Thursday, September 25, 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Friday, September 19, 2008

Olympic Lifting Seminar this weekend

This weekend,
Crossfit RVA will host Chris Wilkes again for another Olympic Lifting seminar.

http://www.crossfitrva.com/545/olympic-weightlifting-seminar-with-chris-wilkes/

I went to the first one of these, it was excellent. If you are new or fairly new to the lifts, this is a great way to get started. You will learn the legit assistance lifts, the right way, from the beginning.

You'll also likely see some of the Wilkes boys lift some crazy weight.

I mean crazy weight.


Thursday, September 18, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Kettlebells 101

An Introduction to Kettlbells



A lot of new people are discovering kettlebells, and I get a significant amount of traffic to the blog everyday with searches like 'beginner's kettlebell''kettlebell basics' and others.

What follows is a guide to help you get started as easily and with as little wasted time and money as possible.

The smartest first step would be to find a qualified instructor. I personally am an RKC, which means I have been certified by Pavel Tsatsouline to teach his methods of basic kettlebell lifting. I would also recommend any coach certified by Valery Fedorenko of the AKC or any CSCS.
With it's emphasis on general fitness, with a leaning towards functional mobility, strength, power and meaningful endurance cacpacity, I think that the RKC system or the 'Hard Style' as it is often called is a great place to start for almost anyone.

Early in your training, the best thing to focus on is the swing and core stability. Hence Enter the Kettlebell;
Enter the Kettlebell Book
With it's focus on the Swing and the Turkish Get Up, it provides the beginner with everything he/she needs to get started right.

After a little progression, I'd recommend trying out the Russian Kettlebell Challenge;


It's more akin to a beginner's dictionary of all the basics.

Should you outgrow these, there are several other wonderful resources, but I say work on your snatches and sign up for the RKC. What an experience!


You can of course get your kettlebells from Dragon Door as well, here's a link to get a catalogue of all their products;
Click Here to download the latest issue of Hardstyle Magazine

But I find them a wee 'cost prohibitive'. I typically recommend that people get MuscleDriver bells, as they represent the best value. They are almost (90%) as good as the best bells out their, like Dragon Door, but they cost half as much. I prefer the Gray bells, as they have a rough finish like the RKC bells, and nice dimensions. If you ever attend one of my workshops or classes, you will most likely be using a MD bell.

Well, that's it for now. With the Hard Style catalogue, the Muscle Driver bells, the Enter The Kettlebell book, you're off to a pretty solid start. Pick a bell that weighs about 20-30% of your own bodyweight, and start practicing the swing!

Monday, September 8, 2008

images

Friday, September 5, 2008

Eastern Open

Yours truly, losing again.




My favorite part is when about 10 seconds into my pin, they come over and tell me I am pinning him. As you can imagine, distracting. He was awarded a Wazari for the ko soto gari. You could go either way. You could give him Ippon too, or koka. I was in a rush on my feet. I didn't get to the grips I really needed, and I did not unbalance the guy. Then when I got to the guard, well, the calls were really inconsistent on the ground. And I looked really lazy. This guy was not that knowledgable, and I should have just come at him really hard. Instead, it was like another day at the Dojo. Kind of dumb, considering the drive.

Crossfit Full Circle