4. Take the Russian Kettlebell Challenge!
5. Nutrition Tip – Acai Berries, Oprah's not the only one who likes 'em...
6. Individual Program Design – The Best Investment You Can Make
7. Rate Your Trainer!!!
8. Cool Obama Shirt – Designed by one of our students
1. Classes, Training, and the October BYOB Date:
Important news: There will be no classes or training from Thursday, 10/30 - Sunday, 11/2 , as Kristine and I will be out of town for a Dragon Door Publications Z-Health Workshop - Get ready for a bunch of new stuff!!!
We have two new class offerings, a Saturday Advanced Kettlebell Class and a Tuesday night Beginning/Intermediate KB Class, come check it out!
Put it on your calendar - BYOB - our Free Kettlebell Work Out is Sunday, October 26th @ 10am!!!
2. Intensive 3 Hour Kettlebell Workshop:
Kettlebell Workshop offered November 8, 2008 from 12-3pm - Sign up now! Cost: $120, deadline for registration is November 5th.
Here is what you will learn at this workshop and why you must attend:
· You are a beginner and you want to ensure that you learn the proper technique to maximize your progress and avoid unnecessary injuries
· How to develop tremendous hip power to drive kettlebells overhead like hot air balloons
· What to do to avoid banging up your wrists on cleans
· What to do with your pelvis on swings to protect your lower back
· How to train with kettlebells in a safe and effective manner to avoid potential injuries
· How to get as tight as possible to lift more weight then ever before and avoid unnecessary injuries
· The Importance of being able to get loose and tight in a single repetition. This will make a big difference in your workouts and progress
· How to breathe for maximum performance
· Where to look on Military Presses for maximum power. This one makes a huge difference
· Why you can replace your gym membership with kettlebells if you want to and get into fantastic shape
· How to incorporate kettlebells into your current program
· The importance of being a goal focused trainee rather than a stimulus-focused trainee
If you're ready to take the next step and take charge of your fitness goals, sign up now by contacting us: click here now
We will cover the following exercises in detail ~
Cleans: (One-arm and doubles) Are you banging up your wrists. You should not be, even with the heaviest kettlebells. Without a perfect clean, forget about doing presses with confidence. It all starts here. Why you should open your hand and wrap your hand around the kettlebell rather than letting the kettlebell flip over and bang up your forearms.
Military Press: (Many years ago the Military Press was the mark up upper body strength. Now people are lazy and like to lie down when doing presses , learn why the military press is a full body demonstration of tension and why lat. activation is critical for an important press.
Swings: This is where it all starts for developing rapid hip flexors and for accelerating fat loss. It is not as simple as it looks. Learn the best way to do swings at the workshop and how to avoid getting a sore lower back. One-arm and Double Swings will be covered
Turkish Get-up: Forget about crunches and doing sit-ups all day long. Work your body as one unit and build a rock solid midsection. Learn the pattern of motion to make TGU' seamless and productive.
When you feel ready to take action on this and increase both your strength and fitness to new levels, sign up now by contacting us: click here now
Check our website for more info:
http://kettlebility.com/content/workshops
3. Training Tip – The Hard Style Lock:
We keep saying pinch those glutes, push those heels in, contract, contract, contract... Here is a very well written article on The Hard Style Lock, by Dr. Mark Cheng RKC Team Leader, from his always informative, often times humorous, and all around great blog, http://kettlebellslosangeles.blogspot.com
Part of what makes my KBLA RKC crew stand out head & shoulders above the rest is our emphasis on teaching a progression in movement. The progression allows us to teach in a way that constantly reinforces the basics. It's how I teach everything - from martial arts to medicine to movement.
The Hard Style Lock is lesson #1 when it comes to generating a Maximum Volitional Contraction (MVC). Most of the time, when people think they're contracting their muscles as strongly as possible, it's nowhere near their potential. It's the same as in other facets of life, too. When you see people who're barely applying themselves at a given task, but they're convinced that they're giving you maximum output, you are faced with someone who has a disconnect between their mind and reality. Getting someone to generate an MVC is a physical reality test. The more of their muscle's contractile potential that's used, the closer the person is to reality.
The Hard Style Lock teaches you not only to generate an MVC, but to do it in several muscle groups with a high degree of coordination. There are 5 points of this Lock:
1. Heels - Drive them into the ground without letting them come off the ground at any time.
2. Knees - Lock them out completely, as if pushing your knee pits backward as hard as you can.
3. Glutes - Without compromising the knee lock, clench your glutes so tightly that your hips rotate forward on your thighs.
4. Abs - Shorten your abdominal plate (from your solar plexus to your groin) as tightly as possible while exhaling a short, sharp breath.
5. Lats - Draw your shoulder blades down in such a way as to shove them down towards your butt.
To train this, stand with your feet shoulder width apart and point your feet ramrod straight ahead so that their midlines are parallel to each other. [Note: When I say midline, I mean the line between the heel of your foot and the 3rd toe.]Bend your knees and hips slightly, as if you were in a very slight crouch on your heels, and then work on generating each successive part of the Lock from the ground up. You begin by snapping the knees straight and staying on your heels. Next, you add the glute clench. The glute clench is central to Hard Style and where most people fall terribly short. Instead of driving the hip motion by clenching the glutes, a lot of people just lean backward, leaving the abs essentially off and dropping the strain right into the lower back. Most people can call it a major coup to just be able to fire these first 3 parts of the Lock simultaneously. For a Hard Stylist, add the abs & lats. Your abs serve as the virtual weight belt to stabilize your lumbar spine, and your lats stabilize your shoulder so that your neck doesn't get conscripted.
The ability to exert neurological force simultaneously through these seemingly disparate parts of your body is what makes Hard Style such a useful training method, regardless of the tool - whether Naked Warrior-style with bodyweight, or RKC style with a kettlebell. To get there, however, you need to have an unflinching awareness of what you're doing and not doing. Then accept responsibility for acknowledging and changing what isn't ideal.
Want more? Get to a Kettlebility class or workshop and learn! Nothing takes the place of instruction, practice, and feedback!
4. The Russian Kettlebell Challenge
Get Certified!!!
Images from the September 2008 Certification
Take yourself to the next level and become a Certified Russian Kettlebell Trainer through Pavel's RKC - Russian Kettlebell Challenge! It'll be the most amazing weekend of your life!
We can help you achieve your goal and make sure that you are TOTALLY prepared for your RKC Certification weekend. Being over prepared means that you'll spend more time learning what and how instead of playing catch up with blistered hands and a sore butt...
If you're ready to take the next step, contact us for cohesive training plans and form critique. Make sure you have what you need to succeed - Click here now and ask us!
To sign up for Pavel's RKC Certification Workshops and other Dragon Door sponsored Workshops go here: Workshops and Schedule Dates
5.Nutrition Tip – Acai Berries, Oprah's not the only one who likes 'em...
Okay, how do you say it? The Brazilian Acai (pronounced "Ah-sigh-ee") berry is grown in the (still mostly) rich fertile soil of the amazon rainforest. This unique fruit has been known and revered for its health -promoting properties and prized as a source of health and vitality. Acai berries have unparalleled antioxident levels and high nutiritional content, and is now widely regarded as a potent superfood, just ask Oprah! Recently there has been an explosion of Acai products on the market, from health and nutrition to fad diets.
it's all good though, because Acai is rich in antioxidents, phytonutrients, amino acids, vitamins, and trace minerals. Antioxidents prevent free radicals from potentially damaging healthy, functioning cells by donating a electron to unstable free radicals. Health experts have said that obtaining a variety of antioxidants through diet or supplementation is essential to maintaining good health. So just what are free radicals, no, they're not a punk band, they are atoms with at least one unpaired electron. In excess, free radicals in our bodies produce harmful oxidation that can damage cell membranes - think ageing, joint inflammation, etc. Smoking (blech), alchohol (yum), stress (yikes), lack of sleep (yawn), a poor diet (McDonalds), pollution (modern living), and excessive amounts of sunlight (no worries here in Seattle..LOL) are all prolific contributors to the formation of free radicals in our bodies.
Apparently Acai berries have an ORAC rating (which is a way to measure oxygen radical absorbence)
rating 1000 times higher than that of blueberries, red wine, pomegranite or wheat grass, and it beat out every other fruit or vegatable tested by an extremely wide margin. A University of Florida study found that the Acai berry was proven to destroy leukemia cells while leaving healthy cells intact.
What does this all mean? It means it is good for you, you should go get some at your local store, and luckily for you it tastes good too!
6. Individual Program Design
Fall is here and the countdown to the holiday season has begun… Whether you just want to look better, feel better, move better, are an athlete who needs to perform better at their sport, have a job that requires strength and endurance, or have an injury that you want to rehab/recover from, we can help you get healthier, move faster, work harder – we can help you get there. What is personalized program design? Custom ‘personalized’ training programs are created just for you. Your goals, time, lifestyle, equipment availability, space requirements, are all taken into consideration. Don’t have kettlebells? Have dumbbells? Barbells? Just your own bodyweight? No problem – you can follow your Custom Training Program on your own at home, at the gym, on vacation – wherever!
Who needs Custom Program Design?
New to Exercise: You know you want to get ‘in-shape’ but you don’t know where to start. We can show you what to do and how to progress.
Wants to Work Out at Home: Your Custom Program is based on your lifestyle, time, equipment or lack there of.
Hates Gyms: Lot’s of folks hate’em – train at your own home with whatever equipment you have. It’s incredible what you can do with your own bodyweight if that’s all you have.
Don’t’ Have Time: If you’re tired of making excuses, it is amazing what you can do in just 20 minutes 3-4 times a week. We can show you how – and get ready to sweat!
Been Training for Years But Haven’t Quite Reached YOUR Goals: A new perspective on training is in order. You also need an experienced professional coach to show you the way. We can show you some new stuff that will jump start your body!
No excuses, treat yourself and make it REAL – You deserve it! Call or email Andrea (andrea@kettlebility.com, file://c:/DOCUME~1/ANDREA~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache/e70d958...)" onmouseout="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',0,1,16);" onclick="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'0','sms=1');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseover="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',1,1,16);" onmousedown="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',2,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseup="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'0',1,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();">file://c:/DOCUME~1/ANDREA~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache/e70d958...)"> 206-293-0009 ) or Kristine (kristine@kettlebility.com, file://c:/DOCUME~1/ANDREA~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache/e70d958...)" onmouseout="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',0,1,16);" onclick="javascript:skype_tb_SwitchDrop(this,'1','sms=0');return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseover="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',1,1,16);" onmousedown="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',2,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();" onmouseup="javascript:doSkypeFlag(this,'1',1,1,16);return skype_tb_stopEvents();">file://c:/DOCUME~1/ANDREA~1/LOCALS~1/Temp/__SkypeIEToolbar_Cache/e70d958...)"> 206-794-7689 ) and take the next step!
7. Rate Your Trainer!!!
Think your instructor is the best? Write a review! Tell the world what worked for you and why. I have been asked if this is only in reference to kettlebell training. The short answer is 'no' - although Dragondoor is a site for kettlebell training, more important, it is a site for the BEST in strength, movement, and fitness training. No good trainer or instructor while specialzing in a certain system, utilizes only one medium. This is why Kristine and I are continually adding to our toolkits with body weight exercises, functional movement screens, Z-Health and the like. Take a minute and let us know what you think - thanks in advance!
8. Cool Obama Shirt - designed by one of our students!
GO VOTE!!!
Thanks for reading -- train hard and enjoy the pain!
