Three Days with the Masters: AJ’s RKC II Adventure

On September 5, I snuck out of DNA under the guise of going on Air Force duty for a week. I did actually report for duty in Denver on the 9th (just in time for the epic rains), but I neglected to mention that I would be in St. Paul, Minnesota enroute, attending Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) Level II instructor training.

The RKC II starts with an entry test, which includes a 20 sec flexed arm hang (for females; the guys did weighted pull-ups), a press test, and requalification for Level I, i.e., a snatch test and technique tests of several other moves. I wasn’t concerned about passing any of it except for the press. The standards are graded by weight, so that women over 140lbs have to press a 20kg bell, and 139 and under pressed 18kg. I had the 18kg in the bag, but the 20kg was dicey – I had only pressed it once or twice. Therefore, my main preparation consisted of practicing my press for several weeks, plus a week on what I call the Nun Diet – nun-a-this, nun-a-that… mainly chicken breasts and veggies, very few fats or carbs, and no wine. My dual-pronged strategy worked: I weighed in at 138.4, pressed the 18kg, and then ate a nut bar. Yum.

Since I returned to the same training center where I attended RKC I, the intimidation factor was low as I understood better what to expect. I knew the class would be small. Rather than about 80 people at my RKC course, 13 of us shared the 3 master RKC instructors and 2 assistants. The personal attention was fantastic, and challenging! Master RKC Andrea Cu Cane was the first to zoom in on my lack of thoracic spine mobility, which I had not discovered in five years of training; the rest of the staff followed. The weekend was thus punctuated with reminders to open my upper chest and pull my lower ribs together. This correction alone was quite fatiguing and added an element of challenge to the weekend.

Sheer awesomeness on the right side of this photo.

The RKC system is very focused on teaching technique, and while instructor candidates and required to demonstrate excellent form, the Masters really emphasized ways to teach the various exercises and help clients build strength and skill. One major difference between Levels I and II is that Level I features mainly kettlebell work, and Level II includes several body weight progressions for building superior strength, as well as some advanced kettlebell moves. I did not expect to learn so much about the plank, pull-up, push-up, and pistol (one legged squat) as I did. The most useful component of these exercises was an introduction to activation of the latissimis dorsi, aka “lats” – the huge, powerful muscles in your back that will propel you to a whole new level of performance when you can tap into their power. I had no idea that I had been relying so much on my traps and other neighboring muscles, and despite coaching people to use their lats in pull-ups, I apparently wasn’t very good in recruiting my own.

Hello lat band…I learned one simple drill that woke up those sleeping giants, and that showed me how they feel when put to work. You may have had the pleasure of experiencing the lat band pull in the last week, as I have been using this great little trick left and right! Synopsis – grab a medium pull up band, hold it behind your back at “bra strap level,” and pull out with your hands. Relax and repeat. You will feel your lats working!

Another of my favorite newly-learned cues is “tailbone to navel.” While I understood this concept academically, I got a valuable refresher on the power of this one move for generating core strength. Squeezing your tailbone to your belly button forces you to contract your abs, powering the swing and forming the strong core tension needed for the plank and most lifts (body weight or otherwise). A solid lat crush, triggered by “bending the [imaginary metal] bar,” combined with a tailbone-to-navel core crush and a forceful exhale, generates a ton of force and allows you to do nearly anything.

Learning the thoracic bridge and the body weight progressions was exhausting, and I ended up getting far more fatigued than I did at RKC I, where we did more swings and I was more hungry. Fortunately, the staff were incredibly supportive and invested in our success in the course, dishing out tough love and some humor along with the physical instruction. Master RKCs Phil Ross and Max Shank walk the walk – each not only performs all of the progressions effortlessly, but they both demonstrated elite strength, playing around with one-arm handstand push-ups, front levers, and numerous other impressive feats.  Each owns a premier gym, Max in San Diego and Phil in New Jersey, and both of them shared their extensive experience in training a broad range of clients. Learning from true experts Andrea, Max, and Phil was incredible, and assistants (both RKC II) Leslie and Aaron rounded out the team with precision corrections and insight.

The RKC II test was less intimidating than my first RKC one. I was still struggling with the bent arm press and working on the kettlebell jerk, but had had enough highly supervised practice to perform and teach all of the moves. I had to relearn the windmill and was somewhat nervous about it as it requires thoracic mobility that I don’t have yet, but my pistol was looking fine and the pull-up was easy, thanks to a summer of weighted pull-ups in David’s Applied Strength program. Therefore, at the end of the weekend, I went away with a new certification, a much-expanded bag of tricks for helping DNA clients get stronger, and a renewed appreciation of both body weight training and the entire RKC system.

Girl Power!

I’m enjoying putting my new tools to work for you, and our whole training staff is learning these methods so that you can benefit from them too. Be on the lookout for more special opportunities to strengthen your skills, and have fun supercharging your training!