyone back to class. I popped that sucker in the VCR and probably watched that movie 100 times that year. Watching that training montage… (c’mon, you know the one – in the barn hauling a roped sack of rocks overhead, pulling a sled full of boulders in the snow, doing dragon flags by the fire, pressing a carriage with 4 people in it…)   That was it for me.  I HAD to train now. I saved up my allowance and bought myself a jump rope.  I did push-ups.  I tried to haul my pudgy little jelly doughnut behind up a chin-up bar (FAIL!).   I was motivated! After that I got my hands on every possible fighting and martial arts movie I could. Bloodsport with Van Damme was a favourite. So was Kickboxer. But it wasn’t until I saw “Enter the Dragon” that I really got inspired. Why, you ask? Well, without insulting your intelligence or stating the obvious, I’m of Asian descent – my parents immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 1975.   And back then, there really weren’t any role models or celebrities that I could...

Last week I received this Facebook post from John on our VIP Customer Page…

John recently started my new program Kettlebell Alpha and lost almost 3lbs of fat in Week 1.

The reason why this is significant is because John just TOOK ACTION and GOT STARTED.

He didn’t wait for the perfect situation…

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”                                                                                   -Leonardo Da Vinci   Sometimes we just need to get started. -To stop thinking about things. -To stop waiting for the perfect situation. -To stop waiting for the stars to align. -To stop waiting for Monday… -…or New Years Day, -…or “just in time for summer”… -…and to just TAKE ACTION and get started.   Today should be that day for you – ironically, it’s Monday. Let today be the day that you STOP putting things off and start doing what you say you’re going to do… -Start your training regimen TODAY. -Start writing that book TODAY. -Get in contact with your brother who you haven’t spoken to in years. Fact is, the timing will NEVER be right.   And if you sit there just thinking...

Continuing on from last time… Kettlebell training is about MASTERY. And if you stick to one weight and master it, you actually go through a natural physical progression with just that single weight… First, you can only do 1-5 reps per exercise because you’re learning the technique.   You stop after no more than 5 reps because you take a “practice” mentality.   You’re practicing the skill of strength.   Ironically, staying in that 1-5 rep range with adequate rest is the exact recipe to get strong.   So you automatically start in a strength phase.   Then, as you start to get stronger – and thus can do more reps – you notice that you’re shirts are starting to get a little tighter around the arms and shoulders.   You’re in the 8-10 rep range now.   Could it be because you’re doing MORE WORK with THE SAME WEIGHT?   As you progress, the usual 8-10 reps starts to get easy.  So you figure you need another challenge.   And you think to yourself…   “Right now I can do 5 sets of 10 reps (50 reps per side) of Cleans & Presses in about 25 minutes.   I wonder what would happen if I tried to cut that down and aim to do it 15 minutes?”   So you take the next couple of months and work your time down and can now do 50 reps per side of C&Ps in 15 minutes.   And you notice that not only does your shirt fit a little tighter up top, but your pants...

I’m a self-proclaimed minimalist (as you may know).

And that holds true in every aspect of my life…

…even in my training.

Invest in GOOD QUALITY necessities so that you don’t waste your money and time replacing crappy things.

Because of that, there’s really only ONE KIND of kettlebell that I buy now.

What company do I purchase my KBs from?

I’ll let you know in a second.

First, take a look at my “minimalist” gym…

One kettlebell (a 24kg). A set of Gymnastics Rings. Open Space. (That’s my wife doing lessons with our son – we homeschool our kids). There is a myriad of things that you can do with this set up. Why would anyone need more? Which brings me to a question from one of my subscribers in Singapore… QUESTION: 

Given my budget, would an adjustable Kettlebell be the best bang for my buck?    Thank you! Really appreciate your advice!   Warm regards, Hsiaoyun Chin SINGAPORE

ANSWER: 

Hi Hsiaoyun,  Great question!  I get this all the time. Here are my thoughts…   Great question!  I get this all the time.   Here are my thoughts…

Short Answer: 

I don’t like them and would never use them myself.

Long Explanation: 

First, adjustable kettlebells are dangerous.   Remember that an aspect of kettlebell training is explosive in nature.   Shoot, we even call them “ballistics”.   So if you’re swinging or worse yet, snatching, an adjustable kettlebell…  – with all it’s moving parts –  …and you just happen to forget to put the locking pin in, you could be looking at broken windows, broken doors… …or worse broken limbs or broken faces.   If you have kids or valuables in your house and you’re on a...

What’s up…

Me. That’s what. Or rather “who.”

Since 3am.

I got a whopping 3.5 hours of sleep last night.

For Father’s Day, we got a NEW puppy.

“Wait, didn’t you just get a Rottweiler puppy a few weeks ago?”

Yep.

So obviously, the logical thing would be to get a female German Shepherd puppy, right?

(please note the hint of sarcasm in my voice right now)

“What the h#$* are they thinking?”, you may ask.

Sometimes, I don’t know.

All I know is that we went from a family of 7 before we moved to Costa Rica to a family of 10…

-Me
-my wife
-our 5 kids: AJ, Joey, Frankie, Mikey & Q
-a cat named Luna
-a Rottweiler named Phife
-and our new German Shepherd Pup Lupe…

So with crate training a new puppy, you’ll know that you have to get up every couple of hours to take them to the bathroom.

So I went to bed at 9pm, and then got up at 11, and then again at 2 and then she had an accident in her crate at 3…

And then I couldn’t fall back asleep.

Long story short – very little sleep for your buddy Chris.

LOTS of coffee however.

Now I’m not complaining, just stating facts.

I take full responsibility for the choices we’ve made in this life.

But the fact is, this type of schedule is murder on getting much in the way of meaningful results out of your training.

It really zaps your energy along with your motivation.

So what do you do when you don’t feel like working out?

You have two...