Lebedev 1928: Old-School Kettlebell Quick-Start Guide — Kettlebell VIP Online Course Sneak Preview

“To start, get used to the feel of the kettlebell’s weight so as not to fear it,” writes Ivan V. Lebedev in his comprehensive kettlebell manual, published in 1928.

My upcoming online course, Kettlebell VIP, begins with old-school assisted lifts as presented in Lebedev’s foundational kettlebell work.

First, you learn to handle the kettlebell. Guide it. Rack it. Stabilize it. Press it overhead. Hold it. Lower it under control. The beginner progression starts with assisted swings, assisted power cleans, assisted push presses, assisted rack practice, and controlled assisted drops. The goal is simple: get used to the kettlebell’s weight, understand its path, and remove fear of handling the implement.

Old-school, practical, smart. 

The assisting hand teaches the bell’s path. It lets the lifter practice the clean without getting beaten up by poor timing. It helps guide the kettlebell into the overhead position. It teaches the safe set-down—one of the most neglected parts of kettlebell training. The keywords are safety, confidence, and control.

Here is a sneak preview. The full instructional video is almost 14 minutes long—and the complete Kettlebell VIP online course runs almost 3 hours (!):

Lebedev 1928: Old-School Kettlebell Quick-Start Guide — Kettlebell VIP Online Course Sneak Preview

An excerpt from the Kettlebell VIP PDF manual:

Start with the basic assisted lifts: assisted swing, assisted [power] clean, and assisted [push] press.

The goal is simple: first, become comfortable handling the kettlebell with two hands; then, gradually progress to using one hand without assistance.

Left arm: assisted swing → assisted power clean → assisted push press → assisted rack → assisted drop. Rest.

Right arm: assisted swing → assisted power clean → assisted push press → assisted rack → assisted drop. Rest.

Focus on a perfect set-up and a perfect set-down. Do not rush. Pause in the rack. Pause in the lockout. Pause in the rack again before the assisted drop.

Use only as much assistance as necessary. Over time, gradually use less and less assistance, until you finally perform the lifts with one hand only.

Do as few or as many sets as you like, but stay fresh. Vary the number of sets daily: sometimes do more, sometimes purposefully less.

The keyword is mindful practice.

This is the beginner’s door into Kettlebell VIP. But experienced lifters should not rush past it. Assisted lifts reveal bad habits. They help keep the body square in the one-arm swing. They clean up the clean and the rack. They improve the overhead position.

The modern impatient lifter wants to rush into advanced lifts. The old-school answer is more patient: Build the base. Own the positions. Control the weight. And learn it all in an easier environment, with the help of the non-lifting hand. By the way, later in the Kettlebell VIP online course, I will also teach the assisted kettlebell snatch—again, based on Lebedev’s smart progressions and instructions.

After the basic assisted lifts, the Kettlebell VIP old-school beginner template moves into Klein’s strongman get-ups, Calvert’s hand-to-hand swings—as he writes in the eponymous 1924 book, one of the keys to Super-Strength—and the “Russian Lion’s” kettlebell hack squats. Vintage Simple & Sinister, if you like. Hats off to my teacher, Pavel Tsatsouline: his classic is mandatory reading!

This gives the lifter a simple classic base: learn to handle the bell, swing it from hand to hand, get up and down under control, and train the legs with minimal equipment and fairly light weight.

Before you ask—yes, all drills are performed differently from today’s standard versions.

• The hand-to-hand swings use the assisting hand, paving the road to low-rep, heavy one-arm pulls.
• The get-ups include two extra positions to demonstrate perfect control and reap the benefits of the side plank—one of Prof. Stuart McGill’s “Big Three” exercises.
• Strict hack squats will answer the question: “Can I really train my legs with kettlebells?”

The message of the old-school kettlebell intro is simple: Learn to handle the bell before you try to dominate it.