HARDSTYLE 2 2004 Springsecret in your training and you’ll transform your practice, guaranteed… How to packmaximum strength benefits into minimum time. How to manipulate the variables

KEY STRENGTH TRAINING CONCEPTSFOR GREATER SUCCESS IN ANY SPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 3

By PavelThrower magazine interviews Pavel: an excerpt

HOW TO STOP BEING A CHRONIC UNDER-ACHIEVER ANDREALIZE YOUR FULL PHYSICAL POTENTIAL . . . . . . . . . .Pages 4 & 6By Charles StaleyProven, “best practice” methods to take your geneticdestiny by the throat and force-feed greatness upon it

“CAN YOU TOUCH YOUR TOES?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 8By Brett Jones, Senior RKC

How to avoid injury and extend your athletic career by fixing your movement patterns

LENGTH TENSION RELATIONSHIPS ANDHOW TO RESTORE LOST PHYSICAL FUNCTION . . . . . . . . . .Page 10By Mark Reifkind, Senior RKC

HOW TO WORK WITH SPECIAL POPULATIONSAS AN RKC—AND HELP THEM REGAINCONTROL OF THEIR BODIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 12

By Andrea Du Cane, Senior RKC

HOW TO RECLAIM MANKIND’SGLORY DAYS OF SUPERLATIVESTRENGTH, ENDURANCE AND POWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 14

By Kenneth Jay, Senior RKCIntroducing: Cardiovascular Kettlebell Concepts

THE BACKSIDE OF THE CORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 16 & 18By Gray Cook, MSPT, OCS, CSCS, RKCSix powerful reasons why every athlete should consider thedeadlift a crucial component of highly effective core training

FIREFIGHTING AND KETTLEBELLS:A GREAT COMBINATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 36By Tom Corrigan, RKC Team Leader

UNSTOPPABLE! THE MARKREIFKIND STORY, PART ONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 56 & 57Interview by Dr. Mark Chang, RKC II

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Dragon DoorPublications presentsHard-Stylewww.dragondoor.com

Publisher & Editor-in-ChiefJohn Du Cane

EditorialTraining EditorPavel Tsatsouline

Editorial AssistantDennis Armstrong

ContributorsMark Cheng, Gray Cook, Tom Corrigan,Andrea Du Cane, Kenneth Jay, BrettJones, Mark Reifkind, Charles Staley

Art Direction & DesignDerek Brighamwww.dbrigham.com

Internet ArchitectJames McConnell,[email protected]

Dragon Door CorporateCustomer ServiceDennis Armstrong, Tammy Drury,call 651-487-2180,[email protected]

Orders & Customer Service onOrders: call 1-800-899-5111

Dragon Door Publicationscorporate address:

Dragon Door Publications5 East County Rd B, #3Little Canada, MN 55117

Contents

hat is your generalphilosophyregarding trainingfor athletics?

Strength is a skill to generate tensionand “linkage”. Approach yourstrength session as a “practice”, nota “workout”.

Build what Marty Gallagher calls“easy strength”—PR withoutmaxing. Lift heavy but keep yourreps low and don’t go to failure.

You must combine tension exerciseswith relaxation exercises, variousshaking movements, shadowboxing, etc.

Adding the dynamic component, e.g.power cleans, until you have learnedto get tight is pointless.

When you practice the skill of yoursport, practice “same but different”events (change the implements, theweights, throw at a disadvantage,for specified distance, etc.). InRussia this is called specializedvariety.

Learn and finesse the skills of yoursport by practicing themisometrically.

Power generation from the hips isan art form that some have andothers don’t. I have reverseengineered a sequence that teachesthe athlete how to use his hips likethe elite.

Periodically take time off your sportskill practice, a “neurologicalerasure” to clean up the “static” inthe technique.

What would be your approachto training a thrower tomaximize their performances?

Train six times a week alternatingthrowing skills days and strengthdays.

On your strength days do deadlifts,presses, “pistols”, and heavyrotational exercises. No need to beexplosive, just stay tight.Deemphasize the negative in thedeadlift, almost drop the bar. Try toavoid getting sore and stiff. Inpresses and twists make a point totransmit the force from your torsoto your arm through your lat. Use5min and longer rest intervals andnon-exhaustive set/rep schemes, forexample:

5x3 @ 80%3x3 @ 85%3x2 @ 90%80%x4, 85%x3, 90%x2(80%x3, 85%x2, 90%x1)x3(80%x2, 90%x1)x5

Practice relaxation exercises betweensets. Finish your strength sessionfeeling stronger than when youstarted.

On the throwing days practice“same but different” throws. Varythe implements (regulationimplements, kettlebells, rocks, tires,etc.), throw at a disadvantage,throw not only for max distance butfor specified distances. The lastpoint is very important for anumber of motor learning reasons.

Pay attention to synchronizing aforceful exhalation with the throw—“match the breath with the force”.

Between throws practice relaxationexercises. Spend a couple of hoursthrowing and take very long breaks,“until you have forgotten your lastthrow”.

Periodically incorporate isometricthrows. Push against a stationaryobject from various points in yourthrow. Quoting Prof.Verkhoshansky, isometrics offer “Abetter opportunity to memorize theproper positions visually andkinesthetically than the dynamicmode. This makes the isometric

method especially valuable forteaching and mistake correction.”

I shall extrapolate on this subtle butextremely important point. Let ususe the military press as an example.In order to put up the heaviestweight safely you need to “wedge”yourself between the barbell and theground, every muscle tight. It is notan easy skill to learn with a liveweight but a piece of cake withisometrics. Stand inside a doorway,on a stool if necessary, put yourhands up against the molding, andpress. You will naturally tense upyour legs and waist. Remember thatfeeling when you press a barbell.The “wedge” is just as effective forquick moves. I use it to improve mymilitary and law enforcementclients’ striking technique andpower.

Pick the slack out of your body.“Wedge” yourself between theground and the “implement”. Buildup tension to near maximum, thenuse short, pumping, contractions.Work on your “linkage”.

Soviet boxing researcher G. Jerayan(1955) stated that the full mass ofthe body couldn’t be put into apunch because of the amortizingeffect of the joints. The force meantto be used externally is wastedinternally. Steve Baccari, RKC refersto this waste as “leakage”. Not onlydoes the “leakage” reduce thepower of an athletic technique butalso it increases the stress on thejoints.

Replacing “leakage” with “linkage”(a term coined by Stuart McGill,Ph.D.) is central to my system ofstrength training.

“Linked” joints are “compressed”with the tension of the surroundingmuscles. The increased stiffnessimproves the transmission of theforce up the chain with minimalwaste.

After practicing your linkage andproper body position isometricallyshake out the tension and perform acouple of throws. Go back andforth between iso throws, relaxationdrills, and throws.

Stretch your hip flexors, an essentialcomponent of training as throwingwith tight hip flexors is like drivingwith the parking brake on.

If you had to pick fiveessential kettlebell exercises,what would they be and why?

Swings rule. Everything else is icingon the cake. Various swings, singleand double, with your hand soapedup for extra grip stress, with a 180-degree turn, etc.

Is it difficult to mix kettlebelltraining with traditionalweight training?

Not at all.Dan Johnsimplypractices histhrows andkettlebellexercises ina circuit.

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isit the Hard-Style website today to take advantage of free author e-newsletters, product updates, cutting edge fitness articles and a highly-active Discussion Site. A goldmine of advice from leading experts, constantly updated!

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KEY STRENGTH TRAINING CONCEPTSFOR GREATER SUCCESS IN ANY SPORT

THROWER MAGAZINE INTERVIEWS PAVEL: AN EXCERPT

“Even if you are not athrower, I hope you enjoythis brief excerpt that fitstogether many of thestrength training conceptsI elaborate on in my booksand in the StrengthSeminar DVD with CharlesStaley.” —Pavel

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How to Stop Being a Chronic Under-Achiever andRealize Your Full Physical Potential—Using the Secrets of the “Staley Seven”Proven, “Best Practice” Methods To Take YourGenetic Destiny by the Throat and Force-FeedGreatness Upon It…

By Charles Staley

henever you're faced with complexity, striveto uncover the common characteristics ofsuccess. Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, and

Bill Gates are about as different as three people can be, yetunder the hood, they're all using a handful of powerfulprinciples to propel them to the top of the business-mogulshort-list.

Similarly, all high-powered workouts, no matter howdifferent they may seem at surface level, also havecommonalities which, when uncovered, can lead you to thesame level of success as the World's top performance athletesand physique heroes.

I’ve identified seven tactics that have become my personal“Best Practices” for workouts that quickly transform “you”into “Super You.” Whatever your genetic ceiling happens tobe, if you integrate these practices into your workouts, you'llreach your own personal upper limit.

The First“Best Practice”:Get OrganizedWith The AB Split

The physiologic principle of adaptation guarantees thateven if you managed to discover a strategy with nodownsides, sooner or later that strategy will lose its teeth asyour body becomes more and more efficient at handling thechallenge it provides. This phenomenon is absolutelyinviolate—you'll never find a way around the law of gravity,and you'll never devise the perfect training method.

Having said that, I think the A-B Split comes tantalizinglyclose to perfect. Everyone can use it, almost all of the time,with kick-ass results. That's because the A-B split is atemplate: it won't lock you out of your favorite exercises,workout frequency, training method, or loading parameters.Instead, it'll just make them better.

To start using the A-B Split right now, just follow these threesteps:

Step One: Make a list of everything you need or want todo on a regular basis. You can think of this in terms ofmuscles, motor qualities, exercises, whatever. For thepurposes of this article, I'll stick with party-endorsedkettlebell drills. Here's my list, in no particular order:

• Snatch • Get Ups• Under The Leg Pass •Windmill• Long Cycle Clean & Jerk • Military Press

Step Two: Split your pile into two groupings: an “ASession” and a “B Session.” Each session should have aunique “theme” or common denominator. In the examplebelow, I’ve distinguished between a “grinding” session and an“explosive” session. Once you’ve identified the salient themeof each session, simply assign each exercise in your pile to oneof the two sessions, like this:

“A” Session “B” Session(Grinding) (Explosive)• Get Ups • Snatch• Military Press • Long Cycle Clean & Jerk• Windmill • Under The Leg Pass

Now you’ve got two training sessions that have maximalseparation. In other words, each session is maximallydissimilar to the other. This facilitates both recovery andefficiency, and allows you to train with the greatest possiblefrequency. Bottom line: renewed progress.

Step Three: Assign loading parameters for each session. Inother words, what type of set/rep/rest interval arrangement doyouwant to use? This will depend on your training objectives,and for most of you, it'll come down to whether your goalsrelate mostly to strength/power/speed development, orhypertrophy/body composition. For our purposes here, andas a way of getting started, consider assigning the 3-5Method(as outlined in Power To The People!) to the “Grind” sessionand ladders to the “Explosive” session.

Another advantage of this plan is that you've got a lot offlexibility built right in. Let's say you have a hectic weekwhere you can only train twice. Just stick with the plan, likethis:

Day Week One: Week Two:Monday: "A" Session "A" SessionWednesday: No workout "B" SessionFriday: "B" Session "A" Session

Of course, it's never ideal to skip a workout, but the A-Bapproach minimizes the collateral damage if and when ithappens.

If you're one of those twisted freaks who insists on training5-6 days a week, the A-B split will help to minimize thedownside of your obsessive-compulsive behavior, because thescheme provides maximum variability, or what I callseparation—a key factor in successful recovery. Theoverachiever's plan looks like this:

Day Week One: Week Two:Monday: "A" Session "B" SessionTuesday: "B" Session "A" SessionWednesday: "A" Session No workoutThursday: "B" Session "B" SessionFriday: "A" Session "A" SessionAnd so on and so forth...

The Second“Best Practice”:Distinguish BetweenCompulsory AndOptional

When most coaches write programs for their clients, it'snaturally assumed that every exercise, every set and rep ismandatory. I find this approach is often psychologicallydaunting. A smarter approach is to "tag" exercises aseither compulsory (meaning, it must be completed) oroptional. In this context, “compulsory” means: don’t evencome to training unless you’re determined to finish yourcompulsories. The "optional" designation, on the otherhand, isn’t simply a license to skip the exercise becauseyou’re late for your weekly back waxing appointment.Instead, on days where your time, energy, focus, and ororthopedic health are truly sub-optimal, the “optimal”classification allows you to make the smart decision andlive to fight another day.

The Third“Best Practice”:Live And Die ByThe Stopwatchl

Like water, work tends to expand to whatever containeryou put it in. What usually takes two hours can often beperformed in one hour, IF you place that demand on

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Charles Staley is creator ofthe now-legendary EDTsystem, which has helpedathletes worldwide achieveremarkable success in everyimaginable sport. PavelTsatsouline’s landmarkclassics like Power to thePeople!, The Naked Warriorand Enter the Kettlebell!have been redefining ourfitness landscape for the lastdecade.

What more can you ask forthan to have both thesegreats combine theirknowledge and skills intoone information-packedtraining?

Charles and Pavel havemade it a life-long quest towrestle free the real nuggetsfrom the morass of half-truths masquerading outthere as “strength training”.Each man, in his verydifferent way, makes actual,realizable results the bottomline in his quest for superiorphysical performance.

Put the two men’sknowledge and experiencebase onto the same team—and you’re guaranteedmethods that have beenproven over and over againwhere it really counts—thetrenches.

Just some ofwhat you’lldiscoverfrom Pavel:��How to cultivate the

skill of strength byCORRECTLY applying themaster principle of“linkage”—not one in athousand trainersunderstand or know how toapply this key method!

��Understand the finerpoints of slow andexplosive strength

��The best methods fordeveloping starting andabsolute strength.

��The importance andapplications of absolutestrength as a foundation forall your strength programs.

��What it really takes togenerate and apply massivetension—AT THE RIGHTMOMENT—get this timingand application sciencewrong and you’ll be trappedin mediocrity for the rest ofyour days…

��How to build animpregnable foundationusing the method of “easystrength”—a guerilla tacticthat hands you an instantunfair advantage in yourtraining.

��When to employ theRussian secret ofspecialized variety, to geta dramatic edge over yourcompetitors.

��How to significantlyfinesse the skills of yoursport by practicing themisometrically.

��How to clean up yourtechnique and jump inproficiency usingneurological erasure.

• How to use the subtle butextremely important wedgemethod to enhance yourstrength and power.

��How to avoid “leakingaway” your hard-earnedstrength—get this right andsave yourself from a worldof frustration and sub-parresults.

��How to release the little-known, but deadly “parkingbrake” within your bodythat could be dooming yourperformance to constantfailure.

And fromCharles Staleydiscover:��The single biggest

obstacle to success in theweight room—and how toovercome it, every time!

��The worst possibleformula for strengthtraining—and why youwant to ALWAYS do thevery opposite…

��The magic rep numberthat yields the greatestpower output—zero in onand fully employ this onesecret in your training andyou’ll transform yourpractice, guaranteed…

��How to pack maximumstrength benefits intominimum time.

��How to manipulate thevariables in your training totrick your body into greaterstrength gains.

��The cornerstoneprinciple in all strengthtraining—and how to makeit work even better for YOU.

��A hobbled horse is auseless horse…how todramatically reduce thechance of injury in your

training—and radicallyextend your athletic career.

��The counter-intuitivesecret that could rockyour world and turn itupside down: how to makeyour workout EASIER—yetGAIN MORE STRENGTH!

��How to identify the“sweet spot” whenactivating your nervoussystem—for optimal gainsin your workout.

��Why, for most of us,knowing how to time our“activations” is way moreimportant than figuring outcorrect rest periods.

��How to control andmanage your fatigue,instead of becoming itsvictim.

��Understand and utilizethe key principles ofvariability and specificity—by correctly exploiting thebenefits and minimizing thedrawbacks.

��How to utilize theprinciple of “conscientiousparticipation” to enhanceyour workout results.

��How to cycle EDT andthe 3-to-5 method, for asuperlative surge in yourathleticism.

��It’s certainly the mostunpopular—but is thisalso the world’s MOSTEFFECTIVE therapy formuscle recovery?

��What “percent ofcapacity” you need tooperate at—for the bestworkouts of your life…

��“Auto-regulatorytraining”—the often-slighted, often-ignored yetabsolutely vital strategy forlong term, significantstrength gains…


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How to shatter your personal bests in strength and power…

The Staley/TsatsoulineStrengthSeminarBy Charles Staley and Pavel Tsatsouline #DVS014 $247.002-DVD set Running time: 6 hours

The Lazy Man’s Guide toExtreme Strength Gains Historic display of advanced strength secrets caught on tape—astwo “masters of the art” reveal key, but little-known and oftensurprising strategies to dramatically enhance your performance…

yourself. When I write programs, I specify a time limit foreach exercise, including warm-up sets. Big core movementsare allotted between 20 and 30 minutes, and auxiliaryexercises receive between 10 and 15 minutes each. Also, thetime limit takes precedence over workload- if the programasks for 5x5 in 20 minutes, and you can only do 4 sets, sobe it- next time, try to make it to the 5th set.

Some months ago I mentioned this concept to ChristianThibaudeau and he told me that when he was an Olympiclifter under former Canadian National WeightliftingCoach Pierre Roy (who produced a host of weightliftingchampions including Olympic silver medalist JacquesDemers) time limits were a significant component of Roy'smethods. In each workout, Roy would specify time limitsfor each exercise on the menu. When the buzzer sounded,you were done with that exercise, even if you didn’tmanage to complete the specified number of sets and reps.If you believe (as I do) that success leaves clues…consideryourself clued-in.

The Fourth “BestPractice”: One ThingLeads To Another. If you can design a workout in such

a way where exercise "A" becomes thewarm-up for exercise "B," and exercise "B" becomes thewarm-up for exercise "C" and so on, you'll have a muchleaner, meaner workout. I call this practice "ExerciseStacking" and here are two examples of employing it withkettlebells:

Example One:1st Exercise: Kettlebell Standing Press

2nd Exercise: Kettlebell Push Press

3rd Exercise: Kettlebell Jerk

Example Two:1st Exercise: Kettlebell Swing

2nd Exercise: Kettlebell High Pull

3rd Exercise: Kettlebell Snatch

The Fifth “Best Practice”:Practice SelectiveIgnorance

Pop quiz: what’s the main difference between you and anOlympic athlete? Genetics? Drugs? Coaching? Facilities?Motivation?

Certainly all of these and more factor into the equation,but I’m convinced that the most significant point ofdifference is consistency.

Here’s a quick tutorial on human nature: When you starta new program, it’s fun initially because it’s NEW. After 3-4 weeks however, it gets old. So you Google somethinglike: “massive size and strength training program,” whichleads you to an article featuring a novel way of training, orperhaps some new training device you’ve never heard of.And compared to the hard work you’re doing now, itlooks like fun. So you immediately abandon your formerprogram for the new one. And 3-4 weeks from now, you’lldo it again. And again. And again.

The reason you never make any progress is because younever stick with something long enough for it to work. Butif you visit the weightlifters (or gymnasts, or fencers, orwhatever) at the Olympic Training Center in ColoradoSprings, do you think they’re using plyos one month, thenpilates the next, kettlebells the next, EDT, HITT, HSP,blah, blah, blah. NO! Olympic athletes do (relatively) thesame thing for years on end. Obviously, trends graduallyshift over the years—all training must have this type offlexibility that allows for the incorporation of bettermethods as they’re discovered.

Smart athletes learn to pick their battles: if you try to doeverything, if you switch gears every month, you end upaccomplishing nothing. Specialization is the key toprogress. And the only way you can specialize is to be"OK" with ignoring a lot of exercises, training methods,and so on, no matter how promising they may seem. If youthink of yourself as a professional, or at least aspire to aprofessional training ethic, you must adopt selectiveignorance as your way of life.

The Sixth “Best Practice”:Treat Yourself ToFree Exercise TimeThis is the exception to the previous

point. If we just accept the fact that the grass looks greeneron the other side, we can admit that whatever you're notdoing always looks really attractive. For example, if you'rea Girevik, and you do nothing but kettlebell work for 4months, before long you'll read an article about, say,strongman training, and you'll be tempted to “have anaffair.” Which isn't very smart if you've already invested alot of time and effort pursuing KB-related goals. Or, youmight be an Olympic lifter—and like anything else, O-lifting can become a grind after a while (it's a sign thatyou're training hard actually). So then you buy someWestside Barbell DVDs and all of the sudden, yourOlympic lifting goals are in jeopardy.

Here's how to stay monogamous: Once a week, at theend of one of your workouts, build in a 15-minute "freeexercise" period. Assuming you still have time and energyafter you've completed the compulsory part of yourworkout, use this time to do whatever you like- tire flips,sprints, plyos, whatever strikes you as fun at the moment.This allows you to "get it out of your system" and willhelp you stay on track with your training. It's almost likehaving an occasional "cheat meal" to help you keep yourdiet on track.

The Seventh “Best Practice”: A Wider Net Catches More FishLAs you work through the process of

creating and refining your goals, don't limit yourself to asingle definition of success. For example, a lot of guysmight find themselves frustrated with a woman whoembarks upon a weight-loss campaign, only to quit afterseveral weeks, despite having succeeded by all rationalmeasures: she looks better, her bodyfat percentage hasdropped, her clothes are loose, her energy has increased,and her blood lipids have improved. Yet, because herweight has remained the same, she considers herself afailure.

Despite this, most guys do them same thing: they limitthemselves to a single definition of success (often relatingto lean-mass gain or maximum strength improvements),while ignoring numerous other factors that are not onlyimportant by themselves, the also contribute to theoriginal goal.

So if your goal is to bench 405 or to weigh 260 at lessthan 10% bodyfat, stay with that goal, but also considercasting a wider net: also measure indicators such as jointpain, technical proficiency, or maybe even competitivesuccess (as measured by a national ranking in weightliftingor powerlifting for example).

When you establish and track multiple indicators—multiple definitions of success really- you stand a far betterchance of succeeding. Take the time right now to establish3-5 "Functional Indicators" for yourself.

Only you can decide the most appropriate benchmarksto track, but I’ll provide a few personal examples to spuryour imagination: As a competing weightlifter, everymonth I keep track of how many times I snatch 90% orabove, as well as how many times I clean & jerk 90% ormore. My underlying assumption is that when I reach acertain threshold, a new PR should be forthcoming. I alsotrack my best performances on assistance lifts (back squat,front squat, overhead squat, Zots press, push press, etc),again with the implicit assumption that new PRs in any ofthese lifts will “bleed over” into my competitive exercises.

As an experienced masters’ level lifter, new PRs in thetwo competition lifts are few and far between, but I’m ableto sustain my progress and motivation by tracking myperformances on a range of indicators. PRs areimportant—rig up your training so that you have amaximum number of opportunities to post as many ofthem as possible.

Reading Is Not Enough—You Must Do!Although I’m always flattered when people write to tell

me they enjoy my articles, my real goal is to influence yourbehavior—I want you to have better workouts (and hence,better results) as a result of your having read this article.So please apply at least one of these tactics to your nextworkout, and let’s see if we can make you a believer!


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About The Author“One of the signs of a great teacher is the ability to make thesubject matter seem simple. Charles Staley is one of these rareteachers. After listening and talking to him, you suddenly achievea new awareness of training. You go to the gym and, suddenly,everything makes sense, and you wonder why you haven’t beendoing it his way since day one.” – Muscle Media 2000 magazineAugust, 1999His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker.His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to seewhat other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” whostruggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him,Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produceserious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacingdemeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Showand The CBS Early Show.Currently, Charles competes in Olympic-style weightlifting on themaster’s circuit, with a 3-year goal of qualifying for the 2009Master’s World Championships.For more information about Charles Staley visitwww.CharlesStaley.com

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ow much can you bench”might be the most askedquestion in today’s gym.However, no one asksquestions about movement

skill. Even fitness evaluations performedby professionals in the field usually focuson numbers in certain tests (body fat andone-mile walk tests). But in the grandscheme of human performance I wouldrate the ability to move effectively abovethe bench press.

What we should be asking is: “Can yousquat? Can you touch your toes?” etc…

Our quantitative evaluation ofperformance (bench press, sit-ups etc…)leaves huge gaps in the ability to gauge thequalitative aspects of human performance.How something happens is moreimportant than how much of it happens. Itis the hidden compensations that result inmicro trauma and eventually injury that we shouldbe trying to catch.

Since the overall concept and application ofmovement screening and correction is beyond thescope of this article (see functionalmovement.comand the functional movement screen for completeinformation) we will focus on evaluating andcorrecting one of the most basic movements—thetoe touch.

Let’s get a baseline before we go any further:stand with your feet together (and I mean big toestouching and heels touching) and keeping the kneesstraight (not hyper-extended or “locked”) reach foryour toes. (I’ll wait while you do it…)

Well…how did you do? (BTW: you can hold aruler and measure how far you are from your toes.)

If you were short of your toes I would advise youto pay careful attention to the correction laid outbelow and back off of any deadlifting or KB workuntil you can touch your toes.

“Why?” you ask.

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If your hamstrings are in the ON position all thetime (meaning they don’t know when to lengthen)and they don’t allow your hips to hinge, you willbend from your back instead. And if your abs donot know when to fire then your low back willcontract to stabilize and prevent forward flexion.

Result: you can’t touch your toes and effectivelyuse your hips. Note I didn’t mention the “length”of your hamstrings—that is because theneurological input or patterning determines yourmuscle length—but I digress.)

SSoo nnooww tthhaatt wwee kknnooww yyoouurr ttooeettoouucchh aabbiilliittyy——lleett’’ss ffiixx iitt..

You will need a 2x4 or approximately 2” thickobject (book etc…) and a ball or rolled up towel tosqueeze between the knees. Begin by placing thetoes/balls of the feet up on the 2x4 with the feettogether. Then bend the knees and place the ballbetween the knees (you should be able to straightenthe knees but not hyper-extend them). Whilesqueezing the ball with the knees you will reach foryour toes. If the squeeze of the ball does not get youto your toes you will bend the knees as much as you

need to—but only as much as you haveto—and touch your toes. As you loosenup try to bend the knees less and less.Perform ten repetitions.

After the ten reps with the toes up, stepover the board so that the heels are nowelevated and the toes are down. Place theball between the knees again and repeatthe ten reps squeezing the ball andbending the knees—only as much as youhave to—and touch the toes all ten reps.

Once you have finished you will re-testyour toe touch standing on the levelground without the ball between theknees. You should see a significantimprovement in your toe touch. Withconsistent practice of the above correctionyou should be able to maintain your toetouch and have better control over youhips and low back.

For a thorough training in many methodssimilar to those discussed in this article, seeBrett Jones’s 2-DVD set CorrectiveStrategies and Movement Screening on theopposite page—Ed.

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“CAN YOU TOUCH YOUR TOES?”HOW TO AVOID INJURY AND EXTEND YOUR ATHLETIC

CAREER BY FIXING YOUR MOVEMENT PATTERNS

BY BRETT JONES, SENIOR RKC, CSCS


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Mark Reifkind, Sr. RKC has been a competitive athlete, coach and student of physicalculture for the last 35 years. A former national level gymnast, Mark spent 15 years training,competing in powerlifting, achieving a Masters Rating and a Top 100 ranked benchpress. Mark was also Head Coach for Team USA at the IPF World Championship in1995 as well as the 2000 IPF Pan Am Championships. A writer for Milo, Ironman,Muscle Mag International, as well as a published book author, Mark now ownsGirya Kettlebell Training in Palo Alto, Ca. Girya was one of the first studios in thecountry devoted solely to kettlebell training. Mark works one on one with clientsat Girya as well as online; offering instruction for powerlifters, mixed martial artists, andkettlebell enthusiasts of all ages. Visit www.GiryaStrength.com

irtually everyone comes totraining to get better.Whether you choose to trainwith kettlebells, barbells or

bodyweight the commondenominator in most people’s mindsis improvement of their physical state.

Some of us are looking for ultimateperformance, some of us areinterested in more modestachievements and some of us areinterested in getting out of pain andback to our original functionality. Butwe all want our training to improveus, not injure us.

Most approaches to training beginwith the basic exercises, stretches andprotocols that will help deliver theresults people are searching for. Buthave you made sure your structure isup to the task of dealing with theoverloads that training must imposeon the body, in order for positiveadaptations to occur? This is one ofthe most overlooked aspects of thetraining model.

It’s easy to forget that our bodiesare under a constant source ofpressure from gravity at all times.Gravity is always trying to bend usover, push us down and return us tothe fetal position we started from.Many of the muscles in our body areall too happy to ‘go with the flow’and bend us over into a ball. Ourmodern seated lives do not help this atall. It’s easy to go from bed, to chair,to car seat, to office seat, back to carseat to couch to bed every day. Andthen we wonder why our backs or

necks hurt or why the exercise routineis not working as well as it should.

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ssqquuaarree,, pplluummbb aanndd nneeuuttrraall aatttthhee ssttaarrtt——eessppeecciiaallllyy

mmoovveemmeennttss tthhaatt aarree wweeiigghhtteeddoorr ddoonnee mmaannyy tthhoouussaannddss ooffttiimmeess——cchhaanncceess aarree tthheeyy wwiillllnnoott bbee ssqquuaarree,, pplluummbb aanndd

nneeuuttrraall aatt tthhee eenndd..

Gravity, weighted exercises and thedaily, repetitive movements we do allday long have very specific effects onour muscles. Certain muscles, referredto as tonic, respond to too muchloading or too much inactivity bygetting, and staying shorter. Examplesof tonic muscles are the hamstrings,calves, the deep muscles in the glutesand the flexors of the upper arm.Tonic muscles are mostly postural,slow twitch fibers that can get andstay tight very easily.

One the other side of the coin (andthe joint) are phasic muscles such asquadriceps, triceps, the musclesbetween the shoulder blades(rhomboids) that are prone to gettingweak and stretched out with toomuch or too little use.

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TTeennssiioonn rreellaattiioonnsshhiipp..

Since all muscles exert force on thebones they attach to, all the time(known as resting level of tension) toomuch or too little force creates animbalance that can cause pain, and ifout of balance enough, serious injury.This is especially true if thatimbalanced joint is loaded heavily orfor too long a time.

A house with an uneven foundationwill not support the house very welland neither will the body.Chiropractic addresses this bymanipulating the joints into place andhoping the musculature will relax asthe joints return to ‘neutral’. This canwork but muscle memory and oldpatterns of movement can recreate thesame issue very quickly.

Just ‘stretching out’ doesn’t solvethe issue either, as some muscles(tonic) need to be stretched in order toget us to neutral and others (phasic)need to be strengthened in order toget us to postural ‘square and plumb’.

It’s important to be able to assesswhere you are posturally and addressthose imbalances before loading thebody with weights or cyclic exercises(running, cycling, etc.) in order to notfurther create or magnify existingproblems.

If one is already in pain frommuscle imbalances, selective app-lication of specific stretches—andtools such as the foam roller—canreally help relieve the pressure on themuscles and joints and help bring thebody back to square, plumb andneutral. Opening up these tight areas

prior to exercising is a great way toslowly but surely address the issuesthat are tightening you up anddelaying your training progress, orkeeping you injured.

Many ankle, knee, IT band, lowerback shoulder and neck ‘injuries’ arenot as much permanent injuries aspain resulting from length tensionrelationship imbalances. Getting thebody back into balance with a focuson not only restoring lost function butpreventing further imbalance with aproactive approach is key to manyyears of productive, injury freetraining.

Mark Reifkind’s 2-DVD setRestoring Lost Physical Function(See opposite page) offers acomplete program foraddressing the issues raised inthis article—Ed.

V

LENGTH TENSION RELATIONSHIPS ANDHOW TO RESTORE LOST FUNCTION

BY MARK REIFKIND, SENIOR RKC


12

like to consider myself amovement coach. Most of myclients come to me wanting tolearn more than how to swing a

hunk of iron. They are coming to me toregain control of their bodies. I amteaching them to breathe, to feel theirbodies, how to move, how to use theright muscles for the job, and hopefullyget them out of pain.

I am giving them a chance to not onlychange their bodies, but change theirlives.

As an RKC instructor, it is veryimportant to be able to identify on somelevel with your clients’ physicallimitations. What must it be like to livewith pain, to lack a decent range ofmotion, to not have strength or energyto do daily tasks? You may be seen as alast resort by some of these people.They’ve been to doctors, PTs, bodyworkers, chiropractors and maybenothing has helped, or perhaps theywere referred by one of them.

You’ll need to develop the skills towork with these clients. There will becases that you will not be capable ofhandling. It is always the best policy tobe honest and send them to someoneelse, or contact another RKC that hasmore experience in that area.

WWhhaatt aarree ““ssppeecciiaallppooppuullaattiioonnss”” ffoorr aann RRKKCC??

In Working with Special Populations,you get a variety tools and ideas on howto best handle special populations. Thisincludes: older clients, de-conditioned,post-rehab, and those with various oldtweaks and injuries that inhibit propermovement and functioning.

After the initial assessment, whichshould include ROM tests, basicmovement patterns, gait, overall fitness

level and of course a full medical historyto screen for any serious contra-indications, you are ready to begin. Thisinformation will tell you where to begin,and what your initial focus will be.

Some of what I present, you may haveseen, done or are familiar with. I hope tointroduce a new way to look at andutilize many drills that you alreadyknow. In other words, we don’t have tore-invent the wheel every time we set outto work with someone.

I hope to give you a new way to lookat these drills, as well as why and whento use each to achieve a specific result.

You will get a target for each exerciseand the proper cueing, what to watchfor. I will provide you a basic strategyand general order of the drills to workwith special populations. I also includewhat I call “pre-kettlebell” drills. It maynot be possible for some clients toimmediately start using kettlebells. Forinstance, if a client does not have enoughbody awareness to maintain neutralspine, or to track their knees properlyyou will want to deal with those issuesbefore having them do kettlebell swings.Or, perhaps, your client cannot raisetheir arm overhead without lifting theshoulder or bending the elbow. I showyou some drills that should be taughtfirst.

The order and pace you teach theseclients is also covered. Never start withoverhead drills and don’t rush theprocess. That may seem obvious, butmany clients may want to start pressingtoo soon, or want to move up in weighttoo quickly. Your job is to keep theirpace and progression successful andsafe.

Here is a general list and order of mypresentation:

Sizing up your client: Obtainingenough information to get a baseline oftheir current fitness and health level.Starting with basic body positioning.

This would include teaching neutralspine, proper back and knee alignmentand breathing. I would also include anyjoint mobility, such as Zhealth or SuperJoints. This is also where you would doany assessment protocol, again Zhealthor Gray Cook’s screening.

Building the Foundation:When you build a house you start withthe foundation. The legs, hips and glutesare the foundation of our bodies. That’swhere you’ll generally start.

This includes, Bottom KB Deadliftswith a rocking motion, Box Squats, WallSquats (with or without bands), Figure8s, Shoulder Bridge with knee squeeze.Once your clients get stronger you canadd, Box Pistols and One Legged DLs,Step-back Lunges with a KB pass.

Contemplate your center:Now that we’ve developed a foundationit’s time to build the frame. To be frank,you cannot pick up a kettlebell withoutusing your core. And you can’t work theabdominals without making sure thelower back and pelvis are in a healthyalignment. This section includes theneutral spine exercise, Power Breathingwith knee squeeze, Sling Shot, One-ArmSuitcase DL, Russian Twists.

Reach for the stars: Once thelower body and core are strong andstable, it’s time to start to work theupper body. This is another problemarea, the shoulders. Due to injury, manyclients lack the mobility and flexibility tosafely hold a KB overhead in a lockedout position. I have some simple drillsthat target the shoulder to helpstrengthen the small stabilizer muscles ina safe, controlled way. This includes,Shoulder exercises with 5lb balls, Bandsthat target the rhomboids and lats, WallSquats with bands. Once they have thestability and strength I move toKettlebell drills; walking around in theClean position, Farmers Walks, WaiterWalks, Arm Bars. Corkscrew Windmills(without a kettlebell).

The information on this Workingwith Special Populations will be someof the most useful and valuable for yourKettlebell training business. Themajority of your clients will fit one of theabove profiles. You will need the righttools and proper approach to positivelyimpact your clients. The genuinegratitude and appreciation you receiveby helping these people will give you thegreatest of satisfactions as well asdevelop a financially successful business.

For more information on AndreaDu Cane’s 2-DVD set Working withSpecial Populations see oppositepage—Ed.

I

HOW TO WORK WITH SPECIALPOPULATIONS AS AN RKC—

AND HELP THEM REGAIN CONTROL OF THEIR BODIES

BY ANDREA DU CANE, SENIOR RKC

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ack in ancient Greece, in the days ofthe battle at the Hot Gates, thehuman race had superior geneticscompared to us in this lifetime. A

couple of years ago an experiment was conductedacross history. Exercise physiologists, engineersand historians from several universities acrossEurope set out to determine the level ofconditioning these heroes of ancient timespossessed.

By an historical analysis of information onthese men’s training, ability to sail their ships andcover great distances by foot it was shown thatthe cardiovascular endurance and strength of the“average” man would be hard if not impossibleto find a match for today—even when recruitingfrom the ranks of world level athletes. Thescientists wrote: “It would be hard today to findenough world class athletes in the entire world torow a single copy of an ancient battleship at thesame speed and for the same duration as the menfrom the past were able to do. Today we wouldnot stand a chance against these men”.

OOuurr ggeenneettiiccss hhaavvee cchhaannggeedd aanndd tthheehhuummaann rraaccee iiss iinn iittss wwoorrsstt sshhaappee eevveerr!!

I urge you to reclaim the past, make a standand gain the heart of a racehorse with thestrength of a grizzly, that would make the heroesof the past proud.

It is not a coincidence that the men of the pastwere in such excellent cardiovascular health. Alot of training and fighting requires the ability toexert sustained force output, great accelerationsand performing the Valsalva manoeuvre WHILEbeing under tremendous cardio-vascular stress.

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Enter the Cardiovascular Kettlebell Concepts! In 2006 the very first Western-based university

study on the kettlebell was conducted.Measurements on oxygen uptake (VO2), Lactateproduction, energy output and power wereperformed and analyzed in relation to theseparameters when doing conventional types ofcardiovascular training.

The Kettlebell Snatch delivers results every bitas good as conventional types of exercise if donecorrectly. Furthermore, a major difference exists.Because of the ballistic nature of the kettlebellsnatch and the use of the Valsalva pressurizationtechnique during each repetition, not only willyou stimulate an expansion of the heart wall(called eccentric hypertrophy)—and thereby andincrease in maximum oxygen uptake(VO2max)—but you will also stimulate anincrease in the strength of the heart wall(concentric hypertrophy), along with increases inblood pressure sensitivity and arterialcompliance. These benefits aren’t observed to thesame extent doing other types of cardiovascularactivities.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever notto snatch a kettlebell! It will provide you with theheart of a racehorse and the strength of a grizzly!!

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hheerrooeess……

Some protocols will work better than others,just like different deadlift programs. Even if youare not an elite athlete it does not mean that youshould not use the best protocols for yourphysical development. Proper planning andstructure of the training sessions ensuresmaximum results and prevents poor

performance. Don’t settle for anything less thanoptimal. Learn proven protocols and why theywork.

There are a lot of misconceptions about“cardio” training and they should be put to rest.Specific parameters should exist in order for anexercise to constitute a “cardio” exercise—andtrainers and serious athletes should be aware ofthese in order to achieve what they want.

The Cardiovascular Kettlebell Concepts (CKC)will do exactly that. The CKC will teach you thereasons behind true cardiovascular training andhow the kettlebell fits in perfectly! It will provideyou with an understanding of how the systemiccirculatory system works and why the kettlebellsnatch is one of the best exercises for heart healthand strength. In addition it will provide you withfoolproof protocols for doing things right—byteaching you how to test yourself with repetitionkettlebell snatches to ensure you do exactly whatis needed to achieve physical greatness. Nothinghalf-assed here—only the best is good enough andyou should not settle for less.

Reclaim the strength and glory of our heroicforefathers. Build a heart of elastic steel with theendurance of a racehorse and the strength of agrizzly!

For a complete training program inCardiovascular Kettlebell Concepts andVO2max, see Kenneth Jay’s 2-DVD setAdvanced Strength Strategies on theopposite page—Ed.

B

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&& CCoonnddiittiioonniinngg CCooaacchh,, DDeennmmaarrkkwwwwww..KKeettttlleebbeellllss..DDkk


14

HOW TO RECLAIM MANKIND’S GLORY DAYS OFSUPERLATIVE STRENGTH, ENDURANCE AND POWER

INTRODUCING:CARDIOVASCULAR KETTLEBELL CONCEPTS

BY KENNETH JAY, SENIOR RKC

chose the title of this article to emphasize how important theback musculature and glutes are when effectively andholistically training the core. The more you read and researchcore training the more you are exposed to the significant biastoward isolated abdominal training, which commonly falls

under the broad umbrella of core training. It is imperative that you firstunderstand that in a normal functioning system the core is used in everyactivity to stabilize, balance and protect the body as well as to transferenergy from one body segment to another. It is only when the systembreaks down and mobility and stability problems are evident that weneed to isolate a part and break it down during core training.

One of the most fundamental movements and coreexercise techniques that I have seen is the deadlift.However, many individuals shy away from the deadlift because they

perceive it will place a higher degree of stress on the back, which mayhave potential for injury. As a board-certified orthopedist specialist inphysical therapy, I do not see how a complete core training or backrehabilitation protocol could not involve this most fundamentalmovement. I think the biggest problem with the deadlift is individualsdo not realize the many options they have to evoke this primitivestabilization pattern.

Deadlifting does not have to be about a straight bar,large plates and chalk on your hands.Deadlifting is about holding the segments of the spine stable in a

neutral position and allowing the hips to exert their force through thespine to move the upper torso without changing the position of thevertebrae, which make up the spine. This move is described byconcentrically contracting the hips during extension, with an isometriccontraction of the spinal stabilizers. Having said that, a deadlift isactually any hip hinge move—either single or double leg—that fits thedefinition.

I primarily use the deadlift as a corrective maneuver to helpdemonstrate left and right side asymmetries in my coretraining programs. I use this both in rehabilitation andperformance training. First to help patients recover from aninjury that has involved the spine or core and secondly whenconsulting with high school, collegiate and professionalathletes who are having performance issues and recurrentproblems associated with their training.

Let me review a few pearls on deadlifting that havebecome apparent to me since I have researched anddissected core training over the last few years:

1) For the purposes of training the core, it is necessary to at least have20 degrees of flexion at the knee. This reduces compensation thatcan be caused by muscles attaching to the IT band. Flexing theknee renders the IT band as more of a stabilizer and not a primemover. It also increases proprioceptive awareness at the foot, kneeand hip, which allows the core to have more control over thesituation of deadlifting. It should also be stated that maintaining aslight bend in the knee simulates the universal ready position usedin most sports and allows the pelvic stabilizers to work moreeffectively. The slightly flexed knee position also allows for moreeffective foot positioning, decreasing pronation, for individualswho may have increased tightness in the gastroc/soleus complexand in the hamstrings.

2) It is not about the straight bar. Although I think that straight bardeadlifting large amounts of weight is one of the most fundamentalmaneuvers in weight training, I do not feel that it is necessary forall individuals to use a straight bar.

Only those individuals going into high-stress situations need toincorporate straight bar deadlifting large amounts of weight into theirweight training. A deadlift can be executed with a single arm either ona dumbbell or a kettlebell. We have even demonstrated in our recentpublished information how a deadlift can be done with tubing or a cablecolumn for those populations not yet ready for free weights.

The single arm deadlift turns the move into a 3-dimensionalstabilization drill. This technique evokes a rotational component by the

THE BACK SIDEOF THE CORE

Six Powerful Reasons Why Every AthleteShould Consider the Deadlift a CrucialComponent of Highly Effective Core Training

By Gray Cook MSPT, OCS, CSCS, RKC

I


16

Continued on Page 18

single arm pull, which effectively strengthens the shoulder girdle whilereceiving all of the benefits of a straight bar deadlift. This rotation iscountered by the rotators of the torso, the internal rotators of one hip andthe external rotators of the opposite hip. When splitting the deadlift inhalf and executing a single arm deadlift, it is important to take theuninvolved arm and place the back of the hand in the lordotic curve(inward curve of the low back) of the spine. We have even instructed firsttimers to hold a stick or a dowel in this position and maintain constantcontact between the stick, head, thoracic spine and buttocks. This givesincreased proprioceptive feedback for spine stability.

Since the deadlift is being executed with each armindependently, the trainer and strength coach havean excellent opportunity to look for mechanicaldifferences between the left and right pullmovements.These differences may not be a result of a slightly weaker shoulder; it

could be an entire pattern problem with reduced core stabilization on oneside. These types of asymmetries can be addressed by placing moreemphasis on the weaker side. You can increase the sets and/or reps on theweaker side until technique improves and left-right symmetry is noted.

3) The movement is more important than the motion. This statementcould be confusing, without definition, but my point is that a goodstable spine and a good hip drive is more important than pulling theweight completely from the floor. Range of motion is not the mostimportant thing when teaching deadlifting. It may be important forsome individuals to elevate the bar, dumbbell or kettle bell off of thefloor so that appropriate neutral spine and a 20-degree knee bendcan be performed. I will use a small step or platform, in order toplace the weight 6-8" off of the floor. This allows for good strongpulls and excellent mechanics without the added stress of excessiverange of motion while initially teaching the maneuver.

There are two options for progression once the individuals can performit with the weight elevated. The first is to maintain the same weight andmove it closer to the floor with a 2" or a 4" elevation. Secondly, youcould increase the weight and choose to stay above the level of the floorif you feel that range of motion may be a problem.

4) One of the best examples of total core stabilization is the single arm,single leg deadlift. This should always be done as a cross-bodymaneuver, meaning, if you are deadlifting while standing on the leftleg you will be lifting weight with the right arm. This places the rightleg off the ground and, although I have seen it demonstrated with aslightly bent knee, I encourage my clients and patients to extend thehip and the knee as much as possible as the leg leaves the ground andgoes into extension. This total extension of the non-weight bearingleg helps evoke core stabilization.

Standing on one leg and lifting the weight with theopposite arm places an extreme amount of 3-dimensional force through the core.To execute the move appropriately, the core must stabilize 3-

dimensions of stress while the hip drives itself into extension. Theinternal and external rotators of the hip as well as the adductors andabductors of the hip must continuously monitor motion and stabilize theway they were designed to do. These muscles are not prime movers and

perform a stabilizing role, in order for the prime movers to work andchange position during the movement.

Foot position is extremely important in both the single and double legdeadlift. The foot position should be monitored at all times, relative tothe knee. Ideally, you would like to set the knee as far outside the foot aspossible without changing foot position. The foot needs to remain flaton the floor and the individual is instructed to push and drive with thebig toe. This movement will cause the foot to have a tendency to pronateor supinate, if this occurs it will reduce the effectiveness of corestabilization.

Keeping the knee abducted as much as possible ontop of a stable foot will allow the best possiblebiomechanical alignment as well as neuromuscularhorsepower for the hip.

5) Never try to teach hip hinge and deadlift mechanics to an individualthat cannot perform a full and comfortable toe touch. In my book,Athletic Body in Balance, I demonstrate how to quickly clear up thismovement pattern limitation. The inability to touch your toessignifies more than just hamstring tightness. It demonstrates aserious disconnect between core stability and hip mobility. These arethe 2 fundamental aspects that need to be reinforced with thedeadlift. As a matter of fact, effective deadlifting, for thoseindividuals who have demonstrated life-long stiffness in the forwardbend, will actually reduce the limitation quicker than dailyhamstring stretching.

Remember, for every degree of mobility you gain youmust gain the same degree of stability to help controlthe increased range of motion.6) One last bit of advice. I have found the single arm, single leg

deadlift to be extremely effective in reducing stride problems andstride asymmetry in running. Many field and court athletes, as wellas runners, may never go to a double leg straight bar deadlift,however they can benefit significantly by keeping the hipssymmetrical in a single arm single leg deadlift. It is an effectiveform of hip mobility and core stabilization that is unlike any otherexercise maneuver that most running and field and court athleteswill experience. For this reason, I think that it is an excellentbalance of both mobility and stability, while giving the trainer andcoach an excellent opportunity to address symmetry on a weeklybasis.

Individuals will always have tendencies to be more proficient withmovement on one side of the body as opposed to the other; however,these differences should never exceed 10%.

If you notice a greater than 10% difference between aleft and right single arm, single leg deadlift, train theweaker side and watch the stride problems correctthemselves as core strength and hip symmetryincrease.

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18

Firefighting and Kettlebells:A Great Combination

By Tom Corrigan, RKC Team Leader

irefighting is a physically demanding job. Youhave no time to warm up when the alarmsounds. In fact, many of your hardest callswake you up the middle of the night. You haveto drag heavy hoses, lift ladders, carry heavy

equipment, and pry open or just break down doors. Youneed a strong grip, a powerful back, and the ability to takeballistic shocks.

You need power that endures, which meanshaving both strong muscles and a strongheart. I have discovered that thesequalities are developed with kettlebell training.

I'd like to share with you how kettlebell training haschanged the entire way I look at firefighting fitness.

Before kettlebell lifting, I mainly did the standard healthclub workouts, which are based on bodybuilding protocols.You did exercises for each body part, pumping your musclesup by going smooth and slow until your reached muscularfailure. After “weight lifting” for my muscles, I still had towork my heart, so then I had to do 20-30 minutes of cardio,usually on a treadmill or a stairstepper.

Doing these kinds of workouts did improve my overallcondition, but I always got a rude awakening when Iworked various manual labor jobs during the summermonths. All this lifting I was doing didn’t translate too wellto the “real strength” needs of working a construction job.It always took a few weeks for me to feel fit enough to workall day on a job site.

After a friend introduced me to kettlebell training, Iordered my own KB along with both the RKC book andvideo. While just training three times a week, I felt that itwas building functional strength, active flexibility, andcardio power.

After my initial training sessions I noticed minor pains inmy elbows and wrists. They faded as my tendons andligaments started to strengthen and thicken, adapting to theballistic shock. You don't get this kind of shock from thehealth club machines—they teach you to be slow andsmooth and have zero impact. That would be OK except forone small thing... REAL LIFE! You get jarred around in reallife—if you never train for it, you won't be able to handle it.

Controlled ballistic training helps youhandle shocks without getting injured aseasily and feeling as sore afterward.

Over the next few months I lifted less and less at the gym(and eventually dropped my membership) and startedfocusing on building my KB skills. I started to bring them tomy fire station, so I could practice during our allotted fitnesstime each shift. KBs are perfect for doing short but intenseworkouts. Never “training to failure” helps me stay fresh.As a fireman, you really can't afford to be really sore andstiff like you get after the typical “feel the burn”bodybuilding type workouts.

This was the kind of intense and functionalworkout I had been searching for—nofancy machines, high-tech gimmicks orcomplicated contraptions. Just a hunk ofiron with a handle...

Kettlebells are the best single tool I have found fordeveloping strength, endurance and flexibility. Their off-center weight distribution recruits the stabilizer muscles ofyour shoulders and torso like no dumbbell or barbell can.

The over-sized handles are about the same size as the gripson our axes, pike poles and other tools. High rep swings,snatches, and cleans tax your cardiovascular system just likemoving a charged hose line down a long hallway, haulinghose and tools up multiple flights of stairs, or dragging aperson out of a building. You can't get that kind of cardiofrom a treadmill or even a stairstepper. You only developthat kind of cardio from working your entire body.

Whole body cardio is built by using your major upperbody muscle systems working in a controlled andcoordinated fashion with you legs and hips for doing highrep sets with little or no rest. Your abs and back also get agreat workout from staying firm and protecting your spinewhile you do rep after rep.

I refer to high rep kettlebell lifting as“Loaded Cardio”, because your heart isworking just as hard as your muscles.It’s a two-for-one workout.

While fighting a fire, I am always lifting heavy objects offthe ground, carrying heavy things quickly up stairs or down

hallways, working with heavy tools over my head, andbending or crouching down as I pull hose or search forvictims. Bending over and lifting things, standing up withheavy weights, pressing and holding things over your headdescribes kettlebell lifting to a tee.

Our class motto at the State Fire Academy was “Train likeyou fight, fight like you train.” Are you training like you’regoing to be fighting? I have yet to sit on a bike seat or arowing machine seat, or lay on a bench on a fire scene.

Firefighting tasks can be trained for with the use ofkettlebells. The versatility of KBs is unsurpassed. You canhold them in many different ways—one handed, two handstogether, two hand parallel (right side up or upside down) oreven press it sitting on your palm, either on the flat bottomor the curved side. You can wrap a towel or large diameterrope around the handle to lift it up and even swing it aroundyour body or legs. It swings like a wrecking ball, developingtremendous amounts of force.

Swinging a six-pound axe feels like atoothpick after swinging a kettlebell on a rope.

Lifting and swinging two KBs in one hand develops apowerful grip. Pressing and walking around with kettlebellsoverhead builds both strength and stability in yourshoulders. High rep swings builds your low back endurance,which is what you need to avoid injury and pain.

My advice to any firefighter who wants “real world”conditioning, would be to buy a few kettlebells, then get mynew DVD KB FIRE. It covers everything you need to getstarted with kettlebell training. Learn the five basic lifts andtheir variations, and practice the firefighter specific drills.You would be wise to read pertinent articles on KB trainingat dragondoor.com. Consider getting some training from anRKC in your area. Check out Pavel’s kettlebell DVDs—Ihave every one, and have learned from them all.

Tom Corrigan is a firefighter and RKCTeam Leader based in Shoreline, WA. He can be reached by phone at 206-604-5588 or by email at:[email protected]


36

F

Among even thehardest livingof comrades, Sr. RKC MarkReifkindhas beenthere, donethat, and gotthe scars toprove it!

In this first of atwo-partinterview,Rif sharesthe firstpart of hisbackground

in elite athletics and the numerouscareer-ending injuries that forced himto reinvent himself.

Interview by Dr. Mark Cheng, RKC IIFirst of a 2-part series

UNSTOPPABLE!if is at it again. For those of you who’ve never attended an RKC event whereRif’s been on the teaching staff, you’re really missing out. This man is theconsummate athlete and a thinking man’s coach. And just when you thoughtthat competing on an elite level in gymnastics, bodybuilding, andpowerlifting (as well as dabbling in ultra marathons and triathlons) was

more than enough, Mark Reifkind has done it all with injuries thatwould’ve reduced most other world-class athletes to playingnothing more than their Xboxes. Now an elite level kettlebellinstructor with the Senior RKC ranking, he shares the first part ofhis story—his background as an Olympic hopeful and his head-oncollision with terrifying injuries.

HHaarrdd SSttyyllee:: Rif, thank you for taking the time to share your story with HardStyle. I first had the chance to meet you in April 2006, and since then, I’vehad the opportunity to train under you at three different RKC events. Eachtime, I hear and witness nothing but amazing things from you.

Not knowing you from Adam the first time, the thing that most impressedme after that RKC was how powerfully you spoke on the RKC system.More recently, at the last RKC II, you shared a ton of rehabilitativetechniques with the RKCs for use with their clients.

The first question that comes to mind is “How did you amass all of thisknowledge?”

R


56

MMaarrkk RReeiiffkkiinndd:: Thank you for all of thecompliments. I’m just a guy who’s had a lifelonglove of sports and competition, as well as avoracious appetite for knowledge. If it has to dowith making the human body perform better,move faster, or live more pain-free, I’m all over it!

HHSS:: That’s putting it quite simplistically, Rif.When did you start participating in sports on acompetitive level?

RRIIff:: I started competition training at age 14 ingymnastics. Although, growing up in MiamiBeach, I’d been swimming since I was three andsurfing from almost as young. I grew up in theocean and developed a decent upper bodystrength base from paddling out against thewindchop while teaching myself how to surf formany years. Without instruction, I was alreadyable to do handstands and cartwheels, so when Isaw the Japanese gymnasts competing in the 1972Olympic Games on TV, I was hooked! Instantlyand instinctively, I knew that gymnastics was thesport for me.

Luckily, I had access to a high school with agymnastics team and a coach with realcompetitive experience. One of our first workoutswas held at the Miami Dade Community Collegewith their team, one of the best in the country atthat time. From the moment I stepped into thegym, I felt like I’d found my home and devotedmyself to training as intensely as possible. Thecollege gymnasts that I was watching looked likeSupermen to me, and I wanted to be able to dowhat they were doing and have that same build.

HHSS:: Inspiration leads to perspiration, huh?

RRIIff:: Yup! I spent the next four years training 4-5hours a day, 5 days per week, and when I wasn’tin the gym, I was still doing more handstands,handstand pushups, and stretching like crazy toget and maintain my splits, as well as working tomold my body into the gymnast’s model.

When I wasn’t training, I was fantasizing aboutmy ideal gymnastics routines, spending hoursvisualizing the movements in my head andplaying them back in slow-mo in my mind,

analyzing them over and over. I also did a lot ofself-hypnosis to perfect my movements mentally

and rid myself of any fear or anxiety.

HHSS:: That sounds very cutting edge, Rif, even fortoday’s athletes.

RRIIff:: Today’s athletes are blessed, man. Technology hasmade training so much more productive. Camcordersare so cheap these days, and they make it so easy foran athlete to analyze his or her movement down tothe umpteenth detail. And more elite training centershave motion capture technology that allow you to seeeven more detail and give you the chance to take it toa whole new level.

HHSS:: That kind of technology might have saved youfrom a lot of the injuries that you suffered. Your firstrelatively major injury was in gymnastics, right?

RRIIff:: Absolutely. During my junior year of high school,I landed a full twisting back somersault with straightknees, trying to “stick it”, and compressed thecartilage in my left knee. That put me in a straight legcast for a month.

That, by itself, isn’t too major, but right out of thecast, I went straight back into training. No rehab. Nostrength training. Nada.

Keep in mind that that was the paradigm of sportsmedicine at the time (1974), but it set the stage for therest of my injuries throughout my career. One monthlater, attempting the same trick, I over-rotated theskill on a wrestling mat and my coach missed thespot. My foot got stuck in the mat, but the rest of mybody continued rotating… resulting in a vicious fulldislocation of my left knee. Somehow, my coachmanaged to reduce the dislocation, and I went off tosee the doctor immediately. While testing for stability,the doctor managed to dislocate it again. Two fulldislocations in an hour. Not bad, eh?

HHSS:: Holy…. Wow, Rif. I’m an orthopedics guy, andthat’s still making my skin crawl hearing that. I’mamazed that you’re walking, let alone doing half thethings you’re doing with kettlebells these days!

RRIIff:: Wait a sec, Doc. The story’s not over there!

They put it in a straight leg cast—no ice or anti-inflammatories—and scheduled me for surgery inthree days. When my foot went completely numb thatnight, I went to the ER and got rescheduled for thenext day.

My doctor, who was the team physician for theMiami Dolphins at the time, said it was the worstknee injury he’d ever seen, explaining that I’dmissed tearing the femoral nerve by mere

millimeters.

Again, another cast and not an ounce of rehab, and 8weeks later, I’m back to the gym with nothing morethan an ACE bandage! I was scared like hell, and theroad back was very tough, but I was completely

determined to get back to competitive shape.

My nemesis, Kurt Thomas, was graduating that year,so the Florida state title and the All-Around recordwas mine for the taking if I could get my act togetherin time. My injury was in March and I had to be backin competition shape in November.

HHSS:: Did you say Kurt Thomas? As in, the KurtThomas, former Olympian and the first Americanmale to win gold in the floor exercise competition?

RRIIff:: That’s the one. He and I had a serious rivalrygoing on. That year, I won 5 out of 6 events in thestate championship and broke Thomas’s All-Aroundrecord. Mine still stands to this day. From that, I gota full ride to the University of Iowa, which had beenthe national champs a few years earlier.

Again, zero strength or rehab training, and I was offto Iowa. Just my ACE bandages and back to trainingelite level gymnastics 5 hours a day for 5-6 days aweek. Mind-blowing, huh?

In spite of all that, I did well at Iowa, becoming TeamCaptain my sophomore year, and make it to the BigTen Finals on the parallel bars my junior year.

That same year, I was picked for the US Team forthe Maccabiah Games, the Jewish/Israeli Olympics.

But I started to develop a shoulder problem, which, inusual fashion, the coaches and trainers left untreatedand ignored. All I got was a bag of ice after practice.Tendonitis progressed to chronic bursitis, and thenafter one bad day in March, I suffered a fulldislocation of my right shoulder while swinginggiants on the rings.

HHSS:: Please tell me that it wasn’t another case of “putit in a cast and back to training”!

RRIIff:: Nope. I wasn’t so lucky that time.

I’d promised myself after the physical andpsychological torture of coming back from my kneeinjuries that if I ever needed surgery again on anybody part I’d quit gymnastics. The doctors wanted tocut up my shoulder since the damage was so severe. Ihad a knee jerk reaction and just quit right then andthere. Without the ability to compete as a potentialOlympic gymnast, my motivation for being in collegemelted. I walked away from a full scholarship and leftschool.

I had a bit of a breakdown because of that. Duringmy most formative years, my whole being hadrevolved around the pursuit of Olympic competition.

Every shred of my being had been utterly andcompletely focused on that single goal. Everythought, every emotion, every drop of sweat,every ache, and every tear had centered aroundrepresenting my country on the world stage.

With that hope taken from me, I had no idea what to

do with myself, and I felt my world spinning aroundme like a ship lost at sea.


57

NEW FROMDRAGON DOOR &MARK REIFKIND

IN OUR NEXT ISSUE… THE REINVENTION OF A SUPERMAN… MARK REIFKIND’S RISE TO PROMINENCEIN THE WORLD OF STRENGTH TRAININGAND REHABILITATION!

See Pages 10 and 11 of this issuefor full details of Mark Reifkind’snew 2-DVD set, Restoring LostPhysical Function

The Senior RKCThis is the highest level of instructorand is by invitation only. The SeniorRKC has displayed a combination ofsupreme teaching skills, leadership

and physical abilities with the kettlebell. The SeniorRKCs are responsible for teaching and testing atDragon Door and Pavel's renowned RussianKettlebell Challenge Instructor certificationworkshops.

We strongly recommend you seek out one of theseelite instructors for a workshop or privateinstruction, it at all possible.

The RKC Team LeaderThe position of RKC Team Leader isalso by invitation only. The RKCTeam Leader has displayedconsistently strong teaching skills

over a number of years and demonstrates a very highlevel of physical skill in their kettlebell practice. RKCTeam Leaders teach on a limited basis at the RKCinstructor certifications.

To make rapid gains in strength, power, flexibilityand athletic performance seek out an RKC TeamLeader in your area today!

The RKC II InstructorThe RKC IIs have been certified toteach an additional curriculum ofkettlebell drills and have received

further training in specialties such as correctivestrategies and injury prevention for clients.

The RKC InstructorThe RKC Instructor hasdemonstrated a high proficiency inthe most essential kettlebell drillsand shown an ability to effectivelyteach kettlebell use to others.

RKC instructors are required to recertify every twoyears by attendance at a kettlebell certificationworkshop, either as a participant or in the role of anassistant instructor.

Kettlebell books and DVDs can take you only so far.Experience the difference when you get personalinstruction from an RKC!

Rate and Review our Certified Russian KettlebellInstructors!

So, your kettlebell instructor is certified as an RKC.That's a very big plus and means you have anexcellent chance of receiving top-quality kettlebellinstruction.

However, customer reviews and ratings of anindividual instructor can give you invaluableadditional information on whom to choose and why!

Help others chose the best kettlebell instructoravailable by posting your own rating and review ofthat instructor.

Visit an individual RKC's page to see their rating andall reviews.

s the demand forkettlebells andkettlebell training

grows, many unqualified trainershave begun to advertise theirservices as kettlebell instructors.

But beware, kettlebellinstruction requires an extensivebackground and training to betruly safe and effective. Don'trisk injury or waste time withsubpar instruction when you cantake advantage of Pavel andDragon Door's growing,worldwide network of highlyqualified RKC certified kettlebellinstructors.

Our RKC kettlebell instructorshave undergone the world'smost rigorous of kettlebellinstructor certification coursesand are fully qualified to helpyou meet and surpass yourgoals, be they fat loss, strengthand power development orathletic success.

There are currently four levels ofcertified kettlebell instructor:

A

For fast yet permanent gains instrength, power and energy visithttp://rkcinstructor.com/ today!

Dragon Door PublicationsP.O. Box 1097West Chester, OH 45071

How to GET What You Need FastPavel and Charles Staley’s new 2-DVD set The Strength Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 5Brett Jones’s new 2-DVD set Corrective Strategies and Movement Screening . . . . . . . . .Page 9Mark Reifkind’s new 2-DVD set Restoring Lost Physical Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 11Andrea Du Cane’s new 2-DVD set Working with Special Populations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 13Kenneth Jay’s new 2-DVD set Advanced Strength Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 15Gray Cook and Brett Jones’s Secrets of Core Training DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 17Pavel’s bestselling classic Enter the Kettlebell! book/DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 19—22Dragon Door Russian Kettlebells complete information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 23—27Dragon Door Russian Reds complete information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 29Pavel’s More Russian Kettlebell Challenges DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 34Pavel’s From Russia with Tough Love book/DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 35Tom Corrigan’s new KB Fire DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 37Brett Jones’s Kettlebell Basics for Strength Coaches and Trainers DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 38Andrea Du Cane’s acclaimed Kettlebell Goddess Workout DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 39—41Pavel’s Resilient DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 42Gray Cook and Brett Jones’s Secrets of the Shoulder DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 43Pavel’s Power to the People! Monthly Subscription Newsletter . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 44 & 45Pavel’s 5-DVD set Beyond Stretching: The Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 46—47The Ab Pavelizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 48Pavel’s Bullet-Proof Abs book & Beyond Crunches DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 49Pavel’s Loaded Stretching DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 50Pavel’s Strength Stretching DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 51Pavel’s Fast and Loose DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 52Pavel’s Naked Warrior book/DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 53—55Pavel’s great strength classic Power to the People! book/DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 58—60Pavel’s Super Joints for Longevity and Pain-Free Movement book/DVD . . . . . . . .Pages 61 & 62Pavel’s bestselling Beyond Bodybuilding book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 63—69Pavel’s Relax into Stretch book/DVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pages 70—72Order Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 75

Documents

HARDSTYLE 2 2004 Springsecret in your training and you’ll transform your practice, guaranteed… How to packmaximum strength benefits into minimum time. How to manipulate the variables