IKFF Cert - Day 1

Wow!


Yeow!


Whew!


I don't know how to best describe Day 1 of the IKFF certification. Steve and Ken are two amazing guys. They worked us good today! I am pretty tired right now so this is going to be a very high level synopsis.


We started the day at 9:30am and we warmed up with various "skipping" exercises, forwards and backwards, left to right and right to left. We then moved on to various lunge walking exercises, forwards and backwards and eventually to a series of deck squat/burpee combinations that would (and I think did) make a grown man cry. We then proceeded to finer joint mobility movements.


Once we are pre-exhausted with all of these exercises we began with the Swing. We worked on technique and then worked for time on a small set. It was then on to cover the Clean. Once reviewing the technique we performed a timed set. Can you say, "18 Minute Set"???? Yes, 18 minutes without placing the bell down. Let me now say, that I chose to use a 16kg bell for the entire day. No more, no less. I need to be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning and make it to Day 2.


18 minutes brings you beyond exhaustion. I'm not exactly sure where it brought me, but I have never been so glad to put a kettlebell down.


Then following a break for lunch, we began with some more kung fu-like joint mobility and began our Pressing progression. First we covered the Press. Can you say "10 Minute Set"? I now found this set even harder than the cleans. My rack was exhausted by then and this was really tough and a bit painful, but the bell was never placed down.


After this we worked on the Push Press for technique and finally the 1-Arm Jerk. After breaking down the Jerk into its parts, we then performed, what? You guessed it, our timed set. Can you say, "14 Minute Set"?? Oddly, this was easier for me than the Pressing. But when it was over, wow. I was glad it was over.


To end Day 1, Steve then brought us through a series of yoga stretches which where excruciatingly difficult to help stretch out and decompress our spines. And to top it all off we lastly performed a qigong breathing series which was very nice and relaxing (I think we earned it by then).


Here's a pick of a few of us at the end of the day.












From left to right, Big John Wild, Mystery Lady, Ken, Dan, Steve and myself.

Now it's time to clean up and get some zzz's. For tomorrow we Snatch!





Note: Mystery Lady has been making appearances at various international kettlebell events. When will she make herself known? We were very fortunate to even get her face in this photo!