How I Got Started With Kettlebells.....

My path to kettlebells really began before I even knew it. In 2005, while I was the Sports Medicine Director for a hospital in Oklahoma, I attended Ryan Lee's Bootcamp. The main reason I attended was to hear Alwyn Cosgrove, Mike Boyle, and Lee Taft speak. This was prior to the Perform Better Series - so to have them all in one location was impressive. One of the other presenters was Steve Cotter. He spoke about Qigong and Kettlebells. After watching him do a Double 24kg Turkish Get Up, I was amazed. But, it didn't "click" with me at the time as to all the benefits of the bell.

Fast forward to 2007. I was working at a Sports Medicine/Sports Performance Center and saw a video on You Tube of a Turkish Get up. I thought that it was something I could use with my patients, so I started to incorporate it as best i could. I quickly found that it was much tougher to do and to teach than in looked, so I began to do some research. I stumbled across DragonDoor.com and began reading their articles. Eventually, I purchased a 12kg and a 20kg bell for myself and realized I had a lot to learn. The next purchase was Enter the Kettlebell. This was also about the time I learned of the RKC system - which completely intimidated me. I was sure there was no way I could do that.

I worked with kettlebells for about a year and finally in November 2008 decided to sign up for the upcoming April RKC. The day after I signed up I decided to do the 5:00 snatch test to see how good I was. After I humbly hit 74 snatches, I realized there was ALOT of work to do - at 235lbs I was going to have to do 100 snatches in less than 5 months. I utilized the DragonDoor Forum, met with an RKC for some advice and when April rolled around I survived the RKC weekend without that much pain or discomfort. After completing the final Grad Workout, I can say that I felt a greater sense of accomplishment than I have ever felt.

So, here I am today blending my backgrounds of Athletic Training, Sports Performance, and the RKC system together. Why the name "Simply Kettlebell's"? Once I started training for the RKC, and many times since then, people have approached me and asked what they needed to do to get the same results, and every time my answer has been the same. I simply say........ kettlebells.

Brandon's Professional Accreditation's Include:

• BS in Sports Medicine/Athletic Training from Southwest Missouri State University - 2000
• MS in Human Performance from Oklahoma State University - 2002
• Fellowship at the USOC's Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co - 2003
• National Academy of Sports Medicine - Performance Enhancement Specialist - 2005
• Dartfish Video Analysis Specialist - 2006
  
• RKC Kettlebell Instructor - 2009