Level I Kettlebell Athletics Certification

The certification on Saturday was great!! Jason C Brown definitely knows his stuff...and he knows how to teach it!

The cert seemed to be designed mainly for trainers who are looking to incorporate kettlebells into their programming.  He went over some core kettlebell exercises

• deadlift
• swing
• snatch
• clean 
• press
• windmill
• turkish get-up

I knew most of the exercises, but he spent a lot of time on how to teach them properly and how to correct some common errors.  Things that I would have never thought of but are so simple and effective.  He also emphasized how you clients should progress.  For example, if they can't get the swing down, don't let them move onto the snatch.  And also how some exercises will complement each other when it comes to teaching them, e.g. the windmill may help some clients "get" the tgu and some may have the tgu down, which could help with their windmill.

We also learned some variations on the exercises and which clients would benefit from which variations.  For example, for athletes that require a lot explosive power it might make sense to use the "dead hang" variations of the clean and the snatch.  Maybe for a football player, it makes sense to train 10s on and 45s off, which would simulate their game play.  Again, things I wouldn't have thought of.

And even though I knew a lot of the exercises, he helped me clean up a few of my own mistakes (ones I didn't realize I was making).  For example, there were a couple places in my tgu that needed adjusting, and it feels a lot better now.

Long story short, I really enjoyed.  My hamstrings (EVERYONE'S hamstrings) have been sore since, but I really enjoyed it!!