Just a few words, while you’re hopefully out enjoying the summer, moving your body under the open sky.
Here at Raakraft things are moving along nicely. I’m doing a lot of FMS screens and constantly improving on my approach, catching the finer points during each tests.
With the screen I’m also getting pretty good with my shoulder mobility and led raise, but both still take some movement preparation to get where they need to be. It feels awesome, though, to be able to move freely in the shoulder and hip joints.
I’m working my way into the Viking Warrior Conditioning Regime and I love it, despite/because it challenges me real nice. I try to get 4 VWC sessions in every week and wave cycle the number of sets in order to make it bearable. It is really tempting to rush to the 80 sets and move on to 36/36, but I keep reminding me that I’m in it for the benefits of the protocol, not just to rush through it and say I did it.
On the strength side I’m working on getting my pullups, TGU and squats tighter. I’m still training very much by feeling and enjoy throwing some running and climbing/crawling into the mix as well. It feels great and even though I don’t feel quite as strong as I did 6 months ago, I love being pain free and the feeling of athletic natural movement.
TGU progressions (Jeff O’Connor showed us some really nice variations for hip/shoulder mobility)
Clean n’ jerks: 2x28kg x 5-6 reps – Felt easy and comfortably in the lockout
Bent press: 40kg – very smooth and seamless
Swing progressions: 28kg and 48kg – starting to feel very rooted and able to work in some foot work – Feels awesome.
In the afternoon I took my advanced class through 45 sets of berserker conditioning protocol. It felt a lot better than this weekend so I guess Kenneth is right about the enzymatic benefits kicking in really fast. Still a heck of a long way to 80 sets.
My beginner class had the pleasure of being introduced to David Whitley’s furnace workout. The BJJ class on the mat beside us started complaining that we emitted too much heat LOL
EvolutionRace
One of my current goals is competing in the combined “strongman”/endurance event “EvolutionRace”. The concept is 10 km cross country running with 10 challenges interspersed during the race. Challenges include rope climbs, climbing along ropes and horizontal posts, stone lifting, farmer walks, tire dragging, precision stone throw, cold water swimming etc. The route is really hilly throw a beautiful wooden area with plenty of steep ascents and slopes. This year I plan on doing the run in Vibram Fivefingers, of course.
Finally I am home again after a long trip across the Atlantic Ocean. It feels wonderfull to be back with my fast growing little son and my beautiful wife.
I have passed the tests of the RKC II, and have gained new insights into the Hardstyle method. The ranking of RKC II is hard earned and among the people who have obtained it are highly skilled individuals;
- Adam Glass; Truly world class strongman, coach and friend
- Jason Marshall; US state and national record holder in powerlifting
- Dustin Miller; US national record holder in powerlifting
- Dustin Rippetore; CEO Way of Strength
By the way, Dustin is hosting a 2 day seminar with two of the giants in the RKC community; Senior Instructors Jeff O’Connor and David Whitley. Both did phenominal presentations at the RKC II and had I the option I would gladly cross the Atlantic the third time this year in order to attend. Check it out at www.wayofstrength.com.
All these guys, along with many unmentioned, are incredible athletes, coaches and human beings, and that being exactly what we strive for here at RaaKraft it is very exciting to train and hang out with them. Your standards are the average of the expectations of your peers, which in this case means your standards will be raised. As they say the bar will be raised and that fact alone will improve standards you set for yourself.
The RKC is divided into “levels” of sofistication. With the new introduction, Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification, there will be HKC (goblet squat, swings, get ups), RKC (clean, press, snatch, front squat, double kettlebell exercises), RKC II (jerk, viking push press, wind mill, snatch, tactical pullup, pistol and limited corrective exercise) and CK-FMS (the gold standard in corrective exercise). This division provides a clear progression and allows for a path of movement mastery. At the same time every single exercise is tied together with all the others in a way that builds toward very efficient power production, pain free mobility and strong flexibility. By allowing time between going from simple (not easy) exercises to more complex the instructors can obtain understanding of each and every exercise before progressing. Way too often we jump the gun a want to do all the sexy stuff right a way. By doing this we will miss out on the amazing benefits there are to be found in the simplest of exercises. After Sr. RKC Jeff O’Connorhave shown me a number of ways to delve deeper into the movement in the swing I’ve found myself reaping incredible benefits carrying over to a wide spectrum of activities.
Another amazing aspect of the RKC community is the fantastic feeling of coherence. We all know what it takes to go through the RKC and even more important upholding the Code of Conduct. We are truly a warrior tribe and the quality of warriors is truly something special in this age of McDojos and 4 minutes a day fitness programs.
Training of the Day
Did some work on the brettzel and some yoga-stuff after coming home from the airport. Later I’ve worked very lightly on some athletic swigs with the beast. They felt awesomely and with a little practice that bell will float effortlessly overhead.
Tomorrow will be the Berserker Conditioning Regime after a lot of skill work. I can’t wait!
Tom Brown is one of America’s most acclaimed outdoorsmen. He explores and explains his deeply spiritual approach to tracking derived from the Apache Scouts. The following quote nicely crystalizes the philosophy:
“The Scouts were masters of the wilderness… They could glace at a track and read into the maker’s very soul. To them the track was not only a window to the past, an intimate knowledge of the animal, or man who made them, but also a means of keeping them and the tribe safe. Tracking was their doorway to the universe, where they could know all things through the tracks…”
- Tom Brown
This is a level of mastery I believe is a worthy pursuit, and after reading Tom’s books I try to have in mind this level as my ambition. Not in tracking even though I enjoy the outdoors, but in my own chosen paths. So now when I teach or coach I constantly try to ask how every little detail describes the whole. Maybe someone will come to me to learn a technique or to get a training program, and I will notice slight disharmonies in the persons movement, posture, mobility etc. These details all relate something about this person’s health, culture, lifestyle, beliefs etc, and am I to be truly a master of my craft I will need to explore the meaning of each and every one of them.
In that sense you can treat everything in your chosen path as tracks. In my case it may be bruises, tension, soreness, tightness, discomfort etc. For a teacher it might be specific questions, particular grades, facial expressions, body language, jargon etc. The point is that the minute you start treating your path as a path to mastery you will connect with yourself, your path and the universe in a sincerely more profound way. Not only will you soon be in a higher state of flow and being more focused, you will also start to enjoy yourself more as you immerse yourself in your path.
A wise mentor of mine recently told be that true spirituality isn’t to be found in isolated meditation. It is found when you immerse yourself in the world, thus making entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, business, science etc. among the most spiritual activities as long as you allow it be.
In the end it is all about awareness. Tom writes that he considers tracking to be the ultimate extension of awareness. As stated above I think tracking extends to nearly all activities in life, allowing us to connect yourselves with the tangible track and out towards everything surrounding it, the entire universe included. Thus nurturing a closer kinship with the earth and spirit.
Tom’s mentor, called Grandfather, would kneel before the first track and bow his head in prayer. I will finish this post by relating his words;
“Grandfather, Great Spirit,
Master of all things, you who are called by so many names,
and worshipped in so many way;
allow me to become the Earth,
teach me to surrender to the tracks,
so that I may become that which I follow,
and if i am worthy,
allow these tracks to lead me closer to You.”
Please stay on track with the many abbreviations. Everything will be explained in time.
So what’s up?
On the personal side I had the amazing experience of becoming a father on April, 21st, 2009. My wife and I had our beautiful baby boy. His name is Magne, which is old Norse and means “strength”. In Nordic mythology Magne is the Son of Thor, the God of Thunder, and when he is three days old he is so strong that he can lift a dead giant away from his father, who is pinned underneath. Magne is one of the few gods, who survive Ragnerok, the nordic armageddon, and rebuilds the new world.
I have taken a good deal of time off from school and work to spend as much time with my family as possible, which has proved invaluable.
Circular Strength Training
This spring I attended and completed Scott Sonnons Circular Strength Training Certification, and it was a very rewarding experience. I’ve long admired Scott for his innovative ideas and insight into esoteric training practices from Russia, India, Persia etc. The concepts of bodyflow, being breathed, compensatory exercise and joint traction resounds very well in my training philosophy.
Russian Kettlebell Challenge
Again this year I had the honor and pleasure of serving as an assisting instructor at the Danish RKC certification. Many of my good friends attended this year including my brother Rudi, the great MMA coach Thomas La Cour, kickboxing coach extraordinair Thomas Clarup as well as many others.
I was assigned to Team Cheng lead by the brilliant Dr. Mark Cheng, RKC Team Leader, and I learned many new aspects from Doc this year, including detailed knowledge of the new turkish get up approach described in Kalos Sthenos by Brett Jones, MRCK, Gray Cook and Dr. Cheng. A book and DVD I highly recommend by the way.
The new RKC performed admirably, and I look forward to the new RKC Masterclass we will put up in the future.
CK-FMS
Two weeks ago I had my first trip to the states in order to attend the Certified Kettlebell – Functional Movement Screen Course, sponsored by Dragondoor. Presenters included Gray Cook, inventor of the FMS, Brett Jones, MRKC, Jeff O’Connor, Sr. RKC and Dr. Mark Cheng, RKCTL.
This course is THE course to attend for the up and coming RKC. My head was spinning with profound insights, and as one Sr.RKC put it, taking the information in was like drinking from a fire hose. It came fast and furiously. So three days in our heads was swimming and we started getting frustrated with the complexity what was shown us. Luckily many things started dawning on day four, and in the weeks after new stuff still become clearer.
Not only did I learn a lot and got my training paradigm turned upside down, I also made some amazing friendships along the way;
Dustin Rippetoe, RKC II, CK-FMS, www.wayofstrength.com
George Spears, RKC II and very experienced yoga instructor
James Neidlinger, CK-FMS and all around madman, www.5ringsfitness.com
George Samuelson, RKC, www.thisfeelsgood.com
Jon Engum, Sr.RKC, www.extremetraining.net
Taikei Matsushita, RKC II
Many others…
As often before I am amazed my the generosity, humility and knowledge within the RKC family.
Movement Naturelle and Bare Feet
One of the big issues at this years CK-FMS was the role of proper foot conditioning and thus proper footwear. Vibram Fivefingers is definitely the next big thing in kettlebell training. Curiously enough I have my self recently started looking into the Method Naturelle methodology and came upon Erwan Le Corre, who works from a similar perspective:
He calls his method Movement Naturelle. What I find interesting is that brilliant people far apart come up with very similar ideas. Pavel wrote his book “Naked Warrior” at the same time that Gray Cook wrote “Athletic Body in Balance” with many of the same philosophical arguments presented in different ways. Now Erwan presents Movement Naturelle, including barefoot running, climbing, crawling, lifting, fighting, climbing, walking, swimming, throwing etc, while Gray presents fundamental movement as the foundation for conditioning and advocates training like Tarzan, getting good across a wide variety of modal domains. These wholesome and very natural approaches to training the human animal I believe will revolutionize the way we consider movement in the future.
Born to Run
While on the subject of Natural Movement I have to recommend you read the book “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougal.
Before you buy your next pair of running shoes you need to read this
End Notes
This was one of my longer posts. I hope you have enjoyed it.
