Case Study: Training an RKC Candidate!

This blog will review the training process of a client of mine, Jun Ho, who has been working with me since late January of this year (2010). He is a young Korean student at ASU studying Exercise & Wellness but is very much interested in kettlebells and eventually becoming an RKC. He first must serve 2 years in the South Korean army before he can take the RKC but he intelligently decided he wanted to master the proper kettlbell technique and RKC principles so he can practice during his time in the Korean military. He found my name off the Dragondoor RKC directory and on Jan. 26 we begain his training process.

Evaluation/Screening

This first step I took with Jun Ho, was to take him through a Functional Movement Screen (FMS) and mobility assessment to see what movement problems/impairments he had that might interfere with his safe execution of the 6 key RKC Lifts:

1) The Swing

2) Get-Up

3) Clean

4) Press

5) Front Squat

6) Snatch

Luckily, for his sake, his movement screen was quite good (16/21) so we could start with more demanding training right away. His main issues were more stability problems as he possesed very good joint mobility, particularly in squatting.  He had already been training with KB’s on his own for some time without any pain or injury so he was already moving quite well. I determined that he needed more abdominal and glute activation along with some easy hip-flexor stretching and thoracic rotational stretches.  So his basic pre-training routine looks like this:

1) Foam Roll- hips/thighs, spine

2) Mobility work: Psoas, Rectus Femoris, T-spine Rotation (i.e. Brettzel stretch, etc..)

3) Activation work: Glute bridging primarily- needed more hip snap on finish of swing

4) KB Specific Warm-up- Arm bar, Get-up to over head waiters walk -1-2 reps per side, halos, around the body pass, ligth 1-arm swings and goblet squats to warm-up knees.

The Training Routines

His training routines with me (he trains 2x per week with me and the rest on his own) involve the alternation of 2 primary types of sessions: the first, is more of a “grind” or max-strength type of session that really emphasizes learning how to create appropriate levels of tension and breath control to “link’ his body together better, especially during presses. When Jun Ho first came to me he could press the 44 with some challenge and the 53 was quite tough for a rep or two. After some practice on the “skill” of strength, he recently succesfully pressed the 62 lb. KB and with consistent training will be pressing the 70 (which is half his bodyweight)! Below are some videos of his “grind” days. We include Trap Bar Dead’s and chins on those days to help increase his overall body strength and hip power since his only trainig tools at his dorm are (2) 35-lb. KB’s.

Interesting to note during his first attempt to press the 62 on his right am, his clean was poor which led him to lose “linkage” and connectedness from his torso. He basically missed the lift becasue he was “leaking” force out of his trunk that couldn’t be harnessed for the press. In the RKC sysyem there is a saying, “your press is only as good as your clean,” and that was a great visual demonstration of that. He rounded out that session with some weighted chins (35 lb. KB) and 1-legged Deadlifts (since he struggles with those). As a finisher he did some heavier swings (62 lb) supersetted with an anti-rotation press on a cable system (Pallof Press). All in all a quality day with a PR!

The second session during the week is more geared towards power (since he really wanted to practice jerks, etc..) and some general strength and power endurance, which he will need to pass the RKC Snatch Test! Below is a video of one of his training sessions.

Training Jun Ho has been a great experience for me and I wish him good luck in the future! He will make a fine RKC one day!

Thanks for reading and watching!

Keats