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Dirty Dozen #9 The Get-up

April 2, 2014 By Phil Ross 1 Comment

The next movement in our Dirty Dozen Line-up is #9, The Get Up. The Get Up is often referred to as the Turkish (TGU) or Low Sweep Get Up. Just the mention of the movement conjures up fear, apprehension and utter abhorrence in most people. I had the same attitude until I began to absolutely love this movement!

I recall when I first started training with Kettlebells, I only did the TGU’s (as we referred to them) enough to pass my tests and move on. After the 6 months or so upon passing my RKC 1, I started to notice that through my practice, my TGU’s were getting better. I also noticed that my shoulder was more stable and the weights of my other lifts were increasing! Much to the chagrin of my students, I started to completely embrace the Get Up.

I soon realized that I wasn’t just doing them to pass my next test, but to get the most that I could from the movement. I started to add different types of Get Ups to my training regiment. Bridge, Squat, Bottoms-up, No Hand and Dual Bell Get Ups to name a few.

I then began to incorporate Heavy Get Up training and worked on methods to imprint the movement into the muscle memory. Owning each segment of the movement became my focus. The Roll to Press, Sit-up to Elbow, Tall Sit, Side Press, Tall Kneel and the Standing Press. Each section of the Get Up needed to be owned. To imprint this I employed three basic approaches. The first was practicing a 5 second hold at each of the 6 specific positions of the Get Up.The second was to perform 5 repetitions at each position and the third was the 5 3 2 1 Method.

Training Method #1:
At each of the positions, hold the Kettlebell in the lock out for a 5 second count. Feel the position of your body and embrace the tension. Don’t simply do it to get it done and over with, though the temptation will be present. Focus on increasing your stability in each of the 6 positions on the way up as well as the way down.

Training Method #2:
This method always evokes moans and groans from my class. Well, that simply makes me grin and tell them how many sets to do. Execute 5 presses at each of the 6 positions. Change position with the Kettlebell in the full lock out, no resting in the Rack. Go up one side of your body, change hands at the top and do your Get Down on the opposite side with the same 5 press repetitions at each position. Repeat on the other side, but perform the ascent with the side that descended last time.

Training Method #3:
I call this one the 5 3 2 1 Method. I use this for increasing my 1, 2 & 3 RM (Repetition Maximums). I will generally perform 3 to 5 sets of the aforementioned repetitions. Beginning with a lower weight and increasing to a higher one. Be very cautious when performing the doubles and singles, especially if you are in “uncharted waters” (a weight that you’ve never done previously). I noticed the most improvement when I employed this method last in the progression. It is essential to have complete stabilization and OWN each and every of the 6 positions to safely increase the weight of your Get Ups.

Well it’s now time to grab your Kettlebell and GET UP!

Strength & Honor

Coach Phil

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About Master RKC Phil Ross: Master RKC, 8^th Degree Black Belt, Specialist in Bodyweight Strength, PCC and CK-FMS Certified. His name is synonymous with Martial Arts and Fitness. He is known as the area’s Kettlebell King and has successfully competed on the National Level in… Read more here.

Are You Really Missing Out?

January 15, 2014 By Josh Henkin 5 Comments

Every New Years my wife feels like we should do something big! To be honest, I am not all that into going out when so many people are liquored up. I ask her, “why do you want to go out so badly?” She often replies, “cause I don’t want to miss out on anything great!”

The same fear that my wife has about missing something great during New Years is the very same emotion that I think many people in fitness experience. How so? People end up doing everything, every training method, they want to have ever training tool, they have to go to every program under the sun. Why? When I ask people why they do such things, it is often, “I don’t want to be left out”.

I find that staggering, but not shocking. I went through that process in my early career as well. Pretty much any new piece of fitness equipment I got it. Any new program, I had to try it! Then something happened. I changed.

I went from having a extremely packed facility full of equipment to rather bare bones. It wasn’t in an effort to be hip or cool, I just started to realize what I REALLY needed and what really helped the people that I trained. Pretty soon I wasn’t worried that I didn’t perform all the “cool” exercises, I had figured out what worked for what person. I learned the dirty little secret that no single exercise is vital, you have to find the right exercise. Since then, I can’t tell you how much better my own training and that of my clients has been.

That is why I find it interesting when people make strong statements like, “you can’t train only with kettlebells!” Hmmm, you don’t HAVE to train with just kettlebells, but can you?

I hear lots of reasons, “kettlebells don’t go heavy enough”, which leads to “you can’t get really strong”, and of course, “you can’t perform THIS so very important essential exercise.”

Instead of thinking of how training with kettlebells exclusively would make you feel limited. I actually believe it would make your training much smarter! Let me explain by dispelling some of these very common myths.

Kettlebells Don’t Go Heavy Enough

Years ago I heard a well respected strength coach make the argument that kettlebells aren’t that powerful because they only go up to 70 pounds (at the time they did) so they aren’t that great for strength. Ironically, a rather strong person is someone who can manhandle a pair of 70’s (32kgs). How do we have both?

The problem is that most people try to compare the weight of a kettlebell to that of a dumbbell or more problematically a barbell. Sorry, trying to compare the weight of a kettlebell to a barbell is almost apples to oranges. Whether is has to do with the independent movement of the kettlebells, to the different weight distribution, or the fact the holding position of the kettlebell is very different from a barbell. In the end we know one thing and that is weight is not all equal.

I might believe that kettlebells aren’t heavy enough if I routinely saw people throw around double 106 (48kg) bells with ease. However, I find that to be a very rare find.

You Can’t Get Really Strong

To be perfectly honest, this is the one that gets me more wound up. Unfortunately, most people totally screw up the governing principle of strength, the overload principle. The idea of the overload principle leads people to becoming consumed with the idea of load. However, that isn’t what the overload principle actually means. The concept is that we have to provide a stress to the body to cause changes greater than the body experienced before.

The reason that most programs fail is they fall into that trap of just load and forget about the many other variables that actually can play a very important role in improving strength. By not having the small jumps in weight available in kettlebells we can focus on these other concepts.

Other Overload Variables:

-Speed

-Load Position

-Body Position

-Range of Motion

-Volume (amount of work)

-Density (amount of work in a given amount of time)

-Direction of Force

-Type of Muscle Contraction

Each one of these concepts could be an article within themselves. My point though is to show how many other variables most programs fail to actually consider. If we look at each and think about how they play a vital role in strength training and program development, we can see that kettlebells can work incredibly well in all these variables and how the weights of kettlebells could be greatly altered in conjunction with manipulating these different ideas.

We often hear the legend of old time strongmen performing incredible feats of strength. Ironically, most didn’t sit there focusing on adding 2 1/2 pounds to a lift. They intuitively used these other methods to manipulate load. The deadlift didn’t really become a staple lift till 1910-1920 when South African Strongman, Hermann Goerner, made it a focused lift. Bob Hoffman of York Barbell Company really popularized the more familiar barbell that we know in the early 1930’s. My point is that these things we consider soooo important to get strong are really rather new ideas. We have seen people become incredibly strong without the luxury of small weight increases or a wide array of weights for centuries.

The Fitness Cynic

I don’t blame people for being more than a bit skeptical about the idea of getting stronger by JUST using kettlebells. However, since Dragon Door helped bring back kettlebells to the modern fitness world, there have been hundreds of real world stories of people getting darn strong!

Some may feel a bit cynical because there was marketing of kettlebells that helped the movement and therefore, their popularity. Few realize that the barbell become popular because Bob Hoffman and York Barbell were advertising and promoting the benefits of barbell training. Why? They wanted to sell barbells, but also because this is what they truly believed, the barbell was a great and powerful tool that could change people’s lives.

A third reason that I think many people have issues with the idea of kettlebell training only goes back to an interesting piece I saw on CNN about social media. The story told of how less and less young people are using Facebook as their primary social media outlet. Why? Much has to do with the fact it went mainstream. When the grandparents started becoming active on social media, it started to become deemed “less cool” by the younger generation.

Now that you can find infomercials on kettlebells, fitness ads using kettlebells, and just about any fitness media that wants to appear cool. I think some people have fallen victim to the idea that kettlebells aren’t cool because anyone can use them. Funny enough, I think that is what makes them a beautiful tool.

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About Josh: Josh Henkin, Senior 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.

My Weight Loss Struggle

August 28, 2013 By Laurel Blackburn 64 Comments

I’ve been thinking about writing this blog for quite a while. I’ve been struggling with this issue since I was a teenager. I know I am not alone.

This blog won’t give you the latest weight loss secret, nor will it give you a really incredible workout. As a matter of fact, it won’t give you any answers. My hope is that it starts a conversation that needs to happen.
It’s time for me to get honest with myself and it’s time for me to get honest with others.

I need to hear about other people out there who struggle with the same issues as I do. I know I am not alone. I see it in others, I see it in my clients, I see it all over social media and I see it in my family.

My issue is my love/hate affair with my body. I can’t even tell you when or why this started. All I know is that I have fought with my body image and my weight since I started junior high school. I have no idea whether or not I was actually overweight, but that does not even matter. I thought I was overweight and thus began decades of self-loathing, countless diets and a trip to a 28 day eating disorder clinic.

laurel3 — On left: At leadership meeting, very ashamed about weight /
On right: Starting another diet

At 20 years old and after the birth of my first son, my goal was to weigh in the double digits. Imagine my elation when I tipped the scales at 99 pounds. I was on top of the world. That number meant that I was finally a success and that I was attractive.

Of course it didn’t last long. Before I knew it, I ballooned to a whopping 119 pounds. I felt like a failure. Suddenly I went from feeling attractive to feeling like a monster. I was buying a size 20 in clothes to hide my hideous body.

I only wore clothes that hid my massive frame. It was then that I sought help and entered treatment for my eating disorder. I never considered myself anorexic nor bulimic, I went because I was a straight up binge eater and my weight was out of control. Again I only weighed 119 pounds.

One of the things we had to do was exercise. I felt so hideous that my workout clothes consisted of my huge potato sack skirt that reached the floor and a huge over-sized shirt. After all, I didn’t want anyone to see how big I was.

I spent 28 days in treatment and left the same as when I went in.

laurel2 — On left: Weight down, feel great /
On right: Weight up again – note the baggy clothes

Over the past decades, I have gained and lost 20 pounds.

My biggest weight loss successes came when I was competing in bodybuilding. Those were the days. Some how I managed to stay with a strict diet for 12 weeks. I ate by the clock every 2-3 hours. My meals consisted of boiled chicken, rice, cold sweet potatoes and broccoli. It wasn’t good, but it was what I ate. Food was not longer enjoyable. I even traveled to Las Vegas on vacation for a week with my cooler full of food.

On the day of my contests, my body fat was approximately, 18% and yet I still had a wad of fat on the back of my legs. I guess I should mention that I am of Hispanic, Italian descent. We have some meaty thighs! God, how I hate them.

It took about 3-4 weeks after each contest to gain back 20 pounds. I had no idea how to transition back to normal eating. I went from a ripped, lean size 0, back to what I felt was a fat, over weight woman.

The next few years, I gained and lost 15-20 pounds through various diets and exercise plans.

Now I sit here writing this, ashamed. I am 51 years old and I’m still struggling with weight and body image.

Laurel5 — **On left: Weight up… Again / On right: Starting yet another diet…**

As fitness professional, I know better. But, first and foremost, I am a woman. I am woman who has struggled with her weight, self-image, self-esteem and body image for 40 years.

Trust me, I have done every diet out there. I have done Paleo, I have done the Whole30, I have gone off sugar, I have gone off carbs, I have detoxed, I have done Precision Nutrition, I have eaten low fat, high fat, low protein, high protein, I have kept food journals. I have counted calories and I have measured my food. I have done tons of cardio, I have lifted heavy weights…I have done it all.

I still go through the same emotions and behaviors. I lose around 7-10 pounds. I feel great. I feel attractive. I feel successful. I go shopping and buy cute clothes and wear them with pride. Then I gain the weight back. My self-esteem, body image and confidence go to hell. I go back to my baggy clothes.

So, is there a point in life and I am asking anyone who is reading this blog, in which you stop the madness and just accept who you are, accept and love your body and quit torturing yourself? Or do you continue the self-destructive mental and physical abuse?

At 51 years old, I’m tired of fighting this. I’m tired of hating and fighting with my body. I want to enjoy my life and I want to just enjoy food. Damnit, I want to eat cake and not feel like a loser and not feel judged and not feel guilty.

I know I am not alone. I have clients who have been coming to me for years who pretty much do the same. We have transformation contests with pretty amazing results. After the contest is over, they end up where they started. I have clients who, after coming for years look pretty much the same. They work hard, their health has improved tremendously, but they are still overweight. Is that so bad?

As fitness professionals, we post before and after pictures of our best client’s transformations. However, when I see group pictures of clients working out, there are some who are over weight and obese and I know those clients have been coming to those classes for a very long time. It happens in gyms, in boot camps, in Kettlebell classes and in Crossfit.

Now I know that other fitness professionals will judge me because I am fitness professional and I should look the part. What is the part? Many of my new clients, when asked what their goals are, say they want arms like mine.

One of the things I am guilty of that just adds fuel to my already low self-esteem fire is that I compare myself to other women on Facebook who are leaner and stronger. I know those are part of the issues I need to work on.

I don’t know the answers. I don’t know what to tell my clients who struggle with the same issues. When is it time to quit the madness?

Laurel4 — **On left: Weight back up, ashamed.. / On right: Diet success, feeling great**

One thing that really helps me is to understand different body types. We are all different. I will never be a skinny girl even though I have tried. My brothers and my oldest son struggle to put on weight. They are tall and thin with nice long legs. My sisters and I are short with short, muscular legs. No matter how hard I try and how lean I get, I will not have tall, lean legs. I know I can have a lean upper body, but my legs will always be and look heavier.

One of the things that help me, is the website that has pictures of some of the world’s most elite athletes. You will see they have completely different body types depending on their sport. None of them are the same.

http://reelfoto.blogspot.com/2012/08/howard-schatz-and-beverly-ornstein.html

I am not writing this blog to get pity and I am certainly not writing it to get any more advice.

If you are one of those who have never struggled with weight, or if you are one of those who have fought the weight loss battle and won, without having to fight the demons of self-loathing and constant failures, then you will never be able to wrap your head around this. As fitness professionals however, we need to understand that for some of your clients that struggle with this, we have to understand and we have to be able to help them.

Another diet, another food journal and harder workouts will not take care of the underlying emotional issues surrounding this issue.

So what are we to do?

Is quitting the madness and focusing on health instead of losing weight so bad? Do we support and affirm their efforts on improving their health or are we focused on their weight loss?

Do we refer them out for help, for counseling?

I go to counseling and have been on anti-depressants since I was a teenager. Many of our clients have never been and maybe it’s time. Do we do them a disservice by not addressing this issue?

I ask you to please share this blog in the hopes that it helps someone and starts a conversation that I think needs to happen. I really put myself out there and I would like to think I didn’t do this in vain.

***

Laurel Blackburn is an RKC Team Leader and owner of Boot Camp Fitness and Training and Tallahassee Kettlebells. Look for Laurel at www.bootcampstogo.com or www.tallahasseekettlebells.com.

At 51, she is out to prove that age is just a number. Her goal is to motivate and inspire people everywhere, both young and old that strength, flexibility and mobility can get better with age. Follow her adventures on her blog: www.SuperStrongNana.com.

Being Purposefully Primitive

March 13, 2013 By Steve "Coach Fury" Holiner 3 Comments

It was a particularly great day at Five Points Academy, when my boss and mentor, Steve Milles (RKC II, CK-FMS, CICS) told me in no uncertain terms that we would be going to Marty Gallagher’s Purposeful Primitive Workshop last year. Of course we were! The workshop had the added bonus of being hosted by our friend, and the man who was my RKC Level I and II Team Leader, Phil Scarito. Throw in that it was within driving distance from NYC and was literally located right next to the hotel (and a Hooters) and we were stoked.

Written by Marty Gallagher and published by Dragon Door, The Purposeful Primitive is an amazing book filled with info on how many of the world’s strongest men train. Having spent a couple of years primarily using kettlebells, I went to the workshop hoping to sharpen up my barbell skills. I could have sliced a can in half after the PP weekend. It was two full days learning from Marty himself and the one and only Captain Kirk Karwoski. Aside from the great education you pick up at these types of events, I also got to meet some mighty fine people including Cole Summers, Tristan Phillips, John Heinz and Donald Blake Berry among others. Plus, I got to hear some ridiculously funny stories hanging out with Marty and Kirk at Hooters.

One of Marty’s core training principles is “making the light weights heavy to make the heavy weights light.” It’s all about creating and maintaining high levels of tension regardless of poundage while upholding stellar technique. This fit in perfectly with my hardstyle training and much of my own personal philosophies. I take nothing for granted and treat all weights with respect.

The small but information laden manual outlined a pretty straightforward and mildly intimidating 12 week periodization program. I was amped up to start… but I had CK-FMS the following week, then the final Summit of Strength, followed by assisting Brett Jones at a CICS, and finally assisting on Team Heinz at the Philly RKC. My barbell domination kept getting put on hold until I was able to truly focus on it. And focus on it I did.

The program is based on starting percentages of your current PR (Personal Record/Best) in the Back Squat/300, Bench Press/300, Deadlift/445 and Military Press/185. The reps sets are as follows:

Week 1-4
Squat 3×8
Bench Press 3×8
Deadlift 3×6
Military Press 3×8

Week 2-8
Squat 3×5
Bench Press 3×5
Deadlift 3×4
Military Press 3×5

Week 9-12 (or singles)
Squat 3×2
Bench Press 3×2
Deadlift 3×2
Military Press 3×2

Week 13
PRs baby!

10 pounds is added to the BS, DL and BP every week. 5 pounds is added to the MP. I trained the BS and BP on Mondays and the DL and MP on Thursdays with my training partner Mike Patrick. I would sometimes do a third variety day consisting of barbell rows, kettlebell windmills and some arm work. Captain Kirk was gracious enough to look over my program and give me the greenlight to kill it.

Getting back on the topic of focus. Simply put, I have never been more focused in my life. I stopped doing Muay Thai kickboxing completely during these 12 weeks because I didn’t want any kicks to my legs or knees to my ribs to affect my lifts. I saved myself entirely for my lift days. My mental prep for the day’s lifts would begin as soon as I woke. By the time I arrived at the gym, I might as well have had Braveheart face-paint on. I started to develop some OCD about what rack and plates I would use. Nothing changed but the weight on the bar.

About the OCD, it got out of hand. I found myself failing reps because something random entered my mental lifting zone. I was also relying too much on music for motivation.

As the weeks progressed, I slammed into two walls that derailed what my original goals were. The first time I missed a planned rep was on the bench press at 225. I was actually shocked. Kirk and I talked about it and he essentially told me to “get my head out of my ass and not let it happen again.” He was 100% correct. I don’t care how much you lift if you are unable to handle blunt and honest advice. Strength of character is more important than strength of body.

The next time I failed was also on the bench. 3 sets of 5×245 became extremely difficult. 400 on the deadlift became my second nemesis. Not only was a I failing the lifts, but as opposed to the 225 bench fail, this time I truly felt they were out of my reach and that my form was suffering into the hazard to myself realm. The DL struggle was expected. I had never really repped over 400 before. It was always singles leading up to the max in that range. The bench was a surprise though. After consulting with Phil Scarito, I dropped both lifts back two weeks to the last time they were accomplished under solid form and started adding 5 pounds instead of 10 a week. This was fantastic advice. After three weeks, I was able to start adding 10 again.

As much as I struggled with my deadlift and bench, I excelled in the squat and military press. The back squat literally felt easier every week. Same with the MP. At this point, I want to add that all of my formal strength training started in the kettlebell world. I never truly trained with barbells properly before. My max lifts aren’t jaw dropping but as a 40 year old banged up skateboarder, I’m damn proud of them.

Eventually, week 13 came up and I managed to hit two new PRs. I added 25 to my back squat with 325 and added 10 to my military press with 195. I broke even on the DL and BP though I know my form is better and that I’m stronger in the higher weights within my PR range.

Here are my exact numbers through the program:

WEEK 1: SQUAT 3X8 195. BENCH 3×8 185. DEAD 3×6 345. PRESS 3×8 105.

WEEK 2: SQUAT 3X8 205. BENCH 3×8 195. DEAD 3×6 355. PRESS 3×8 110.

WEEK 3: SQUAT 3X8 215. BENCH 3×8 205. DEAD 3×6 365. PRESS 3×8 115.

WEEK 4: SQUAT 3X8 225. BENCH 3×8 215. DEAD 3×4 375. PRESS 3×8 120.

WEEK 5: SQUAT 3X5 235. BENCH 3×5 225. DEAD 3×4 385. PRESS 3×5 125.

WEEK 6: SQUAT 3X5 245. BENCH 3×5 245. DEAD 3×4 395. PRESS 3×5 130.

WEEK 7: SQUAT 3X5 255. BENCH 3×5 245. DEAD 3×405. PRESS 3×5 135.

WEEK 8: SQUAT 3X5 265. BENCH 3×5 255. DEAD 3×4 385. PRESS 3×5 140.

WEEK 9: SQUAT 3X3 275. BENCH 3×3 255. DEAD 3×3 390. PRESS 3×3 145.

WEEK 10: SQUAT 3X3 285. BENCH 3×3 265. DEAD 3×3 400. PRESS 3×3 150.

WEEK 11: SQUAT 3X2 295 BENCH 2×2 275. 1×275. DEAD 3×405 2×1 405. PRESS 3×2 165.

WEEK 12: SQUAT 3X2 305. BENCH 3×1 285. DEAD 2×405. 2×415. 2×1 425. PRESS 3×2 175.

WEEK 13: SQUAT 325. Failed at 355. BENCH 295. Failed at 305. DEAD 425. Failed at 455. PRESS 195. Failed at 205.

This was a great program. Five Points Academy Instructors, Chris Nagel and Lance Turnbow, both went through it and added impressive pounds to their previous best. Chris added a whopping 55 pounds to his back squat and 25 to his bench.

Marty’s book is amazing and the workshop is everything you would hope for. Not to mention it makes your soul feel good when someone of Marty Gallagher’s stature compliments you on a lift. I often feel that workshops that are not directly run by one of the bigger organizations are often overlooked. This is one of them. Do not miss it the next time the opportunity arises. It deserves to be on your must do list. Now go buy the book while you wait for the next workshop to be scheduled.

Yours in strength and fury,

Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner

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About Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner, RKC II, CK-FMS, CICS, DVRT 2: Proudly claiming Five Points Academy in NYC as his home base, Steve “Coach Fury” Holiner is an RKCLevel II Certified Kettlebell Instructor, a Certified Indian Club Specialist and a Primal Move Coach. He is also CK-FMS Certified and uses the Functional Movement System to help predict and avoid the possibility of injury in his clients. As a DVRT Level 2 Coach, Steve created the first dedicated Ultimate Sandbag class program. Steve is a certified TRX Training Instructor and an Assistant Muay Thai Kickboxing Instructor. Through his guidance, Steve has helped people pass their HKC, RKC and RKC Level II certifications. With over 35 people registered, Steve was the lead coach for the Five Points Academy team in the May 2012 Tactical Strength Challenge. Two of Steve’s female clients qualified for the Power To The People Deadlift Team at the TSC. Steve has been published in the Power by Pavel newsletter, had articles and videos shared by Josh Henkin and written guest blogs.

Founded by Steve in 2011, Coach Fury’s Kettlebell Club (CFKC) has brought hardstyle kettlebell training to Brooklyn, NY.