THE 2 ARM KETTLEBELL SWING
Posted: November 24, 2012 in Kettlebell TrainingTags: KB Swing, Kettlebell Swing, Kettlebell training, Kettlebells
Part 1 of 4:
Here I go over the fundamental alignment and positioning needed to develop optimal Kettlebell Swing technique.
Part 2 of 4:
This video covers how to turn proper positioning and alignment into the optimal movement sequencing and mechanics of the Kettlebell Swing.
Part 3 of 4:
Christine Norris and I go over a few key mistakes we see in the execution of the Kettlebell Swing and some drills and cues to correct the problems.
Part 4 of 4:
How to reduce injury potential at the start and finish of the Kettlebell Swing.
Introduction to Kettlebell Training Workshop
Posted: September 10, 2012 in GeneralTags: Kettlebell training, optimum performance training
presents:
INTRODUCTION TO KETTLEBELL TRAINING WORKSHOP
Interested in learning about kettlebell training?
Optimum Performance Training Institute will be hosting an Introduction to Kettlebell Training Workshop on Saturday, October 6th at 10:30am. This free 90 minute workshop will cover the fundamentals and basics of kettlebell training.
All fitness and experience levels are welcome.
All workshop attendees will receive a 10% discount on OPTI’s Introductory Group Kettlebell Training Program plus a 10% discount on the first month of Group Kettlebell Training Classes
Instructors:
- Joe Sansalone
- Christine Norris
Information:
- Where: OPTI, 9130-F Red Branch Road. Columbia, MD 21045.
- When: Saturday, October 6, 2012
- Time: 10:30am-12:00pm
- Cost: Free
- Register: Contact Christine Norris at info@optimum-performance-training.com
2012 OPTI CONTINUING EDUCATION SEMINAR SERIES
REMAINING CEU TOPICS FOR PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT AND INJURY REDUCTION IN 2012
1. Power Development, A Mixed Method Approach:
- Power: Different types and how to train for each
- Strength: The highest priority quality
- Olympic weightlifting
- Kettlebell Power Training (Swing, Snatch, Complexes and Chains)
- Rotational Power and Rotational Movement Training
When: Saturday & Sunday, July 21-22
Time: Saturday 10:30a-5:30p, Sunday 9a-5p
Cost: $179
CEU’s: 1.2 (12 contact hours)
Instructor: Joe Sansalone
2. Olympic Weightlifting for Performance Enhancement & Athletic Development:
- Determining factors to introduce Olympic Weightlifting
- Athletic and Performance benefits of Olympic Weightlifting
- Clean and Power Clean progressions and regressions
- Snatch and Power Snatch Progressions and regressions
- Jerk Progressions and regressions
When: Saturday, August 18
Time: Saturday 10:30a-6:30p
Cost: $129
Instructor: Joe Sansalone
3. Linear & Multi-Directional Speed Training for Athletic Development:
- Plyometric Training
- Agility Training
- Acceleration Mechanics
- Acceleration Development Drills
- Sled Training
- Absolute Speed Mechanics
- Absolute Speed Development Drills
- Lateral Movement Mechanics
- Lateral Movement Development Drills
- Change of Direction Mechanics
- Change of Direction Development Drills
- Combination Speed Training
When: Saturday & Sunday, October 13-14
Time: Saturday 11a-5p, Sunday 9a-3p
Cost: $149
Instructor: Joe Sansalone
EMAIL JOE SANSALONE AT jsansalone3@aol.com for more details or to register for any seminar.
presents:
MODERN DAY NUTRTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
Topics Covered include:
- Effective Nutrition for Fat Loss
- Effective Nutrition for Improving Health Biomarkers
- New Developments Concerning Sugars and Grains
- New Developments Concerning Food Quality and Health
- Various Meal Examples for Fat Loss and Improved Health
- Understanding Intermittent Fasting Principles and Benefits
- Various Fasting Lifestyle Examples
Instructors:
- Cara Zaller, CNC, MBA, OPTI Director of Nutritional Services
- Neghar Fonooni, ACE-CPT, RKC-II, CK-FMS, OPTI General Manager
Information:
- Where: OPTI, 9130-F Red Branch Road. Columbia, MD 21045.
- When: Saturday, June 23rd
- Time: 10:30a-1:30p
- Cost: $78
- Register: Contact Joe Sansalone at jsansalone3@aol.com for the link.
2012 OPTI CONTINUING EDUCATION SEMINAR SERIES
REMAINING CEU TOPICS FOR PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT AND INJURY REDUCTION IN 2012
1. Endurance Sports, Effective training methods for performance enhancement and injury reduction:
- Injury reduction strategies
- performance enhancement program design
- fat loss and fitness enhancement and endurance sports
- Misconceptions and misinformation about fat loss, fitness and endurance sports
- Understanding recovery and regeneration
- Understanding how to peak and taper
When: Thursday, June 7th
Time: 6p-8p
Cost: $35
2. Modern Day Nutritional Developments: Understanding Paleo and Fasting Concepts:
- Carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism made simple
- Understanding Grains and how they affect the body
- How to eat “clean”
- How to shop for food
- Dispelling misinformation, old dogma and misconceptions
- Understanding Fasting and how to utilize it effectively
- How to lose body fat simply and safely
When: Saturday, June 23rd
Time: 10:30a-1:30p
Cost: $75
3. Power Development, A Mixed Method Approach:
- Power: Different types and how to train for each
- Strength: The highest priority quality
- Olympic weightlifting
- Kettlebell Power Training (Swing, Snatch, Complexes and Chains)
- Rotational Power and Rotational Movement Training
When: Saturday & Sunday, July 14-15
Time: Saturday 10:30a-5:30p, Sunday 9a-5p
Cost: $179
CEU’s: 1.2 (12 contact hours)
4. Olympic Weightlifting for Performance Enhancement & Athletic Development:
- Determining factors to introduce Olympic Weightlifting
- Athletic and Performance benefits of Olympic Weightlifting
- Clean and Power Clean progressions and regressions
- Snatch and Power Snatch Progressions and regressions
- Jerk Progressions and regressions
When: Saturday & Sunday, August 18-19
Time: Saturday 10:30a-5:30p, Sunday 9a-4p
Cost: $179
CEU: 1.2 (12 contact hours)
5. Linear & Multi-Directional Speed Training for Athletic Development:
- Plyometric Training
- Agility Training
- Acceleration Mechanics
- Acceleration Development Drills
- Sled Training
- Absolute Speed Mechanics
- Absolute Speed Development Drills
- Lateral Movement Mechanics
- Lateral Movement Development Drills
- Change of Direction Mechanics
- Change of Direction Development Drills
- Combination Speed Training
When: Saturday & Sunday, October 13-14
Time: Saturday 10:30a-5:30p, Sunday 9a-4p
Cost: $179
CEU: 1.2 (12 contact hours)
EMAIL JOE SANSALONE AT jsansalone3@aol.com for more details or to register for any seminar.
There are two things I changed my mind about in 2011:
The first is the Kettlebell Bent Press movement.
This movement to me right now is one of the best kept secrets in our industry. When I first saw this movement I had very little appreciation for it and thought it had little to no value for improving movement or strength towards anything meaningful. In fact I thought it was just some random arbitrary dumb exhibition lift designed purely to try and lift really heavy objects overhead. In a lot of ways that is still a true statement for me, but after attending the level-2 RKC certification program and having personal instruction from Master RKC David Whitley on the lift I began to see that the Bent Press actually has several valuable components that, when properly progressed and implemented correctly, can improve and enhance movement efficiency and enhance performance.
Specifically the Bent Press requires and improves thoracic mobility, hip mobility, core stability, scapular and shoulder stability and vertical pressing strength. A great way to think of the Bent Press is to think of it as a movement that finishes what the Get Up begins (first heard that from Dave Whitley). In other words the Get Up begins to teach us the need for adequate mobility and stability simultaneously in order to develop proper motor control to be able to express strength efficiently and effectively. The Bent Press takes these same things to the next level of demand. Its not really a progression to the Get Up, but certainly a Get Up of good movement quality and performance is a good pre-requisite and will ensure that certain baseline movement competencies are in place to build a Bent Press on top of.
Even with a good Get Up the Bent Press still is not going to be a good choice for everyone, and in fact, like any exercise implemented poorly or without proper functional capacity, it can be very dangerous. The risk-reward is only favorable if certain parameters are met first:
1. Symmetrical thoracic spine rotation. You don’t need crazy amounts of it, as the bent press will develop it, but it at least needs to be symmetrical and decent otherwise increased risk of unwanted shoulder, lumbar and pelvic stress may occur.
2. Symmetrical hip hinging and closed chain hip rotation. Again, the Bent Press progressed correctly will develop these things, and Dave Whitley’s progressions to the Bent Press left me feeling some of the most mobile in my hips and tspine I have ever felt, but still having symmetry in the hips before starting to Bent Press will significantly improve the benefits that can be attained from bent pressing and reduce the possibility of unwanted stress on the knees, pelvis and lumbar sections of the body.
3. An understanding oh how to link the shoulder to the opposite hip via the Lat to thoracolumbar fascia to glute max connection and how to use the lat to help “pack” or properly align the shoulder with the scapula on the thoracic spine. This one is critical to Bent pressing and gaining the benefits of the Bent Press. Again the Bent Press will develop this connection greatly if the person at least understands loading the Lat, packing the shoulder and is progressed properly. This is where the Bent Press develops scapular and shoulder stability much like the Get Up and Windmill movements but with a greater demand placed on the ability to pack the shoulder under greater loads and when the elbow is bent as well as straight. These increased demands on shoulder stability and scapular control is why I feel the Get Up and really the Windmill being efficient are pre-requisites to starting to train the Bent Press.
Try not to judge this exercise by its unusual look or some of the ugly versions out there in video world. I did this and missed the point and the benefits of a good exercise. Give it a second look, study its regressions and develop the pre-requisite movements and the functional capacities necessary to be as safe and effective as possible and then work on progressing your Bent Press skill to gain even greater improvements in mobility, stability, motor control and strength within your body. The RKC system is a great resource and Dave Whitley himself is a great resource on how to improve your movement and performance using the Bent Press.
The second is performing the Olympic Weightlifting movements from the floor.
Until this year I never taught my athletes how to Olympic weight-lift from the floor and I still don’t very often. However, I now see some benefit in starting from the floor that I did not see before. I basically thought unless you are going to compete in O-lifts there is no reason to start from the floor. If you are simply using the lifts to develop the CNS, power, athleticism and kinetic linking of the hips to the trunk to the arms then all you really need is the hang positions. All that stuff is really developed through what happens above the knee, not below: proper execution of triple extension, the explosive second pull that begins in the hang above the knee or in the power position, the catch of each movement and the athletic skill of linking the body segments together.
To me starting from the floor with an athlete not competing in the O-lifts was just another step, skill and time consuming activity that didn’t give me any heavy bang for the buck benefit. It just seemed to simply get the bar from the floor to the hang position for the start of the second pull which always felt like the really important part that had the most benefit to the athlete anyway. My feeling was always why not just skip the extra step that always required a lot of extra teaching and coaching and seemed to waste precious time, and instead start from the hang above the knee or the hang in the power position since that’s where all the magic happened anyway.
Then at the end of 2010 I was at Athletes Performance Institute and Denis Logan said he believed starting from the floor had a benefit I had overlooked. The development of starting strength: The ability to have the strength to overcome an objects resistance at rest. This made good sense to me and changed my opinion going into 2011 of starting with the bar at rest with no pre load on the body to emphasis starting strength. Starting strength is a very important type of strength to develop for athletes to become better at overcoming their own inertia. I started thinking we don’t emphasize enough starting strength. So in people that are exceptionally proficient in hang power/squat cleans and hang power/squat snatch I began doing some teaching from the floor for the first time this year with our athletes. Its still not a big shift yet as there are still several other good choices for starting strength like deadlifts and sled work, but I do like the additional demand and benefit now that I’ve started associated O-lifts from the floor with developing starting strength or starting power instead of it being just an extra step. I just never looked at it that way before until my conversation with Dennis. Now I see an additional potential benefit in O-lifts I did not see before and that makes me a more educated coach.
-Joe Sansalone
OPTI is proud to be hosting Registered Dietician Andrea McDaniel’s Workshop:
UNDERSTANDING METABOLISM AND FAT LOSS
Saturday November 5, 2011 11a-2p
$75 per person
Metabolic Factors to be discussed:
- Inflammation & Lipids
- Digestive Health
- Nutrient Deficiencies
- Stress & Sleep
- Sex Hormone Imbalance
- Environmental Toxins
- Glucose Balance
- Thyroid Hormone Imbalance
Yesterday we hosted our first event at OPTI since opening our doors in May. Andrea Du Cane, Master RKC and all around amazing woman, taught 26 hopeful HKC candidates to perform and teach the hardstyle swing, turkish get up and goblet squat. Her teaching was we have come to expect from such a seasoned and educated professional: thorough, relatable and top-notch. Andrea’s energy is warm and enthusiastic-and very contagious! We were very pleased with the turnout and the general attitude of the participants. Everyone was humble and willing to learn, and we definitely see some RKCs in the making! Our very own new intern, Christine Norris, was among the participants and we are proud to say she is now HKC certified. We look forward to hosting more events at the facility in the very near future!
HKC Columbia-with Andrea Du Cane, MRKC, Joe Sansalone, RKC II and Neghar Fonooni, RKCII
We just finished up a great summer with our youth athletes here at OPTI. Although we were sad to see them go back to school, we were honored and humbled to have been a part of their development. Our youth athlete program is comprehensive in nature and includes assessing and correcting movement dysfunction, strategies for proper warmup and activation, power training such as olympic lifts, kettlebell training, plyometrics and rotational power, complete strength training, sport specific conditioning, movement skills, recovery and performance nutrition. We utilize not only our highly sought after training methods, but our state of the art equipment including the Keiser Performance Trainers and the Woodway Force and Curve (self powered treadmills). By the end of the summer these young athletes were proficient in all aspects of the OPTI comprehensive performance enhancement system.
Every single one of these athletes made incredible gains this summer and accomplished some pretty impressive personal records. Some of them came to us with significant injuries that we helped to rehabilitate with our world class physical therapist, Karen Johnson, and massage therapist Chris Ruane. They range in age from 14-20 and have such wonderful attitudes and work ethic. These kids are nothing short of amazing, and we can’t wait to see them in December for winter break!
