If you have an Instagram account, then we’re willing to bet the face (and abs, delts, and quads) of Eric Leija has graced your 6.5-inch screen before. The Onnit coach, aka @primal.swoldier, is known for performing quick-hitting and dynamic kettlebell exercises for his 500,000 followers. But before he was repping #Onnit and #PrimalSwoldier on the gram and coaching hundreds of clients at the Onnit gym, he was packing boxes for the Texas-based fitness company as a warehouse employee.
In addition to selling supplements, Onnit also hucks a variety of “functional” equipment, from kettlebells to more enigmatic tools like Indian clubs and steel maces. Leija, who was in pretty good shape and trained mixed martial arts, had experience with kettlebells, so he decided to get certified and begin teaching classes.
Nowadays, Leija is the resident kettlebell guru at Onnit. He still implements the barbell and dumbbell training he picked up as a teenager from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding, but his routines don’t require as much heavy lifting now—for good reason.
“I started having a lot of joint pain, and my back and shoulders were hurting a lot” Leija explains. “I wasn’t paying attention to my mobility or durability. I was just kind of going hard and heavy all of the time. I use kettlebell movements to maintain my level of strength without putting my body under a lot of stress.”
You cannot (and should not) build up to a heavy one-rep max using kettlebells, Leija says, but he likes them for two major reasons: First, you can train hard with them and still tax your muscles using submaximal weight. Because the load is on the lighter side, you’re less likely to hurt yourself. Also, they’re more versatile than a barbell.
Most compound movements like deadlifts are pretty one-dimensional as far as movement is concerned. You lift the weight up and down. Leija likes to spice up kettlebell exercises by adding movement to them, such as a twist at the top of a press or a lunge after a clean. This, he says, is a more athletic way to train and prepares your body for the type of movement you experience in real life—such as swinging a golf club or tossing your kid (safely) in the air.
To add kettlebells to your program, Leija recommends performing them either with light weight, as a warmup, or after your main compound movements as accessory work. If you’re tight on time, you can also string a few kettlebell moves together to form a sequence or, as Leija calls it, a flow, for a complete training session.
Start by mastering the five moves below, all demonstrated by Leija, and then work on the flows he also provides.
“This move really lights up my lats and upper back,” Leija says. “And if I’m doing deadlifts or a lot of pulling, it helps me to reinforce a strong hinge position with that side-to-side shifting so I’m more familiar with position changes.”
How to do it:
Start with feet shoulder-width apart and a kettlebell next to the inside of one of your feet.
Hinge at your hips, keeping your back neutral, to bend over and grab the kettlebell with one hand. Row the bell up until your elbow passes you torso and then let it go.
Quickly grab the kettlebell with your other hand and let the bell float back towards the floor before rowing it back up.
Keep repeating this back and forth without letting your torso twist to one side.
Pro tip: “Suck in your pelvis as far back as you can, you should feel your hamstrings light up,” Leija says. “Don’t flex or round your spine. Make sure that everything is engaged.”
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CRUSH-GRIP BRIDGE
“Even if I’m focusing on my chest and shoulders, I like to hit the legs a little bit just because they’re our foundation,” Leija says. “This is one of my favorite moves to do before floor presses or bench presses, as I’m engaging the legs and glutes and keeping my abs tight.”
How to do it:
Get into a bridge position with your heels and upper back planted on the ground and your hips high up in the air.
Hold a kettlebell by the base with both hands, and then press it directly over your chest.
Pro tip: “Tuck your heels in close to your butt, and instead of thinking about sticking your hips up as high as you can, think about driving your knees forward and extending the hips,” Leija explains.”
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OFFSET PUSHUP
“This move works your core through anti-rotation [the action of preventing your body from rotating], as you’re fighting not to twist away from the elevated hand,” Leija says. “It also helps me better protract [extend] my shoulder and strengthen that range of motion.”
How to do it:
Get into a standard pushup position with one of your hands on the base of a kettlebell turned onto its side.
From there, Lower yourself down until your chest is about an inch from the floor.
Drive back up and raise your non-elevated hand up past your torso.
Pro tip: “Make you go slow and controlled with every rep,” Leija explains. “This isn’t a dynamic exercise. You really want to strengthen the entire range of motion, retracting and protracting your shoulder blades with control.”
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ROTATIONAL CLEAN
“When you pick up any object or your kids, for example, you’re hardly ever in a perfectly straight position,” Leija explains. “That’s why I allow a rotation of the shoulders as I reach for the kettlebells, because it’s a more athletic position. I allow my body to rotate, my spine is still integrated, and I’m keeping more core braced.”
How to do it:
Start with your feet shoulder-width apart with a kettlebell sitting just outside of your left foot. Hinge at the hips, pivot inward with your right foot, and reach down and across with your right hand.
Brace your core and then pull the kettlebell across and up, rotating your torso outward and pivoting inward with your left foot.
You should end up in the front rack position with your elbow tucked down and i and your body facing out to the left.
Pro tip: “Make sure you allow your shoulders to rotate but that you’re keeping your spine as straight as you can,” Leija says. “As you reach for the bell, lift the heel of the foot furthest from the bell off of the floor, then drop that heel and rotate the other one as you clean the kettlebell.”
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ROTATIONAL PRESS
“All of the rotation is coming from the floor, it’s almost as if I’m cocking to throw a punch,” Leija says. “I load the hip, and then I explosively twist off that hip and press with that leg. It’s essentially a full body movement.”
How to do it:
Clean a kettlebell from the floor to the front rack position.
Pivot on the foot opposite the arm that is loaded and rotate slightly toward the bell.
Then, pivot outward on the other foot and press the kettlebell overhead to full extension.
Pro tip: “Make sure that you’re generating force from the floor,” Leija says. “And focus on fighting rib flare and keeping your spine as straight as possible.”
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Rotational Clean to Press Flow
DO IT:
Perform the kettlebell rotational clean.
Then, with the same arm that the bell is racked in, perform a rotational press.
Perform 3-5 reps on that side and then switch sides.
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Offset Pushup to Close-grip Pushup Flow
DO IT:
Get into a standard pushup position with your right hand on the base of a kettlebell, resting on its side.
Perform the offset pushup and then bring your left hand to the bell so that both hands are resting on it.
Perform a pushup and then lower the right hand to the ground, left hand still resting on the kettlebell, and perform another pushup.
Repeat the cycle for 5 reps.
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Ballistic Row to Gunslinger Flow
DO IT:
Grab a kettlebell with one hand and perform the ballistic, and then pass the bell off to the other hand.
Once the bell is in the other hand, let your arm extend.
Then, drive your hips forward, stand up, and raise your loaded arm 90 degrees, as if you’re drawing a pistol from a holster, so that the bottom of the kettlebell is facing outward.
