IGX

All in all, the seminar was nearly 5 hours and probably some of the best money I've spent on this sport.

He began with a short introduction and discussion about kettlebells in Russia. No Spetsnaz mysteries here, just casual history of the kettlebell as a fixture in strength contests held during city festivals and other holidays. Sort of a brief cultural history of he kettlebell and the Russian passion for overhead lifting. Interesting stuff. He also differentiated between the use of the kettlebell for GPP and other sports and sport specific GS training.

From here he began his discussion of training and competing in GS. He stressed the necessity of mental preparation and a strong work ethic. Then he demonstrated the effectiveness of his method by knocking out 20-some easy 2x32 Jerks.

At this point he talked through each phase of the Jerk--the posture, grip, and handle placement techniques he uses--and then had each of the participants execute a few reps while he observed and corrected their form. This was the format for the instructional part of the session: A demonstration and detailed technical description of a lift followed by our attempts to synthesize it all into our own lifting techniques. We repeated this for the Snatch and the Long Cycle.

He also showed us what he considered to be the most effective assistance exercise for the GS lifts. These included the Push Press, what he called the Jump Squat (this looked more like what we would call a 1/2 Squat) for sets of 30-50 reps (or more) and the GS Style Swing, which is sort of like a hard style Low Pull. We also spent some time discussing how to sand the bell handle and the application of chalk to the bell and hands.

He closed the formal instruction with some program design suggestions. (The bottom line is long sets and frequent practice. He also advocates a fair amount of running.) Afterwards he took all of our questions, talked shit about some Russians, and fucked with Whitley a bit.

This was a really useful afternoon of instruction for me. Some of his techniques (grip. etc) are very different from the RKC style, perhaps making the Andrey quote in my signature block a true rational. Well worth learning, even if you only believe in going over the fist. His credentials are incomparable and he's a very personable guy. By the way, if you've never seen him in person before, you'll be shocked at how small he appears but amazed at how proficient he is at the GS lifts. I would highly recommend attending one of his seminars if you're interested in the sport.