By: Aaron Guyett, Education Director

How much do you bench?

I can remember this being repeated over and over and over when I was in high school, and there was a good side to this and a bad side to this being such an important thing for many young men...and still is very important for many circles and groups of both men and women.

Excessive movement training is overtraining, whether it is bench press, burpees, kettlebell swings or jumping jacks, especially if you are not incorporating optimum recovery and mobility.

Bench press can add strength, size, and muscle, specifically to your arms, chest and upper body, and there can be great carry over into sports and athletic pursuits. It also can create injury or mobility limitations if not programmed correctly.

We typically recommend dynamic mobility with a warm-up and a more static mobility with your cool down with every workout session. We also recommend doing twice as much pull strength training as your push strength...

Pre workout coffee intake can increase fat burning during exercise. BUT before you fill up your cup for your next workout, keep reading because there are a couple important considerations you should pay attention to.

Coffee is an antioxidant and has compounds that are beneficial for your health and reduce the risk of certain diseases.. On top of that, a recent study just came out shedding light on how caffeine intake of 3mg/kg pre exercise can increase fat oxidation during exercise. 

While all of this is great, there are a few individual circumstances where coffee may not be beneficial. For example, caffeine interferes with estrogen metabolism, so if you have high estrogen levels you may need to cut back on the caffeine. You may also need to cut back if you experience anxiousness, jitters or...hate to say it, but if you rely on caffeine to get you going in the morning/throughout the day, it may be a good idea to slowly decrease the amount you’re consuming.

By Aaron Guyett

Besides guru being a very fun and weird word to say...Marcus, Julia, and Aaron breakdown gurus and guruship on The Living.Fit Show.

What is a guru?

Think top of the mountain-style mentorship in any area or aspect of your life. This person has experience and education that can help you in your journey.

The Problem with Gurus

If someone is faking it, then they can really mislead and misinform you in their mentorship.

Find out more about gurus, the problem of gurus, and who the Living.Fit Master Coaches’ gurus are on this Living.Fit Show, and laugh a lot with the Master Coaches, too!

Check out more interviews and articles from Marcus Martinez and Aaron Guyett in the blog, or get full versions by subscribing to our membership here:  https://www.living.fit/kettlebell-workout-plans-and-memberships

By: Aaron Guyett

Obviously there have been some significant changes in the fitness industry, so we decided to talk about it.

In this video, Julia talks through her online only business and how it thrived, while Aaron and Marcus talk through how their level 4 groups helped each other navigate the changes and succeed during the volatile changes for in-person fitness in 2020 and 2021.

If you found this helpful and you are looking to join the combined Level 4 group that is comprised of trainers, gym owners, fitness managers, education directors, and more, check it out here: Combined Level 4

What you get with Level 4

In-person access to research-based educators that successfully grew and sold their personal training companies and fitness gyms. And combined have over 35 years of experience in the fitness industry.

You also get support and encouragement from like-minded fitness operators. Level 4 members are gym owners, fitness managers, personal trainers, education...

When you’re a high-level athlete where a fraction of difference in your performance can be the difference between silver and gold your training needs to match with incredible specificity and consistent intensity. For the rest of us, it’s important to assess why we're working out and what results we’re looking for. In this world of fitness it’s common for people to draw lines in the sand and designate something as a waste of time. Slow, low intensity cardio, walking, flow, kettlebells, isolation exercises, HIIT, and the list goes on. 

What about if you can get better results doing something else? What if all the research indicates that type X cardio will give you what you want at a faster rate than type Y? Most people will go all in at least for a little while. What’s more important is which cardio or type of training will get you results even if it takes a little longer IF it’s something you enjoy and will actually be...

Aaron Guyett, our Education Director starts off a little crazy with curling in the squat rack, or squatting in the curl rack, but it soon finds practical ground as Marcus, Julia, and Aaron talk through aesthetics and training.

This show is a blast, because it is all about that space where functionality meets aesthetics.

Whether you are after performance, strength, power, endurance, fat loss, or muscle growth, we all have exercises that can be misunderstood.

Aaron, Julia, and Marcus breakdown training to look good, even if we are training with other goals in mind.

Whether you are curling in the squat rack or you are squatting in the curl rack, we have something for you in this video.

For programs that help you with both check out: https://www.kettlebellkings.com/workout-plans/

Check out more interviews and articles from Marcus Martinez and Aaron Guyett in the blog, or get full versions by subscribing to our membership here:  ...

The Clean is a deceptive exercise. It looks like a curl, but moves from the ground to your shoulder in an entirely different way. The key thing for those new to the clean to understand is the trajectory the kettlebell needs to take and the primary movers. 

Here are a handful of regressions that will help you on that path! 

1. Two hand Cheat Curl Clean - This is helping you understand that the bell doesn't come end over end as it finishes in the rack. Even with speed the kettlebell should nestle itself in the rack like a baby bird as opposed to a wrecking ball. 
2. Two hand Hang Clean - Once the pathway has been set, now we want to add some hip timing of the hinge and extension. The primary mover is not the upper body, so this will help you practice that. You’ll still use your other arm for half the work here. 
3. Assisted Hang Clean - Now we’re speed and less intervention from the other hand. This will help use work the lower body with a powerful drive, but...

In recent years, Intermittent fasting has become extremely popular - and for good reason.

There has been exciting findings and strong evidence supporting the positive outcomes of IF and how it can be used as a sustainable strategy for:

-       Weight loss[1]

-       Lowering inflammation[2]

-       Improving digestion[3]

-       Increasing fat burning[4]

-       Reducing insulin (your storage hormone)[5]

What is intermittent fasting?

Intermittent Fasting (IF) is a term used to explain an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and periods of fasting (abstinence from food and caloric beverages). The therapeutic benefits have been documented for thousands of years and have shown that this way of eating is deeply rooted in our biology. 

Philosophers like Socrates, Hippocrates, Plato and Paracelsus even believed in the health benefits of regular fasting. 

Not only was fasting...