Resurrected Strength

40 days

2011-11-06T09:14:00.001-06:00

So many things to do, see and be, sometimes it is hard to sit down and actually write anything. I just need to work a little more on time and project management. The people that know me well have heard about my Amazon bill. I read anything and everything, from Autobiographies to Zombies. (there are some really good zombie stories out there!)

I am currently reading Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel. This is probably the greatest book on developing strength ever produced. If I had this book and information when I was buying crap like “Beef It” back in the day, I would have trained better at an earlier age. The book shows you how to train to be strong safely and effectively. While the title says Easy Strength, you still have to put in the work, but the gains are almost miraculous. Just playing with some of the principles in the last week, I put up double 88’s with no problems. It has been about two years since I went that heavy and I actually can see the Beast in my future.

My plan over the next 40 days, starting 11-7, is to follow Dan John’s 40 Day Program. I am headed to RKCII in the spring and I feel that this will be a great start. I have been working Program Minimum for the most part for the last year and needed a change. Due to injury I had to bail from World’sToughest Mudder and had lost some focus. I will be working on Pistols, Deadlifts, Presses, Snatch, and Pull Ups, some of my skills that need some help. I think that this plan, coupled with corrections and ankle mobility work will get me to a really good place for my next training phase for RKC2.

I will update as I go on what happens. I am going to make a base assessment in the morning so that I have a starting point to improve on.

I am currently looking at basing part two around Return of The Kettlebell, but will include Grease the Groove pistols, and windmills. I am also hoping to train with Dustin Rippetoe RKCTL and MRKC Jeff O’Connor, so have the ability to drop what I am planning and following their thoughts. It is always good to have someone else eyeball your program and skills.

We are going to hold an HKC here in March. I am talking to Sr. RKC Jon Engum about that now. We are also going to participate in Pushups For Charity again this year. Lot of stuff, thank goodness I am able to focus on this side of things now.

Tip of the Year!

2011-10-30T20:48:00.002-05:00

This clip is probably the best one that I have seen this year. Posture is important. We are what we do and how we live.

This is not us!

2011-10-28T07:25:00.000-05:00

New Stuff

2011-10-17T14:18:00.000-05:00

The Blog has fallen by the wayside and it is time for the undead to rise…(Yes, The Walking Dead is back on AMC!)

I have been working on a lot of stuff to make the sessions better for everyone. That has entailed more training for me on Functional Movement and corrections. I have also started training for RKCII in April. It is amazing how many things that I need to work on to be ready for it. I have found that the more research I do to fix those issues, the more everyone in the program benefits.

I have been working on my ankle mobility on a daily basis after finding that I had none… It has made a massive change in my swing and ability to access the hip power needed for proper swings and snatches. I had a light bulb moment when working with one of our new clients. She could not “feel” her hips or hinge correctly for the swing or deadlift. We used several ankle drills i.e., stick pumps, manual pump and some toe pulls. She then worked on the RKC Hip Flexor stretch and she immediately let out a squeal and told me that she could feel her hips move the right way. Since then her swings have been awesome, and spot on.

We have continued to grow! It is always a great thing to introduce people to kettlebells and our program. So far we have had some great weight loss numbers. We have some down 2 pounds in the first week to some that have dropped 30 in a couple of months. Everyone is stronger, moving better and pretty happy with their results.

Please visit the website if you would like to receive our newsletter. We try not to inundate you with junk and send it twice a month. We also have a monthly hardcopy that we send out. If you would like to receive it, please go through the website.

This is probably the only major sales pitch for the blog, but want to let people Know what we offer:

Kid’s Fitness: Tuesday/Thursday: 4:30

Adult classes M/W/F at 5:45am

Adult Classes Tue/Thur/ 6pm and Friday 5:30pm

Saturday Morning at 8am

Meals

Supplements

World's Toughest Mudder

2011-07-16T12:02:00.002-05:00

I received an invitation to the World's Toughest Mudder this week! I want to do this. It is 6 months out and I think it will be fun! I am looking at what I need to do to get it going.

I have already started playing with my training program. I will have my training programming set up after the Summit of Strength next weekend. I cannot wait to talk to Laurel Blackburn about this! She trained two people for the Spartan Death Race. She should be able to give me a few pointers.

Once I have signed up and started training, the program will be posted here as I work through it.

What they say...

2011-07-06T15:12:00.003-05:00

If you want to make some great changes, there is still some room. we will take 5 more people up till Friday Morning! www.befitrockwall.com

Fun stuff and more

2011-07-03T08:45:00.000-05:00

We have a lot going on down at our little house of strength. We are kicking off another 21 Day Sprint to Fitness on July 6th. The first one was a great success and everyone that participated has signed up again! Everyone in the program made positive changes in their health and fitness.

This one will be a little different in that their will be some prizes for given out for making changes, losing weight as well as some special surprise events... As long as we hit 15 people the big prize is a year of Group Class, almost $2000.00 in training.

We are going to expand our class times soon. We are hoping to add a lunch time class for those that need a quick workout, but little time to get it done.

Our Kid's class is growing and is a lot of fun. We have a bunch of kids learning proper movement as well as developing strength. They are all trained after their Functional Movement Screens show us what they really need to work on.

The Summit of Strength is coming up on July 22-24! I cannot wait to train with the best in the field. (the 22nd is a special session for those that signed up early!)

Summit of Strength 2011

JULY 23 AND 24

Oklahoma City (Edmond), Oklahoma

Brett Jones

David “IronTamer” Whitley

Geoff Neupert

Jeff O’Connor

Day 7

2011-07-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

I am on Day 7 of the Advocare 24 day Challenge. I have never used a weight loss style product before. I figured since signing on for Advocare that I would start with this as a base and see where we end up over the next few months. I did have some initial reservations to begin with, but have gotten over those pretty quickly. The people in the organization are great and I can tell that the products are working.

I have a really crappy BF tester and it is not reliable at all. It is not even good enough to monitor trends. It shows that I have gone up in body fat, but the visual results say something else. I have seen a difference in the way that my clothes are fitting. They are looser then they were a week ago. I am also seeing more muscle definition. I have seen more of my abs popping out in the last week then I have in the last year. I also feel really good. I think that if I was not waking up early and going to bed late it would be even better!

I have a few more days on the first part of the program, a 10 day Cleanse, before hitting part two. I am excited. I do reccomend that you pick up extra meal replacements and catalyst. I did not do that at first and was unable to get them in before the holiday weekend.

I can see that the 24 Day Challenge mixed in with our meal program, Meal Movement, is going to make some dramatic changes in our clients lives.

No Apologies

2011-06-17T08:06:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of awesome things going on at our little house of strength, so I cannot apologize for the lack of postings. That should change now as I have more time in the day to work and write. We have exploded in our classes as more people find us. They find us, because we actually have results. If you are up for a challenge, please contact us.

I recently had the incredible opportunity to spend a lot of time with Dan John at a conference. In my opinion he is one of the best minds out there in the world of training. Having listened to him and talked with him in the past, I know what to expect this time. However, there were about 65 people in the room that had never been exposed to him. You could see the light bulbs coming on. He has the ability to make the "confusing" simple to understand. If you are training with us, you already follow a lot of what he teaches. I just don't tell everyone the reasons behind it all of the time.

However, everyone knows where the "Bulgarian Goat Bag Swing" came from. Another incredible tool in the arsenal to show people how to be better. I have been using it on myself as an experiment, as well as the classes, and cannot believe how much it cleans up your swing. I will not go into detail on it, but go to Dan John's site for more info.

We will be announcing some things pretty quickly. We have added a couple of product lines, including done for you meals that are delivered to your door. That will be put out there in the next few days.

Wow

2011-05-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

In the last few weeks I have been unable to post anything of interest. You would figure that in an entire week, something would be written. It is actually scheduled in my day tomorrow. I will also be moving this to another address.

Too Funny Not to Share (real post tomorrow)

2011-05-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

Goings On at BTS

2011-05-01T20:37:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy week. I had hoped to follow up last weeks post about the Minimus, with great stuff but... I gave a 30 minute self defense talk to about twenty-five women this week. It appeared to have gone really well as they all were pretty interactive. I have found that the best tool to give people when you are short on time is...permission to actually defend themselves against a threat. It can be an emotional, mental or physical assault, it makes no difference. There still needs to be a defense strategy. I taught them how to find their trigger for survival, what would give them the power/reason to survive.

Amazing Athletes Corporate was in town training a new Franchise owner. They were able to come out and watch several of our classes taught by some of our coaches. They were pleased! I was also a mentor on an Amazing Athletes conference all about sales to schools.

Rockwall is hosting a Holistic Health Fair at the Center on May 7th from 10-2pm. We will be there with our FMS kit to run as many screens as we can. If you would like to reserve a slot, email me at paul at Brittstrainingsystems.com.

Kids class is coming up! www.fitkidsrockwall.com

Mother's Day Special at www.befitrockwall.com

Summit of Strength is July 23-24th. 4 Master RKC in one place for a full weekend of awesomeness! If you are wanting to be the best you can be, it is a must attend! There is no better training opportunity outside of Dragon Door Events. Dustin and Kenzie know how to put on incredible events.

I am signed up for Indian Clubs certification in November. Which will betaught by my good friend Dustin Rippetoe, RKCTL. Oh yeah, Brett Jones MRKC will be there also!

That is probably enough for tonight. Want to leave u with what not to do with a KB.

New Balance Minimus

2011-04-24T18:33:00.000-05:00

I love the premise behind Five Fingers, but I really do not like the look of them. Maybe I am too conservative, but I could not get past how they look. I bought a pair and just could not wear them out in public. I also did not really like how they they felt on my feet. I think it was the toes being split apart. But for whatever reason, I just could not, would not buy into them for my personal use.

I believe that barefoot or as minimal a shoe as possible is the way to go. I have been training barefoot or in Chucks at our studio and also for the last 5 years, but have run my Amazing Athletes classes in Nike Free. I really feel that I am stronger, move better and more stable in less shoe, but have had to have some protection for my feet. due to the impact that they receive on a daily basis. In teaching my Amazing Athletes classes I am bouncing and running with kids for hours on a variety of surfaces. I could be on carpet, tile, concrete, wood and rubber flooring at anytime for up to 6 hours a day. Because of this I need something that allows me to have some protection for my feet, but still allow me to have more natural movement. I was waking up every morning with severe foot pain from what I thought was all of the impact.

Prior to joining the minimilist mob, I wore New Balance's trail running shoes. I found that they were a great shoe for the variety of things that I was doing. At the time i felt that they were good shoes for gym, hanging out at home and anything else I was doing. I was not into shoe collecting at that time. I wanted one pair that would do it all. New Balance seemed to be the best choice at the time.

Fast Forward a couple of years and untold Chucks and Frees later, and I am in need of something different. Nike has a habit of ending shoe styles every 18 months and the shoes that I wanted would no longer be available. It also seemed that shoes that started out as minimalist would gradually ended up being over padded and over engineered...

I heard that New Balance was coming out with a new shoe designed to be palatable to the barefoot running mob. I will say this now, I hate running, but like to be barefoot. I figured that I would give the new shoe a try. There is a New Balance Store in Rockwall and I stopped by one day to look at the Minimus. I liked how they felt from the get go decided to go ahead and buy a pair. They retail for about $100.00 which was cheaper then the Nike Free that I ordered online.

They are light and comfortable. I really like the fact that they are about the lightest shoe that I have ever worn. I was surprised at how heavy the other shoes that I wear are in comparison to them. I was initially wooried that they might be to light, but that was not found to be the case.

They are durable. I have worn them now for two months. there are days where I will have them on for up to 16 hours. I have worn them for up to 36 classes a week of my kids classes. Those classes call for hopping, skipping, jumping, running, starts and stops and lateral movements. They have held up beautifully. The only wear is on the sole, which being Vibram is pretty tough.

The shoes have also been awesome while doing all of those activities. I have had no pain in my feet while training kids classes in the shoes. I feel that they have had great stability, including lateral stability. It could be because they allow my feet to move natyrally and not be incased in a "protective piece of over enginneered padding." I really cannot say how happy I have been with the shoes. It is one thing to train in a shoe for a couple of hours, it is another to put them through the pace that I have. I had a fairly new pair of Nike that would wear occassionally to see if there was a difference and found that there was one for me. My feet would start to kill me after about 30 minutes. I would then develop pain up the chain from there. The next day after wearing the Nike, my feet would kill me after waking up. That is not a problem that I had with the Minimus.

I also trained at the studio in the Minimus. I have found that the Minimus is a small amount of lift that intially through me off on kettlebell swings and snatches.Itis not much of a lift, just enough that I noticed it, but still found that I was rooted and able to perform correct techniques in all lifts. I still prefer to train at the studio barefoot, but that is just habit.

I would definitely recommend New balance Minimus as a great shoe to try out for training. If you are into a minimalist shoes, I feel that it is the way to go. I plan on wearing them for my Tough Mudder training and the actual event in October. I actually plan on running as part of my training for this one, especially since I have a shoe that I love.

Running 10 Miles without any training runs

2011-04-17T12:00:00.002-05:00

Running 10 Miles Without Any Training Runs?

I recently had the great idea of signing up for the Tough Mudder. It looked like lots of fun, lots of obstacles to climb on, crawl under and swing from. I had completed a Warrior Dash without any running to prepare for it. I felt that that the Tough Mudder was the next test to take, if only testing my lack of sense if nothing else. One problem I faced was that the TOUGH Mudder was 10 miles long, whereas the Warrior Dash was 3.5 miles. I completed the Warrior Dash within a reasonable time, so figured what the heck; I can do bigger with just a little more effort. I want to point out that I have never run 10 miles in my life, and I really hate running. I would rather go shopping for furniture with my wife and kids, then run around the block. So here was a quandary that I had to solve… How can I do this without actually running beforehand?

I decided that the solution would be kettlebells. Why kettlebells? I have been using them since 2005 and have been an RKC since 2005, so it was the hammer for my nail. It really did not take a lot to drive me to this point. After seeing the results of VO2 Max, the RKC Snatch Test and the transformation that the swing has made in people, I felt that it was a no brainer. I fully believed that I would be able to train for the run without actually running.

There are so many different training thoughts and programs with the kettlebell and within the RKC. The funny thing is that they all boil down to two exercises…swings and Get Ups. I decided that it would be a great testament to Pavel, Hard Style and the RKC if I could actually pull off a 10 mile run without any running beforehand.

I signed up for the Tough Mudder on November 27th giving me 62 days to prepare for the run. I looked at several different ways to make it work. I had looked at VO2 Max, Secret Service Snatch Test and some swing programs and it came down to a variation of the program minimum. The Program Minimum is awesome in its simplicity and ease of use. I also liked the facts that while it is not injury proof, swings are pretty safe to do for lots of reps and sets. I also felt that the general template of time under load was exactly what I would need. While great for most people, I did not feel that the PM’s time of 12 minutes of swings and 5 minutes of GU were going to be sufficient for 10 miles of running. The organizers advised that the course would take at least 2:30 minutes to complete so I needed a lot more swing time. I decided that I would also need to use heavier kettlebells and maybe even double kettlebells to be able to develop the strength and stamina to last the distance.

I began the program swinging double 32’s for 30sec on/30 Sec off for 15 minutes. The next day was 15 Minutes of Get Ups, but not straight from prone to standing. Instead, I worked each piece of the Get Up for at least two reps. I was able to make it to the Windmill position in the 15 minute time frame. It was my goal to add 5 minutes a week to Swings and Get Ups. The plan was to hit 45 minutes of each exercise. I trained 4 days a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday

I reevaluated the program after the first 4 weeks, three actually as I had a 7 day break due to the flu, and looked at where I was and where I still needed to be. I was up to 35 minutes of double swings with the 32’s and 30 minutes of Get Ups with a single 32kg. I felt really good, but decided that I needed to really push even harder. I still had not run at all and I was at 4 weeks out, so I was a little worried. I felt that I was pretty close, but not quite sure where I stood. I was not going to do any training runs, since the goal was not to run before the race. In looking at the obstacles, distance and what people were saying about the race, I decided to increase my swing weights to the 40kgs. . I felt that it would add some needed strength and power that would be needed on some of the obstacles. It was a big jump and at the time was actually heavier than my body weight at the time. After making the weight jump, I realized that it would also help with mental toughness; because swinging two heavy kettlebells is hard! The first day of the double 40’s lasted about 20 minutes. I only lasted that long because I refused to quit.

At the same time I made the decision to increase the weight, RKCTL Dustin Rippetoe came up with the 10,000 Swings in 21 Days Challenge. I talked to him about it and decided that it fit within my training program/thought process. I still had not run at all to prepare for the race and wanted to make sure that I had good strength and endurance. We decided that more swings would fit the bill. In looking at the numbers, it would take 500 swings a day to reach the 10,000 in 21 days. I knew that I wanted to keep the heavy double swings in the mix and wanted to get as many swings in the 21 Days as possible. I knew from the outset that doubles at the weight I wanted to hit would probably keep me from 10,000 in 21 days, but I had 25 days of training left in my programming. I decided to try and get all of the swings in, but would not sweat it if I didn’t.

The modifications had me swinging almost every day for up to 45 minutes a session. I knew I could not keep up the heavy doubles for 21 days so I decided to have a medium, light and play weight during the week. The play weight was whatever I felt like messing with on that day for lots of reps. My training week was typically: heavy double swings on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and either two hand swings with the Beast or double 32 swings on the other days. The “play” day was exactly that, no real plan of action. Some days it was running the bells, other days it was swings with the 24kgs’s. One thing I did find from practicing every day was that my swings got better, a lot better. Like Dan John says, “If it is worth doing, do it every day.” I ended up with 8200 swings on the 21st day and 10,000 by the 24th.

How did it work out for me? I completed the run in 2:45. It was a hard race, but the running was actually the easy part. I did not realize how much swimming we would have to do and the massive amounts of swings dropped my body fat to under 8% and I added 10lbs to my bodyweight. It made it hard to float and the cold water really sucked the heat out of me. It was interesting in that I read the 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferris RKCII the week of the race and found it interesting that his section on running a marathon advocated interval training. It made me realize that I was on the right path with this training program.

What would I do differently? I would continue with the swings, but keep the Get Ups in there to improve core and rotational strength. I had no issues with the posterior chain after the race. My frontal core however, was pretty sore for a few days afterward. I think that if I had kept the Get Ups in the mix, I would not have hurt so badly. It stemmed from climbing, monkey bars and helping boost others over obstacles. The grind power derived from the Get Ups would have helped in all of those activities.

The training program:

Month 1

Monday/Thursday

FMS Correctives

Double Swings started out 15 min a session and increased to 35 min a session over the month

Relax Into Stretch

Tuesday/Friday

FMS Correctives

Get Ups 15 min a session increased to 30 min a session over the month

Relax into Stretch

Month 2

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

FMS Correctives

2 Handed or double swings 300-500

Indian Clubs as active recovery between each set

Relax Into Stretch

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday

FMS Correctives

Heavy Double swings 200-500

Indian Clubs as active recovery between each set

Pull ups and Pistols for 3-4 sets of 3-5.

Relax Into Stretch

President George H.W. Bush and Pushups for Charity

2011-03-31T12:56:00.000-05:00

Pushups for Charity

10:00 am on April 16th, 2011
City of Heath Department of Public Safety

Please come out and support our Wounded Warriors. 100% of every dollar received goes to the Wounded Warrior Project!

We have invited numerous Special Guests. We will have several of our sponsors on hand as well as the USMC!

Pushups For Charity Rockwall

2011-03-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

We are moving right along with Pushups For Charity Rockwall. So far we have quite a few participants registered, but we have room for lots more!!!

We want to thank all of the sponsors that have jumped on board: Amazing Athletes, Dr. Holly Fisher Britt, O.D., Joe Willy's, Community Bank, City of Heath... we also have room for more Sponsors!!!

100% of all donations goes to the Wounded Warrior Project. Please participate in this great way to give back.

www.pushupsforcharityrockwall.com

Pushups For Charity Rockwall

2011-03-10T10:17:00.000-06:00

April 16th, 2011

10:00am

City of Heath Department of Public Safety

Pushups For Charity Rockwall

Rockwall County Residents CRAZY For Pushups!

Rockwall, Tx – What’s old…is new again. The people of Rockwall County are going crazy for pushups as a way to get in shape…and give something back to our wounded warriors. It’s called Pushups for Charity, and it’s causing quite a stir.

Organized by Paul Britt of Britt’s Training Systems and Amazing Athletes, an adult and children’s fitness company here in Rockwall, Pushups for Charity is a fun way to get fit and make a difference by supporting the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization whose mission is to honor and empower severely injured service men and women.

There will be Pushups for Charity Challenge on April 16th with three teams competing:

1. Regular Joe’s and Jane’s – open to all Rockwall area residents

2. Rockwall County Police Departments

3. Rockwall County Fire Departments

Complete information is available at www.pushupsforcharityrockwall.com for those who want to participate, donate or just come out and watch these three teams compete to see who can do the most pushups in 90 seconds.

“Our goal is two-fold,” explains Paul, owner of Britt’s Training Systems and Amazing Athletes, the fitness company running the Pushups for Charity event here in Rockwall County, “we want to show our support for the Wounded Warriors who have sacrificed so much for our freedom and security, and we want to engage our local community in a fun way to get fit.”

“The community is really rising to the challenge – there is a lot of interest in Pushups for Charity. I think that says a lot about our community’s interest in supporting Wounded Warriors, and is a reflection of how much people appreciate the importance of being healthy,” says Britt.

Pushups are one of the foundational exercises for overall body strength and lean muscle development. Lean muscle increases metabolic activity so the body burns more calories. Additionally, pushups are a simple exercise anyone can do almost anywhere. “Pushups are a gateway exercise,” says Britt, “people feel results quickly, sometimes within days, and that inspires them to do more exercise.”

1

Indian Club Workshop

2011-02-28T20:33:00.000-06:00

We have had to postpone the Indian Clkub Workshop that was scheduled for March 5th. I have had a lot going on over the last month with both Amazing Athletes and Briit's Training Systems. It has been so busy that I was not really doing justice to the seminar prep. I did not want to attach my name or that of my friend and Instructor RKCTL Dustin Rippetoe. I did not want to have a seminar that was not up to either of our standards. Things happen for a reason, and I hope that people were not to put out.

We are also scheduling a major charity event in April that will hopefully encompass a lot of people. I feel that this is what I am being called to do for my business and for the Wounded Warrior Project. I will have something out about it tomorrow!

Busy!

2011-02-12T12:33:00.000-06:00

Lots of things going on at our place! We have the Indian Clubs/Get Up workshop on March 5th. It is going to be a day of improving your movement and building real strength. More info here! Each attendee will receive a set of Indian Clubs and Dr. Thomas' DVD! What are you waiting for...sign up here 10 8 spots left!

It has been two weeks since the Tough Mudder. I have not posted anything about it for a couple of reasons. 1. I was writing an article 2. Snowmegeddon hit us and included rolling blackouts...3. Amazing Athletes has been time consuming.

I have finished the article and have submitted it to Dragon Door. It details how I trained to run a 10 mile race with ZERO running beforehand. I ended up completing the run in about 2:45. I have already pre-registered for the October 8th/9th Tough Mudder in the Dallas area. The goal is to hit 2 hours. It was hard! I had a great time and cannot wait to try again.

Besides the Workshop, we are training some people for the RKC Certs in April and September. Give me a shout if you would like to attend some of those sessions. I am also my training my own happy little hiney for RKC2 in July! Currently my work consists of correctives, Indian Clubs, press patterning. I am not going to really ramp it up until April. right now it is practice of skills that need to be improved. I am doing lots of body weight and TRX assisted work on pistols. It seems to be working. I am able to pistol, but need to continue to work at cleaning it up.

Just quick info as we try to fill the workshop.

Thank you

2011-02-06T15:53:00.002-06:00

Early Bird Price Extended Until February 8th due to weather!

2011-02-04T10:24:00.001-06:00

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!!!!!

Indian Clubs and Get Up Workshop March 5th

2011-01-27T15:55:00.000-06:00

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!!!!!

Tough Mudder Countdown

2011-01-18T13:17:00.000-06:00

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.

My instructor Joe R. Lansdale

2011-01-08T19:19:00.000-06:00

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.

Nice Article About Us!

2011-01-06T14:26:00.000-06:00

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.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-15T08:22:00.002-06:00

Random Training Thoughts

2010-12-11T11:04:00.000-06:00

1. Are the actions you are taking making you better?
If not, you must re-evaluate your training. Why do something that does not make a positive difference in your life? You exercise for a reason, be it improved performance, fat loss or even as a stress relief. Do not just go through it on autopilot. You must have your goals and visions in your operating system. If you don't there is no real purpose. If you know what you are striving for, everything should lead you to that point.

2. Do not train in pain.
This is just a faster way to the Dark Side! What occurs when you train in pain? Injury, compensation, failure to reach your goals. Unless you are peaking for a specific purpose, i.e. Gold Medal, do not go here. That is what I love about the CK-FMS. It is a map that says "Here be Dragons!" Guess what? It shows you were not to venture until you are ready.

3. Have Fun!
I push myself pretty hard all of the time. But I always have fun with it. If you are not happy when training, you are missing all of the benefits. If you are not happy or having fun, it is "just another thing I have to do." It should be a positive experience that you look forward to. I try to make my classes fun and get people laughing. It should be time away from work and stress. Live in the moment and do not think on the stress from the day/life for an hour.

4. Take a break.
This is where I am right now. I have pushed really hard for the last 4-5 weeks. I have been teaching lots of kid's classes as well as Tough Mudder training and our adult classes. I am tired and needed to take a break. They are good for you, even if you do not think so. you cannot drive a Ferrari at 190 all day, every day without some wear and tear. You have to pull into the pit and take a few minutes/days to recover before hitting the road again.

5. Slow Down...More on this later!

6. Why?

Ouch

2010-11-30T20:13:00.000-06:00

New Obstacle for Tough Mudder. Oh boy, this is going to be fun!

Tough Mudder Austin

2010-11-27T11:38:00.000-06:00

I signed up to run the Tough Mudder in January! I am pretty excited about this challenge. It will be 9 miles of fun.I am also trying to raise money for The Wounded Warrior Project. I feel that we need to do what we can to help those that have been injured serving our Country. http://www.active.com/donate/ToughMudderTexas2011/britts

I have 62 days to prepare for for the Tough Mudder. I hate to run, so that is not really a large part of my preparations. I am working on Swings(doubles) and Get Ups as my main training tools. I am working towards 45 minutes of swings. I figure that will be really conducive to the strength endurance required to do well. I am also working towards 45 minutes of Get Ups. I am using fairly heavy weights to accomplish the mission.Last Night was a 15 minute session of double 32's along with pistols and pullups. Today will be a 20 minute get up session coupled with Farmers walks. I am also working corrections for the Active Straight Leg Raise and Shoulder Mobility issues I am dealing with. The corrections are working really well.

I am going to post my training for the event on the blog fairly regular as well as what I need to hit next week. Pushing my times up by 5 minutes is in the works for next week.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T08:40:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is a favorite Holiday at my house. It is always great to have family and friends over for the gorging that occurs. there is something fun about stuffing your face and dropping into a food coma with people you are close with. What a great bonding experience, Family, Food, Football and Fun! Enjoy the day. Make it your 20% time if you follow the Primal/Paleo eating style. I am not going totally overboard, but I am going to enjoy myself. I like to follow the 80/20 rule. I think that the 20% allows me to not feel guilty or bad about myself. The guilty or bad feelings about how and what we eat are a part of what occurs in eating disorders. I want to be healthy and live a long time. I do not want to be always in a panic because of how I am eating, what I am eating or if it is right or wrong. We have to eat, it should be enjoyable, it should be in moderation and it should bring families together. So eat, drink and enjoy life... but come visit me Friday for a Turkey Burn!

Having said all of that, I will be avoiding the grains for Thanksgiving. I have found that I do much better without them in my diet. I had some pizza, and I actually developed skin irritations the next morning. So for me the bread/grain products are not a guilt, they actually affected me as an allergen. So goodbye to grain, unless it is a Birthday.

What am I going to eat for Thanksgiving, lots of awesome stuff. Meat, veggies, nuts, salads and even a little pecan pie. I will avoid the pie crust, but I am a Texan and Pecan Pie should be the National Pie of Texas!(Texas being it's own country after all)

Have a great Thanksgiving and remember what we are celebrating and Who we are thanking!

Quick Note - Please give back to those that have helped secure our freedom to celebrate. I am collecting donations for The Wounded Warrior Project as part of the Tough Mudder Texas. I did not want to embed the link so that you know it is legitimate. http://www.active.com/donate/ToughMudderTexas2011/britts

Thanksgiving Classes, December 4th Workshop etc

2010-11-21T10:01:00.000-06:00

It has once again been a really busy time period for me, so posts drop off. We are up and running really well at BTS, just about everything is in place to allow us to have the best training possible at our place. We have been running lots of classes, but we are really looking at kicking off the New Year with some really great programs and workshops. Please keep watching this blog for more! I am also working on in depth articles on all aspects of training, nutrition, martial arts etc.

December 4th Kettlebell and Combatives Seminar

The deadline is fast approaching for this great workshop. It is less than two weeks away and registration closes on Monday, December 29th. I only have a few slots available.

We will be working on an alternating schedule of an hour of RKC skills and an hour of combative skills.No matter what martial arts style you train in, we can show you how to improve your personal skill set.

A great bonus is that every Attendee will have the opportunity to receive and Functional Movement Screen and corrective homework if necessary. That alone is worth $100.00.

So for the price of $75 you will be receiving lots of great training!

Black Friday, November 26th

We will hold a workout at 3pm on Black Friday to help burn off some of the Turkey Gut that might have developed. we are asking that everyone that attends brings canned goods to be donated to Rockwall Helping Hands.

After Thanksgiving Program

We will be running an after Thanksgiving special. It will be announced on Wednesday. If you are a new client, or want to be one, contact us for a consult and you will receive a massive discount...

Last Day for Early Bird special and a New Toy

2010-11-15T16:25:00.000-06:00

There is still room in our December 4th Kettlebell and Martial Arts Seminar. The $50.00 early bird price is good till tomorrow morning when I wake up. The seminar will teach Kettlebells and how to incorporate them into your system. We will teach, Joint Mobility, Breathing, Swings, Get Ups and other skills. We will also show how everything taught is already part of your system. Every participant will also receive a Functional Movement Screen and any needed correctives homework. You will be surprised at how it improves your skills and techniques.

On another awesome note we have a new toy! It was built by Outlaw Custom Welding. They did an awesome job and build to order. It is 4x6 with two 8 ft bars, one 7ft and one 6ft bar for different size people. There is even space for the TRX. I was even able to specify bar diameters. Great prices and great service. I will not use anyone else for welding.

December 4th Workshop

2010-11-10T08:22:00.001-06:00

Britt's Training Systems is holding a workshop on December 4th showing you how to improve your martial arts skills with body weight and kettlebells. Every Attendee will also recieve an FMS screening.

The seminar will run from 10am-5pm with a lunch break. Class size is limited to 12 and Pregistration is required.

Sign up by Monday November 15th and the class is $50.00 After that the price will increase to $75. sign up below.

More info later today.

CK-FMS

2010-11-04T12:13:00.001-05:00

I recently attended CK-FMS in St. Paul. It was an incredible class with amazing instructors. I think the importance of a class can often be determined by those that attend. The skill and knowledge and accomplishments of the students was absolutely mind boggling. Dan John, Yoana Snideman, Lauren Brooks, Geoff Neupert, Robert Budd, Steve Friedes, Dustin Rippetoe and many many more. This is a group of people that have paid the RKC dues and are Sr. RKC's, Team Leaders and world famous coaches. I was honored to be there and work with such a high caliber of Coach.

Brett Jones and Gray Cook were absolutely two of the best instructors that I have had the opportunity to learn from. The depth of knowledge of each individual is incredible. Together they are an encyclopedia of movement and how to make it better. They were able to teach the information in such a way that even the slow kids, me< were able to follow and use the information that they freely gave. They went above and beyond what was listed as points in the paperwork and taught much more then the advertisement stated.

CK-FMS is a workshop that you must attend if you are an RKC. I feel that I did my clients wrong by not having this tool in my belt. It is a life changing skill set. In five minutes of correctives, I was able to start on the right path to shoulder mobility. My shoulder mobility was horrendous prior to attending the workshop. i was not sure how bad it was. That is the beauty of the FMS Screen it allows you to put a rate and ranking on the individual patterns. I was a "1" on shoulder mobility on the first day. On day 2, we started on level 1 corrections that are simple. I regained four inches of shoulder mobility in five minutes and moved to a 2 on the scale. My shoulder mobility was so awful that at an RKC Recert, I was in danger of not passing due to the military press. I was unable to fully extend and lock out at the top. Geoff Neupert was my tester at that RKC. When I was performing my military press at this workshop, Geoff came over and watched m as. I nailed the press. Geoff told me that he was impressed by how clean and precise my military press was and how hard I have worked at correcting it. A day earlier and it would have sucked! If five minutes can make a difference for me, think what it could do for others.

I am currently running all of my clients through screens. I have time slots available if anyone else wants a screen. just contact me through the blog or http://www.brittstrainingsystems.com/ It can make a difference in your training that you would not believe.

BTS

2010-11-02T21:40:00.002-05:00

One day till CK-FMS!

2010-10-21T09:05:00.000-05:00

It has been a whirlwind 2 months. We have been running like crazy since August, starting with Amazing Athletes new school year prep and ending up with our gym. It has been exciting and scary at the same time. If it was not for the support of my wife and family, I would have been lost.

Since August, I have been in a car wreck that banged my shoulder and neck up, attended the Summit of Strength, expanded Amazing Athletes, opened our facility, and have dealt with all of the assorted "have to do's" for everything. The car wreck messed up my training for two weeks and at SOS, I pushed harder than I should have. My shoulder locked up pretty tightly. That coupled with everything else going on might have made a slight impact on my training for RCK Snatch Test recert... I will pass it, if only because I refuse to fail!

I have had 3-4 good training weeks where I have focused on the snatch test. I was hitting 80-90 snatches consistently at the start of the cycle. Tore my hand up, but continued to hover close to where I was supposed to be for the time. My hand got bad enough that I went to high pulls as the main training tool. I got to where I was hitting 140 High pulls in 5 minutes. My shoulder locked up this week due to stress and I was forced to modify to swings.I decided to work hip snap with swings. Lots of Beast swings on a 20, 15, 10, 5 rep scheme as well as extra sets of 10 where the order of the day.

I feel that I am ready, because failure sucks!

Will try to update while I am at CK-FMS, but no promises, especially since I can't keep up now.

Class schedule for the next week: Class at 5:30 on Friday and 6 on Monday. No class on Saturday or Tuesday.

This goes for adults also.

2010-10-14T10:47:00.003-05:00

As money tightens in schools across the country, movement based activities begin to fall by the wayside, as ‘learning time’ takes precedence over ‘play time’. Yet study after study shows that children still need to physically experience concepts in order to fully understand them, this includes concepts of learning, specifically in literacy and language arts.

Movement continues to be the young child’s preferred mode of learning, in fact, children learn BEST through active involvement. For example, prepositions like over, under, around, through… have little meaning until children can experience them in a physical way. The same notion is also true for adverbs. As children learn to move quickly, slowly, or lightly they better grasp the meaning of the word.

At Amazing Athletes we believe that movement is the key to a full learning experience. It is our goal to enhance your child’s education by using movement to help them build strong bodies and strong minds.

*Excerpts from Rae Pica, Linking Literacy & Movement

21 Day Gult Free Thanksgiving Challenge

2010-10-11T15:31:00.002-05:00

We want to announce our first 21 Day Challenge! We decided that since Thanksgiving is a time of feasting, weight gain, and shopping it was the right time to put a challenge/solution together. We are going to run special "prehab" classes to get you ready for the week! This will be easier then having to worry about it after Thanksgiving! The 21 Day Challenge will be 3 weeks of classes along with an eating plan to help you beat the holiday weight gain. You will be able to eat without guilt during the Holidays, because you have lost weight and built lean muscle before hand!

The 21 Day Challenge is for new clients only and it is limited to 20 participants. The Challenge is only $79.00 for the 3 week program with the Intro class! Join our program for the cost of a workshop! We will start with a new member introduction on October 30th at 10am. At the introduction class, you will be screened, evaluated and taught the basics exercises. The Challenge classes will start the next Monday(11/01/10) at 5pm. Classes will be held Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 5pm. Classes will be 30 minutes in length. That 30 minute class will be fun, but it will be work time! We ask that you pre-register as space is limited to just 20 people!

The best thing is this is risk free. If you followed the plan and are not satisfied, we will refund your$79.00!

Loving Life and training Opportunities

2010-10-10T10:19:00.000-05:00

All I can say is that I am so stoked about having a training facility to call my own! It is freeing in many ways. I can teach what I want, how I want and when I want. I am also free to do my own training how and when I want. We do not have enough people yet, but we have been open 2 weeks and have doubled our group. I know that it will take off.

I am currently working on several workshops and challenges for the rest of the year. These will be intro offers for new clients, coupled with workshops. The first is set for October 30th! We are going to run a Guilt Free Thanksgiving Challenge! It will last the three weeks, with a few extra days, leading into the Feasts of Thanksgiving. If you contact me in the next week and sign up, there will be some bonuses!

I am also setting up a December 4th Martial Arts/Kettlebell workshop. It will be limited and should be awesome. I will have that lined up by Thursday! Hoping to have a wide mix of martial artists there for instruction as well as learning! It will be usable by all skill levels.

Oops

2010-10-08T19:40:00.001-05:00

I was playing with http://www.brittstrainingsystems.com/ the other day and added a workshop to the calendar. It was just me learning the ropes. However, I forgot to remove the event! If you are interested in training, i will be teaching a free class for new people in the morning. Stop by our place for some great training and lots of fun!

Our sign is pretty Sweet!

Dang, Those are nice shirts!

Up and Running!

2010-09-29T15:46:00.001-05:00

we have been really busy over the last three weeks. we had an opportunity to open up our own training facility. It was an out of the blue opportunity that we jumped on. It took three weeks from concept to open for business.

The basics, 1250 square feet of space. 600 feet of flooring, kettlebells, ropes and pullup bars(that needed to be mounted) as well as a tire and a few other toys. We have run two classes out of it now and it feels like home. The comment yesterday was, "This is our place!" I love Eclipse Fitness - Rockwall. We just could not get as dynamic as I would have liked there. If you want a regular gym in Rockwall, that is the only place we would recommend. The people are great and the facility is the nicest in town.

Our place however is awesome!!!! We have already launched kettlebells across the gym with no damage to the floor or bell! The ropes fit well as do our other toys. We will be adding more stuff, but we have enough tools for now to make major changes in the movement and health of anyone that trains with us. We are located at 207 County Line Rd, Rockwall!

We know have a website, http://www.brittstrainingsystems.com/ , that is linked to this blog. Visit us for some fun, effective training!

Where have I been? Busy!

2010-09-25T15:36:00.000-05:00

We have opened Britt's training systems in Rockwall! Will have the newest pictures up later today!

Coming Soon

2010-09-12T20:01:00.001-05:00

God Bless America

2010-09-11T21:53:00.000-05:00

Still in awe from SOS

2010-08-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

I have been running like a lunatic since getting back from the Summit of Strength. It was by far the best training workshop outside of the RKC. Dustin and Kenzie did an amazing job on organization, housekeeping and the like. They showed how to hold a seminar.

I would have gladly paid the same amount of money to attend just one of the MRKC's workshop, let alone 4 of them!

It was laid out in a perfect progression. Everything built upon the last. Jeff O'Conner's portion on Lifelong Strong hit a cord with me. I was reminded that everything we do now will have a consequence down the road. I want my training now to enable me to be functioning well at 70. Is the training you are doing headed towards that same goal?I am not getting any younger and I am reaping the bad training seeds from my youth. I have lots of little restrictions and limits from crappy programs and poor choices as a kid. I have made great progress, but was once again shown that there is a long way to go still.

Jeff O'Conner's children's warm ups were humbling and much needed. I loved the easy progressions that actually made a massive difference in my movements in one sitting. They where so important that they are now part of my own warm up as well as that of the classes I am teaching. I do not want to give away too much as the seminar will be available on DVD pretty soon! We spent well over an hour on what the young ones do in 5 minutes! Sucks getting old and forgetting how to move.

The moves that MRKC O'Conner teaches the children are easy for them, but hard for those of us that have forgot how to play. Thankfully, I get to play like a kid a lot. It was fun to watch adults skipping and hopping. We were reminded that we were supposed to have fun in our training. We forget that as we age, but it makes a difference. the more fun, the better the class! I want to bring that back to my adult class as the kids class is already there.

I have not even had a chance to sit down and even begin to write about part 2, Irontamer's great info. that will be tomorrow!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-22T21:49:00.000-05:00

I just got back in the house from the Summit of Strength. I want to digest the info, thoughts and feelings. I will have something up pretty quickly about one of the best workshops that I have ever attended.

Leading from the front

2010-08-14T11:04:00.000-05:00

I went to the RKC to increase my knowledge about kettlebells. I worked on techniques out in the backyard on my own and loved it. I was outside as I had put holes in the carpet. Since then I have taught people on almost an ad hoc basis. I have since developed a good core group of people that love the tool as much as I do. I found out this morning that I might have the majority of the group certified as HKC's by the end of the next month. All I can say is, "How cool is that?"

It is an awesome training tool that literally transforms lives. It allows people to return their movement from the grave of the shiny gym. To help spread the word is an honor and a duty. I am glad that I am able to share the fun with an awesome community.

Dang

2010-08-12T07:34:00.000-05:00

I did not even get to day 2 before missing a post! Yesterday was a long day with classes starting at 9am and ending at 9pm, I was tired and hungry when I was through and fell asleep.

We have just over a week until the Summit of Strength! I am pretty excited as there are going to be lots of the top RKC Instructors in the world in attendance, not just the four main MRKC's. It will be great to connect and reconnect with everyone. It is a great community and always found to be around everyone.

It has been a rough week to get in training. The last few weeks are the busy times for Amazing Athletes. We are always on the go and we have Open Houses almost nightly. We actually have 4 on the 20th. the day that we are supposed to be in Ok for the Summit!

I am working ETK with 32kg in an attempt to be ready. I have been hitting the 12 Minute goal, now it is time to start decreasing rest time. I have also been hitting about 15 minutes in the Get Up. I can feel those a few days later!

I tweaked my knee in a combatives training session and I am being careful with it. I have not decided if it is actually knee or IT band.

Challenge

2010-08-11T11:54:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy the last few weeks with Amazing Athletes that I have not been posting anything on the blog. Bad me. Jordan Vezina RKCTL challenged himself to post 30 entries in 30 days. I can take up that challenge also. It helps to be challenged to reach goals and places. I also equate difficulties to being challenged or threatened, so it fits in with my philosophy anyway.

Right now I am challenged to spread Amazing Athletes to as many schools as possible. I have hired a couple of coaches to help out with the growth. I had one school set to go and they canceled on me last night. I was initially aggravated, actually pissed, as that was the way that my day was going already. today is a new opportunity however. I have a lot more schools to visit and add! Be threatened by one person not seeing the light, or challenged to prove to them and yourself that this is the best program around? Pretty sure my answer is obvious.

I have a couple other challengeses looming. I would love to have my own facility to train people in. I am in an awesome place right now, but would love to have the times that I to train people available. I had someone try and kick me out last night, because they decided that there was a yoga class. It did not happen, but still. I have the CK-FMS class coming up in October. It will be a nice mental challenge as it is a hard program. that couple with having to test my RKC skill sets, including snatch test, is a semi challenge. (Snatch test!)

So as part of a challenge this was one post of thirty.

Back from California

2010-08-03T20:59:00.000-05:00

I have been on the road for about a week, so I have not done a lot. I went to San Diego for the Amazing Athletes Conference. It was a lot of fun. I no know what gets people to move out there. Great weather, great people and all types of activities to partake in. I had hoped to get by a couple of the RKC Studios out there, but never had the time. That is the way it is when the kids are running the trips!

I deviated from Primal/Paleo over the trip. The one day that I really slipped was awful. I felt sick and run down pretty much as soon as I ate some crap. I got back on the path pretty quickly and hopefully can stay the course. It seemed like the majority of the restaurants were organic at least. I loved Broken Yolk next to the hotel. They had great omelets.

We hit it hard at the first training session tonight. We started the new cycle with 1/1 work to rest sets. 1 minute on/ 1 minute off. Those times will change as we progress through the next couple of weeks. No easing into it, full speed ahead!

Look for updates more often now that I am back and on track.

Long Break

2010-07-23T20:14:00.000-05:00

I did not realize that I was lax in posting anything on the blog, until some of my victims let me hear it. It has been a really busy few weeks as we have had holidays, illnesses and lots of training. I also focus a lot on Amazing Athletes during the day and this is my side business still.

Our classes are growing at Eclipse Rockwall and there is a great core group. We have been working off of Geoff Neupert's Kettlebell Burn the last few weeks. It is a great program. The group has given it a thumbs up! One bought new pants and lost inches before she wore them a week later. It is a great program that actually works.

I have been following a more RTK path still. I do not quite have the T-Spine mobility for Clean and Jerks yet so I have been working on snatches, with C&J practice. I decided to try the RKC Snatch Test the other day and made it, but want to not feel that I was hit by a truck the next time.

Jaqui has been working the VWC and hit 80 sets the other night. She is a machine and will be headed to the HKC in September! Here are some Jaqui clips. She is the epitome of Hardstyle and needs to be an RKC.

Thankful for great Founding Fathers

2010-07-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

Just in case the weekend is busy... Take a second and review what transpired on July 4th, 1776. A large group of great men signed their name to a document like no other the world has ever see, before or after. We are the product of one of the greatest risks that the world has ever seen. Everyone signing the Declaration assumed that their life was on the line. Thank you to brillant, brave men that put it all on the line for us to celebrate by grilling and being with family.

Also, ask yourself if we are being served by the same caliber of people now. Liberal, Conservative or other, do the people you follow hold a candle to those that created our way of life? I see very few that measure up and hope that we as a nation can find our path again.

There should never be an apology for doing the right thing. I served my Country and love it deeply. It needs to have some better leadership on all sides.

Primal/Paleo

2010-06-28T22:51:00.000-05:00

I have really started getting into the primal way of life. The Primal Blueprint is really a life changing book. It puts the reasons for avoiding carbs in a way that anyone can understand. 10 Rules to follow to make changes that last a lifetime. One of those rules is "Don't Be Stupid." That right there is uncommon Common Sense. A rule that covers all bases, do not blindly follow, research and do not just follow the crowd are covered in that statment. It also covers the statement "Hey, watch this..."

The more I read, the more I feel that this is the right path for me. It is the right path for my daughter for sure as she is allergic to all grains and corn. Those are edible substances that are not necessarily good for you. There are so many more allergies to food theses days, you have to wonder what occurred to make them so prevalent. I believe it is the increase in crap that is in our food. We have become the Carb Nation. If you take a look at just about everything we eat there is some over processed grain or corn product in it. According to the Primal Blueprint, we have not adapted to grains and the processing that we are exposed to in this time period. The last few thousand years are a blink in evolution/adaption. It is even a shorter span of time since we started chemical processing of food items. High Fructose Corn Syrup has really only been used extensively since the 70's. It is amazing at how exponentially rampant Diabetes has become since then. In Police work that is called a "clue."

I believe in Primal/Paleo as an eating lifestyle. I have been on it for a while and find that it works for me. I urge all my clients, family and friends to at least investigate it as a way to be healthier. I am not an affiliate or get anything from any paleo business. I just think that it is the way to be. I have actually dropped 10lbs on a high fat diet. I am currently around 170 with my waist back down to 30inches. I have also increased my strength in the same period. this is all as I head towards my middle 40's. If it helps me, what can it do for our younger generation. Think of what would happen to their health if they went on a better nutrition path today. The problem is that you have to lose the view that you are invincible. You have to realize that you are mortal and need to do a better job of fighting the ageing process. I feel that while you cannot beat it, you can sure keep it at bay for a long time.

There are some people working on a "Paleo Approved" label. It is a neat idea, but if they can convince more people, it might not be needed. The site has some really good research links about the benefits of Primal/Paleo.

What happened?

2010-06-24T12:19:00.000-05:00

I made a committment to post something every day, not sure what happened, other then Father's Day Weekend. I had my baby with me that weekend!

I have had a lot to digest after attending the HKC and an RKC prep class a couple of weekends ago. Once again, the evolution of the RKC continues. There are so many tools to teach and correct with, it is truly a great system. No matter what your tastes or your ills, there is something for you.

If you want one of the greatest training opportunities around then the Summit of Strength is the place to be! Other then attending an RKC, probably not even there, this is the best chance to work with such a large group of Master RKC's. There are still a few slots left, but they are going fast.

We have had some really good classes at Eclipse Fitness Rockwall over the last few weeks! We had a good size group out training last Saturday. It was a hard week, before a little back off and practice. There were some people pretty tired afterwards. This week is being spent on corrections as well as new skill development. That will give us tools for the next 4 week progression as we work towards military press and santching!

10 Tips to get in the best shape of your life

2010-06-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

1. Buy A Kettlebell
2. Find an HKC/RKC to train under
3. Learn The RKC 6
4. Practice the RKC 6
5. Practice the RKC 6 (yes it is there twice)
6. Attend an HKC
7. Teach
8. Attend RKC
9. Teach
10. Keep Learning

If you follow this path, you will be in the best shape of your life! It is not easy, but it is simple.

HKC

2010-06-12T18:26:00.000-05:00

I just left from Summit Kettlebells and being an assistant at the Ft. Worth HKC class. It was a great day of helping people learn how to use the kettlebell. I never cease to be amazed about the camaraderie that is part of the RKC Community. Dustin Rippetoe and Jon Engum freely gave me pointers on fixing my issues and how to be a better instructor. They are both incredible teachers. Dustin also fits in with our Zombie fighting group.

18 potential candidates attended the HKC. There were 18 new HKCs!One of them was my student, Samuel Stuard. I have been working with Samuel for a while, both in small group and our regular classes. he actually signed up for the HKC about two weeks ago, but had been thinking about it for a while. I have been working his tail off with swings, get ups and squats. He told me this last week he was tired of those exercises... I think that he realized today why we worked so much on those three exercises. He passed the HKC without difficulty. I am pretty proud of him. He worked hard and looked great.

I take every opportunity that I can to continue refining my own skills. I took as many notes or more than the attendees. I have let two years elapse since attending the RKC and the skills are perishable. I know what I am doing, but want perfection in them. After being with Dustin, John and the Spains, how much more I have to learn. Just being an RKC does not mean that you know everything. It is the starting point for a life time of study. since I am shooting for 120, I have a lot of time to fill with knowledge. I will be attending an RKC Skills prep class that Jon Engum is hosting tomorrow at Summit Kettlebells in Ft. Worth. It starts at 12pm. It is a great opportunity to work on RKC skills with a Sr RKC. Call Summit Kettlebells in Ft. Worth or contact Jon ASAP.

There are still a couple of spots left for the Summit of Strength! This is an incredible opportunity to train with 4 Master RKC's. If you miss this, you will kick yourself in the butt for years to come!

Crap in the name of entertainment

2010-06-09T17:19:00.000-05:00

I walked into the training facility and found a sign on the door. The sign advised that there was TV show in the spirit of the Biggest Loser being filmed inside. This show was looking for trainers earlier in the year and it was actually posted on the RKC Only Forum.I actually sent in my info just to see what would happen. I never heard back, guess that was a sign...

I am glad that I did not hear back from them after all. It is scary what those shows actually do to make the weight melt off in the alloted time frame. When I arrived the young lady was locked in the bathroom refusing to come out. Why? Maybe because a trainer put a severely de-conditioned young female through an hour long legs program. I do not put my own but through an hour straight of lifting kettlebells or other weights, let alone a brand new out of shape client. I was appalled at what was happening with the poor kid. they finally talked her out of the locker room to resume training. The last I saw she was on the treadmill looking worn out.

It is because of shows like this and trainers that care more for stardom, that trainers as a whole get bad raps. This show is for people who want to lose a lot of wait before getting out of High School. I actually left information for the person that if she did quit, I would train her for free. There is plenty of time to drop lots of weight between now and next June, without being on a time frame to entertain the masses.

Freemiums and Observations

2010-06-05T15:46:00.000-05:00

The latest marketing approach, is to offer free stuff to get people in the door. There is a fine line in offering such things as I found out today. I offered a free workshop that covered the ffundamentals. I listed it all over the internet, the gym, Facebook and around town. I had people sign up at Eclipse, through the internet and by phone. The funny thing is that the turnout was not as large as the sign up list... I have always been told that people do not value what they do not pay for. I realized that today!
I greatly appreciate those that showed up. We got a lot of training done in the time period. We had a great time and everyone had the techniques down really well. I will continue to have free trial classes and I will teach free workshops to groups when asked.

After being back in a commercial gym for a month, I forget how isolated I was in the garage. I was all alone and did not have to watch anyone else around me, other than the kids and animals. That is not a bad thing... I forgot how the majority of people train. They train without thought or plan from what I can tell. I have watched people actually doing some type of curl on a smith machine. I do not know what the goal was, other then injury or wasted time. I have also seen people standing on a Bosu performing curls. I wanted to ask what the purpose in that particular movement was, but thought better of it. I figured that it would be a conversation that would go nowhere on both sides. I also see the same people doing the same exercises every time I am in the gym, no matter what day. There are a lot of large chests and biceps, but the antagonistic muscles are lagging far behind.

In the class today, I was able to stress that the skills and techniques that we were working on would transfer to regular gym work. The knowledge of proper breathing, correct use of tension and ears as shoulder poison can go a long way to fixing the assorted issues that most people have in the gym. I think that a firm grasp of the RKC can help even those that do not want to use my tool of choice. Just by being open to proper movement will put you near the top of the heap in real world strength and fitness. Some people where exposed to a more holistic approach today.

My partners over at Prograde Nutrition have created this 197 Healthy and Delicious Fat Burning Recipes ebook. It's only $4.95 and I highly recommend it to make healthy weight loss much easier on you.

Next week we will start posting short training clips. I also want to shout, "Great Job, Jaqui!" 35lbs lost since January. "Great Job, Sylvia!" lost 25lbs since January

Why I promote Prograde Nutrition Products

2010-06-03T15:11:00.000-05:00

As you probably already know, the supplement industry is filled with phonies.

They use shady manufacturing processes. They use cheap ingredients. Heck, sometimes they don't even use the ingredients they claim on the label!

And for awhile now I've been talking about Prograde Nutrition. They are the real deal.

In fact, they've created a behind-the-scenes video that SHOWS you how they make their products. What other company does that?

Seriously, this is REALLY cool. You even get to see how they do micro-biological testing on the ingredients before they are even used. And if they don't pass their tests then they do NOT make it into the bottle.

See for yourself here: Prograde Nutrition Video

I don't know of any supplement company - other than Prograde Nutrition - that would have the guts to do this. And I'm sure their competitors aren't too happy about it!

I am a Prograde Nutrition partner

Just plain cool!

2010-06-02T16:07:00.002-05:00

Do you like free stuff?

2010-06-02T09:18:00.001-05:00

Free Fundamentals Workshop on Saturday, June 5 at 9:00am.

We will be at Eclipse Fitness, 201 E IH 30 in Rockwall. The class will go over Swings, Get Ups and Squats.

Last day to let me know you will be there is Thursday June 3rd! Space is Limited!
If anybody out there is thinking about the RKC or HKC certification, register through my affiliate link and I will give you a FREE workshop where:

* Your fundamentals will be dialed in.

* Design a plan to insure you pass.

For HKC, this means a 2 hour workshop and 3 hours for RKC.

The only catch is that you have to come to the Dallas area for the workshops!

More Changes in the Air

2010-06-01T21:17:00.001-05:00

I have not trained in a week and half due to injury. Arrrgggghhh. I did not hurt myself training, but doing some work around the house. A strain in my trap threw off my entire week. My weakness is that I get aggravated and quit doing anything. Once again, I decided that I needed to take a complete break from training to let it heal. I have been teaching so many kids classes that I figured that I would get some training benefits. It worked, but it is time to start up again. I have not totally healed, so RTK is out for at least a week longer. I am going to work partial Get Ups, RKC Armbar, Active Straight Leg Raise corrections, before hitting swings, squats and dead lifts this week. I do not want to lose the progress I was making before this setback, and want to make sure that I practice what I preach. A return of strength, movement and stability where and when it is needed.

I have been able to go over a lot of training material in the last two weeks. It has helped reset where I am headed with the kettlebell program. I am going to branch out a little bit, but will be staying at Eclipse Fitness for a while. It is a great facility and well worth training at.

I have always been an affiliate with Dragon Door, meaning there is a financial partnership there. If you need anything from DD, please feel free to order it from my blog! If you want a great training reference click on the book cover near the top of my page. I was an assistant at the RKC under Geoff Neupert and can tell you he is squared away. Best of all, order it by June 11th and it is $5.00 off!

I have also recently partnered with Prograde and will have a link to their supplements on the blog. If you want great products, please order them through this site.

We are in the process of setting up a new website, but until then, this is the place to see what we are up to.

Free Fundamentals Workshop on Saturday, June 5 at 9:00am. We will be at Eclipse Fitness, 201 E IH 30 in Rockwall. The class will go over Swings, Get Ups and Squats. Last day to let me know you will be there is Thursday June 3rd! Space is Limited!

Resurrected Strength

2010-05-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

If you have been to this blog before, you might notice a change in title. I have been Go Home Alive for a long time, but that originated with my martial arts/ Police training classes. It is not gone, but it does not reflect where my journey has lead me as a primary focus. I have felt that it was well past time for a change as a way to crystallize where I am headed.

I am moving towards some of business goals that I had jotted down a long time ago. They were written, but cobwebs covered the words and they were lost to time. I have always loved strength, fitness and healthy living. I am at a point in my life where I have the ability to include those goals in with my other business.

I have started "Resurrected Strength" as the fitness and health arm of Britt's Training Systems Inc. The name encompasses many aspects of my life. I have found that Pavel and HardStyle kettlebell training returns peoples strength, mobility and lifestyles from the grave. It literally allows people to regain that which they thought was lost. You can become stronger and healthier by following the appropriate plan and with the right tools.I believe that kettlebells, bodyweight training and philosophy as taught by the Chief Instructor are the right plan and right tools. I am attending CK-FMS in October and after that, we will be bringing back strength from the grave! FMS is such an incredible tool and made more so when coupled with the right tools.

Resurrected Strength also follows my spiritual and religious journey. I am very much a religious person. I believe that God exists. I believe that we are not happenstance and that we were created for a purpose. I have seen so many things in my life, both terrible and miraculous that there is no way that I could not believe. That belief sets my moral code and compass. Without my belief, what would be the point? Live, Die, turn to dirt? Life has purpose because of faith and belief.

Resurrected Strength also encompasses the core group that I have found myself part of because of kettlebells. I have always trained so that I could defeat the Zombies. Zombie movies are the only scary movies that I will watch I figured that I could always take the zombies out should the need ever arise. We have quite a few zombie movie aficionados in our group, including a good make up artist that does awesome zombie faces! So Resurrected Strength is training to destroy the undead! "Kettlebells - The anti-zombie workout." (yes, I already have the copyright)

In a nutshell, that is pretty much where we are right now. Eclipse Fitness-Rockwall is our home location. We are holding a free Kettlebell Fundamentals workshop on June 5th at 9:00am. It is a required class to join the next four week cycle of our group sessions.

Changes

2010-05-23T22:12:00.000-05:00

We have had a great turnout at Eclipse for our kettlebell training. In an effort to make sure that we get the most out of our training, I have to institute a required fundamentals class. The good news is that it is a free class. The bad news is that you have to have the class to attend training, or meet with me for a seperate class session that will cost $50 per person.

The free class is June 5th at 9:00am at Eclipse Fitness Rockwall. The class will be 90 minutes long and will teach swings, squats and begin teaching Get Ups.

I will also be making some changes to the business itself. I taught for fun out of the garage for years, but have some good ideas of where I want to be pretty quickly. We will have a new website and address to coincide with those changes. Look for updates.

I have two students attending the June 12th HKC in Ft. Worth!!! I am pretty excited for them. If you are interested in attending, it is not to late! Click on the link! HKC

Week 2 at Eclipse

2010-05-14T13:24:00.002-05:00

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.

Kettlebells at the Harbor in Rockwall

2010-05-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

We have made it through the first week of kettlebell class at Eclipse-Rockwall! It is really a great facility. The training view cannot be beat! It is starting out a little slower then I had hoped for, but I know we will grow as people start seeing the results. Classes are Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30pm and Saturday morning at 8am.

We had a really great workout on Saturday. We were able to train outside under the cottonwood trees. We warmed up and started out with Get Ups 1, to the elbow. Then it was on to the fun. We had almost a football field of space to work with. I set up the two rows of kettlebells about 40 meters apart and a third position 60 meters beyond. The drill was easy…10 swings, move to second bell 5 squats, move to third point as recovery and return to squat line for 5 and back to swing line for 10! The majority of the class had 5 sets of this fun! It was a workout that could be completed by the advanced as well as the newbies. I actually had the newbies do less reps and sets.

I have continued to work on Return of The Kettlebell. I finally feel that I am learning the jerk. I really felt the work being done in the shoulders on the first week. This week, I seem to be getting under the bell for the second dip like I am supposed to do. There are still a lot of things to work at in the skill set. My heels are coming up and I still need to get the timing down. It will come. I just need to spend a lot more time under the kettlebell.

This will be a recovery week for me. I might work on the Get Up and some swings. I have not really decided what KB exercises to play with yet. I am getting a lot of active recovery with Amazing Athletes and working with kids.

I have also been reading Primal Blueprint by Mark Sission. It is a good read and makes a lot of sense, both in the eating and training aspects.. The premise is to eat and train like our bodies were designed to do. He makes a great case that in evolution, 10,000 years is a mere blink. Agriculture has changed the way we eat in the last 2000 years and our bodies have yet to adapt to the that change. As a parent of a child that is allergic to all grains, we were already on that path anyway. I will try eating closer to the book plan for a few months and see how it goes. I will not even start on how technology has tended to make our bodies weaker. I always picture the adults in Wall-E being close to real life.

I can already tell some improvements have occurred. I do not have the after meal drowsiness that I have experienced in the past. I also sleep better at night since the insulin surge from carbs at dinner does not occur. I have cut back to 100-150 grams of carbs a day. It takes a lot of vegetables and fruit to get there.

Great Weekend

2010-05-03T16:30:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was the infamous, at least locally, Warrior Dash. I initially signed up for the Warrior Dash within the first 5 minutes of learning about it. I was on Dragon Door one day when it came up as a topic on the forums. I love Ninja Warrior on G-4 and knew that it was for me. I was so excited that I even talked Amazing Athletes Corporate into signing up for the SoCal event.

There was only one thing that I forgot and that was the fact that I hate running. I positively do not like to run as a training tool. I do not ever derive any pleasure from it at all. I used to really like it, but woke up one day in the Army and realized that it sucked to have to run!

I was actually happy to be injured and not be able to run. I then decided that since I could not/would not train by running that I would just skip the the entire event. I continued to train with kettlebells. Since signing up I went through ETK Program Minimum, performing swings up to 15 minutes and Get Up progressions for up to 25 minutes. I then started on Return of the Kettlebell and I am on my third week of that program now. I finished the first week of the ballistic block on Saturday.

I woke up Sunday morning and decided that I was going to go through with the Warrior Dash. I am so glad that I did it. I had a lot of fun. I was only able to be there to complete the Dash and not do anything else. I wish that I could have stayed as they had some cool activities to such as: Stone Heaving, Ax Throwing, Turkey Legs, Beer and Bands.

I ended up starting in the middle of the pack of a wave of 500 people. I was worried that I would be sucking some wind pretty fast. I was wrong! I kept up a good pace through the whole course. It was messy! I do not think that I have played in that much mud since being 8. The mud was like ice in some areas. People were unable to stand as they tried to get through it. People even lost shoes in the mud bogs.

The only area that I had any issue with was the lake and the log crossing. It was at the half way point of the Dash. The water was fairly deep and we had to get over or under logs that would roll. I made it over all but the last one as the water was over my head. Then I had to swim the rest of the way across the pond. I was tired and I do not float. That was not a good combo. I was more tired after that section then any other. There was some nice slick mud to walk through right after the lake that allowed me to get by wind back. After that it was pretty much smooth sailing till the finish line!

I do not know my time yet, as they have not posted them. I think I made the course in 35-40min. I was pretty happy with that time, especially since I do not run. I woke up today felling great with very little soreness.

This leads me to believe that kettlebells are incredible tools. I know that in the old days of working out less then smartly, there would have been no way that I could have completed a 3.5 mile run without running before hand. Enter the Kettlebell works! RKC is the way to go.

May 4th will be our first class at Eclipse! Join us for a great time and great program.

Training News

2010-04-27T16:31:00.000-05:00

I am starting a kettlebell training program at Eclipse Fitness - Rockwall on Tuesday, May 4th. If you want to learn the proper way to train with kettlebells this is the program for you. Class size is limited to insure that you receive the most benefit possible.

The schedule:

Tuesday 6:30pm
Thursday 6:30pm
Saturday 8am

If you are interested please email me at brittstrainingsystems@gmail.com.

Classes will be fun, challenging and worth your time. We guarantee you will be satisfied with the results.

RTK

2010-04-23T21:01:00.001-05:00

I am finishing up my second week of Return of the Kettlebell with pretty good progress. I actually have my heavy day left this week. I am on 5 Ladders a lot faster than I thought I would be. It is a great program, even if I was not quite as ready for it as I should have been.

I can tell a big difference in my pressing and snatch techniques as I progress. I have been working a lot of RKC Arm bars as well as Z-Health techniques such as the A/P Thoracic Glide. I really seemed to have gained a lot more mobility in my shoulders as the weeks have passed. It really comes down to doing the prehab work. I am pretty disciplined about working the area prior to the full training session. I have been having some pain in my shoulder, but not during presses or snatches. The pain is present only on rotational movements such as Get Ups and does not rotate. I am able to work around it as there is no pain with my chosen program. I will not train through injury or pain anymore. If I learn nothing else from all of the much smarter RKC’s it is to not train through injury and screw myself up for longer.

I will be starting the Ballistic Block next Tuesday. I am excited and expect it will take me a couple of weeks to really get the form down. I will have to tape it to see where to fix it. That means I will be posting more screw ups!

I will be starting kettlebell group classes and individual training next month at Eclipse Fitness in Rockwall. I will post more as it becomes set. I am pretty psyched about it. Spreding love to more victims!

I cannot stress enough about the great opportunity of a DFW Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification. If you are wanting to be the best, this is the place to start. I will be an Assistant at the HKC and also have a student going through it. Go Jaqui!

Professor Joe R. Lansdale

2010-04-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

Did not realize that it had been so long since I lost posted anything. It has been a busy couple of weeks with business and training. I have been working a modified RTK style program to make sure I had the form and techniques down. I have my second week of the grind block to work on this week.

This is video of my Instructor Joe R Lansdale. It is great to finally have some good clips of him to post. The beating dummy is my friend Adam Coats. He will be up in June to train with us. I am thinking of making it a seminar.

Lesson Learned

2010-04-11T22:27:00.000-05:00

I noticed that I was getting lazy on form on a few techniques again. The principle of SAID, Specific Adaption to Imposed Demand raised its ugly head and bit me on the buttocks! I was getting really good at those performing those crappy reps. Which makes sense as the principle states that we will get “better” at whatever we do, for good or bad. I ended up tweaking my shoulder a little bit on a less than ideal snatch with a heavy kettlebell. It really seems to require 100 good reps to undo the damage of 1 bad rep. That might not be the reality for everyone, but unfortunately it is mine.

I also learned this week that strength is a skill. I know that we talk about it as RKCs. I knew it intellectually, but had to earn the knowledge physically and emotionally. The requirement for the Return of The Kettlebell is completion of the SSST and a press with half bodyweight kettlebell. The 40kg is my benchmark. I have pressed it for multiple reps in the past, it has just been a while… I started RTK and decided pretty early that I was not quite ready for it. I was a little weaker then I should have been as the skill has eroded! I think it has been six months or longer since I pressed the 40kg. In the words of the great Homer, “D’oh!” I will say that the program is awesome; I was just not where I needed to be to do it justice.

Where does that leave me? I am not at square one at least. I am going to modify the program somewhat to reacquire the old skills. I am going to work on them over the next few weeks by working double snatches, presses and squats along with swings. I am going to hopefully work back into the 32s for good form snatches and presses. This week will be 16kgs and 24kgs and I might keep it there for two weeks before moving up. I am not in a super hurry as the Summit of Strength is not until August! (Hate to embarrass myself!)

I will be an assistant at the June 12th HKC in Ft. Worth. This is a great program if you have a desire to teach or just want to improve your own skills. We have one person from our group going at this time. I am going to convince some more hopefully!

We have a few other things in the works also. I hope to have a set kettlebell base to call home starting in May! We are working on a training DVD for martial arts. It will include self defense and kettlebells together. It is still in the planning stages and will be knocked out in June. We are also going to have a Martial Arts/Kettlebell Workshop in June!

Shen Chuan

2010-04-06T10:19:00.001-05:00

Most everything we do is about patterning. Be it the way we move on an everyday basis or a skill set that we are trying to learn. I always teach my guys that there is no need to blaze through techniques at Mach 1. When you train like that you tend to not make contact. As my friend Tony Blauer always says, "Don't Practice Missing!" The skill sets that we put up here are not spontaneous moves, but a skill and tool to have in the system.

We try to train in a manner so that no matter what is thrown at us, we have seen the attack before. That helps keep us from being vapor locked with a threat we have never seen before. More wisdom from Tony, there are only a few attacks that actually occur in a real fight and they are pretty much haymakers, shoves, tackles and crappy linear kicks.

We will be posting some High Gear and Shockknife videos soon to show a little reality! The first clip is actually the first skill set from our system. I caught Brent on the brachial plexus and had to catch him.

I am always trying to multitask also!

2010-04-04T12:25:00.000-05:00

Learning

2010-03-27T09:55:00.000-05:00

It has once again been a really busy week here. My daughter is involved in 4H and we have been prepping for the Rockwall County Youth Fair. We have 4 rabbits that she is showing. Today, Saturday, is the Auction! She wants to be a Veterinarian and is putting any money made towards her tuition. She is 10, so we have a little while to go still. Thank Goodness.

I am really proud of how she has worked really hard for the last few months. She has paid for everything on her own. Whenever I have tried to purchase something to help out, she has told me “No.” She has made it clear that this is her project and she wants to earn her own way. I cannot fault her for that. She is driven to succeed. It is typical of her desire to do well. She decided to learn magic for a talent show in 1st Grade and she won. She sets high goals and pretty much meets those goals.

What does that have to do with Kettlebells and Martial Arts? I am a teacher, but that does not mean that I know everything. I learn from everybody that I meet. Every class I teach increases my knowledge and abilities, every book I read teaches me something new.

Sometimes the skills and abilities that we need are right under our noses. I have to latch on to the ability to see my goals and drive through to reach them. I have to learn a skill at 42, that my 10 year old knows now. Never stop driving and the world is yours!

Nothing to do with KB or martial arts

2010-03-24T08:44:00.000-05:00

I really like OK Go, do here is their newest video!

This is what I do and love

2010-03-16T18:35:00.000-05:00

This is what I do every day! This is probably the most fun I have ever had working. Sonja should be the Franchisee of the Year! I hope to be as successful as she is!

Step up

2010-03-09T22:18:00.000-06:00

I missed over a week of training due to being ill. That is par for the course when working with kids! There has been a really bad stomach bug in my area that lasts up to a week or more. I ended up sleeping for over 30 hours in a 48 hour period. I was so exhausted that I was unable to get out of bedto even get water. My hip and back locked up from being in the same sleep position for the entire time.

Tonight was my first attempt at training since getting sick. It went pretty well. I decided to do swings tonight. I grabbed the 32kg and did one hand swings for about 9 minutes. My hip flexor twinged a little, so I shut it down for the evening. The newest biggest deal is biofeedback and listening to your body, so I did. I will see what I feel like doing tomorrow night. I am pretty sure it will be get ups. I am looking at hitting a short cycle of Program Minimum to get back on track before attempting the Return of the Kettlebell Program. I hit all of the bench marks with the ETK and want to hit heavy stuff again.

I was training someone in martial arts tonight and was still amazed at how kettlebells and martial arts fit together. KB's are about correct natural movement and the best martial arts do the same. More to come on this topic.

Where we need to focus

2010-03-05T13:28:00.000-06:00

Amid Rising Childhood Obesity, Preschoolers Found To Be Inactive

ScienceDaily (2009-02-15) -- A study of children enrolled at 24 community-based preschool programs finds that preschoolers are inactive for much of their preschool day, with 89 percent of physical activity characterized as sedentary. The study also finds that teachers very rarely encourage children to be more physically active. Based on these findings, there may be more of a need for preschool teachers to organize, model and encourage physical activity. ... > read full article

We all want to be healthy and have healthy kids. This article is proof that we are still not doing everything we can to help our kids. This is my main business focus with Amazing Athletes and it shows me that there are a lot of opportunities for me still untapped.

Not My Class

2010-02-28T09:14:00.000-06:00

This does not represent my training program in any way! Just an example of what people will do. I hurt just watching it.

Movement

2010-02-27T14:02:00.000-06:00

Movement -

a. The act or an instance of moving; a change in place or position.
b. A particular manner of moving.
c. A series of actions and events taking place over a period of time and working to foster a principle or policy
d. An organized effort by supporters of a common goal.
e. A tendency or trend

Movement is the back bone of the RKC and rightly so. As a society, we do not move the way that we did as youth. We are tied to desks, vehicles and entertainment that require us to just sit and become one with the chair. I started this off with some definitions of movement so that we have a beginning point of what we should be doing.

The first two parts of the definition are easy to cover and understand. We all move and currently each of us have a particular way of moving. The question is however, are we moving the correct way? I know that I do not always move as well as I could. If I wasn’t sure before, I am after B.J. Bliffert showed me I needed some work through the CK-FMS program. I have crappy shoulder mobility and active straight leg raise issues. I have a definite lack of mobility in my shoulder as evidence through having to really work to pass my RKC Skills set as an Assistant. It has been an issue for a long time that is no being corrected. I have practiced a lot of RKC Armbars to fixing my shoulders. It has made a change in my ability to move more freely and correctly when doing clean and presses.

The RKC as a whole deals with the third and fourth parts of the definition. The RKC is an organized effort that continuously evolves in support of the common goal of strength and proper movement. That alone is what differentiates an RKC from other “certified” instructors. We have the common goal of spreading/teaching proper movements to increase strength, fitness and durability. We use the kettlebell as the tool to reach this common goal. The HKC, RKC, RKC II and CK-FMS show that this organization is about continual growth and improvement. There is no better certification system out there that allows you to be strong for the long haul.

I keep bringing up the swing and the get up. They are the two movements that create the most benefit for the time spent. I have had one of my trainees working Naked Get Ups for several weeks now. We have only made it to the hip bridge during that time. We have worked the first 5 steps of the get up to the point where he owns those positions. His movements have improved as he has developed the ability to feel his body as it changes positions during the movement. He has also increased the mobility in his hip/pelvis area. He has been a block of stone in the past. We have had to hit him with the sledge hammer to move his hips. He now has about 50% more hip mobility then two weeks ago. It is not magic on my part, it is hard work and the RKC that allows this to occur.

Movement is what we have to do at all the time. We might as well move the best possible way that we can. This will allow us to have fewer injuries and more productive lives. It is the cornerstone for how we live our lives.

My shoulder mobility has improved, but there are still some things to fix. I need to pack my shoulders a little better and make sure the elbow is locked. I also had a little hip pop, but not as much as a bent press. Life is a work in progress.

I support the troops

2010-02-21T13:09:00.002-06:00

http://www.thewarriorsong.com/video.html

Saturday Night Lite

2010-02-20T18:55:00.000-06:00

I am dreading the start of my running on Monday! Thought that I would just throw that out there! The Warrior Dash is only 85 days away. I would not sweat it so much, but if you are going to do something you might as well bust tail and do well.

I am seeing some real progress on fixing my shoulder mobility issues. I used the Flip tonight and actually saw good form with the 32kg. I am pretty excited about that. It seems like the hard work and lots of RKC Armbars has made a big difference!

Damien Walters is pretty cool!

Newest and Bestest

2010-02-16T22:21:00.000-06:00

There is always something new out there to hopefully improve our training.. I recently purchased Gym Movements based on some good recommendations. I received it today. Unfortunately, I am unable to recommend it to anyone at this time. The info and DVD did not live up to the hype. To Frankie’s credit, they are refunding the purchase price and our working on a retooling. I hope that it is a much better product. As it stands now it is not the newest and bestest product out there.

I have been trying to decide how best to train for the Warrior Dash in May. It should be pretty self evident on the training program, except I HATE running. It is my least favorite thing to do. I thought about Viking Warrior Conditioning, but decided that it was not exactly what I needed right now. I have ran the Cooper test in the past with no running, but this is a 3.5 mile course. I could do it, but would be pretty screwed up afterwards. I also wanted to be under a heavier load and increase my strength again. I can Press the 88’s still, but would love to be where I was at 2 years ago with multiple sets and reps with them. So… It is back to Rite of Passage with heavier weights. I also have to work on my snatch technique, but chose to go with swings tonight. I rolled a 7 minute swing fest tonight! I have bought some running shoes, Yuck, and will start some running next week. I hate entering anything if I do not plan on doing well. That means that I have to bite the bullet and start running. I keep telling myself it will not be an extended program.

I am working on some more things for the future. I am most likely going to become a kettlebell distributor for the area east of Dallas in the near future. I am also working on holding more seminars for both Combatives and Kettlebells. I am also setting up some Law Enforcement training. If you are interested in a seminar, please contact me.

Gym Movement

2010-02-10T16:11:00.001-06:00

I am always amazed by what happens on Forums across the internet. I am down to posting on only a few as it takes a lot of time away from important things, kids, family, and training. On Dragon Door recently a big stink was created because a well known trainer chose to “Forsake” kettlebells and Pavel. That is not really what happened, but someone took it and ran with it. Next thing you know, TMZ will be on his doorstep! It was such a blasphemy that there were over 92 responses and 5400 views on the thread. It has to be a record for Dragon Door. People have to realize that training is never stagnant. There is always a way to improve what you are doing. That includes looking at the past for answers. If it offends you that people do not follow a single principle from birth to grave, welcome to America. It is what sets us apart.

If you look at the blogs that I follow, you will see Adam T. Glass’ blog. I have never trained with him, but have followed him as he has become freaking strong! Adam and I have talked in the past and he knows what he is doing. He has lately talked about Gym Movement being an incredible training paradigm. It was created by Frankie Faires over the last several years. I have never met Frankie, even though he lives in the Dallas area. He was an early RKC, Z-Health person that I wanted to meet a few years ago. It did not happen. It is funny how things circle around however.

Adam has pretty much stated that Gym Movement is well worth looking at as a training tool. That is enough for me to at least look at it. When I gave him advice a few years ago, he took it and followed through. I owe him that much. Adam is one of the few people that I look forward to meeting at one of the gatherings in the near future. He is a squared away, top notch trainer. He will tell you like it is and not mince words. We have that in common.

I ordered Gym Movement last night and hope to get it in the next couple of days. I will post my thoughts on it in the near future. If it is everything Adam says it is, I should be hitting the Beast Challenge pretty soon. So close, but so far still.

We have Shen Chuan tonight. I have been asked by Joe R Lansdale to put our stuff on tape. That will be the plan tonight. We want to get the first set or two recorded. It will allow us to post more circus monkey beatings on the blog!

I am also training a few people online and have to tape some stuff for them also. I will occasionally post a nameless update on their progress as we get it into full swing. (Pun intended)

http://www.warriordash.com/info.php I just came across this on Dragon Door. I already registered. It will change my training a little bit...

Z-Health, CK-FMS and Down Time

2010-02-07T11:47:00.000-06:00

Lots of down time this weekend, but it was nice. I ended up taking a 3 hour nap after class on Saturday! The body knows what it needs; we just have to listen to it. I have been watching CK-FMS videos and working with Z-Health.

I ended up taking a couple days off from hard training this week due to being exhausted. That was cemented after the worst snatching I have done in years. I could not get my hip snap right and banged the kettlebell off my wrists and forearms. It has been about 3 years since my snatches have been that ugly. I was actually bruised up from it. I have been teaching upwards of 8 classes a day for the last month. It equates to about 6 hours of exercising a day, before my own training. I continue to walk that fine line between rested and over trained most of the time. I was starting to step over the line this week.

I believe that the Z-Health has really helped me out a lot. I have been working on R-Phase for several weeks with noticeable improvements in posture, movement and durability. I have been unable to sleep on my Right side for as long as I can remember. I have felt bound up in that position and my back would hurt immediately. I was able to sleep on that side last night! That is a big change. I think that R-Phase has helped keep me from being as severely over trained as I have been in the past. It is a good program and I wish I had started it years ago when I saw it on RMAX. I recently picked up the I-Phase Manual and DVD and will start that in about 3 months.
I have decided that I need to run through it at a much slower pace than I have been using. I still need to work on my ankles and T-Spine a little more in-depth. It has worked well, but the slower speed should make a bigger impact.

I cannot wait until the CK-FMS class in October. I am really excited about it. I think that it will be an incredible experience. It will allow me to really help people with their training. I have learned a lot from the videos and I am itching to be hands on. I will have to watch the DVD’s several times by the time of the class.

I have a small chance of attending RKCII still this summer. I am still trying to decide if I should wait till next year. I most likely will wait, but I have about a month to decide. That is time that I could use to build the kettlebell side of my business life. I have had a couple of opportunities come up and I would like to jump on them. Meanwhile we are starting to expand the group class. That will force me to clean out our training area to allow expansion. That is a good thing.

I will be back to the program this week. I plan on restarting at three Ladders with three Rungs this week. I will be adding a Ladder next week and the following week also. That should put me back on the right path. I will be working Z-Health at a much slower pace as well.

No Mind

2010-01-29T13:23:00.000-06:00

I love the time that I spend out in the garage training. For me it is that time where I am able to let go of the cares and the worries of the day. It is me and the iron. As Henry Rollins has written, the iron is always there for me. It is what gives me peace during times of stress. It occurs because I can allow myself to think of nothing but the struggle to beat gravity and the iron. It is the time that there is nothing else but the struggle to overcome imperfection and myself. Basically they are the same thing as I am imperfect and will always be so.

It is the time where you are dialed in and it is the process that allows you to reach that place where there is nothing but you and the bell, everything else fades out, and nothing interferes. I miss the days I am not able to be there.

Last night was really a good night. I have not really pushed it with heavier weights like I should have been doing. My form has been really good with the 24kg and I decided that it was time to head to the heavy stuff again. The 32kg was covered in dust and looking lonely.

It was pretty amazing how easy it was for my training last night. I was worried that I would be struggling with it and not even able to get a single rep. I felt strong and it floated up last night. This was after training kids from 9am -6:30pm. I contemplated skipping training as I was pretty tired. The struggle was worth it. I hit Clean and Presses and Pull-ups before 4 straight minutes of swings. I felt strong and tight while doing the C&Ps. I only put the bell down 3 times during the swings as I rotated between 1 and 2 hand swings.

I have also joined the Z-Health club. I recently was able to pick of an R-Phase manual and DVD. I have been through the drills at the RKC with Zachariah Salazar and Geoff Neupert. I have been working it for a couple of days with some noticeable improvements in my shoulders.

Ugly Swings

2010-01-23T11:43:00.000-06:00

In looking at my training and my skill level lately I have figured out lots of things. I have some issues that need to be corrected to continue to grow and improve. B.J. Bliffert's FMS work with me has opened my eyes to making sure that I am doing things correctly at the highest level I can achieve. My initial foray into Kettlebells begans as a way to fix myself of all of the bad habits developed over the years of "shiny gym." training. I found that Pavel was teaching what I was on the path of for years but could not put my finger on. The kettlebells were the answer to my questions. Pavel's knowledge was the answer to the junk I saw at the gym. I have to remember that as I continue training.

I recorded my latest workout to check my shoulder mobility. I have been working on my shoulders since the RKC in 2008. It seems that it is beginning to finally pay off. I still have lots to do however in that area.

I figured that I have been doing swings forever and almost decided not to record that part of the workout. I am glad that I did record it. I saw how ugly my swings have become. I have never looked at what I saw as a set in stone skill. why shhould I? After all I am an RKC and have been doing this since at least 2004...

How ugly is it? It is pretty bad. I am leaning back way to much, I have way too much pelvic tilt. I am also not activating my lats as I should to. I am glad that I recorded the swings after all. I always try to better my training and improve my skills. I am searching for perfection in each swing.. I am a good coach, it is hard to coach yourself. My core group of trainess are my coaches. I learn as much from them as they from me and look at it as a chance to make all of us better. They were coaching me on my swing this morning between their sets. One of them, Jaqui, needs to become an RKC. She has a lot of knowledge and is able to teach! (Hear that Jaqui!) I was a lot better by the end of the class.

More videos as I progress through this.

In that spirit, I am not scared to put my errors out there for the world to see. I am on the same path as everyone else. I want to be better and help others as well.

listening

2010-01-22T13:49:00.000-06:00

I started the blog initially to keep track of where I was in my training. It is still based on that thought process. Lately there has been a lot going on in my life that has even somewhat affected my training. I have been running my tail off covering schools for my coaches. Just doing that has doubled my activity level on a daily basis. It has its good points in that I am very active lately. It also means that I am pretty tired by my time for training. I have been fighting sinus issues caused by all of the running and exercising that I have done as part of my business.

I have driven my body to the brink for years as that was all I knew how to do. I have since figured out that you need to listen to what it your body is trying to tell you. Jeff Neupert and Adam Glass have discussed biofeedback lately in their blogs and it got me to thinking about my training over the last year. I have really been following that type of process for the last year. I looked back through my blog and have been able to track the times that I have pushed hard and the times were I pulled back. I can also see where I pushed when I should not have, as there are illnesses and injuries at those times.

The first thing I had to figure out was the reason behind pushing 100% every time. Was it habit, ego, stupidity or something else? It turns out that it was usually all three at once. I finally realized that I am older and not competing in anything these days. I do not have to be the strongest person on the block. I just need to be in better shape than 90% of the population. Attending and completing the RKC pretty much guarantees that! The top 10% attends and passes the test.

I am also shooting for durability and longevity. Jack Lalanne is one of my heroes. I want to be as active and healthy as he is at 90+. How do you make it there? Steady, long haul growth without injury. The training has to be well planned and you have to listen to your body.

I stepped back one week on my training this week as I was tired. I did not push through just because I was required to. My training program was written down, but it is not set in stone, unable to change. I am following ETK and the Right of Passage. It is a journey that allows some detours. I was supposed to have 5 ladders this week on three different days. I missed a workout last week, the heavy day of course, and started this week at 4 ladders. I missed last night’s training, but will hit it tonight and the heavy day on Sunday. My body told me to slow down and I listened. I woke up this morning after a good night’s sleep feeling much better. Yesterday had an hour of sleep and knew not to train, even if I did think about doing it anyway. If I had I am sure there would have been a negative consequence...

I am still going to hit 6 1/2 more weeks of this program and then take a week or so off. After that it is on to the Return of the Kettlebell blocks. I am rebuilding my base now with an eye on the future.

I am currently doing some online training. If you would like to hit a high level of fitness and ability, this is for you.

Great Video

2010-01-17T14:44:00.003-06:00

Well done video about kettlebells

This is a great resource to get the most out of your kettlebells!

Viking Warrior Conditioning
The Scientific Approach to Forging a Heart of Elastic Steel

Rough Week

2010-01-15T21:20:00.000-06:00

It has been an interesting week. I have been making changes in personnel with Amazing Athletes and trying to correct some issues that seemed to have developed. They are hopefully not to major, just normal courses of growing pains.We are continuing to expand and add more schools and children to our programs. It is really fun to work with the kids as they love to move. They also move a lot better then some of us old farts.

We had a really good Shen Chuan class this week. The majority of the group was there, some of them even on time. We were working takedowns and I caught an elbow with the back of my hand. It is still swollen and painful to the touch. The guys told me to stop whining after the first hour... I have some grip still, so I will just let it sit and see if it improves. I was able to do swings, pullups and clean and press last night, so hopefully it is not too bad.

I met with BJ Bliffert at his awesome place in Frisco this week for an FMS Screening. I had planned on going to both CK-FMS and RKCII this year. After spending an hour and a half with him, I found seveal areas that I have to work on. The FMS is amazing in that it shows you were the work needs to be done. It is awesome how 7 simple screens can pretty much fix what ails you. I know that between my hamstrings and my shoulders, I am in a world of hurt. Thankfully, I have been working lots of RKC armbars! I would have had real issues if I hadn't been.

20 minutes after leaving, I was signed up for CK-FMS and the DVD Home Study were on the way. They arrived today and are sitting next to me now. I have a long weekend to watch them.

We have our group class in the morning and I will be introducing some new drills.

Some Garage Beatings

2010-01-08T22:05:00.001-06:00

We were working on some head control last night out in the garage. I often equate marial arts patterns to those of kettlebell movement patterns. The movement is similar to the clean. There is so much crossover between the two that I still need to work on.

This is a raw clip and we are not at combat speed. We are working patterning. We are also in the words of my friend Tony Blauer, "Not practicing to miss."

Here is the same move with the real philosophy behind it.

The footage is rough, but we are working on it!

Program Minimum

2010-01-07T19:27:00.000-06:00

Well, I have made it through 5 weeks of Program Minimum. I spent 5 weeks on it as I missed one week of quality training and took a step back. I was able to really improve my swing technique. I follow several good trainer's blogs and found a great piece of advice on mc's about locking up the glutes. Her take on it, simplified for me, is to think of your turning your hips out. You are consciously thinking of rotating them outward. I found that this helped me quite a bit in effectively locking the glutes down. It allowed me to also brace my abdomen much tighter. After 12 minutes of swings, that technique allowed me to finish as strongly as I started.

I really feel that the swing has reset my form and fixed the sloppiness that I had developed over the last year. The focus that I was able to place on the swing also increased my explosive power. There was a very noticeable increase in my relaxed power applications in a recent martial arts class. The relaxed tension that the swing teaches you has increased punching power tremendously . I know that the people I have been training with have noticed it as well. That does not even start on the "Kung Fu Grip" you develop from that much swinging.

I really enjoyed my Get Up portion. Being a dofus I often had to remember to slow down my movements. The Kalos Thenos version is by far one of the best exercises that you can do. By moving slowly and not rushing through the series, it is possible to build proper patterning for real world movement. It took the entire 5 weeks to even make a dent in proper form and technique. I realized that I was wobbly and out of sorts pretty quickly. This was compounded by attempting to make a set number of reps in my 5 minutes. By slowing down to a rep a minute I ws able to lock down the benchmarks that were needed. The high hip bridge being a large one. I figured out that I need to focus through the straight leg heel. Before figuring that point out, I was compensating and the straight leg was coming off the ground. I began to roll to my elbow instead of punching straight up. It allowed a cleaner get up with better mobility. I also learned that I was not tightening my glutes and began to pinch a quarter at the top of the hip bridge. Once I started that, my arm and shoulder locked in correctly. As I wrote, this was only a small dent in a great exercise and I will be going back to it in a month or so.

I have also been playing with my Captains of Crush Grippers a lot. I am not making them a main focus, but Greasing the Groove with ladders. I am in my car a lot these days with wasted training time. I start my travels out by warming up with a Sports COC before I leave the driveway. I then hit reps as I am stopped by red lights. I utilize a ladder to train. I start with 1 rep at the first light, 2 at the next until I am at 5 reps. I hit the next rung after that. I have noticed a difference in grip strength. To prevent imbalances, I use a broccoli band to work the extensors after every rung. I use broccoli bands as I am buying the broccoli anyway. That and I am to cheap to order the "proper" bands. Steve Maxwell taught me that at my first RKC! He had a bunch in his pocket. I am all about saving money!

I am going to put some info on my blog about opening for training. I will also be offering some online training. email me if you are interested.

New Year, New Goals

2009-12-30T21:12:00.000-06:00

It is two days before the New Year. The New Year is always a time for retrospect on what has been accomplished. I have hit some of my goals, but not all of them. I missed some due to a lack of focus, I missed some due to lack of planning. It happens. I lost focus by not writing my goals down and reviewing them regularly as I should have done throughout the year.

I have two major goals with Kettlebells this year. I will be attending RKCII and CK-FMS. While I do not teach kettlebells as my main form of income, I am teaching some now and will do more in the coming year. I began this journey by attending the RKC for my own personal knowledge and learned that I love to teach. As I have written before, Pavel and the RKC put me on a new path in my professional and personal life. I love kettlebells and I love sharing the knowledge that I have earned through hard work. I am contemplating a stand alone martial arts and kettlebell gym starting in 2011. I have to hit my next goals to start that project.

I have some major goals with Amazing Athletes that I plan on achieving. I will be in at least 70 schools by this time next year with a student base of 1000 children. I will continue to grow the business in a moral and ethical manner. I want the kids to have the best instruction possible and will continuously work on improving my skills and abilities.

I have some other goals that fall under stuff that is personal for me and the family. It seems that everybody puts every aspect of their lives out there for the world to see. Not me!

I will be putting some video up starting next week. It will be a mix of kettlebells and martial arts. I am also opening some training slots after the first of the year. I am working on a schedule now. I will also be doing some online kettlebell training after next week.

Goals

2009-12-21T15:55:00.001-06:00

The group class has grown a little with a few new additions. It is nice to have a good group to train with on a consistant basis.

The last two classes have been focused on the Snatch. We have worked on it quite a bit in the past and it was past time to review it. It started out pretty well. Since it has been a while, I expected to find some minor issues to clean up. For the most part they were only minor problems.

There are some issues that are there only because they differ from the Hardstyle training that I use. There are so many videos on the net, that you can learn almost any style with out leaving the house. The problem is that without one on one instruction, you do not get the subtleties that are required for proper execution. Bad habits develop quickly with improper training. I know this from personal experience, see my RKC trip in 2008. I developed some bad habits that almost kept me from making it through my cert.

The whole point of this is that you need to decide what you want to accomplish and why. Do you want Hardstyle or GS? Press the Beast or SSST of 300? You work from that point to reach your goal. You are at A, you want to get to C, you must do B. A+B=C. Is that simplistic? Heck yes! I am not talking about the depths of knowledge that Pavel, et al. I am talking about setting your goals and getting on the way.

It is that time of year when people set their goals for the next year. Do some people follow through? A few might, the majority do not. I believe that a major reason for failing to reach their goals is the failure to put them down and make them concrete.

Decide what your goals are and write them down. Lots of people write their goals down, so what happens? The goals are written down once and then put those goals away never to see the light of day again. You have to put specific goals down and rewrite them constantly. I have failed to follow that path over the last 6 months and have seen a difference. I have not accomplished what I really wanted to do. I did not have it in my short term memory as well as my long term. It was not written down, so not thought about.

I like to write down my goals on almost a daily basis and at least once a week. I write what I want to achieve as if I have already achieved it. "I pressed the Beast." I do not stop with just writing the goal, I also write the steps that I took to get there. I not only have the "C" of the equation, I also have the "A + B" written down to get there.

It seems really simple and it is. It is just not easy, but hard is good. If it was easy, why do it? You learn more and accomplish more when there is a struggle to reach the end.

Hardstyle is good!

Basics

2009-12-14T20:14:00.000-06:00

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.

Not me, But I promised some video!

2009-12-09T18:16:00.000-06:00

At least she is doing a decent workout!

We are actually hoping to do some filming tonight. If we do, we will get it up later.

meandering

2009-12-08T22:03:00.000-06:00

Sometimes blogs don't have to really be about anything. Sometimes they have to be about specifics. I think it really is based on what is going on with the blogger on that day. Today might be one of those really meandering ones. There is so much going on these days that no matter where you turn, there is always something that has to be taken care of, a fire to be put out. That is the nature of life in these times I guess. There seems to be so much to see and do, they all seem to be "have to" most of the time. I look at the changes that I have made in my life over the last two years. I left a "secure" job as a Patrol Sgt for a local Police Department to start my own business. I made the choice to be there for my family.

Leave it to me to do that as we entered a massive recession. It has really worked out well in spite of the economy. The business model is great and we have great coaches to help me. We have continued to grow rapidly and flourished. Is it scary at time? Heck yes! I would not change it for the world. We were chosen as Amazing Athletes Franchise of the Year for the last 2 years. It seems we are doing something right. I also do not regret the ability to be there for my family whenever they need me.

I still see areas where we can make changes to ease some of the craziness. We have been watching less T.V. and doing a lot of family activities. We had a Violetea party last week. There was a large group of young ladies and their Moms at the house. It was great! The girls loved it. The two boys had a great time also! We have had lots of reading time together as well as board games. Sometimes just slowing down is the best thing to do.

Having said that, I will be opening up some training slots after Christmas. I will have some time during the day in Plano and evenings in Rockwall. If you are interested email me.

I restarted sets of 20 this week. I am working on program minimum. It is about fixing the basics and moving from there. The Get Ups were rough as I am attempting to hit perfection on each and every movement. I noticed my foot was coming up tonight. I used some tips from Dragon Door to work on that problem. There is lots of great advice on the forums. I never stop learning or trying to improve.

We should have some video up later this week.

Kids at Play

2009-12-05T19:24:00.000-06:00

It was a semi rough week for training. We had some illness (Strep)at the house that spread to my parents, so training was pushed to the side on Thursday and Friday. This morning was just recovery for everyone. What does that do for my current program? It just puts me a week behind. In the big scheme it is not that big of a deal. I will actually restart where I was last week, sets of 20 instead of 30 or even 40 on swings.

I have found missed workouts are just part of life. I would probably have a real setback if I did not train with children everyday. I have learned so much about training from the kids over the last two years. Children just like to move and play. While structure is needed, sometimes letting them chose what to do makes a world of difference. Children move and function naturally. they do not worry about "correct" movements as defined by trainers at the gym. It is great to watch them run and play with pure joy, it translates into the function that we as adults strive for. I believe that we become so burdened and bound up by training at the fancy gyms that it hampers us. There are all kinds of studies out there that touch on this. I will research some and write up an entry later.

I was on the sidewalk of the correct road at least before I found Pavel and the RKC. I trained heavy with heavy weights and lower reps. I trained compound movements for the majority of my workouts. I stayed away from machines as much as I could. It just did not feel right to use all of the cables and chairs that were at the gym. To sit down and exercise seemed to go against what we are trying to accomplish. There are some exercises were you are seated that make sense to achieve certain goals, seated Kettlebell military presses, but a complete workout seated? Maybe not the best way to do it.

I had a lot more injuries on the sidewalk. I was not using the correct methods to lift. My bench sucked for shoulder safety. I pushed with my shoulders by my ears. It was no wonder I was always hurt. I used crappy form in squats and my knees hurt all of the time. I had so much knee and shoulder pain that surgery was a real possibility on both areas.

What does this have to do with kids at play and their training? Kids are not injured all of the time by their exercise/play. Yes, they fall of the monkey bars, bang heads and fall, but how often are they injured by the exercise? It is something I am researching, but in my training of children, I have observed very few sports type injuries. Those injuries tend to occur when children begin to play organized sports and they are pushed hard to excel. Adults always seem to have nagging little injuries. Maybe we need to remember how we played as kids...

One thing I am seeing more of is video games affecting our kids lives. Children seem to be losing some of the real activity that they need in their lives. I was teaching tennis the other week and had several children that they already knew how to play. Where did they learn? They learned on Wii. It would be funny, but I have had them say it about numerous sports, baseball, football and especially bowling! These same children are the ones that seem to be in the worst shape physically and in some cases emotionally. Exercise and mental well being go hand in hand. The ability to catch and throw does equate with an increased ability to excel in school.

Somewhat of a random, meandering post, but hopefully gives a reason to think about training and also what are kids are doing.

Square one for eating habits

2009-11-29T11:47:00.000-06:00

It is the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the gluttony is almost over! I ate like a pig for about four days, but saying that, I did try to be a little more moderate than I have in the past. It worked out pretty well for the most part. I think I only gained 100 pounds or so. I think the weekend opened my eyes to my lack of a good eating plan. I try to eat fairly moderate meals the majority of the time. It does not always work, but nothing works all of the time.

I have looked at the Warrior Diet in the past and tried it for a week. It was not an enjoyable experience for me as I felt sick as a dog the entire time. This article by mc at Begin to Dig is the best look at that system I have seen. I found it as I was reviewing the Warrior Diet to try it again. His Blog is incredible for all of his writings! It showed me why it is not a good choice for me. So along with going back to the drawing board for my training, it is time to fix my eating also.

I really need to go back to eating clean, fresh and organic foods. The entire house ate this way for a long time with great results. It takes a concerted effort to do so as we have lots of activities and seem to be on the road a lot. We have a fund raiser at Chili's tomorrow. that should be fun to figure out how to eat well.That might mean eating food brought from the house during the day and stopping at Sprouts or Herbmart on the way home from the day to cook at the house.

I did train over the Holiday in Tulsa. I did 8 sets of 20 swings and active movement on 1 day and 5 minutes of Get Ups on another day. I also did lots of Joint Mobility, Wall Squats and Pumps to keep the damage to a minimum.

Into the breach once again...

2009-11-23T22:20:00.000-06:00

In looking back at all of my training I notice one thing, when I follow a slower path I do much better. I always suffer illness and injury when I go all out from the get go. I have a habit of running full speed at all times and not taking the proper time to work up to it. I even had an argument about taking time to reach the goals of the VWC. His take was you had to hit 50 sets from day one, mine was taking the time to work up to it. Kenneth Jay laid out a steady work schedule that built you up to the 80 x 8 over some time. Never heard from the other guy, now considered an "Expert." but so be it.

The point being, I have decided to step back and complete the program minimum. I have never gone through the entire plan, partly due to be ADD I think. I have set down and written up my plan of attack. I have a path to follow and that makes it a little easier to follow through with. As I tell the Amazing Athletes Coaches, if it is written down, it will get done. I have modified it for my daily activity level by making my active recovery less intense. I am starting out with the 24kg due to my hip flexor injury. I will move to heavier weights when it says to on the plan.

Tonight was pretty good. I started out with Joint Mobility including Halos, Wall Squats and Pumps. I then hit 8 sets of 20 swings with 1 minute of active movement. My hip flexor was a little tight, but not painful. It is a start.

I do plan on Kettlebell training over Thanksgiving. We are taking a break from the Combatives this week. There is no class on Saturday this week.

Here is a great clip from Scientific Wrestling.