Florian Kiendl

Why I Like Hardstyle Kettlebell Training

June 14, 2017 By Florian Kiendl 1 Comment

Florian Kiendl RKC Kettlebell Pistol

Whenever I use the phrase “Hardstyle kettlebell”, I find it funny that it is very descriptive if you know the style of training, but at the same time it’s very confusing for someone new to kettlebell training.

An outsider might infer that Hardstyle is a very harsh and intense style of kettlebell training. But, this is not the case. Obviously, any kettlebell work is relatively intense—and the only limit to that intensity is your own physical ability. But, that’s not the point of Hardstyle.

Hardstyle doesn’t defined how hard we train, instead it describes how hard we move. How hard a given workout seems will depend on the volume (total reps), density (time) and intensity (weight or variation) you choose. On the other hand, how hard you execute every single movement does not describe the overall intensity of your training session. A single Hardstyle swing feels more intense than its competition style counterpart, but that still does not depict the whole training session. In the Hardstyle community, we frequently joke about “being lazy” since we do fewer reps harder instead of more reps with lower intensity.

There Are No Hardstyle Kettlebell Competitions…

With Hardstyle technique, it is difficult to compare one athlete with another. For example, performing 100 true Hardstyle swings is a challenging workout, while doing the same number of 90% less than Hardstyle swings will feel much easier. An athlete using competition style technique might choose the same 100 swings as warm-up because his movements are intended to conserve energy.

Even in our well known and feared RKC snatch test, we do not ask for 100 true Hardstyle reps. This is not because it’s nearly impossible to work at the required pace with 100 % pure Hardstyle technique, but because it takes a very experienced referee to see the difference between 90 % snatches and 100 % snatches. The test is still hard enough—believe me. You can’t “win” the snatch test, it’s pass or fail only.

Florian Kiendl RKC Kettlebell Windmill

Why I Like Hardstyle Kettlebell Training

As Max Shank regularly says, “We are all unique little snowflakes and therefore everyone is different.” Some people can work with the same three exercises for years and make incredible progress, while others need to switch their program every four weeks to stay on track. Some people will need a clearly defined goal to work towards, while others work like mules day in and day out. Competitions can be a strong motivation for training, but that same motivation can come at a high price. Whenever you compare yourself with others (who naturally may be younger, bigger, faster, etc.) you will need to overcome your own limitations to defeat them. It is one thing to move past your limits through dedicated training as opposed to working past them by sheer will, or guts to win a competition. It all gets easier with practice, but you must pay your dues. Considering that most elite athletes quit competing before age thirty, the physical price must be high.

Florian Kiendl RKC Kettlebell Clean In my opinion, it is wiser to train in a way that gradually builds you up over time. Work for your health while prepare yourself for whatever might come.

Are You Against All Competitions?

No. If you are motivated by competition, then you should definitely make that personality trait work for you. And even if you don’t like competing, it is still a good idea to try it now and then to gain a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. But don’t compete in your training. Hardstyle kettlebell training can provide you with the physical and mental fortitude to succeed in almost any athletic discipline. Use it to prepare yourself for competing in your chosen sport. Obviously, you will also need to train the skills of your sport, but be careful not to mix skill training and physical preparedness. To improve your skills, you should always try to train when you are relatively fresh. When physical preparedness is the goal, you will need more load to force your body to adapt.

Have fun, train safely, and compete wisely!

***

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 comments on the article feel free to email him at florian@kettlebellgermany.de.

Kettlebell Ballistics Analyzed

December 21, 2016 By Florian Kiendl 7 Comments

RKC Team Leader Florian Kiendl Beast Swings

Like many worthwhile exercises, ballistic movements can be taught in a few hours, but need to be practiced for years on end. To stay sharp with the Hardstyle techniques we use in the RKC system, we always need to pay attention to every detail. The reason is simple yet profound: Hardstyle ballistics are self-ruining. Our central nervous system is programmed to optimize any repetitive motion for energy efficiency. Hardstyle ballistic movements are designed to do the exact opposite—create maximum power output. This is also one reason why RKC Instructors are required to recertify on a regular basis.

In this post, I will analyze the RKC kettlebell ballistic exercises step by step. It should be obvious that no ballistic exercise can ever be performed “step by step”. For example, with the kettlebell swing, the trainee does not (or at least should not) force the kettlebell back down from the top, instead they should just wait for it to come back down.

I would suggest that beginners reading this post bookmark it and save it until after finding an RKC instructor and performing at least 10,000 Hardstyle swings. My intention with this post is to go into great detail and give advanced trainees and instructors a reference. This approach is not suitable for beginners as all the details will only confuse him or her.

Hardstyle Kettlebell Ballistics Defined

The term “ballistic” describes any movement that occurs without external forces applied to the moving object. For any object on the face of the earth to move in a truly ballistic fashion, it must be accelerated with more force than gravity, and then left alone. The bigger the force and the faster the acceleration, the more kinetic energy will be stored in the object, causing the object to fly higher and farther. As soon the object enters the ballistic phase, it uses up its kinetic energy. When the kinetic energy becomes weaker than the gravitational pull, it starts to fall. Depending on the angle between the gravitational pull and the direction of the movement, the ballistic trajectory will be steep or flat. But, when all the stored energy is eventually used up, the object will fall freely towards the center of gravity.

Humans basically perform two types of ballistic movements: jumping (the human moves in a ballistic fashion) and throwing (the human moves an object in an ballistic fashion). In both cases, the human must generate the force for the acceleration and then release it. In the second example, the thrower releases the object after the acceleration phase, and there is no way to change the object’s trajectory after it has been released. When we jump, we also release control temporarily—we can’t change direction mid-jump—but we can hopefully catch ourselves on impact. Both types of “human ballistics” require speed and power at the same time.

The Kettlebell’s Little Secret

The kettlebell’s offset center of gravity allows the user to combine both forms of “human-ballistics” into a single exercise. In many ways, a kettlebell swing is almost identical to a vertical jump. The only difference is that a vertical jump is a triple extension (the hip, knee and ankle open together) while the swing is only a double extension (the hip and knee open, while the ankle does not open keeping the feet firmly on the ground). Another similarity to a jump is that all the momentum generated during the swing, must be caught during the back swing. If you were wondering how the swing is also a throw, take your kettlebell outside, do a swing and release it at its apex!

Simply put, when you train with kettlebell ballistics, you train the two most explosive and powerful movement patterns at the same time.

Ballistics Analyzed

Enough talk about why kettlebell ballistics are so cool… now, let’s analyze the motion.

Since the swing, clean and snatch are basically the same movement, and the same principles apply, I’ve tried to keep the analysis fairly generic. Significant differences will be discussed when necessary. Whenever you find something to improve in your own technique, make sure to practice and fix the least complex movements first before moving on to more difficult movements.

The ladder of complexity:

Kettlebell sumo deadlift: not a ballistic motion, but any problems with the hip hinge and the lockout of the hips should be fixed here first. Don’t be afraid to use really heavy kettlebells with this movement.
Dead stop swing: Isolated single reps of the two-hand swing force you to start strong each time and prevents the deterioration of your technique from rep to rep.
Two-hand swing: This is the simplest ballistic movement. It has all the aspects of force generation and deceleration, but without the anti-rotation aspects. However, if you struggle to keep your shoulders packed in the one-arm swing, first practice with the two hand version.
One-arm swing: This is the first step of the progression where you practice anti-rotation.
Snatch: This is a one-arm swing, that ends in the overhead lockout position. Safely landing the kettlebell in the overhead lockout position adds even more complexity.
Clean: In my experience, this is the most difficult ballistic skill to learn. With the snatch, you can usually go full throttle, but the clean requires you to use an exact amount of force so it can land crisply but cleanly in the rack position—all without changing the basic movement pattern.

Action Required:

To get the most from the above information, take a short video of your swings (film them from the side). Then, look at each part of your swing. Use an app with a slow motion feature (I use Coach’s Eye). If you struggle with other ballistic exercises, shoot videos of them as well.

Obviously, ballistic movements are fast and cannot be paused. It is also difficult—if not impossible—to control or modify the movement in real-time. So, all of the thinking has to happen before the kettlebell leaves the ground. Use your imagination and visualize the motion in vivid detail before actually executing it. This is the best way to improve your ballistic skills.

Hint for Instructors:

If you train people with kettlebells, do not correct them while they are working. Instead, have them set the kettlebell down, then explain before having them try again. Short hints usually work for people who already know the problem and only need a quick reminder. But instructions using more than four words must wait until the kettlebell is safely parked.

Mirrors:

When you train in front of a mirror—common in many gyms—refrain from analyzing your technique. I usually turn away and have my back to the mirror whenever possible. Again, if you want to know how your ballistics look, use a camera. The goal of any technique work should be that you can feel if you are doing it right rather than see your mistakes.

Notes:

Mastering ballistic drills should be thought of as a project that can never truly be completed. Striving for perfection is a worthy goal, but it is madness to expect to reach perfection. As in the martial arts, there is always something to improve. A good ballistic rep should be poetry in motion, smooth and powerful! Jerky motions should be avoided, and the kettlebell should look weightless.

Have fun practicing!

The Ballistic Phases

Once again, the following breakdown of the kettlebell ballistic movements is intended to give you a deeper understanding of the mechanics, not to teach the techniques. Some phases are long (relative to the full motion) and others happen in an instant. The length of my explanations do not correspond with the length or importance of the phase.

Loading:

Any ballistic kettlebell drill requires a deep hip hinge, for proper loading. This is why I expect all my students to start their swings, cleans and snatches with a hike pass instead of a pendulum motion. I agree with master Bruce Lee who stated, “I fear not the man who trained 10,000 kicks, but the one who trained one kick 10,000 times.” Following this train of thought, this is why I do not like the idea of starting each set with several substandard movements to gather enough momentum for cleaner technique.

After you hike the kettlebell backwards off the floor and between your legs, let the weight pull you back into a nice hip hinge. It does not matter if you work heavy or light or if you are doing swings, cleans or snatches—this stage should look always the same. Obviously, it should also look the same for every rep.

Drill:

Get into the starting position. Have a partner hold a clipboard behind your butt at a distance the size as the body of the kettlebell. In other words, in the deepest position of the back swing, the body of the kettlebell should stand out behind you while your spine stays neutral. Now hike the kettlebell back for a swing, clean or snatch and try to hit the clipboard. The goal of this drill is to hit the clipboard with each hike pass. You can do the same drill with swings, cleans or snatches.

Acceleration

If your hike pass and back swing are good, then there is not much that can go wrong while you accelerate the kettlebell. The elastic energy generated during the loading phase of the swing practically catapults the kettlebell forward. But, if you did not load your hips properly, or did not keep a neutral spine, then you will have problems.

Be very careful while learning new skills. For some reason, it’s common for someone who has already leaned to properly load his hips to forget what he learned when confronted with a more complex technique.

Whenever an advanced technique like the clean or the snatch feels overly complicated, and you have a hard time controlling the kettlebell, review the more fundamental exercises (like the swing). Often, you will find minor flaws will translate into bigger problems when the movement becomes more complex.

Force Transfer

Compared to the previous two phases, force transfer happens in an instant. It takes a trained eye to see if it was good or not. If the force transfer is weak, the whole exercise is weak, so it is important to get this one right.

Force transfer happens exactly in the instant of the upswing when your hip joint fully opens. Before that, you accelerate the kettlebell, but when your hips lock out, the kettlebell moves with the stored kinetic energy you generated during acceleration phase. You might have noticed while driving your car that the harder you hit the break, the more you get pressed into your seatbelt. This is because more of the built up kinetic energy remains in the object (you in the car or your kettlebell during the swing).

How to “hit the brakes hard” when locking out your hips:

Contract your glutes as hard as possible. (Sounds familiar, right?)
Simultaneously brace your abs as if you are waiting for a punch.
Press your feet into the ground and contract your thighs. (Leave burning footprints!)
Activate your lats and pack your shoulders.
Exhale sharply through closed teeth.
All of this should be happen in the instant your hips are fully open. The better your timing, the better and safer your swing will be.

Up until this step, the movement for all of the ballistic exercises is identical. No matter if you swing, clean or snatch the kettlebell, to this point all three drills look exactly the same.

The Rise

If you succeeded in passing kinetic energy to the kettlebell, the major part of your task is already done. You can not—and should not try to—do anything to give the kettlebell any more power than it has right now. However, you can still ruin the result!

Swing

In the kettlebell swing, your only task is to stay grounded while you hold on to the kettlebell. Do this by keeping your glutes, abs, and lats tight. While staying tight, try to let your arms be as loose as possible so the kettlebell can rise freely. You will know you are doing it correctly when your body forms a straight line from heels to the top of your head and the kettlebell is in line with your arms.

If the kettlebell hangs down on the top of the swing, you are pulling with your arms. On the other hand, if the bottom of the kettlebell tilts upward, you are holding your arms too tightly, hindering the upwards movement.

How high should you swing?

Everything between chest and eye level is ok. Think of the swing as a throw: instead of swinging the kettlebell high, aim at a point several meters in front of you. It helps to imagine someone you don’t like standing there!

Clean and Snatch

For the clean and snatch, the task is much more complex. First you have to lead the kettlebell, instead of just letting it float upwards. Secondly, you need to maneuver your hand into the respective end position. While you practice this, make sure your swing mechanics up it this point stay constant. I often see beginners struggle with the clean and the snatch because they fail to generate enough power from the hips. I think that the clean adds more difficulty to the equation because–unlike the swing and the snatch—you need to carefully control the amount of power you generate to propel the kettlebell to the exact height of the rack position. Obviously the amount of power differs greatly when cleaning a 8kg or a 40kg kettlebell. This is also why I have my beginners practice the snatch before I teach them the clean.

Florian Kiendl double kettlebell clean

Step by Step:

After your hips lock out, the kettlebell will try to follow the same flight path as the swing. For the clean and snatch, this is not optimal, because the kettlebell would travel too far away from the body and land with too much force when it comes back. To let it rise closer to your body, hold it back as if you are doing a row.

When you have successfully modified the flight path, the next challenge is to hit the parking position before the kettlebell comes crashing down on you. To accomplish this, your hand has to travel faster than the kettlebell rises.

In the case of the clean, you can think of it as closing a zipper. The right point to “close the zipper” is when the kettlebell passes your navel.
For the snatch it is easier, when the kettlebell passes your line of sight, just shove your fist straight up as if you are celebrating a victory.

In both cases, you will modify the flight path right when your arm connects with the kettlebell, but before the kettlebell has stopped moving upwards. You will surely feel it when you get it right, even though it is sometimes hard to see on video.

If you follow these hints, your snatch should work quite well, but there can still be issues with the clean. Try to clean with different weights to learn how to use the right amount of power.

Warning! If taped on video, your cleans should look the same no matter what weight you use. Don’t change the movement pattern, only change the amount of power you generate.

Self Diagnosis for Clean and Snatch

The following table gives you hints you can use to pin down common problems in your cleans and snatches:

kettlebell troubleshooting chart

The Apex

This phase is only relevant for the swing since in the clean and the snatch, the kettlebell rests in its respective parking position. In the swing, the kettlebell is allowed to use up its energy without user interaction. But, you can also use this instant for any interaction with the kettlebell (hand switches, flips, etc.). Everything I wrote so far impacts the behavior of the kettlebell in this phase. The kettlebell becomes still in the apex if and only if you get all of it right! If you find it difficult to pass the kettlebell from one hand to the other, try to figure out in which phase you lost (or failed to generate) tension. Practice it and when you feel you mastered it, come back and retry the hand switch. You will wonder why you ever had any problems!

Up Swing / The Drop

When the kettlebell has either used up all of its energy, or you have decided to drop it, it will fall back down towards mother earth. There’s not much more you can do to improve this, don’t even try. In case of the swing, any interference on your part will result in ruining the next rep. With the clean and snatch, there is also a high probability that you hurt your elbow. The only thing you should be doing is standing tight and wait until the kettlebell eventually tries to pull you down. Don’t resist, but break at the hips and smoothly hinge back. Make sure not to bend over, but just move your butt back while keeping your spine neutral.

The Catch / Reload

Now we have completed the full circle and are back where we started. Use the kinetic energy freed from the drop to load your hips and explode into the next rep.

Setup and Start

As already explained, you can not approach ballistics step by step. As soon as the kettlebell moves, the die is cast. Minor adjustments are still possible but if your setup sucks, your swings will too. I recommend creating your own little ritual to perform every time you approach a kettlebell.

Mine goes like this:

I step up to the kettlebell and firmly plant my feet.
I stand straight for a short moment and then tighten up to remind me what the top position should feel. I use this step only when I initially approach the bell, not between sets.
I place the side of my hands in the creases of my hips and shove myself into the hip hinge. I do this to remind myself how the bottom position of the swing should feel (skipped between sets).
I grip the handle with both hands and try to break the handle. This activates my lats. When I feel my lats, I soften the grip.
If I want to work one handed, I remove one hand from the handle and center the remaining hand on the handle.
At this point I lean back slightly, anchoring myself with the kettlebell (it is tilted towards me). This last step removes all the slack to avoid a jerky first rep.

You may think this sequence would take me as much as thirty seconds or more to get ready to swing, but that’s not the case. When I teach and am taking my time it only takes about 2-3 seconds. When I am training, I run through it so fast than an observer may not even notice what’s happening.

Create your own routine that gives you the best results, and practice it until it becomes second nature.

When you are set up and ready to start your swing, make sure to go all out from the first rep onward. Your set should always start with a powerful rep rather than building up speed from rep to rep. That is why I recommend the dead stop swing, it lets you practice your setup routine with every rep and you will become accustomed to starting your sets strong.

***

HardStyle Breathing: On and Off

April 6, 2016 By Florian Kiendl 16 Comments

Florian Kiendl breathing

Breathing is an important key to performance. If you neglect it, you leave a big piece of the performance puzzle on the table.

If your mission (like mine) is to reach the apex of your physical potential—or get as close as possible—you should consciously use your breathing to reach your goals.

Why is breathing so important?

Our nervous system is divided in two parts: the autonomous nervous system and the cerebrospinal nervous system. These are complicated words for a fairly simple distinction. The autonomous nervous system (ANS) basically works on its own. Some of the tasks of the autonomous nervous system include your heartbeat, digestion, metabolism and the workings of your internal organs.

The other part of the nervous system, the cerebrospinal nervous system, is the part we are concerned with in our training. It enables us to consciously interact by:

Perceiving our surroundings with our senses
Reacting with the muscles in our bodies

If you ask a doctor, he probably will tell you that breathing is a function of autonomous nervous system that runs quite fine without conscious interaction on your part. While this is an objectively correct answer, it is not the whole picture. Unfortunately, many trainers leave it at this, and are ignoring the huge potential for performance enhancement.

The problem is, your autonomous nervous system does not know about your plans or your situation. The ANS reacts instinctively on perceived threats—if you encounter a dangerous situation, the ANS releases adrenaline to raise your heart rate, increase your breathing frequency, and to prime your muscles for the fight and flight response. This mechanism helped our ancestors survive to produce the next generation. However, the ANS reaction is not always the best option—especially not for athletic endeavors where energy management is often critical for success.

The RKC Snatch Test is one of those situations where breathing can easily fail you, if don’t take control. Anybody who has taken it knows that it is a staggering experience. Your energy consumption suddenly goes through the roof as a heavy iron kettlebell beats down on your body. If you are not accustomed to it, your nervous system will perceive the situation as an immediate threat, and trigger an adrenaline reaction. Initially, this will help you to use more of your strength. But if you do not take control, you will overexert yourself in the first three minutes, and probably fail in the end—or at least it will make it all much harder than necessary.

The benefits of taking control of your breathing:

It allows you to consciously manipulate certain functions of your autonomous nervous system (i.e. keep your heart rate down).
It ensures you do not prematurely overexert yourself.
It gives you extra power when you need it.
It helps you to relax.
It quickens your recovery.

How to do it correctly…

In the RKC, we have explicit instructions for breathing in each of our main exercises. The basic idea is to inhale during the negative phase of a movement, where the least power and stabilization is needed. The short and forceful exhalation should optimally be timed with the moment of highest demand in power and/or stability during the active phase. This principle creates a very distinct rhythm for each exercise. The two major categories to differentiate exercises are ballistics and grinds, but individual exercises also benefit if the breathing pattern matches the exact demands.

The Inhale:

There is a saying in the martial arts:
“When your opponent inhales through his mouth, victory is almost yours.”

I’ve made this observation in many sparring matches. Whenever I see my opponent’s mouth opening, I throw a few fast kicks and punches his way. Usually, the match will be over in seconds. My Taekwondo grandmaster, Son Jong Ho, even stated only the first and last breath should be through the mouth.

Practice nose breathing deeply into the abdomen to create pressure below your navel. When you use this technique in a kettlebell session, you will be able to keep your heart rate much lower, which will give you more endurance and power. When you begin to practice nose breathing, you will soon feel the urge to open your mouth, but try to resist it! The longer you practice, the better it will feel.

A little experiment: Lie on your stomach with your forehead resting on your hands. Inhale deeply through your mouth. You will feel your chest expanding during each breath. Now switch to breathing through the nose. You will immediately feel your belly pressing into the floor and your chest will stop heaving. The difference is that while breathing through the nose, your diaphragm will pull your lungs down into your abdomen, increasing the pressure in your lower abdomen. If your core muscles are engaged—as they should be whenever you touch a kettlebell, this will lead to much more core stability and therefore safety. On the other hand, an inhalation through the mouth mainly engages the chest and shoulders. If those muscles are tensed during a kettlebell swing, your breathing will be severely constricted. If you need more oxygen while breathing through the mouth, you will need to inhale more often, reducing the time oxygen will be processed in your lungs. Eventually, this will lead to hyperventilation and a breakdown of your performance.

Pressurized Exhalations

Breathing is a very versatile tool. When used correctly, it can benefit you in many different situations. For our purposes, we need it to enhance stability and power during our kettlebell workouts.

We use short, pressurized exhales like hisses or shouts to increase tension and avoid losing too much air. If you fully exhale, your abdomen is completely emptied and your core muscles have nothing to hold against. Imagine a car tire. When it is filled with the correct pressure, it is hard and sturdy, but the stability goes away when it starts losing air. Stability is completely lost when it is empty.

When exhaling during kettlebell drills, do it with your lips almost closed and the tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. If this makes a hissing sound, you are doing it right.

Breathing Patterns for the RKC Kettlebell Exercises

As each exercise demands a different pattern of stability and power, the optimal breathing pattern for each exercise will also be different.

Breathing for Swings

The most basic ballistic kettlebell exercise is obviously the swing. This exercise gives the kettlebell its unmatched effectiveness and safety.

The passive phase of the swing, when the kettlebell drops freely from the apex of the swing, requires almost no effort until it is caught in a deep hip hinge. Therefore, this is the time for a deep inhale to the lower abdomen, the area where we need the most internal pressure. This also provides the necessary stability during the catch. For the optimal intra-abdominal pressure, you will need to inhale through the nose. When you start practicing this, you might get the impression that you are not getting enough oxygen, so take your time and adjust the intensity of your training. With practice, you will find that you can inhale much more deeply and get much more oxygen.

When catching the kettlebell from the drop, hold your breath for maximum intra-abdominal pressure. The exhalation should be as short and forceful as you can make it and timed exactly for the moment when your hips lock out at the top of the swing. In the kettlebell swing, the time between the hip snap and the moment when the kettlebell reaches its apex is almost identical. It will be more explosive if you focus on synchronizing the exhale with your hip snap.

Breathing for Cleans and Snatches

The basic movement pattern of the clean and snatch should be identical to the swing. The inhalation and exhalation also follows the exact same principle. Be aware that with the snatch (especially) there is significant time between the hip snap and the arrival of the kettlebell in the overhead lock out. The right timing will make an even bigger difference than in the swing.

But, there is also another difference between the swing, and the clean and snatch that we need to consider for the optimal breathing pattern. This difference is the built-in pause at the top position of both exercises. While the swing is a closed-chain exercise (meaning that every rep is immediately followed by the next without a discernible pause), the clean and snatch are not. After the initial rep, which starts on the floor, each clean or snatch starts and ends at the top. How you handle breathing with this pause will depend on the context of your workout and the exercise.

If you do short sets of snatches for instance, you can simply hold the air and wait for the drop. In a situation where you are doing many snatches in a short time (i.e. Snatch Test) you might need to use this pause to exhale more, thus enabling you to refill with more fresh oxygen. You could even decide to prolong the pause for additional breathing cycles to combat oxygen debt.

If you clean for reps, then you can use the same strategies as in the snatch. If you clean for squats or presses, you should hold your breath in the top position to conserve the tension from the clean.

Breathing for the Get-Up

The get-up is an exercise category in itself, and it needs it very own strategy for breathing. The first challenge is that the get-up (including get down) takes at least 30 seconds (though 60 seconds is recommended). Either way, you will obviously need to breathe several times during one single rep. The second challenge is not to lose tension within the entire rep. To accommodate both demands, you need to shallow breathe while keeping your abs tight at all times (breathing behind the shield). The hardest parts of the get-up are the transitions from one position to the next. To give you the necessary strength, time small but pressurized exhalations with each transition. Refill (inhale) through the nose when you are in a static holding position.

Florian Kiendl split press

Breathing for Presses

Military presses are high tension drills. The more tension you generate, the stronger your press. As already mentioned in the section on the clean, it is essential to conserve the tension generated from a good clean for your press. Make sure not to exhale while you catch the kettlebell in the rack position. Depending on the cardiovascular effort, you may wish to refill your lungs by inhaling again before you actually start the press.

For the press itself, the breathing pattern will depends on your objective:

If you press a light to medium kettlebell for high reps, exhale on the way up, and inhale on the way down.
If you are working with a heavy weight, exhale on the way up, inhale while the bell rests in the lock out, then exhale again while you are actively pulling the kettlebell down. Obviously, you will need to inhale again before you start the next rep.

The inhalation for the press should be through the nose to the lower abdomen as already explained for the other exercises.

The exhalation will last longer than in the ballistic exercises, but will require even more pressure. Make sure not to lose too much pressure!

Breathing for Squats

For a fairly simple exercise like the squat, it is funny that the breathing pattern is (in my opinion) the most complicated for all RKC drills!

First, let’s analyze the squat:

Usually you start with a clean. Do not lose air while catching the kettlebell.
Lower yourself into the squat.
Hold the lowest position until the downward momentum dissipates.
Press yourself back up to the standing position.

The moment you start to rise from the deep squat position (like in the deadlift) is when you need to get the dead weight moving again. It is also when you need to be strongest. To give you some extra tension, initiate the ascent with a forceful grunt followed by a short pressured exhale on the way up.

The purpose of the grunt becomes obvious when you squat heavy, but practice it even with light weights, so you build a habit for when it counts.

During the descent, you will need the least strength. But to best prepare yourself for the ascent, your abdomen should already be pressurized, and you need to get as tight possible. It is easier to fill your abdomen while it is not under strain, so inhale deeply while still standing then hold your breath during the descent.

Breathing During Rests

In the last section, I wrote about breathing while performing kettlebell exercises. If you did not control your breathing during your kettlebell work until now, using the above information will improve your performance considerably. However, there may still be a missing link to your overall performance: breathing patterns for rest periods or in between sets.

The better your breathing pattern fits the demands of your chosen exercise, the more power you can produce and the more continuous reps can you do.

When you set the kettlebell down and release the tension, your body will immediately try to reduce the oxygen debt. For reasons unknown to me, the preferred method to increase the oxygen intake is to suck in air through the mouth. The higher your oxygen debt is, the faster your breath will come. The problem with this method is that it leaves you winded until your oxygen has leveled out. For a martial artist, this would be a good way to lose an encounter. In kettlebell training, it leads to longer recovery periods and a reduced overall work capacity.

Whenever a candidate decides to set the kettlebell down during the RKC Snatch Test, breath control is the crucial factor for the outcome of the test. Almost all candidates who give in to the reflex of sucking air in through the mouth will fail their test because it will take them longer to start snatching again.

Between Sets

Immediately after you set the kettlebell down, the need to suck in air is the strongest. You may even have a sensation of choking! If you open your mouth and start sucking in air, the feeling subsides almost immediately, but it becomes very difficult to return to controlled breathing once you let that happen.

My suggestion is to leave your mouth shut and inhale deeply from the nose down into your groin. If you can stand it, also exhale through the nose. If not, let the air out from your mouth, but close it again before the next inhalation.

With this strategy you can start your next set much faster and keep your heart rate considerably lower.

After Your Training Session or Long Rest

If you opt for longer rest times or have finished today’s workout, the goal is not to start your next set sooner, but to get the most out of your recovery time and release the tension you accumulated. When your oxygen level is back to normal, keep breathing deeply, inhale into the groin and try to exhale slowly while letting loose all tension. You can even close your eyes and focus completely on the airflow through your nose. This will speed up your recovery.

HardStyle Breathing

The techniques I described in this article are by no means the ultimate solution or the only right way to breathe. As mentioned above, breathing is an incredibly versatile tool. There are many breathing techniques out there that do wonders if executed properly for the right purpose. The techniques I’ve described are explicitly aimed to make your kettlebell training safer and more effective.

Please share your experiences down in the comment section below.

Train safe, stay healthy – Florian.

***

The Mindset of Mastery—From Exercising to Practicing

October 21, 2015 By Florian Kiendl 12 Comments

Florian Kiendl Mastery Mindset

Watching any true master perform is always a fascinating experience. To the “average Joe” it looks like magic—he is immediately convinced that the master is a prodigy, and that he himself could never reach such a level. He might wonder why he should even bother trying if his own results will be mediocre at best.

But, when someone who has trod the path to mastery—even in a completely different field—watches the same performance, they understand what it takes to reach a high level of skill, and will value it even more.

What is Mastery?

To most people, mastery means performing at a very high level in a given field. They do not understand that high performance and expertise are actually just mere side effects of true mastery.

In my understanding, the path to mastery begins when someone takes action to deeply and profoundly explore their area of interest. Depending on where they are in their journey, their actual skill level might be high, medium, or even low. But, the difference lies in the approach we take to acquire and improve our skills. The “master to be” focuses on the process of honing and refining his or her skills instead of just quickly producing results. Many great masters of the past in strongman feats, martial arts, or any field of the arts acquired their fame fairly late in life—this is because it took time to achieve their extremely high skill level. But, many of these great masters are still known for their skills today.

Giotto di Bondone, an Italian artist considered to be the pioneer of the Italian Renaissance, was once asked by the emissary of the pope to prove his expertise. So, Giotto drew a perfect freehand circle, knowing that true mastery shows best in details rather than in the final work.

Kettlebell Training Mastery

One great master of our time, Taekwondo Grandmaster Kwon Jae Hwa, put it differently when he stated:

“A black belt is only a white belt who never quit.”

A Word on Competition

These days, when everyone can address the whole world with a few clicks, we are becoming more and more competitive. We humans like to show off our skills, which is a good thing as long as it inspires others to follow along. But when this mutual encouragement turns into a competition, it tends to get ugly. When we compete, the goal often changes from self improvement to fast results for conquering our opponents.

In Germany we have the saying, “Sport ist Mord” which means “sports are murder”. For too many people, this idea is an excuse to be in—and stay in—bad shape. Of course any competitive success comes at a price. In sports, your body pays in the end. High level athletes in almost any discipline have only a few years to earn their fame (and money) before their bodies fail them. Unfortunately this often happens while they are still fairly young.

While I do not oppose competitions, it’s important to keep in mind that the most important reason for exercise and training is to make our bodies as healthy and resilient as possible. If you are a competitive person and like to measure yourself with others, use this trait to keep yourself motivated. But, do not trade a few short moments on the winner’s podium for a lifetime with a healthy body. In my opinion, that trade is never worth it.

To Achieve Mastery, Focus on the Process

To master kettlebell training, you need to increase your knowledge and skills. Try to absorb as much information on the subject as possible, then let your mind make the connections during practice. Every bit of information has its time—you might hear it a hundred times before something suddenly clicks in your mind for the next big leap into mastery. Don’t try to force it, but focus on the process of continual self improvement.

Mastering the Kettlebell

As a martial artist, I got hooked on kettlebells because of the depth of the training. Each and every move—as simple as they might look to the uneducated eye—has loads of subtle details. You can literally practice just the swing for years without ever reaching a point of absolute perfection with the movement. Don’t get me wrong, you do not need to practice the swing or any other RKC move endlessly to get it right. It usually just takes a few weeks to learn all six of the basic exercises in our system. But, once you have learned the basics and decide to really focus on the technique, you will find loads and loads of subtleties to work on for years to come.

Last but not least, kettlebell training has a built-in system to gauge your progress. Whenever you feel like you have mastered a move, start over with a heavier kettlebell.

The reward of this approach to kettlebell training is twofold:

You will never get bored, because there will always be something to work towards.
You are less likely to get frustrated when your progress slows down (which will happen eventually).

Kettlebell Training Mastery

The RKC System—a Masterpiece of Physical Education

You can greatly advance your kettlebell and trainer skills relatively quickly with the RKC system. Dozens of highly skilled trainers from various fields have combined their skills and nearly 15 years of research to create an almost foolproof system. The RKC can turn any motivated candidate into a highly skilled coach and kettlebell athlete within a few short months. Attending one of the three-day RKC Workshops is the pinnacle of this transformation, but only if the candidate has trained hard in the months before—or after the workshop if they were unprepared.

Taking the RKC certification will turn you into a coach who can watch someone move, then systematically help that person improve their athletic abilities. Say goodbye to trial and error, because the RKC provides the tools to make educated decisions about how to proceed with training, based on your observations.

***

Why Kettlebells Will Improve Your Life

July 22, 2015 By Florian Kiendl 25 Comments

In teaching people of all walks of life, I have observed several distinct effects of kettlebell training. Some are obvious, others much less so…

If you are new to kettlebells you might be wondering what impact this new implement might have on you if you start using it consistently. This article should give you a good idea of what to expect, and it will probably strengthen your resolve to give kettlebell training a try.

On the other hand, if you are already an kettlebell expert or an HKC or RKC Instructor, you may find that you have already experienced or witnessed these effects with your clients. When I first started teaching kettlebells, it was sometimes difficult to convince potential clients or new students that kettlebells were right for them. In following paragraphs I will try to summarize my observations regarding the positive impact of kettlebell training.

Kettlebells Are Perfect For Making You Fit in a Limited Amount of Time

We all know that training promotes physical and mental health. What has changed in recent years is that science has now started to explain why. How muscles impact the immune system, or the effects of aerobic exercise on brain function are somewhat new areas of research. In the past, there was only the subjective experience of people like John F. Kennedy or Jack LaLanne who promoted an active lifestyle many years ago, but today we have profound scientific explanations for why everyone needs to move on a regular basis.

Yet, while medical science has started to understand the importance of movement for our overall health, the reality of our lives has also rapidly changed—and many people are more unhealthy than ever before.

Our lives have become faster and more stressful than in the history of mankind. To cope with this increased speed, we rely more and more on technology—therefore we’re moving less than any of our ancestors. Aside from obvious things like driving wherever possible or using escalators instead of stairs, there are more subtle changes that rob you of the opportunity to move. Internet stores make everything—even kettlebells—available at your fingertips without leaving your house.

We need movement more than ever, but we have less time and fewer opportunities for it. The average gym class or 45 minutes on the treadmill can not compensate for the lack of movement during your work-week—unless you can train several hours per day.

The kettlebell is the perfect solution for this problem. With its off-centered mass, it trains your muscles and your heart at the same time. Exercises like swings, cleans and snatches train your entire posterior chain—the group of muscles, ligaments, and tendons most important for a healthy spine and good postural alignment.

Kettlebells Naturally Improve Your Posture

Correctly swinging a kettlebell activates two muscles that are usually dormant in much of modern society: the gluteus maximus and the latissimus dorsi. These muscles are the two most important players in our posterior chain. Luckily, we can use the kettlebell to get them back into action.

The gluteus maximus (or more crudely defined, your butt muscle) is one of the biggest and strongest muscles in the body. If it functions as it should, it enables you to lift heavy objects from the ground and also protects your lumbar spine. In the kettlebell swing, its role is to forcefully lock out the hips. One of the first exercises I use with beginners when I teach the swing is the shoulder bridge (you lie on your back with your feet pulled toward the butt and push your hips to the ceiling). We start with this exercise for only one reason—so the beginners can experience what it feels like when their glutes are tensed. I rarely have my beginners do more than 30-40 swings during the first lesson and they are still sore the next day—guess where!

Active glutes lead to unlocked hip flexors and allow the pelvis to get into a neutral position, the foundation for a naturally s-shaped spine. The activation of the glutes is why sometimes even a few short kettlebell sessions can lead to an improved postural alignment.

The second muscle group, the latissimus dorsi (or the lats) is mainly responsible for all upper body pulling movements, but they also help with your press if you use them correctly. Additionally, the lats are able to stabilize the upper back and protect the shoulders.

In the swing, the lats are used to keep the kettlebell from pulling your shoulders forward and they also counter rotation in one-arm swings.

Kettlebells Bring Vigor and Youth Back

Have you ever noticed that you can accurately guess someone’s age from fairly far away by watching how they move? An older person is usually more restricted and moves gingerly. On the other hand, children move with mobility and vigor—at least until we make them sit still for hours every day.

For beginners, one of the hardest concepts in Hardstyle kettlebell training to understand is the explosive nature of the movements. We are not just standing up with the bell in hand, but are exploding out of the hinge and tensing the whole body in the top position. Movement of this quality simply does not exist in our every day lives. The average adult unlearned fast and crisp movements. With kettlebells, your body learns that it is not dangerous to move fast, and you will soon start to move as you did in your youth.

After beginners understand this idea and move more dynamically, they usually feel very good and empowered. They break the chains which have restricted their movement for years. It’s a great feeling, and you usually can see it in their eyes.

If you are wondering if this paragraph is dedicated only to a certain age group, it is not! Kettlebell training works for people in their late teens as well as for senior citizens older than 60. The only real difference is that older beginners will have more movement habits to unlearn, and will need to be more cautious in the process. A trusted RKC Instructor can be very helpful in these situations.

There is no age limit for kettlebell training

Kettlebells Allow You to Express Yourself

The last aspect of kettlebell training I would like to discuss in this article is breathing. When watching people train, one of the first things you will notice is their rhythmic and loud breathing. Some people, especially the ladies will be slightly appalled when confronted with this for the first time. We raised in a culture where the sounds our bodies produce are considered to be inappropriate—which is kind of weird if you think about it. Therefore we always try to avoid or conceal those sounds, so it can be shocking when you first enter a gym and see a group swinging a kettlebells and sounding like a gathering of steam engines! What a strange sight!

Deep and pressurized breathing has several positive effects on our body. Most importantly, it activates the diaphragm.

Aside from these physical effects, I also observed that we are psychologically effected. It is similar to that of the Kiai, the blood-curdling Tae Kwon Do war cry you can hear during the keykpa (board breaking). Beginners always struggle with it and feel strange to call out this loudly. It is the same with the Hardstyle breathing during a good kettlebell session, you will hear hisses, grunts and even yells. Sometimes the rhythmic sounds you hear from a group swinging and pressing together can sound like a weird kind of music 😉

When you overcome the internalized reflexes of your upbringing and allow your breath—the most fundamental function of your physical existence—to be heard, it seems to flip a switch in your brain which makes it easier to express your needs. It literally liberates you to make yourself heard.

Conclusion

If you are already using kettlebells, you will have experienced the transformative nature of this seemingly archaic training tool. I would be glad If you could find the time to share your own experiences in the comments.

If you have not yet started training with kettlebells, I strongly encourage you to give it a try. Expect it to be a humbling experience in the beginning, but know that it has the power to make you better and healthier than you are today. A good coach can help anyone get a good start. It will not be comfortable, it will not be easy, but it will definitely be worth it!

***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 comments on the article feel free to email him at florian@kettlebellgermany.de

Combining Ancient Practice and Modern Sports Science

March 18, 2015 By Florian Kiendl Leave a Comment

RKC Team Leader Florian Kiendl KB Split

Because I come from a classical, non-contact school of Tae Kwon Do, the RKC has caused huge a paradigm shift in the way I approach my training. Many classical martial arts have a Zen like approach—just do the movements and see what they will teach you over time.

A fellow taekwondo friend, Valentino Solinas from Italy, recently posted a quote that sums up this idea:

“You may begin the study of martial arts and you may quit the study of martial arts, but you can never complete the study of martial arts…”

Training with this mindset can eliminate potential frustration if results are not coming easily or quickly. This mindset also reduces competitiveness among students which can sometimes otherwise lead to hubris and all its related problems.

Even if progress seems stifled, training with this mindset can be very rewarding over many years—regardless of one’s physical condition at the beginning. I have witnessed my former teacher’s mother start practicing Tae Kwon Do several times a week even though she is well over 70 years old and has a medical history that could fill a book. She once told me if she had known how good this training would make her feel, she would have started much earlier and that it might have prevented many of her health concerns. There’s no way she would ever learn to kick to head level or do a controlled spin kick, but it did not matter. She trained with beginners and black belts—and I think she taught everyone a lesson for life. Her last training session was one day before she died.

My RKC Epiphany

When I was introduced to RKC kettlebell training in 2009, I had the martial arts mindset. It struck me from the beginning when many concepts I had intuitively grasped over many years of training were explained to me in mere minutes in plain and simple words. How much easier could I make it for my students if I used the RKC teaching concepts? With a deep understanding of human movement, training progress can be planned and obstacles avoided before they even show their ugly faces. To me this was an epiphany and it immediately changed my views on training. I started learning and experimenting with it and continue to today.

In recent years, I learned how to integrate both systems to fill gaps or avoid roadblocks for my students and I. I want to give two examples—one I use in my own training sessions and one I use to teach my students how to perform better kicks.

Integrating Taekwondo Forms in Kettlebell Sessions

One example of combining my martial arts practice with my kettlebell training is to use Tae Kwon Do Hyongs as a warm up or in between my strength sets as physical and mental resets.

Florian Kiendl Hyong

Hyongs are predefined sets of movements that simulate combat against several attackers. The higher the form, the more difficult and complex it is—some forms have more than 100 movements. Hyongs present a martial arts movement flow that allows a student who has mastered the general flow of the form to immerse himself in the movements. The student will also learn to understand the movements in the context of a fight. There is a massive difference between performing a single strike, blow or block in practice and performing the same movement in context of a series of attacks and parries. In the time before protective gear was available, these forms presented the only option for practicing combat situations with full force without risking injury to oneself or a sparring partner.

By integrating Hyongs into my kettlebell sessions I gain big benefits:

Most of the movements are performed over a full range of motion, and work as a complete reset of all major joints.
All movements are executed with full force, but without any external resistance or long isometric contractions. Every muscle is activated without getting fatigued.
The quick movements ensure that I don’t get tight or stiff.
I get to practice my Hyongs more often 😉
The average Hyong takes 30 or more seconds to perform and is non-taxing aerobic activity between sets.
Most forms are complex enough to require enough concentration that an advanced practitioner will enter an almost meditative state of mind. This works as an effective mental reset, if the last set did not go well and my mind is distracted, the forms will help me avoid a downward spiral.

Using Tension Techniques to Teach Better Kicks

From all martial arts I know, Tae Kwon Do has the highest physical demand. Bringing your leg to head level with force and accuracy takes extreme mobility, crazy-strong hips and superb coordination. All these perquisites don’t come easy, especially if you start past your twenties.

Florian Kiendl SLDL

For years I watched new students explore these new movements with varying success—some are naturals who walk in the Dojang and start training as if they never did anything else, and they are a pleasure to teach. On the other hand, some train for years and years with dedication and simply do not progress past a very basic level. When I started holding Tae Kwon Do lessons in my first teacher’s school, I assumed that it was something genetic, a Tae Kwon Do gene that made the difference!

After learning and understanding the concept of tension, I made an effort to integrate the drills and techniques we use in the RKC for teaching a good swing, snatch or military press in my Tae Kwon Do lessons to facilitate good kicking mechanics.

The fundamental concept is the same for kettlebell swing and high kicks—the tighter we stay while only moving the necessary joints to accomplish the task, the more force we can generate.

By adding the RKC tension techniques to my Tae Kwon Do sessions, I managed to create “aha”-moments for my students so the would know how it feels when the technique is executed correctly.

Here’s how:

I demonstrate a drill or technique and have my students practice it for a while.
As soon as they have the general idea, I let them practice on their own or with a partner and observe which problems occur.
Usually I find a pattern that could be improved and I try to figure out which drills could help.
I stop the practice and have them do the drill that I assume will help the most.
Immediately afterwards we return to the original exercise and see if it worked.
Sometimes it takes several attempts to find the drill that will work best or we may use more than one to address the different issues.

Using this approach, black belts have come to me after the session saying things like, “I finally understand how to execute this technique!”

Conclusion

Don’t see the RKC System as a closed environment, or the drills we use as special and exclusive to the kettlebell. Experiment with different combinations and observe the results. The RKC System is designed to improve any athletic endeavor. Be creative and learn the best ways to improve your game.

Have Fun.

Mental Focus: A Trainer’s Secret Weapon

February 4, 2015 By Florian Kiendl 2 Comments

Florian Kiendl double kettlebell

It is obvious that mental focus is a great asset to any athlete. If you see any high level athlete work his magic, one thing that they all have in common is the ability to get into the zone–to be 100% in the present with their mind on the task at hand. My grandmaster Son Jong Ho told me that if he performs his spectacular stone breaks with bare hands, his mind is focused 100% on the desired result. There is no room for doubt or distraction.

Often in interviews after a less than optimal performance, athletes will say that they simply lost their focus. I think we can all agree that mental focus is an indispensable skill for any athlete to learn. But why is it the same for trainers?

The Trainer’s Dilemma

Anybody who is actively training people knows the frustration of standing in the gym and watching a client performing an exercise with less than optimal technique. You have told him a dozen times how to do it right, but he simply does not get it.

In the RKC, we have detailed and tested teaching progressions to enable our students to get into the right feeling before actually performing the exercise. For instance do we teach the Hardstyle plank before the swing so our students can understand how a completely tensed body should feel.

But even with the best teaching progressions, beginners tend to get sloppy and lose their concentration. After you have shouted, “Tense your glutes!” for the fiftieth time, your students start to simply tune you out.

Your Secret Weapon

Here is your secret weapon… In the classical martial arts, where my origins lie, it is very common for a trainer not to explain the techniques during class. Some masters do not even talk while training their students. This approach has its drawbacks, but it supports the athletes in getting into the right mindset by simply copying what the master does. After training several years with my first Tae Kwon Do, teacher I became so in tune that I often knew the next exercise before we were finished with the current one–and no, my teacher did not do the same exercises every day.

You can use this mental connection with your client to help them perform on a higher level. You simply extend your mental focus to them. Please don’t take this as esoteric concept, I have used this technique both as a student and a teacher many times. Try it and see for yourself.

How To Make It Work

I cannot really explain how it works, but I can explain how you can make it work for you. First let’s have a look at the receiving end:

As a Student…

First pick a technique that you are already familiar with, but want to improve. Find somebody who is performing this technique at a significantly higher level than you and watch them perform. (It is helpful if that person’s body type is similar to yours.) You can even use YouTube for this experiment, but it is best if you can observe them in person. This is also why we expect our RKC candidates to pass a strict technique testing before we allow them to teach. 😉

While the person you are watching executes the lift, try to get the feeling of what he or she is feeling at this instant. Don’t go into too much detail or analyze, just take in the general picture. After you’ve seen the lift, grab a kettlebell that is suitable for you and try to reproduce the lift. Go by feel.

As a Trainer…

When you are watching a student perform a lift with only a minor flaw in his technique, let your mind lift with him or her. This is not telepathy. The student should have trained with you for a while, and already know the general execution of the exercise. Fixing the minor flaws in the execution of the exercise that are hard to describe make such a huge difference in the long run.

Avoid doing or mimicking the lift along with your client, just reproduce the same feeling of tension in your mind. If you do it right, you will feel your muscles activate as if you are actually moving. I have witnessed many students change their movement pattern instantly without me saying a word.

Kettlebell Class in Germany

The Limitations of This Technique

This technique is not a magic trick. It can only be performed successfully when the following conditions are true:

The trainer is highly skilled at the exercise.
The trainer has a good ability to focus his mind.
The student has known the trainer for some time and trust is established.
The student has no physical limitations that prevent correct technique.
The student has a basic understanding of the exercise at least.

It is no replacement for good teaching progressions like those taught at our HKC and RKC Certifications. But, this use of mental focus is a tool that can sometimes help to save you and your students a lot of frustration.

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

November 5, 2014 By Florian Kiendl 6 Comments

Florian Kiendl Beast Kettlebell Swing I 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.

Kaizen 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.

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