RKC News - February 2016

- in sports and in life -

There are many excuses to skip training sessions, but there is no real reason. This is especially true if you want to be successful in training in the long run, regardless of the goals you pursue. Through regular training, you hold the key to long-term health, above-average strength capabilities, and acrobatic movement skills in your hands!

Our body is never in a complete state of rest. Build-up and break-down processes, also referred to as anabolism and catabolism, define the "status quo," the "current state" of physical performance. "Use it, or lose it," or as Tim Anderson RKC2 writes: "Everything about your brain and your body are the result of simple addition and subtraction."

Ability comes through practice, and mastering the hardstyle techniques is not something you learn in your sleep. The path involves several thousand repetitions from gross to fine to finest coordination—the ability to perform the movement automatically without having to think about it. Through regular practice, neuromuscular connections for movement control are established and reinforced. Therefore, it is essential to always pay attention to movement quality, as this process becomes ingrained! By attending an ETKB or BIG SIX advanced seminar, you will learn everything you need to move the kettlebell safely and cleanly.

Master RKC Dan John simply and clearly states: "If it is important, do it every day." You must know if it is important to you and then tackle it! Before you grab the next larger kettlebell, you should first focus on regularity in training. Regularity or continuity describes long-term, strategic action aimed at a goal. To find the right intensity for this, you can either listen to your gut feeling or, better yet, use the principle of "varying loads." For this, you vary the volume, density, and intensity of your training session. Heavy, medium, and light sessions are systematically coordinated with each other. When putting together training sessions, make sure to incorporate all major movement patterns. Kettlebells allow you to perform exercises in various variations, which provides variety in training and keeps motivation high. Pressing, pulling, lifting, bending, carrying, as well as floor exercises are meaningful building blocks that MAKE you better. Training doesn't always have to be hard, but it must always be regular!

You can increase your strength values through daily training with just 40 – 80% of your 1RM (one-repetition maximum)? Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John's 40-day "easy strength" program utilizes regularity to build strength in the long term. The focus is on 4 – 5 exercises, which are performed no more than 10 times per session! Every day, for 40 days!