Archive January 2010

There is so much to discuss

I’m just getting ready to pop over to my brother-in-law’s house. Craig has been in my life a long time and I think that my family is going to go through a couple of interesting years. Geoff and Rose got engaged today, things are moving along for this person and that person, and, well, life goes on.

I am starting to get ready for the RKC II in San Jose coming up in February. I have a nice plan and I’m just looking over the requirements. I like requirements: I have been “certified” by groups requiring not much more than a pulse and a check (although I didn’t pay, so maybe I should shut up). I am going to keep those damn Tabata Double KB Front Squats in the plan and the VO2 Max about twice a week with complexes and strength work. You need to do pull ups and leg work and presses and grip work and…well, everything.

Also, yesterday was the USU Track and Field Clinic. There is nothing better than learning. I’m always amazed at how much I learn at clinics. My young athletes tell me: “yeah, that was okay.” My better ones tell me: “Yes, that was good.” Me? I’m the guy who knows it all and I can’t believe how amazing it is.

There is a key in there somewhere.

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A Rather Humbling Workout

Well, check one’s ego at the door: Double Kettlebell Front Squats…Tabata Style. 20 seconds on, ten seconds off for four minutes WITH the joy of the bells constantly pulling me forward so the stomach pressure builds up so much I couldn’t breath right and…

Oh, I’m sure the Interwebs superstars can do this for 18 reps each 20 seconds with double 106s. I did this with 16ks. The plan was for 20ks, but wisdom came ahead of things for once. It is a great, great workout. Yes, better than barbell Front Squats Tabata Style! I finished this up with some serious Get Up work and tried, again, to master the Bretzel. I can teach it…can’t do it.

There is an insight here. So many things look easy on the web or on paper, but the doing makes it difficult. Clarity in a workout often comes, not by discussion, but by doing. The hard part of the whole thing is that my new intern, Mike, had to watch this display of an athlete dying young. It wasn’t awful, but it is certainly on the path to awful. So, I think I figured out my new leg workout. I have been looking for a way to get around the hip injury. I should note that Double Kettlebell Front Squats make my hips feel better, not worse.

I’m also thinking that my hip is getting better. Foam rolling, ball rolling, and that kind of thing helps. Well, I’ll be…

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Big Smile…back to normal

I’m typing this on my brand new lap top. Many of you don’t know I fried mine in Ireland. It’s a good story and I’m sure you would like to hear it. Not yet. It’s funny, but it has some hurt feelings floating along with it. And, it’s always fun to drop a grand or so just to keep the economy swimming!

I had some visitors come by today. I have a new intern, Mike, and I hope he realizes that this is unusual. Also, Krista Scott-Dixon put up here excellent interview with me. She was excellent, I just blabbed on. So, with the visitors, I was reminded how important it is to have some kind of sequence to teach the squat. Here is mine: Goblet Squat, Hip Flexor Stretch, One hand Kbell Front Squat, Double Kbell Clean, Double Kbell Squat. Once we get to here, everything is so dialed in that walking over to the bar is a cinch. Just put the “typing” pads of your fingers on the bar, roll under and step back. Then, just do what you have been doing for the last few minutes.

I think that sequences have a value in teaching. It is also important to ignore them. Those “aha” moments, the core of RKC teaching, is often missed without the struggle. So, I guess education lives in a balance of “do this” and “wow, look what I did.” I think we err when we give you too much help. At the same time, you can need to know when to step in. That’s the art of coaching, the art of teaching, and it seems like it takes a bit of time to ratchet it into the right amount.

Now that things are “back to normal,” and I laugh out loud as I type that because normal to me is quite crazy, I hope to do a better job on the Q and A section, write that next article, and write that next book. Oh, and train for the RKC II, teach my college and high school courses, maintain my post as head track and field coach, be a dad and husband and…

It’s easy to do, if I keep it all in some kind of plan, some kind of sequence.

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Top Ten List

The ghost Tiff captured on film in Ireland I strongly suggest something that Tiff and I do every year: we make a Top Ten List. It’s that time again. It’s simple, you list the ten best things of the last year and anything that went another direction in another list. There are many years we scramble for something negative to remember. It is well worth the time as it gives you/me a chance to remember fondly the past year. And, if you keep them, you can start to see patterns. Let’s look at my list, so far: