I’ve just recently had a chance to talk to a good friend of mine
Chris Lopez. He’s put together an interesting new workout system so I
figured I’ll grill him about it.
Here is the first part of our interview.
PAT: How is the kettlebell workout different than a traditional
cardio workout?
CHRIS: There are 2 main advantages that KB training has over traditional
cardio.
1) Variety of movement. Traditional cardio requires you to perform
the exact same movement for hundreds, sometimes even thousands of reps
(like running – same movement, same muscles used each and every
stride).
If you’ve got any kind of muscle imbalance or if you have a muscle
the doesn’t fire in the right sequence (or not at all), then you’ve
just magnified that imbalance 1000x. That’s how overuse injuries
happen.
With KB training, you’re doing a variety of different movements in
any given circuit or drill allowing all muscles to work. In a typical
KB circuit for example, you’d be squatting, pushing & pulling both
horizontally & vertically, using 1 leg at a time and doing some
type of hip dominant power movement.
2) The resistance a KB provides gives you is muscle sparing. What I
mean by that is traditional cardiovascular workouts will “eat at” your
muscles for energy which
is why you need combine it with some form of resistance training -
it’s catabolic.
Kettlebell training IS resistance training. You perform various
traditional (and non-traditional) resistance exercises back-to-back-to-back
so in addition to getting the majority of the advantages of strength
training, you’ll also get all the benefits of performing cardio in one shot.
PAT: You and I both know people get hung up on calorie counting and
calorie burning. So one of the big questions that always come up is
how many calories can a workout burn. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s
not easy to measure calorie burning from a workout.
But I’ve done kettlebell work before and I know it burns a lot of calories.
Can you give our readers some tips on how to tell if their workout is really
getting the job done from a calorie burning standpoint and how your
kettlebell system will do the same.
CHRIS: First I think we need to address the first part of the weight
loss equation. Regardless of how many calories somebody is able to burn
in a workout or thereafter, if they are consuming too many calories in
the first place, then no workout, be it the TT KB Revolution or cardio or
anything else will do much of anything.
People need to take care of their diets FIRST, without question. So
get your Done-For-You Fat Loss meal plans and take care of that aspect
of your lifestyle before anything else. Now to answer your question,
in the short term, after a great high-intensity workout, you’ll know
that calories are being burnt if you’re still feeling slightly out of
breath after the workout. This means you’ve done enough workout to be
burning more calories not only during the workout but even afterwards.
You’ll feel invigorated and energized hours afterwards. That’s how you
know you’ve hit the sweet spot. If you’re workout leaves you feeling
beat up and tired then you’ve over done it.
PAT. Is there a way to get both a muscle conditioning and fat
burning effect with this workout?
CHRIS: Absolutely. Like we said above, because you are using a variety
of strength training exercises, you’re working and conditioning your
muscles to handle a lot of work. In the TT KB Revolution, we focus
on getting better and better with our supersets and circuits by recording
our times and/or reps and then attempting to beat our previous attempts.
We’re trying to set records.
If you are working hard and beating your reps and or time it takes to
complete a circuit, then you’re muscles are getting better conditioned AND
you are reaping all the fat burning benefits of an intense workout. It’s
the best of both worlds!
PAT. We know you’re the fit and busy dad so I’m assuming these
workouts were built to also be quick and convenient. Can you explain to our
readers what to expect during one of these workouts, namely how long will
it take, where can they be done, what kind of previous exercise experience
do they need.
CHRIS: The whole reason why I decided to start using kettlebells was
because I was noticing that I was spending too much time in the gym.
When you’re a dad of 5, run 2 businesses and coach 2 teams, there
isn’t a lot of time in the day. So even though I loved going to the
gym, it just wasn’t conducive to my lifestyle anymore. That said, I
found that with kettlebell training, workouts were getting done -from
warm-up to finish – in less than 30minutes…sometimes even in 10-minutes!
The beauty of KB workouts is that they can be done anywhere.
In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I did a workout in the parking lot of a hospital
while I was waiting for my wife to get out of a blood test.
All you need is literally, an 8 x 8 space with some headroom and you can get it done.
As far as experience goes, you can be an absolute beginner still get the
advantages of KB training. In fact, you may be better off because you’d
be a “blank canvas”. You can learn how to do certain things “the right way”
and not be tainted by myths and fitness dogma that have no foundation.
And obviously, if you’re an experienced lifter, then this is a great way
to really take your fitness to the next level.
PAT: That’s all good stuff. Can you let us know where we can pick this
system up?
CHRIS: Sure right now it’s on for 50% off until tomorrow at midnight.
You can get it here: Kettlebell Workouts
Great stuff, thanks Chris, and we’ll have the second half of the
interview for you tomorrow.
