Josh Hillis' Fat Loss and Fitness

Dumbbell Swings, Kettlebell Swings, Gripper Plate Swings - One awesome fat loss exercise, three different tools

My clients do swings almost every workout.

It's just like how my clients do some form of squat almost every workout.

They're essential movements for fat loss.

Swings were, until very recently, always considered to be a "kettlebell exercise".

Kettlebells have brought the power of explosive full body movements back to modern workout programs.  People tend to attach workout ideas to tools.  But the tool is less important than the movement.

But swings can actually be done with anything.

You could do swings with a rock if you could get a decent grip on it.

Most people are going to start doing swings with dumbbells, just because dumbbells are handy.

If you can get your hands on a gripper plate to do swings with, that's a significant step up.

Evenutally you'll want to invest in a kettlebell or two.  Or if you're like me, you'll get addicted to kettlebells and buy 16 of them. 

But if you've never done swings before, start with a gripper plate.

I start most of my female clients with a 25lb gripper plate.  I start my guy clients with a 35lb gripper plate.

Five Tips on Doing Swings Correctly

1.) Make sure the power in your swings come from your hips.  It should be all glutes and hamstrings.

2.) If your lower back feels bad-sore the next day, you probably did swings incorrectly.  If your butt and hamstrings feel sore, you've done them right.

3.) The hardest part, really, and what you always need to be practicing in your swings, is to not use your arms at all.  The best way to do that is to forget about "making the weight go up", and just try to snap your hips hard.

4.) You should snap your hips with power, like jumping, hitting a baseball, a tennis serve, or throwing a punch.

5.) Until you've gotten good at them, treat doing swings like practice.  When your form breaks down, stop and rest.

By Josh Hillis

Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar, and the upcoming Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss.

Josh is a fat loss expert, personal trainer, and kettlebell instructor in Denver, Colorado.
 

© Joshua Hillis 2008

Horrible Kettlebell Swing Form on National TV

Did you hear the screaming last Tuesday night?

It was me.  I was watching The Biggest Loser.

Bob was having his clients do "kettlebell" swings with dumbbells.  (I almost always call them kettlebell swings, even if my clients are using dumbbells or gripper plates.  It's just habit.)

So these contestants on The Biggest Loser are doing dumbbell swings...  with their backs totally rounded.  Which is wrong.  Very wrong.

I like Bob.  I think he genuinely cares about his clients success.  And that's super important.  I think it's the core reason his clients get results.

But it wouldn't be the first time I saw contestants on The Biggest Loser use bad form.  I've seen trainers on The Biggest Loser let their clients deadlift with their backs rounded forward.  Their exercise that day was moving logs, and they were all totally totally rounded forward picking up the logs.

You're on TV bro, you should do it right.

I don't let my clients pick up a pencil with their back rounded.

I know it's hard for people who are seriously overweight to do swings with proper form if they are using dumbbells. 

So they should have used gripper plates or kettlebells, instead of just doing it wrong with dumbbells.

To explain the difference between your back being "arched back" and "rounded forward", here is a page from my book The Stubborn 7 Pounds:

Big movements like swings, deadlifts, and squats are absolutely essential for a fat loss program. 

Learning how to do them right is essential for not getting hurt.

I tweaked myself when I first started doing kettlebell workouts back in 1999.  My sports medicine doctor recommended something shocking - that I get some coaching from an expert.

I'm forever grateful to my coach Dave Werner for teaching me how to squat, deadlift, do kettlebell swings and kettlebell jerks.   It was the foundation for all of my adventures in fitness to come.

 

By Josh Hillis

Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar, and the upcoming Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss.

Josh is a fat loss expert, personal trainer, and kettlebell instructor in Denver, Colorado.
 

© Joshua Hillis 2008

Nobody likes doing squats

I'm in the gym yesterday taking one of my clients over to the squat rack.  There is a guy standing my the squat rack, stretching, and kind of eying the squat rack. 

Josh: "Are you using the squat rack?"

The guy: "Naw, I can go do something else."

I say, "Are you sure, it's ok if you were going to use it."

He says, "Well, I was going to use it, but I'm happy to do something else.  After all, no one likes to do squats."

I say, "Oh man, I love doing squats!"

He says, to my client, "Run away!  Get a new trainer!  This one is evil!"

True story!  Here is the thing, squats are really hard.  They are harder than most of the things people in the gym like to do.  Especially squatting heavy. 

My clients do some hard squatting workouts.  I'm not evil.  Well, maybe a little =)  But the truth is, I just like things that work.  Squats work.

A workout isn't fun to me if it's not going to produce any results.  Squats produce results.  I'll take a hard workout any day if it'll get the results we want.  And getting results is really, really fun.

Some people have other legitimate reasons for not wanting to squat - they've heard that if they squat incorrectly they can get hurt.  True.  This is a good reason to learn how to squat correctly, not avoid them altogether.

There is a rumor in the fitness world that people are lazy.  I think the problem isn't laziness.  The problem is that people have been doing crappy workouts and getting no results for so long that they are just cynical and resigned about working out.  They know they need to work out, but they don't really want to put in a ton of effort if it isn't going to yield results.

It's the really hard exercises that make a difference.  It's worth the effort to do 'em, 'cause they'll actually produce results.

It's also the slightly more technical exercises that make a difference.  It's worth the effort to learn how to do them right.

If you put in the effort, you'll get the results.  Do the big exercises.  Add weight to the bar.  Watch your body transform.

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds

Josh is one of the five fat loss experts in The Ultimate Fat Loss Answers

Josh is a fat loss expert, a kettlebell instructor and personal trainer in Denver, Colorado.  Josh helps women and men lose stubborn fat.

"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis

© Joshua Hillis 2008

This Blew My Mind

Clearly the United States is getting fatter.  And fatter.  Every year.

Two kinds of people come to my blog - the people that are part of these statistics, and the people that aren't.

If you're going to the gym, lifting weights, and doing cardio - with consistency - even if you're doing a workout program that really sucks, this probably isn't you.

If you are keeping an honest food log, then there is NO WAY that this is you.

The United States is getting fatter and fatter.  There is a total disconnect between food and body.

Food is fuel.

You can look at food as entertainment, or you can look at food as fuel for the high performance, rockstar hot body that you want.

Everything you eat is either taking you closer to your goals, or away from your goals.

Everything you are eating is taking you one step closer to being Princess Leia...

Or it's taking you one step closer to being Jabba.

And don't kid yourself.  You already know exactly which foods are which.

By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds

Josh is one of the five fat loss experts in The Ultimate Fat Loss Answers

Josh is a fat loss expert, a kettlebell instructor and personal trainer in Denver, Colorado.  Josh helps women and men lose stubborn fat.

"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis

© Joshua Hillis 2008