Want some more information about our workouts and kettlebells in general? Here are answers to some questions you might have:
Do I need to have or buy a kettlebell?
No, I provide the kettlebells. Some people will find they want to buy one to use at home, and I can help you pick out the right one for you. But you absolutely don't have to do that. There is nothing else you have to buy to participate in our training.
Do I need to know how to do kettlebell exercises already?
No. The first thing I'll do is teach you how to do the exercises with proper form and technique. This is very important with kettlebell exercises. Done properly, kettlebell exercises will "bulletproof" your body and make it resistant to injury better than any other form of exercise. But like any type of exercise, they can injure you if you don't do them correctly. And most of the people out there teaching kettlebell exercises don't know how to do them correctly! But I know how to do these exercises right, and I'll make sure that you do, too. No one will be allowed to participate in the workouts without being taught the exercises first.
Do I need to be in good shape already to train with you?
No! Kettlebell workouts are easily adaptable to whatever your current level of fitness happens to be. Someone in very good shape can simply use a heavier kettlebell, while someone who's not quite as fit (yet!) can choose a lighter kettlebell. Both will still get a good workout that is appropriately challenging for their level of fitness. In addition, we'll often use timed sets in our workouts. With these, a really fit person can do an exercise for the entire period of time, while someone else who isn't quite ready for that can exercise for part of the time, stop and catch their breath, and then rejoin the exercise when they're ready. Finally, many of the exercises will have harder and easier versions, and each exerciser can do the one that is right for them.
(As a side note, all of this gives you a lot of different ways to measure your progress. When you're able to move up to heavier kettlebell or a harder version of an exercise, or when you do an exercise for an entire timed set for the first time, you'll know immediately that you've just done something you couldn't have done when you started!)
People who haven't been doing much exercise lately are encouraged to start with the Introduction to Kettlebells workshop to learn the exercises, and then spend some time in the MoveStrong class to refine your kettlebell technique and improve your fitness at whatever rate is appropriate for you.
The Afterburn bootcamp classes are a bit more intense. You can still adjust the difficulty somewhat as described above, but the bootcamp classes do move at a much faster pace and are definitely more challenging. So they are probably more appropriate for people who have a certain base level of fitness already. If you're not sure, come to a workshop or a MoveStrong class. We'll get you started and let you watch part of a bootcamp session to help you decide which is right for you.
Are these workouts appropriate for women as well as men?
Absolutely! The majority of our trainees are women. Kettlebells are an ideal form of exercise for women. You'll get strong and toned while you burn fat. Most women are astonished when they discover how strong they actually are -- and are even more astonished at how strong they can get using kettlebells. You can build muscle if you want to, or just focus on getting strong and lean. There's also a special bonus benefit: kettlebell exercises match up perfectly with the type of training that research has shown is best for increasing bone density, at the hip and spine in particular.
Of course, men get all the same benefits from training with kettlebells: more strength and muscle while burning fat and improving cardiovascular conditioning and injury resistance.
What do you mean when you say kettlebells will "bulletproof" your body?
Kettlebell exercises, properly done, help to establish and reinforce proper movement patterns and body mechanics while strengthening the stabilizing muscles around your joints -- all of which makes your body more resistant to injury.
Kettlebell exercises are unmatched at activating and strengthening your glutes while lengthening your hip flexor muscles -- an ideal combination for preventing lower back pain. And they can also reduce your chances for shoulder and lower back pain by training your rotator cuff and core muscles according to the way they're supposed to function: as stabilizing muscles, resisting forces that try to pull your joints out of alignment.
As an example, consider the one-arm kettlebell swing. On each rep of a perfect 1-arm swing, the glutes contract strongly; the hip flexors relax to allow a full lockout; the oblique muscles contract very strongly to prevent the off-center weight of the kettlebell from rotating the torso; and the scapular and rotator cuff muscles contract to prevent the weight of the kettlebell from pulling the arm out away from the shoulder. Those are all very good things when it comes to preventing injuries -- and you're getting a great cardiovascular workout at the same time!
What should I wear and bring?
Bring water! There is no water fountain at the facility where training is held, so please bring your own. Trust me, you'll want it!
The facility has restrooms, but no locker room or changing area.
Any type of workout attire is fine. For most kettlebell exercises, bare feet or flat-soled shoes (Chuck Taylors, barefoot or minimalist shoes, etc.) are ideal. Bootcamp classes sometime include running or jumping exercises, and some people will want more supportive, cushioned shoes for that.
Please bring a standard-size hand towel to your first month or so of classes.
What kind of results will I get?
No fitness instructor or trainer can honestly guarantee specific results in a certain period of time. Everyone is different and makes progress at different rates. But millions of people have achieved amazing results from kettlebells and bootcamp-style training. So if you come to class, give it your best effort, and follow a good nutrition program, you'll definitely get leaner, stronger, and more fit, and you'll do it more quickly than you could with any other type of exercise.
What will a typical Afterburn bootcamp workout session be like?
Each training session will start with a quick dynamic warm-up of joint mobility and movement drills. The training session itself might combine kettlebell exercises and bodyweight calisthenics with various kinds of sprinting, jumping, and other movement-based exercises. The format will never be exactly the same. Exercises might be combined in circuits, supersets, countdowns, ladders, pyramids, complexes, chains, or interval sessions of various kinds. Sometimes we'll work individually and sometimes we'll work in teams. There might be partner exercises, relay races, or games of various kinds. There are so many great exercises and so many different ways to mix them up that we'll never have to do exactly the same thing twice.
Every session is intended to work every muscle in your body -- upper body, lower body, and core. Exercises are always chosen to balance work for the front, back, and sides of your body, leading to balanced strength across your joints and reduced chances of injury while allowing you to accomplish more total work in the training session.
These workouts are strength training and cardio training all at once. They'll crank your heart rate up, have you gasping for breath, and ideally leave you both exhausted and energized at the same time.
Why are Afterburn bootcamp-style workouts so effective for losing weight?
The basic principle behind these workouts is that they make you do a LOT of high-intensity muscular work in a short period of time. This type of high-intensity exercise results in a high level of Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) -- an elevated metabolic rate that continues long after the workout is done, as your body recovers from and adapts to the effort you demanded of it. The upshot is that you continue burning a lot of calories for up to two days after each workout!
Within this framework of high-intensity workouts that stimulate EPOC, kettlebell bootcamp workouts make use of a variety of the most cutting-edge strategies to maximize overall fat loss:
Do I need to have or buy a kettlebell?
No, I provide the kettlebells. Some people will find they want to buy one to use at home, and I can help you pick out the right one for you. But you absolutely don't have to do that. There is nothing else you have to buy to participate in our training.
Do I need to know how to do kettlebell exercises already?
No. The first thing I'll do is teach you how to do the exercises with proper form and technique. This is very important with kettlebell exercises. Done properly, kettlebell exercises will "bulletproof" your body and make it resistant to injury better than any other form of exercise. But like any type of exercise, they can injure you if you don't do them correctly. And most of the people out there teaching kettlebell exercises don't know how to do them correctly! But I know how to do these exercises right, and I'll make sure that you do, too. No one will be allowed to participate in the workouts without being taught the exercises first.
Do I need to be in good shape already to train with you?
No! Kettlebell workouts are easily adaptable to whatever your current level of fitness happens to be. Someone in very good shape can simply use a heavier kettlebell, while someone who's not quite as fit (yet!) can choose a lighter kettlebell. Both will still get a good workout that is appropriately challenging for their level of fitness. In addition, we'll often use timed sets in our workouts. With these, a really fit person can do an exercise for the entire period of time, while someone else who isn't quite ready for that can exercise for part of the time, stop and catch their breath, and then rejoin the exercise when they're ready. Finally, many of the exercises will have harder and easier versions, and each exerciser can do the one that is right for them.
(As a side note, all of this gives you a lot of different ways to measure your progress. When you're able to move up to heavier kettlebell or a harder version of an exercise, or when you do an exercise for an entire timed set for the first time, you'll know immediately that you've just done something you couldn't have done when you started!)
People who haven't been doing much exercise lately are encouraged to start with the Introduction to Kettlebells workshop to learn the exercises, and then spend some time in the MoveStrong class to refine your kettlebell technique and improve your fitness at whatever rate is appropriate for you.
The Afterburn bootcamp classes are a bit more intense. You can still adjust the difficulty somewhat as described above, but the bootcamp classes do move at a much faster pace and are definitely more challenging. So they are probably more appropriate for people who have a certain base level of fitness already. If you're not sure, come to a workshop or a MoveStrong class. We'll get you started and let you watch part of a bootcamp session to help you decide which is right for you.
Are these workouts appropriate for women as well as men?
Absolutely! The majority of our trainees are women. Kettlebells are an ideal form of exercise for women. You'll get strong and toned while you burn fat. Most women are astonished when they discover how strong they actually are -- and are even more astonished at how strong they can get using kettlebells. You can build muscle if you want to, or just focus on getting strong and lean. There's also a special bonus benefit: kettlebell exercises match up perfectly with the type of training that research has shown is best for increasing bone density, at the hip and spine in particular.
Of course, men get all the same benefits from training with kettlebells: more strength and muscle while burning fat and improving cardiovascular conditioning and injury resistance.
What do you mean when you say kettlebells will "bulletproof" your body?
Kettlebell exercises, properly done, help to establish and reinforce proper movement patterns and body mechanics while strengthening the stabilizing muscles around your joints -- all of which makes your body more resistant to injury.
Kettlebell exercises are unmatched at activating and strengthening your glutes while lengthening your hip flexor muscles -- an ideal combination for preventing lower back pain. And they can also reduce your chances for shoulder and lower back pain by training your rotator cuff and core muscles according to the way they're supposed to function: as stabilizing muscles, resisting forces that try to pull your joints out of alignment.
As an example, consider the one-arm kettlebell swing. On each rep of a perfect 1-arm swing, the glutes contract strongly; the hip flexors relax to allow a full lockout; the oblique muscles contract very strongly to prevent the off-center weight of the kettlebell from rotating the torso; and the scapular and rotator cuff muscles contract to prevent the weight of the kettlebell from pulling the arm out away from the shoulder. Those are all very good things when it comes to preventing injuries -- and you're getting a great cardiovascular workout at the same time!
What should I wear and bring?
Bring water! There is no water fountain at the facility where training is held, so please bring your own. Trust me, you'll want it!
The facility has restrooms, but no locker room or changing area.
Any type of workout attire is fine. For most kettlebell exercises, bare feet or flat-soled shoes (Chuck Taylors, barefoot or minimalist shoes, etc.) are ideal. Bootcamp classes sometime include running or jumping exercises, and some people will want more supportive, cushioned shoes for that.
Please bring a standard-size hand towel to your first month or so of classes.
What kind of results will I get?
No fitness instructor or trainer can honestly guarantee specific results in a certain period of time. Everyone is different and makes progress at different rates. But millions of people have achieved amazing results from kettlebells and bootcamp-style training. So if you come to class, give it your best effort, and follow a good nutrition program, you'll definitely get leaner, stronger, and more fit, and you'll do it more quickly than you could with any other type of exercise.
What will a typical Afterburn bootcamp workout session be like?
Each training session will start with a quick dynamic warm-up of joint mobility and movement drills. The training session itself might combine kettlebell exercises and bodyweight calisthenics with various kinds of sprinting, jumping, and other movement-based exercises. The format will never be exactly the same. Exercises might be combined in circuits, supersets, countdowns, ladders, pyramids, complexes, chains, or interval sessions of various kinds. Sometimes we'll work individually and sometimes we'll work in teams. There might be partner exercises, relay races, or games of various kinds. There are so many great exercises and so many different ways to mix them up that we'll never have to do exactly the same thing twice.
Every session is intended to work every muscle in your body -- upper body, lower body, and core. Exercises are always chosen to balance work for the front, back, and sides of your body, leading to balanced strength across your joints and reduced chances of injury while allowing you to accomplish more total work in the training session.
These workouts are strength training and cardio training all at once. They'll crank your heart rate up, have you gasping for breath, and ideally leave you both exhausted and energized at the same time.
Why are Afterburn bootcamp-style workouts so effective for losing weight?
The basic principle behind these workouts is that they make you do a LOT of high-intensity muscular work in a short period of time. This type of high-intensity exercise results in a high level of Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) -- an elevated metabolic rate that continues long after the workout is done, as your body recovers from and adapts to the effort you demanded of it. The upshot is that you continue burning a lot of calories for up to two days after each workout!
Within this framework of high-intensity workouts that stimulate EPOC, kettlebell bootcamp workouts make use of a variety of the most cutting-edge strategies to maximize overall fat loss:
- By alternating non-competing exercises for different muscle groups -- upper body and lower body, pushing and pulling, etc. -- we can keep working at a high intensity level with minimal rest. More work in the same amount of time equals more EPOC and more calories burned.
- We do a lot of explosive exercises, like kettlebell swings and various kinds of jumping. Explosive exercises have been shown to burn more calories than slower movements. They also increase insulin sensitivity, which in the long term can help reduce the amount of fat your body stores.
- We'll also use exercises involving changes of direction and movement in multiple planes of motion, like shuttle sprints or kettlebell goblet side lunges. Moving in multiple directions like this has been shown to involve more muscle and burn more calories.
- High-intensity work like this is fueled by carbohydrates, so these workouts are ideal for depleting the glycogen stores in your muscles. When glycogen stores are depleted, your body makes replenishing them its top priority -- which means any calories you take in at that point will be directed toward refilling the muscles' carbohydrate stores, rather than being stored as fat.
- High-rep exercises combined in supersets and circuits are perfect for stimulating lactic acid production, which causes your body to release growth hormone. Growth hormone is one of the primary fat-burning hormones in your body.
- We keep the workouts to only 30 minutes to avoid the negative effects of elevated stress hormones, such as increased fat storage, that often result from longer workout sessions.