The author suffering through the Graduate Workout at the September 2007 Russian Kettlebell Challenge

Kettlebell training is the most gut-wrenching experience any athlete will ever have the pleasure of enduring.

It is similar in spirit to the Navy SEALs' infamous "Hell Week", where sleep-deprived trainees hoping to join the most esteemed military unit on the planet are subjected to a 5-day barrage of calisthenics, simulated fire, boat-carry's, verbal abuse, and other confidential practices, separating the athletically-gifted from the strong-willed elite.

What they do in 5 days, we do in 18 minutes. Or less.

Kettlebell training is so demandingly brutal in every physical and psychological sense, that Pavel Tsatsouline, the godfather of modern-day kettlebell training, initially hesitated to bring it to these shores.

As he recounts in his book, "Enter the Kettlebell", he says to his friend Marty Gallagher: "Marty, you don't get it, this is the most painful workout you could imagine, who would want to do it or even read about it?" This from a former Russian Spetznaz trainer, who has earned the apt moniker "The Evil Russian."

Kettlebell training practically buried one of my students, a strapping, young collegiate Rugby player, in less than 15 minutes. It destroyed one of my bodybuilder friends, powerfully built at 220lbs., in less than 2 minutes. It is the kind of lung-searing, muscle cramping, curse-the-day-you (or your coach)-were-born training only an elite mindset can fully embrace and accept. It is the kind of training that deliberately exposes the trainee to what they need to be exposed to the most: PURE FEAR.

You will find the following protocols common at BAD Factory™ kettlebell training sessions:

• 200 snatches with the 53lbs. KB in 18 minutes or LESS.
• Turkish Get-up with an 85lbs. barbell, to a Two-Hands Anyhow (see a video of this feat) with a 53lbs. KB. Then reverse it.
• 100 snatches with the 35lbs. KB in under 4 minutes.
• 5 sets of 5 reps of one-arm swings/high pulls with the 70lbs. KB.

Fear is a common sensation at the mere mention of any of these exercises on a training day at BAD Factory™ - especially when the coach decides to combine a couple of them in a single-session.

That said, the true value of kettlebell training lies not in running a trainee to the ground, but rather in its unique ability to make fear a common and frequent occurrence in an athlete's regimen, thereby familiarizing them to its positive and negative effects. It gives the athlete a daily opportunity to become familiar with, and ultimately overcome and master, this sensation of fear.

Somewhere in an athlete's 125th rep of snatches, or as he carefully braces and folds over to pick up a 53 lb. KB with one hand as he balances an 85 lb. barbell over his head with another, they become more and more aware of the fear that is building inside them.

This heightened awareness of fear is what ultimately leads the athlete towards initially ignoring, and later mastering this feeling. Fear is a construct of an identity that does not want to be obliterated by our innate ability to succeed. When we have vanquished this artificial construct and moved beyond it, we directly experience our own unobstructed nature - willful, present, undaunted.

At BAD Factory™, students learn that when we train kettlebells, we are developing physical, mental, and spiritual strength. To be strong is to be willful.

Rolando Garcia is our TEAM BAD representative in NJ/NYC.