The Turkish Get-Up

What do we think? I have a small workout area, so not a lot of choice as far as camera angles go, but this seems like it works. The only thing that it doesn't really show is the lockout of the knees and lack of hyperextension in the low back in the top position, but since I wasn't told that these were issues for me I don't believe that will be a problem.

Also, just as a sociological experiment I plan to reshoot this video with me holding an imaginary kettlebell. This is called a "naked get-up." I am anticipating all sorts of blog traffic I would not normally get if I post a video of me doing a "Naked Get-Up".

The HKC: The Play By Play (Part One)

Here it is, the post you've been waiting for (or not!) If you go to an HKC it probably won't be exactly like this because future events are going to be much smaller, with only maybe 30-40 students in attendance. But in all likelihood it'll be similar enough that this post should give you a fair idea of what to expect if you go.

The event began at 8:30 am sharp (or 6:30 West Coast time, not that I was thinking of such things :)), with registration from 7:45 to 8:15. Since a great many of us were staying at the St. Paul-River Center Holiday Inn recommended by Dragon Door, there were shuttles to take us from the hotel to the Dayton's Bluff Recreation Center some two miles away. The shuttles ran at 7:00 am, 7:20 and 7:45. Miraculously I was actually down in the lobby at 7:00 am (5:00 am West coast time, not that I was thinking of such things), but I opted to take the second shuttle partly because I really needed to get some coffee into me--there was a Room Service screw-up and the coffee maker in my room wasn't functioning properly so I hadn't really had any yet--and partly because it looked like all the RKCs staying at the hotel were going over on the 7:00 bus and I sorta didn't want to be around them at that point.


With the exception of slender, gorgeous Sara Cheatham, Senior RKC (note: all kettlebell women seem to be named Sara/Sarah, except of course for the ones who are named Andrea), they all looked to be brawny young men--bear in mind that anyone under 40 looks young to me!--with veiny forearms, who consume sides of raw beef for breakfast and then pick their teeth with nails they've bent to the proper angle for use as dental instruments. To say that I found them intimidating is an understatement. I mean, I'm sure they put their pants on one leg at a time, but they're probably all doing pistol squats as they do so. (And wouldn't that make an awesome Youtube video?)


While I was waiting in the lobby I saw a very pretty blonde woman in athletic attire emerge from the restaurant. It was, of course, "Strong Sarah" Hill Jones, whom I recognized from her photographs. I introduced myself, and we chatted, mostly about footwear. We both were wearing bubblegum-pink Converse All-Stars (except I think Sarah's might have been Vans or some other brand, but you get the idea), which was sort of amusing given the emphatically non-pink nature of the crowd and the event. Sarah also had Vibrams in her backpack, which she planned to wear for the Turkish get-up portion of the event, although I think her plan was to stick with the Converse for the goblet squats and the swings because she was more used to them. My own plan was to train barefoot if at all possible because it's what I am most accustomed to, although I had the Converse with me in the event we found ourselves outside in a sea of mud.


Note: if you're training for an event, don't experiment with new footwear too close to the date of the event. Stick with what you've worn throughout your training. If you change things up it'll affect your stance, your gait, your distribution of weight, etc., and you may find yourself experiencing aches and pains that you won't be able to fix in time to perform well on the day of the event.)


Sarah and I caught the 7:20 shuttle. This gave us the opportunity to chat with some of our fellow HKC students. My seatmate was a lovely young woman named Dre (short for Andrea of course) from Chicago who was a fitness professional, obviously in great shape, and there to get her teaching credential, while Sarah's was a gentleman from Alaska who was there strictly for the experience. I think this was actually pretty typical. There were a surprising number of basically self-taught kettlebell enthusiasts who'd read about the event on the Dragon Door website and decided this was their chance to learn from the best. These people weren't necessarily interested in teaching so much as in getting good instruction for their own personal benefit. This might seem a bit unreasonable, but consider this: if you live in Alaska and want to train with an RKC, you pretty much are going to have to travel thousands of miles regardless, so why not go all the way to Minnesota when an opportunity like this comes along?

The Dayton's Bluff Rec Center, where the event was held was, well, a recreation center. There was a big indoor basketball court where we registered, as well as a lobby that was set up as a Dragon Door gift shop of sorts where one could buy books, DVDs, t-shirts and the like. I didn't spend much time looking at the merchandise, honestly, because I figured anything I wanted I could order just as easily from the Dragon Door website. Anyway, I was more interested in locating the ladies' room. Always know where the nearest bathroom is, that's my motto.

Registration went smoothly and quickly, which I think is typical of Dragon Door events. They seem to be very good about mailing out necessary paperwork (waivers of liability, publicity rights, etc.) in advance with the idea that you show up with everything already filled out and signed. At registration we were given t-shirts to wear, which were free as long as we agreed to wear them all day. The men's shirts were white, although they didn't stay that way for long, and the women's were red.

Promptly at 8:30 we were told to join our respective teams for pull-up testing. There were 12 teams in all, each under the supervision of a Master or Senior RKC and a Team Assistant (generally an RKC II or CK-FMS). As mentioned below, I had the good fortune to be on Team Neupert, with the fabulous Andrea U-Shi Chang assisting. There were two pull-up bars per team, a high bar for the men and a somewhat lower one for the women. The men's version of the test was 3 pull-ups from a dead hang, chin over the bar, no kipping allowed. The women's version was simply a 15 second flexed arm hang, with assistance if needed to get up to the starting position. Of the women, two of us passed; one did not although she certainly made a tremendous effort. To earn her HKC designation she will need to send in a video of herself performing the flexed arm hang within 3 months' time, which I have no doubt she will be able to do.

After that, we were instructed to grab kettlebells, 12 kg for the ladies and 16 kg for the men, and report to the soccer/football field for instruction in the goblet squat.

More later.

But wait, there's more!

More reasons why I'm feeling good about my HKC experience, that is.


1. I got to train with the incredible Geoff Neupert, Senior RKC, and Andrea U-Shi Chang, CK-FMS. I can't say enough good things about them. Not every gifted athlete is a gifted teacher, but Andrea and Geoff clearly are both. Exacting but never condescending, strict but never harsh or unkind, they were the ideal instructors and great role models for all of us who intend one day to work with clients. If you live in the Durham, North Carolina, area and are looking for an amazing kettlebell trainer, go see Geoff Neupert. If you live in the Seattle area and are looking for an amazing kettlebell trainer, go see Andrea U-Shi Chang. You won't be sorry!


2. I got to train with the wonderful ladies and gentlemen on Team Neupert. We were a diverse group. There were three women and seven men, ranging in age from early 20s to early 60s. A couple of the young men were in the military, while one was a retired Air Force pilot. We also had a doctor in our group, and of course we had a few fitness professionals. They were wonderful, hardworking, enthusiastic, and never lost their good humor except maybe during the burpees :) I want to give a special shout-out to the lovely Gen Ovalle of Palo Alto, who was my training partner for much of the day. She was one of the two who passed, and deservedly so. Her technique is pretty much perfect, and so is she. If you live in the Palo Alto area and want an introduction to kettlebells, consider hiring her as your instructor.


3. I got to experience Pavel. And believe me, it is an experience! It's hard to know where to start. I have no idea how he acquired his knowledge, but it's obvious he has a profound understanding of exercise science. He is also an excellent communicator and educator.

He's also a great showman. This is not a criticism. When you're teaching an audience of 120 people, all of whom are strangers to you, inevitably you're going to adopt a persona. Any of you who teach group exercise know what I'm talking about. If you're teaching to a small group of people who are pretty well known to you, you can more or less be yourself, but if the group is large and mostly strangers you have to switch gears. If you're a people person at all -- and most good trainers are -- you learn pretty quickly what works for most of the people most of the time, and that becomes your persona. I'm not naturally a super-caffeinated, high-energy, perky cheerleader type at all, but that's what seems to get the best performance out of my cycling classes, so that's who I am when I teach cycling. I suspect Pavel is doing the same sort of thing when he teaches. He's figured out that his students want and need him to play the "evil Russian," so that's who he is at these events. Again, this is not a criticism. Quite the contrary. "Being yourself" is overrated IMO :)

4. I got to meet "Strong Sarah" Hill Jones!!! She is as lovely in person as she is online, and I'm thrilled she is now an HKC. If you live in her area and have an interest in getting started with kettlebells, you couldn't ask for a more wonderful person to train with. I just wish we could have spent more time together.

5. I got to meet kettlebell enthusiasts from all around the country. Kettlebellers are some of the nicest, friendliest people you'll ever meet. It's either the endorphins or the confidence that comes from training with what in essence is a cannonball with a handle attached. You can speak softly when you swing a heavy bell!

More reasons why I'm feeling good about the HKC experience

I'm not going to lie: if I'd passed I would be feeling even better. But that's just my neuroses talking.

You know how we all supposedly have an inner child? Mine is a fat kid with coke-bottle glasses who is picked last for every team and gets beaten up a lot for being "different." My inner child expects to fail. Every setback reinforces her low self-esteem ... or would if I allowed it.

Fortunately, I am not my inner child. As the parents among you are well aware, it's no kindness to let the little ones call the shots, because they don't know what's in their own best interests. If I allowed my inner child to dictate my actions I would never leave my house because every excursion outside would mean putting myself out there for someone to judge and reject me! Okay, that's maybe a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.

(My apologies if this is too woo-woo for some of you!)

Anyway, my point here is that going to HKC was a huge step outside my comfort zone. But I took it, even though it was very hard for me. Everything that went wrong in the weeks, days, and hours leading up to the event—the ear infection, the food poisoning, the bits of worrying news from friends and family, the seemingly endless flight delays, and so on and so on—seemed like a sign from on high that this was Not Meant To Be.

But I persisted. So, credit where it’s due, and while this may not seem too impressive to most of you, for me it’s a big deal. Although of course it will be a bigger deal once I have earned that HKC designation :)

Cut To The Chase: No, I Didn't Pass.

I got dinged for having my wrist bent back during the Turkish get-up portion of the testing. It's okay, though. More than okay, in fact, and here's why:

1. It demonstrates that the HKC is no rubber-stamp joke of a certification. The RKC is not in any way compromising its high standards in introducing this new certification. In fact, on my team I am aware of only 2 people out of 10 who passed. I'm hoping this gives much comfort to all my RKC friends who've worried about a dilution effect.

2. On a personal level it demonstrates that my hypermobile joints and unusual biomechanics are more of a problem than I thought. I've come a long way in improving my joint stability, but I have further to go if I want to reach my full potential as an athlete. I'm very glad to find this out now so I can get to work fixing the problem.

3. My failure to maintain a straight wrist is the only reason I didn't pass. Everything else was good enough. There were no problems with my swings and goblet squats, and everything else about my TGU passed muster as well. How many people out there can say that Geoff Neupert, Master RKC, thinks them competent in the swing and goblet squat?

4. This is only a temporary setback. To get my HKC I must send in a video of myself performing the TGU with a perfectly straight wrist, and I must do that within 3 months. I can do that ... and if for some reason that doesn't work out, I will go to another HKC. Dragon Door plans to offer 100 of them over the next year, and one of them is sure to be in San Francisco.

5. Attending the HKC has given me a much better understanding of what the RKC is all about, and for whom it is appropriate. I'm very glad to know that before committing myself to a grueling and, frankly, costly educational path that ultimately may not be the best choice for my clients. Or it may; I am very much on the fence here. More on that later.

A couple photos from the HKC workshop

Here I am doing halos with an 8 kg kettlebell. This is a shoulder mobility exercise and a great warmup drill. I can't quite explain the expression on my face, other than that it's hard not to look bemused when you're swinging an 18 pound chunk of iron around your head while John DuCane is taking your photograph. This is a spinal rotation drill. Note the angle of my wrist in this photo. It says a lot.

More on that later.

Also, anyone who wishes to tell me I don't look that bad for a 47 year old woman being photographed in direct sunlight, with no makeup on, after several hours of physical exertion and a rather nervewracking plane trip, may do so :)

Final kettlebell workouts and checklist for the HKC

I've been tapering my training a bit so as to be as fresh as possible for the HKC workshop on Saturday. Yesterday I did half an hour or so of mostly swings, with some get-ups, windmills and goblet squats thrown in, plus some pushups and jumping jacks just to keep it moving. I was working out to an audio track I downloaded from http://www.liftkettlebells.com/ a while back, but mostly I ignored the cues and just used it as a way to keep track of my time. The audio workout, incidentally, is called "Easy Kettlebell Workout" or something like that, but frankly that's a stupid name for it because "easy" makes it sound like something for beginners, and any workout that calls for 2 straight minutes of kettlebell swings, the first minute 2-handed and the second minute 1-handed, is NOT for beginners. Considering that most people swing at a cadence of 35-50 swings per minute, that works out to being a 70-100 rep set, and that kind of volume is just not appropriate for a newbie.

This morning I kept it brief: a descending ladder of swings and goblet squats, 10 of each going all the way down to 1 of each, with no pauses, no setting down the kettlebell, no passing Go and no collecting $200. It was way more unpleasant than it sounds.

Then I went flitting off to ballet class. We're starting to rehearse "Waltz of the Flowers" for this year's Nutcracker. We're at a level now where we can pretty much do the full San Francisco Ballet pre-Helgi Thomasson choreography. Not well, necessarily, but we can do it. It's sort of cool if you're into ballet history at all, because the SFB was the first company in the United States to do the Nutcracker, and the choreography we're learning dates back to that first performance.

What else? I've also been doing lots of yoga this week to open up my hips and calm me. It's working better for the former than the latter.

And I have been cutting up socks.

Huh? Here's the deal: we are required to show up at the HKC with some sort of hand protection, I guess on the theory that the extraordinary volume of work we will be doing over the course of the day is going to shred our hands. I've never ripped a callus on my right hand EVER, and I've only ripped them on my left hand after heavy snatch workouts. But I've also never worked with kettlebells for 9 hours in a single day. Therefore, I am bringing protection with me in the form of "sock sleeves" a la Tracy Rifkind. A sock sleeve is simply a two inch portion cut from the top of a medium-weight crew sock, that you wear over the palm of your hand to protect the calluses that form at the base of the fingers, the ones that are most prone to tearing. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it; like other kinds of protection that come to mind it seems to deaden sensation more than I would like. But the alternative--being in too much pain from ripped calluses to perform adequately--is even less appealing, so I'm bringing the sleeves. And tape. And Cornhuskers lotion, decanted into airline-approved 3-ounce bottles.

The weather forecast for Saturday calls for clouds and a chance of showers, with a high temperature in the low 70s. This is good, since the training will be outside and I don't deal well with strong sunshine or very warm temperatures. Living where I do, I am just not used to them. I plan to dress for comfort, in an old pair of Nike pants that are neither too tight nor too baggy, and a Polarfleece zip-neck sweatshirt over a baby t and sports bra. Everything is close-fitting enough to allow the instructors to see what I'm doing--one of my own pet peeves as a trainer is when clients wear attire that's so baggy I can't tell whether their glutes are firing or not!--but not so close-fitting as to make me feel self-conscious. Oh, and I will be wearing my obnoxious pink Chucks, although I plan to take them off and go barefoot unless the field where we're training is too wet for that to be an option.

What else? Lots of sunscreen, of course. After my skin cancer scare last winter I am more paranoid about that than ever. No sunglasses because I need my regular glasses to see. A bath towel, presumably to be used for the towel swing corrective drill and God only knows what other nefarious purposes. NSAIDS. Water. Some envelopes of recovery drink--enough to meet my own needs and also some extra in case there's anyone on my team who doesn't think to bring his or her own. I want to be successful myself, of course, but if I can help others succeed as well it'll be that much better an experience for me.

Above all I want to bring a good attitude and positive energy, because when you're working in a group it's important not to bring others down with a lot of whining and negativity. If at some point it becomes obvious that I'm in over my head I will be disappointed but I will deal with it gracefully and focus on making it a "failing forward" experience.

The world needs more good kettlebell instructors. I hope I have what it takes to be one of them, but if not it's better to find that out now so I can regroup and form a better plan of action that will allow me to succeed in the future.