April Spotlight and Contest winner: Nikki

Nikki won:

A24kg Dragon Door Kettlebell (the ONLY brand I use),

A month supply of Prograde supplements

A gift certificate for a massage at Balance Bodywork.

And a spiffy GREEN Nashville Kettlebell Bootcamp T-shirt.

Rock on Nikki!

The best lower body exercise YOUR personal trainer doesn't know about.

As you might imagine, I get this kind of question a lot: “What is the best exercise for ______” fill in the blank. A common area of concern (especially among women) is the lower body, specifically the butt and thighs. Today I’m going to share the absolute best lower body exercise in existence . It’s called the Kettlebell Swing.

Before we get further into this, please remember that individual body part training and spot reduction on certain areas of the body is a waste of time. We do full body training, meaning that we train the upper body, lower body, cardio and core during every single workout, much of the time in the same exercise.

We do this to maximally stimulate lean muscle gain and metabolism which causes total body fat burning, effectively eliminating the body fat that is hiding those stubborn areas that people are having trouble seeing.

Add this kind of training to a diet high in lean protein, fiber, and green veggies and low in unnatural fats, refined sugars and starches to get rid of get rid of your gut, jiggly arms, and the junk in the trunk. The way you lose fat is genetically predetermined. You can do crunches and walk on the treadmill all day, but if you really want results you have to put in the effort, both in your training and in your eating habits.

Ask a bunch of personal trainers for their opinion and you'll get a bunch of different answers. The surprising thing is that the very best hip and thigh exercise on the planet is one that 99% of the personal trainers don't even know about!

So, on to the main event: the world’s greatest lower body exercise, the Kettlebell Swing. If your butt is too big, KBs will help firm it up and give it better shape. If you have no butt, the swing will build one for you.

See the video below for a demo of the 2-hand kettlebell swing:

Important points about the Kettlebell Swing:

• The power comes from the hips not the arms or lower back. Move explosively.
• Keep you back flat thoughout the entire movement.
• Hike the kettlebell behind you to load the glutes.
• To get full hip extension at the top, keep the heels on the ground, pull up the kneecaps and squeeze the cheeks together.

Come join us at the Nashville Kettlebell Bootcamp and see for yourself.

From Resolution to RESULTS

Since the beginning of the Nashville Kettlebell Bootcamp, I have helped a LOT of people improve health, performance, and body composition faster than they believed possible. I know how to help people lose ugly, unwanted body fat and get stronger than they ever believed they could. At the risk of sounding cocky, I know how to do it faster than anyone else in Nashville.

Our kettlebell-based rapid fat loss training and nutrition system is, in a word, superior. Following Pavel's example, I have done (and continue to do) the countless hours of research and trial and error and I have had hundreds of people as real world case studies to prove that our system works better than anything else. Period.

But, anyone who knows my approach knows that there is something more powerful; something that has to in place before you can even begin to think about following a fitness program. Today I am going to share some of that with you.

Let me ask you something. What do you think is the real secret behind my client success? Your answer may be the Nashville Kettlebell training and nutrition system, but that's not it.

Yes, it is an incredibly effective program. Unfortunately it is completely useless if someone is unwilling to begin it AND follow it to the letter. Does that make sense?

Does it make sense that the most important component of changing your body is finding the motivation to achieve your goals?

I am going to literally walk you through a powerful three-step goal achievement process that is so important to weight loss success that I now require it for any new client to be considered for joining our program.

Before I get into actual process, I need to get something off of my chest that may piss some people off. I know a lot of people think goal setting is just a silly, useless, touchy-feely thing. I want you to notice something about these people. Usually, they are miserable and haven't achieved anything in their own lives.

If YOU are one of those people, please do us both a favor and stop reading this article and go buy another useless weight loss book or pill and keep complaining about how you have "tried everything and nothing works". I can't do anything for you. I can only help people who want to improve.

Successful in every arena-fitness, business, sports, music, etc., are shamelessly goal driven. They know exactly what they want and why they want it. This involves planning for possible roadblocks they will encounter in their path to success. This is what you will learn today.

Step One- The Why: Why do you want to do this?
It’s time to get serious. In almost every initial consult I do, when I ask "why have you contacted me today" here is the typical blanket response that I first hear:

“Well, I just want to get healthy and lose weight I guess.”

Nope. That ain't gonna work. Sure, I know they want to lose weight and be healthy, I mean who doesn’t, but WHY? What is it that’s going to get them out of bed at 5 am to get their morning workouts in or take a couple of hours on Sunday to plan and prepare their meals for the upcoming week? It sure isn’t “being healthy” because honestly this just isn’t a very powerful motivator.

I believe that just about every body (including YOU) wants to look better naked. Stop giggling, you know it’s true and frankly that’s okay because the desire to improve your appearance is the most powerful motivator there is. This shouldn’t be such a big surprise since we are instinctually programmed to procreate.

So, I dig and find out the real reason why the new client want to do this; I find their past or pain and then look at their current and future ambitions. Some people want to be able to mow the lawn in the summer with their shirt off and not feel self-conscious. Others want to get back into their favorite pair of pants that they haven’t been able to wear for years. Then there are those who want to look and feel more attractive to ignite some passion back into their relationships.

Then there is the ever-popular big event with a built-in deadline. Wanting to get as lean as possible to rock that little black dress at the class reunion. Get off the plane in to visit family you haven’t seen in two years to blow them away with your new body, or looking AWESOME in your wedding dress on the big day, it all works! This is the stuff that gets people fired up and ready to commit to making some real changes. How do I know? Well, I just shared with you the exact “WHY’S” of some of my own real clients.

So, the first thing you have to figure out is your personal WHY. To make this even simpler for you, just answer this question: what are your physical dreams? Once you establish this, the rest starts to fall into place.

Stay tuned for steps two and three.....