practice

Having just returned from the San Diego RKC, I had plenty of scribbled notes, new cues, and fun combos for my kettlebell small group class... and don't worry, Wednesday people, your time is coming! :)

One of the TOUGHEST kettlebell exercises to learn and to teach can be the clean.  But, it's incredibly worthwhile to persist with it, even though it can be frustrating.   I like to sandwich it into a workout to make sure the practice stays true without excessive frustration.

We started today's workout with a Primal Move inspired warm up,a few deadlifts and swings.  Moderate to light kettlebells were chosen so we could focus on our form.  

There was a LOT of interest—we were babbling about it excitedly on Facebook, twitter, the Dragon Door forums, possibly even Pinterest?!—the ebook edition of The RKC Book of Strength and Conditioning came out yesterday.  Judging from my own reaction and the reactions of others about this "can't put it down, ooo look what's on the next page" book, it's already an "instant classic."    It's a great resource not only for instructors, but for the dedicated enthusiast working on their own.   Because of all the workouts which I have shared on this website, people ask me how I come up with them, or how to start working on creating their own workouts or programs.  

If you've followed this site for even a short period of time, you know how much I focus on form, and the constant improvement thereof.  Today was no exception, this was a collection of a few ideas from various places (the dead swing I-go-you-go ladder was inspired by the Chicago RKC this past year).   This workout mainly focuses on the total basics - swings and get ups, with a small variety circuit.

We began with a solid joint mobility warmup, ours is a blend of moves from the classic Dragon Door DVD Super Joints, and the warm ups presented at the RKC and HKC workshops.

It was time to really hammer on the basics again - as the proper execution of the kettlebell swing is so crucial to getting the most benefit from it - don't let youtube or goofy things on tv tell you otherwise! 

We began with the usual joint mobility warm up exercises - adding in a few of the favorite pump stretches.   And continued with a review of the hip hinge - we even got out the dowels and made sure that we maintained the 3 points of contact (back of the head, upper/mid back, sacrum/rear) while sitting waaaaaaaaay back with the hips.   To connect this mentally to the swing we did the following mini circuit 3 times:

Here's a version of a fun one we did this week in small group - it's been modified to be a little more general - we worked on some specific stuff in the actual class related to the progress of those in attendence.  ANYWAY - since if you train with me, it means you'll learn to loooooooooooooove kettlebell cleans.   Or, maybe will give up on hating them.  More yabbering about why you need to be training kettlebell cleans is located on a previous workout: Tough Love for the Kettlebell Clean.