Thursday, January 27, 2011

Indian Clubs and Get Up Workshop March 5th

Announcing our first major workshop of 2011. We are hosting RKC Team Leader Dustin Rippetoe on March 5th for Sharpening Movement, an Indian Clubs and Get Up Workshop at our facility in Rockwall Texas.




Do you want to move better and feel better? Would you like to be stronger? Here is the chance to learn how from one of the best instructors around!



We will be spending 3 hours learning about Indian Clubs and how to use them. Learn the movements and how to program them into your current training.



The following is from From Dragon Door!



"The Indian Club: Ancient Martial Arts Tool for Fluid Movement, Strength and Joint Health Becomes Favored Secret Weapon Amongst the Elite for Refining Athletic Performance and Restoring Lost Function…



Use Indian Clubs to enhance your sport—be it mixed martial arts, golf, tennis, wrestling, swimming, bowling, basketball, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, football, volleyball, archery, karate, boxing—or any other activity where physical efficiency is at a premium



Like the Kettlebell, the ancient Indian Clubwas a once-prized exercise tool that fell on hard times. Once a favored training device of royalty, military, elite athletes and enthusiastic amateurs alike, the club became relegated, by the 1930s, to dusty attics, damp basements and the moldy memories of old-school fitness diehards.



In its final, most refined incarnation, the Indian Club had been developed, in turn, by British, German and American military and civilian experts into a highly sophisticated system of restorative healthdrills. The unique circular weight lifting movements of the Indian Club were considered to promote not only greater overall strength and flexibility but to act as a magnificent "neural tune-up" for the whole body. Sadly, as the exercise community changed its focus, the Indian Club—and its myriad of health benefits—all but disappeared. Just like the kettlebell.



Yet Indian Club Swinging Exercises—in just minutes a days—WILL:



Strengthen your back, shoulders, pecs, biceps, triceps, forearms, grip—and most importantly—your connective tissue, ligaments and tendons

Enhance your shoulder efficiency, mobility, elbow and wrist flexibility—and range of motion

Develop your grace, coordination, balance and agility

Counteract the negative impact of too many hours sitting hunched at a computer keyboard (Reprinted from Dragon Door)

We will also be have 3 hrs of training on sharpening your Get Up skills. Learn how the Get Up is an assessment and a correction and how to use it to improve your movement and increase your strength!



The Get Up has been said to "fix what ails you." This is the chance to learn the skill in depth.



We will work on all pieces of the Get Up and work on improving your skills in each part. We will focus on the Get Up as detailed in Kalos Sthenos, the incredible work by Brett Jones MRKC, Gray Cook PT and Dr. Mark Cheng SrRKC.







Then the fun begins as you are shown how the two fit together like peanut butter and jelly. Learn how to use these two skills to make your body move and feel better.







The best part is that you will receive a 1lb set of Indian Clubs to take home with you!



We are limiting the number of attendees to only 20 attendees. We want to insure that everyone has lots of time to perfect their skills and have more one to one interaction.



The Early Brid Price for the workshop is $250.00 until February 3rd, 2011. After that the price goes up to 299.00. Don't Forget, you get a pair of Indian Clubs as part of the workshop!!!!!







Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Tough Mudder Countdown

Training for the Tough Mudder is nearing the final week. It has been my plan from day one to do this fun adventure without doing any running as training. As of now, I have yet to run. I have been using kettlebells as my training tool. I had an initial plan set up that included swings one day and Turkish get Ups the next day on a 4-6 day a week training cycle. It went really well as I increased my time under loads every session. swing workouts were focused on heavy double swings. I made it to about 35 minutes of double swings with an active recovery. In the GU I was up to about 30 minutes of working each piece at least twice on my way to standing. I was using a fairly heavy weight in these also. If it looks familiar, it is because it is a modified program minimum. As all the Master RKC's will tell you, when it comes to results, swings and get ups are the way to go.

Enter my good friend, Dustin Rippetoe RKCTL. He proposed a 21 day swings challenge. The challenge is to hit 10,000 Swings in the 21 day period. Well, it fit my goal to a tee, so I have been off and running with it.It has been an eye opening journey. I am 18 days in and I am at about 7000 swings. I might not hit 10,000 in 21 days, but that is okay. I have more then got my money out of this challenge.

I could have easily hit 10,000 swings with a different plan of action. one that was set up to just accomplish the swings. I did not want to modify my path/training plan to much so all I did was add days to my swinging. i have been pretty much swinging kettlebells 6 days a week for the last 3 weeks. I chose to keep the heavier double swings in the mix as my main training. I have gone heavier so that I have the power, stamina and mental toughness to slog through a 10 mile race over obstacles, through water and  electrical wires. There is a certain mental component earned when you are forced to continue swinging those heavy bells when your hands, arms, hips, legs and lungs want you to quit. Will there be some carryover? We will know in about 12 days.

The other days of swings are usually 2 handed days with the heaviest KB that I can easily do for 300-500 reps. I have recently learned that the Beast fits in that category... Hitting double 88's for reps goes a long way to making that happen.

I have seen some great changes in my technique as this has progressed.  Dan John was dead on the money when he said, "If it is important, do it every day." My swings are pretty solid these days. I feel that I am generating a lot of power and I am able to transfer that power to the KB. On my 2hand days, the kb's literally float at the top. I have also observed that my heart rate elevates to a lower level then it used to and drops down much quicker now. I started out at a weight of about 170. I am currently at 180 and my body fat is lower. The weight is fairly well distributed, but a lot is in my glutes, hamstrings and hip. My wife likes it so it must be good!

While I have been tired, bodyweight swings will do that to you, I feel really good afterwards. I admit the first day of double 88's made me feel like a truck had hit me, but I was on 4 hours of sleep that day. But it was part of my plan and had to be accomplished. No PR everyday for me. I have to follow my program, cause that is how it rolls!

I have also learned how incredible Indian Clubs are as a training tool. I started to use them as my active rest and recovery from swings. I start out in tall kneeling with movement prep, work through Movements 1 and 2 and then move off to open half kneeling. I recently, last couple of days, started working on Movement 3. I attribute a lot of my recovery ability to the clubs. I am able to lower breathing rate and heart rate as I work the clubs between swings. My shoulders feel better now then at any point in the last few years. The Clubs seem to really help lock in all of the correctives work for my shoulders. If I can swing it, I am going to actually try to attend the next Indian Club workshop in March. The Clubs are going to become part of our group classes also. If you train with me you will need them anyway so get them here, Indian Clubs.

3000 more swings to go! Will try and get there within the 21 days.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

My instructor Joe R. Lansdale

Few clips of my Instructor... If you don't think it works or is effective, ask him to show you! We are still running a small class. If you want to train with us, contact me via email.





Thursday, January 6, 2011

Nice Article About Us!

I obviously slacked off about posting during the Holidays. Time to get ramped up for the New Year. We are up and running with lots of classes at the facility. we focus on groups as the peer support goes a long way to helping people reach their goals. we also have some openings for individual training. That requires you email or call for an appointment.

I am still waiting to hear about my CK-FMS case study, but I passed the FMS test. Every new client receives a screen as part of our consultation. It is a great tool to help people reach their goals safely and effectively. Here is a link to a great article about what we do!

If you are interested in being the best you can be, come hang out with us!

Tough Mudder countdown is at 22 days. Lots of swings occurring. I am up to about 40 minutes of swings as my main training focus. It helps that I have joined in the 10,000 Swings in 21 days Group. I have to hit at least 500 swings a day to reach that number by the 21st. Little sore after the first 2500.