Basics

This is Tracy Reifkind showing how swings are supposed to be done. They are rock solid. I hope that my swings are this nice one day. I was an assistant at the RKC with her last year and she is really knowledgeable. Tracy is what the RKC is about. She has the Hard Style Swing down.

It is pretty nice that a lot of RKC's are posting about the Program Minimum. Swings and Get Ups are the meat of the RKC. While the snatch has been called the Tsar of Lifts, they really are not what makes the kettlebell work magic.

Swings are a base exercise that set the stage for everything that follows. They teach the proper hip position, power generation and movement for every other movement. The snatch begins with the hip dip and drive that the swing does. Guess what the clean and squat need to work correctly? Hmmm, maybe the swing? It follows that everything we do stems from the swing.

I have gone back to the program minimum for the time being. I have a 12 week plan that is set out already, making it easy to follow. I am doing this to really set the foundation for a better training regimen. I have been banged up with lots of nagging injuries. I have been working swings and TGU's for about 3 weeks now. I have had a lot of improvement in range of motion and some relief of nagging pain. My lower back was stiff and I have added a greater range of motion.

I have also worked through each point of the TGU. I have learned that I have lots of leakage from a loss of focus and inability to tense certain areas. I have really been tensing the glutes on the hip bridge with great results. I am a lot more solid in all positions. I was somewhat wobbly before using more tension in the TGU. There is a lot of work still to do.

We had a camera breakdown last week. I hope to have a new one this week or next. We will be posting kettlebell and martial arts clips as soon as we can.