Coming to you from Atlanta, GA - Folks it was seriously brisk and breezy outside the Francis Fong Academy this weekend. Maybe it was the norm for locals, but for this New Jersey kid who has lived in So Cal for many years and is NOT used to a cold day, it was shall we say, BLUSTERY! Be that as it may, when the door to the Academy closed and the work began, it was SMOKIN'!! Why? Because we were all knee deep in the "Hard Style Fundamentals" workshop I was leading for my willing victims.
Covering the essentials of the HSL, DL, 2HSW and TGU, my victims were setting personal records left and right. Well, it was the first time most of them had touched a kettlebell, but still a PR is a PR, right? HAHA! In all seriousness, though, let me put it in perspective for you: one of the ladies had brought some "kettlebells" along with her. Although I don't think 5 and 10 pound bells really qualify as more than a love pendant or a paperweight, I used them to demonstrate bad form, so I do thank Claudia for having them handy.
In addition to the essential DL movement pattern and Dr. Cheng's HSL breakdown for optimal full body tension, everyone was swinging and Turkishing bells with great form. We kept the swing reps low enough to let them get in the groove without gassing too badly and everyone did great. In fact by the end of the workshop after classic KBLA high detail TGU instruction, all four women in attendance completed an unassisted Turkish on both the right and the left with an 8kg bell. I was VERY impressed. In addition to the ladies, we had every size, shape and age person there. Some folks overweight, some shredded muscle machines, some young, some old, but everyone performed exceedingly well. I was most impressed!
Special thanks to AKC instructor Eric Fronczak for bringing a nice assortment of kettlebells for those who did not have their own. And most important, many thanks Sifu Francis Fong and Simo Tracey Fong for bringing me to Hotlanta (on a very cold day) to share RKC Hard Style Fundamentals with them! Thank you!!
Keep training with supreme attention to detail folks, and be on the lookout for a KBLA affiliated workshop in your area! Please follow this blog as well as Dr. Cheng's KBLA blog or email me directly for all the info!!
Favorite Quote of the Week
4 comments:
John,
I just wanted to thank you for taking so much time to work with me to correct my form with the kettlebells. Nothing beats one-on-one instruction, and even though I had attended workshops in the past, since I wasn't training regularly or practicing my form, I was basically starting off from square one.
I really appreciated how you emphasized each part of the ballistic motion piece by piece, so that I could concentrate on each section individually without the weight first. It really helped to get the motion down so that I wasn't using the incorrect muscles when I finally picked up the kettlebell.
I am so excited that I seem to have gotten the basic swing down! At least, I feel like I can do it every day now with decent form. And, I will!
The seminar was great, and it was so awesome to see everyone so excited and amazed that they were handling kettlebells that they never even dreamed of picking up! It is amazing how strong you can be when you use your skeletal structure in the proper way. I already heard some great feedback from some of the students!
Finally, thank you so much for suggesting that I purchase some Recoverite. So far I've only tried the Strawberry flavor, which tastes great. But I use that within an hour after my workouts and I am amazed at the fact that I am really not sore! I feel great! It almost led me to believe that I really didn't work out that much - thank goodness you were here to tell me otherwise! I will DEFINITELY keep using that.
Thank you again for all of your help!
Guro John,
As I am telling everyone who asks me about the workshop, the best word to describe is WOW! Great stuff!
The little details can make so much difference, and the way you pass on the information it is so clear.
Ah! I ordered a new kettlebell.
Thanks, really hope training with you again.
Guro John,
Thank you so much for your instruction, your encouragement and your enthusiasm. When I used the 8 kg kettlebell for the Turkish, unassisted, no one was more surprised than myself that I could accomplish that. I am 52 (proud of it) and to be able to still do something like that is incredible to me and I believe due to the excellent instruction I recieved.
Guro John, I have to tell you that my favorite part was when you were as excited for me as I was for myself. I continue to practice. Thank you so much
Sorry its me Sandy from FFMA.
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