The Iron Tamer Clan & The RKC Experience

I cannot begin to explain all the emotions that went through the last weekend. There were times of doubt, nervousness, excitement, exhaustion, fulfillment, pain, anger, and many others. At the end I finally understood what RKC is all about. It is hard to describe what transition I went through, but I truly believe that I am a stronger and more honorable man now that I have been through it and passed. My bond with Nikki (my wife!) is even stronger than before. I also have a very strong, almost unbreakable bond with my team, my fellow RKC's and especially the IronTamer Clan.

I would like to take this time to talk a bit about the IronTamer Clan. A long time ago, Nikki and myself began Nashville Kettlebell Bootcamp and were blown away on the results that we were getting in class. We decided that we would like to train for the RKC and began our quest. Along the way we made a bond with other members of the bootcamp and for some unknown reason, all 5 of us decided to all sign up for RKC San Diego in August and thus began our quest to become RKC certified. I would like to take the time to brag about each and every one of them.

Nikki

Nikki (or as most of you know I just introduce as "my wife, Nikki") has always been an outstanding athlete and it showed from day 1 of bootcamp when we met with David. On the very first day with only very limited experience with kettlebell training she was already swinging a 24kg with good form. Dave Whitley stated "the force is strong in this one". Nikki has hit some impressive numbers since beginning training back in October of 2008. She has hit over 200 snatches with a 16kg in 10 minutes, can strict press a 24kg, do a full get up with a 28kg and a 1/2 get up with a 32kg. More importantly she was a very motivating factor in my training. She was very patient with my moods, got me out of bed every morning at 5:15am when it was time to train. And gave me countless important cues on improving my technique. She is quite a remarkable woman and I am proud to say that "she is all mine!"

Kristen

When we first met Kristen it was through her husband, Matt who is an RKC. He was subbing for a class of ours when Dave Whitley was out of town. We walked in and saw Kristen snatching with a 16kg. (Nikki thought to herself, "how in the hell is she doing that?"). Kristen told us she was planning/training for RKC certification probably around October 2009. But Kristen was next in line to sign up for RKC and join the clan after the Irontamer called and notified her and her husband that Nikki & I just signed up and that the Irontamer himself was going to be instructing. Kristen is just a little thing, but I would definitely would not mess with her since she is very strong and strong willed to boot. "We are here for physical training!" as she would let people know in the elevator in La Jolla when they asked her if she was here on vacation. Kristen was the first person I saw after we finished the 5 minute snatch test and she was jumping up and down excited that all of us performed it so well. I also think that Kristen really helped Nikki out by having another female in the group to work with and ask questions to. There was a time that Nikki thought there was no way she would be able to snatch a 16kg until she saw Kristen doing it for reps. They developed a very strong bond between the 2 of them. Kristen is also the one that right after RKC stated that we should all go to RKC II together. I think the world of her and the things that she can do. Her and Nikki both belong in the "sexy and strong" group that so many of the RKC women demonstrate.

Jay

Jay has been coming to bootcamp for a long time and stated that he has always wanted to perform the RKC instructor certification program. When David called him to tell him that Nikki Kristen, and myself were going, along with himself as an instructor. He immediately joined the team and signed up. Jay is an amazing individual, his terrific sense of humor came out at out of the blue times to make all of us laugh. Whether it is his Rick Flair impersonations while doing push ups and squats or his "cardio step" warm up routine for RKC prep on Saturday Mornings at 6am, to his 80's dance offs with David Whitley. He always kept us entertained. Jay is a diabetic and through his diet and exercise regimen you never would guess he suffers from the disease. The one thing that I love about Jay is the fire that burns inside of him. On Saturday morning of the RKC cert, he looked totally wrecked. He stated that he cramped up all day on Friday and was very tired and sore. But wouldn't you have known it, he pushed through with the heart of a lion. I looked over to him during the grad workout when I was running out of gas and looked into his eyes and saw that "fire" again. He was yelling and grunting his way to the finish line that was truly inspiring. This loving husband and father is truly a man among boys in my eyes.

David E.

David was the last to sign up for RKC. If I remember correctly, he began a long time ago doing some personal sessions with the Irontamer. On the day after everyone else signed up, David E. showed up to say hello to the Irontamer and they spoke about the RKC. The following day he signed up as well. David E. decided to enroll in the RKC certification as a birtday challenge to himself. At 40 years of age (although he looks under 30 and his work ethic and body look like that which most 20 year olds wish they could have) David E's progression and training was the most challenging. The rest of us were in top shape and have been training with kettlebells for some time. David E. pretty much began about 3 months out from scratch. He had to retrain himself into all the required kettlebell exercises that he would be trained on. David E. has a history of back problems and he had times when his back was too sore to train at all. But little by little, David's progression pushed along. His back stopped hurting cause he was using his glutes instead of his back extensors, then he reached 100 snatches in 5 minutes, then he just took off. By the week before we left for RKC, David E. was clean and pressing, snatching, snatching and doing get ups with a 32kg! I would have to admit that I was quite jealous on how strong he had become in such a short period of time.

At the RKC certification he took a leadership role with Team Cheng and flourished in that role. When I was finishing the workout and was running out of gas, I could hear David yell... "Come on SNOW!!! just like we do back home!!!!!!!!!!! Very glad to hear those words. I am very proud of his accomplishments and hope I look as good as he does when I turn 40.

So that is the IronTamer Clan in a nutshell. All are unique in their very own way. I have to say that the bond I have with them is unbreakable. I no longer call them friends, I call them family. I no longer shake their hands or high five, but I hug them each with a feeling of pride. I will never forget you guys and how you have motivated me.

Next blog I will talk about the influential people who helped us to become RKC's.

From Left: Kristen, David E., Myself, Nikki & Jay

RKC Prep Update

Been a while since I have updated everyone on how Nikki and I are doing for our preparation for out Russian Kettlebell Instructor Certification in San Diego, CA on Aug 28-30th.

2 weeks from today we will be on a plane for the west coast. I have been a little on edge lately. Don't think I have been this nervous for anything in my life. State wrestling was one but I was too young and naive to understand the ramifications of what I was about to accomplish. First day of college football and my first day of working at a Division I football school was nerve racking as well. My wedding I was a giddy nervous, I couldn't wait to get married to the love of my life.

I guess when you are so committed to a system (that being the RKC) you really want to not only pass, but perform very well.

If you are interested in seeing what the instructor certification requirements are, click here.

Our instructor Dave Whitley gave us some very encouraging words, he said basically that he feels that we have prepared well and are ready. Anything we need to improve on or "clean up"with our technique should be cleaned up during the certification. All we need to do now for the next 2 weeks is to maintain what we have and don't do anything to jeopardize our performance (example: tearing up our hands, pulling a hamstring, and so forth)

That is all for right now. I will definitely try and blog once or twice down in San Diego depending what is going on and give you a recap after it is all over and done with. I would love to be able to announce in 3 weeks that you are now speaking with Mark Snow, RKC and Nikki Snow, RKC!

Quest for RKC - Week 5 of 16

Hello everyone. This has been a very productive week for both Nikki and myself. We are still moving through the Enter the Kettlebell right of passage with our presses and even added double rack squats this week. We are currently on a plan of alternating single kb presses and double kb squats 1 week along with double kb presses and single kb squats the following week.

We were able to get in our turkish get ups twice this week as well as attend bootcamp 3 times this week.

Dave Whitley wants us to progress in our snatches to the point that when I show up to RKC I can do 200 repetitions in a 10 minute snatch test with a 24kg kettlebell (53 lbs) and to have Nikki to be able to to 230 snatches with a 16kg (35 lbs).

Our progression continued this Saturday to 200/230 snatches in 10 minutes. I performed 5 snatches on the L, then 5 on the R and then began again on the next minute. Nikki performed 6/6 on the minute. We went for 20 minutes total which got me to 200 and Nik to 240. We both felt very good following the workout and our hands felt pretty good.

Next week I will perform 6/6 and Nikki 7/7 on the minute until I get to 200 and Nikki gets to between 230 and 240.

What was absolutely amazing was that RIGHT AFTER THE WORKOUT Nikki decided she wanted to try to snatch a 24kg. And she did with really no trouble. She actually did 2 each side! I am such a proud husband to have such a sexy and strong wife!

Now Nikki and I are off to Vanderbilt to speak to a camp about "the core". We are going to teach the high school kids all about the "hardstyle" methods of the RKC and the plank and moving plank.

Who Trains with Kettlebells

Great video by the RKC about who trains for kettlebells. The next time you say "only athletes train with kettlebells" or "I am too young or too old for kettlebell training" or my favorite "I need to get in shape first before I train with kettlebells" Check this video out.

RKC Website

My take on P90x

I have had a lot of people ask me about P90x. I will have to admit that Nikki and I purchased the p90x and did the workouts for about 60 days. This was well before we were introduced to RKC style of kettlebell training.

If you have not heard about p90x, it is a set of 12 DVDs that contains strength training, yoga, and plyometric workouts. It comes with a diet & workout plan. The plan is pretty well thought out and the exercises are pretty good. You use tubing or dumbbells for the training DVDs. Right now to purchase the DVD set it is around 150 dollars including shipping.

My thoughts on the P90X.

• The P90x plan is 150 dollars but there are more costs involved, we ended up buying a pull up bar, 2 sets of powerblock dumbbells, tubing, yoga mats and ended up making a subscription to team beachbody (they suckered us in and then tried to keep charging us a quarterly fee for it, which we had to call them about 4 times to get them to stop taking money out of our account). All in all it cost us closer to $500 dollars.

Power Blocks




• The DVD's themselves are good, you get a great workout. The sessions can last from 50 minutes to 90 minutes! That is a long time to find to workout. Most people don't have that kind of time in a pinch so they will just ditch the workout in all.
• Some people are imbalanced and this type of training can put what Gray Cook calls "fitness on top of dysfunction". This means that if you are imbalanced you will be doing the exercises with the wrong set of muscles, this leads to micro trauma, and that leads to injury.
• It got too easy for us to not do our workouts. I got tired of the same person cracking the same jokes by about week 4 of the series. I got bored and I will admit lazy.
• I did not see the results I wanted. I did not lose any weight from the program although the workouts stated that I was burning around 800 calories per workout.

It wasn't until about 5 months after trying P90X that I went to the Functional Movement Screen Seminar hosted by Gray Cook and Lee Burton. Gray spoke about the functionality of the kettlebell and how well they helped to clean up movement/muscular imbalances. Someone thankfully asked the best way to get started and he stated to look into the Russian Kettlebell Challenge by Pavel Tsatsouline.

Now Nikki and I had trained with kettlebells in the past and I really didn't see the advantages of them very much. We went to target and got the Iron Core kettlebells/Go Fit (I am ashamed to say that I got a 15 pound one for myself and Nikki got the 10 lb.) We worked out with them now and again but did not use them very much.

This time I researched and was blessed to find out that I was so fortunate to have a Senior Kettlebell Instructor (RKC) here in Nashville named David Whitley (who is also familiar with FMS). When we first met he told us we were using way to light of a weight and bumped us up almost immediately. The reason for this was a point reflected by David and Gray that if you use too light of a weight you will not get the correct muscular firing pattern. The body will "cheat" sort of speaking.

Since last October 2008, I have had my eyes widely opened to the Hard Style method to training. We love it.

Kettlebell Training the RKC method advantages

• Cost-for the cost of one set of my power blocks, Nikki and I got a 12kg (about 25 lbs) and a 16kg (about 35 lbs). That was all we needed to practice and get a terrific workout at home. Also for the price of buying the P90x we worked out for one month, 3 times a week under the direction of a Senior RKC.
• The dragon door kettlebell has an offset center of gravity and a thick handle. This requires you to use the correct movement patterns to build strength. The kettlebell actually speaks to me on what movements I am doing incorrectly. I was shocked when I could feel the difference, it was amazing. Ask anyone who has trained with kettlebells, if you want an example. Check out this blog from Mike the Machine Bruce.
• Time - Nikki and I can get a terrific workout in any type of time frame. Whether it be 10 minutes or 50 minutes. You will be amazed with what type of workout you can get in 10 minutes.
• I was still getting in the 800 calorie burns like I saw with P90x, but we did it in less time and I was getting so much stronger and felt way more cardiovascular benefit from the interval training I was exposing myself to.
• Results - Since beginning the Kettlebell bootcamp and working out with Nikki at home with our set I have lost almost 20 pounds of fat. I began around 207ish and am now 189. I am way stronger than I ever had been before. I began bootcamp doing a turkish getup with a 16kg kettlebell and a few weeks ago was able to do a turkish get up with a 40kg kettlebell (that is around 88-89lbs).

My attempt at a turkish get up with the 108 lb. kettlebell. David Whitley, Senior RKC spotting.

So there you have it. All in all I would like to say that any workout is a good workout rather than sitting on the couch, but would that be the case if you began a workout with a movement imbalance and then ended up with an injury? Then you would end up back on the couch and in pain....??????

My suggestion is to find a personal trainer or RKC that can screen you correctly, train your movement patterns and teach you how to perform workouts correctly so that you can do them at home. I am not much of a DVD workouter per se. I would rather pay a little more money and see someone in person. More variety in the workouts, I push myself harder when an actual human being is telling me what to do.

If you really want to workout at home then that is fine by me, but at least get screened (doesn't cost much) and meet with a qualified personal trainer or RKC once per month to make sure you stay on track. I would really suggest you attend an RKC workshop, they are such a benefit. The last workshop I attended I realized that my swings weren't as crisp as I thought (even after doing them for 5 months). Another gentleman that drove over 6 hours to attend the workshop and only did kettlebell training to DVDs went from a beginner to a well rehearsed individual in the foundational kettlebell exercises.

Let me know your thoughts! What do you think of this post good or bad?