You do not need to read this entire post if you are interested in half-priced training, just scroll down to the end.
I want to first apologize for abruptly cancelling Runyon Canyon Bootcamp. I know there are a handful of you that were counting on the workouts and I am sorry that I couldn’t be there for you. I have been putting off blogging about this because it touches on a few different things that I have a hard time putting into words. I initially cancelled RCB because I seriously hurt my back about a month ago. I couldn’t even pick up the 4 kg kettle bell without pain so I knew this would be a 6-week injury at the least. I have had way too much time to think about what I want to do with RCB and kettlebell training specifically.
When I started RCB at the beginning of this summer I had high hopes for it! My goal was to make it as big as the yoga classes that I started at Runyon so many years ago. I was hoping I could make the class big enough so I could offer it for donations and still make something close to a living wage for myself. I needed to average 10-12 students per class but in reality averaged 5-6 students per class. Compound this with the fact that not everybody who attended paid the $5 donation and I find myself teaching for much less than I think I am worth. Teaching for donations-only is a funny thing because after doing it for so many years I think I lost sense of what I am worth as a teacher. I still want to offer donation kettlebell classes at Runyon but instead of scheduling a class every day I will offer them a couple of times a week on a one-off basis. I will post one-off classes on my Facebook and Twitter account the night before I offer them and I will be asking for a $5 donation for these classes.
Another reason for these changes is that I want to teach what I am interested in myself at the moment which are the 6 basic RKC lifts of kettle bell training. Even though we have been working a couple of these exercises (the swing, the goblet squat) I had to create hybrid classes so less motivated students would stay interested. This is diametrically opposed to the way I train myself. I believe in practicing the basics over and over again until you have burned them into your long-term muscle memory. This is why after being absent from martial arts for 20 years I can still kick and punch skillfully. This is why I can still do the advanced yoga postures even though I have not had a serious yoga practice for years. This comes from 10 years of practicing the same basic kicks, punches, yoga postures until they became a part of me. I am now interested in doing the same thing with kettlebells.
Nearly all of the people I look up to in the kettlebell world are RKC. RKC stands for the Russian Kettlebell Challenge. The RKC was created by Pavel Tsatsouline and is the most well known and respected school of kettlbells in the world. In the fitness world if you want high-level kettlebell training everybody knows that RKC is the best.
The RKC approach to training is similar to the way I have trained myself for a lifetime. RKC emphasizes getting good at a small handful of lifts in order to build strength, endurance and agility. To this date I am 100% self-taught and am very proud that I have been able to learn the basic lifts just by watching videos and reading books. If you wanted to get serious about RKC style training you absolutely must read Pavels book, Enter the Kettlebell. After studying kettlebell techinique since 2009 I have come to the conclusion that the RKC does it “right” and everybody else does it “wrong”.
Kettlebell training works best for students who know what they want to get out of them. There are 3 different ways of approaching kettlebell training that will give different results on your body and conditioning.
Kettlebell training is specifically good for
1) Burning bodyfat! Kettlebell training for burning body fat involves sub-maximal, high-repetition, long duration rounds of training. I have tried every single imaginable form of fitness and nothing got my body truly ripped and lean like kettlebell training. The bells are so effective at burning fat that at one point I got too lean and had to shift to more of a muscle building program as I was worried I could actually get so lean that it could be unhealthy. So as it turns out you can actually be too thin! (can you be too rich? not convinced at this point lol)
2) Rehabbing injuries or dealing with chronic pains. I have had lower back pain my entire life. I started practicing yoga more than 12 years ago and it definitely helped the problem. The stone cold truth of the matter is that in 2004 my lower back pain came back with a vengeance and I have been struggling with it ever since. In 2011 I had a flareup that put me out of action for almost 6 months. Once I got serious about learning proper kettlebell technique I was shocked to find out that my lower back pain 100% vanished! Here are 2 articles as posted in the American College of Sports Medicine which better explain why kettle bells are the ultimate rehab device.
http://physicaltherapyweb.com/articles/kettlebell-back-pain.php http://physicaltherapyweb.com/articles/kettlebell_therapy.php
3) Improving athletic performance. Kettlebells build explosive power, the same kind of power you use when jumping, sprinting, punching, kicking and throwing. Basically any athletic technique that involves both tension and release can be improved by learning and practicing the kettlebell swing. If you added kettlebell swinging to triathlons ( I guess we would call them quadathlons?) I am positive every single athlete would have improved times in their swim, bike and run. I can take an experienced endurance athlete (but inexperienced with kettlebells) , put a light kettlebell in their hand, and have them gassed in under 5 minutes. Here’s how the RKC explains it,
“Elite performers have an amazing ability to go from tense to relaxation and back again – up to 800% faster than normal people. The RKC system is both sides of the performance coin – tension and relaxation are BOTH performance. “
full article: http://breakingmuscle.com/kettlebells/five-reasons-rkc-isnt-just-about-kettlebells
All of these leads me to “What the fuck should I do now?” Well, as explained before I still plan on offering one-off donation kettle bell classes a couple of times a week. Check the RCB fan page and my twitter account https://twitter.com/runyonyogadude.
Over the past 10+ years I have been asked many times how much I charge for private training. I would typically say something like, “$150 an hour, more if I have to drive to you.” I was saying stuff like this because at the time I did not want to teach privately and preferred to teach my donation classes exclusively. A lot has changed in the past few years and so has my attitude toward private training. Kettlebell training in particular has opened my eyes up to the value of private training. I want to offer the “average” Hollywood resident a chance to get this private training at a rate I consider affordable. My base rate for private training is $250 for 5 sessions. Compared to other types of private training I believe this to be on the lower end of the spectrum. If you can not afford the $50/hour rate bring a friend or 2 and share the cost!
Since this is my first time actively seeking private/semi-private students I want to offer a deal that I think nearly everybody can afford. HALF-PRICE! The catch is that you still need to lay out the $250 but instead of 5 classes I will give you 10. This brings the cost of training down to $25/hour. Bring a friend and it will only cost you $12.50/session, bring 2 friends and your cost is down to $8.33/session. Another catch is that I have a strict 24 hour cancellation policy. If you miss a class and do not cancel 24 hours prior you will lose that session. I want to eliminate the aggravation of people not showing up on time or missing sessions entirely and nothing motivates people like money! To be fair I am going to impose these same rules on myself. If I cancel or miss a session without giving you 24 hours notice I will add an additional session to your package. I will be sending out facebook invites over the next couple of days with more info.
I guess that is it! If you read this far I appreciate it as I am basically pouring my guts out here. I am highly motivated to continue offering high-level kettlebell and yoga training. Looking forward to seeing you at Runyon soon!
Let me leave you with my new (well actually very old) motto.
Train hard or GTFO!
Steve
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