The Get-Up: Change Your Perspective to Build Strength
In strength training, the get-up is a legendary lift—a complex sequence of fundamental movement patterns and the ultimate “midsection exercise.” But it is also a diagnostic and developmental tool that...
View ArticleStrong by Choice: From Self-Doubt to Sinister
From Zero to Strong I entered adulthood convinced I wasn’t good at sports—and never would be. I didn’t grow up with any inspiring role models, and my experience with physical education at school didn’t...
View ArticleKettlebell Kata—Simple & Sinister as Mindfulness Practice
I’m a busy person who wants to get stronger. I know every StrongFirst student can relate. While there is a lifetime of nuance to explore in strength training, I find strength to be one of the simplest...
View ArticleHow I trained for Super Sinister
In my previous article, “Introducing Super Sinister,” I introduced a new challenge for Sinister athletes. Classic Sinister requires you to perform 10 one-arm swings (48kg for men/32kg for women) every...
View ArticleIntroducing Super Sinister
In addition to being the school of strength, StrongFirst has created a culture built on pushing one’s limits, both physically and mentally. In 2013 Pavel published Kettlebell Simple & Sinister, in...
View ArticleNovocaine Training Part II: The Decision-Making Process
Background In part one, the concept of Novocaine Training and some of the specifics of exercise selection and session details were explained. The concept is to include enough variation to avoid...
View ArticleJust Swing a Kettlebell: Undertaking the “Simple” February Swing Challenge
My Background I’m a 55-year-old male (schoolteacher by day) who weighs 177 pounds and stands just over 5’9”. The focus of my forties, honestly, was CrossFit. This included eight years of WODs, Metcons,...
View ArticleA+A Light—How Snatching Half Your Bodyweight Can Prepare You for the...
The SFG I is a challenging certification, but if I can do it, just about anyone can. I was never the most naturally gifted athlete. But with an intelligent and consistent approach to training, I was...
View ArticleSimple and Sinister—Help, I’m Stuck
“Dedication, absolute dedication, is what keeps one ahead.”—Bruce Lee Simple & Sinister embodies the quote above. Dedication to achieving Simple and continuing to Sinister has led students on...
View ArticleClean and Jerk A+A Training for the Minimalist
Introduction After reaching timeless Simple in March of 2020, I decided to try out The Quick and the Dead (Q&D), while maintaining sport-specific training on the pushup which is part of my military...
View ArticleThe Get-up and the Shoulder Mobility Dilemma
The get-up is one of the foundational exercises of kettlebell training. I suspect that most people who follow StrongFirst are quite familiar with this exercise. If you are a StrongFirst Certified SFG...
View ArticleThe Power of Simplicity: How Get-Ups and Pullups Enhanced an MLB All-Star’s...
When it comes to training, most people tend to trend in the direction of complexity and novelty. Whether that’s an athlete finding fancy movements they think will make a favorite pro-athlete look cool...
View ArticleSeven Steps to Strength: Programming as a Science Experiment
Truth comes out of error more readily than out of confusion. —Francis Bacon What do successful athletes not blessed with Olympic genes have in common?—Patience to tweak their training, one variable at...
View ArticleKettlebell Simple & Sinister: Tips for Heavy Goblet Squats
“I like my weights heavy and my squats down low.”—Anonymous The kettlebell goblet squat is THE “squat for the people.” The prying goblet squat from our Kettlebell Simple & Sinister curriculum is a...
View ArticleKettlebell Simple & Sinister Quest: Through Adversity to the Stars, Part II
(If you missed the first part of Pavel Macek’s S&S quest, read it here.) Sinister Quest Continued “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”—Leonardo da Vinci, 1452. My failed “Sinister” test...
View ArticleKettlebell Simple & Sinister Quest: Through Adversity to the Stars, Part I
“If the Way is high, accordingly it has a great number of obstacles.”—An ancient saying I will be honest—I can’t think of a better foundational strength and conditioning program than Kettlebell Simple...
View ArticleFour Sinister Success Stories
If you’ve read Simple & Sinister by Pavel, you understand the amount of work it takes to attain the “Simple” goal alone, and how much more work and dedication it takes to reach the “Sinister” goal...
View ArticleMinimalist Kettlebell Training for Maximal Returns in BJJ
Last year, the primary focus of my training shifted. For my entire adult life, I had been both a strength enthusiast and a martial artist—in that order. When things started to open back up and I was...
View ArticleHow Built Strong Helped Me Achieve Sinister
The Goal: Sinister When I first looked for advice to achieve the Sinister goal of Kettlebell Simple & Sinister by Pavel, the response I received was to focus all your training on swings, get-ups,...
View ArticleThe Best All-Around Training Method EVER
It is a tall order for a training method to live up to the title of this article—but one does. It checks off the following boxes: ☑ Power ☑ Strength ☑ Muscle hypertrophy ☑ Fat loss ☑ “Cardio” ☑ “Work...
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