Who wants to "do work" ?

I know my next blog was to be about swing, but this is more important to me right now.

The weekend of Nov. 12th I was in New York City, Long Island to be exact where I attended a World Kettlebell Club Kettlebell Sport Camp. I was not sure what to expect but soon found that I was expected to work out nearly the whole time! So, it was 4 hours a day....2 hours with a 1 hour break then 2 hours each of the 2 days. All while being told what to do, when to do it, and being closely watched and corrected by 2 of the the world's greatest kettlebell lifters....both legends, Ivan Denisov and Valery Fedorenko.

Kettlebell lifting is really like a martial art, where you never stop learning, never stop studying technique and working toward a goal. It's endurance, strength, and meditative and so much more all in one. I love kettlebells, because there really is no limit to the work you can do with them.

I got many tips and help with my technique from both champions. I can name 5 things that Ivan alone corrected me on until I fully understood what I needed to do....priceless information.

Highlight of the weekend during one of the breaks was this set that we witnessed in person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIkBvfhx64Y

Ivan treated us to breaking one of his world records. He holds the record in every lift and this set brought real tears to my eyes because he actually seems to suffer in the last minute. He actually seems human !! He nearly broke his 5 minute record in 4 minutes!! These bells are 88lbs each, if anyone thinks they are not heavy, I have one in my RoundKick collection....show me what you can do with it!!

OK, I learned so much and I am so ready to share.....here is what I don't understand.

For being a "fighters gym" or at least a gym where some "fighters" train....How come there are no fighters in my kettlebell class?

You want conditioning? Try me. My class includes not just kettlebells, but some floor work and also Bulgarian bag. One hour of conditioning and better than you will get in any "pretty boy" gym.

Think you are strong? This white haired old guy can kick your ass! OK, not in the ring, but I can show you that you are not very strong, especially in places where it counts. Your endurance, your grip, your athletic ability your mind, and much more. I guarantee I can improve your performance in your sport. I only work with one local fighter, his name I will not mention, but he has not lost in quite some time (years) and he swears that what I have taught him has kept him on top.

Get your butt in my class and I will show you ! Let's "Do Work" as the Russians call it!

Richard Sherrod

World Kettlebell Club - Master Trainer

Team,
How did the challenge go? did the push ups keep the blood flowing? Alright I know this is a big week for dieters but rest assured I have a beacon of hope for all of you dreaming about a turducken or turturkeykey(turkey inside of another turkey). The key to being successful with any diet is discipline to a point. Why bother dieting if you aren't satisfied? I can state from experience that some diets can make a brother miserable and there is no point to that. My rule of thumb for maintaining a disciplined diet is 80% of the time you follow your chosen food regimen to a T. The other 20% cheat like there is no tomorrow. That doesn't mean cheat 20% of everyday cause that's ineffective but come Turkey day I'm gonna eat as much as I want. Just be disciplined the rest of the week.
Another tradition my wife and I have is go on a walk after thanksgiving dinner. Just bundle up and take a nice stroll for an hour after the big meal. This will help your body process some of the food you ate and hopefully burn of at least some of the carbs from your candied yams. I want to wish everyone good luck in their turkey day adventures.

Cheers
JJ

Team,
I am lacking the words I want right now but all I can say is what ever you are working on. Work harder. When it comes to PT you only get out what you put in. So when you hit that wall, power through.

Semper Fi
JJ

Weekly Challenge

Team Just a quick challenge for everyone this week.
Every day Monday through Friday Try and get in 100 pushups outside of your regularly scheduled exercise. I dont care if you do 2 sets of 50, 10 of 10 or 20 of 5. Just do a hundred extra a day and see how your body feels afterward. I try and do a set of 25 every hour or so and it keeps the blood flowing and your brain sharp. Try it and tell me how you feel.
Good luck and Semper Fi

Gut Check Time

Alright team I am new to the RKG ramblings but some of you know me from around the gym. What I want to talk about today is conditioning. Something’s are born into people natural talents agility, movement, instinct are all things that a person can be born with and to an extent conditioning can be but for the large majority conditioning is something that needs to be trained. This means putting in extra time. If you
want to fight you need to be training your skills, adding tools to your
toolbox, working technique like a demon....
BUT AFTER ALL THAT YOU NEED TO CONDITION!

This means an hour before or after technique work devoted solely to conditioning. The gym provides an awesome class called H.I.T. Fitness and I think anyone and everyone could benefit from this class. It is a whole body workout with conditioning, functional strength training, and agility. The key with any class like this is you only get out of it what you put in. If you want success in conditioning you need to approach it with an extremely high PMA and zeal. I know it's rough sometimes I've been there. Dog tired and just want to quit. But it’s that time, GUT CHECK TIME. In that moment you need to dig deep and carry on. If you do I guarantee you will be rewarded in the end.
If you can't make it to H.I.T. then get out there and move for 40 minutes to an hour. Go run, bike, hike, snowshoe, cross country ski, moon boot, pogo stick or whatever floats your boat for an hour. My personal preference to the amusement of my neighbors and chagrin of my wife is running throughout my little town of Norwalk wearing a flak jacket and carrying an axe. The point is to MOVE for an hour.

I guess in this post I definitely hit the ramblings part of the blog title. I promise in the future that I will be much more succinct.