This is kind of a strange article - won't deny that... also going to warn you, we're approaching my birthday, which always makes me get "a little weird" (I know what you're thinking... ).  This is mainly because I get reflective in terms of "what have I learned this past year?", "have I kept my promises, goals etc?"   Those of you who know me in "real life" know there have been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of triumphs, and some sad things too.  Anyway, I hate talking about feelings on the internet - so let's start with a snippit of a video from yesterday's visit to the St.

This is adapted from one of the workouts in a brutal plan created for me by Tim Shuman, RKC2 - I used his plan to prepare for the RKC Workshop in 2010.   The original set of workouts consisted of 3-4 different patterns which all emphasized the crucal RKC 6 exercises: swing, clean, press, front squat, snatch, and get up.   My small group class focused on swings this past Friday - and I felt like we really needed to nail down the clean and press.   Personally, I love to train cleans in general - because they are one of the toughest things to teach, and to get straight in one's own head.  But, a really good clean leads to so much more awesome things - like heavy presses, heavy kettlebell front squats,

One of my first kettlebell clients really got into it in a big big big way - she started training with me at the very beginning and it feels like a million years ago. I remember meeting her in a park and teaching her how to do a swing for the first time.  We also went through the get up and then we just had a little time to do 1 arm swings.   We continued to train and swap recipes over the following months.  She began to make rapid progress, mainly due to the diligence of her at-home practice along with attention to detail.   As a musician, she understood the importance of practice and applied this towards her workouts.  

After reading a good bit of Bud Jeffries new book, I Will Be Iron (currently out on ebook format, soon to be out in paperback), I was more than just a little bit inspired.   One of the things I like about his book is the real world focus on simple but effective workouts with just a few crucial tools.   He also pairs drills very well - I'm even futher convinced that I need to get a tire for the small group to flip - that or we may have to work out something and meet up with our friends at The Jungle for a special workout event...

Today got off to a GREAT start when I met some friends at The Jungle MMA and Fitness here in Orlando.   Seth Petruzelli, the gym owner and a pro MMA fighter and his friend, local top personal trainer JT agreed to try out the FMS (Functional Movement Screen) after I sent them a few articles about how the screen is being used by NFL teams, and pro athletes of all varieties.   The super cool thing about the FMS is that really anyone can benefit from finding imbalances or shortcomings in their movement patterns.