This blog has been a bit quite lately. That does not mean that your kettlebell-swinging doctor has been idle, or lazy.
Last weekend was the RGSF (Russian GS Federation) International Section's kettlebell sport course. The details of this course are accounted for elsewhere:
course schedule LINK, and here,
LINK-RKIL, and here is a relevant
RGSF-LINK.
Hence, I will only share some more personal reflections. The event took place at
Uddevalla Kettlebell Club. Thomas and Niclas and the local club members had made a lot of work to make this an enjoyable experience. Dinners in the evening, very good lunches at noon at the gym, clearly displayed schedules... it all worked like a Swiss clock.
We were 12 students from all over Sweden. The participants from Denmark and Germany unfortunatley could not make it which is regrettable as I looked forward to meet them. Not the least, I pity the German participant who could not make his flight due to a train accident on the way to the airport. Well, there is always a next time.
The level of the participants was quite good. The course is for intermediate lifters and not for beginners. Some people were new to kettlebell sport, but had trained a lot with bells for strengh and conditioning before. It was also impressive to see some participants who had been lifting bells for only a year, or two, but showed a lot better results than me.
It was a demanding course. Not that any specific part was extremely hard, but it was 9 to 10 hours of focused instruction a day (Sunday was a little shorter). Morozov demonstrated a technique, explained it and we tried it for a few reps, Morozov corrected, explained and we tried, asked, and took notes and so on.
In fact, I took 24 A5 pages of notes. We also got a manual and a dvd. I have not had the time to watch them yet as I am still in the process of going though my personal notes.
The course plan was obviously very worked through. Morozov is not only an athlete, but is employed full time as a sports coach at a university and for a electric company.
The education contained a lot of information, this latter point is important. To a total beginner I suspect that the amount information would be confusing (especially regarding technical variations), and you have better been lifting bells before taking this course
It is also nice to have a very qualified instructor. Then, one does not have to think "can this be correct info?" and such. Morozov is very qualified and you can confy in what he says.
One point that I liked a lot was that this course was not about a single school or style of lifting kettlebells. It is just about lifting kettlebells in a safe way that give you maximum health and by, consequence, maximal reps (which gives you maximum strength and conditioning).
Thus, there was much teachings about technical variations. The reasons of technical variations were also explained in-depth. A guy with short legs is unlikely to feel at ease with exactly the same technique as a guy with long legs. The same goes for differences in arm length, flexibility, and so on.
We also learnt about training programs and assistance training. Morozov is a proponent of other training forms (swimming, running, basket, kettlebell juggling, skiing), and especially barbell work to improve kettlebell training. I joined a gym today in order to do a few bench presses and deadlifts.
Some time was devoted to how to breath while lifting. It was funny, and we Swedes have a lot to learn there :-). But it paid off. One friend of mine made a snatch PR with 12kg and said afterwards that he felt like he just could keep snatching without getting tired with the new breathing. This guy, by the way, regularly snatches the 40kg bell for reps.
Another cool occasion was when Morozov demonstrated 100 non-stop snatches with 32kg, right hand only. He had made the same with the left hand a few days earlier in the US, so there were no hand switches.
The proud course participants.
In short, this was a very interesting course and I have got stuff to work with for some years ahead. If you love kettlebell lifting I think you will want to consider this certification/course seriously as a help to develop. There might be another course with Morozov in Uddevalla next year (then hopefully with Valentin Egorov as well). Compared to other kettlebell courses, by the way, this one was strangely cheap as regards the price.
