Books / No. 04

Swing, get-up, carry. One kettlebell.

Three of the eleven tests in this standard live inside a single kettlebell. Nothing else on the gear list moves three tests for one purchase, and thirty minutes twice a week is enough to move all three.

Cover of One Bell, Three Lifts, book 04 of The Over 50 Standard

$17

Highest value · 21 pages · PDF

How to pick the starting weight with four checks instead of a guess, so you buy once
Three weeks of hinge work before the bell ever leaves the floor at speed, which is the part everyone skips
The swing taught from the hinge up, with the four faults that cost backs
The get-up broken into six positions you can own separately
Twelve weeks, two sessions a week, written out set by set

Get told when it lands All five books

Not on sale yet. The first hundred readers of each book get it at half the price above, and the list below is how you hear about it in time. One email when it is ready, and nothing else.

What is in it

9 chapters, 21 pages.

01One bellWhy a single kettlebell covers three tests, and what it will not cover
02Picking the weightThe four checks that pick it for you, so you buy once
03The hingeThree weeks before you swing anything, and why that is the bargain of the book
04The swingTaught from the hinge up, with the four faults that cost backs
05The get-upSix positions you can own separately before you own the whole thing
06The carryThe simplest lift here and the one that changes daily life fastest
07The twelve weeksEvery session, written out, thirty minutes twice a week
08What goes wrongThe elbow, the lower back, and week seven
09The cardThe whole programme on one printable page

A page from it

How it reads.

From Part Three

A swing is not a lift. It is a hinge performed quickly with a weight attached, and every fault in the swing is a fault in the hinge that speed has made expensive.

Fix it slowly and the fast version arrives on its own.

One Bell, Three Lifts, Part Three

Honestly

Who this is for.

You own one kettlebell, or you are about to buy one and want to buy it once

You have thirty minutes twice a week and no interest in a five day split

The swing, the get-up and the carry are your three lowest tests

And who it is not for.

You want to get bigger. This builds strength you can use rather than strength you can see

You want complexes and flows. There are none in here and that is deliberate

What it needs

The kit this book uses.

Links go to Amazon and a purchase through one pays me a small commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change what gets recommended.

Where this shows up

The free pages behind it.

01The kettlebell swing test 02The Turkish get-up test 03The loaded carry test

Before you ask

Four questions.

What weight do I need to start?

The book gives you four checks rather than a number, because a number based on bodyweight is wrong often enough to be worth ignoring. If you are between two sizes it tells you to take the heavier one and do fewer repetitions, because a bell you grow into is a bell you keep.

Can I use a dumbbell instead?

For the get-up and the carry, mostly yes. For the swing, no. The kettlebell's handle sits offset from its mass, which is what lets it float at the top of a swing. A dumbbell just pulls on the shoulders.

Are kettlebell swings safe for a fifty year old back?

A swing performed as a hinge is one of the friendliest things you can do for a back. A swing performed as a squat with a weight in it is one of the worst. That is why three of the twelve weeks happen before the bell ever moves fast.

Is thirty minutes twice a week really enough?

For these three tests, yes. Every lift in the programme is a hip hinge or a controlled position under moderate load, which is why it can be run twice a week for a year without an interruption.