One down, one to go.

Team Rif San Jose RKC 2010
The first RKC of 2010 in California is in the books and the San Jose Cert rocked, as RKC's always do! The weather almost cooperated fully and we got a great day on Friday with no rain and moderate temperatures. The sky's were threatening but they didn't deliver. That day.

Swings and Getups are the order of the day for Day One at the cert and we went into to these most crucial moves in great detail from 9 am - 7 pm. You must be really prepared to work if you come to the RKC. It's no joke.

AskANY of the candidates. It's no joke. You've been warned.

But the level of incredibly detailed but simply explained and progressed information about how to do these moves and how they tie into everything else you do with a kettlebell is amazing. The drills work. They improve the skills. And the skills can make you stronger and more conditioned than anything else in a shorter amount of time than anything else.

My team was solid although everyone thinks they can swing and snatch and press until they get to the RKC. Then they realize it's ain't that easy. Simple, yes but not easy. But they had heart and guts and were willing to listen, learn and try their best to get it all done. The transformation from sheer rookie to almost seasoned kettlebell practitioner happened, as it does every cert, as if by magic, and those who couldn't previously did, and those who did did much better.

It's crazy but it happens all the time. You would think ALL this work would make people worse. All this information and data and detail would lead them to muscular and movement paralysis but it doesn't.

What it does,as the Chief Instructor says it does , is make them better men, even if they are ladies.

My back held up perfectly, although my knee was talking to me all day Saturday. OK, yelling at me, all day Saturday. Just not enough time to fully stretch out, but my back feeling so good made up for it.

I got to teach the clean first up Saturday am, and then, to my suprise, got to share the stage with Pavel himself as we co- taught the tensions segments of the press instruction and I got to give my 'strength is tension' lecture even though it was not planned.

It was a gas and an honor to work with the Man himself, especially on one of my favorite topics; strength and tension. I may not be able to put the pedal to the metal on this old muscle car but I did for real for a long time, and I know what I'm talking about. It's nice Pavel knows that too.

It was also too cool that the Kettlebell Queen, MY Queen, was taking the course over as well for her recert. She could have taken the easy way out and assisted to get her recert but she wanted to experience again the intensity of the RKC weekend, to really grok the information.She's been in serious training for this weekend for months and now it was time to perform.

some video of Tracy and the grad workout

She trained her getups and presses hard and consistently and got a PR strict Military Press with the 16 kg during my section of the press lecture. How cool is that? She can push press much more but the strict press is new to her. She rocked it. Needless to say she passed her snatch test easily and her teaching was the best I saw in the whole place.

Am I biased? Perhaps, but those who know me know if it wasn't true I would not write it. I take this stuff seriously. She did great.

The RKC manual just keeps getting better and better each cert. Tighter and sharper and more to the point. Pavel just keeps making the progressions that much simpler and more easy to follow. The standards are getting tighter and the consistency amoung RKC's will be getting even that much stricter. People can have serious confidence when they go to an RKC instructor for kettlebell training. They will know they are getting the same information and technique in New York as they do in Palo Alto.

It was also great to see and work with Peter Lakatos, Team Leader, from Hungary again. This man is the real deal on many, many levels and Tracy was lucky to have him as her Team Leader. We are going to Hungary to teach at RKC in August and Peter is putting it on. I CAN'T WAIT! Peter ROCKS! This man is smart and practices what he preaches. He is also about as passionate and serious about kettlebells and the RKC as you can get and that goes a LONG way with me.

I so look forward to working with him at the cert and getting RKC style kbs into Europe in a big way.

The skys opened up on us on Sunday so the day was spent inside. Not bad, actually, as technique testing and teaching testing do alright in a small environment. Easier to observe all the details and not be distracted.

So my back and leg held up really well and it's just three more days to the Level 2 RKC and another four days of crazy intense kettlebell intensity. How cool. Plus I get to see a whole ' nother set of my RKC brothers. Can't wait. Tracy will be there studying as she gets ready to train for her Level 2. 2010 is going to be kettlebell centric , dats for sure,lol.