Hot & cold
My sincere thanks to our cohort mc for rallying team UK into existence & for being such a learned & inquisitive companion throughout. You can check out mc’s insightful research into wellbeing at begin2dig.com
Our final day of training & at last we were outside all day in the Californian sunshine. Whoops & high fives all round.
No amount of factor thirty could prevent me looking a lobster shade of Brit-abroad pink by the end. At least it hid my grey pallor underneath. Yesterday’s head cold matured into aching joints & dizzy spells this morning which didn’t bode well for our final technique tests. Fortunately, once I got moving the dizziness abated sufficiently not to impede my lifts.
A rare glimpse of kettlebells at rest
First up was a re-test of our RKC level one drills: swing, clean, squat, press, snatch & Turkish get-up (TGU). No matter how much we practise them at home & feel we’ve got them locked down tight, there’s always room for improvement.
It was great reviewing them in front of the experts. I was even practising my goblet squats with Dan John, the coach who invented them, who’s also on the course. Opportunities to learn don’t come any better than that.
Level one skills checked & my vertical hold intact, it was on to the remaining level two moves: Viking push press, double jerk, windmill & pistol. Like all tests, however confident of your abilities you still have to perform under the pressure of scrutiny.
Happily, Claire & I are both coming home with certificates. I’ve still got work to do on my press to make it ‘perdy’ & I’ve received lots of insights how to make it happen. All being well, videos charting progress of my press perdification will appear next month.
There had been some confusion amongst the students over the finer points of the windmill. This was clarified beautifully by my team leader, the inspiring Brett Jones. With literally one finger he performed a simple correction that made perfect sense to all fifteen of us at once. Like mastery of any skill, great coaching just blows you away with its simplicity.
This course has been full of insightful moments like that. Some were exquisitely simple & others brain-twistingly complex; the latter will take a while to filter down through the layers of awareness while the former lept to the front of the mind & I hope will never leave.
All in all, the RKC II has been a gateway to progress. Without it we may have been banging our heads against the wall for a long time with no success, or worse, painful consequences.
So, the teaching is over & the learning begins!
