Alright as you may or may not know I had been planning on releasing a fat loss program
centered around the use of a Russian Kettlebell called “Kettlebell Nitro”. It’s intention was
to get your body lean, powerful and ripped the fastest way possible. I had the program
all written out and was in the process of testing it and it was working with excellent results. I
regret to inform you that it is back on the chopping block and onto the drawing board.

Why?

Because at the same time I was testing another kettlebell fat loss program written by
Master RKC Geoff Neupert and as much as I hate to admit it his program is better then mine.
The two programs side by side took about the same amount of time but his was producing
better results. Although I hate coming in second I am actually happy because I can use this
program on my private clients and kettlebell bootcamps to generate a faster fat loss effect and
prepare them for things like weddings, class reunions or just looking awesome without a shirt.

As you might know I am all about generating better results and this actually frees up my mind
from trying to come up with a better program. I just have most of the training sessions
memorized in my head and if the client is ready they can start melting fat like a flame thrower
on a snow man.

Now I am not the kind of guy to not continue to evolve. If you don’t evolve, evolution will pass you by
just like the dodo bird. Even a t-rex wasn’t badass enough to not continue to evolve. I am using this opportunity to learn about his programming methods and why it produced a superior training effect for fat loss using a kettlebell.

Luckily for me Geoff agreed to a quick interview (as you might know I have never
had an interview on this blog and I figure now is as good a time as any.)

First let me give you a little bit of background information on Geoff.
Geoff’s a Master Instructor with the RKC and has been using kettlebells with both himself and his clients since early 2002. If you aren’t sure what that is, a Master Instructor in the RKC is the highest achievable rank. Basically he teaches the people who taught me to teach you and makes sure that my teachers make sure I know my stuff before I teach you (cool right?). He was the co-owner of Durham, NC’s first free-standing personal training facility, Triangle Personal Training, and Durham’s first Kettlebell Gym – Rapid Results Fitness. He’s performed over 20,000 hours of one-on-one personal training. He’s a former Division 1 Strength and Conditioning Coach, former NJ state champion weightlifter (a fellow NJ guy) and National Qualifier, and the author of the book, “Kettlebell Muscle.” The chapter he wrote in my RKC field manual is something I have read several times over because it generates real results. He is also on the Beast Tamer hall of fame (something I am currently working towards)

Here it goes.

Hey Geoff thanks for the interview. As you have probably seen since kettlebells came on the scene a lot of people have jumped on the bandwagon without doing their due research about proper and effective ways of doing this. We’ve all seen the squatting front raise swings and some borderline ridiculous programs using weights that don’t weigh much more then my fiance’s earrings. What would you say is the biggest problem in most fat loss programs?

(Geoff Neupert)Thanks for setting up the interview, Eric – my pleasure.

Do I have to narrow it down to only ONE problem – that may be tough!

I really think it’s using the wrong exercises and the wrong loads. People use a lot of isolated movements on machines with weights that are just too light. You should be doing the opposite – using big, compound exercises – like Squats, Lunges, Deadlifts, Pull Ups, Dips, Push Ups, etc and using low to moderate reps. I REALLY like low reps and multiple sets with many of these exercises – 1 to 5 reps.

Right. How did Kettlebell Burn eliminate this?

Kettlebell Burn is based off my experience as a strength athlete – specifically a weightlifter (Olympic style – Snatch and the Clean & Jerk). Most weightlifters, with the exception of the superheavyweights, are lean and muscular. When I was really training hard, I got down to 3% bodyfat. No cardio. No high reps. No pump and tone. No “feeling the burn.” I lifted very heavy. And very explosively.

And so that’s how I designed “Kettlebell Burn.”

You lift heavy – relative to your own strengths, and you lift explosively. I specify the reps, you dictate the pace. That way, everybody, no matter what shape they’re in when they start, can see fantastic results.

For some reason which I can’t quite put my finger on even well laid out programs (like mine) got crushed by yours in terms of fat loss. I tested it out on my clients after they had been cruising on my program and they started losing fat faster.

I noticed you paid a lot of attention to strength. I always knew that strength training in a fat loss kettlebell program was important but I didn’t realize just how much faster it would work. Now even though this isn’t technically a strength program can you tell us why someone should try to get stronger even if they are only interested in getting lean?

That’s a really great question. Because training for strength is metabolically demanding. One of the other things most people don’t realize is that powerlifters, along with weightlifters, are some of the leanest, strongest individuals on the planet. They lift HEAVY weights. All that heavy lifting costs your body energy. Well, if you’re not chowing down like a super, you’re going to be pretty lean. Now, if that’s not good enough, the stronger you become, the more weight you can lift and the more energy you can expend – which is exactly what you want to do when your interested in getting lean.

And you discovered this in strength sports?

As I mentioned before, I’ve been involved in strength sports most of my life. If you pay attention, you start to see clues or keys or similarities to success. And then you experience that success for yourself. And as a coach and a trainer, I have been able to replicate that success with those I work with.

I read in a previous interview you did that “fat burning happens in a carbohydrate flame”. Can you tell us
how Kettlebell Burn does this?

Sure. Most people believe that you need to cut the carbs out of your diet to lose fat and get lean. But the truth is two-fold – some people honestly don’t do well without some carbs in their diets and it is very possible to lose fat with carbs in the diet. What most people don’t realize is that carbohydrates are designed to be used by your body for short bursts of energy. Most of us have forgotten the old “need 20 minutes before your body stops burning carbs and starts burning fat.” But that’s good news for us. Because we can exercise intensely with strength training and burn off any and sometimes even most stored carbohydrate.

But that’s exactly what we want anyway. We want enough energy to produce as much force as possible and expend as much energy as possible. This elevates the metabolism and creates that “Afterburn” effect that we want – the elevated metabolic rate that keeps us burning fat long after the workout is over.

Right. I noticed that my body tends to flourish on certain kinds of carbs. A lot of kettlebell fat loss programs seem to me to just be a rehash of similar dumbbell based fat loss programs. How is it that the set and rep schemes make Kettlebell Burn succeed where others have failed?

Ok, let’s say that a traditional fat loss program has you doing the old 3 sets of 12 or something along those lines. The load has to be relatively light – certainly lighter than if you were using 3 sets of 5. Twelve reps is about a 70% load – that is, 70% of a one rep max. But it’s virtually impossible to use that load for 3 sets. Maybe with complete and full rest between sets. Maybe. But with limited rest like most fat loss programs – not going to happen. Your actual load is going to be something closer to 65% or even less.

But what if you could get more than 36 reps with a weight that was about 80% or greater of your one rep max? That’d cost you some energy, wouldn’t it? Yes it would. Plus you would be getting much stronger too, right? Yes, you would.

And one of the other key differences is that most fat loss programs, even many of the kettlebell ones, tell you how many reps and sets you must do. But what if you can’t get all the reps? Everybody starts at a different place with different fitness levels. So you can’t just jam them into a high rep program. You must set them up for success by letting them dictate their own pace.

Hmm. That makes a lot of sense. Now I have been testing this program on a client of mine with excellent results so far. We just finished up her 4th week so we aren’t even done yet. Can you tell us what some of the results that you have gotten for your clients that you’ve unleashed this on have been?

Sure. I knew “Kettlebell Burn” was a hit when one of my good friends dropped his body fat in half – or just about. But here’s the kicker – he was already in single digit bodyfat to begin with! He got his body fat down to 3.8%! And he was doing something really amazing with his Snatches – like over 150 reps in 15 minutes with a 32kg, which really isn’t that great for a guy my size, but he was in the mid-160s! I think that’s great!

There are many others who are getting into clothes they haven’t been in in 10 or 20 years. So the results so far are quite astounding. And others are happy because they are changing the shape of their bodies – guys packing on muscle in their shoulders and traps, and ladies slimming down their hips. I recently saw a lady that I met last year at the San Diego RKC. I barely recognized her – she’s been using the program and I’d say she’d lost at least 30lbs, maybe more. She looked great! And another gentleman lost over 40lbs in his first 7 weeks on the program. But, just like individuals, results will vary.

40lbs in 7 weeks! That’s like 5lbs (2.5kgs) a week! That’s awesome it really is. And the fact that people are getting stronger lets you know that they aren’t losing muscle. Let me do a little comparison of what that might look like using my own pictures.

Pretty awesome results at the end but how long do you suppose it would take for someone to start seeing results at the start?

The first week. Definitely after the second. Especially if you follow the nutrition.

Nice.

Now I know you had recommended that this be for someone that has been using kettlebells for a year or more
but I violated your rule and used it on someone that has only been training with me for 4 months and they still did great. Is that something that you think someone else might be able to get away with or is it for the advanced only?

Well, you’re a qualified RKC kettlebell instructor, so the person working with you had a head start on many. But if you’re working on your own or don’t get to see an RKC every so often, then you’ll want to really be familiar with these exercises. It’s not for a “newbie” – let’s put it that way.

I guess it’s good that I have been teaching people how to train with kettlebells so if they feel like they are ready they can just go ahead and jump in the fire. Do the results from Kettlebell Burn last?

As long as you continue in a healthy lifestyle I see no reason why they wouldn’t be permanent. Now, stop exercising and start eating junk food again, and all bets are off. Once you achieve your goal, set another, higher goal and seek to hit that. Don’t revert back to your former behavior.

Kind of like that seesaw analogy I made in a previous post. This can be used to launch us back into being lean and having more “gimme room”. Alright onto another subject. I had heard you logged in a bunch of time learning this stuff in the trenches. Approximately how many hours had you put in before you came up with KettlebellBurn.com as the solution? Did I hear you say 20,000? That’s a lot of time.

Yes. “Kettlebell Burn” has been in the making for probably my entire career. I’d been playing with the format on and off over the years, but really started codifying it over the last year or so. All roads kept circling back to it. At least for some clients. The really cool thing about this program is that it’s self-regulating. The user is in control. It’s very easy to measure your progress. And I designed it that way. Now, I don’t use this methodology with all my clients, because I have other methods that work as well or if not better. But they’re under direct supervision and the feedback is immediate.

And, finally, I was really going after a specific individual – the person who was using kettlebells and wanted to be guaranteed of fat loss, but didn’t have a lot of time each week to spend working out. A lot of fat loss programs are supposed to be time efficient, but really aren’t. I don’t call working out 5 hours a week time-efficient. “Kettlbell Burn” will get the job done in under 2 and a half hours a week.

I haven’t had a chance to read the portion on nutrition yet. Will people have to starve their way through the program?

Nope, not at all. In fact, I’ve had many emails from people concerned that the calories are “so high!” But it’s really how much, how often and the timing behind what you eat. I keep it as simple as I think people can handle, and yet empower them.

Can this program be used more then once?

Absolutely. But I’d switch to something completely different afterwards, unless you still have some fat to lose. Then I’d use some different mechanisms for fat loss. I’d put about 3 months between “Burn” cycles.

Most people don’t realize that the secret to having ripped abs is having a low amount of body fat. What if someone just needs to burn a little bit of fat off of their abs instead of losing a ton of fat?

This will work great for them. In fact, RKC Team Leader Franz Snideman worked through this program and wanted to GAIN weight. So I modified it for him to do just that. His results? More muscle and more importantly – leaner – noticeably, visually leaner.

So it can be used to pack on muscle also? That’s excellent! Awesomeness it really is but I have another question. Some of the people who read my blog are in their 50′s and up. Is this appropriate for them too?

Yes, it is. There’s a lot of movement restoration built into the program, which is critical for Baby Boomers and Seniors. As we age, we lose our ability to move like we did when we were younger. I’ve had emails from customers who’s shoulders, knees, hips, and backs feel much better while using “Kettlebell Burn.”

We are going to run out of space here so I am afraid we are going to have to wrap this up. There is
a bunch more stuff that we aren’t going to be able to touch on. Do you have something I can give
to my followers so they can read a bit more?

Sure. They should grab my Free Special Report – “The Top 5 Kettlebell Workout Mistakes And How To Avoid Them. It’ll show them exactly what they can do right now to change their kettlebell workouts to jump start the fat burning process. They can get it at KettlebellBurn.com

I appreciate it Geoff

Related posts:

1. The Problem with Weight Loss: Your Body Will Do The Opposite.
2. Here is why running for fat loss sucks
3. Variety days on Enter the Kettlebell
4. The Fastest Fat Loss Diet Period
5. more reasons kettlebells work well for fat loss