My Kettlebell Challenge #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge went viral & highlighted the “Water Shortage Crisis” facing the Humanity today

I believe that two of my highest values are Growth and Contribution. When it comes to helping my students in group classes or Personal Training, my mind is always looking to come out with ways where their skill shall be enhanced and it will add more value to their session.

Last year, as I was planning the schedule for my Group Class, I realised that if I let each student hold a glass on top of their fist while they perform their Turkish Get-up, the students will understand the importance of keeping a neutral wrist which shall translate later into a strong Turkish Get-up performed with a Kettlebell.

After correcting a few students in the class, I decided to do the same drill myself but keeping the glass filled with water on top of a Bottoms Up Kettlebell and then perform the full Turkish Get-up. It was quite challenging even with a 10kg Kettlebell initially and then later I did with a 20 Kg Kettlebell which you can watch it here.

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In the wake of the recent "Water Crisis in Chennai", a fitness challenge was created at FMA Fitness, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi, India, which has received immense support from students of strength from many countries across the world. Please check it out on social media with the hashtag #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge. Please complete this challenge if you are familiar with kettlebells, Turkish Get-up exercise and please nominate your family and friends further to help raise awareness on the most important issue globally today – " water conservation ". Thanks from all of us here at FMA Fitness. Regards, Team FMA www.fmafitness.com #SaveWater #waterconservation #chennai #chennaiwatercrisis #fitnesschallenge #challengeaccepted #kettlebellchallenge #turkishgetup #turkishgetupchallenge #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge #bottomsupchallenge #savewaterchallenge #savewaterfitnesschallenge #strongfirstindia #strongfirst #turkishgetupbenefits #strength #fitness #fmafitness #fmafitnesschallenge

A post shared by Strength Coach (@jasbindergulati) on Jul 25, 2019 at 3:16am PDT

After getting it filmed, I posted it on our Whatsapp group for “Fitness Professionals” and asked for suggestion for a name to this challenge. Someone suggested that it matches perfectly with the “Chennai Water Shortage Crisis” and should have some name emphasising that. So, I decided to name it “bottoms up kettlebell save water challenge” or with a hashtag as “#bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge”.

If you are not familiar with the severe “Chennai Water Shortage Crisis”, please watch this

Later when I looked up on the internet, I also came across “Cape Town’s Water Crisis – Countdown to Day Zero”.

I thought to myself that this water shortage is a very real issue and is global in nature. Now, I thought to myself that maybe if I can start nominating my StrongFirst Community’s brothers and Sisters, then maybe by attempting this challenge themselves and then nominating others in their circles, more and more people shall become aware regarding this water shortage global crisis as well as become more aware of the importance and benefits of Turkish Get-up movement and more so with a Bottoms Up Kettlebell.

So, the very first person I nominated was the Strong Girl Megan Kelly, who is a Guiness Book Record Holder for ‘Heaviest Weight Lifted by Kettlebell Swing in One Hour’ by a woman. You can read her article on StrongFirst official website here . Megan responded and successfully completed my challenge and nominated more people in her circle. Watch Megan completing the challenge here.

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Bottoms up get up balancing a glass of water… probably the hardest get up I’ve ever done (perhaps second to the bottle of Prosecco!) Can you hear my sigh of relief at the end?! 😅😂 Had to upload 2 videos as it took longer than a minute.. • • I was nominated to do the #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge by @jasbindergulati SFG1 of @fmafitness in India. There is a water shortage throughout India and this challenge is to raise awareness of that fact and their concerns for the environment. • • By doing so, they also wanted to create awareness of the many benefits of the Turkish Get up: they are amazing movement to have as part of your program. They are great for working upper and lower body stability, stability of the trunk and balance. Also great for developing upper body strength, hip strength and core strength, as well as getting the brain to work cross-lateral. The bottoms up variety challenge stability even more, work grip strength and require lots of tension. They are just a few benefits of training the get up, there are many more that can be found on the StrongFirst website 💪🏼💪🏼 • • I nominate fellow @strongfirstgb friends @clairellamc and @bradburypt and also the angry German @sven_rieger to give this challenge a go 💪🏼💪🏼🍀🍀 • • #strongfirst #strongfirstgb #strongfirstindia #strongfirstgirya #strongfirstfamily #environment #watershortage #turkishgetup #bottomsup #stability #tension #grip #thirstywork #sundayfunday

A post shared by Megan Kelly (@megan.kelly.1) on Jul 14, 2019 at 12:48pm PDT

Thanks to Megan, my challenge went viral soon. I started seeing more and more videos appearing each day from different parts of the World as more people in the Kettlebell community started attempting this challenge and giving it their own twist to it as will become clear from the videos below:

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Thanks 🙏🙇 for your support guys for my #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge. Thanks

A post shared by Strength Coach (@jasbindergulati) on Jul 23, 2019 at 10:43pm PDT

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Super Awesome. Great to see the support our Head Coach @jasbindergulati 's fitness challenge #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge is getting from around the world. This one is outstanding. Very difficult to do in such weather conditions. Wow 😮. Thanks everyone for your support from worldwide #Repost @livia_ampfit • • • • • Thanks to those who tagged me in this challenge. I wasn’t able to get my hands on a kettlebell to do the bottoms up part. But the environmental factors in Jeju made it difficult to balance & see – close enough? (Hopefully that’s not totally cheating) I may not have spilled my water during my attempt but I’m definitely soaking wet 🌧 • This challenge aims to raise awareness of the current water shortage throughout India and associated concerns that the global environment faces. • A side effect is to also promote the myriad benefits of the Turkish Get up, which amongst many other things includes shoulder and hip mobility and stability, as well as incredible full body strength development. This bottoms up variety also provides an additional lesson in proper alignment and a tough challenge for the grip. • #strongfirst #strongfirstgb #strongfirstcanada #strongfirstindia #strongfirstgirya #strongfirstfamily #environment #watershortage #turkishgetup #bottomsup #stability #tension #grip #thirstywork #bjj #strongfirstsisterhood

A post shared by Functional Movement Academy (@360fma) on Jul 19, 2019 at 11:42pm PDT

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Thank you for nominating me @jasbindergulati Challenge accepted 🙂 #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge I would like to nominate our @decafit coaches and @strongfirstindia Instructors @siddesh_decafit and @_manjuka_ #savewater #strongfirst #iamdecafit #decafitcoach #turkishgetup

A post shared by Mathy (@coach_mathy) on Jul 19, 2019 at 7:54am PDT

I felt so grateful and happy to see more and more students of Strength in different countries around the world accepting my #bottomsupkettlebellsavewaterchallenge and very successfully and beautifully completing the challenge. Also, many thanks to all of you for further nominating more of your friends to accept this challenge. Let’s keep raising the awareness on water conservation, benefits of using kettlebells, benefits of using Turkish Get-ups.