Hope everyone is doing well, sticking with their guns and progressing towards their goals and most importantly, training smart. Here is my favorite shake recipe going on right now.
4 Teaspoons of PB2 (you can use organic peanut butter if you choose)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
4-8 ice cubes
1/2 cup cottage cheese
Blend and enjoy. The PB2 is a powdered form of peanut butter that just makes it way easier to make shakes with peanut butter (you can get it online or at your local grocery store). I have used regular peanut butter in the past but it tends to stick to the blender half the time. The secret ingredient in my mind is the cinnamon. It really gives the shake that cookie taste that I love so much. The cottage cheese sounds weird at first but it gives the shake an ice cream consistency to it.
Hello again everyone. Hope all of you are doing well with your lives and training smart.
Today I want to review a DVD/Workbook combination by Master RKC Brett Jones and Gray Cook, RKC. It is called Kettlebells from the Center: Dynami.
This workbook/DVD is a progression from the Secrets Series and Kalos Sthenos. If you have not previously watched these before videos and workbooks I highly suggest to watch them as it makes a seemless transition into Dynami. This workbook does a fantastic job of building your exercise skills through a proper progression.
Pattern Building>Slow Strength>Symmetry> and then Dynami (power).
Many of you may have heard that it speaks about the Kettlebell Swing and then its power counterpart, the Push Press. But you would not believe how so much more is contained in this book. They begin with the basics of movement as a great review that even includes often overlooked principles of movement screening and clearance tests to proper breathing (biomechanical and anatomic).
The DVD and workbook covers so many drills and progressions that are vital to myself not only as an individual but as an instructor. I have progressed many individuals through the deadlift, swing and single leg deadlift much more efficiently with the use of the drills in this workbook/DVD. SO MUCH is covered and it is great once again that I can see it on DVD and then be able to read the information and refer back to it in a workbook.
Items covered in Kettlebells from the Center (includes instruction, pattern building, slow strength, power and common mistakes)
Deadlift and variations
Swing and variations
Single leg deadlift and variations
Squat
Bottoms up squat
Press
Bottoms up press
Push Press
and Squat to Push Press
fantastic movement prep drills you have not seen anywhere else!
One thing I ABSOLUTELY LOVE about the bottoms up progression is that it is a fantastic way for you as an individual to address symmetry and be able to clean those things up. Those of you going through the ROP ladders to get your clean and press numbers should really consider using some of the bottoms up progressions during your off weeks or your variety days to help you to address your symmetry. You WILL notice that with these particular drills will help you improve quickly and avoid injury as well!
Again I highly suggest Dynami for you to purchase for yourself and for your clients. All of you will greatly benefit from this series. It is a must for those individuals who are training for RKC Level I and II to help you progress efficiently and get the strength you need to complete the requirements of your certification.
Change is inevitable. It is supposed to happen for the best of all mankind, correct? Sometimes change can push us as individuals in the wrong direction. Gone are the times when we had to hunt and gather for food, gone (for some) are the long work days spent performing grueling activities.
Now we have better medicines, better ways to perform surgeries. We have office jobs, computers and other technologies that make life easier and more convenient for us. But there is a problem….. Injuries and illnesses are on the rise for Americans as compared to other countries. With all the technologies out there and advances in sports medicine we are still suffering from many chronic and acute injuries. We have orthopaedists and physical therapists and athletic trainers who have extensive knowledge and say things like “don’t squat below parallel, it will hurt your knees” because they read/heard it from an article, but yet leg extensions and leg press is ok. Remember this is the same generation that believe in super sized fast food meals and fad diets. This is the same generation who’s military has had to REDUCE their standards for physical fitness. This is the same generation who has adopted the body builder’s programming and guidelines of isolated exercise. What this really means:
It is not the squat that destroys the knees but the fact that we as Americans lack the mobility, stability and motor control to perform a proper squat technique
That our lifestyles (work, home, and play) are allowing us to move poorly which results in poor physical fitness. If we moved better, it would not take so much effort to get into proper shape and maintain it.
Body builder programming is excellent…. FOR BODYBUILDERS! It is made for muscle growth, not for strength and coordination. You want to be strong like a volleyball player or a gymnast. Then start working out like them. You don’t see them doing split sets of back and biceps one day and chest and tris the other. They work the body as a WHOLE.
I wonder why Asia is so good at squatting?
The problem AMERICA is this. We forgot how to move, now a days have no clue how to move correctly. Our newly provided lifestyles have distorted our true coordination and balance. We have no foundation for movement that we put our everyday stresses upon.
People in Asia have no problems with squatting below parallel, they practically live there. That is because they do it every day. They never lost their ability to squat. They don’t have knee issues like us Americans do. What are we missing?
With the advance of technology, we sit in our cars and go to work (which saves us time and energy), we sit in our office chairs and do work for the majority of the day (we are more productive), we eat meals that are mainly highly processed
foods that are bad for us (because it costs less). We exercise by getting in our car and driving around the parking lot until we find a space that is close enough to the door (heaven forbid we walk a little further!) Then we SIT once again at
our machine weights with no thought to proper form (either we have to go heavy or as light as possible). Most Americans are more concerned with their “cardio” and get onto a treadmill and watch TV as they run with horrible technique and wonder why they have knee pain? We spend more than half our lives in a flexed position (think seated) with poor posture. What do we do to counteract this issue? We sit more????????
Fantastic ENGAGED exercise.
Gone and forgotten are the days of healthier individuals who participated in ENGAGED physical activity. Where technique and proper movement was crucial.
The #1 predictor of injury in individuals is if they have had a previous injury. Does that tell us something? Maybe we are not attacking the problems correctly with anti-inflammatories, machine weights, and other physical therapy exercises? Are we doomed to either not exercise enough and die from some disease due to our poor habits or maybe even worse we exercise obsessively but incorrectly with the machine weights and improper movement patterns and wear down our joints until there is nothing left and we are back on the couch with a total knee replacement, back pain and a total hip. Only to die once again due to the fact that we have worn ourselves out so much that we can’t stay fit?
AMERICANS!!!! We need to move better! Fitness, Medical, and Rehab Professionals!!!!!!! We need to understand movement better and get our patients, clients and athletes moving better! How do we do this? I have a piece to the answer.
A book has come out that is ground breaking. It speaks about the problems we as Americans are faced with and how we need to address them. The book is called “Movement” by Gray Cook (Physical Therapist, Russian Kettlebell Certified Instructor, Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach).
This book is the beginning of a new way of exercise and rehabilitation. The RIGHT way!
This book addresses what we need to be doing as Americans (and what we as Sports Medicine professionals should be teaching to the masses) to move better. Think of this, if we move better then we have less chance of injury, we have better movement skills and coordination to be able to do the types of physical activities that we love, we get more out of our workouts.
So how do you know how well you move? You fist must set a baseline for how you move and the Functional Movement Screen will help you to find out how well you move. It can determine if any compensations, imbalances, and asymmetries exist in your bodies that would cause you to move poorly. If you get an FMS screen and you score appropriately, then keep doing what you are doing because you move well! If you do not, then you need to adjust your activities and concentrate on moving better.
What about those who have pain? Then there is the Selective Functional Movement Assessment. This assessment is made for sports medicine professionals to help diagnose movement dysfunction that is causing the pain in the first place.
Thanks to all of you who are letting me rant about how poorly we Americans move. And now I ask of you if there is only one thing you buy this year to read (Especially My Sports Medicine Professionals!) you must buy the book Movement. You will not regret it. Lets get Americans on the Functional Movement Revolution and think about moving better! RKC’s there is still time to sign up for the CK-FMS in October!
Mr. SGHP 