Upcoming World Kettlebell Club Fitness Trainer Certifications

Between now and the end of the year, I will be teaching two more WKC Kettlebell Trainer certification courses. This course is the prerequisite for anyone that wishes to attend the Coaching Certification with Valery Fedorenko.

The two venues are:


Saturday, November 13th @ Rhode Island Fitness & Martial Arts, Smithfield, RI


Saturday, December 4th @ The Claude Robillard Sports Center, Montreal, Canada


This course covers the single kettlebell foundational lifts - swing, clean, press, push press, jerk, snatch and half snatch. We also review the long cycle variations as well as the bottoms up variations. Everyone who attends will also receive a copy of the WKC's Fitness Protocol, which will also be reviewed and discussed in the course.

If anyone is interested in attending either of these dates or if you are interested in hosting a course yourself, please let me know.

Need to Work on My Catch

Afternoon workout went well today. Next time out I will start to shorten my rest breaks to 90 seconds when using the WKC Fitness Protocol.

Here's today's session...

Push Press: 16kg - 3 minutes @ 16 rpm

Snatch: 16kg - 3 minutes @ 16 rpm

Long Cycle (Jerk): 16kg - 3 minutes @ 10 rpm

All felt good the 2 minute rest in between sets made it feel relatively easy until I hit the Long Cycle, then I felt like I was working.

I can sense that I am catching the bell differently in my left hand from my right. During my Snatch and Long Cycle, my right hand definitely feels like it has a better grip so I'll need to work on this. Maybe some more sets of Cleans. On the left side I feel like I am catching more of the meat in the middle of my hand versus the right. I think since my right side is my dominant side, I am better throwing the bell into my fingers on the downswing whereas I am in a sense rolling it to my fingers on the left side. It's very easy to identify the difference so hopefully with a little more focused attention I can remedy things pretty quickly. That's it and that's all!

Let's Start At The Top

Starting to work with the 16kg now, I decided today to strictly follow the AKC Fitness Protocol and start back at Level 1. I can make through longer sets, but it obviously takes it toll on me. And I'd rather get in more training, than be forced to take more rest at this point. So back to Level 1 we go.

Warmup consisted of Z-Health R-Phase neck, thoracic, pelvis and knees.

Press: 16kg - 2 minutes (12L/12R)

Snatch: 16kg - 2 minutes (15L/13R)

Long Cycle Press: 16kg - 2 minutes (8L/8R)

Pistol: 2 minutes (8L/7R)

Swing: 16kg - 15/15

My Snatch numbers are a bit askew because I started concentrating on my hand position at the top of the movement while working the right side. That slowed me down a bit.

As for the Pistols, my right side was tighter than my left so I was not able to get rock bottom on that side today. I should probably introduce more stretching into my routine...

Saturday Class & Training

It's a hot and humid day here in New York. I started off the day with a 9am class in the park. Two students attended today's class. We went through the Swing, Clean, Push Press and Squat. First we reviewed each technique individually to make sure we had the movement down. Then at the end of class, we linked them together into one long circuit. I think my students were thoroughly pooped at the end of the hour.

A few people have requested that I post another video of one of my AKC Fitness workouts. Using today's class as my reference, I filmed my 12 working-minute session after I got home from class.

I decided to upgrade to the 16kg bell today. With that, I decided to slow down my pace just a bit from what I was doing with the 12kg. So please excuse some of the choppiness of my pace, as I was not used to this tempo and had a few instances where I either was moving too fast or too slow and I tried to let some time pass or in opposite tried to catch up to my desired pace (I know, I shouldn't be chasing reps, bad me).

So this is what today's session consisted of...

1-Arm Clean: 16kg - 4 minutes (24L/24R)

1-Arm Push Press: 16kg - 4 minutes (24L/24R)

1-Arm Long Cycle Push Press: 16kg - 4 minutes (16L/16R)

Since YouTube does not allow you to upload a long video, I broke it up into one for each set. And this is what it looked like...


1-Arm Clean...


1-Arm Push Press


1-Arm Long Cycle Push Press

The Arm Grappler!!

Felt much better yesterday and last night, so I am up and at 'em again this morning. Today I chose what is called the "Arm Grappler". I now understand why it is called that - my grip is shot!

Warmed up with Z-Health R-Phase thoracic, shoulder and elbow movements.

1-Arm Long Cycle (Jerk): 12kg - 4 minutes (20L/20R)

Snatch: 12kg - 4 minutes (32L/32R)

1-Arm Bottom Up Clean: 12kg - 4 minutes (32L/32R)

Swing: 16kg - 15/15

I have to admit the Bottom Up Cleans were UGLY! I had to take a quick break one minute it to chalk my hands. The sweat was making these impossible. I was then able to eke (sp?) these out, but they were still not pretty. I was forced to use my other hand at times to help stabilize the bell. Nonetheless, my forearms are shot. At the end of the 4 minutes, I attempted to pick up my towel which proved to be quite difficult.

This also made the finisher Swings taxing due to my challenged grip and hands. But you know what? It's DONE!! And so am I (for today). =)

The Long Islander

Moving right along, I am trying out some of the various sample routines suggested within the AKC Fitness Protocol. Today was the Long Islander, categorized as an intermediate workout.

To warm up, I performed Z-Health R-Phase thoracic, neck, shoulder and elbow movements.

Workout looked like this...

1-Arm Clean: 12kg - 4 minutes (32L/32R)

Half Snatch: 12kg - 4 minutes (20L/20R)

1-Arm Long Cycle Push Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (20L/20R)

That was it for today. I intentionally kept it easier today following yesterday's heavier work.

The Hamiltonian

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of teaching my mom and her friend how to swing a kettlebell. After seeing that new infommercial about kettlebells, they were interested in learning what they were about and if they really worked. Well, I taught them about REAL kettlebells, not those tiny little things they dance around with on the infommercial.

Within a few minutes they were each swinging away! By the time I got home, my mom had emailed me with a webpage from Target asking which of their bells she should order. I think I have myself a few new followers. =) The more, the better. Everyone should be swinging kettlebells!

Anyway, my workout today consisted of what is affectionately known as "The Hamiltonian" within the AKC's Fitness Protocol. I am currently working with 4 minute sets, taking a 2 minute rest in between. This is what it looked like...

Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (24L/24R)

Push Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (32L/32R)

Long Cycle Push Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (20L/20R)

12 minutes of work with 6 minutes of rest. Since it's Sunday and my little guy was napping, I decided to run through a second time.

Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (24L/24R)

Push Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (32L/32R)

Long Cycle Push Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (20L/20R)

In the last minute of the last set I thought I was tearing some skin. No pain, my right hand just felt a little funny. Turned out one of my old callouses was crinkling up. I pulled it off, no problems!

I did have to use chalk during today's workout. It was warm and I wasn't using a fan. I used just enough to cover my fingers and not my palm. Worked like a charm!

That's it for today. Enjoy the rest of the weekend y'all!

Long Cycle

This morning I thought I'd perform a pseudo long set. Still working within the AKC Fitness Protocol framework, I simply strung together three circuits of the Long Cycle (Jerk).

Warmed up with Z-Health R-Phase Neutral Stance & Lengthening as well as Foot, Ankle & Knee positions. Along with a few Swings.

Long Cycle: 12kg - 3 min (15L/15R)

Long Cycle: 12kg - 3 min (15L/15R)

Long Cycle: 12kg - 3 min (15L/15R)

Took 1 minute rest in between sets. And that's it for this morning.

I am planning on teaching some bell movements to a few coworkers this evening after work. Gotta load up the car with extra bells. There goes my fuel economy!

Also received in the mail yesterday Z-Health I-Phase book and DVD so that's something I'll start going through over the weekend. Fun, fun, fun!!