A nice way to spend a Friday afternoon.

Set Gymboss for 1:00
5 reps per set
begin each set at the beep
alternate between A1&A2 for 5 sets of each (10 total)
do the same with B1&B2

A1 pullup (I used a band to assist)
A2 2 kettlebell C&P ( I used 2x32kg)
B1 Zercher Squat (I used 100ish lb sandbag)
B2 Double Kettlebell snatch ( Again, 2x32kg)

Done in just under 20:00. By done I mean DONE.

My adductors needed some stretching after, so I did the frog stretch.

Why did you start training?

It's a pretty common question.

And my answer is "When I was eight years old, I wanted to be the Hulk."



This movie is gonna rock!

Full Body Power DVD

The planned launch date for the Full Body Power DVD is next Tuesday, June 3rd.

As the time to launch approaches, I want to go ahead and answer a few questions that have come up about it.

What the Full Body Power DVD is NOT:

• A repackaging of the same old double kettlebell drills that you have already seen pretending to provide a new solution to a different training problem.
• A massive encyclopedia of “filler” exercises that serve no purpose other than to increase the running time of the DVD.
• A follow-along kettlebell workout ( If that’s what you are looking for, go to http://www.powercircuitworkout.com/)
• An entry-level explanation of the swing, clean, press and snatch (That is all covered in Enter the Kettlebell)
  

What the Full Body Power DVD IS:

• A clearly explained progression of intermediate to advanced exercises, so that you can develop your skill and strength over time.
• A detailed description of the windmill, Turkish getup and Bent Press.
• A starting point for you to use your imagination in developing your own unique expression of strength, using kettlebells.
• Logical combinations of basic exercises that flow from one to the next.

Stay tuned......

The Jolly Game

Someone recently asked where I came up with the name "Iron Tamer".

Like most things related to my training and business, I owe it to Pavel.

In the Russian Kettlebell Challenge , the book that started the American Kettlebell Revolution, Pavel quotes Olympic weightlifting legend Yuri Vlasov. He called his training "a jolly game of taming iron."

I found this clip of Vlasov on youtube. Enjoy.

The Dane of Pain and Mark O. Madsen

Thhis is the reason my colleage and friend Kenneth Jay Sr. RKC won't be at the CK-FMS workshop in August. He will be missed, but the Olympics is kind of a big deal.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mark at the RKC in Denmark last spring. Look for him to take the gold in Beijing.

Chiropractic magic

So after my unfornuate collision on Thursday mornin', I felt pretty good on Friday, a little stiff/soreness in my right wrist. Nothing major. I carried on with business as usual.

Saturday it felt about the same. Donnavan Stephen's was having the 2 year birthday celebration for his school Shaolin Concepts and he asked me to perform some feats of strength during the demo section on Saturday afternoon.

In addition to the usual kettlebell stuff and 2 hands anyhow with a KB and a girl, I tore a deck of cards, did a 64kg one-finger lift and bent a 4 foot piece of 1/2 inch round steel into a fish shape. I am pleased with the progress I have made since joining Dennis Rogers Oldetime Strongman University. Fun stuff.

Anyway, I got home, helped Mandy plant some stuff in the garden and felt a strange pain in my wrist/palm while shovelling. By Sunday morning I couldn't close my fist. It hurt and the nerves seemed to stop working before the fingers completely closed.

I went to see my chiropractor yesterday and he figured out that one of the bones in my wrist had shifted so far out of whack that it was putting pressure on the carpal tunnel and also the flexor tendon that runs to the middle finger. He adjusted it and IMMEDIATELY I had relief and only the mildest of pain.

Took it light today, did a few swings with 24kg and some double snatches with 16kg. I am scheduled for another adjustment today and Thursday. I expect to be 100% by the weekend.

Photos from Atlanta workshop

All the photos from the workshop last weekend are up on Mandy's website. (BTW she is available for traveling photo jobs)

To see them, follow the instructions below.

Go to: http://www.mandywhitleyphotography.com/

Click on "enter site"

Click on "clients"

Enter password: irontamer

hit submit and you'll be able to view a slideshow of all the photos

Video from Condition ATL

Ron Jones sent me links to some footage he shot during the Snatch segment last week.



Me, doing a demo of the Ultra-secret Double breath at the fastest snatch speed possible (32-33 reps per minute). Listen close and you can hear it.

So there I was, minding my own business....

...driving to my morning class when a woman in a little red car ran a red light, directly in front of me and I plowed into her driver's side.

Thankfully, God was looking out for me and I emerged unharmed. So did the 20 or so kettlebells I was carrying.

My car on the other hand ain't doing so well. I haven't heard from the insurance adjuster yet, but I am expecting it to be a total loss.

Iron Tamer at Gym Condition in Atlanta

Over the weekend we made the drive down to the ATL to deliver some Full Body Power to RKC Delaine Ross' Gym Condition.

6 hours of advanced kettlebell training and feats of strength, including pressing combinations including no-hands and double kettlebell Turkish Get-ups, and the EVIL kettlebell burpee series.

We spent the final hour with tips and techniques to improve the Secret Service Snatch Test. We covered pacing, the Super Secret Double Breathing technique and programming to increase numbers.

This of course meant finishing off with a five-minute snatch test to put it all together!

Yasser sums the whole experience up in this photo, which I like to call "Aftermath":



Here is the whole group, looking strong:




Thanks to my beautiful wife Mandy (in the red) for her using her mad camera skills. She is working on a web gallery of all the shots, hopefully it will be complete in a few days.

Thanks to everyone who participated for making it an awesome workshop, extra-huge thank you to Delaine for having me down. I look forward to the next one!