Iron Tamer Clan - The Instructors Who Got Us Where We Are Now

Hello again everyone! It has been a terrific September as an offical RKC instructor. I have to say I have been able to apply all that I have learned at the RKC Instructor Certification Course everyday with my clients as well as my physical therapy patients.
As I promised, I am writing a 2nd installment to the Iron Tamer Clan Post from last week. This week I am giving props to the instructors and others who helped us to prepare for our success at the RKC.

David Whitley, Senior RKC
It all began when I returned from a Functional Movement Screen Seminar where one of the presenters (Gray Cook, PT, RKC) introduced me to some kettlebell exercises. I was very interested and ended up finding out that David (aka the IRONTAMER) held classes in Nashville and is also FMS certified (CK-FMS). For the next month I was blown away by how much he knew about movements and how the kettlebell itself can be used as a tool to work on mobility and stability at the same time. On my first day of Nashville Kettlebell Bootcamp I performed turkish get ups and could not believe how much I was working on mobility of my joints as well as stability of my joints with one exercise! I decided to give 4 weeks of my bootcamp workouts and retest my FMS score. Note I did not do any other corrective exercises other than bootcamp. My FMS score went from a 15 to an 18! My wife went from a 14 to an 18 in the same time and can now do a very good push up.

After 3 months of bootcamp and about 20 pounds of fat loss later I was hooked. Nikki and I proceeded to let the Irontamer know that Iwe were interested in training for the RKC Instructor Certification Course. He told me that he would be happy to train Nikki and I and that we should continue to come to bootcamp to prepare. And boy did we prepare! David was tough on us but in a very good way. He knew what the RKC cert was like and was preparing us for the grueling days that would be the RKC. He did not sugar coat things. We heard things like "quit your whining and swing!" and "if your clean is like that at the end of RKC you WILL fail the course". It was exactly what we needed to hear. He motivated us very well.
I owe David everything. He introduced me to kettlebell training and what the RKC is about. He reiterated that the RKC is not just about the kettlebell, the kettlebell is only a tool. Its the movements and the concept behind the RKC that makes it so successful. Thanks to his knowledge and teaching, I am a much better Certified Athletic Trainer and FMS specialist at correcting movement imbalances. Thanks David! I will always introduce myself as being a decendent of the Iron Tamer Clan and you as my mentor.


Matt McBryde
Matt just received his RKC instructor certification last year (2008). We met Matt as he was one of David's instructors that covers his class when David is out of town. Matt is a terrific instructor from the very first day we met him. He put his own spin on class but the RKC techniques were always the foundation. Matt was gracious enough to come to our RKC prep days at 6am to help us with technique and also gave us some killer workouts, including the VO2 Max protocol from the Viking Warrior Conditioning. The VO2 practice we had with him very much helped us at RKC to improve on our snatch technique but also to prepare us for the grueling workouts. Matt now currently owns and runs Tennessee Kettlebell Bootcamp along with his cool wife, Kristen (the Hardstyle Diva part of the Irontamer Clan!) in Franklin, TN. Thank you for all your wisdom, Matt. Not only did I learn so much from you but I also gained 2 friends. I know that Kristen and yourself did not have to drive 20 minutes every Saturday to come train with us, but you did for the sake of helping us become as prepared as we could be. I will never forget your generosity.

Dennis Breckey
Dennis is the first RKC that we met in Nashville after working with the IronTamer and he also subbed for David from time to time. He teaches a very structured class and gave a different point of view with corrections and cues on our technique. Dennis was also showed up to almost every Saturday morning RKC prep class. He had nothing to gain from coming. He did not have anyone close to him prepping like Matt did. He just came to help us out. I was truly blown away that he would come so early in the am to come help us out. Dennis is currently working on his Z Health certification and when Nikki spoke to him about her tricep issues, he made the time to research and ask other Z health professionals about what drills would work best to alleviate her problems. Dennis is just a whole lot of awesome in my book.
I would also like to give a quick shout out to some other important people who played a role in our RKC certification. Mandy (with a Y not an I) Whitley is a wonderful friend of ours who let us borrow her husband on many accounts to have him work with us. She was the first person I saw when I passed my snatch test and she was jumping up and down in excitement. She put up with our Vibram Stank in the hotel room for 3 days. And was there to give me updates on who all passed since I was the last one. She made the whole process fun and well worth it.
I would like to thank Gray Cook for steering me in the correct direction of the RKC. Also to Brett Jones for all of his articles and information who has helped me out. Brett and Gray have a terrific DVD series "the secrets" and "Kalos Sthenos" which provides important corrective exercises to help improve on asymmetries in your body. I would like to say that thanks to them I am a better informed and prepared RKC and athletic trainer.

Bootcamp for Thursday June 18th

Nikki was in charge today as David watched. She did a terrific job!

Circuit: 45 on/15 off
Jumping lunges
Plank
T-push ups
Alternating rows

Then split into groups and did 5 round of the following. One person went right after the other:
20 swings
5 burpees
80 yard run down and back

Very tough workout!

Kids, Kettlebells, and Athletic Development by Jeff O'Connor

When training young athletes there is always a problem of “fitting it all in”. Most of the middle and high school (off season) programs in my area have weight room time and footwork/running/jumping time, usually on separate days. Most of the coaches in charge of these programs are well intentioned, but unfortunately have very little knowledge on teaching basic movement, strength and athletic development skills. Even those that do know what and how to teach still face the problem of limited time.

Something that I have consistently seen is that during high school a kid’s biomechanical indicators and injuries increase together. This tends to coincide
with a decrease in performance. It’s not necessarily something that happens 100%
of the time. But is an alarming trend I’ve observed. There is so much focus on 40
times, vertical leap, bench, etc. that testing has become a sport of its’ own. We spend too much time preparing to pass the test, and not enough learning the subject. It frustrates me to see the amount of concern there is on how much a kid squats rather than whether or not he or she can squat properly. Telling a kid to squat more and squat lower without teaching them how is like telling them to solve an algebra
problem before they’ve learned to add and subtract.

There is too much emphasis on weight and reps and not enough on mechanics. Too much time is spent teaching how to generate force without ever teaching how to absorb it. When do we see most injuries occur, when someone takes off running, or when they stop and change direction? How does a kid get better at their sport? Usually
they get better by playing it, not by sitting on the bench because of a preventable, non contact injury.

Now, I don’t want to give you the impression that the kids I train don’t
perform barbell lifts. They do, and they lift heavy and hard. But not just for the sake of lifting heavy and hard. It’s done as a part of their overall athletic development, not just because it’s a “weight day”.

So, how do we fit it all in? We probably can’t, but we can consistently try to work
on all aspects of athletic development. Strength is an important part, but it is not
everything. Ultimately, it’s coordination that will determine an athlete’s performance. From my own standpoint as a trainer the reason I have kids squat is to reduce injuries and play better. I’m far more concerned with that than actual poundage because in my experience the guy with the highest lifts is seldom the best player.

You may have seen this coming, but my answer to this problem is the kettlebell and the RKC hardstyle training method. Why, because it is quite simply the best teacher of body mechanics and the best tool for filling in the gaps left by most
strength and conditioning programs.

Also, the portability and diversity of the kettlebell make it perfect for
putting strength and athletic skills together in the same training
session.

The question always comes up, “When do you start kids with kettlebells and where
do they fit into a program?” The answer is when the kid is ready and the right teacher is available. It is not when a kettlebell is handy. Keep in mind we’re talking about kids here. Whether it’s a second grader or a high school All-State player they are not elite athletes and cannot be trained as such. We have to keep their ability to focus consistently in mind. Semi-sumo deadlifts with a kettlebell are appropriate for almost any age. Bent press and snatches are not.
At this level we need to focus on the development of skills and preparation for
the next level of play. Obviously different ages, skill levels and what that next level of play may be will determine the direction and intensity of training.

Another answer to the “when” question is, “as soon as possible”. By this statement,
I don’t mean that swings are a good thing to start a 5 year old with. The reason I
want an athlete to train swings is that a properly performed, hardstyle swing will do
more for strength, endurance, and movement efficiency than almost everything
else put together. The Turkish get-up will handle most of the rest. Please take note
that a “properly performed hardstyle swing” is not the same as mindlessly letting
a kettlebell go back and forth between the legs. Don’t teach it if you don’t understand it. If you’re not an RKC or at least trained by one, you probably don’t. I didn’t, and I’d done thousands of what I thought were
swings before attending the RKC.

Athleticism is a combination of multiple skills, of which strength is one very
important component. The goal of this article is to help you integrate movement
(not sport) specific strength training into an athletic skill set sequence. It begins with seemingly different drills in a static setting that are gradually “layered” into a game speed training complex. Depending on the
age, physical and mental development of the athlete this progression could take five
sessions or five years. The sequence would be very much the same for a division 1
athlete as it would be for an eight year old. It just takes longer for the eight year old. The most important thing to remember when training kids is that they’re not just short adults. Developmentally two thirteen year olds can be light years apart. Let them advance at their pace not yours.

If you want to read the rest of this article with skills and movement drills go to:
http://www.dragondoor.com/pdf/hard-style.pdf?afid=SGHP

If you are interested in learning more about using kettlebells in the Nashville, TN area, email David Whitley, Senior RKC at irontamerdave@hotmail.com or visit www.irontamer.com. To learn more about Kettlebell training in the Talala, Oklahoma area email Jeff O'Connor at jeffoconnor@totelcsi.com

Quest for RKC-Week 1 of 16

Just wanted to let everyone know that it is official. Nikki and I have signed up for the Level 1 Russian Kettlebell Challenge Instructor Certification on August 28-30th in San Diego, CA. If you are not familiar with Kettlebells or the RKC, click on the links to find out more information.

We decided that we would take the time to shoot some video and pictures of our training every week as we build up for San Diego. Feel welcome to comment on our status and ask questions or if you are training for the RKC yourself, let us know what you are doing. Would love to share training ideas with all of you out there. Here are the Instructor Certification Requirements for RKC Level I.

We are very fortunate enough to have Dave Whitley, Senior RKC instructor working with us 3 times a week at our bootcamp we attend to make sure our technique improves and that we are on the right track for San Diego.

This past week at bootcamp we concentrated on swings (of course) but David threw in some special twists for Nikki, Jay and myself. We worked a lot of double swings this week which gave the swing a interesting twist and really pushed us harder than we expected. Dave also had us perform a 10 minute snatch test this week. Nikki did a wonderful job and got to 200 with a 16kg. I made it to 163. Good start but needs improvement, and I was pretty much smoked by minute 8.

Our training on our own we decided to work towards improving our strength in the press and the turkish get up. We always perform TGU's on Mondays and have decided to perform press ladders 3 rounds of 3 rungs each side with a light weight to see where we are at. We felt very good this past week so we are going to move up in weight and perform the 3 rounds of 3/3 again.