Cate Imes Master of Sport

I would be remiss if I did not post the Great Cate Imes being the 1st American born kettlebell Master of Sport. Awesome achievement!

GS in action

Marty Farrell attempts Master of Sport ranking in Kettlebell lifting. Amazing when you think that he is only about 150 lbs, and he was jerking 140 lbs. It's even more amazing to see it in person.

Getting Better

Monday:
Busy day: could only fit in this quick one.
5 mins. Double jerk (2-12kg) 6 rpm.

Tues
Warmups with swings and 1 arm jerk w/ 16s.

Work Set
5 mins. double jerk (2-16kg) 6 rpm
3 mins. double jerk (2-16kg) 6 rpm

1 arm jerk
2 mins 24kg- 6 rpm L
2 mins 24kg- 6rpm R
2 mins 24kg- 6 rpm L
2 mins 24kg- 6rpm R

Snatch 16kg
10 mins. 16 rpm (160 reps)
(5min L/5 min. R)

SHELC (supine hip extension leg curl) on swiss ball
2 x 10

Finally found my hip, alot easier on the 1 arm than the 2 arm. Learning a whole new curve. It felt good!

OT Rant (recovering still)

Fall means a couple of things near here. Apple Hill and Fleet Week in San Francisco. Apple Hill, the collection of family farms that sell apples (and other fall fruit and vegetables, as well as seriously addicting apple pies, et al). I love going up there with the family, the smells of wood fires, cinammon, spice, and pine. It is everything good about living in Northern California (except the Northern Coast, of course).

Fall also means Fleet Week in San Francisco. The Blue Angels fly in as well as large naval ships come in. Of course the complaining and moaning from the toxic-minded ultra liberals who are quick to wave a white flag and surrender under any circumstance are the first to complain about the noise, and threat to the population. Since 1945, there have only been 9 crashes from the Blue Angels performing in a civilian community. I wonder how many crashes have occurred since the start of Critical Mass?

Training has suffered this week due to the virus. Today I have felt the closest to feeling myself. My throat does not feel like it has gone through a cusinart. And I am itching to get those new competitive kettlebells!

Got Sick

Monday

Double 16kg jerk

Set 1: 4:24 min. 32 reps
Set 2: 3:35 min. 28 reps
Set 3 3:00 21 reps
Total 5670 lbs.

Snatches with 16kg
Set 1: 7:30 100 reps

Total: 3520 lbs.

Swings w/ 24kg

40L/40R
40L/40 R

Total 8448 lbs.

Overall total: 17,638
I finished feeling strong, I did not want to overdo it just yet. I know I need to work on my pacing and working up to 10 mins. The snatches felt good. I shouldn't stopped at 100, but I thought it was a good number to stop.

TUES- Got some Virus that has been going around-felt like absolute garbage. It's always telling when your co-workers tell you to go home, and that you look like hell! :)

Empty My Cup

I love to go to training where I must "empty the cup" and learn something different or new. I met Valery Fedorenko, Marty Farrell, John Hoskins and trained with the American Kettlebell Club over the weekend. It was great meeting and training with motivated people. That has been a constant in the journey in kettlebell lifting. Much has been written about the RKC and AKC, none of which I will rehash here. That's old news and better time is spent training. I will say this, though. Kettlebells are a great tool for either use from my own experience and training people to become stronger. I am stronger and leaner from my using kettlebells. It is a phenomenal time to be a physical fitness instructor in the middle of this physical culture rennaisance.

212 degrees

This was too good not to repost. I saw this on Alwyn Cosgrove's blog. Watch it.

Training

Training has been hectic since the RKC. I have been keeping my weight down (I hit 188 for the first time in years). I need to get my body fat checked to see how much weight loss is lean body mass as well. MIDP work is coming to an end, but it has been revision, revision, revision til the very end! UGH!

Yesterday: No time to train- so I did 250 2 hand swings with the 16 kg. Sets of 25. Due to an interruption, it took me 15 minutes. Still, the heart was pounding pretty nicely.

Tues. warm up
100 swings w/ 16 kg. 5 sets of 20.

Circuit from Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn.
Squats/20 x 3 (135)
T-pushups 8 l/r x 3
Step ups 20 x 3
Pulley row to neck- 20 x 3
Supine Hip Extension Leg Curl on Swiss Ball (20 x 3- These were hell on the hammies!)
Ball sit ups 20 x 3 with 16 kg kb

Ok, I went for the reps and quick turnaround instead of pushing major weight. I wanted to feel the training then vary up the weights. I know, I can be a big chicken, but I will be going away for some training this weekend.

Monday. Trained a Roseville officer/former student. Showed him some of the finer techniques of kb lifting. Excellent athlete, and quick learner. He will be more of a monster once he trains with KBs more on a regular basis. Didn't keep track of what I did for myself, but I did some double and single jerks for anywhere from 30 secs to 2 mins.

Ok, back to MIDP work. oh yes, it's 4 am in the morning, and I have been up since 2:45!

OT- A little pride

Love em or hate em- The Black Eyed Peas. Apl De Ap is probably the first Filipino to make it huge in the US music industry. Being a 2nd generation half Filipino, I can appreciate this. My mother (RIP) came over after marrying my dad, and she did not know any English. It is insanely impoverished in the Philipines, and I am very fortunate and proud to be American. It is a shame that too many take their birthright for granted.

The background:


The actual video:

Tuessday Morning with the Fire Academy recruits

I gave a basic introduction to the Fire academy recruits this morning. What a strong bunch of motivated people! Many thanks to Coach John Hoffman for letting me come in and train his people.

Reflections on Day 3 RKC

Ok, it has been a busy week and I am just getting to reporting on the third day of the RKC experience. I knew today was going to be a great experience with the graduation workout at the end.

The day started off on a depressing note, two members of my team did not meet the snatch test standard. I have no doubt that after a good couple of weeks rest, and application of their newfound technical skills, they will pass the snatch test and become RKC instructors.

Cindy Glass (Trained by Rif to prepare for the RKC, no less!) from Team Brown was selected to represent her team in the form/technique competition. It took a lot of courage to get critiqued in front of over 60 trainers. Cindy did not win, but performed well. Way to go, Cindy!

Reviewing all the drills with the team showed how far they had all come in such a "short" period of time. Nothing can beat proper instruction from qualified instructors! Learning from a dvd is like learning martial arts from a book.

Everyone got team up with a volunteer "victim" from the surrounding community to get a free kettlebell lesson. All of the team members performed well, despite one having a "difficult" volunteer to train. Then, it was time for Jon Engum to lead the graduation exercise! I almost forgot how far the distance was for the graduation exercise. First, there was the double clean wal/farmer carry of approx. 150 yards. Then the turnaround was the swings and walking push-presses with the double 24kgs. (double 16s for the females). What a blaster! Everyone finished with great intensity and drive. It was very motivating to see. I have attached some video clips of the event!

9-11 Tribute at the LE/Fire academies

Day 2

WOW! What an intense day at the RKC. Team Brown (Jason C. Brown-Crossfit Philly/Kettlebell Athletics, Jim Milkowski/Training Room/Crossfit New Jersey, and lil ol' me) is coming together and performing even better than day 1! The wonder of the RKC is how incredible everyones' technique and performance becomes cleaner, tighter, and looking more like an RKC should, after just one day of instruction. The camraderie is ever present in the RKC community, and the caliber of people is awesome! I am having a fantastic time assisting, watching, and learning.

Day One at the RKC

The morning started with the van ride to the Dayton Bluff Community Center. I felt excited as all the black shirts (RKCS) got on the van and walked in to get prepared for the "victims". The meet and greet was a good prep to be proper representatives of the RKC. I enjoyed seeing the many people that I got to meet the night before come in with their game face on ready to take the snatch test. (How I remember that feeling).

Team Brown was assembled and all were accounted for. All the women passed their snatch test, but a couple of the males did not. They were strong men, but missed their snatches by 10 and 20 respectively. I have no doubt once they connect their bodies to move as a unit, that they will pass their snatch test. As the training day progressed, I could see their personal "aha" moment kick in as they realized where they were deficient in their form. (I reflected how fortunate I was to work with an RKC (Ken) prior to coming to the RKC)

I am having a good time with Jason Brown and Jim Milkowski as Team Brown. We have a motivated team and the partners within the team are doing well. The community of instructors are phenomenal. I am humbled to be working with such a great bunch of people. I am looking forward to Day 2, especially since I turned 40 today! Once my family joins me, then my day will be complete!

Here at the RKC

OK, I am going to post this for my posterity. If you enjoy reading this, then all the better, too :)

Even though I was a little nervous ( I get that way...) I was extremely excited about getting to the snatch test. I waited for my cab outside the hotel, and ran into Mike Lucas, an RKC from Iron Core La Jolla/and winner of San Diego's Biggest Loser contest. Ironically, I had just watched his great mini-documentary on his personal achievement for losing over 150 lbs with kettlebells! (His video is below.)

It was nice talking with him on the cab ride to the Community Center. It was a great start to the RKC exeperience. Upon arrival, I was greeted by the familiar interior of the Dayton's Bluff Community Center. It reminded me further of the responsibility I was going to have now as an assistant instructor instead of being a student. (Sometimes, it is nice to be the student instead of the instructor!)

I proceeded to meet the other assistants; great bunch of people! All except two were from California! Travis and Mike were the only non-Cal. Asst. RKCs. After setup (whew...it was hot, humid, and seemed like ALOT of bells :) ) it was off to the snatch test. We tested each other, and all passed. It was great watching the fluidity of their movements. I felt I rushed my set, I should have relaxed, but I made my snatch numbers AND I didn't tear my hands!

Meet and Greet: It was fun to watch the hum and buzz in the hospitality suite as the students started coming in. A few of us started a gauntlet of RKCs to greet them as they came in, no wallflowers! I remember the excitement and anticipation, and it was fun to reassure and motivate them during the meet and greet. What an amazing assortment of backgrounds. I saw one person standing by themselves and so I went up to talk with him. It turns out he had recently won 1st place in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the Pan-American Championships! He talked about how kettlebells had saved his back (he had three bulging discs prior to training with kbs)and that enabled him to continue training in BJJ and win! I told him it would not surprise me if they did an article on him in Hard Style. Very nice, positive person.

I saw and spoke with familiar faces: Rif, Mark Cheng,Andrea DuCaine and met new ones: Jason Brown, Pam Macelree (who can do 2 out of 3 in the Beast Challenge-AMAZING), and Brett Jones. Good times!

Well, it is friday morning and it is time to get ready to start my day. More to come!Pics to come on Sunday.

MY TURN!

To assist that is! I can't wait, it is going to be a blast! I am looking forward to seeing Pavel, Rif, and Andrea, and anyone who remembers me from the April 2006 RKC. I also get to bring out a side of me that I don't get to bring out as much as I would like...the competitive side. Yes, when I train, it is to something of a paradox...something mellow like Yo-Yo Ma. But when I prepared this past couple of weeks as the RKC neared, Metallica and ACDC came back out. YEEE-AAAAHHHHHHHH! It's gonna be blast!

Speaking of paradox....this video cracks me up, and pumps me up at the same time. It's been played on other blogs before, but ..."enjoy".

Less than a week away

Friday
Rest

Sat.
EDT Bench Press/Pullup
Bench 199/ BW Pullups (weighed in at 195 just prior to pullups)
20 mins.
Total reps 52 Bench/49 pullups
5 or less reps per set, strict form, no kipping, stopped way short of failure.
Total Bench- 10,0048 lbs
Total weight in pullups- 9,555 lbs
min. rest
Swings with 16kg.
20 2 hand then 40 DARCS=60 reps
40 2 hand swings then 1 hand (10-10-10-10)= 80 reps
total reps/weight- 140 reps/4928 lbs
total weight for the day- 24,531 lbs.

Sunday:Max V02 8 reps per set/40 sets/20 minutes.
total reps/weight 320/11,264 lbs

weighed in monday morning upon rising. 190 lbs. Shooting below 189 upon waking before the RKC. Feeling strong.Have to go to work now.

Quick workout on Thursday

Power was out at the academy! Well, no bother....bodyweight drills by car headlights on the grinder!

JM drills
Tactical Pushup-Star Jump matrix

10 Tac pushups
1 Star Jump
9 Tac Pushups
2 Star Jumps and so on....you get the picture. I did it with the class to show them the old man can do it, too!

Dot drills with Cpl. Gigante

Hindu Pushups superset with Hindu Squats 20-20-10-10
Then onto the track for a formation run. Hooyah!

About an hour later,
halos 1 set of 10r/10l
Windmill 12kg 5/5 5 sets. get a good stretch

then double kb jerks with the 16 (2 x 16)
20 x 5 = 100 jerks

h2h juggling with the 12kg and 16kg.
Just felt like it, really, let the mind go. 2 hand swings, 1 hand swings, around the body pass, 1 hand flip, 2 hand flip, 2 hand swing to a catch, figure 8, fig. 8 to a catch, 1 hand swing release and catch, snatch, and let it flow. Some of the SWAT team members were working out and seemed interested in what I was doing. I hope to meet up with one or two of them down the ways. A retired SWAT Sgt. attended my in-house seminar and now he has bought two of his own kbs! I am happy about that!

Slowly the word is getting out! Good times!

Getting ready for the RKC!

Ok, I am back from being sequestered at the Hacienda in Old Town San Diego! MIDP went well, I am almost completed with the Master Instructor Development Program!!!!

Didn't do as much training while I was there, altho I was happy to have my TNT cables. Did a ton of rows, presses, clean and presses, and squats with them.

Ken's workshop was outstanding, and he had a great turnout! I was very happy for Ken. He is a fantastic instructor. I had a colleague, the Sacramento Fire Coach attend the course, and he was very complimentary of Ken's style and ability to teach. Not bad coming from someone who is a USA Weightlifting coach and CSCS.I knew he would appreciate Ken's level of instruction.

My hand healed up, tore more callouses, and fortunately, they weren't bad tears. I taped it up, and did some work, but I was worried, let me tell you!

I took it somewhat easy early in the week,

Swings 16kg
20 x 5= 100

Snatch 24 kg
5/5 x 3 (this is when I tore my calluses. I was irritated with that)

Finished off with jerks

24kg

20/20

32 kg
10/10

Tues:
Did a circuit of 8 exercises:
Bulgarian Split Squat
Hip extensions on ball
pulldowns
pushups
DB squats
DB see-saw press
single leg hip extensions
low rows.

rest was minimal- 15-30 secs. max.

Wed.
Max V02 drills with 16 kg
40 rounds.

(Trained with an officer preparing for the police olympics/boxing. He won bronze last year, and can get gold this year. Implementing kettlebells this go-round. I loaned him my Power to the Punch as well as trained him in several exercises. (Swing (1 and 2 hand), snatch, high pull, TGU, hot potato, swing to a catch, DARC swings) He has 6 weeks before the fight. Looking forward to having fun training him.

That's it for now. 7 days before I leave for St. Paul! I am with Team Jason Brown.

GRADUATION

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=31686

CLASS 07BR-1 IS DISMISSED!