Rocky Mountain Kettlebell Level I & II Seminar Review
This past weekend, Chris Brown of Rocky Mountain Kettlebell and CrossFit Fort Collins came to Denver and gave a Level 1 and 2 Seminar on the Russian kettlebell. I wanted to learn more about this form of training since many people I know use it as part of their martial arts training. What a good experience it was. Chris was very nice and concise about the information and gave a good progression that enabled me to retain much of the information he shared.
First he went of the classic 7 kettlebell Exercise, starting with the swing. We did some exercises to activate the glutes and hamstrings and learned the breathing and proper exertion of energy. The swing itself is like a deadlift topped off with a jump to get a deep hip extension. let the kettlebell swing down to momentum and drive it upwards.
The cleans were next. Chris taught us to swing at the bottom of the clean and activate strong wrists. The bell is always to be below the hand so a proper twist should create this. The clean rack is utilized with a tight vertical elbow and a reduced "bang". The clean motion is opposite to the swing in that is is meant to be done very close to the body which was reinforced with some cleans near a wall. We went on to the clean and press where the press portion was slow and deliberate with full Range of Motion.
Chris discussed Pavel's 5 Compressions in detail. they are Breath, Muscles, Joints, Ground and Focus. he also described different KB emphasis, between Grinders and Ballistic exercises.
We moved from there to squats and then onto double KB exercises like the double KB squats, cleans, swings and presses. Then we went on to the Windmill which a peculiar exercise. You clean the KB up to rack and then point feet at a 45 degree angle, press the KB overhead and look at it at all times. Then with your free hand travel it down to touch the floor, bending the same side leg while keeping the leg on the side of the overhead KB very straight and hips pointed outwards. Turkish Getups are always a challenge and we went into these next. We learned the lunge method and also incorporated the Getup Halfways (aka getup Situp).
The snatch was next and we learned the difference between the hard style (swing out KB and punch through) and the corkscrew (twist hand and snatch close to the body) methods of snatching.
After a small break we went into variations of each exercise to add degrees of difficulty to the movements such as forward and lateral walking swings, the DARCY swing, KB Swing juggling. We also did some other KB exercises and warmups such as the Around the World, the Fiigure 8, the Halo, the bear crawl, the Renegade Row, the overhead squat and the Sot's press to name a few. My core and posterior chain felt worked the next day and I couldn't wait to dig into my new KB and start practicing. Thanks to randy and Chris for putting together a great seminar!