Kettlebell Core Essentials The 360 Body Brings you Development for a Strong, Defined Mid-section By Joe Sarti
360 Philosophy The 360 Body is a complete system of health and fitness based on the best tools and information available to and in the disciplines of strength training, cardiovascular conditioning, flexibility, physical rehabilitation, nutrition, and supplementation. Our system is based on the finest principles in each of these disciplines. We are not reinventing the wheel instead we have taken aspects of the health and fitness industry and put them together in our own special and unique concept. While we feel we have the best and most complete approach to helping you achieve your goals we are ever evolving system. We guarantee we are always working on improving our business and system, in an effort to bring you the highest quality service. Our success lies within your success, so you can count on us working with you and your specific goals and needs to make the system fit and succeed. We believe that you can achieve anything. However, it requires you to dedicate yourself to the program, consistent application of the principles behind the program, constant evaluation, an open-mind, and a willingness to succeed. We will give you the tools you give us your time and together you will achieve your desired goals.
The People Behind The 360 Fitness System Joe Sarti Joe Sarti is a top strength and conditioning coach/personal trainer. Joe earned his Masters of Arts in Human Performance specializing in Exercise Physiology from San Jose State University. Joe is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association; A Russian Kettlebell Certified Instructor; and a Certified Massage Therapist. Joe combines his education, his athletic background, and 10 years of coaching experience to bring his clients a comprehensive yet simplified approach to fitness program design. Joe offers programs based on strength, conditioning, flexibility, joint mobility, rehabilitation, massage therapy/bodywork, nutrition or any combination of these programs. Joe has been the strength and conditioning coach for world-class athlete Frank Shamrock (5 time UFC Champion, Mixed Martial Arts Champion) and Team Shamrocks IFL fight team the San Jose Razorclaws. In addition Joe works with athletes of all types, ages and skill levels. However, one of Joe s greatest joys comes from working with the general population and seeing them through to their goals.
Exercises for the Core, Kettlebell Style The following exercises emphasis strengthening and conditioning of the core muscle groups. Some of these exercises place emphasis on integrating the core muscles with other muscles of the body (i.e., squat potato, get-up sit-up, etc.) In addition you will see a sample program structure for a core-based workout using these basic exercises. Janda o Lie on your back and hold a kettlebell on your chest. Feet should be flat on floor, legs hip width distance apart, feet are at minimum in front of knees. o Dig heels into ground and pull body down towards feet with hamstrings (without moving your body-think hamstring curl). Sniff air in through your nose (belly breath). o Slowly begin to roll up starting with your head, neck, shoulderscreate a ball so that you are bringing your rib cage closer to your hip bones -as you slowly exhale (hissing sound with your tongue against your teeth). Do not use your hip flexors-no cheaters here! o Do not worry about coming completely off the floor instead focus on a long slow breath and tense contract (squeeze) of the abdominals. o Slowly lower yourself down and repeat as necessary.
Crunch and Punch o Lie on your back with your legs extended straight in the air. o Hold kettlebell by the horns close to chest for the start. o Take a deep breathe and tense abs making a hissing sound as you crunch forward while reaching the bell toward the sky. Rock and Roll Crunch o Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet in the air o Hold kettlebell by the horns close to your chest. o Take a deep breathe in through the nose and rock backward (be careful not to rock on to your neck), then roll forward with tense abs and forcefully exhale and keep rocking and rolling. o Make sure to inhale when you rock backward.
2 KB Plank o Place two bells side-by-side shoulder width apart. o Place yourself into a push-up position hands on the bells. o Make sure to place your shoulders over your hands, engage your lats (sides of your body) by linking your shoulders to your body and stay tight in your hips (glutes) and legs (quadriceps). o To increase the difficulty remove on foot from the floor and to further increase the difficulty remove the opposite hand so you are balancing on 2 points. Side Bridge off the KBs o Place your body sideways and put one hand on the bell. o Straighten your legs out to the side and your body should form a 45 degree angle from head to toe. o Make sure to keep your hips, legs and lats tight and link your shoulder to your body. o Place the other hand in the air, making a T formation.
Get up sit up (1 and 2 KBs) Wood chop o Stand with the ball of the kettlebell in your hands. o Take the bell back behind your head rotating through your hips in that direction. o Then rotate your hips bringing the bell down at a 45 degree angle toward your hips. o Keep your abs tense and the bell close to the body. o Then reverse the same angle through the hips back up toward the head and chop again.
Black Ribbon by Ken Black (combination halo and wood chop) o Hold ball of the kettlebell in your hands. o Wrap the bell up and around your head and then chop down at a 45 degree angle rotating your core through your hips, your foot will follow...your body will face the direction of the chop. o Keep the bell close to your body as you chop. o Reverse the motion and again wrap around your head in the opposite direction and chop down in to the opposite side. o Always stay tense in your abs and rotate through your hips. o To increase the difficulty move the bell away from your body as you chop, extending your arms. Seated Russian twist o Sitting on the floor the ball of the bell in hand, knees bent, heels on the floor. o Take a deep breathe and rotate through the core from side to side. o Make sure to keep the abs tense. o To increase the difficulty remove the feet from the floor so the legs are in the air.
Crunch and Twist with Feet in the air o Lie on your back with your legs extended straight in the air. o Hold kettlebell by the horns close to chest for the start. o Take a deep breathe and tense abs making a hissing sound as you crunch forward while reaching the bell toward your feet and at the top add a small twist (bell reaching outside the foot). Seated Hot Potato o Sit on the floor with your knees slightly bent and heels touching the floor. o Hold the ball of the kettlebell in both close to your chest. o Take a deep breathe and start to pass the bell from one hand to the other like a hot potato, slightly rotating side to side as you do this motion. o Make sure to breathe keeping the abs tense. o To increase the difficulty remove the feet from the floor so the legs are in the air.
Squat Potato o Squat down holding the ball of the kettlebell in both close to your chest. o Take a deep breathe and start to pass the bell from one hand to the other like a hot potato, squatting up and down with the toss of the bell. o Make sure to breathe keeping the abs tense and sit in too your hips. o Good Squat form. o Option: You can statically hold the squatted position while passing the bell. Program Design Protocols
Use your breath. This is the key to developing strength. Breath in through the nose down to your belly button. Exhale from your belly pressing your insides outward against your abs (this creates tense abs). Quality over quantity in terms of the number of exercises and the number of repetitions. Make sure your program has one crunch move and one rotational move. The following are some basic program combinations, it is possible to combine more than 2 of these exercises together. However, keep in mind that kettlebell training in general is all about the core, meaning the core is involved and trained in every exercise. Therefore these are just some specific exercises to address the core. They can be done at the end of a workout or on a separate day. Sample Programs Exercise Sets Reps Janda 3 5 Seated Russian Twist 3 10/side Exercise Sets Reps Plank 3 hold 20 sec Side Bridge 3 hold 20 sec Exercise Sets Reps Rock and Roll Crunch 3 10 Wood Chop 3 8/side Exercise Sets Reps Crunch and Punch 3 10 Crunch and Twist 3 8/side Exercise Sets Reps Squat Potato 3 10/side Black Ribbon 3 5/side