We came back from lunch and promptly started back in on the Get Up.   I really love the get up – at first, waaaay back when (a couple years ago or more) I was first learning it, I thought it was actually very overwhelming.  It seemed awkward and unnecessarily confusing, and somehow (now I have no idea how I was doing this) I’d always end up facing the opposite direction.   Fortunately, with the coaching skills of Tim Shuman, RKCII I was able to quickly get a clue in the get up department.   It’s really not something you can teach yourself from videos – videos and DVDs are great when you’re just using them to reinforce live coaching, or to build on your skills etc. The get up is a funny thing for some of us – once I had learned the basics of what happened when/where, the journey towards efficiency and elegance of movement began.  When I put my hands and feet down, they stay in the same place – because I know to put them where they need to be.   This isn’t necessarily required in the official standard of the get up, but it’s been something interesting in my own practice.  Early on the get up began to inhabit a similar mental space as the Yang Style Short Form (Tai Chi), and thus the refining and refining and refining began.   This really helped by the time I went to my own RKC in October 2010, but this process has never stopped since.   Now I absolutely love to practice and troubleshoot the get up.   If you are overwhelmed, or dislike the get up for whatever reason, my suggestion is to break down the parts – and practice the parts.  Worry about connecting them later.   A great pattern for this is David Whitley’s now-famous Furnace Workout, which is a fabulous variation on program minimum (swings and get ups).  If you don’t know what to do, but want to practice your kettlebell skills, do the furnace workout.

IronTamer’s Furnace Workout (click here to visit his website too!):

Set your gymboss or other timer to 45 second and 15 second intervals (45 work, 15 rest/changeover)   No matter how tough you think you are, start conservatively with your choice of kettlebell.  If it’s too light the first time, do it again heavier!

• Overhead lunge left  45 seconds
• 15 seconds rest – use this time to get the kettlebell in the other hand…
• Overhead lunge right 45 seconds
• 15 seconds rest and get the kettlebell in a good position to hike it back for…
• 45 seconds of 2 hand kettlebell swings
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds kneeling windmill left
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds kneeling windmill right
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds 2 hand kettlebell swings
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds get up to palm left
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds get up to palm right
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds 2 hand kettlebell swings
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds full get up left
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds full get up right
• 15 seconds rest
• 45 seconds 2 hand swings

Short verison of the story – stop hating on the get up, break it down, work on the parts, then when you’re ready, put it together, then start refining it.  Never stop refining it.

Back to the Orlando HKC…

Somewhat unfortunately, everyone who attended this particular HKC had a fairly solid clue on how to perform the get up – I say unfortunately, because I really wanted to see Franz Snideman teach the get up from absolute zero.  As much as I’d like to say I was only there to help out, I was also there to pick up new cues and teaching methods.   BUT – there was still plenty of opportunity for that to happen.   The big thing I notice with people is that they usually want to move their hand out of line (the get up is all about right angles in some respects) and make their position less supported and strong.   The other thing about the get up is even people who are pretty self-aware can be caught off guard in an “oh wow, I didn’t know I was doing that” way.  The get up can teach us things about ourselves – sometimes we don’t always like these lessons.   All the more reason that we should learn.