RKC

Workout of the Week: Lifting Heavy Bells

April 30, 2014 By Andrew Read 1 Comment

**THE BEAST: Russian Kettlebell – 48kg (106 lbs.)**

Life is hard and most of us are facing the very real prospect that what we’d like to do is limited by what we can actually achieve. For those of us who are trainers we see clients every day who are limited by their range of movement more than their lack of desire.

The fitness world has made a killing from creating ways for you to exercise and add stress to the body even when you shouldn’t. By putting you in a seated position and using fixed planes of motion equipment manufacturers have actually made the problems worse, not better.

For many the goal of a heavy kettlebell press can seem very far off. Most likely this is for people training for RKC II, but it is a good goal for those who have no desire to ever attend a certification too. The most common pressing goal is a half-bodyweight press so let’s use that as the end goal.

One of the things that needs to be said right upfront is that if you have problem shoulders this is not the program for you. Pressing heavy requires pain free mobile shoulders. If you cannot achieve a solid overhead position with arm vertical and locked out then you need to address that before embarking on a press specialization plan. Remember – mobility before stability/ motor control. Stability before strength.

When planning a session to get big loads overhead you still want to make sure you tick all the right boxes during the warm up to make sure the body is primed and ready to go. A good place to start is with some mobility work – think of this as insurance, and a final double check to make sure that we really are in the right shape to get that heavy load overhead.

The main focus of the session is getting used to lifting heavy bell/s. Because we can’t yet press our goal bell we need to come up with some alternatives to get the body used to having that supramaximal weight locked out overhead as well as teach the body how to deal with getting it to the rack.

Warm up:

Foam roller T-spine.
Rib Pull x 10 reps each side.
Armbar x 10 breaths each side.
Get ups x 1 each x 3 with progressively heavier weights (ending one bell below your goal press bell. i.e. if you goal press is 40kg then you might go 28kg, 32kg, 36kg).

Clean and press ladder 1 x 1-2-3-4-5 with a bell you are comfortable with.

Clean weight ladder. Perform 3 sets of successively heavier cleans, performing 3 reps each side. Finish with goal press bell. i.e. if my goal press is the 40kg you would use 32kg x 3/3, 36kg x 3/3, 40kg x 3/3.

Push press x 3 sets of 2 reps with goal press bell.

Two hand swings x 2 sets of 20 reps. Use a light bell. This is active recovery and to help get the tension out from the heavy work.

Heavy get up x 3 x 1 each side. Use a bell one higher than your goal press bell. i.e. if the goal press bell is 40kg then use the 44kg.

Clean the same bell x 3 each side.

Three successively heavier presses. i.e. if the goal press bell is the 40kg then do 32kg x 1, 36kg x 1, 40kg x 1.

***

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

Stumped on Warm-ups?

April 16, 2014 By Laurel Blackburn 5 Comments

Laurel Blackburn Stretch I remember being a newly minted RKC back in 2009. I couldn’t wait to get back and start training clients. I had a head full of knowledge and a heart full of pride and excitement.

One of the things that stumped me a bit was doing warm ups and movement prep for my classes. Yes, we learned some basics such as the pumps and hip flexor stretches, but after doing that class after class, I was looking for something more. Something my clients and I wouldn’t get bored with doing before every class.

As I continued with my education through Dragon Door and the RKC, I was able to add to my knowledge and my toolbox. By taking the CK-FMS in 2010, I learned about compensations for proper movement, and how to correct them. I added many of the correctives to my own movement prep/warm up as well as my classes.

I noticed that my client’s movement improved and their performance skyrocketed. The workouts that followed a good movement prep helped them perform the Kettlebell exercises with much better form. The better the form, the more they got out of our workouts.

My classes are thirty minutes and many of my personal training sessions are thirty to forty minutes, so I was looking for something that I could do with them that didn’t take a lot of time. The movement prep had to hit all of the areas that are crucial to getting the most out of their workouts. The movement prep also had to give me the most “bang for my buck” in addressing some of the most common problems I see in many of my clients such as ankle, thoracic spine mobility and proper breathing techniques. Again, I added to my arsenal by continuing my education by taking the Primal Move certification. This certification was the final piece of the puzzle in providing my clients and myself with everything needed to address the biggest movement and mobility issues.

I took everything I’ve learned through certifications and workshops and came up with my own movement flows. They are quick and easy and my clients enjoy them.

I’ve included one of my favorites and I will be posting a lot more in the near future. I hope you enjoy this, more importantly, I hope your clients enjoy them. Let me know what you think and please let me know if you have any special cases or issues with your clients that need specific drills. Chances are I have a movement flow that will address these issues.

Have fun and get moving!

***

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

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

Painful Elbows? Look at Your Technique

March 5, 2014 By Andrea Du Cane 9 Comments

I can’t count how many people I run into, that have elbow pain and had to stop or back off their kettlebell or pull-up training. I’m sure you know someone who has developed pain in the elbows after working up to heavier cleans and snatches or just more volume. Perhaps they have just started Convict Conditioning or some other body weight program and then find they have to back off due to elbow issues. Maybe you have encountered the same problem at some point during your lifting career.

Unfortunately, this problem is all too common these days. Chalk it up to unbridled enthusiasm with their new skill or toy, pushing too hard too fast and lastly not paying enough attention to proper technique.

First, let me explain the difference between two general types of elbow pain.

Tennis elbow: which is caused by inflammation of the extensor forearm muscles, causing pain on the outside (lateral side) of the elbow.

Golfer’s elbow: is caused by inflammation of the flexor forearm muscles inside (medial side) of the elbow. Both are caused by repetitive stress where the muscle and tendon meet and at the point where the tendon meets the bone.

Tennis elbow is somewhat more common than golfers elbow, but both are very common in athletes in their 40’s and 50”s. This is largely due to the fact that tendons and other connective tissue becomes less flexible, and elastic as we age, causing the tissue to tear and pull away from the bone more easily than in younger athletes.

This is why it is even more important to add volume and load gradually as we get older. However, even young athletes would be wise to train slow and steady and put their focus into good technique instead of reps and weight. And lastly, good technique trumps everything. With good technique high volume cleans and swings should not be a problem for most people.

Let me explain how lifting kettlebells incorrectly can be effecting your elbows and how to avoid problems in the future.

99% of the time irritated elbows can be attributed to the ballistic lifts, not the grinds. Meaning that most of the time the problem lies in incorrect clean and/or snatch technique.

As always I start at the swing. If the single-arm swing is not good, especially on back-swing portion, I know they are risking elbow injury. And any problem you see in the swing will only be amplified during the drop in the clean and snatch.

Here are a few key points to look for during the back swing (this applies to swing, clean and snatch).

1) Is the elbow fully extended, or straight at the bottom of the backswing?

2) Is the arm in contact with the body, the ribcage or thigh or both? The arm placement does depend on the build of the athlete. People with bigger chests or shorter arms in relation to their torsos will have a harder time hitting this position. They should look for contact on the upper thigh or wherever is more comfortable. But, the arm MUST be in contact with the body at the bottom of the back swing.

3) Is there excessive tension in the arm, especially the forearm? The arm should be as relaxed as possible as the arm swings back between the legs and the elbow straightens. There should be just enough strength in the hand to keep a hold of the kettlebell, not a death grip.

The above applies to all of the ballistic lifts. The reason is simple, the hips are the driving force of the lift NOT the arm. Therefore, in order to maximally load the hips, the force of the descending kettlebell must be absorbed through the body and that can only happen if the arm connects to the body at the back swing. If the arm is separated from the body, all of the force goes through the arm and believe me that’s a lot of force! Something’s gotta give, either the elbow, shoulder or lower back. Add to that the fact that the hips are not maximally loaded for the next rep, the arm and lower back end up initiating the upswing – with little to no ballistic power.

The easiest way to make sure your arm connects to the body on the back swing, is to wait until the upper arm starts to make contact with the ribcage before hinging and sending the hips back. This is especially true for the swing and snatch. The clean has a slightly different movement pattern due to the fact that the arm is already touching the ribcage, therefore the hips move at the same time the arm begins it’s drop.

Another way to see this is to watch for the handle of the kettlebell falling below the level of the knees. Sometimes it’s hard to see if the arm connects to the body, or if the timing of the connection is correct, remember the arm needs to connect before the kettlebells swings back between the legs not after.

There are a number of great cues, both verbal and with physical feedback. One of the simplest cues, is to tell them to “play chicken” with the arm and the hips. Wait as long as possible as the arm descends and then at the very last minute explosively hinge your hips back. I find this works especially well with my male clients. 🙂

For some clients simply telling them to wait until they feel the upper arm make contact is enough to get the correct timing. Or have them practice the movement pattern in slow motion without a kettlebell. Have them stand up tall in their swing stance, and have them lower their arm until the upper arm makes contact with their ribcage and then quickly drive their hips back into the bottom of the swing position. The cue I use in the back position is “riding a broomstick like a witch.” Your arm is the broomstick.

You can have them practice a few reps of the movement pattern and then pick up a kettlebell and do a few reps with each arm. Stop them immediately if you see them reverting back to the bad pattern.

Another simple cue I use is “Hips Drive Arms Guide.” This works especially well for the clean and the snatch.

For others, you have to use some sort of physical or tactile cue. This starts getting more involved, as with all physical cueing you should check with your state to see if you are allowed to use tactile cuing. If verbal cueing and the movement patterning doesn’t work, I recommend finding an experienced RKC in your area.

Once the swing technique is good, it’s time to look at the clean. The clean is the most likely culprit. The clean is simply a more complex lift, timing and technique is crucial to execute a good and safe clean. Because there is minimal forward and back movement and more straight up and down, it takes greater force in the hips to drive the kettlebell back, it wants to go straight down to the ground.

Here are a few key points to look for during the clean:

1) Is the kettlebell being “cast away”? Thrown away from the body?

2) Is the arm in contact with the body, the ribcage or thigh or both at the bottom, just like in the swing? Or is the kettlebell ending up down toward the floor between the feet instead of back and above the knees?

3) Is the arm completely straight with elbow locked, with minimal tension in the forearm?

With the swing, the arm is kept straight the entire time, during the clean it must bend and straighten with every rep. It is hard for some people to not hold tension in their arm or keep their elbow slightly bent at the bottom of the clean. This usually happens when people are trying to muscle the kettlebell up into the rack position instead of driving with the hips. On the drop if they don’t sit back fast enough, while keeping the elbow against the ribcage the kettlebell will tend to fall toward the floor.

This creates the need to slow or control the drop with their arm, holding tension in the elbow instead of absorbing the load with the hips. Remember the cue “Hips Drive – Arms Guide”. This is exactly what needs to happen.

Over time, holding the tension in the elbow and forearm can cause irritation to the tendons and you’ll end up with elbow tendinitis. Or sometimes shoulder or lower back pain will develop.

For the clean, the timing of the hips moving back are a bit different. Since the arm is already against the ribcage, when preparing to re-clean the kettlebell, the hips move slightly ahead of the arm or at the exact same time. Cue them to throw the kettlebell into their stomach, remember the goal is maximal loading of the hips, so the kettlebell needs to move back not down.

Another cue that works to help reduce elbow discomfort is to tighten the triceps at the moment the elbow locks. This will help to add stability to the elbow and take pressure off the forearm.

Something else to watch for is over gripping the handle of the kettlebell. You need just as much strength as necessary to hold onto the kettlebell at the back swing. The grip should be relatively loose especially during the upswing. Holding extra tension in the hand can also aggravate elbow issues.

Double cleans have a slightly different drop. Your elbows will momentarily leave the torso to make room for 2 kettlebells to be thrown back between your legs. But the arms drive back and against the inner thighs and/or ribcage. More weight means you need to push your hips back hard and fast and keep your weight back, the force can sometimes pull you forward to your toes.

The snatch is very similar to the clean. Pretty much everything applies.

If you clean up your clean (pun intended), you should find your snatch improves too.

On a last note, if you are experiencing elbow issues during your pull-up practice, this is often a result of too much volume too quickly. I would recommend less volume more frequently. Think of a “Grease The Groove” program, 1 or 2 reps spread out over the course of a day rather than lots of reps in one workout. Secondly, mix up your hand position, pronated, supinnated and neutral wrist positions will help in preventing overuse stress on the tendons.

If you currently are experiencing Tennis or Golfers elbow, the best medicine is the usual: rest, ice, NSAID’s, arm or elbow braces during workouts, stretching the forearms and hands, and forearm strengthening exercises. All will help to get you back to your favorite workouts.

***

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.

Fitness, Health, and Performance

February 26, 2014 By Max Shank 4 Comments

What is the primary goal of exercise? What is the primary objective to training at all?

The answer is that it depends entirely on the individual. However, most of us will fall into the health category. This would include anyone who is not a professional athlete getting paid for their level of performance. Fitness and Health typically go hand in hand, but Health is the primary goal. It is possible to be fit (physically) but to be unhealthy (pain, disease, malnutrition). Therefore we must look at Health first. Then we can address fitness and performance.

There are a few cases where you may have to sacrifice health to excel at a sport (i.e. cutting weight for wrestling, or taping up an ankle instead of resting because you are the star quarterback playing in the Superbowl.)

As you can see those instances are few and far between. So focus on Health before performance. The really cool part is that being healthy will actually unlock your potential by eliminating negative effects of distress/sickness.
When you are in pain or unhealthy, a couple things will happen:

1) Cortisol (stress hormone) is elevated constantly from pain which decreases growth hormone, testosterone, muscle growth, recovery, strength, etc.

2) Pain is depressing and will be psychologically damaging over time. Do not develop an association between pain and exercise!

3) When you feel pain, your brain will compensate by making you weak, tight, or both so you don’t do any more damage. This obviously makes you weaker or stiffer–the last thing you want.

4) Basic nutrient deficiency can also play a factor in your decreased health and performance

-Fatigue

-Apathy

-Simple Vitamin D deficiency, for example, can cause muscle fatigue, weakness, and even depression

So realize, moving forward, that health is not only a precursor to fitness and performance, but health enhances performance, as well as quality of life.

Common Sense

My best friend’s dad told us when we were young that, “Common sense isn’t very common.”

I have found the last couple decades to have confirmed that statement.

So, with that said, here is an abbreviated list of the most important common sense to be applied to your training.

1) If it hurts, don’t do it.

2) Don’t try to put square pegs into round holes.

3) Heavier does not mean “better.”

4) More does not mean “better.”

5) Your personal goals are yours and yours alone, and they are meaningful

6) You don’t have to do anything

Keep these simple things in mind when you approach your training or coaching.

Fitness Folks

The overwhelming majority of exercisers want the following things in this order:

1) Look better

2) Lose Fat and Build Muscle (see #1)

3) Feel better

4) Get stronger

This is an important reality to understand whether you are a coach or athlete.

Even if you think you are neither of the above, you are an athlete; you just play a different sport.

Maybe your sport is losing ten pounds or walking up the stairs without getting tired after the first 5 steps. We all have goals and should approach them with the same dedication that professional athletes pursue their own goals.

Educate yourself, and attack your goals, whatever they are.

The first thing you have to do is to simply be healthy.

Then move well.

***

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.

What is the most versatile RKC movement?

February 19, 2014 By Shannon Scullin 2 Comments

Shannon demonstrates a good and a bad Get Up stance

The Turkish Get Up is the most versatile movement in the RKC system. It incorporates all seven of the FMS movement patterns – squat, hurdle step, in line lunge, shoulder mobility, active straight leg raise, trunk and rotary stability – allowing us to utilise it as not only a strength building exercise but as a screening and rehab tool, making it the most valuable exercise to have in your arsenal of training drills.

I’ve been known to be a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to teaching people how to do a get up. I firmly believe that one repetition completed with good form is far more beneficial to you than completing ten reps with a half arsed attempt at the movement. But I am pedantic about technique for a very good reason…

I train and have taught a large number of people how to use kettlebells during my time as a trainer. From personal trainers to the self-taught and those who have never touched a weight before in their life. All of these people have one thing in common… As their get up improves, their mobility and stability improves. As their mobility and stability improves their coordination improves. As their coordination improves their strength improves and as their strength improves so does the rest of their training.

The get up is not a “simple” movement to teach or to learn. In fact as well as being the most versatile it’s actually one of the most complex of all the kettlebell exercises.

There are a few books on the market that delve deep into the get up, its technique and corrective drills to help you improve your form, the most famous being “Kalos Sthenos – Kettlebells From the Ground Up”. However, most people’s get up can be greatly improved by simply doing the following:

1) Thoracic mobility and hamstring flexibility drills.

Two of the most common issues we see in the get up are caused by poor thoracic mobility (hunching forward or shoulder unpacking during the seated position) and hamstring flexibility (inability to keep the down leg straight or allowing the foot to rotate outward).

Often I see people grinding their way through the movement with bad posture in an attempt to improve. But why continue beating your head against a brick wall when there is an easier way.…

There are a number of drills that you can perform to help improve your mobility and flexibility in these areas, thus improving your get up and posture in general.

My favourite drills, and the ones I have found achieve the best results are all incorporated in to one simple mobility workout called the “Daily Dozen”. This simple eight minutes of mobility, done consistently in conjunction with the get up, will not only vastly improve your movement and posture but they are the perfect way to prepare your body for the workout ahead.

I recommend starting your warm up by “testing” a get up on each side. Once you have completed your get up perform one round of the “Daily Dozen” and then perform another get up on each side. Repeat this process three times.

Pay attention to how your get up feels after performing the first round of mobility drills. If you are particularly tight in the thoracic region you may choose to focus solely on the armbar, bent armbar and kettlebell brettzel for the next round of mobility. Likewise, if you are feeling particularly tight from the hips down, you may choose to focus on the Cossack, can opener and lower limb drills.

For those of you who are beginners or may be a little daunted at the thought of doing a bent armbar or the kettlebell brettzel you can replace both of these movements with the “Brettzel” which will achieve the same results.

2) Shift your weight.

From the moment you are born you commence a journey of movement. You learn how to shift your weight in order to roll over on to your belly, rock back and forth, crawl, stand and walk. Without this shift in weight movement becomes very difficult.

The get up is a similar journey of movement. Each stage you move to has a different centre of gravity. In order to perform the get up efficiently and gain maximum results you need to learn how and where to shift your weight in order to take the kettlebell from lying to standing position and back down again.

The easiest way to remember where the weight should be felt is to follow this zig zag pattern – elbow, hip, hand, knee.

As you roll to your elbow you should feel all the weight of your body and the bell going through your elbow in to the floor. As you straighten your arm out and progress to the seated position this weight should shift and be felt through your glute, where your femur meets your hip. As you progress to the bridge/low sweep, your arms should form a straight line from the kettlebell, through your shoulders and the weight should be felt through the hand that is connected to the ground. And finally, as you transition from the knee to hand through to the lunge position the weight should be felt through the knee that is connected to the ground. On the descent the weight shift works in the opposite order – knee, hand, hip, elbow.

3) Do more reps.

This is important. In order to get better at something you need to practice it over and over again.

In an average workout you may complete anywhere between 25 to 100 repetitions of exercises such as swings, snatches, presses, deadlifts and squats however, the get up seems to get neglected when it comes to getting our repetitions in.

Instead of lumping the get up in with your warm up every time you train, why not try changing it up a little? Try spending an entire session focusing solely on the get up every now and then.

Mid last year I started using the get up as my recovery workout. Twice a week I would take a light kettlebell (nothing heavier than 14kg), set the Gymboss on sixty second intervals and then proceed to perform get ups for the next 100 minutes. One get up on the minute, every minute. The get up was to be slow and controlled, focusing on good form throughout the movement. By the time I had completed twenty get ups all tightness had washed away from my body and any aches and pains that were rearing their ugly little heads prior to the session had retreated with tails between their legs. My movement felt strong, natural and effortless and the more repetitions I did the better everything felt.

Coincidentally, after incorporating the 100 get up recovery workout in to my routine, not only did I hit a new get up PR but I saw gains in all other areas of my training too.

Work on your mobility, shifting your weight and getting more reps in and I guarantee that your get up will not only get better but you will get stronger too!

***

Shannon Scullin is an RKC Team Leader and PCC Instructor based out of Dragon Door Australia. As Australia’s first, and highest ranked female RKC Shannon brings a keen eye for technique to training and is renowned for being very focused on form ensuring that clients with previous injuries are able to train safely. As the head of Personal Training at Read Performance Training she uses the CK FMS to test and evaluate all clients before training, ensuring that not only will they look better from training, but they will also move better too. With a background in triathlon, adventure racing, rock climbing, cycling, hockey and running Shannon fell in love with kettlebells and the FMS system when she saw the immediate result that improving mobility, stability and strength has on sporting performance. She can be reached through: www.readpt.com

The Importance of a Clear Business Plan

November 20, 2013 By Brian Wright Leave a Comment

When building your personal training business, it’s important to develop a clear business plan. Most business coaches will tell you to pick a specialty then focus your efforts on it—this is generally good advice. You should also know your product, service, and your target client. Then, hone your focus, concentrate your outreach and marketing efforts to make best use of your resources. However, if your focus is too rigid, you risk missing opportunities outside of your original scope. These unforeseen opportunities can potentially lead to fantastic growth. So, it’s important to remain flexible and consider each potential opportunity carefully. How do you come across good opportunities? Opportunities easily present themselves in the presence of effective email marketing and productive, consistent networking.

Although I rely on my business plan for general guidance and a framework for development, much of my business’s growth has happened because of unforeseen opportunities. When I first started my business, ten years ago, I really didn’t have a business plan. I simply took any client willing to pay me for training services. I was disorganized, my resources were depleted, and I didn’t have a clear vision. Eventually, I examined how I was doing business and realized I could be using my time more effectively while maximizing my profits.

My training business, Brian Wright Personal Training (BW-PT), will have over 650 clients with 527 average sessions per month as of third quarter 2013. BW-PT operates in 13 locations, including corporate centers, rehab centers, fitness centers, one leased studio, and in client homes. Our team of 15 includes trainers, accounting and administrative staff. This growth obviously didn’t happen overnight, it took a flexible but focused business plan and a few good opportunities.

The Importance of a Clear Business Plan

Developing a business plan allows you to focus energy and resources on your goal. This focus allows you to provide a better quality product or service, while targeting your client base conserves resources.

I developed a business plan based on who my clients would be, and centralized on where I would train them. First, I narrowed the scope of by geographic location to minimize the distance I would travel for clients. This also allowed me to target my marketing to a smaller area. Then, I began to seize any opportunity to centralize training locations. I transitioned from a scattered in-home and fitness center training model to centralizing my clients in corporate, rehab, and commercial facilities.

Soon, I realized the majority of my clients were 45-55 year old professionals. By narrowing my outreach efforts to this population, I was able to get more bang for my marketing buck than by trying to appeal to a broader market including young professionals or student athletes. I also realized that it’s important to be flexible, if a high school athlete or team contacts me for training, I can do it, but I don’t waste time or money marketing specifically to their population.

The Importance of Considering Opportunities

Always remember to be flexible. Instead of distracting you from your goals or splintering your efforts, good opportunities can compliment your business plan.

Flexibility has been vitally important to the growth of my business. When I was first approached about training in a corporate facility, I hesitated because it was outside of my original business plan. However, I came to see how expanding the locations for my business while continuing to focus on my target population could be beneficial. The potential of training just 10% of the tenants in a building is staggering, so I simply could not turn down the offer. My business plan needed to expand while remaining specific enough to avoid fragmenting target markets and available resources.

I expanded my business plan again when I partnered with Sport & Spine Athletics (SSA). Again, I was worried about stepping outside of my focus, but when I got the opportunity to build a training program with SSA. I saw how this partnership could be a great way to provide quality service to my target population. I could reach more people while training at a finite number of locations instead of aimlessly training anyone who came along—I could manage a team at each clinic.

Where Do Opportunities Come From?

How do you put yourself in a position to discover opportunities? Networking, joining business groups, attending business gatherings, conferences, and by general outreach. The most cost-effective and successful marketing approaches I have found are email marketing and networking. Always work towards creating relationships and partnerships.

BW-PT has trainers in several corporate locations because of networking. At a happy hour event, I met a contact interested in developing a corporate fitness initiative for XM satellite radio. Two months later, I was managing a 6,000 square-foot fitness facility with access to 7,500 corporate tenants.

In that facility along with four other sister corporate facilities, email marketing played a huge role. In my experience, networking creates the contacts, then email marketing transforms this connection into an opportunity.

I was able to develop a mutually beneficial partnership with Sport & Spine Rehab centers after attending a corrective exercise workshop for physical therapists and chiropractors. I was one of three fitness professionals at a workshop of over 60 rehab professionals. This CEO of Sport & Spine Rehab was looking to reinvigorate the company’s Sport Spine Athletics division. Two months later he contracted my company to operate in that division. We now operate out of all seven locations and continue to increase our client numbers.

Business networking is essential for future growth opportunities, as well as expanding your email marketing list. And, a business plan with clear goals is important for businesses of all sizes. Always be open to expansion of your plan as you progress. Partnerships, management opportunities, leveraging potential, and buy outs are all ways to skyrocket your training business if you can recognize them when they may only be diamonds in the rough.

***

About Brian Wright MS, CSCS, RKCII, NSCA-CPT: Brian is the Owner of BW-PT and Director of Sport and Spine Athletics, with 13 Studios in the DC metro area with over 520 average sessions per month. There’s a renewal rate of 83% on our personal training packages and group training packages.

Learning About Eating Disorders

November 6, 2013 By Laurel Blackburn Leave a Comment

I wrote my last blog just over a month ago. I was scared, no terrified of the responses I might get. My biggest fear was that people would not see me as being trainer material, much less an RKC Team Leader. Boy, I was wrong!

I was overwhelmed with positive responses and support. I found that I am certainly not alone in my struggles. I received emails, texts and comments from women and men who shared their own struggles and applauded me for putting it all on the line.

The best response was from a friend who is a Social Worker. She is working with a woman who is suffering from an eating disorder. She shared my blog in a therapy session and had a major breakthrough with her client.

Putting myself out there like I did was worth it. My goal was to help others and start a conversation amongst trainers in dealing with their clients who struggle with eating disorders and food.

I am not one to sit in my problems and I hope you aren’t either. There is no sense in blogging about something so personal without looking for answers. So I went in search of answers and I got them.

Last year, I had the privilege of leading a team through the RKC in San Jose. One of the ladies that was on my team, Traci Hayes, is a registered Dietitian that specializes in eating disorders. I knew she would be a great resource for getting answers not only to help myself, but to help others.

Although I knew many of the things we discussed, it was an eye-opening interview.

First of all and most importantly, she stressed the importance of taking the focus off of calories and instead, focus on your health and strengths. Appreciate your body and what it can and does for you instead of how it looks.

For me, I have many strengths and I have many things my body does for me. At 51 years old, I can still do the splits, backbends and crazy feats of strength including bending nails and flipping tires. I can do so many things that others cannot do. I and you and your clients have strengths that have nothing to do with how they look and how much they weigh. Focus on those things. Celebrate strength gains and performance gains. What are your strengths?

Traci also discussed the scale, saying that there is no number we will be happy with, we always want more. The scale is a horrible indicator of who we are. It’s just a number. It doesn’t know how much of that number is muscle, fat, water, bones etc. It can’t tell you how strong you are, how kind you are or what kind of awesomeness you possess. It won’t tell you how smart you are and it won’t tell you how many successes you have in life. It’s just a number; a number we will never be happy with.

Getting on the scale sets our standard for the day and sets us up for misery.

This just doesn’t happen. Traci emphasizes that we must make a choice to focus on ourselves as a whole, healthy, strong, competent person. I think many of us are not willing to make that simple choice. We may have to do it many times through out the day, day after day before it becomes a habit. Just like any other habit, we must be consistent.

We discussed eating when not hungry and binge eating, one of my biggest struggles.

I don’t know about you, but I find myself standing in front of my refrigerator, looking for something, hoping that something suddenly appeared that will take the edge off. Yes, it’s emotional eating and it needs to be dealt with.

Many of my clients talk about eating when they aren’t hungry. After a satisfying dinner, they continue to eat until bedtime. Maybe it’s during the workday. Things get stressful and next thing you know, you have run to the snack machine or emptied out a co-workers candy dish.

Traci suggests sitting with those feelings, acknowledge them and deal with them. Feelings are just feelings, nothing more and they will pass if we give them enough time. The problem is that many of us just want to medicate our feelings and go for the quick fix, rather then just being ok with them. If you find yourself in this situation; tend to your feelings. Ask yourself if you are really hungry or are you trying to avoid feelings. This may be a good time to journal, take a walk, do some breathing and refocus. Success builds on success. The more you can redirect and deal with feelings without food, the easier it will be the next time.

Think of food as fuel, rather than a coping mechanism. Eat to nourish your body, not to punish it.

Choose health, mental health and strength. Focus on what your body can do for you each day. Our body shows up for us everyday. Give it what it needs to function. Traci promised me that by changing my focus, I will intuitively begin to eat healthier to fuel my body. The key word here is CHOOSE.

We discussed the negative self-talk and self hate. One of the things she asked was would I talk that way to someone I loved or to my own child. The answer is absolutely not! One of the things that hit home for me is that she said, is that the way we talk to ourselves is the way we will treat ourselves.

If you choose to break the cycle of self abuse, take these steps everyday.

Don’t get on the scale…better yet, get rid of it.
Feed your body healthy, non -processed foods to fuel your activities, health and wellbeing.
Make a choice everyday to celebrate the many great things your body does and can do for you.
Sit in your feelings, ask yourself what you are trying to avoid. Deal with that and know that feelings will pass if given enough time.
Put a positive spin on your goals. Instead of making weight loss a goal, make a performance or strength goal.
Refrain from negative self-talk. Focus on positive.
Try something different. If you have been in a cycle of losing and gaining over and over, do something different. Get a new workout, try new healthy recipes, keep a journal.
Eat healthy, clean foods and exercise. Doing this consistently will enable our bodies to get where they need to be.

Traci says that the diet industry fails us. It makes promises it can’t keep and never teaches us about living healthy and learning about our bodies. Once you place restrictions and rules on your eating, you are setting yourself up for failure and shame and then the cycle begins again.

I received so much great information during our interview but the most important thing I came away with is that I HAVE to make a choice to do things differently or I will never get out of this self destructive cycle.

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Here’s how Traci can be reached: Traci Haynes, RD, RKC, SFG

Nutrition Therapist Specializing in Eating Disorders, Co-owner of VELOCITY Strength and Fitness, Chico, CA

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

Top 3 Strength Exercises That Carry Over Into Other Training Areas

October 23, 2013 By Shannon Scullin Leave a Comment

Throughout my life I have trained for a variety of different reasons, competing in events such as team sports and endurance racing, to further my knowledge as a trainer by attending certifications such as the RKC and PCC as well as training simply to improve my own personal strength, mobility and coordination.

Quite often I like to I bite off more than I can chew, booking into and training for multiple events at the same time. As a result it is important that I follow a smart strength training program that carries over into all other areas of my training, including not only strength training but also rehab and mobility work too.

As I look back through my years of training diaries there are three staple strength building exercises that I have always reverted to, not only for my own training but for my clients too.

The trifecta of training, as I like to call them, not only builds strength but they compliment and carry over into all other areas of training. They can be regressed or progressed, depending on your level of skill, slightly varied or coupled with other drills to ensure that I get the strength, mobility and rehab work required for me to continue training efficiently, yet are basic enough that it does not take up hours of my day to train them or severely fatigue me neurally. The trifecta are:

Deadlift
Press
Pull Up

Whether you are male or female, beginner or advanced, the deadlift, press and pull up, combine to form a well-rounded training template.

A basic guideline for programming works the following – push/pull movements, legs and abdominals. The beauty of the deadlift, press and pull up is that it not only meets these guidelines but they are exercises in which the entire body is required to synchronise and utilise multiple muscle groups in order to perform these movements. This synchronisation is referred to as intermuscular coordination.

Intermuscular coordination is what we should be aiming for in training. The more synchronised your muscles are the more strength you can recruit to lift heavier weights, in order to get stronger, faster, and more explosive.

The press, pull up, and deadlift are commonly referred to as “grind” movements. This means that they are performed slowly, like a truck grinding its way up a hill in a low gear. The slow “grind” allows you time to focus on keeping your form throughout the movement while creating as much tension as possible, linking your upper and lower body together via the core, teaching it to synchronise and function efficiently as one unit.

So how do you program these exercises to get the most out of your training?

I structure my workouts in 2 different ways:

1) Warm up – mobility/stability drills; these drills should be exercises that work the mobility/stability
required for the exercises in the main set of your workout:

Armbar x 5/5

Hard rolls x 5/5

Towel toe touch x 10

TGU x 1/1

**repeat x 3

Main workout
– strength building or sport specific skills; this is where I train the deadlift OR press and pull up:

Deadlift x 5-3-2 (increase weight each time)

** repeat x 2-3 – at the start of each new round add 5kg to the starting weight. If you are using kettlebells and you started with

the 24kg start the next round with the 28kg.

Finisher – core/ballistics:

Because once your core is fatigued your session is finished.

Push press x 1-2-3-4-5

Pull up x 5-4-3-2-1

** repeat x 2-4. Complex – no rest until each ladder is complete. If you cannot do pull ups then do chin ups. If you have not yet progressed to chins then do hanging leg raises. If you cannot do hanging leg raises do knee raises….

The other method of programming I use is:

2) Mobility/stability + strength exercise – With this method I couple 2 x mobility/stability exercises with one strength exercise. This allows me to focus a little more on rehabbing specific areas of concern. It also allows me to actually feel the effect the corrective drills have on each exercise.

Armbar x 5/5

Bretzel x 5/5

Half kneeling press x 5/5

** repeat x 3

Towel toe touch x 10

Single leg deadlift x 5/5

Deadlift x 5

Hard rolls x 5/5

Hollow body hold x 30 sec (squash towel under lumbar spine to ensure hollow position is achieved)

Pull up x 3-5

Which program I use is dependent on the amount of time I have as well as the way my body is feeling at the time. If I am feeling good I go to work on structure #1. If I am lacking in time and/or am feeling a little fatigued structure #2 is my go to program.

For those of you who love to participate in a variety of sports and fitness events, get your variety from your events not your training. A solid training plan transfers to a variety of events. Remember, smart training provides a general physical foundation for all things, not just for one thing.

Happy training 🙂

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Perfecting Squat Mechanics with the Prying Goblet Squat

October 2, 2013 By Angelo Gala 1 Comment

If you have been exposed to the strength training systems of the RKC, then one could assume that you are no stranger to the benefits of squatting. The exercise enthusiast may look at the squat as an important movement utilized on a daily basis, but more commonly as an exercise made famous by its ability to cultivate copious levels of strength for the practitioner willing to put in the grueling work.

What happens when we no longer are able to access the full range of motion of such a fundamental pattern? It’s easy to give up on the lift—excusing age, bad knees or tight hips—and prioritize more of our time training the deadlift, but it has been noted by both Ido Portal and Gray Cook that the bottom position of the squat was formerly considered a position of rest and stability.

Shouldn’t we all make the effort to restore and maintain a movement that is so basic and primitive? The good news is that a little twist on a familiar drill can re-open the door to possibility and help take back the promised lands!

One of the most fundamental movements taught under the curriculum of the HKC is the Goblet Squat. To me this exercise is highly overlooked and its effects are easily understated. Though this is not a lift that will build slabs of flesh that hang off of your knee caps, it is a requisite lift that will teach your body how to properly balance, engage and stabilize throughout the start and completion of the movement creating greater potential for awesomeness down the road.

As is the case with many things that are good for us, there is a way to add to the Goblet Squat making it just that much more amazing!

First let’s look at the HKC standard for the Goblet Squat:

1. The back must remain neutral through the entire rep.
2. Your knees track your toes.
3. Your heels and toes should be planted.
4. Make sure to inhale down and exhale on the way up.
5. Your hips and shoulders must ascend at the same time.
6. Your hips and knees should extend fully at the top of the exercise.

Now let’s put this into application and teach you how to “feel” the movement.

Position yourself slightly behind a light kettlebell with heels shoulder width apart and toes slightly turned out. To find your start position, pull yourself down into the bottom position of a squat where the top surface of your upper thigh by the hip crease is lower than the top of the knee. If mobility is a known issue then sit low enough where the hips begin to slightly tuck under, but not low enough to lose a natural lumbar curve. Focus on keeping a neutral spine with an emphasis on lumbar lengthening. You should be able to feel your hamstrings and outer hips fire and begin to heat up. Avoid collapsing at the hips and resting on our heels with a rounded back at all costs.

Now that we have established the proper start position, reach your hands forward to grab the horns (outside handles), of the kettlebell pinning your elbows to the insides of your knees. Be sure that the boney part of your elbow touches the soft part of your knee, not to be confused with the softer inner thigh muscles. Still emphasizing your long spine, perform a double bicep curl bringing the center of the KB handle to your collarbone while simultaneously using your elbows to drive your knees apart. This “prying” effect will help loosen up tight adductor (groin) muscles that inhibit the outer hips from activating.

Now to teach your legs how to stabilize the squat by actively driving your knees away from your elbows, to create roughly 1-2 inches of separation between elbows and knees. Pause here to feel your deep outer hips activate, and then finally stand up to a complete lockout, raising your hips and shoulders together.

In order to finish the lift, actively tighten your hip flexors and hamstrings to pull your hips back to the bottom position of the squat. Just like the ascent, be sure to drive your knees apart while you reach the top of your hamstrings to the back of your heels.

Once you return to the bottom of the squat, place your elbows back against the soft part of your inner knee and re-extend your arms reaching the kettlebell down to a hover off of the floor. This will pry your knees apart again and set you up for the next rep. Be sure to keep the hips active and counter any forward lean by lifting your chest.

This drill is extremely beneficial when practiced before a squat session to help dial in the movement pattern and engage the posterior chain. Utilizing a small rep range of 1-2 sets of 6-8 reps will be enough to warm up the outer hips and legs in preparation to tackle a more rewarding set of double kettlebell front squats or high bar back squats.

Give this drill a go and keep me posted on how it affects your deep squat mobility and stability under heavier loads.

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About Angelo Gala, RKC and PCC Team Leader: Angelo Gala has been a fitness professional in the Boston area for greater than 11 years. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NCSA, has studied the Pranavayu system of yoga under David Magone and he is a Dharma friend at the Sakya Center of Buddhist Studies in Cambridge, MA where he completed a 1 year intensive study of Mangalam Yantra Yoga Under the guidance of Lama Migmar Tseten. He can be reached through email.

He considers himself an all-around fitness nerd and endurance junkie who refuses to fall under the category of a one-trick pony. Gala continually works to better himself and inspire others by leading a lifestyle conducive to physical, emotional, and spiritual development. He believes that no one should focus too much time and energy on a single dimension of fitness. The body craves all different types of movement that is not limited to just running, jumping, swimming, biking or lifting things up and putting them down again and again. He teaches clients to train with intention progressively, intelligently and with as many different modalities as the heart desires. Do this and the body and mind will be forever grateful.

4 Secrets to Engaging and Retaining Clients

September 11, 2013 By Brian Wright 2 Comments

So many of us as trainers, coaches, and fitness business owners get caught up in studying our craft…sometimes to a fault.
We work on programs for clients, we study manuals, we read blogs, and we attend countless workshops.

I have a long list of letters after my name, so clearly I am not saying that I am above any of that, or even non-supportive of it! In fact, I believe that we as a fitness professional community need MORE quality education. It is through that knowledge base that the RKC, CK-FMS, Primal Move Cert, PCC, and other personal training certifications helps us to change our clients’ lives for the better!

I am suggesting that perhaps we focus too much on the specifics of delivering program instead of the overall feelings those programs are supposed to create.

Let’s ask ourselves what people want…

They want to feel successful
They want recognition
They want a sense of belonging
They want to have fun

No matter how great of a program coach you are (and there have been some of the best in the business to have called themselves RKC’s), your clients will not stick with you unless their needs and wants are being met immediately. No matter how great of a marketer you are, you will not be able to hold onto those that the message reaches unless they have feelings of complete satisfaction relatively early into your program.

How do we create these feelings as business owners?

We might need to become better instructors! The answers are not in more education in this case. They are also not in attending another workshop to learn corrections, form and technique, or even which direct mail campaign to write. The answer is that we need to create a tribe feeling that people flock to in droves.

People want to feel successful. On the first day of training – either in a group or individually, people need to feel like they can do it right away. I believe as good instructors, we can find certain exercises that they can complete while being challenged. These exercises need to have benefit and they need to be within your program framework. That way you will maintain your fluid message, illustrate your passion appropriately, and be able to build on your education model.

For example, if a client goes through the RKC plank, the deadlift motion, some FMS style corrections, and maybe completes a few static stomp deadlifts or even some “sloppy” low swings within the first hour they meet you, they may not feel the same sense of accomplishment you do as their instructor. They have no real patience for the end product. You may have had this client sign up for a full 12 weeks, (as I hope you do in your training agreements) but without some immediate successes, they will be hard pressed to be engaged.

As a business owner – when is the best time to get a referral? Within the first 2 weeks of a new client signing up! Because they are excited! They want to tell people about the program they just signed up for; they want to share their successes! GIVE THEM SOME right away.

Focusing my attention on getting my clients success fast, I use the TRX. The program has a quick learning curve with good strength circuits. I bring in the Kettlebell early as well, as it often times is a major reason why people have sought me out. I teach them the RKC plank and explain to them that a 10 second plank is a great tension practice (most people can find decent tension for 10 seconds). I teach them the deadlift and the beginnings of the swing, but for many their success is in TRX inverted rows, TRX counter balance squats (even while holding a racked Kettlebell if they have the strength), and in feeling a good plank. They feel like they get their expectations met right away (I’m working hard from day 1) as well as moving closer to better understanding tension and the proper neural patterns I want to teach. It’s a win/win scenario!

Here’s the key – no matter what they do, I make it a big deal!!!!! That’s their success – that you are VERY proud of them, happy for their effort, their accomplishment, and their decision to begin a workable program! As their sessions click on, they start swinging, doing presses, pushups, a flexed arm hang or assisted pull-up – these are GREAT accomplishments! They get written down, they form the beginnings of their 6 week goals, and they feel like they are doing well right from day 1.

They want recognition. Clients feel successful because you are recognizing them. Blast them out on Facebook, put them in your newsletter, but best of all – just send them a text or phone call. People see that a FB blast or newsletter mostly helps YOU out – to promote your business. (It’s still important, but it’s second to the personal relationship building that a one on one contact can forge). If you are managing trainers, then not only coach them to do this for their individual clients, but as the business owner – do this as well!!! Remember, the clients write their checks to your business and your program philosophy – not to their individual trainer. It is ultimately your responsibility to keep those clients happy – that comes with their feelings of success and getting the personal recognition they deserve.

They want a sense of belonging. You know what line people remember from the TV show Cheers? It’s the line about everyone knowing your name. You know why CrossFit is so successful (a multi-million dollar business)? It’s because of their community they have created! As business owners of outdoor/in-home training businesses, training studios, or just a handful of neighborhood clients, it is our responsibility to create a tribe! Our clients are the members and we’re the chiefs. Who sets the tone? We do! Who does the work? They do! All you have to do is create the model. Here are some suggestions:

Motivational music THEY like is a must.

A slow clap build up before the start of a PR attempt or a difficult circuit/work set

Inclusion of team work drills like team carries and races against time, I go/you go drills, friendly competition (if it fits into your community – it mostly does not fit into mine). Borrow ideas from team sports blogs and books. Coaches are great resources for how to bring a team together. This mostly applies to the group training model – but it doesn’t have to be! Who’s the teammate for a one-on-one training session? You are! Get in there and do the carry with them!

Lastly, people want to have fun. Most people don’t really want an exercise regimen or physical therapy program. But they see it as necessary to their health; they see value, and they probably don’t hate it once they start. That’s not good enough! Even though it’s sometimes painful, we can create an environment that people love! Play games, make them laugh (while they are working!), come up with themed sessions. As trainers, we have the best jobs in the world. We are teachers of recess! I always tell my students –this should be the most fun you have all day! The 3 hours I see them each week should be fun, exciting, and fulfilling on all levels!

All of these four points do not negate a progressive, safe, and workable program approach. You still can teach all the fantastic things we learn in the workshops and certifications we attend. We can help people improve their ankle dorsi flexion with FMS corrections, we can improve their squat pattern, and we can get them strong and conditioned swing/goblet ladders. We can do all this while we are playing music, making jokes about tough love to check core tension, joining in on their goblet squats – being a teammate in their pain – keeping energy high over the loud “eye of the tiger” music we blast and congratulating them on their effort.

Using the 4 key elements for engaging and retaining clients, here’s a sample group session (can be modified for an individual session very easily):

2-3 mins foam rolling and general prep (as people trickle in – it’s the “how you doing” time)

2 -3 mins of meditation – I turn off the lights, I tell people to forget about their days, and think about the tasks at hand – basically a mental awareness time with drills on “really feeling” their bodies. (I play some hokey meditative music at this point – something I can joke about later on) – but I believe there is still real value in this for my program

5-10 mins of primal move, dynamic warm-up, general corrections (naked getups or drills with pauses for dorsi flexion focus, T-spine rotation repetitions, bridge variations depending skill levels (there’s a progression for all)

5-8 mins of loaded prep – deadlifts, carries/holds, plank drills, more corrections that feel harder maybe (face the wall squats for example) goblet pry stretches, or stick overhead squats, maybe a few swings (no more than 50 – 5×10 at most)

Note: (We are 20 mins into the session and so far have not done any WORK, but we have laid foundations, prep, addressed progressive corrections and of course furthered the culture of the tribe – that we are here for your total health with high emphasis on your mental state, your mobility, and your feelings of fun)

The Program sometimes has a theme – today is Aug 6th – so we will do the devil’s workout – 6 -6 -6
6 double KB Deadlifts
6 pushup variation – 1 arm progressions for advanced, just good quality range of motion for others
6 double clean and squat

NEXT Series
6 TRX Rows – pretty aggressive in the angle
6 double clean and press
6 kneeling windmills (3 each)

NEXT Series
6 overhead lunges
6 double swings or heavy 2 hand swings
6 getups to the hand (floor press, elbow, hand ) 3 each hand
That’s 6-6-6

10 mins conditioning games

Then we do trivia questions about the other members in class – I have asked each person to write down 2 little known facts about themselves (what country were they in when their first son was born? What position did they play in high school football?) and other things people can guess at. The class then will buzz in and attempt to answer. A right answer means they get to choose from one of 6 low skill conditioning exercises, a wrong one means I get to choose.

Exercise list

Burpees
Carries
Stair sprints
Hollow rocks for time
Crawls
Sand bag drag

5 mins recovery – static stretching, rolling or other low grade correctional drill.

That’s the hour – I’ll point out successes, bring the entire “team” together in shared pain, joy and camaraderie. Come renewal time – we’ll rely on this “tribe” experience to drive not only the business success – but their success in that they are sticking to a program for years!

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