Your weekly 12-minute kettlebell trip to the Fountain of Youth

The Fountain of Youth has always lived as a modern metaphor for all things that potentially increase longevity.

This article explores the many exciting aspects of supra-aerobic training with the kettlebell and its impending impact on building a stronger heart and lungs – two keys to living a healthier, longer life.

For decades, you’ve been told to hit the gym and exercise for an hour every day sacrificing your time and energy in an effort to stay healthy and fit. Today we know that this is not necessary. There is a little-known technique developed by Dr. Al Sears, as he explains in his book Rediscover Your Native Fitness, that involves what he calls Supra-Aerobics. Supra-aerobics are the antidote to the stress and frustration of traditional aerobic and strength exercises.

Supra aerobics consist of workouts where you simply choose an exercise that you would like to do and start doing it until you are out of breath. In this state of shortness of breath, where you have built up a large oxygen deficit, your body will send out chemical signals to begin burning fat for energy. Then back off in your exercise until you catch your breath and start accelerating again until you are out of breath once more. Go back again and keep repeating these cycles for 12 to 20 minutes at least 3 to 5 times a week.

Pushing yourself to this point is precisely what strengthens your heart and lungs in order to increase their capacity. By doing these workouts on a regular basis, your body will respond by building a stronger heart, improving your lungs’ ability to hold in more air, and strengthening your muscles. By improving your physical condition in this way, you will also live longer. According to Dr. Sears, the supra-aerobic state also causes the body to produce growth hormones. This alone is an important factor in regaining youth.

You can apply this technique to any workout, like running or cycling, but its benefits increase exponentially with kettlebell training. By their very nature, the Kettlebell Swings and Turkish Get-Up exercises are an intense form of exercise that emphasizes the body as a whole. Adding the supra-aerobic concept to these exercises will triple their effectiveness.

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that men and women who exercised with supra-aerobic methods had:

* Lower blood pressure * Lower triglycerides (blood fat) * Higher HDL (good cholesterol) * Less body fat

Twelve minutes a day is all you need to start burning fat and getting in the best shape of your life.