This past weekend I returned to Minneapolis to assist at the Russian Kettlebell Certification for the second time. The RKC is such an amazingly deep system that every time I go back I learn more and more - even though the same material is covered each time. When I went through the RKC over two years ago, I came back and wrote an article about what the RKC meant to me. It was interesting for me to go back and read it. The passion I have for kettlebells and the respect I have for the system has only increased in those two years. I cannot wait to go back to Minneapolis in June for my Level II certification.
Here is the original article:
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
 |
The Russian Kettlebell Challenge
Last Thursday, I traveled to Minneapolis to attempt to get certified with 59 other kettlebell lifters from all over the US. I was training with comrades from many different backgrounds: from competitive powerlifting to Tai Kwan Do masters. We were all trying to master the art of perfect kettlebell form and the ability to teach others. I had an advantage since one of my trainers in La Jolla is one of the 5 senior RKC’s in the United States and my other trainer holds the female record for girevoy sports in her weight class, so I had already clocked hours and hours of hands on training with the best of the best. We all trained for about 7 hours a day for 3 days in a row enduring various drills and workouts. On the last day, a random sample of Minneapolis was brought in and we had to teach small groups of “victims” with different backgrounds. In my group I had a man who had never been in a gym, a man who had taken a few kettlebell classes from a local RKC, and a lady who was a personal trainer who was in shape but had never seen a kettlebell. We had to teach a couple of basic exercises and design a 15 minute workout that they all could benefit from at the same time. We were graded on a strength test, form and technique, and the ability to (safely) teach others. At the end of the long and tiring weekend, we had to endure the graduation workout: The Crucible. The best way to describe it is that we crawled like a bear with weights in our hands (women my size had a 26lb weight in each hand) across the long way of a football field. The people who finished first put down their weights and went back to cheer on the people who had yet to finish. Eventually, we all crossed the line and cemented the bond we had been creating all weekend. At the end of Sunday, those of us who passed earned the right to call ourselves RKC’s: comrades from a “school of strength that stands for the gold standard of instruction, integrity, and quiet professionalism.” There are only a few hundred of us, and I feel honored to be a part of such an elite group of trainers.
|