In this issue:
Video of the week: firepower first look
The wait is over! The newest release in the Art of Strength training series is available for immediate purchase! AOS: Firepower is a "must have" for the holidays. Pre-order today and get it for $39.95 ($10 of the list price of $49.95).
Click here to reserve your copy of Firepower today!
The breakthrough "Art of Strength" DVD training series debuted in 2005 with AOS: Providence. This was the first ever work-along kettlebell DVD and quickly gained a strong following. Providence brought the experience of Anthony DiLuglio, RKC into the living rooms of aspiring kettlebellers worldwide and supplied a much needed answer to the question, "What do I do with this hunk of iron?"
AOS: Newport followed with a brutal focus on sustained strength and speed in 2006. Both DVD's have enabled thousands of people to get the most from kettlebell training without the need for a PHD in routine design. The AOS workouts are thoroughly tested and perfected with hundreds of actual clients at Punch Kettlebell Gym in Providence, RI before ever hitting your DVD player.
It is a rare customer who purchases only Providence or Newport. We get dozens of emails each month describing the series as "the best fitness DVD I've ever purchased". About 90% of the customers who purchased Providence come back and order Newport. People love the quality of the workouts, the fun scenery, Anthony, the variety, the overall production value, the music... and the "keep me honest" time bar! In fact, the most common question we get via phone and email is "When are you guys coming out with the next DVD?"
Well, it takes a lot of work and effort to bring one of these productions to life with the quality we require. We're just not going to rush it. So... with great pride, we're excited to announce Art of Strength: firepower! The routine in firepower was jointly developed by Anthony DiLuglio, RKC and Lieutenant Anthony Grokaitis, RKC. Lieutenant Grokaitis is a professional firefighter with the Worcester Fire Department in Massachussets. Grokaitis is a kettlebell fanatic and has had great success using them to raise the fitness levels of his fellow firefighters. Firepower is dedicated to First Responders everywhere and $1 of each sale will be donated to the Leary Firefighters Foundation: http://www.learyfirefighters.org
We'll be releasing more information on Firepower over the next few weeks and it will begin shipping in mid-December, 2006. For the next 2 weeks only, we will be offering a pre-order discount of $10 to Minute of Strength readers.
Click here to reserve your copy of Firepower today!
Mailbag motivation: AOS gets you dates
Hi Anthony,
You undoubtably get hundreds of emails praising your product from people around the world. I would like to pass on a major thanks. In the summer I started to do AOS Providence with a 35lb'er. I had a 36 inch waist (pants were tight, so probably a 38inch waist). I look back at pics and I did not have a chin... this was bloody awful.
For the first 2 weeks I could not make it through, the disk. Anyways as time progressed I religiously followed the Warrior diet and eventually purchased your Newport disk. My waist size dropped from a tight fitting 36 inch waist to 30 inch waist. I actually have some ab definition now. This happened over the course of about 12 - 14 weeks, I kick myself for not entering some physique competition.
Anyways to make a long story short, since I have basically no clothes that fit, I took your advice and bought a velvet blazer, a new fitted T, a pair of 7 jeans and some adidas sneak's and hit the bar a couple nights. Dude I ended up hitting it off with a 6'0 half asian/german model and I am on my way out the door to go meet up with her and her friends and we have plans on Sunday to do Yoga.
I cannot express to you how thankful I am. Keep those dvds rolling... I keep pinching myself to see if this is a dream. Do you have any plans for a new dvd?
Thanks
JJ
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Mastering the kettlebell floor press
by: Anthony DiLuglio, RKC
The kettlebell floor press... I use the floor press with most of my clients. Believe it or not, it is very difficult to get people to engage their chest for a chest press. Sounds silly, but it is true. Traditional chest pressing from a bench is where many shoulder injuries happen. Walk into the average gym and you'll typically see people overstreching the chest and front delt with a ballistic bounce of the bar off the chest.
I found the benefits of the floor press a couple of years ago after injurining my shoulder in a rock climbing accident. I had a laberal tear in my left shoulder. The docs said surgery was the only way to repair it. The hell with that! I went back to what I now call my R&D center (Punch Kettlebell Gym) looking for a rehab option.
The floor press allowed me to engage my chest through the full range of motion without using/isolating my shoulder. I needed to work the area without aggrevating it. The first important concept is "squeezing the scapula together" or as I call it "making a shelf "with your scapula and securing them against the floor. Also known as "shoulder packing", this technique creates an amazing amount of tension in the chest... even before you start the press!
Now, start pulling the bell to your chest as if you were spring loading your lat. Try to get your tricep to touch the floor and then let that tension in your lat unwind and drive the weight straight up. It should feel as if you are pushig yourself into the floor away from the weight... NOT pushing the weight away from you. You must get this concept or you will start to lose the tension and raise your shoulder...and that is vey bad!
Here is an AOS exclusive tip: To create even greater tension and more pressing power, try this: Raise your opposite leg off the floor from the side you are pressing. About 6-12 inches will do. Keep that leg tight. This will create tension in your serratus and oblique. Adding this extra tension will allow you to press more and get benefits from a chestpress that you didn't know existed. I use this drill with all of my clients. Many have avoided shoulder surgery just like me. All of these folks were told by their docs to stop training. You may as well tell them to lay down and die!
The kettlebell floor press for bodybuilders
by: Bonnie Lefrak
Finally... I am able to add thickness and definition to my chest, most specifically the inner portion of the sternal heads! Regular bench pressing and even DB pressing is often a "miss" when it comes to truly and effectively targeting the chest. Shoulders take the brunt of the work as most times the elbows drop beneath the bench. The chest is stretched, but not contracted.
From the floor, it is possible to fully retract and depress the scapula-- thus lifting the chest and tightening the muscles throughout the entire range of the exercise. Having the elbow close relieves the shoulders and a closer upper arm makes the "squeeze" much more probable. The effect is extremely similar to all of the traditional chest poses in bodybuilding... consider the "crab" and "side chest" poses in particular.
Adding the outstretched leg (opposite leg extended) while pressing the kettlebells creates further tension through the abdominal obliques-- also forcing the entire torso to contract and stabilize throughout the drill.
Bottom line-- adding kettlebells to my very traditional (AKA "old school") way of training finally gave me the size and definition I lacked in my chest... minus the nagging shoulder pain that often acompanies an "aggressive" strength training program. Whether training for an event or a lifetime, train smart and add size and shape to your chest with the kettlebell floor press. Your shoulders will thank you... plus you might win a cool trophy!