This week’s episode features a conversation with fan favorite and all around awesome instructor, author, and popular YouTuber, Matt Schifferle of the Red Delta Project. We discuss training for and around your martial arts practice, balance in training, and of course his training strategies and upcoming books. This episode also includes upcoming events, the question of the week, workout tip of the week, a book of the week, and of course some extra surprises.
Upcoming Events:
Be sure to sign up for the November 16th and 17th Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification and Strength Calisthenics Certification happening in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Master RKC and good friend of many years Michael Krivka will be teaching the HKC, and I’ll be teaching the SCC the next day. Level up your skills as a fitness professional or exercise enthusiast on one special weekend.
Fresh on the calendar at NCSystema.com! I’m leading an intensive and focused seminar on the kettlebell get-up here in Durham North Carolina on August the 10th! Taught by Adrienne Harvey… ME… RKC Team Leader, Senior PCC Instructor, CK-FMS
Spend a full afternoon focused on this incredible exercise. Beginners will learn great habits from the start. Intermediate and advanced kettlebell enthusiasts will dial in their form making every rep that much more effective. Nearly every sport and human activity can be improved when we practice properly performed get-ups — with and without weight! This coordination, core, strength, shoulder stability, flexibility, and mobility powerhouse is useful for nearly everyone… but there’s a fairly steep learning curve. If you’ve tried to learn this powerful but oddly complex move from a book, video, or even in a group class and still feel lost, then this workshop is absolutely for you. Even “the experts” on social media are regularly sharing sub-par get-ups… and leaking strength!
I’ll show you how to avoid many common mistakes so that you can get the most out of your get-ups. We’re going to break it down so that you can practice this exercise safely and effectively in your own workouts and in the group sessions you might already be attending. You will also learn how the get-up and its component parts can be programmed as nearly infinite variations within workouts. The last hour will be dedicated to Q&A, practice, and of course individual problem solving.
Bring a water bottle and hand towel. Kettlebells will be provided. I will have new, in box Dragon Door kettlebells in various useful sizes available for purchase at the event (contact me if you would like to purchase one ahead of time and I will reserve it for you. Dragon Door 8kg, 12kg, 16kg, and 20kg kettlebells will be available: info@giryagirl.com ) Event Tuition: $50 Visit NCSystema.com click the schedule tab then the seminars and special events section on the drop down. Or visit the show nows from this episode for the direct link: https://www.ncsystema.com/events/2019/8/10/kettlebell-get-up-intensive-seminar
Also visit NCSystema.com for local classes in Strength and conditioning with me, or Systema, self defense, and other specialized topics with Systema HQ certified instructors here in Durham, NC. They’re always adding awesome workshops and events to their calendar so check it out now.
Be sure to check out the Vintage Strength Training Games happening at The Shop Gym in Manassas, Virgina on Saturday August 17th starting at noon. This first of it’s kind event will feature competitions with the mace and club. People of all experience levels are invited to participate, complete and/or learn! Find out more about the event by searching for “Vintage Strength Training Games” on Facebook or visiting the Maceworx.com website.
Question of the Week!
Do I keep looking at the kettlebell during the whole get-up or not? If I don’t look the kettlebell the whole time, then, when/where do I look?
Here’s an important one from a recent local open gym and challenge workout session. We had a new person who has a good amount of exercise experience show up to work on handstands but who ended up trying out our challenge workout for the week as well (very brave). As is often the case the first half of the challenge workout was an extended warmup before things got completely crazy and involved a few short sets of get-ups with various weights starting light and then going to moderately heavy – no PR weights since again this was an extended warm up.
Anyway, she had been instructed in the past to look up at the kettlebell during the entire get-up, and asked about that since another well respected local trainer had said to move the eyes to the horizon during some parts of it. So here’s the answer I gave as well as some cues which might help you find the spot to move your eyes as well.
No, you definitely don’t want to be looking at the kettlebell the whole time – especially when you’re standing! When it’s overhead, and you’re standing up into or back down into a lunge, you need to have your eyes on the horizon for safety, and to not crink the heck out of your neck! I mean, what if we had to stare at the kettlebell during presses? Yikes! So, an easy way to remember this is eyes on the horizon whenever the torso is upright. When you’re coming up from the ground and about to take your hand off the floor right after “Kneeling windmill” your torso moves to an upright position – while your torso is moving you’ll notice it’s very natural for your eyes to then focus straight ahead instead of on the kettlebell. Again when coming back down from the lunge, as soon as you start hinging your way to that kneeling windmill again, you’ll notice that it’s also a convenient time to look up at the kettlebell again and for the rest of your way back down.
Be safe and when in doubt ask an RKC or HKC instructor – and get them to spot you too! A good spotter can really help when you may be trying to retrain habits as well as keep you lifting safely.
Call for Questions:
Call our question line at: (321) 316-3533 and leave a message with your question about kettlebells, calisthenics, food, workouts, and more. Leave your name (and where you’re from) for fame or feel free to remain anonymous.
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Conversation Segment:
And now for a chat with Matt Schifferle, PCC Team Leader, author of several popular bodyweight training books, popular podcaster and YouTuber with an impressive following. We recorded this a while back, but the info is definitely still relevant. Be sure to check out Matt’s books, especially the one we’re discussing here, Bodyweight Training for Martial Arts: Traditional Calisthenics Technique for the Modern Martial Artist: https://amzn.to/2jVg0Y7 Also, look forward to a future YouTube collaboration we recorded last month – I need to edit it, but it will be up on YouTube soon and outlines his cool “Grind-Style Calisthenics” approach.
Training Tip of the Week:
So, this one isn’t specific to kettlebells or bodyweight training, but I’ve been reminded of it several times in these past two weeks and have used this myself in ways both in and out of the gym as well as with clients. It’s called making excellence the new normal – and frankly if you find yourself not being challenged, make sure to find an environment where you are – maybe finding a gym where people are safely and skillfully putting up heavy weight, or finding a workout partner who’s farther along in their fitness journey, or a new instructor who pushes you to be your best. Find someone who is doing what you want to do and who does it as if it’s completely normal. As I like to say about our training… this is what we do here, and you’re going to be doing it soon too.
Book of the Week!
There’s actually TWO books of the week this week. First and foremost for those of you who are looking to increase your flexibility – but in a way that enhances your strength and power instead of weakens it, check out the Dragon Door Classic exhumed from the vaults (the recently moved to a new office and CEO John Du Cane found a few pristine boxes of their first ever book from 1998). This is Pavel Tsatsouline’s Beyond Stretching: Russian Flexibility Breakthroughs. And there’s only a few left – Dragon Door has put them up on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2lpIHwL You’ve never seen Pavel with this much hair on his head, and there’s a few photos of John in there too and darned if he doesn’t look like one of my friends from college. Historical and collectable value aside, the info in this book stands the test of time, and Pavel’s writing style at this stage is a riot – I find myself learning and laughing on most pages and that’s always a win in my world.
The other book is not a training book, but one I like to use in an unusual way. It’s The Chess Tactics Workbook by Al Woolum. And while this book is rather on the simple side—and has doubtless found its way into many school classrooms, I find that reviewing chess tactics is a great way to get better at chess, or in my case, get back into the game a little. This book features small chess problems like mate in one or two moves, decoys, double checks, and more. But each problem takes just a short time to solve. And that suits my purpose! When working out by myself I like to test my decision making and problem solving between rounds of intense exercise. At first it can be a little frustrating, but I find that there’s some reassurance about life readiness when I’m still able to solve chess problems with a high heart rate (for safety, I keep moving… and wander around with clipboard when doing these between sets). Alternately, I like to use these little problems as part of a mental warmup very much like Jon Bruney has done with Neural Priming in his classic book, Neuro-Mass.
Wrapping it up:
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the GiryaGirl.com official podcast. Be sure to subscribe so that you don’t miss the next episode next week. If you like this podcast please leave a review on iTunes, I know it’s a pain but it will really help the show out! You can also support the show by visiting giryagirl.com or kettlebellsofficial.com . Any purchases you might make through the links on those sites help this show with no additional cost to you.
Hope you enjoyed this episode, and I’ll see you in two weeks!
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