Listen on:
podcast.giryagirl.com
This week’s episode features a conversation with Frank DiMeo. Frank owns the Cave Gym https://CaveStrong.net near Sarasota, Florida. He is an Underground Strength Coach level 2, Vintage Strength Coach, and MaceFit.com Coordinator. Frank explains why you might want to add extremely old school strength and conditioning implements like maces and clubs to your toolkit and how to get started. 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, 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.
Question of the Week!
Question of the week – is Convict Conditioning ok for women?
Absolutely! It’s mindboggling how often this question comes up, but I guess with all of the masculine words and marketing it may be confusing… especially compared to what normally is marketed to women in terms of fitness. Don’t get me started, I just can’t be bothered with that stuff. Anyway, the real power of Convict Conditioning and by extension the Progressive Calisthenics Workshops like the PCC and SCC which are based on Convict Conditioning and also designed by the legendarily mysterious Paul “Coach” Wade, is that they literally will work for anyone—at any starting point. The very first steps are extremely approachable and valuable for absolutely beginners as well as those looking to fortify their joints. A lot of us use the early steps during our warmups, and continue to include them in our training long after we may have attained a master step in the program.
A word of advice – while the plan and progressions in the book are presented as “do this!” they are not as carved in stone as they may appear. As in PCC and SCC, creativity and problem solving are encouraged on our path to greater calisthenics strength and skill. So, ladies while the photos in the book might be of dudes, and there’s a fair amount manly-man hub-bub in there, the ideas and progressions in this book are fantastic for us. And since a lot of women seem short on time, the workouts are ideal for doing at home in a spare half hour or in minutes scattered around the day. If you’re tired of being lied to by mainstream women’s fitness books with pretty pictures and few real solutions, then it may be time to give this rough and tough looking book a fair shake. The progression for pull-ups alone is well worth the price of admission.
By the way, Dragon Door just restocked the book and there’s a $10 discount on it until Friday July 5th!
I have answered this before:
https://giryagirl.com/Ask-GiryaGirl-Is-Convict-Conditioning-OK-For-Women-HKC-For-Non-Trainers-Special-Agent-Interview
and
https://giryagirl.com/Ask-GiryaGirl-Convict-Conditioning-For-Women-1000-Swings
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.
Support GiryaGirl.com
HEY! Want to support this and other projects and continue to get free workouts and more? Then visit GiryaGirl.com and the new URL (it all goes to the same place) that points to the same site, KettlebellsOfficial.com to keep up with all the new upcoming events, etc. Support this podcast, the website when you use any of the affiliate links to purchase items like kettlebells, workshop registrations, books, and more. This is how you can support the site and the continued production of more podcasts, workouts, blog posts, videos and more. If you have a relevant product or business and would like to work out a more formal sponsorship call 321-316-3533 and let’s talk! Very limited placements available.
Conversation Segment:
Chat with Frank DiMeo owner of The Cave gym https://CaveStrong.net near Sarasota, Florida. Frank is an Underground Strength Coach level 2, Vintage Strength Coach, and MaceFit.com Coordinator. Frank explains why you might want to add mace training to your toolkit and how to get started. I met Frank several years ago and we have both attended some of the legendary seminars from Zach Even-Esh, the author of the Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning, one of my favorite go-to books for solid training templates for unconventional strength training. Here’s an interview I did with Zach for Dragon Door shortly after his book came out.
Frank and I share a lot of the same training philosophies and no-nonsense approaches, so I just had to hear more about MaceFit training.
Be sure to check out the Vintage Strength Training Games happening at The Shop Gym in Manassas, Virginia 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.
Training Tip of the Week:
There was a fair amount of smack talk about the kettlebell get-up online this past week so I figured it might be a good time to have a get-up tip of the week! I don’t have time for arguments online or clickbait but I do love to share helpful hints. There’s a quote from George Bernard Shaw that sums up my feelings about online arguments: “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”
So, back to productive things. Did you know that the hip hinge is not just important for deadlifts and kettlebell swings? It also plays a role in the get-up. When I first learned the get-up and for many years afterwards this was not something which was specifically emphasized. However I did notice I tended to naturally it more when going for a heavier get-up, or when mildly fatigued. Here’s where the hinge fits into the get-up. Starting from the ground, you roll up and over to the elbow, then extend the arm and come up to the hand. Press through the hand and the foot of the bent leg to raise the body just enough off the ground for the “low sweep”. When the straight leg sweeps under the body, you may notice that you’re in a slight hinge before shifting your weight so that the kettlebell held overhead is now lined up exactly above the hand on the ground for the kneeling windmill.
Oddly enough you may actually notice the hinge more at first during the “get-down” phase. For example… From standing, you step back with the foot opposite the side that’s holding the kettlebell overhead, descending into a lunge. When the back foot is “windshield wipered” toward the body, then the hips are free to push back into a hinge as you trace down the side of the body with your non-kettlebell-holding hand. Trace down to the knee then place the hand a fair distance from the body (for me this is about half a foot, but everyone is different…arm length etc.) before shifting towards that hand and this coming out of the hinge.
This all sounds a lot more difficult and confusing in pure audio form unless you’re extremely familiar with the get-up, so if you’re feeling a bit lost right now, don’t blame yourself! I’ve planned a small video series on these details…
But in the mean time, the new HardstyleFit online program has an incredibly detailed section on the Get-Up, covering the overall movement.
Book of the Week!
So, this week’s book of the week has absolutely nothing to do with fitness! It’s Craig Ferguson’s newest book (May 2019) called Riding the Elephant: A Memoir of Altercations, Humiliations, Hallucinations & Observations. And while reading the written word is good for the mind and the soul, the audible version of this—as read by the author is over the top entertaining. So I will include both the links to the printed and Kindle version: https://amzn.to/2LvYzIY and the audio book: https://amzn.to/2NoFVWh Craig starts with some outrageous stories about his tough upbringing in Glasgow and continues through to his current reality. I really enjoy his stand-up comedy, and the audio book is just as entertaining—and frankly pretty darn fascinating too.
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! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/official-giryagirl-com-podcast/id862731884 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 next week!
Leave a Reply