Standing on the shoulders of giants:

San Jose RKC February 2009!

Currently my favourite photo...

I had the immense pleasure of attending the February 2009 Russian Kettlebell Challenge Instructor Certification this past weekend. As you can see from the above photo with Pavel, I passed! This was by no means an easy feat as a lot was expected of us both mentally and physically. In order to attain my RKC certification, I had to snatch a 53lb kettlebell a total of 71 times in under 5-minutes, exibit a high level of technique in the 6 foundation exercises (swing, clean, press, snatch, get-up and front-squat), prove my ability to safely & effectively teach a randomly selected member of the public (thanks Debra!), endure 8 gruelling workouts and finally pass the intense Grad Workout at the end of the three-day workshop!

This was by far both the most difficult & challenging experience I have ever been through and also the most rewarding & informative. In just three days, I learned more about kettlebell training than I had in two-years of my own personal practice and teaching of clients. The depth of knowledge presented by Pavel, his Team Leaders and their Assistants was astounding! I can only hope to remember all I was taught, but would be fine for the rest of my life if I only remembered half of it : )

I was part of Team Toomey, led by RKC TL Mark Toomey and assisted by Logan Christopher RKC, Melody Schoenfeld RKC and Marty Covault RKC. I'm sure everybody felt the same way about their teams but I feel very lucky to have been part of such a great group! Mark is an amazing instructor with a depth of knowledge and experience second to none. Most importantly, he is just a great guy! One of the first things he said to the group was that he "jealously guards membership in this organization" and expected everyone to live up to his high expectations. His comments made us feel we had to prove to him and all the other Instructors that we deserved to be there and in the end prove we were worthy of the title, RKC.

Another TL, Jeremy Layport let the certification group know he would only pass those he felt comfortable enough to train a member of his family, come the end of the workshop Sunday. This served to further demonstrate the RKC commitment to excellence in its instructors.

I had decided a few weeks before the cert that I would make sure to go first in the Snatch Test. I believe I was inspired to do this by one of Mark Toomey's forum posts : ) It worked well as I did not have to see anyone else go through the test first and feel worried if they were struggling. At home, I had made sure to test myself and come the actual test, beat my best time by over a minute. Adrenaline is a wonderful chemical!

Master RKC Brett Jones sure was right about not concentrating all your training on the Snatch Test! For the 4-weeks preceding the cert, I used his RKC prep training template almost to the letter. Normally, I take the weekend off training so it took a bit of mentally getting used to moving my workouts to Fri, Sat and Sun : ) My usual weekend exercise is a couple relaxing rounds of frisbee golf... This training template prepared me for the three days in a row of hard work and also served as valuable revision of the 6 core lifts. I had been neglecting my Turkish Get Ups and Squats (in favour of DLs) for a few months and was able to plug up this chink in the olde armour before the RKC. If, you are planning on going to the RKC, I cannot more strongly recommend following Brett's RKC prep training template for at least 4-weeks prior!

As for Snatch training, I did one day of 15:15 VO2 Max training and one day of 24kg Snatch practice each week. The VO2 Max training really helped my hip snap for the 24kg Snatches and had the added bonus of upping my endurance considerably. I also knew we would be doing a VO2 Max workout during the cert so wanted to be prepared for it!

All in all, this was truly a life-changing experience for me. Not only did I learn so much more about Hardstyle kettlebell training but I was granted membership to a group of some of the finest, kindest, hardest-working and most ego-free people I have ever met in the fitness business. All of the RKCs truly carry their strength with a quiet modesty and adhere to the letter of their Code of Conduct.

See below for some pictures I took at the cert. I'll add some more when the official ones make it to the Dragon Door website.

Kettlebell power to you, comrades!

RKC Team Leader Mark Toomey - You can have your Fairmont, we'll take the HoJo!

Asst. RKC Melody Schoenfeld - The reason I now stand up taller and no longer have a "chicken neck" at the top of my swings! It got the the point where I could sense her presence...

Asst. RKC Logan Christopher - Check out http://www.legendarystrength.com/ to see him pulling a truck with his hair!!!

Rudy Tapalla RKC of Crossfit Chicago - My awesome training partner for the weekend. Here we are minutes after the Grad Workout.

Mike Prosser RKC - Fellow team-mate. Check out his great forum post on the RKC weekend HERE.

Eric J. Moss RKC - Keeping it real, New Jersey style!

My hands at the end of the cert. Unprotected but for fingerless cotton gloves during the 20-minute VO2 Max workout. How do you escape the RKC weekend without mangling your hands? Just follow Jordan Vezina RKC's advice HERE. Thanks Jordan!

An example of what your hands COULD look like after the RKC weekend!!!

Mark Toomey's sweet licence plate holder. Number obscured to dissuade any RKC groupies from causing him undue stress : )