Week 2 at Eclipse

What a week! We had some great press on Planet Rockwall for our class at Eclipse! I hope that it leads to some growth for us. I think it will as we are the only real Kettlebell training program in Rockwall.


I have had people from a lot of different backgrounds come to class. It is really neat to meet people from all types of training. We have had some home trained Kettlebell fans as well as some Crossfit fans train with us. The one thing that I have heard is that form and technique make a huge difference in performance. It is hard to learn the skill perfectly from a video, but at least the beginnings of are there.

I have been told that form and technique are not considered important in some circles. It is about getting the “smoker” completed that is most important. As an RKC I want good form and technique first. As an old guy, form and technique are what allow me to continue to progress injury free. I want to have good form and technique before I use heavy weights. Heavy weights are relative to the individual student, so we build the proper base from day one. For me as an RKC form and technique is part and parcel to safety being a part of what we do, rather than an afterthought. I want to have good form as I press the Beast, because the consequences could be dire… I am not up for injury, destruction of joints torn muscles or the like as it does not sound like a fun way to have a back off week. There is very little active recovery when you are laid up with an injury.

Injury occurs not only through bad form and technique, but through the lack of proper program planning. I program active recovery and down time into my own training as well as that of my students. We will push hard for 3-4 weeks and then back off to allow our bodies to recover. I talked to an instructor of another program in my town and she bragged about how her clients were beat down and sick by the end of the week. The failure to back down and recover from this type of training pretty much guarantees that burnout, injury and a lack of desire to train occurs.

To pretty much sum it up, train smart with good form and you will make great progress. Learn proper technique from an RKC, even if you are training other ways. It will only make you stronger and protect you from training injuries.

Workout of the week has been based on swings and squats. Thursday night we performed 10 Swings/5squats and then a 1 minute rest for 12 sets. We finished off class with the start of our Get Up practice. we worked through the punch and the post without weight. I want to build a solid foundation and structure before we add weight to it.