This week we welcome Leah Barto from Brazen fitness as a fitness contributor to our blog. Leah will be bringing you simple and practical movement tutorials and workouts that you can add to your Whole Life Challenge or your life. We started this yesterday with the push up. If the push up is the fundamental movement for the upper body, the squat is the king for the lower body.… The post How To Squat Like Your Health Depends On It appeared first on Whole Life Challenge.| Whole Life Challenge
This week we welcome Leah Barto from Brazen fitness as a fitness contributor to our blog. Leah will be bringing you simple and practical movement tutorials and workouts that you can add to your Whole Life Challenge or your life. This week we’ll start things off with the fundamental of fundamental movements, the humble but powerful push up. There are a lot of ways to get stronger that don’t require any equipment.… The post The Last Push-Up “How To” You’ll Ever Need appeared first o...| Whole Life Challenge
Even if you’ve adopted a standing desk and good movement habits into your life, chances are you still spend a fair amount of the day sitting or with your upper back hunched and shoulders rolled inward. Chronic bad posture can result in everything from restricted mobility, to pain and tension, to an inability to breathe well. So let’s help your shoulders and back open up by using this simple sequence of corrective exercises.… The post Try this Kettlebell Mobility Sequence to Release Your...| Whole Life Challenge
For those of you just getting started with kettlebells, here is a simple sequence you can dive into immediately. It’s easy to scale this up or down for your fitness and strength levels, and the technique involved in these movements is perfect for kettlebell beginners who need to practice the basics. The exercises are: Deadlift into front rack position Halo Goblet squat For details on these movements, watch the video above.… The post A Simple But Powerful Workout for Kettlebell Beginners a...| Whole Life Challenge
This video will walk you through a simple sequence to learn the kettlebell swing. If you’re just getting started with the swing, these movements are great tools to help you along your way to being able to safely and effectively perform the full kettlebell swing. Each move builds upon the next until you are doing the complete exercise. In the video, you’ll see me perform each part of the sequence and I’ll explain how to do it in detail.… The post The Kettlebell Swing for Beginners: A S...| Whole Life Challenge
What a herniated disc, kettlebells, and a lifelong love of surfing taught me about strength.I am 51 years old, and I’ve been surfing since I was a little boy. Surfing has always been a big part of my life—the connection to the ocean, the challenge, and the feeling you can’t really find anywhere else. But in 2015, everything changed when I suffered a disc herniation at L4-L5.| StrongFirst
In April 2024, I achieved my StrongFirst Bodyweight Certification and became a StrongFirst Certified Elite Instructor. I had been working toward this goal for about three years, and it felt great to have finally climbed that mountain. Of course, after the initial high of completing a goal wears off, there’s also the question: “What’s next?” […] The post Prepare to Train, Don’t Just Warm Up appeared first on StrongFirst.| StrongFirst
Pregnancy and the postpartum period often come with misconceptions regarding strength training, particularly when using traditional tools like kettlebells. Historically, medical advice has recommended avoiding exercises performed lying on the back, dynamic movements such as kettlebell swings, and resistance training in general during these phases. Recent evidence and clinical practice, however, strongly support the thoughtful application of hard style kettlebell training and anti-glycolytic t...| StrongFirst
Please understand I grew up a very skinny kid. My dad used to tease me and call me spaghetti arms. I hated to eat and spent countless nights negotiating how many more bites I had to eat before I could get up from the table. This weaved its way into my psyche and always made […] The post Seven Powerful Lessons from Becoming a Beast Tamer appeared first on StrongFirst.| StrongFirst
I’m about to make a potentially heretical and controversial statement. Ready? Here we go—You don’t need a goal. And what’s more…you don’t need a plan. Let’s all take a moment to catch our collective breath. In speaking with a student some time ago, the student said: “I need a goal.” And my response was, do […] The post The “No-Plan” Plan appeared first on StrongFirst.| StrongFirst
Based just outside Belfast, I’m a busy husband, dad to two boys, and a 20-year shift lab worker (and still counting—until my lottery numbers come up). Shifts can put a lot of demands on an individual’s time and energy and may limit training time, but the benefits of training, despite these challenges, are numerous for health and wellbeing. Striking the right balance, however, is key.| StrongFirst
In addition to being the school of strength, StrongFirst has created a culture built on pushing one’s limits, both physically and mentally. In 2013 Pavel published Kettlebell Simple & Sinister, in which he introduced a now infamous test of one’s strength, mobility, power, and overall resilience. Thus far, 72 men and 125 women have successfully completed this daunting challenge. On July 31st, 2023, after nearly eighteen months of training, I joined these hard style individuals and successf...| StrongFirst
The year is 2006, and one of my personal training students was inquiring about my next training plan.| StrongFirst
In our StrongFirst system, there are many “a-ha” or “what the heck” moments that are identified as carryover effects. These carryovers translate into unexpected strength gains, better movement, and endurance in other lifts you haven’t specifically been training. This is an exciting part of the training process, when your lifts become easier, and you find yourself setting personal bests without even psyching up for them.| StrongFirst
I usually say, “I’ve never gotten to see Game of Thrones,” to highlight how busy my life is. For the past nineteen years, I’ve worked full-time in Emergency Services, doing shift work. Additionally, I’ve owned and operated Access Health and Fitness in Dublin with employees for twelve years. I’m also married with three level-headed, non-stress inducing teenagers (yeah right). Add to that two dogs, twelve hens, and a partridge in a pear tree—this is how I generally start my therap...| StrongFirst
Simple & Sinister embodies the quote above. Dedication to achieving Simple and continuing to Sinister has led students on multiple-month and multiple-year journeys. A rarity in today’s scrolling-based attention-span world, the dedicated pursuit of the S&S goal is a worthy endeavor.| StrongFirst
