Recently returned home from an incredible experience in MN with Dragon Door. Watching the seasoned photography crew from so many past Dragon Door books come together and work so seamlessly was a sight to be seen! While I had a very short stint as a “model” as a kid in the 1980s (funny story, involves a giant pool of cold water, goggles, and a whole lot of clothes pins), then in the early 2000s my ear and nose appeared in a jewelry catalog, it hasn’t been until age 36 that my “modeling career” started taking off by appearing most recently in Al Kavadlo’s Pushing The Limits (it’s in ebook form now, coming soon in paperback!). Considering I’m at least 1 full foot too short for “runway” this is pretty exciting 🙂 Anyway – after meticulously preparing for the shoot (food was business as usual, but my workouts included exploring some of the unfamiliar and quite innovative movements which we’d be photographing for the book). I don’t fast or “diet down” like some folks do for photoshoots – this is especially important for the “performance-dependent” type of shoots I tend to do. I’m also in permanent mostly-maintenance mode anyway. If I were to try to do these kind of strenuous shoots in a calorie deficit, it just wouldn’t work out well at all.
Everybody’s different of course, but this “yuppie-Atkins” Primal foodie operates best fully fueled on luscious low-carb natural and meaty foods so that I’m ready for anything. The only other change was packing more clothes than usual… I like to travel light, so it was amusing to take more than the pair of shoes on my feet and nearly the full selection of “nice fitness clothes” Which… YES, included a dark purple Lululemon tank top. So if you don’t recognize me in the book right away, yes I am not wearing all black in it! No biggie in this instance, as the number one objective was to make the book look absolutely fantastic. With Andrea Du Cane’s help and makeup expertise, we not only managed to “un-Alice-Cooper” my hair, but she did some really skillful but natural looking eye makeup that I wouldn’t mind repeating. It looked so great that two nights in a row, I carefully showered before dinner, so that I only needed to slightly touch up the great job she did!
The studio was incredibly cool, spacious, fully equipped, and furnished in a style that I very much like (neo-mid-century modern). So much so that I had to ask about it – only to find out that the super cool furniture mostly came from a local to MN company, Blu Dot. Equipment had been delivered and Tim Spencer stopped in to assemble a few things – which was nostalgic as I’ve helped him assemble, disassemble pull up bars so many times at various RKC workshops. Was hoping to get to see Nicole again too, but I know she’s super busy. Without wasting any time, we got right into the rather voluminous list of photos – considering what would be best to do first, with this particular lighting set up, and the oh so cool seamless built-in sloped wall.
We began with the kettlebell drills – some of which were familiar, but most of which were innovative – especially considering how the programming of Neuro-Mass works. I don’t want to give away too much info, but suffice it to say I am incorporating this approach into my own training, and have full faith that this will help me get that pesky 24kg pull up for the Iron Maiden Challenge more consistent. Honestly… I kinda want to work up to pressing the 28kg kettlebell too, for no particular reason. The Neuro-Mass approach is very cool, especially since it can work for a variety of athletes and non-athletes. Gotta admit, I’m always really surprised when I’m referred to as an “athlete.” That word always seemed to apply to the college kids who were waking up to go to team practice just as I was finishing up some kind of quasi-surrealistic video project, or a writing assignment for class. All the more proof that smart kettlebell and bodyweight strategies can work for anyone – even somewhat nocturnal art-nerd-types!
One of the biggest surprises was seeing… and USING some very teeny tiny kettlebells. Yes, you will see a couple photos of 10lb (not a typo) kettlebells being used… by me. That should tell you anything about the challenging neurological stuff going on with this book. At least the 10lb kettlebells from Dragon Door are very very usable – the handles can accommodate any hand, and they’re manufactured to the same meticulous standards as you’re hopefully accustomed.
After putting us through a whole lot of paces, we were treated to a delicious paleo catered lunch – and the caterer went ALL OUT – everyone had seconds, because it was just that good. I talked to her during the break and hopefully convinced her to write a guest post for you here about preparing these kind of meals for medium sized groups (think holiday family gatherings etc). She did a fantastic job of solid basic foods and some delicious innovations (grain free hamburger buns!) all of which were up to my highest standards.
The 2nd part of the first day had us finishing up the kettlebell drills/exercises then starting to delve into a few of the heavy duty bodyweight feats. While coaching us, Jon Bruney was dropping so many knowledge bombs, that I started making notes on my iPad – the notes became so extensive that after Jon Bruney looks at them (and no doubt makes a lot of corrections) some are most likely going to be included as parts of picture captions. This list continued to grow on both days.
That night, we all went to Fogo De Chao, and found out that this was Jon Burney’s first trip – it would soon become one of his favorite restaurants (smart guy). After all the traveling, thinking, lifting, performing, etc. the restaurant most likely took a loss on our table—Jon Bruney, John Du Cane, Matt Maher and myself all have enthusiastic appetites for good things like lamb and bacon wrapped filet. My mouth is watering again just thinking about it.
The next day began with bodyweight drills, dynamic drills and even more very interesting isometrics. We worked very hard, and the experienced photographer, Dan, consistently produced shots of us that looked so wonderful. After working on so many Dragon Door books in the past, his sense of timing with explosive exercises in particular was just spot on. Really can’t wait to tell you more about the book, and even more about the programming strategies. My clients are very lucky in that we’re going to be employing some of these strategies starting this week.
Lunch on the 2nd day was also totally delicious – and included a good bit of spice if we wanted it (yes). Again, delicious a full course paleo lunch, we all had seconds and the paleo chocolate coconut cookies were so good that I had to eat 3 of them… you know… for science. 🙂 We finished up the 2nd day a little early – since the team worked together so seamlessly, and with some of the best attitudes on the planet. Seriously, this group could probably accomplish anything. The days just flew by, the *gorgeous* photos added up, were selected and on occasion re-shot just seconds later for utter perfection. I can only hope to be involved with more top notch productions like this. Proud to have contributed to this one for sure!
Don’t forget….
Primal Move Instructor Certification workshop coming up on 4/6 in Cambridge https://bit.ly/YiOhJu
I will also be leading a 3 hour Primal Move Fundamentals workshop the next day (Sunday 4/7) at GiryaScope (Somerville, MA) for anyone who is curious about this incredibly beneficial practice. This is great stuff for weekend athletes, the casual exerciser as well as anyone who wants to move better while adding some serious fun to their workouts. Please visit https://bit.ly/Wvri0v for registration!
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