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I had started working with others, more or less by accident. People saw what I had done and wanted to know how they could do it. I was working with kettlebells a lot by then and before I knew what happened I had regular sessions with friends, and friends of friends. After a couple of years of this I decided that if I was going to end up teaching others I had better learn how to do it right.
With the support from my good friends and family I finally decided to take the Russian Kettlebell Challenge certification course. Yes, I was a little apprehensive about the undertaking. Actually, it scared the heck out of me. I was 55 years old. I couldn't help but think about what I had just committed myself to doing. So I did the only thing I could do. I went to Jeff O'Connor and told him what I wanted to do. This was in April 09 and I had already signed up for the June 09 cert. I believe he thought I was crazy, in retrospect, I probably was more than a little crazy. So he proceeded to do a movement screen the very first thing. He told me that I needed a couple of years of base work, movement, mobility and other problems from 30+ years at a desk. But I had been exercising for the last ten or eleven years. How could that be. Then Jeff proceeded to explain to me how I had built strength and stamina on some pretty severe dysfunction. Ok, lets fix it.
So Jeff went to work. Some of the training sessions i had with him, using little or no weight at all just about killed me. Or so I thought. But I had only given myself a few months to get ready so I did what I usually did. I put my blinders on and focused on my goal of completing the RKC. So I started training the basics. Jeff would only let me do swings and get-ups the first couple of months of training. Body weight or very light get-ups and 32k one arm swings was my basic day to day diet. So hardly any weight on the get up and almost half my body weight on the swings. No snatch test, no tons of practicing this move or that. Just hours and hours of TGU and Swings. Or meat and beans as I started calling it. No potatoes allowed. Jeff said to do them until I choke. That's what I did. I did a little pressing, a very small amount of snatching with a very light weight. Jeff did add in a few special goblet squats of his after a while but that was pretty much it. I trained or practiced every day for a couple of months like this. I just couldn't get things together. Jeff would work on "opening my hips". Man I got where I hated to hear those words. Or just before Jeff would introduce a new "opening" move, he would say "this is probably going to suck", or "you're going to hate me for this" or some such nonsense. But it was true, every second of it sucked. But I never said no and I just sucked it up and kept going. It wasn't pretty.
Every time I turned around my back would go off into it's own little world and I couldn't walk or drive. So along with a steady diet of swings and get-ups, I added three day per week of visits to Dr. Scott Paxton, the supreme Chiropractor. Long painful visits at times. It was obvious I wasn't going to make the June 09 certification so I had to reschedule it for the next one in Sept 09. Jeff was right, it did suck.
So finally, about 10 days before I was going to have to leave for the cert, Jeff finally said I could try the snatch test. Previously I could only do them in a few sets of three to five with the snatch test bell. So I tried it on my own and I could do no more than 80 snatches. Now that sucked! I was sucking wind so bad and just couldn't finish it. So a couple of days later at Jeff's place he watched do a few and made a few changes in my technique. Said I was pausing to long and not breathing quite right during the movement. A few tweaks and then he had me do it right then while he counted. I about coughed my lungs up but I did it. Amazing how he can extract extraordinary efforts from me. He always does. But, just knowing you've done it once, changes things. I was still very nervous about going, but I knew if I could do it once then I could do it again. Assuming I didn't injure myself in the process. By this time the good Dr. Paxton was telling me I was on a fine line between getting better or very much worse. I could go either way so I was trying to be careful. Riding in a car was still an uncomfortable experience with my back and I had opted to drive the 11 hours to St. Paul. I still wanted to try the snatch test one more time before I went.
I was leaving on a Wednesday and so on Tuesday I had one more session where I practiced the six basic movements and did the snatch test. Wasn't easy but I did it. So I was off to St. Paul for three days of fun. At that time I had no idea what hard really meant. I was almost 56 and while I knew it would be difficult and I wasn't even sure if I could pass, but I felt I wasn't dead yet so I thought I could definitely go play with the kids and their toys. As a side note, my wife went with me to make sure I could get myself back. Smart woman.
The first day I was more than a little nervous. I was on the team of Kenneth Jay, Master RKC. They call him the "Dane of Pain". Now that really made me feel good. In retrospect that was a good thing but the only person in the RKC system that I knew was Jeff O'Connor and he kept telling me he was the kinder and gentler Jeff, so I was a little concerned about my survival over the next three days.
The one thing that really stood out for me was how young everyone was. I think that made me wonder if I should have even been there. I was the oldest person on the field by a ways. However, I put that out of my mind with a little EFT and off I went. I was there to do my thing. So it began. Snatch test for Kenneth Jay. When he asked who was going to go first, no one would step up. So I did. I'm always doing stupid stuff like that. However, I passed it and that was a big load off of my mind and it kind of set the stage for me for the next three days. What I didn't know at the time was that once the snatch test was over the hard stuff began.
Surprise, it begins with swings. Then get-ups. Jeff had me doing lots of swings but nothing prepared me for that sheer volume of swings. Pavel would call them out a hundred or two at a time. For two weeks I would hear him calling out for swings in my dreams. I can still hear it today. Whenever I see a name tag on the ground I have an urge to knock out twenty double swings. And there's nothing like bonding with your kettlebell. I was starting to understand the "experience" Jeff kept talking about.
I had heard about people tearing their hands up with snatches. That never happened to me but the swings ate them up. Now I know I was gripping the bell harder than I should. By the end of the day on Friday my hands were in bloody shreds. Jeff had told me Saturday would be the hard day. If it wasn't for the help of the assistant instructors and their support and constant taping and re-taping of my hands, I don't think I would have made it. But by the end of the day Friday I was back at the motel, my wife looking at me like I really was nuts. Hands so bad I couldn't do anything and I couldn't sleep, again.
Sunday, final day. Not sure why, but I was expecting it to be the worst even after Jeff telling me that Sunday would be the easiest day. I had bandages and tape all over my hands and elbows. (When they told me to drive my elbows into the ground in a plank I did, hard). But maybe because I was just so tired. Walking dead was more like it. However, it turned out to be correct. Probably the worst part was sitting for two hours during the mandatory marketing lecture. The lecture was very good, but sitting was hard. Not as hard as getting out of the chair, but hard. I would've felt better if I could have stood during the lecture.
Then the test of the six basic movements. I really didn't think much of that. By then we were running on automatic and while I don't know about everyone else but it didn't seem to be much at all. I just did what was asked and it just sort of happened. Didn't even have to think about it.
The part where they brought in people for us to practice our teaching skills was fun. I had been teaching this stuff for a couple of years by accident anyway so that part seem to come easy for me. That went pretty fast and easy for me and it was actually an enjoyable experience. I'm sure the victims, were hoping for more in depth instruction but we had less than an hour to do anything and there just wasn't much time for more than the very basics.
After that it was just waiting around to find out if we passed or not. I never was really sure until Kenneth told me so. By then I was just kind of numb, tired. But pass I did, have a certificate that says I did. Of all of the degrees and certificates I've ever gotten over the years, this one was by far the most rewarding. It wasn't just studying a book and taking a test. It was the real deal. Although it should contain a certificate of survival. At least for those of us over 50.
Would I recommend someone going through all of that for a certificate. Absolutely. It's worth it for the skills you pick up, for me it was worth it just to say I did it at age 55. But anyone who teaches kettlebells should do it without hesitation. There is some pretty nasty kettlebell instruction out there. A little google time and you'll find it. Its out there good and bad. But if it's quality instruction you're looking for go RKC. You won't have to worry about that way.
I really did enjoy the whole weekend "experience". Now I know why Jeff just smiled when he said that. At this point I wouldn't want to ruin the "experience" for anyone else that has asked me for all of the gory details. No one can really explain the RKC system, it has to be "experienced".
Now Jeff is telling me the real work can start so I'm back to just grinding it out. Still looking for the kinder and gentler Jeff. I know he's in there somewhere. Now I'm set for the CK-FMS in May 2010. Why, because Jeff says I need it and that's all the incentive I need. Really, it does look like the next logical step for me. But, still, I ALWAYS do what Jeff tells me. He knows just the "experience" I really need.
Damn, there's a name tag on the ground, "comrades 20 swings for every name tag on the ground....." Will someone slap those folks? Take safety pins next time.
Hardstyle!!!
If you EVER get a chance to train with Jeff don’t pass it up no matter what it costs. It will be well worth whatever the price.
Check out Sr. RKC Jeff O’Connor at Outlaw Strength Systems
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