Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Hardstyle coming to Oklahoma

The Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification (HKC) is coming to Oklahoma on December 5th. Jeff O'Connors (Sr RKC) and Dustin Rippetoe (RKCII/CK-FMS) will be the lead instructors for this course. It's and opportunity to learn from two great instructors, and not have to travel very far. For more information or to register, click on the Oklahoma HKC link to the right.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Oklahoma Kettlebell Workshop

I just returned from the Oklahoma Kettlebell Workshop hosted by Way of Strength. One word - Excellent. It was instructed by SrRKC Jeff O'Connors and SrRKC David Whitley, and was an intermediate level kettlebell workshop. So what did we spend 80% of the weekend on? Swings and Get ups. Going into the weekend I was fairly confident that my swings and get ups were rock solid - coming out of the weekend I was humbled. The more I practice these movements and the more I learn about them, the clearer it is that they are skills. Like any skills there is continual refinement and improvement. Like I've said since the RKC swinging a kettlebell and doing a kettlebell swing are two different things. After all the refinement and drills to clean up these movements this weekend both movements feel crisper and cleaner.

While I learned a lot over the weekend, it was also a physically challenging weekend. I was humbled -there's that word again- by a 12kg and a 16kg bell for most of the weekend. Keep in mind I thought I could do a getup with a 40kg bell, and I swing double 24kg bells on a weekly basis.

The best part of the weekend was their ability to instruct/teach. Easily they could have physically beat us down and let us walk/crawl away. But, they new where the line was between learning/refining movements and "total beat-down" and took us to that line several times. After the RKC in April and a 9 hour drive home, I was stuck in a seated position -or at least felt that way- for 2 days. After this weekend, I was sore and fatigued but was fully functional by Monday morning. Where I was the most sore -my Jaw from a "warm up" drill we did on Sunday and my thumb from taking so many notes. Almost reminded me of Chemistry class as a sophomore in College - only I can apply a lot of what I learned this weekend. Chemistry is still a little questionable for me.