The Fall...For Jonathan

The summer is over. To say it was a challenging time in my life would be a huge understatement. I've obviously neglected this blog for a variety of reasons, but figured it was time to make another post or to shut it down. So, I decided to write the post that I had been avoiding now for nearly 2 months.

In terms of KB training....I went into the summer training pretty steadily. I won't say I was training "hard", but I was getting in consistent jerk and snatch sets. I felt on target to hit MS numbers in Chicago (Late August)

The highlight of my summer was getting a visit from my very good friend Kukka Laakso in July. I picked her up in Chicago where we spent the weekend doing things like watching UFC 100. She came back to St. Louis with me and we spent a week training Kettlebells (and doing some drinking of course). It was probably one of the best weeks that I can remember spending with anyone. We trained, trained some more, talked training over beers and I can't really think of anything else I would have rather been doing

A week after her departure, I received the worst news of my life. My youngest sibling and only brother Jonathan had died suddenly on a Saturday morning in the parking lot of an Oklahoma City grocery store. He was 32 years old. Jonathan and our cousin John Mark had been shopping for food for a barbecue. John Mark was with him when he collapsed. I can't imagine what that was like for him. John Mark and Jonathan were very close.

Not only was I heartbroken that I had lost my only Brother, but I was especially hearbroken for my Mom and Dad and Jonathan's young wife Nikki. All of my Grandparents are gone. But, my Brother was the first in our immediate and our huge extended family to die outside of the natural order of things.

Of course, I haven't been able to assuage the guilt I feel for not spending more time with him. I moved away from Oklahoma over 13 years ago. As we both got older, we got closer in terms of our communication during the rare occasions we spent together talking. I really enjoyed our all day conversations on Thanksgiving and other holidays and I will truly miss them. Jonathan was a great Brother, Husband, Son, and a very good friend to many. (Pictured below with our Family Friend Woodard. Photo was taken 3 weeks prior to his death on the 4th of July)

After my Brother's death, I had seriously considered canceling the trip to Latvia the following week. I wasn't really going to compete, but I was going to support a few folks including Kukka and my good friend Maya Garcia. After strong encouragement from my family that I should go and that Jonathan would want me to go, I made the journey.

In addition to the grieving, the trip was not without it's challenges. My flight to NYC was canceled. I had to scramble to get re-routed through Chicago, then to London. From London, I went to Helsinki. The problem was that I got to Helsinki to late to make a connection to Riga on Thursday. So, I had to go to Riga Friday morning and I just made it in time to catch the van to Ventspils.

At this point, I have to thank my very good friend Steven Khuong (Maya Garcia's husband). When my first flight had been canceled, I had touched base with him. I was about ready to bag the trip. But, he kept me focused and helped me make the hotel reservations for my unexpected stay in Helsinki.

All of the outbound challenges were worth it. When I met up with my friends like Lorraine, Kukka and Maya, I knew I had made the right decision to go. Of course, I was still very much heart broken, but I knew my friends would provide support along with a lot of humor on the trip. In the end, it proved to be very good therapy for me. The trip just reinforced the gratitude that I have for my KB friends.

So with fall here, I feel like I'm sort of starting over emotionally and somewhat physically. The cooler air will be very refreshing. I'm back to fairly consistent training. I'm doing more coaching now which has been very fulfilling and rewarding. I still struggle on certain days with the loss of my brother. I visited Oklahoma City this past weekend. While it was great visting with my family including cousins I haven't seen in years, there was definitely still a huge sense of loss and heartbreak.

I know the gratitude I have for my family and friends will continue to carry me through this difficult time along with the great memories Jonathan. I've got a new found gratitude now for my own health and the things I'm doing to improve it.

CI

From the AKC Blog

I don't have much time these days to write everywhere. So, I'm crossposting for my very few friends/readers that may not see the AKC Blog.

My post on Intent.

CI

Congrats To David Elkins

I've known David for a while. I'm not sure where we officially met. But, we reconnected at the Arnold Classic in Columbus back in March. David asked me if I would coach him. I have been coaching a couple of people online, so I took David up on his offer.

I might mention David is 63 years old. At the Arnold, he used the 16s and put up impressive numbers in the biathlon (191 Snatches and 106 Jerks). However, after reviewing his videos it was clear that he needed some technical work. Initially, we stuck with the 16s because we thought that is what he would use for his competitions the remainder of the year. However, when we saw the new rankings and qualification requirements for Chicago, we decided that we should go ahead and set heavier goals instead of faster goals with the lighter weights.

David is very strong. I always felt like the 16s looked light. I also think he was training at paces that would have led to burn out long term. We decided that we wanted him to move towards competing with the 24s in Chicago. So, the first step toward that was to get him to the Level 2 with the 20s.

David hit level2 numbers in training (with video) a few times. I told him to hold off on video submission because I wanted him to do this level in front of an audience at the recent Atlanta meet, and it turned out that he got to do it in front of Valery.

David not only achieved the Level 2 numbers (he is also considerably lighter than he was in Columbus), but he won best lifter for the meet. He did 90 Jerks and 70L/90R Snatches. Not too long after the completion of the meet, I received an email from Eric Liford telling me that David did extremely well at the competiton. Eric went on to say how good David looked technically. I was quite proud.

Now, David is well positioned to hit level 1 numbers in Chicago and make a great showing with the 24kg bells.

I've coached David. I've written workouts for him on a weekly basis since late March. Since there are challenges with online coaching, we've had our ups and downs. But, David has put consistent time in under the bells and worked very hard. He's taken my technical advices to heart and really worked to improve. He's a great example of what a little coaching and a lot of hard work can do. Congrats David!

CI

Good Reps vs. Bad Reps Part 3

This last installment covers the LCC&J. Really, the main issues with the LCC&J are the Jerks. The only other issue is not treating the clean as a separate movement.

Once again, Thanks to Steven from the Ice Chamber for editing these.



CI

Good Reps vs. Bad Reps Part 2

This video covers the snatch. Once again, thanks to Steven Khuong from the Ice Chamber for editing and providing the text.

Good Reps Vs. Bad Reps

After some discussion with my good friend Steven Khuong from the Ice Chamber, we decided that I would shoot some informal educational videos for lifters on good reps and bad reps. This is not a judges video: It is merely provided to help those who are unsure about the reps. Even if you received counts for reps at the Arnold Classic, there is no guarantee you would receive counts for the same reps in future meets.

My advice to you if you train alone is to get a video camera and watch your sets. I do this nearly every practice because I'm certainly not above a bad rep and I like to make sure I'm not developing bad habits as I go. This is really one of the few things we can do when we train alone.

The first Video is the Jerk. It is also the most extensive out of the series. It is a little long since I was a little verbose. I hope folks find it helpful. Steven was kind enough to spend time editing adding the text to the video to make it a bit more user friendly. I apologize for the video quality.


CI

Patience And Lynn Hill

I've always been fascinated with Rock Climbing mainly from just watching videos and looking at scenic pictures in outdoor or climbing magazines. For some time, I've been fascinated with Lynn Hill. She is arguably one of the best climbers that has ever lived (Male or Female). After seeing a TV show where she lead a small team of women up a 2000ft wall in Madagascar, I became even more fascinated. I was extremely pleased when her biography Climbing Free was published 5 or 6 years ago. Lynn is only 5'1 and she's got hands that are smaller than mine (Her actual hand size is on the back of the book)

While perusing youtube, I came across her discussion on Patience. While the content of the discussion in the video is extremely specific to climbing, the points regarding patience could be applicable to any athletic endeavor...in my case Kettlebell Sport.



Initially, patience is one of those things many of us lack as lifters. We're too focused with winning or getting a rank initially to take the time to really learn the movement in the lifts. If we do learn it is often by accident and then our results are somewhat inconsistent.

Sometimes we are too focused on studying the nuances of others looking for some silver bullet to make our lives easier when what we really need is patience: Patience to perform the thousands of reps that are needed to really build the foundation for the lifts. There is nothing wrong with studying the elites or others and I've done plenty of studying, but you have to keep things in perspective. The basics are typically the basics. Nuances you notice in the techniques of others are result of someone playing to the strength of their bodytype and are not likely going to add 50 reps to your snatch when you jump to adopt them. Yes, I know I've blogged on basics and other stuff that is similar to this, but patience is needed by many of us to really learn to focus on the basics.

Now, I'm not going to compare the techniques of KB Lifting to something as death defying as Rock Climbing, but I will suggest that patience as Lynn describes it in some parts of the video is entirely applicable to our development as lifters. There is a good progression system in the rankings, but it seems that many of us want to rush through them..I know I was guilty of that.

We don't always have the patience to work for a duration and slow our pace so that we may analyze our own movements. Where is our weight distributed? At lockout, is the bell where it should be? When I drop the bell out of the stop the snatch, do I drop it and let it pull me down or do a move with it? Patience helps create that mindfulness and it is really needed since few of us have a coach standing in front of us yelling at us when we are screwing up.

CI