Year 1: The Improvement Process

In the movie Knockaround Guys, Vin Diesel's character says "500 fights," then goes on to talk about how, as a kid, he thought it would take 500 street fights to become a legitimate tough-guy. Then, as he started fighting, he learned it was a process and not a specific number of fights.

Your journey into Kettlebell - Club - Mace will be a similar process.

Here is a hypothetical example:

Let’s say you start off doing 2-Hand KB Swings, 3 days per week. Start with 5 sets of 5 swings EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute), then proceed through Volume Cycles to 6 sets of 5 swings, 7 sets of 5, 8 sets of 5, ... 20 sets of 5.

Track you results. If the workout was easy, move up 2 clicks. If the workout was good, move up 1 click. If the workout was difficult, repeat it again next time.

After 20 sets of 5, move to the next Density Cycle and do 5 sets of 6 swings, then 6 of 6, 7 of 6 ... all the way up.

After awhile you might want to add a 2nd exercise, such as Goblet Squats, following a similar pattern.

Eventually you'll start making choices about your program. Do you want to:

• Continue adding Volume and Density, until you can swing for 10 minutes without putting the KB down?

• Move up to a heavier KB and start the cycle over? This might lead to switching between heavy days (for strength) and light days (for strength-endurance.)

• Switch from 2-Handed Swing to 1-Handed Swing, alternating hands?

• Introduce more exercises, such as Clean and/or Clean & Press?

Somewhere along the line you stop being a beginner. Instead you're customizing your own program to meet your own needs.

But this process takes time. And practice. And patience.

- Chris Butterworth