RKC School of Strength

Official blog of the RKC

Archives for 2014

Team RKC—Restoring Freedom, Respecting Individuality, Realizing Full Athletic Potential, Rewarding Skillful Effort

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RKC Team Spirit, Chicago 2014
RKC Team Spirit, Chicago 2014

2014 was a banner year for Dragon Door’s resurgent RKC, with 26 3-day and 28 1-day certification workshops in almost as many cities worldwide. And we already have 31 RKC workshops scheduled for 2015…

Just as significant has been the intellectual output of high-level training advice, with 19 of our RKC leadership contributing 46 information-rich blog posts, not to mention numerous fine articles for our site, over the last year.

Now the numbers are nice, but it is the soul that matters more. The ethos—the soul and spirit of the RKC—has evolved to be friendly, supportive, fun-loving, stimulating and at the same time professional. Inspirational excellence is the motto…

The beginning of a fresh new year is always a good time to remind ourselves of why we do what we do. Why choose Dragon Door and the RKC ?

Here are four reasons why:

RKC Restores Freedom

We can be second-class citizens in our bodies, shackled by poor posture, restricted in our movement, weak-jointed, slow, sluggish, low-energy and fat. Or we can enjoy the freedom of erect posture, free-flowing mobility, resilient joints, explosive power, boundless energy, functional strength and a sleek, muscular physique. RKC’s system rewards you with all of these physical freedoms in spades. It’s what we do and what we stand for.

True freedom physically takes great discipline—and a devotion to a multi-functional approach that does not divorce strength from health. RKC recognizes that need and delivers a complete program to simultaneously boost power, build strength and ensure quality movement.

Within the essential discipline of the system, RKC releases you from the tyranny of dogmatism and from an outmoded, authoritarian, faux-militaristic style of teaching. We are all adults here, as it were—and you are accorded the freedom to learn as adults.

Free body = free spirit = free to grow = free to develop…

RKC Respects Human Individuality

We, the RKC, are PEOPLE first. We are not faceless robots robbed of all personality—to be shoehorned into the rigidities of a dehumanized Brand. That path leads to a gray and soulless world where people are seen as dispensable parts of an uncaring machine. The RKC recognizes and respects the right of the individual to express himself as a complete personality—not be a voiceless pawn in someone else’s end game.

Come to an RKC or HKC and you’ll see what we mean: Soul-in-Action. The RKC instructors are passionate about helping you reach your strength and health goals. They care deeply that you succeed and they do their utmost to realize your dreams. Within the very real discipline of the RKC system, experience the warmth and care of instructors who have their clients’ wellbeing close to their hearts.

Dragon Door celebrates its RKC leadership as individuals who each have something unique to bring to the party. We have chosen our leadership for their personal qualities as much as their skill and physical accomplishments as athletes and trainers. Life is short. Let’s enjoy it and be human about it!

RKC Helps You Realize Your Full Athletic Potential

The evolved RKC takes a sane approach to helping you realize your full athletic potential—instead of attempting to enforce arbitrary strength standards that lead to frequent injury, poor movement skills and the sacrifice of your overall health and wellbeing. Because the RKC’s curriculum emphasizes safe progressions and regressions, each person can train and develop themselves as complete all-around athletes, rather than being one-dimensional.

If you are looking to cultivate your full athletic potential in a healthy, safe manner, based on a pragmatic approach, then the RKC is the place for you.

RKC Rewards Skillful Effort

When we train strength at the RKC we train the skill of strength, not the stupidity of strength. Same for power, mobility, flexibility and endurance. The RKC’s goal is to graduate skilled instructors who—while modeling a high level of physical accomplishment themselves—have the competencies to properly train others in the absolute fundamentals of fitness.

We believe that consistent, skillful, diligent effort trumps the reckless bid to be strong whatever the cost.

2015 is shaping up to be one of great growth for the RKC. We invite you to join us in that journey…

Advanced Kettlebell Workout: Forget the Snatch

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Senior RKC Beth Andrews

Are you a good snatcher? Is your kettlebell snatch effortless and smooth? If you love to snatch try this combo. Add a lunge to the snatch. Your concentration will heighten with the multiple movements. This combo will set your heart rate on fire, scorch your legs and challenge your mind. You’ll actually forget that you are snatching. Start with a light kettlebell to groove the pattern then go as heavy as you can handle.

One of my favorite workouts is to clock in for 15 min. Or my goal would be to do a 10-1 countdown of the lunge snatch and combine it with goblets squats 10-1. As always, form is more important than time or weight. Let me know how your legs feel after this workout!

IMPORTANT:
* This is an advanced combination move for both the Lunge and Snatch technique. Be aware of the hip power and extension throughout the exercise. Make sure your Lunge and Snatch form are spot on before attempting the combination exercise.
** The kettlebells used in the video are official Dragon Door kettlebells I color coded by different sizes.

Watch the video to get the finer points. Have FUN…see you on the other side…

***
Beth Andrews is a Senior RKC Instructor, PCC Team Leader, CK-FMS, and Primal Move Instructor. She became the 5th Iron Maiden in 2013. Beth is the owner of Maximum Body Training and has over 20 years of training experience. She also has a successful on-line training business. For on-line training or to host an HKC or RKC certification workshop with Beth, email her at: bethandrewsrkc@gmail.com. For training tips and workouts visit her Youtube channel or her website at http://www.maximumbodytraining.com

From Broken to Team Leader

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Paul Britt Double Press At RKC

I was broken in October 2012 at the RKC-II. It happened because I was stupid and I let my ego get the best of me at the certification. I thought that I only had a minor training injury prior to arriving in St. Paul for the workshop. I had been working on heavy double presses on a day that I was tired, but due to having to attend this particular cert, I stayed with my “program”. In the middle of my final set, I felt a sharp pain on my left hip and back. I dropped the kettlebells and decided to take a few days off. It was still bugging me a few days later, so I went to a chiropractor. The consensus was that it was just a minor strain and that I would be okay to attend the certification. So off I went, with some kineseo tape to hold me together for the three days ahead of me.

I knew the snatch test would probably put too much stress on my back, so decided that I would wait till the last day to take it. I was able to get through all of my Level 1 skills and the half-body weight press on day 1 without too much trouble. But, I had a few problems with stability that I should have paid more attention to during the skills test. I noticed that I struggled with my foot on the left side for the get-up as it did not want to stay locked down as I moved through the different parts of the movement.

I initially started out with lighter weights than normal, just to allow me to get through the certification. I had a past Master RKC give me a hard time about the weight and I let my ego override what little sense I had and I bumped my weights up. Sometime during the day, I felt a pop in my back on the left side. I did not really feel a lot of pain at the time, so I kept on training. I got back to the hotel in a lot of pain and barely slept. When I got up the next morning, I literally had to drag my leg as I walked down the hall to find some Advil. I ended up buying eight packages and using four to get to breakfast and the first half of the cert. I had to take the other four to get through the rest of the day. The last day was even worse, I thought about just quitting, and I should have. Unfortunately, I am a little stubborn and hate to give up. At that point, nobody really knew what was going to happen to the RKC after that weekend, so in my head, I had to get through the weekend and earn what could possibly be the last RKC-II certification. So I pushed through and passed all of the tests except for the Jerk and the Snatch test. I knew that I had 90 days to send the video into someone to pass those two skills. Turns out that was not going to happen for a long time.

I knew as soon as I got off the airplane in Dallas that I was not right. I struggled to get out of the seat, get to my bags and walk to my car. I ended up getting home and telling my wife that I had screwed up and was badly injured. The pain was pretty constant, so I took off from all training for what was supposed to just be November, but it ended up being a nine month break. I had to train my lead coach, Justine Deets RKC, to pass her HKC and RKC skills without being able to perform them myself. She was my gym replacement while I was recovering. I hosted an HKC in January, but was unable to assist because even picking up 12kgs caused me a lot of pain.

I was not healing, so after the first of the year, it was time to see someone about it. I ended up being referred to the top spine doctor in the area. At my appointment he told me that I had herniated discs at L4-L5 and L5-S1, both on the left side. He informed me that it was a lifelong injury and that my days of heavy lifting were over. To say that I was not thrilled by that was an understatement, so I decided to show him that I would be back to heavy lifting again. I went with a non-surgical solution for the problem and had a series of injections into my back that gave some minor relief. While the injections did not allow me to start lifting again, they did allow me regain some everyday quality of life. It was at that time I met Dr. Steve Horwitz, DC (and now RKC instructor). Dr. Horwitz worked with me on my nutrition and showed me how to ease the inflammation and pain with proper supplementation. Once my nutrition was dealt with, I was able to start healing and training again.

I had scheduled an HKC/Primal Move Certification Weekend with Master RKC, Andrea Du Cane and Senior RKC Jay Armstrong, but was not really doing much in the way of training yet. Andrea knew about the injury, so she would not let me do much during the HKC. I was the ‘go-fer.” While I was finally moving better, I was still in pain with bad movement patterns most of the time. I was able to participate in the Primal Move Certification that weekend and found that it was life changing for me. I was able to go through the workshop pain free. It was amazing how much better I felt just going through the workshop. The one day workshop was like a reset button. It was the first time I was pain free during my day to day activities of living. It improved my movement, eased my pain and that definitely helped my outlook. I had been in a depression since being injured because I was unable to train and burn through my day to day frustrations.

Andrea and Jay also showed me a few drills, including pendulum swings. I also started playing with Figure 8’s as they allowed me to strengthen my posterior chain without moving through painful patterns and positions. I also went to town with Primal Move and added in Convict Conditioning on a daily basis. I would train something every day, but never to failure or into pain. That was my training program for about 3 months and every day I felt better, moved better and got stronger. My focus was on healing and avoiding pain. I spent lots of time on the pullup bar, doing handstand pushups and Convict Conditioning skills on top of daily Primal Move work.

In October of 2013, I hosted an RKC with Andrea Du Cane, Master RKC leading the workshop. She asked to see my skills as an Assistant. I hadn’t trained with any weight over 16kgs in any of the RKC Basics prior to the certification weekend. This was one year after blowing out my back and I figured that it would be ugly. I had not even attempted any of the skills with my snatch test weight prior to this attempt. I was actually scared when I was asked to do it as I knew it was going to be a hot mess. I was pain free and nailed my skills test. After that it was as if I had been freed from a dark hole. Andrea had to keep me reined in all weekend because I was so excited that I was able to train again. She told Shane England RKC, that they had “unleashed a monster”, I could not stop playing around with the kettlebells. I participated in as many of the drills as the attendees did as I tried to fix the bad habits that got me into the position I was in.

After that weekend I continued to train and work on a lot of rehab style work to get back to a decent level of strength. In that time, I was able to host and assist at several HKC’s and RKC’s. I improved my skills and movement at every event I attended. Andrea let me assist at every event and she helped me improve my skills at every certification. If it had not been for her friendship and mentoring, I would not have been able to train or teach at the level I am at now. In July, I was promoted to RKC Team Leader, based in part on my ability to come back as a better instructor because of my injury. It forced me to re-evaluate everything that I was doing as an RKC. Prior to this, my skills were not as good as they should have been. The injury made me a better coach, and I became stronger because of it. I have to use the RKC Principles correctly to avoid being injured again.

Paul Britt Coaching

I was able to get to the point where I was able to press half bodyweight again and knew that I had to try RKC-II again. In October, I hosted the RKC-II at my gym. We had a great group of strong people in attendance. Like the last time, Day 1 was RKC I and our strength requirement test. I felt that it was the easiest and best RKC recert test that I have ever performed. My skills were dialed in and the snatch test was by far my best one that I have ever completed, it was almost easy (the snatch test is never really easy). I passed RKC-II after a long weekend of heavy lifting. I had gone into the weekend with some trepidation, because I had been hurt. It was probably harder for me mentally than physically due to my last attempt ending so badly. I was nervous going into the testing as I did not fully believe that I could get through it without being injured, but I only had a slight issue with my left side pistol stability.

RKC-II Group Photo in Texas

What did I learn from all of this? I learned a lot, though I wish I had learned it without being injured. I was once taught that experience came after you needed it. I hope that someone uses mine to avoid taking the same path. Do not terrain into pain. If you are injured and your life is not in danger, take a break and heal. Do not let your ego cause you to do stupid stuff. There is no certification that is worth permanent injury and we hold a lot of certifications during the year. That is why I am glad that I chose to stay with the RKC. Dragon Door and the RKC’s focus on being a great instructor and their focus on the safe building of your skills is why I am proud to be a part of this community.

What’s next? I am training for the Beast Tamer. The plan is to do it for my 48th birthday at the October 2015 RKC led by Master RKC Andrew Read. There is still room and time to sign up for that certification.

***
RKC Team Leader Paul Britt has been an RKC kettlebell instructor since 2006. He trains clients at Britt’s Training Systems, his award-winning Hardstyle Kettlebell Training Facility in Rockwall, Texas. Paul has served as an assistant instructor at many RKC and HKC Courses, is a Certified Kettlebell Functional Movement Specialist (CK-FMS) and works with some of the top Chiroprators in North Texas. Please visit his website brittstrainingsystems.com for more information.

A One-Size-Fits-All Solution for Problematic Kettlebell Presses

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Master RKC Andrew Read Performs a Kettlebell Bottoms Up Press

The learning and skill continuum that begins at HKC and progresses through RKC and RKC-II follows a fairly straight line. We begin with patterning exercises in HKC—two hand swings, the goblet squat, and the get-up—before progressing to one handed variations on these themes such as the clean and snatch, and the double kettlebell front squat at the RKC. The work done on the get-up lends itself to pressing and snatching which in turn leads to the double push press and jerk as well as the windmill and the bent press at RKC-II.

At RKC-II, people usually face one of two problems, either their thoracic mobility is poor and they struggle with the double overhead work (as well as the windmill and bent press) or they struggle to get their heavy press. As much as the old RKC saying, “To press a lot, you must press a lot” does ring true for many, it may also lead to bigger problems down the line.

About a year ago I wrote an article for Breaking Muscle (Single Kettlebell Ballistic Complexes: How to Save Your Shoulders and Still Work Overhead) which explained the three different types of AC joint set up that people have, as well as possible ways to train long term without damaging yourself. But that still doesn’t help us with the heavy press goal if we’re on our way to RKC-II, does it?

When I wrote Beast Tamer, I outlined many different press plans that could help you get through a sticking point in your press training. I’ve learnt a bit since then and want to outline a plan below that will help you get through your sticking points without risking injury.

What we need is a drill that gives us the same feel as the heavy press and the same effort—all without placing the same strain on the AC joint. This is where the bottoms-up press (BUP) comes into play. The BUP is an interesting drill. Interesting in that I have used it as a one-size-fits-all solution for a variety of problems with the press. Not gripping the kettlebell tightly? The BUP will fix that. Not staying tight in your press? The BUP will fix that too.

The BUP is ideal for our needs as it teaches great form while forcing you to use less load. That may sound problematic, but the body doesn’t register how much you lift, only how much tension you generate. If your form is even slightly off, the kettlebell will fall. This is what makes the BUP ideal as a learning tool. It is automatically apparent what needs to happen and where the point of failure is.

Imagine that the fulcrum (center of rotation) for this movement is not the delicate AC joint, but instead a point midway between the deltoid and the elbow—essentially the middle of the bicep. By focusing on having your elbow move around that point while doing a BUP you will teach your whole body to engage during the press. Likely you will find this feels significantly different to what you have been doing when overhead pressing.

One of the things to keep in mind in relation to the BUP, is that it has a great effect up to a point. I don’t believe that past 32kg they do much to boost your press as the skill becomes its own lift. Prior to that they can be a valuable tool to teach you tension and alignment. Do not make the mistake of turning the drill into an exercise. The goal is never to have the best BUP in the world, rather to use the BUP to build your press.

Low reps are a must with the BUP, as the CNS fatigue from the high grip demand is intense. 2-3 sets of 3-5 reps seem to work best prior to your limit presses for the day.

The other side of this equation is that healthy shoulders are not built from pressing alone. For every push, you must have at least one set of pulling to counteract it. While the pull up is usually the choice of functional trainers, I’ll caution against it as the lat also acts as an internal rotator of the arm, so if all you do are presses and pull ups you’re just as likely to end up with bad shoulders as if you only did presses.

At RPT, we use a variety of weighted mobility drills to achieve healthy shoulders. Here’s how a press workout might look:

Lying dislocates with weight – 3 sets of 10 reps. Paired with push-ups for 3 sets of 10-20 reps.

BUP – 2 x 5 at 50%

Y-T-Row – 2 x 5-5-10

BUP – 3 ladders of 1-2-3 reps combined with easy light two-hand swings in between to help shake the tension out.

Perform a rear support—think of it as a face up plank—for 60 seconds and then do a get-up on each side. Perform three super sets of this as a final shoulder health practice. Make sure to stretch after and “unglue” all the tension you’ve built up in these muscles during training. Pay particular attention to the triceps, lats, traps, and shoulders.

***

Andrew Read, Master RKC, Author of Beast Tamer, is head of Dragon Door Australia and Read Performance Training. Recognized as Australia’s leading functional strength trainer he is a regular contributor to Blitz, Inside MMA, International Kickboxer, Oxygen, Ultrafit and Breaking Muscle. His coaching background spans nearly twenty years having worked with many Olympic and world championship level athletes.

Successful Training with Kettlebells–Four Things to Consider

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Sebastian Muller Kettlebell Bottom Up

When I started training with kettlebells, and right after I went to a beginner’s kettlebell seminar, it was really frustrating for me to only have a very restricted number of exercises for my training.

I asked myself, “How can I train my whole body with only these few exercises?”

Well, back then I had no clue and had not yet learned the “real” kettlebell training principles. I was taught the basics at the seminar, but I didn’t totally comprehend them. Understanding them took a much longer time.

So I started training by myself, and it ended up taking me a year or longer to fully understand kettlebell training and how I could really use it.

Here are four things that helped me get much more out of my kettlebell training:

1. Strength is a skill.

“How obvious is that slogan?” I thought when I’ve heard it for the first time. Of course, strength is a skill, just like endurance, speed, and mobility. It’s also a matter of how in shape or fit you are. Why are the guys making such a fuss about it?

“Train with kettlebells and you’ll become stronger”, I always thought. But when I understood that I had to train the skill of “strength” to become strong, that’s when I started to get the real benefits from the training. I stopped counting sets and reps and started to practice, to grind movement patterns. I worked on improving my technique and listening to my body while I was practicing.

A good example to explain this “skill” approach is the handstand. When I want to start training handstands, I can’t just start off with the idea like, “Today I’ll do 3 reps of handstands, where I stand for 30 seconds unsupported in the middle of a room”. That’s not how it works. Instead, you should practice handstands. You need to feel what’s important for doing a handstand—when, where and what muscles need to be used. Even if that means 20 attempts at 3 seconds against a wall in the beginning. If you are paying attention, you’ll know when you need to stop, your body will tell you the exact moment (and I don’t mean total muscle failure).

It’s the same with kettlebell strength exercises. If you want to improve your strength efficiently, you need to first master the movement itself. When you’ve learned what and when to contract, and how this movement pattern feels with a certain weight, it is easy to develop strength. If you can’t press one weight it means you’re only allowed to practice that movement with lighter weights.

2. Quality before quantity.

Quality before quantity counts especially when practicing. Once you’ve mastered a movement with weights, movement quality should always be at the forefront. If quantity is more important to you, then reps and sets will always be more important to you than the quality of the movement and body perception.

If you are doing 1 set of 10 reps with a perfect technique, followed by 2 sets with 10 miserable reps just to get to 30 reps, what will your body learn from this session?

I’ll tell you. Your body will get really good at forcing itself through routines. No matter if it needs to compensate here or there, over time, the faulty pattern will be reinforced. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what you see with many recreational athletes. This quantity approach will work until the unavoidable injury and then it’s too late.

What the head commands, the body will always carry out!

So, practice and train smart. Quality is king!

3. Kettlebell training trains the entire body.

At first, I always thought that many different exercises were necessary to ideally train the whole body. That was why I was not satisfied after my beginner kettlebell course. This idea mainly came from my own training history. Today, I know that I can train my entire body with just a few exercises with better results than when I was using 10 different exercises for the same purpose.

There is a big difference in knowing that kettlebell training equals training the entire body and understanding kettlebell training equals training the entire body.

Often, people will ask for more exercises after a few reps of double swings followed by double clean & presses. Instead they should relax, because they have already trained their whole body.

I can’t stress that idea enough—if you practice and train correctly, you are using your whole body on each kettlebell exercise. All muscles need to work together efficiently. Sure, you can always focus on a specific body part, but you are always demanding your body as a whole.

Sebastian Muller Kettlebell Press

4. 80% is enough.

This concept is from Master RKC Max Shank and it changed my training forever.

If you can do 5 reps, only do 4. If you can do 10 reps, leave it with 8. Unfortunately, when I write about not training to muscle failure, people sometimes take that literally and just put themselves into their comfort zone. Then 80% quickly become 50% or less.

When I write about 4 instead of 5 reps, I mean your absolute maximum of possible repetitions. If you can do 5 repetitions and not a single one more, then these are your maximum repetitions in this progression or exercise. Or, 100%.

I keep seeing clients who sometimes spare one rep of their 50% maximum. That’s unfortunately not how this principle works, and it often happens subconsciously. If you don’t know your numbers, it’s hard to know where you stand.

For that reason, it’s a good thing to test where your maximum is once in a while (always with a good spotter, please). Otherwise, it’s very likely that you will keep the reps you do too low, which is as counterproductive as always training to 100%.

Earlier, I wrote about the meaning of practicing, and here, the 80% idea works perfectly. Listen to your body. Sets and repetitions are overrated. I would view them more as flexible guidelines and not carved into stone. Your condition on a given day will always effect your training, and should not be ignored.

If you grimace horribly during training, can’t breathe during an exercise, or your technique falls apart, chances are you were training to your 101%. Pay attention and stop before this happens. Just because your plan was to do 5 sets of 5 reps with weigh X today, it doesn’t mean your condition on that day will allows it to happen.

Let me tell you something—you will still have a good session if you only do only 4 reps in the third set and possibly two in the last two sets. If these reps were your 80%, then congratulations, you suppressed your ego and trained intelligently. And another thing, the kettlebell does not excuse foolishness.

Sebastian Muller Challenge

Save your 100% for competitions or challenges when it’s all or nothing, and perform your training sessions at 80%. If you are not in a competition sport, challenge yourself once a month. Try to set a record on an exercise. That will also help you to know your numbers. You are keeping a training journal, right?

It took me forever to incorporate these points into my kettlebell training, which was probably due to my training history and ego. Maybe you’re not as spoiled and have an ego knows it’s place in everyday life. If so, then get going, get yourself a kettlebell, learn the techniques, and start training!

***

Sebastian Müller, RKC Team Leader, PCC Instructor, FMS, and Primal Move Instructor, trains and instructs at the KRABA location in Wiemar, Germany. He can be contacted by email at: info@kraba-erfurt.de and his website: http://www.kraba-erfurt.de.  His Blog is Vereinfachedeintraining.com

Flawless Victory

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HKC NYC with Steve Holiner Group Photo

Winning at video games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat is all about performing well executed combinations. Linking up the right sequence of punches and kicks can get you that perfect score or a flawless victory.

The same can be said for combining strength training systems. In November, I taught the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training Level 1 Certification and Dragon Door’s HKC Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification over the course of one weekend. I have spoken before about how DVRT (Dynamic Variable Resistance Training) and HKC/RKC strengthen and support each other. Well, this powerhouse certification combination delivered the perfect blend of education and hands-on application that lead to a flawless victory—everyone passed on the day of the HKC. That’s right, we had a 100% pass rate for the HKC.

VideoGameCombo

Isn’t that what we all want? We are all trying to find the very best strategies to fully unlock our own potential.

How did the 100% pass rate at this HKC happen?

Honestly, the DVRT (Dynamic Variable Resistance Training) Level I certification set everyone up for success at the HKC. Often mistaken as just a “sandbag” certification, DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training is a well-rounded system of coaching, progression, and regression of movement. Though the USB (Ultimate Sandbag) is our main line of offense, the DVRT system can be integrated with any implement. Obtaining quality movement is at the core of DVRT. We dig deep into hinging, squatting, pressing and lunging patterns throughout the day. We also teach important factors of stability, optimal breathing and how to create tension in great detail.

You might THINK you know these movements, but the DVRT attacks from a whole new position that both excites and challenges the students.

DVRT Workshop with Steve Holiner group photo

And what most people don’t realize is that the DVRT cert is very physically challenging! The clean and push press test is no joke. Hopefully, people come to the DVRT having trained harder than they might have for an HKC. It’s hard to fail when you are strong and have excellent technique. By day two, all of the candidates were ready to kick HKC butt—and kick it they did!

At the HKC, we cover the kettlebell swing, goblet squat and Turkish get-up in great detail. Candidates are also tested on how well they coach these movements. We dig deeply into many drills which help people learn and troubleshoot the lifts. Much of this information reinforces what we taught at the DVRT. At the HKC the next day, the participants were able to soak in the knowledge then apply it—instead of just hitting a wall or feeling like their central nervous systems were fried.

Just like any video game, to really win you must pick the right characters for your team. I picked a group of awesome characters perfect for the job. Fellow Master DVRTs James Newman and Gavin Van Vlack and DVRT-II Hannah Fons are exceptional coaches I’ve worked with several times in the past. They NEVER disappoint, and have brought so much value and experience to the DVRT cert.

Teaching the get-up at the HKC

For the HKC team, RKCs Jason Kapnick and Joe Boffi are also stellar when it comes to kettlebell training (among their many other skill sets). They also happen to be partners at the host facility (along with the awesome Dr. Kathy Dooley) Catalyst S.P.O.R.T.

So where am I going with this?

MK_FlawlessVictoryIn a time when we are bombarded with fitness trends and certification chasing, it is easy to just “mash buttons” like you would on a video game controller. But, those button mashers usually don’t do too well in the long haul. The smart player, or strength coach, learns how the system works inside and out and then destroys his opponent. DVRT and HKC/RKC are for those that want to be the skilled player. That’s how you earn a flawless victory!

There are many DVRT/HKC Combos in the works.

Now there’s an added bonus if you have the RKC in your sights. Certified HKC instructors will receive an immediate, extra $200.00 discount when they register for a future RKC workshop.

If you are a current HKC Instructor in good standing, receive this immediate, extra discount on an upcoming RKC workshop by simply logging into your account on DragonDoor.com. After adding an RKC Workshop of your choice to your cart, enter the following Promo Code at checkout: HKCSPECIAL

Upcoming DVRT/HKC Workshops:

Onelife Fitness. Kansas City, MO. March 21-22.
DVRT/HKC: http://www.dragondoor.com/workshops/details/dvhk005/
DVRT Only: http://www.dragondoor.com/workshops/details/dvrt005/
HKC Only: http://www.dragondoor.com/workshops/details/hkc369/

Quest Fitness. Guilford, CT. May 16-17.
*Registration opens next week.

Catalyst S.P.O.R.T. New York, NY. November 7-8.
DVRT/HKC: http://www.dragondoor.com/workshops/details/dvhk006/
DVRT Only: http://www.dragondoor.com/workshops/details/dvrt006/
HKC Only: http://www.dragondoor.com/workshops/details/hkc377/

Yours in strength and fury,

-Fury out

Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner, DVRT Master Instructor, Senior RKC, is a proud member of the Ninja Army training staff at Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. Fury is available for classes, semi-privates, instructor training and programming at MFF. He also has availability for private training at Five Points Academy and Catalyst S.P.O.R.T. Check out www.coachfury.com, facebook.com/coachfury and Twitter @coachfury for more info.

3 Traits of Those Who ‘Have What It Takes’ for Kettlebell Training

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Nick Lynch RKC Team Leader Committed to Kettlebell Training

To properly train your body with kettlebells, you must continually enhance your skills. Correct me if I’m wrong but the Wright brothers crashed many model planes before they actually took flight, right? That’s because they were learning something new. Since each day brings new challenges, each day’s training session is a new opportunity for growth. The kettlebell requires commitment, consistency and willpower for that growth to occur.

Commitment

Has anyone started a new job without any sort of onsite training? Sorry, but we don’t come out of the womb with a tool belt, construction hat, and the know-how to build a house! To build your first home, more likely than not, you’ll collapse a few walls, stub some toes, nail a finger or two to the wall before your dream stands sturdy and proud. If you’re really serious about getting started with kettlebell training or continuing your path of training, commitment is mandatory. A practice regimen of once per week won’t cut it. Kettlebell training is a 7-days-a-week commitment regardless if you’re swinging, pressing or just working on mobility. During your training, all your thoughts and movements should be focused on enhancing your skills.

I recommend picking up Max Shank’s Master The Kettlebell. Read it! Now read it again. And then? Read it again. Hire a local RKC Instructor and have them teach you the basics. At first, go light to go right. Don’t worry, I assure you the beast tamers who may have inspired you started just like this on Day one.

Senior RKC Robert Miller pressing a kettlebell twice the size of his head
Senior RKC Robert Miller pressing a kettlebell twice the size of his head!

Consistency

It may not be a good fit for everyone to lift weights 7-days per week. Your body will tell you if it’s a day to go crazy or a day to stay away; waving loads is essential when training consistently. One must be skilled in knowing when to go heavy, when to go light, or when to not to go at all. Programming with consistency is what kettlebell training is all about! I’ve seen the best results with a Monday/Wednesday/Friday routine: Monday’s light, Wednesday’s medium and Friday’s heavy. I practice swings, calisthenics and mobility on the days in between to prepare myself for the next lifting day.

What is consistency? Consistency is following though with a training schedule. Our lives are centered on some sort of schedule. Each commitment requires a consistent schedule to succeed. You have to train your body properly everyday if you want real results. Set a schedule that works for you and don’t let anyone or anything get in the way. Consistency allows you to achive progress and is essential for growth.

Willpower

If we’re all being honest with ourselves, we will admit that it takes willpower to consistently commit to any type of program. Kettlebell training is complex and requires both commitment and consistency. Regardless of what your goals are, you’ll need willpower. You’re going to have that coworker who guarantees what you’re doing is a waste of time. You may even have some friends who are upset that it’s Friday night and while they’re on shot #3 and beer #4 you’re busy with Turkish Get Up #4 on minute #3. Willpower is required to stand up to the inevitable temptations. Remind your friends that you want to enhance your health. Who can argue with that? By surrounding yourself with things and people conducive to your goals and tuning out the rest, willpower grows!

Casia Justine, RKC tapping into her willpower
Casia Justine, RKC tapping into her willpower

Cultivate willpower, become consistent and be commited to your kettlebell program. If you don’t know what to do, hire a local RKC Instructor. If you don’t have a local RKC, hire one via the Internet. With commitment, consistency and willpower prepare for some serious strength and conditioning gains! Thanks for reading and feel free to ask some questions in the comments section below. I’ll do my best to answer or point you in the right direction!

In the following video, I press a 36kg kettlebell after years of practicing with commitment, consistency and willpower. For these long legs and skinny arms this a most excellent feat of strength!

***

RKC Team Leader Nick Lynch is a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Milwaukee School of Engineering University (MSOE). He owns Superb Health Milwaukee, a kettlebell studio in Milwaukee, WI. Most recently, he became an RKC Team Leader. He has 13 years of full-time training and coaching experience and a lifetime of wellness education. Nick lives in Milwaukee, WI with his wife Natalie and son Weston.

Running 10 Miles Without Any Training Runs

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Paul Britt Tough Mudder

I hate running. I really mean it. I would rather go shopping for furniture with my wife and kids, then run around the block. So when I participated in the 3.5 mile Warrior Dash Challenge, I did not include running as part on my training regimen. I fully believed that I would be able to train for it without actually running. And I was correct. I easily completed the Warrior Dash in about 35 minutes.

Later I decided to take on the 10 mile Tough Mudder. I felt that that the Tough Mudder would be a great way to test my theory that you can run a 10 mile course with no running during the training leading up to it. The last time I put in anywhere near this much mileage was as a young soldier back in the 90’s.

I signed up for the January Tough Mudder on November 27th giving me 62 days to prepare for the challenge. I chose a training protocol consisting of kettlebells and bodyweight exercises. There are so many different training thoughts and programs with the kettlebell and within the RKC. I looked at several different ways to make it work such as VO2 Max, Secret Service Snatch Test and several other tried and true programs, but it came down to swings.

The swing is awesome in its simplicity and ease of use. I like the fact that while not injury proof, swings are pretty safe to do for lots of reps and sets. I felt that the general template of time under load was exactly what I would need. The organizers advised that the course would take at least 2:30 minutes to complete so I needed to add more swing time. I also decided that I would need to use a mix of heavier and lighter kettlebells and most likely double kettlebells to be able to develop the strength and stamina to last the 10 miles. What a great testament to Hard Style and the RKC if I could actually pull off a 10 mile run without any running beforehand.

I began the program swinging double 32kg kettlebells for 30 sec on/30 sec off for 15 minutes. The next day was 15 minutes of get-ups with a 32kg, but not straight from prone to standing. Instead, I worked each piece of the get-up for at least two reps. I was able to make it to the windmill position in the 15 minute time frame. It was my goal to add 5 minutes a week to swings and get-ups. The plan was to hit 45 minutes of each exercise. I trained 4 days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

Month 1
Monday/Thursday

FMS Correctives
Double swings started out 15 min a session and increased to 35 min a session over the month
Relax Into Stretch

Paul Britt Practicing FMS Correctives for Shoulder Mobility
RKC Team Leader Paul Britt Practicing FMS Correctives

Tuesday/Friday

FMS Correctives
Get Ups 15 min a session increased to 30 min a session over the month
Relax into Stretch

After 4 weeks I reevaluated the program (3 weeks actually, I had a 7 day break due to the flu), How far I had progressed and where I still needed to be. I was up to 35 minutes of double swings with the 32’s and 30 minutes of get-ups with a single 32kg. I felt really good, but I decided that I needed to really push it a little harder. At 4 weeks out, I was a little worried about if I was up to the task, I knew that I was getting stronger, but starting to worry it wouldn’t work. I felt that I was on the right path, but not quite sure where I stood. I was not going to do any training runs, since the goal was not to run before the race.

In looking at the obstacles, distance and what people were blogging about the race, I decided to increase my swing weights to the 40kgs. That would add strength and power that I would be need for some of the 19 obstacles I would face in the Tough Mudder. At this point in my training, it was a big jump and actually, my swing weight was heavier than my own body weight. After making the weight jump, I realized this strategy would also help with mental toughness; because swinging two heavy kettlebells is hard! The first day of the double 40’s lasted about 20 minutes. And I only lasted that long because I refused to quit.

It was during this time that the “10,000 Swings in 21 Days Challenge” started to float around the internet. I thought about it and decided that it fit within my training program/thought process. I figured that more swings would fit the bill. In looking at the numbers, it would take 500 swings a day to reach the 10,000 in 21 days. I knew that I wanted to keep the heavy double swings in the mix and wanted to get as many swings in the 21 Days as possible. Working towards the weight I wanted to hit with double kettlebell swings would probably keep me from 10,000 in 21 days, but I had 25 days of training left in my programming before my 4 days of deloading to be rested. I decided to try and get all of the swings in, but would not sweat it if I didn’t.

The modifications had me swinging almost every day for up to 45 minutes a session. I knew I could not keep up the heavy doubles for 21 days so I changed my schedule to have a medium, light and play weight during the week. The play weight was whatever I felt like messing with on that day for lots of reps. My training week was typically: heavy double swings on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and either two hand swings with the Beast or double 32 swings on the other days. The “play” day was exactly that, no real plan of action. Some days it was throwing out a bunch of kettlebells; 48kg, 40kg, 32kg and 24kg and doing 10 swings with each for multiple sets until I was tired., other days it was swings with the 24kgs’s. One thing I did find from practicing every day was that my swings got better, a lot better.

I ended up with 8500 swings on the 21st day and 10,000 by the 24th.

Month 2
Monday/Wednesday/Friday

FMS Correctives
Two-handed or double swings 300-500
Indian Clubs as active recovery

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday

FMS Correctives
Heavy Double swings 200-500
Indian Clubs as active recovery between each set
Pull ups for 3-4 sets of 3-5

How did it work out for me? I completed the Tough Mudder in 2 hours 45 minutes. It was a hard race, with plenty of obstacles to climb over, crawl under and swing from, and lots of running. But the running was actually the easy part. I did not realize how much swimming we would have to do and the massive amounts of swings dropped my body fat to under 8% and I added 10lbs to my bodyweight. It made it hard to float and the cold water really sucked the heat out of me. It was interesting,  I read the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferris the week of the race and found his section on running a marathon advocated interval training. It made me realize that I was on the right path with this training program.

Paul Britt Tough Mudder FInish Line

What would I do differently? I would continue with the swings, but keep the get-ups in there to improve core and rotational strength. I had no issues with the posterior chain after the race. My frontal core however, was pretty sore for a few days afterward. I think that if I had kept the get-ups in the mix, I would not have hurt so badly. It stemmed from climbing, monkey bars and helping boost others over obstacles. The grind power derived from the get-ups would have helped in all of those activities.

What is the summary of this little experiment? It is possible to train for a mid-range running event without running in training. Will you have record shattering times? Most likely not, but the goal was just seeing if it could be done. I now know that it can be done. I see a few ways to improve, if I chose to do it again. I would keep the swing volume high, add more get-ups and I would add clean and jerks to the program. The clean and jerks would help develop power strength and some mental toughness.

 

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RKC Team Leader Paul Britt has been an RKC kettlebell instructor since 2006. He trains clients at Britt’s Training Systems, his award-winning Hardstyle Kettlebell Training Facility in Rockwall, Texas. Paul has served as an assistant instructor at many RKC and HKC Courses, is a Certified Kettlebell Functional Movement Specialist (CK-FMS) and works with some of the top Chiroprators in North Texas. Please visit his website brittstrainingsystems.com for more information.

Kaizen–The Ancient Japanese Art of Continuous, Incremental Self-Improvement

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Florian Kiendl Beast Kettlebell SwingI was introduced to this term years ago when I worked as an IT Consultant for a German automotive supplier. I learned that it was this ancient Japanese concept that transformed Toyota from a small and inefficient car manufacturer into the de facto worldwide industry leader in production efficiency and accuracy. Today virtually all major car manufacturers use the Just in Time concepts invented by Toyota to produce their products. These concepts can save tons of money in production costs while maximizing quality at the same time.

At this point you might think: “And what has this to do with me? I’m a fitness professional!”

Think again! What kind of results might a simple concept—with the power to turn a young company that started out producing the cheapest and most error prone cars on this planet into an industry leader in a few short years—produce if applied to your business or training?

Interested? Then stay with me.

What is Kaizen?
The roots of this concept lie deep in the Japanese culture. It has enabled people to create some of the most magnificent works of art and craft in history. The approach is simple and yet extremely efficient in itself.

Instead of working their butts off until a project is finished or has completely failed (as most westerners tend to do) the ancient Japanese would regularly sit down and assess the process of creation and make minor adjustments along the way. This way they can gain a much deeper understanding of the task at hand, enabling them to complete it easier with better results.

Florian Kiendl One-Arm Kettlebell SwingKaizen and the Hardstyle Kettlebell
For us as Trainers…

Applied to training this might be the idea of starting out with a given program and adjusting it little by little to create the most effective version of that program along the way—instead of running a full cycle of it then looking at the results and starting over with a completely new program if they are less than satisfactory.

Kaizen is about digging deep into the process and learning how to execute it in the most efficient way during the process, rather than assessing the results and making adjustments afterwards. In a way this fits nicely to our Hardstyle approach for kettlebell training. Instead of banging out as many reps as possible and adding as much weight as possible to any given move, we try to improve the technical execution of the exercise to make it as powerful and crisp as possible.

The biggest problem with Kaizen for our western minds is that it takes more effort to track the improvement because the changes are incremental. If you improve your swing, making it more powerful while keeping the weight and reps the same, it is difficult to assess your progress. In contrast, if you step up in volume or weight, the progress can be easily seen by anybody. However, my experience tells me that stepping up in volume or weight too fast can hinder your progress—especially with the ballistics.

What can Kaizen do for your Business?
The biggest impact of using the Kaizen approach will be to your business. Whether you are an independent trainer or a gym owner you will profit from it by:

  • The almost automatic adaptation to changes in your environment.
  • You can avoid reorganizing your business, which can be a pain and will always lessen your income.
  • You will have the systems in place to respond quickly to your customer’s needs
  • Your employees will feel like they can actively influence their work environment and will be happier and more productive.

When I used to work for Microsoft as an IT Consultant, they had the policy of reorganizing the entire company every other year. Aside from the obvious—adapting to a fast changing market environment—the idea was to keep the company (and especially the employees) agile and hinder the growth of rigid structures. However the reorgs where a pain for most the employees and often did not make a lot of sense. Even a small business like a garage gym can be quite complex and it can be difficult to predict the side effects of a major change. By keeping the changes small and confined, you can avoid disturbances and more easily observe which changes are effective and which are not.

Take advantage of the Kaizen approach in 5 easy steps

Step 1: Know your Destination
This should be clear but every so often I meet trainers who do not think about what they want to achieve. We are an industry of enthusiasts, who do what we love. People whose first priority is making money work in banks or sell insurance contracts. Don’t get me wrong, doing the things you love for a living is the best thing you can do for yourself and your environment, but if you do something for a living it must sustain your lifestyle. Training 10 people in your garage gym is a nice pastime but it won’t pay your bills.

So, you need to be clear about where your business should be next year, the year after, or in five years. Knowing your destination gives you the means to navigate through the chances and risks of your daily business and eventually arrive somewhere.

If you are a trainer in a gym, you might have the feeling that this is something you don’t have to worry about. But please follow me on a little thought experiment. First take a moment to sit down and ponder the ups and downs of your daily job. Now try to picture yourself in 10 – 15 years doing the same job you do today (considering factors like family, children, getting older). If this is a pleasant thing to imagine, then congratulations on having the job of your life. If not, you need to decide where you want to go from here.

FlorianKiendl Double Kettlebell Press

Step 2: Embrace Change
There is a German saying that goes like this:

“If the wind of change is blowing, some people build walls – others build windmills”

Make sure you belong to the latter group. For many of us it is quite unsettling that everything is constantly changing. If that is the case for you, think of it this way—the only thing that is truly constant is CHANGE. If you expect and anticipate changes to happen, you can probably profit from them. If you try to keep things as they are today, it is only a question of when you will be overtaken by reality.

Step 3: Take time to analyze your situation
This is hard, but absolutely critical. If you are like me, sometimes it feels like everything happens at the same time and you have barely time to react to the most urgent demands. However you can succeed in the long run if you are reactive mode. It is absolutely critical that you make it a habit to regularly assess your situation. Only this can give you the power to improve your situation and avoid problems.

  • Actively ask for feedback. Whether they are your clients, employees, or business partners actively ask them to tell you what they like and what could be improved.
  • Make sure your clients have the means to give you anonymous feedback. If you wait until they are prepared to tell you to your face, you have probably lost them as a customer.
  • Have a regular meeting with your staff to you ask them for their take on what’s going on. In this meeting you should also collect ideas about what could be improved.
  • Take time to ponder the information you’ve gained on a regular basis. Have a scheduled time at least once a month to review all the information. This can be a done on your own, but if you have employees or coworkers it may be more productive if you have them with you.

Appreciate all feedback whether it is good or bad.
All information you gain about your business is valuable—whether or not it makes you feel good. If you follow the steps I laid out, you will soon realize that negative feedback is actually much more valuable than praise. Praise is good for marketing, but moaning and groaning improves your business.

As an RKC Instructor you will be used to receiving good Feedback from your Clients, but do not fall into the trap of assuming the few who tell you are otherwise are weirdoes or moaners – they are probably those clients who trust you most and want you to succeed.

Step 4: Act
Whenever your sources have brought something which can be improved to your attention, determine if you have the means to improve it. In many cases, it will not take a big budget or much planning to implement smaller improvements. Go for the quick wins first instead of the big projects. The bigger the change, the more risk is involved.

Florian Kiendl Board Breaking

Step 5: If you do not act, explain why.
To gain the information you need to steer your business, you rely on the people around you. It’s in your best interest that they continue sharing their opinions with you, and they will continue to if they feel their voices are heard. There is nothing more frustrating than sharing information to help the business improve only to see no improvement or reaction . Make sure you spare the people around you this frustration.

***
RKC Team Leader Florian Kiendl is a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and runs a Martial Arts Gym in a small town close to Munich (Germany). He made it his mission to help his students to improve their movement and overall health. In his search for ways to overcome the movement restrictions of his students (and his own) he found the RKC and now works together with Master RKC Robert Rimoczi and others to help as many people as possible to gain back their Strength and Agility.

He writes a regular Blog at blog.kettlebellgermany.de and offers workshops all over Germany teaching the RKC Kettlebell exercises: KettlebellGermany.de.
If you have questions or comment on the article feel free to email him at florian@kettlebellgermany.de

The 3-6-9-12 Program

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3-6-9-12 for Athletic Training

It is when you feel like you can break.

You have put everything on the line.

Heroes have been made, dreams have been dashed.

It is the fourth quarter. I remember playing basketball that time, the time when everything came down to how you prepared. How well could you execute even though you were shaky, exhausted, and had been competing your hardest for three previous quarters.

The fourth quarter is when you knew if you were really ready. All the theories get tested, only results win! You had to be strong, you had to be fit, you had to be mentally tough.

The idea of the fourth quarter helps remind me what our training should really be teaching us. Being able to hit a PR is awesome, lifting big weights, terrific, but if they can’t be used when we need them the most what is the point?

Sports aren’t the only places where we see the fourth quarter mentality. Overworked parents, stressed out jobs, they all challenge us to find inner and outer strength to perform. Can we do it though? Is it possible to have great fitness and strength?

Can We Have It All?

Having extremely high levels of strength or endurance takes some very specific training. The truth is that most of us are looking for really good levels in both. The reality is we can have it all with smarter programs.

Lifting maximal weights is awesome, but life and sport rarely happens on a platform. The truth is, most activities look at how you can repeat high levels of strength and power. In fact, renowned strength coach, Robert Dos Remedios, considers power endurance and work capacity the KEYS to athletic success:

“I’m often asked about my goals in my conditioning programming and my answer always seems to come back to one thing, WORK CAPACITY. If we can continue to turn the knob up and get more and more out of our athletes we will build their ability to keep pushing, to improve their all-important strength and power endurance. In essence we are assuring that over time, we will also be able to train harder and harder for longer periods of time with greater intensity. Perhaps most importantly, work capacity building sessions helps to forge amazing confidence…this is often the psychological variable that can be the difference between victory and defeat.”

Don’t misunderstand Coach Dos, they lift hard, they lift heavy, but they understand how to combine all the elements to being successful beyond the weight room! Can you do it over and over again? Do you have that fourth quarter strength or do you fall apart? Sorry, a few sled runs and pushes don’t do it either.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting the strength endurance crowd has it all right either. Many people think that to develop strength endurance that you simply have to perform outrageous repetitions or destructive workouts. Unfortunately, so many of these people fall prey to really low levels of strength and the engine to their endurance ends up being quite low. Not to mention the amount of overuse injuries they often incur!

The Smarter Fitness Program

When DVRT Master and RKC, Troy Anderson, shared with a much better way of training I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it myself! Troy is no novice to tough training, having played football, served in the military, competed in strongman, and growing up on a farm in Wyoming, Troy knows fourth quarter strength all too well.

The concept is relatively simple. Four sets, increasing repetitions, minimal rest. Well, that’s nothing new right? The structure of this program has important principles that need to be adhered to in order to succeed.

Each series has four intermittent sets of 3, 6, 9, and 12 repetitions. The lower repetitions are designated for heavier or more complex movements, where nine and twelve allow us to work on other fitness qualities. The key is to only give yourself no more than about 20 seconds from one series to the next. Let me give you a few examples using hardstyle and Ultimate Sandbag movements.

Workout 1:

Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlift x 3, rest 20 seconds
Ultimate Sandbag Clean and Press x 6, rest 20 seconds
Goblet Squats x 9, rest 20 seconds
Body Rows x 12, rest 1-2 minutes

The above workout showed how we got to load a specific movement pattern (the hip hinge) with heavier loads and as we went through the series went to less complex exercises involving other movement patterns. We began with the hip hinge, moved to an vertical press, then squatting pattern, finally a horizontal pull.

The series began with the drill with the most stability when the body was freshest. That means we are still getting elements of maximal strength and not neglecting strength endurance. After the cycle rest 1-2 minutes and then try to repeat. The goal is to hit 3-4 total rounds.

How would other workouts look? Here are few examples….

Workout 2:

Pull-ups x 3, rest 20 seconds
Ultimate Sandbag Rotational Lunges x 6 per side, rest 20 seconds
Spider man Push-ups x 9, rest 20 seconds
Kettlebell Swings x 12, rest 1-2 minutes

Workout 3:

Get-ups x 3, rest 20 seconds
Ultimate Sandbag Lateral Step Cleans x 6, rest 20 seconds
Renegade Rows x 9 per side, rest 20 seconds
Bear Hug Paused Squats x 12, rest 1-2 minutes

During these workouts you should definitely try to use a challenging load. However, you are going to need to make sure you can repeat your efforts and not have too much of a drop off. For example, if you see more than a 20% drop off in weight you can use, the weight was probably too much. The same can be said if you see a 20% drop off in reps you can complete.

Can You Modify 3-6-9-12?

Of course! You can make it more specific to a training goal. For example, if you really wanted more of an emphasis of strength or power, you could make it 1-3-5-7.

Want to build that type of work capacity and power endurance that leads to championships? Take this challenge from Coach Anderson. Take your 3-6-9-12 plan and after each round (completing the entire 3-6-9-12 series) add a repetition to the next.

Example:
Round 1: 3-6-9-12
Round 2: 4-7-10-13
Round 3: 5-8-11-14

You would still take the rest after each series, but you may have to drop a bit of weight.

Will it be a challenge? Absolutely! Is it designed to destroy you? Not really. If you find it incredibly difficult you might find you had been neglecting the fitness qualities that can really help you make that next jump in your fitness.

Fatigue has been shown to be somewhat movement and muscle group specific. By changing the movement pattern we are taking some stress off the system and muscles. In other words, you should be able to continue high levels of work even in spite of some accumulating fatigue.

I know there will be some that argue that strength should be done without any fatigue, to them I say that isn’t the real world. If functional training is meant to prepare us for the sport and every day life then neither is perfect or ideal. You don’t have to sacrifice great training to grow, rather evolve the way you see fitness!

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Josh Henkin, Master RKC, CSCS has been a RKC instructor since 2003 and has implemented kettlebell programs for major Division I programs, SWAT teams, and many different general fitness programs. Josh is also the creator of the DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training system where he is a highly sought after presenter worldwide. He can be reached at info@ultimatesandbagtraining.com or http://DVRTFitness.com. Josh Henkin is also the author of DVRT, The Ultimate Sandbag Training System now available in paperback and ebook format.