kettlebells

Check Your Neck (Before You Wreck It)

May 3, 2013 By Max Shank 1 Comment

I’m imagining this is you, exercising.

I can’t tell you how many people walk into my gym with neck and/or shoulder pain. Okay I can, it’s a lot—probably half. There are a couple of factors that cause this:

Forward head posture
Poor Breathing
Lack of disassociation between neck and shoulders during exercise

Let’s break down the problem that’s causing your forward head posture.

Lack of thoracic spine mobility
Shoulders rounded forward (tight pecs)
Cervical immobility

Fortunately you’ve been given tools on how to deal with thoracic immobility (Joint by Joint approach). This could include foam rolling, lying rib pulls, or one of many other thoracic mobilizations.

Tight pecs can be simply addressed by some SMR (Self Myofascial Release) via a lacrosse ball against the wall:

and followed up by some wall slides:

Cervical spine immobility can be caused by a number of factors. For the sake of simplicity, the scope of this article will cover fascial tightness and lack of joint awareness or motion. Fix it by rolling out the levator scapula (between your shoulder blades and your spine) and your traps with the lacrosse ball. Next step is to take care of your awareness of good neck position.

Do this by gliding your face forward and backward (think funky chicken), trying to maintain length through your spine. Do 5 reps nice and slow. You’ll be amazed at how uncoordinated it is at first.

(Editors note: I doubt this will do anything for your gobbler). Finish with some good rotations left and right, through a full range of motion—think about lifting through your crown.

Next step is breathing.

We all start knowing what to do here and somewhere along the line it gets pretty messed up. Most folks breathe through their mouths (not ideal) and the shoulders elevate with every breath. Also not good when you consider we take an average of 20,000 breaths per day. You can imagine how 20,000 dysfunctional breathing shrugs might have an impact on your neck health.

Quick fix #1: Start breathing through your nose. Seriously that’s it. We’re designed to inhale and exhale through the nose, start doing it. All the time.
Quick fix #2: Breathing exercise: Lay face down with your forehead on your hands so you’re comfortable. Place an ankle weight (book, medicine ball, small child, etc) on your low back around your sacrum. Breathe for 5:00 (through your nose) trying to lift the weight with each inhale. The weight gives you instant feedback and gives you something to push into, making it much easier.

Combining these 2 things will not only increase orthopedic health, but also increase performance by improving your kinetic efficiency. However, it’s a total waste if you keep breaking yourself in the gym:

Disassociation between neck and shoulders during exercise is imperative if you want to maintain optimal strength and athleticism. Bench, check your neck. Rows, check your neck. Weight overhead? Check your neck.

The point is that you should be able to rotate your neck left and right freely during exercise. This is most easily experimented with during pushups or one arm presses.

Pushup:

Assume pushup position
Rotate neck left and right (if your ROM feels strained, try to lengthen your neck)
Drop into a pushup
Rotate left and right (“check your neck”)
Pushup back up

Overhead Press:

Bring dumbbell or kettlebell to the shoulder
“check your neck”
Press dumbbell or kettlebell overhead
“check your neck”

You should be able to move freely during almost any exercise or stretch you’re doing. Not only will it save you a lot of trouble dealing with neck and shoulder pain, but it will also elevate your performance by improving your upper body coordination, making you stronger.

-Max Shank

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About Max Shank, Master RKC: Max Shank is not only an extremely gifted teacher, but one of the most well-rounded and capable athletes in the world. From excelling in Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu to performing impressive feats of strength in weightlifting and gymnastics, Max has… Read more here.

The Deadlift Row With Andrea Du Cane

April 25, 2013 By Andrea Du Cane 2 Comments

I hope you enjoyed my last post and video on the low or pendulum swing.

The second exercise I came up with during my knee re-hab was the kettlebell deadlift row. This is an incredible back and lower body exercise that again anyone can do. It follows the deadlift/hinge pattern, the key to a lower body killer workout is to keep the shins as vertical as possible and yet drop your hips down as low as possible.

This exercise really targets the mid-back muscles, like the hard to strengthen Rhomboids, as well as lower trap, lats, triceps and biceps. The key here is to keep your chest facing toward the ground at the bottom of the deadlift to be in the proper position for the row.

The secret to a proper row, is to initiate the movement by depressing the lats first. I think of it as pushing my shoulders down away from my ears. This will prevent the movement from being a trapezius exercise.

Then I pull my scapula together and drive my elbows back. The inside of the upper arms should “scrape” against the ribcage and the elbows should pinch together at the top. The chest will naturally push out and forward at the top of the pull. Keep the neck and head neutral.

Slowly straighten the elbows and then stand up from the deadlift. Pause a moment and tighten the glutes, legs, and abs while keeping your shoulders down and and shoulder blades pinching together.

You are ready for another rep. Lower down to the bottom of the deadlift with the kettlebell a couple of inches from the floor and perform the row again. Always straighten your arms completely before standing up again.

I do these as a superset with the low pendulum swings covered in the previous post.

Again I do intervals of :30 work to :25 rest. I’ll also add in dead swings, or single rep swings and regular swings as well.

You’ll love how this drill really targets the upper and mid-back while you are still working your hips and legs hard!

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Andrea Du Cane is a Master Kettlebell Instructor, CK-FMS certified, CICS certified, Primal Move National Instructor and RIST, ZHealth certified, and has a BA in Psychology from the University of Minnesota. She is featured on Breaking Muscle website as the February 2012 coach of the month. She is also a Pilates instructor. She has over twenty years of aerobics, weight training and fitness experience, with an additional background in… Read more here.

Understanding Kettlebell Ballistics and Grinds

April 19, 2013 By Mike Krivka 2 Comments

Kettlebell exercises can be segmented into two general categories: Ballistics and Grinds. The simplest distinction between the two is that Ballistic exercises are for the most part executed very fast, while grinds are slow. A more insightful and accurate distinction would be that ballistics train the practitioner to generate and absorb power in a dynamic fashion, while grinds train the practitioner to generate full-body power (and tension) in a contracted or sustained fashion.

Whichever way that you look at it there is a big distinction between the two types of techniques and the more you understand about the differences the more successful you will be when learning and perfecting them.

“Ballistics” refers to dynamic, explosive, multi-joint exercises such as the Clean, Snatch, Swing, Jerk, etc. These exercises are normally performed within a wide range of motion (or movement pattern) and incorporate a large number of muscles and muscular chains. Ballistic exercises tax not only the muscles but also the heart and lungs – think wind sprints as opposed to a slow comfortable jog. Ballistics challenge your ability to regulate your breathing, monitor your form, and master the “tight-loose-tight” method of body tension. A note about tension: it is not that Ballistics don’t as much tension as Grinds it is that they take a higher level of mastery of the manipulation and application of tension.

“Grinds” refer to slow, controlled pressing, pulling or squatting exercises such as the Military or Overhead Press, Squat, Deadlift, Side and Screw Press, etc. These exercises are distinguished by the need for constant tension on the muscles or muscular chain throughout the execution of the exercise. Grinds require particular attention to whole-body tension and the regulation of sustained power breathing.

grinder_sandwich — Not this kind of grind!

Grinds will challenge your ability to maintain tension, smoothly transition from muscle group to muscle group, and point out inconsistencies and inadequacies in your structure and alignment. In particular Grinds will show any lacking in positional and transitional strength that you might have and help you learn how to manage the feedback from the movement.

A third possible category for Kettlebell techniques could be referred to as “Hybrids” or “Combinations”. They feel a bit like a Ballistic and a bit like a Grind – think Kettlebell Thrusters, Split or Squat Snatch, Split or Squat Jerk, and the Overhead Squat. These exercises accentuate the best and the worst of both the Ballistics and the Grinds.

They are performed within a wide range of motion (or movement pattern), require you to move between maximum tension and maximum relaxation, tax both aerobic and anaerobic thresholds, require smooth transitions from muscle group to muscle group, and develop the ability to transition from sustained strength to dynamic strength in the same exercise. Hybrids are a lot of fun to perform, but you need to be particularly careful that you don’t keep going after fatigue (and oxygen deprivation) has made mince-meat of your form.

The RKC Level I curriculum gives you a solid foundation in both Ballistics and Grinds with the Swing, Clean and Snatch comprising the Ballistics and the Squat, Deadlift, Military or Overhead Press and the Turkish Get-up rounding out the Grinds. With this knowledge in hand an experienced trainer can devise workouts that can take advantage of all three types of exercises. The only caveat is you need to be cautious when sequencing the exercises, paying particular attention to the number of sets or duration of each type that are performed.

A good rule of thumb is to Grind while you’re fresh and do Ballistics while you still have the breath to do them properly. Trying to perform effective grinds after a lung-searing session of ballistics or hybrids may be detrimental to your health. You might toss your lunch, or drop a kettlebell on your head!

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Michael A. Krivka, Sr., RKC Team Leader is a Washington, DC native who has been involved in Kettlebell training for over a decade and is currently an RKC Team Leader and member of the RKC Board of Advisors under Dragon Door (where he has been listed as one of the top reviewed RKC’s in the world for the last five years… read more here.

The Smarter Complex

April 12, 2013 By Josh Henkin 2 Comments

When people ask me, “what got you into kettlebells?” It was simple, kettlebells allowed me to bring exercises that normally would be too difficult to teach and make the drills much more accessible to my clients and create incredibly dynamic and athletic based exercises.

However, as I say this now over ten years later, I have sadly seen the kettlebell for the most part be regulated to a handful of very basic exercises.

Are the basics and foundations important? Of course they are! Are they where we stop with training? Absolutely not! Many people are big believers in the K.I.S.S. method (keep it simple stupid) and believe this is where the majority of your training should lie. Unfortunately, if we are focused on being athletic, mobile, and truly addressing functional based training we need to get out of the very basic movement skills of lifting. Performance coach, Scott Sonnon, gives an opposing view to the K.I.S.S. method and refers to a lot of people being stuck in S.I.S.S. (stuck in stupid simplicity).

I am not going to take away anything from the incredible feats that Powerlifters and Olympic lifters can achieve. However, when I think of a great athlete, if I ask YOU to close your eyes and think of a great athlete, do you think of someone standing in one place? While being “athletic” is as vague as being “strong” or “in shape”, we have a tendency to know what it looks like when we see it.

Often it revolves around people moving in many directions or gracefully through space. They are moving in ways we know are difficult, but they make it look easy. Being a basketball fan most of my life and growing up in Chicago, I can’t help but think of ultimate athleticism when Michael Jordan switched hands in mid air during the 1991 NBA Championships. So amazing, so graceful, so unbelievable, but he made it look so easy. Don’t we want our training to be more of the same?

One of the most common places I see people stuck in just the basics is in the use of kettlebell complexes. A complex is one exercise made up of several individual exercises. Typically they flow from one movement to another making a natural pattern to the overall exercise. This is a phenomenal way to build conditioning, drop fat, build muscle balance, and functional strength.

The father of complexes, Istvan Javorek, believed complexes offered incredible benefits, “The main purpose of combination lifts is to improve and stimulate neuromuscular coordination, increase the workout load and intensity, stimulate the musculoskeletal system, increase the free weight program’s cardiovascular quality, and make a program more dynamic and efficient.The number of combination exercises is unlimited, depending on the coach’s knowledge and creativity, the gym’s equipment and apparatus, and the goals of the coaches and athletes.”

While I am far from the first to see the unique benefits and almost infinite options kettlebell complexes allow, most coaches have lost the true intent of complexes and have become a victim of very repetitive training. What do I mean? In a complex we want to see the body move in a variety of ways stimulating different movement patterns. We don’t want to just replicate what we do in our standard training programs. Such specialized lifting loses some of the essence of complexes, especially kettlebell complexes.

In order to illustrate my point, here is a commonly used kettlebell complex…

Swing
Clean
Snatch

Is this wrong? Maybe the order is slightly, but inherently not “wrong”, but limiting. Here we have three examples of the same movement pattern, the hip hinge. Not only a hip hinge, but a movement pattern performed in the same pattern, same stance, same direction.

A more common complex that at least stresses three different movement patterns….

Clean
Squat
Press

This is better, but still if we stop using our movement skills, can become limiting itself. In addition, the above complex is always limited by the amount we can press as typically one can squat and clean with far more weight. So only one third of the complex is being effectively stressed.

Complexes can range from very foundational to very complex. The number of exercises within a complex should be related to the fitness of the individual and the goal of the training session. Someone with a more extensive background can handle a complex of more exercises than an individual rather new to training. If the goal is a bit more strength oriented less exercises should be used in the complex. Yet, if the goal is more general conditioning we can use more exercises within the complex. Below is a progression of complexes we can use to start from foundational to complex.

Generally, I will work the most challenging aspect of the complex first and as someone fatigues more, move to the more stable or easiest. Take for instance in the example of Clean-Squat-Press, my preferred sequence would be to perform the press for reps then squat for reps, then clean for reps (hardest portion to easiest).

That also brings up how many different ways you can perform a complex. There are typically two different means. The first being performing all of one segment of the complex before moving onto the next.

Press x 6 reps proceed to..
Squat x 6 reps proceed to…
Clean x 6 reps

I generally use this method when there are very distinct differences between the various movements of the complex. Again, the press is going to be generally less than one’s squat or clean. It also makes sense to perform the weakest aspect of the complex first, as fatigue accumulates we can move to our stronger segments.

The other means is to perform one segment right after another. Such a complex may look like the following…

Snatch x 1 rep move directly into..
Rack Drop Lunge x 1 rep move directly into
Press x 1 rep and repeat for 4-5 more cycles.

Today’s video demonstrates some different ways to create complexes. In more advanced variations we want to work various stability patterns, planes of motions, and angles. In more foundational complexes we will focus on building good movement skills and teaching the principles to more challenging movement patterns.

The complex is a wonderful method for a host of different goals and circumstances. If you start to broaden your mind upon with purpose and creativity, you will find that the kettlebell complex offers almost endless productive and fun forms of training.

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About Josh Henkin: 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

Smart Fat Loss Circuits

April 3, 2013 By Josh Hillis 7 Comments

Well known and long standing adages like “leave a couple reps in the bank” and “safety is part of performance” often, sadly, are put aside for fat loss circuits.

In this world of CrossFit, P90X, and super ultra-hardcore-bootcamps everywhere, it’s hard not to fall into the “more is better” trap that everyone is constantly pushing. As RKC’s we should be well aware that more isn’t better. It’s just more.

Fat loss clients come in with that perspective, and it’s our job to educate them. Often we’ll get a new client who will literally tell us “I want to sweat and puke and be sore.” Regardless of how stupid a goal this might sound to us, we’re best off giving them some of that, in the smartest way possible. We usually can give ’em what they think they want up front, then educate them over time.

In this article, we’re going to talk about what smart, RKC-style fat loss circuits could look like.

A Smarter AMRAP

CrossFit popularized the term AMRAP for “as many rounds as possible”, and I thank them for that.

Unfortunately, the concept of doing an AMRAP workout at 100% effort is a recipe for disaster. You can only push oxygen debt and muscle exhaustion for so long before exercise form goes out the window. So don’t do that.

Or as Yoda so famously said: “Stupidity leads to bad form. Bad form leads injury. And injury leads to the orthopedic surgeon.”

We’re going to slow our AMRAPs down – somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90%, and err on the side of too little vs. too much.

We’ve all been fed a myth about intensity. And it feeds that thing inside us that always tells us we should be doing more. But it’s false. I experimented with my clients for two years during the writing of my first book, and found no difference in results between running clients at 80-90% intensity in workouts and running them at close to 100%.

So… 80-90% intensity… all of the benefits… none of the injuries… shouldn’t that be like, totally obvious, right?

The Josh Hills Fat Loss Circuit Progression: Not Just More Rounds

More rounds is also another stupid thing that most circuit based workouts do. Just more. More, more, more. More isn’t better. So very un-RKC.

I consider 5 rounds the magic number for any of these workouts. They may have to work up to being able to complete five rounds. That’s fine. But when they are getting up over 7 rounds, bump ’em up a level. That could be a harder bodyweight progression, a lower bench for pistols, a lighter band for pull-ups, or a heavier kettlebell.

But lets not turn this into a Group X class. Lets up the weight on our circuits instead of just cranking out a zillion rounds.

This is a super important point, and I’ve never seen anyone else in the entire fitness industry bring it up. There is a right amount of work to get done in a circuit, and you can have it happen like clockwork every single time. It’s right about 5 rounds. It’s heavy enough that they *have to* rest during the 20 minutes, but no so heavy that it looses it’s circuit-ness.

It also lets clients know that it’s *ok* to rest. Obviously if they could crank through the 20 minutes without any rest, they’d be doing 10+ rounds or so. It gives them a target, it lets them know how they are doing, and it lets them know when they can progress. These are all major points for having clients understand and be engaged in the workout program.

20 Minutes of Circuits, Then Do Strength

A 20 minute bout of circuits, at 80-90% intensity, should be enough high intensity stimulus for all of the fat loss results we want. And it should be enough to satisfy the clients who want to feel like they are getting throttled.

After that, we can move on to very well rested strength work. We put the circuits at the beginning (after a joint mobility warm up), because it’s hard enough to keep everything tight in a circuit anyway – we want them as fresh mentally and physically as possible, to do the circuit with the heaviest weights possible and the most perfect form.

We’ll put three movements in the circuit, and then we’ll do the fourth movement in the strength portion. For example, if we have a push, a pull, and a squat in the circuit, we’ll do a hip hinge in the strength part. If we have a push, a squat and a hip hinge in the circuit, we’ll do a pull for the strength part. That way, we’re always hitting all four basic movements, but we’re rotating through which ones we do in the circuit and which ones we do for strength.

If the client also needs FMS or any other corrective exercises, you can super-set the correctives with the strength work.

Workout A:

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Assisted Pullups x 3
Kettlebell Push Presses x 10L+10R
Kettlebell Goblet Squats x 10
3 minutes rest, then
Single Leg Deadlifts 3 x 5L+5R
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Workout B

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Bear Crawl x 50 ft
Walking Lunges x 100 ft
Kettlebell Swings x 25
3 minutes rest, then
Assisted Pullups 3 x 5
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Workout C

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Convict Conditioning Style Pushup Progression x 10
Kettlebell Bent Over Rows x 10L+10R
Kettlebell Swings x 25
3 minutes rest, then
Bench Pistols or Split Squats 3 x 5L+5R
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Food, Food, Food

Look, no fat loss article can ever be complete without mentioning that the food is going to be the number one driver of fat loss. Smart fat loss workouts complement a smart food program. That’s why it’s so totally stupid to kill people in the workouts or push the envelope to the point of injury – it just isn’t going to make a difference.

Be smart, check people’s food journals (both quality of food and quantity of food) and do intelligent circuits at 80-90% intensity, with smart progressions over time. Your clients will stay healthy, happy, and injury free, and most importantly – get all of the fat loss results that they hired you for.

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About Josh Hillis: RKC, NASM-CPT/PES/CES, Z-MRS/MIS, www.21daykettlebell.com: Over the last 8 years as a personal trainer, Josh has worked with every kind of fat loss client, but he is a specialist in helping fit women lose the last 5-10 pounds of stubborn fat. He’s been quoted by The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post, he’s been in USA Today, and was a featured expert for Experience Life! Magazine. Josh has written six books on fat loss and kettlebell training, created an audio program on fat loss nutrition for On Target Publications, and contributed a chapter “Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss” to The RKC Book of Strength and Conditioning for DragonDoor Publications. Josh holds beginner and advanced fat loss nutrition workshops on a monthly basis at several kettlebell gyms in Colorado. Josh is the creator and writer for www.LoseStubbornFat.com, which has over 32,000 subscribers in over 200 countries world-wide.

Ten Reasons to Train with Kettlebells

March 27, 2013 By Mike Krivka 14 Comments

RKC Team Leader Mike Krivka lifts one of his favorite weights – his son Jak!

I’m well into my second decade of training with Kettlebells and I can honestly say that I learn something new every single time I pick one (or two) up – and that’s usually several times a day! I’ve had the great honor to train with a wide variety of people and introduce them to what I consider to be the best strength and conditioning tool around. In each and every instance people are fascinated and appalled at how this seemingly simple tool can be so hard to use well and so amazingly effective at the same time. It doesn’t matter if I’m training with a “Soccer Mom”, a Marine Corps officer, or an aspiring athlete – they all learn very quickly that the lessons that the Kettlebell can teach them will serve them well.

Following are a quick list of ten reasons why I think you should be training with kettlebells. There are many more, but I’m hoping this list will help you come to be a better understanding on how to approach utilizing this amazing tool.

1. Efficiency – Kettlebells (in conjunction with a handful of high-tension body weight skills) can provide an intense full-body workout in an incredibly short period of time. With a workout of less than 30 minutes in length you drenched with sweat and gasping for air. Think about the last time you did the RKC Snatch Test (five minutes) or the USSS Snatch Test (ten minutes) – both are great mono-structured workouts that do the job without wasting time. Most “trainers” recommend that you perform lengthy cardio and resistance sessions for up to 6 to 8 hours a week. A week’s worth of kettlebell workouts equal only a fraction of that and you will get much better results.

2. Tension Management – Kettlebells require that you develop a high level of sensitivity in regards to grip strength and tension distribution and redistribution that readily carries over into all forms of athletics. The kettlebell’s displaced center of gravity create grip and forearm strength requirements that cannot be matched by regular free weights or machines. The ability to create and distribute tension is of paramount importance to any athlete. Not only is it a factor in strength, but also in speed, flexibility, and endurance as well. Muscles become stronger by learning how to contract them more effectively, explosively, and efficiently. The body as a unit becomes stronger by learning how to instigate a coordinated firing of muscles in a more effective, explosive, and efficient manner.

3. Mindfulness – Kettlebell training requires you to “be in the moment,” allowing you to develop a high-level of concentration, focus, intensity and body awareness. Lapses in concentration or body awareness are swiftly punished. A lack of intensity will not allow you to build the requisite strength and mental toughness needed to distinguish yourself in action. How many people have you seen staring off into space while they were working out? Don’t even think about doing that with kettlebells unless of course you enjoy sitting in the Emergency Room!

4. Sensitivity – Kettlebells require you to constantly challenge your spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, tension, balance and timing. Once again, these are all very martial skills that will cross over into your training and especially into combat athletics. Doing a 7.5 foot ROM snatch requires a much higher degree of skill and muscle mastery than a 1.5 foot ROM biceps curl does. Think about it.

5. Raw Strength – Kettlebells develop thick, dense muscles that deliver when you need them – as opposed to the puffy, tribal-tattooed ‘look good in a Speedo’ muscles. By forcing the muscle to support the KB you end up activating the deeper, harder-to-work, stabilizing and supporting muscles. Most people who start using kettlebells see a rapid loss of excess body fat and weight loss. Once the ‘honeymoon’ is over there oftentimes occurs an increase in weight that accompanies a rapid rise in strength. This is when the muscles start becoming denser and the deficient areas of the musculature start suddenly filling in.

Mike lifting the ‘Beast’ Kettlebell

6. Unilateral Strength – Kettlebells require that you develop unilateral skills, coordination and strength. There is no hiding behind your “strong-hand” in kettlebell training. Weak links in power development are filled in as you get stronger and become accustomed to the bracing requirements of kettlebell training. Being able to move a load on a bar doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to move the same load using one or two kettlebells. I’ve embarrassed way too many “gym rats” by matching their bar loads and then leaving them in the dust with a pair of kettlebells. Try getting the meathead at the gym with the 350 pound bench press to military press your two 53 lbs kettlebells – try not to laugh when he can’t get them off of his shoulders.

7. Holistic – Kettlebells combine strength, flexibility, mobility and anaerobic training into one workout. No other tool will challenge you when it comes to developing attributes that you will be able to apply on the hardwood, the court or the battlefield. Kettlebell training specifically trains all of the physical traits required by the elite athlete and succeeds where other methods fail. In particular, KB training addresses all of the elements that are going to be required of an athlete in competition or in a life-or-death struggle.

8. Mental Hardening – Kettlebell training develops a high level of mental toughness and an understanding of controlled aggression. You can’t approach a kettlebell workout without either – the kettlebell is the enemy and it has to be submitted, controlled or destroyed; or the kettlebell will destroy you. Someone who is looking for a “light” or “toning” workout can find just that by using kettlebell techniques that will enhance their overall mobility and awareness, but for someone who is looking to get an edge on their opponents, the kettlebell is the key that opens the lock. If you have ever done any high-repetition kettlebell training you know exactly what I’m talking about. That little voice in your head that tells you it’s time to quit has to be wrestled to the ground and choked out so that you can build the strength that you want.

9. Movement – Kettlebells require you to learn how to move your body efficiently, strongly and with grace and power. Sitting in a machine or lying on a bench is not going to give you the athletic ability to do a single leg takedown or knock-out an opponent. Learning how to transition for movement to movement without external stabilization, (i.e., a bench or machine) will require you to develop a higher level of strength and mobility that no machine can ever provide. Developing the ability to internally stabilize an external load will give you the sensitivity and control you will need to play or fight at a higher level. Kettlebells will rub your face in your weaknesses until they become strengths – and then humble you over and over again.

10. Complete System – Training with Kettlebells may be the perfect system for developing strength. Kettlebells allow you to perform all of the basic movement patterns (Push, Pull, Squat, Hinge, Carry and the Turkish Get-up; kudos to Dan John for this list) safely, efficiently and effectively. No other tool out there can make this claim and many will try – but very few will even come close. Through a unique combination of design, utilization and loading the Kettlebell is “efficiently inefficient” in building strength – something that will serve anyone from a “Soccer Mom” to a US Navy SEAL.

I’m sure that you can think of a lot more reasons why someone should train with kettlebells and I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to respond to this blog post to share your thoughts and ideas.

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Athletic Achievement—And Why I Chose to Stay with Dragon Door’s RKC

March 15, 2013 By Andrew Read 21 Comments

It may surprise people to hear it but I never attended the RKC because of kettlebells. I had been using them myself, and had moved all my clients to using them and gotten rid of nearly everything else we did, but the RKC wasn’t my actual goal. I wasn’t sure whether or not a trip to the USA was worth it in terms of learning enough to justify the cost. The goal was CK-FMS.

I am a big believer in success leaving you clues. I had been seeing Gray Cook’s name all over the place and had bought some of his DVDs and loved what I saw. Then Dragon Door announced that they were going to run an RKC-only FMS based course called the Certified Kettlebell Functional Movement Specialist (CK FMS). So I made the choice to go to this RKC thing and see what the fuss was about before attending the CK-FMS.

I’m glad I did because I learned that the RKC isn’t about the kettlebell. I also learned that it wasn’t really about how to lift them either. The drills and concepts within can be applied equally to training anyone from regular Joe’s to world championship level athletes – and I’ve certainly done that, training people to lose over 30% of their body weight as well as guys like Major League Baseball pitcher Peter Moylan, world no gi BJJ champion Sophia Drysdale and everyone in between.

If you’ve been in the game for any length of time you know one thing with absolute certainty – there’s no “one thing” that people need. Maybe one client has done years of yoga but never any resistance training – they may need to add strength. Others may have the opposite problem – years of heavy weight training may have wreaked havoc on their bodies and what they need is to rebuild and gain some mobility before they end up hurt, or worse. Others may need to lose weight or risk a heart attack. And then there’s sports performance clients who may need all of that at the same time.

Truthfully I almost walked away from the RKC about twelve months ago. I thought that we were in danger of falling prey to our own marketing and that we were missing sight of our core business. As many RKCs work as trainers, allow me to digress for a moment. We are in the fitness industry. Unless you make a majority of your income from training elite athletes you are not a strength coach. You are a fitness trainer or whatever other buzz word you choose to label yourself with. That means you operate in the fitness industry.

There’s no such thing as the strength industry. The majority of your clients will come to you seeking to look better, and likely drop body fat, and feel better through a combination of increased strength, movement and fitness. The faster you come to terms with that the better off your bank account will be.

One of my big issues last year was the removal of the weighted pull up from the RKCII standards. I have always felt that the weighted pull up forced people to be realistic with themselves about their own weight and take appropriate action. In the lifting world there is often a misperception that bigger is better and that a bigger guy is a stronger guy. Whatever happened to “skinny strength” the driving force behind Power to the People? Looking at the average weight of competitors at the London Games – 72kg for men and 56kg for women – tells us something. Namely that if you want to be truly athletic then body weight plays a large part in the equation and if you’re carrying too much weight then your chances of being successful diminish.

Not only that but returning to my point about being in the fitness industry it’s important to remember again why people come to us – to look better. If you can grab a handful of stomach fat do you really think you’re a great role model for the fitness lifestyle? And do you think your pull up might be easier if you dropped some of that? Being your product is always good for business. People can tell from a mile away if you’re actually truthful and stand 100% behind your product or if you’re just on the bandwagon of the next trend and hoping to cash in. Regardless of how you try to justify it to yourself your personal appearance counts very much in your clients’ eyes.

This also ties in to actually following in the steps of what the industry leaders are doing. When a guy like Cook comes out and says that to develop athleticism you need a base of mobility, stability and proprioception I pay attention. He doesn’t say you need strength as your first priority. In fact, both Cook and McGill state that after developing the base level of performance through mobility and stability you then work on endurance before moving onto strength and power.

So it’s strength last, not strength first. Movement is first and we need to recognize that the RKC is about teaching correct movement.

You can see this continuum developed through the HKC, RKC and RKCII. In the HKC we pattern the swing by teaching the hinge, the deadlift and numerous other drills. We use the goblet squat to develop the hip and spine mobility to squat with heavier loads. Then at RKC we add weight to these patterns but by placing the load asymmetrically we are still assessing movement quality, In addition, as anyone who has been to the RKC will tell you, there are lots of reps – endurance. Then finally at RKCII we develop strength and power with movements like the jerk and the heavy single press. From start to finish the system follows a path that I very much believe in.

The RKC understands its core business is in creating the best possible instructors. Instructors who know and understand how to teach and breakdown correct movement above all else. It often previously felt like all we were concerned about was the personal abilities of candidates instead of their teaching abilities.

I have to be honest and say that I have never had a client sign up with me because of what I could do. They’ve signed up with me because of what I can get them to do and the results they see in my other clients. Think about a high school PE teacher for a moment. Do you ever see one post on Facebook a picture of them out-performing the kids they are in charge of? I’d hope not because that kind of ego has no place in education. Our role as RKCs is no different and that show-off attitude as well as having the focus solely on our physical abilities has to go. It’s all about your clients – your kids in this sense – having the best experience they can with you, not about what you can do.

Without wanting to go too deeply into the psychology of training I also need to point out that if you base your sense of self worth on what you can do, when you get to forty and beyond you’re in for some depressing times. Performance drops as you age and there’s no hiding from it. The average age of medal winners at London was twenty-six. That was a good fifteen years ago for me. If the only thing that I derive pleasure from is breaking my personal records I’m going to have a very sad next forty years. But there’s no reason why we can’t be interested in trying to maintain performance, and by that I mean movement as that is the base, as we age.

For me, that is one of the reasons why I am so interested in movement based programs like the FMS and Primal Move – I instantly knew that these things could make a huge difference and that if I wanted to keep my clients healthy long term than we needed to add these kinds of elements into training.

Interestingly these are the exact same things that help to build athleticism. In a world that is overly sedentary we are seeing more and more people try to maintain fitness in later life. If they haven’t moved much since they were six (a likely scenario in these days of no physical education in schools and low sports participation numbers) they are going to need to build some movement patterns.

I hate to break it to you, and it pains me to admit it, but RKC training will actually hinder some athletic components if you avoid other movements (i.e. actual athletic events). Standing still lifting weights doesn’t make you athletic. In fact, other than make you better conditioned, it doesn’t make you anything – not tough, manly, hardcore or any of those adjectives. It only makes you stronger, and maybe fitter.

If you want to be more athletic you need to be involved in athletic endeavors. That can mean anything from martial arts to dance to triathlon to even things like the Crossfit Games or events like Tough Mudder.

(Here’s an interesting thing about the Crossfit Games – even though most of the events are lifting based the strongest doesn’t win. Last year a female competitor named Ruth Horrell from New Zealand came twelfth. The interesting thing about Ruth is that she competes for New Zealand as a weightlifter and is trying to gain Olympic selection for 2016. You’d have to realize that she would be a standout for strength amongst the ladies and yet she still didn’t win. The reason is obvious – her sports skills, and in the case of Crossfit that would be the huge anaerobic conditioning needed to be successful, are lacking. For her to get better at her sport she needs to play her sport more, not get stronger. This is across the board for athleticism – to win more you need better skills than your opponents, not just a single motor quality in high amounts. Martial artists will immediately understand this as they’ll have seen plenty of Herculean looking guys get beaten up and down the mat by someone who looks far more ordinary but has superior skills).

My interest in all training comes down to one thing – what can I learn so that my clients will be able to go out and use their fitness and enjoy their lives more? If that means they want to go in Tough Mudder, then I need to know how to help them run better and get over obstacles. But it also means I need to make them robust enough that they won’t break while running in training. If it means they want to do triathlons or martial arts or rock climbing or even hike to Everest base camp then I need the skills to help them do that too.

I’ve never heard of a client being stopped at the end of a triathlon and asked what their deadlift is, only their finishing time. In other words – the lifting is secondary to the performance. Making that vital difference to clients is all I really care about. I literally can’t afford to think that I only need one tool or one method to get them the result they’re paying me for. I can’t allow myself to think that all someone needs is to get stronger or be tougher. It’s just not that simple and it’s why I’ve traveled the world for the last decade to find the best answers and it’s precisely why I stayed on as an RKC at this point.

As trainers we often forget that our clients don’t share the same endless enthusiasm for training that we do. They want the maximum result from the least effort. There is one thing that has always stuck in my mind about the RKC:

A school of strength and movement with incidental conditioning. This allows a solid base of GPP to be formed that sports skill and conditioning can be built on.

I’ve been doing that with my clients since before I was an RKC. With a background in performance training both as a coach and an athlete that has always been my focus. We need to keep in mind as we forge ahead that every person will need something different and not allow ourselves to be distracted down the path that we enjoy the most when it comes to their training.

We need to make clients more athletic and find ways to embrace our own athleticism so that the base layer of movement and strength can be added to in an appropriate setting. Being in the gym is not the goal nor is having success in it. The goal has to always be making your clients’ lives better outside the gym. That is a product of many fitness qualities and methods.

That is RKC.

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

Kettlebells and 007 (Part 03): Practice versus Working Out

February 20, 2013 By Mike Krivka 0 Comments

With excerpts from Michael’s book: Code Name Indestructible

Now seems as good a time as any to discuss the difference between practicing and working out. Some people do one exclusively and some do the other – what I’d like to suggest is that you do both. You’ll hopefully agree in a minute.

Practice entails mindful, meticulous attention to detail, execution, and safety (three things that sometimes go out the window during workouts). When practicing, you are intentionally executing a technique as perfectly as possible, working on transitions, range of motion, tension, etc. There’s no time requirement during a practice session – similar to Dan John’s concepts behind “punching the clock” workouts; you show up, get the work done, and go home. In a practice session you create the foundation for the technique (and other techniques as well). You’re trying to make that foundation deep and wide. Practice is important and while it’s not especially glamorous or exciting – it’s necessary.

Working out means you have a plan and a will to attack today’s objective. Less attention (and sometimes none at all) is spent on perfect movement or technique – you just hit it as hard as you can. Doing a workout is an opportunity to test your technique while under stress – sweat, snot, blood, and pain are all considered stressors in the gym, on the field, and in a fight. You are using the broad technique and strength base that you established during practice and seeing how it holds up under fire. Sometimes you’ll do really well, while other times you’ll realize it’s time to practice more.

The RKC School of Strength, spends a lot of time progressively loading and practicing perfect technique. This is a great method for developing strength in a traditional manner and works very, very well. CrossFit, “The Sport of Fitness,” relies less on practicing and more on testing the technique under stress. This allows for tremendous adaptation as well as amazing physical transformations in a relatively short period of time.
I suggest making both the ideas of practicing and working out an active part of your workout planning. Why turn your low intensity days into practice sessions instead of workouts? Take one or two workouts a week to broaden and strengthen your technique-base, as well as your strength-base, so that when you decide to apply yourself during a tough workout you’ll have the skills to match the intensity.

Invariably, someone will ask, “Excuse me Brainiac, but can’t I practice the technique before the workout as opposed to wasting a whole workout?” My reply has been and always will be that a workout is never wasted when you practice the basics – NEVER. You’ll be a better athlete in the long run if you focus on the basic skills and basic strength techniques of your sport. This type of attention will allow you to make a difference when your moment in the spotlight comes.

Remember the old adage that “practice makes perfect”? Well it’s wrong – PERFECT practice makes PERFECT. You’ll never be able to work on perfecting a movement skill if you are doing it under stress – you’ll make bad accommodations and you’ll cheat. Practice will give you the ability to deeply ingrain good movements into your skill set with the ability to use them when necessary.

When you’re planning workouts, place a practice “workout” on your low intensity day and make sure it includes something you really need to work on. This will give you a chance to slow down, focus on technique, while still “punching the clock” and getting some work done.

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One Strength, Two Strength’s, Three Strength’s… More!

February 15, 2013 By Russell Andrews 5 Comments

I was reading Survival of the Fittest, not too long ago, and it got me thinking about the different strengths needed for different sports. For example, when I was watching the Strongman competition on TV, I noticed that the strength of those very powerful men was tremendous. Whether it was lifting the back end of a car for reps, throwing kegs, pulling the bus up the incline via a rope, or pressing the log—it is beyond question that the competition demonstrates great feats of strength.

Who is strong? What’s the gauge or the measure of strength? Is it even possible to have a universal description and fit all these strong people from across the sports world landscape into one category?

How do we compare the strength of a gymnast to the strength of a powerlifter? Those strengths won’t necessarily crossover into the other’s playground. Is it fair to compare a swimmer that obviously possesses great cardio-muscle strength and stamina to the marathon runner who just has cardio strength and endurance? Or compare one dude that can bend nails and tear books, to the dude that can’t do either one, but can hang from a pole like a flag? It’s all strength, isn’t it?

What I found from my reading of Survival of the Fittest, is that there are many different types of strengths we can possess.

Trying to figure out which strength is the ultimate strength is equivalent to trying to figure out who is the greatest athlete of all time. Who is the greatest home run hitter, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays or the Babe? Is Jordan better than Wilt or Jabbar better than Magic? What about Carl Lewis, Michael Phelps, Bruce Jenner, Tiger, Herschel, Bo Jackson, Ali, Jack LaLanne, Jesse Owens, Dan Gable, or Jim Thorpe? I could go on, but who is the best? I say that they all are.

I can tell you about one athlete that I witnessed in high school back in the 70s that I’d put up against anyone. His name is Larry Kinnebrew. He was the State Champ in heavyweight wrestling, state champ in the discus and shot, won the 100 yard dash in 9.6, ran a leg on the region champ 440 yard dash team, won the area weightlifting meet, and was All State in football as a RB/LB (actually was named both). He could even dunk a basketball, and let me mention he was 6’1″ 245 pounds. (Although that’s standard size for today’s football player, back in the 70’s high school, that was huge.) He played for the Bengals and Bills in the NFL.

He can chef up some mean BBQ too.

Note the size difference:

1. Bodyweight Strength

If it’s not the ultimate genuine physical strength, it probably should be. Watching the gymnasts hang, flip, twist, hold, etc., through all the different contorted body positions, I come away saying, “That’s Strong.” Can a Gymnast bench 500 pounds and squat 700 pounds? Does it even matter if they can’t? They can suspend themselves in midair at arms length holding onto rings in an iron cross.

The body is our “equipment” we use to play in sports. It has to be trained in its own domain without the use of any traditional equipment to be functionally strong. The body is a tool all to itself. The stronger the body becomes by using its own weight, the more prepared the athlete becomes. Let me say this about bodyweight strength-—if you are fighting for your life hanging off a ledge or a cliff, who cares how much you can squat?

2. Functional Movement Strength

I love this one, the movement athletes. It’s what most of us do, the type of athletes we train, and across the board, the strength needed for most sports we play. Most of our idols or heroes play in this arena. My favorite all time athletes are in this group; Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson, Willie Mays, Bill Walton, Edwin Moses, Jack Lambert, and Fran Tarkenton, to name a few. This is where speed, power, strength, flexibility, and pure athleticism combine to form the functional athlete. These are the athletes that push the limits in their respective sports. They break the records and raise the bar for the next generation. Everything they do bears some attribute of speed, strength, stamina, power, and endurance.

3. Cardio Strength

Cardio endurance is another strength. These long-distance travelers may not look the part, but they still possess cardio strength that the strong guys usually don’t possess. Marathon runners possess strength endurance to climb long, slow inclines and run through city streets. Back in the day, a five-minute mile was excellent. That was the time to crack—then it was four and half minutes—then four minutes. Now the world record is 3:43. That takes a combination of endurance and speed strength.

Speed is a form of strength also. Speed engages the muscular system yet taxes the cardiovascular system also. Long-distance speed is probably the rarest strength, but those that have it, must use it often to maintain it. I heard a saying once, “If you were the slowest gazelle in the pack on the plains you would probably be someone’s lunch that day. If you were the slowest lion in the pack on the plains, you might not get to eat that day. So whether you are a gazelle or a lion, it’s best to be moving fast often.”

4. Powerlifting, Isolation, Strongman Strength

I grouped all these together because they seem to have the same blood-line—brute strength. These guys are mad strong, like my friend Joe Majors who competed world-wide and squatted 903, benched 655, and pulled 760 in Germany. And that was after both triceps were surgically repaired. (Not too shabby for a guy in his 50s!)

Even taking it down to the nail benders, arm wrestlers, and brick busters, brute strength is strongman stuff. I saw a guy curl a hundred pound dumb bell once. Back in the 80s at a charity function, he curled half his body weight of 65 pounds 1,088 times in six hours!

The rule was you could pause for three seconds between reps. What was funny about it was the camera crew filmed only a small portion at first. They left for lunch, came back and he was still going. The crowd really got into it with him around rep 600 to shoot for 1000 reps. He was crying, hands were shredded, but he made it. Was that strength or endurance? Or just crazy?

Strength is wrapped in different packages. All of us possess one or more of these strengths. It really isn’t a cancellation of strength if a gymnast can’t bench 500 pounds or if a powerlifter can’t do pull ups. Both are very strong at their craft.

But there is one strength that is the truth serum. The one strength that defines the elite, the best. The one strength that drives the person to finish, to conquer, and to reach the level of accomplishment. And that is…

5. Mental Strength

I once asked a group of high school athletes what they thought the strongest part of the body was. The answers were typically the back muscles or quads. However, it’s the mind that is the strongest part of the body. Everything begins in the mind.

If it isn’t resting in the five inches between the ears, then more than likely it isn’t going to happen. Mental drive and self-belief is the ultimate strength that is the universal description that we can attach to all these strong people. And it applies, not just to the athlete, it also applies to any and all that use their mental capacity to accomplish their dreams, goals, or ideas.

The refusal to lose is powerful, more powerful than the biceps or pecs. More powerful than the iron cross or picking up the stones and placing them on the top shelf. Without belief and the self-drive, we don’t hear Ali yell, “I’m the Greatest”. We don’t see Bobby Thompson and the “Shot heard around the World”. We don’t know about Wilt’s 100 points, Michael Phelps eight gold medals, The Williams Sisters’ ten Wimbledon Championships between them, or Jack LaLanne pulling a row of boats swimming in handcuffs.

The mind is the ultimate strength. Mental strength is the only comparison between the strongest participants in the different sports categories. And it’s an equal comparison. They are all equally strong, for without their mental strength, there would be no strength at all.

Who is the strongest? The one who thinks he is.

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About Russell Andrews, BS, DC, HKC, FMS, SSC: Russell Andrews is a Chiropractor, and is certified in kettlebells, certified in functional movement, certified in strength and conditioning. Russell’s focus is training young Athlete’s in functional movement. He maintains Thunder and Lightning Performance Training in Cartersville Georgia. He is a speaker for the Glazier Clinic speaking on Building the Functional Athlete to Improve Performance, and Functional Training for the High School Athlete. He has over 35 years experience as a lifter and over 25 years as a trainer. He also maintains a private Chiropractic service in Cartersville.

You can find him at: Thunder and Lightning Performance Training
www.drruss21.com

Strength Despite Limitations… by Corey Howard, RKC, CK-FMS

December 14, 2012 By Corey Howard 9 Comments

The RKC is about Strength. Many times we’ve referred to it as a “School of Strength.” After all, what’s better than lifting heavy stuff? In fact many instructors have said the secret to a happy life is lifting heavy stuff overhead! As RKC’s we sometimes base our abilities on a heavy deadlift, pull-up and overhead press. But what do you do if you can’t physically deadlift? What if some anatomical limitation prevents you from pressing heavy stuff overhead? Are you left to a life of spinning classes and pretty little selectorized machines? No!

I am one of these people. I physically can’t deadlift, or squat heavy anymore. I can’t press heavy things overhead on a consistent basis. Don’t get me wrong… I’m a former competitive powerlifter, I love lifting heavy stuff! Due to a nice case of scoliosis I physically can’t put weight on my back, or vertically load my spine, and heavy deadlifting is just not smart anymore. Take a look at a recent X-ray of my spine:

So now what? What do you do for a client like me? Heck, what do I do? I use the tools the RKC and DragonDoor has provided… CK-FMS, Swing variations, Get-ups, and Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning book. Let’s take a look at these-

CK-FMS – As we all learned from Brett Jones and Gray Cook, we’re only as strong as our weakest link will allow. If we have an active straight leg raise issue, or a stability issue, it adversely affects our performance because we aren’t moving efficiently. Brett once said that for some people the correctives become part of our daily routine, and for me that’s true. I’m always going to have a t-spine mobility issue, and as a result I’ll always have a stability issue. If I don’t make those correctives part of my practice sessions my low back is in pain the next day.

Swing variations – Swings are the foundation of what we do, and there are so many variations. Typically I have two days devoted to only swings. The first is a one arm swing interval variation day, and the other is a heavy swing day. For example I may do 30-40 minutes of one arm swings with a 24k, then later in the week I might perform 2 hand swings with a 48k for 30-40 minutes. One arm swings help with conditioning as well as stability issues due to the asymmetrical loading. The heavy two hand swings are as close to heavy deadlifting as my body will allow, yet work great for building strength in a safe yet ballistic manner.

Get ups – David Whitley says get-ups are essentially the human gate pattern, and he’s right! Get ups allow us to move safely under a load while our body fires in a X-type of pattern. Look at the initial post to elbow move for example, we drive through our bell side glute while posting on the opposite elbow by firing that lat. Everything moves diagonally, just like when we walk. Get ups teach me to move under a load while still providing the much needed overhead stimulation. Ten minutes of get ups do the trick!

Convict Conditioning – When I was powerlifting, I used to have a high and low intensity day. Some powerlifters call it Dynamic and Max effort days. Basically this is a day of lower weight with higher reps to essentially practice the movement, shore up weak links and build efficiency, followed with a max effort day 72 hours later with fewer reps and heavier weight, very similar to the swing methodology discussed above. I have chosen to focus on three bodyweight strength movements; pistol, pull-up and handstand push-ups. Since I can’t back or front squat, the pistol is a safe alternative that still allows me to safely apply a load on heavy days yet still get high rep squat variation practice in on my light days. The pull-up is also a movement that allows me to hang a kettlebell from my foot or a belt to add a load, while practicing a horizontal version on my light days. Finally handstand push-ups are really the only way I can press anything overhead without being crippled the next day! All three movements are easy to modify using the different levels provided in Paul Wade’s Convict Conditioning.

So how does this look in a program?

Day 1: 10-min of light get ups followed by light easy bodyweight strength practice

Day 2: 30-40 min of One Arm Swings

Day 3: 10 min of heavier get up practice followed by heavier low rep bodyweight strength movements

Day 4: 30-40 min of heavy swings

Being strong is an important part of life. It’s how we survive. No matter what physical limitation you have there are resources available and ways to work around almost anything. The last thing anyone should ever do is sit down on a machine, choose a weight, and push out some mindless reps. Grab a kettlebell do some get ups and swings or some bodyweight strength work.

An excuse only exists if you allow it to.

About Corey:

As the owner and founder of Results PT, Corey started the company in 2004 out of his house, with the goal of creating an energizing atmosphere that’s geared toward the client’s success. Since 2004 his vision has grown along with the list of clients, and in 2008 he opened Sioux Falls’s first private personal training studio. Corey has trained and helped many people lose a lot of weight, including a few people that have lost over 100lbs. He also has experience training fitness figure competitors and pagent girls. His clients have been featured in local and national magazine articles, appeared on television, and competed nationally. He originally became a certified personal trainer while living in Minneapolis in 2002 and over the years has created a successful strategy and program that reaps success. He also has experience in competitive powerlifting and loves total body kettlebell workouts that promote athleticism. He can be reached at www.resultsptonline.com or www.coreyhoward.com

1999 Sioux Falls Augustana College graduate. BS in Bs Admin, Soc, Psych.
I’ve been in a gym lifting, training, and learning about fitness since 1992.
After living in Mineapolis, Mn for 5 years my wife (Tricia) and I moved home to Sioux Falls, SD where I started Results Personal Training out of a spare bedroom in our house. Over the course of time it slowly evolved into Sioux Falls’s first private training studio with 2000 sq. ft, of kettlebells, power racks, free weights, a slosh pipe, and many other fun implements.
Former competitive powerlifter
After tearing my left tricep and being forced into early retirement from powerlifting, I discovered kettlebells with some encouragement from Brad Nelson, RKC. And in 2009 I earned my HKC.
In 2010 I went on and earned my RKC.
In 2011 I earned my CK-FMS and became the first kettlebell functional movement specialist in South Dakota.
In 2012 I was an assistant instructor at the RKC certification course. South Dakota’s most Senior ranked kettlebell instructor.
I’ve had clients range in age from 10 to 75, who’s goal range from weight loss, pageantry, increasing a vertical leap, and just fitting into smaller jeans.