Courses

SFG Kettlebell Course

The one-day SFG Kettlebell Course is more than entry-level user instruction for the AK-47 of exercise equipment—the kettlebell. It is education in moving strong.

No previous kettlebell experience is required. No matter what your goals are, we strongly urge you to take this Course. On one end of the spectrum, subtleties taught in this Course have been instrumental in helping Donnie Thompson make a breakthrough in strength while making back problems a thing of the past—and eventually breaking the 3,000 pound world superheavyweight powerlifting total record. On the other end is Tracy Reifkind, who lost over 100 pounds in less than a year.

Learn:

Kettlebell training safety procedures.
Essential joint mobility exercises.
Sophisticated breathing techniques for strength, back safety, endurance, and reducing the stress level.
“Hip-centric” (McGill) movement, a must for strength and back health.
Strength Stretching™ principles and key exercises which enable greater expression of strength while dramatically reducing the back, hip, and knee stress.
“Lat-centric” shoulder mechanics which protect the shoulder while significantly increasing strength.
The most “functional” exercise—the deadlift.
A powerful drill for strengthening the feet and the ankles and injury proofing the hamstrings—the one-leg deadlift.
The single most beneficial exercise anyone can do—the swing.
The get-up—your strongman mentor.
The most foolproof squat—the goblet squat.
A foundation for barbell skills (this course is a prerequisite for our barbell course).
What GPP really is and how to program it. Misunderstanding of general physical preparation, prevalent in the West, even among coaches, prevents one from reaching his or her athletic potential and predisposes him or her to injuries.
The principles of effective program design refined and condensed from the Russian methodology.
A number of foolproof program design tools and sample programs for a variety of training goals.

KETTLEBELL POWER TO YOU!

U.S. COURSES

INTERNATIONAL COURSES

SFB Bodyweight Course

Theodore Roosevelt got it right:
“Do what you can with what you have where you are.”

StrongFirst Bodyweight Courses teach how to get a powerlifting-quality workout anywhere, anytime, using one’s bodyweight as resistance. More importantly, they distill the principles of StrongFirst and reverse-engineer the body language of the strong. These principles have a great range of applications towards lifting various implements and generating force in athletic skills.

The curriculum was developed by Pavel Tsatsouline. The Courses are taught by select members of the StrongFirst instructor cadre.

Learn:

State-of-the-art abdominal exercises.
Beginner to advanced progressions for the “bodyweight powerlifts”: the one-arm pushup, the pistol, and the tactical pull-up.
The principles of an effective bodyweight strength program design, refined and condensed from the Russian methodology.
Most importantly, take a big step towards body mastery by reverse-engineering the body language of elite gymnasts.

In case civilization is temporary.™

SFL Barbell Course

“There is a difference between lifting more and actually getting stronger.”

SFL Barbell Course

“Why do we lift weights?” asks Marty Gallagher in his classic book Coan: The Man, the Myth, the Method and answers: “We lift to increase physical strength and muscle-size. No other answer is correct.”

Ed Coan continues, “I firmly believe that everyone should train basically the same regardless of age, sex, height, weight, degree of fitness, percentage of body-fat, etc… I have a method for developing strength and muscle… Why should you train different from me? Lighter certainly, but not differently.”

Powerlifting for the people? In this “enlightened” age of “functional” and “sport-specific training” this view seems naïve and old-fashioned but only to those who have scanned their sports science textbooks instead of reading them. Sport specific strength training—or special strength preparation, if you prefer Russian terminology—must be built on a foundation of general strength training.

And general strength is the strength “to perform any physical work more or less successfully.” (Ozolin) That means we are looking for exercises with maximum carryover to a great range of activities. And the powerlifts are right up there, in the kettlebell swing league.

Of course, trying to blindly copy powerlifting technique and training methods is not a good idea. “There is a difference between lifting more and actually getting stronger.” An extreme arch in the bench press will add a few pounds to your lift. But did it make you stronger? Did it make you a better sprinter or fighter?

The fact is, an athlete can learn a lot from powerlifters and weightlifters but he has no business blindly imitating them. Prof. Verkhoshansky warned not to “simply mechanically copy the means and methods used in weightlifting or another sport.”

Which is why Pavel teamed up with Dr. Michael Hartle, Senior SFG instructor, to develop this course. In addition to being USAPL National Powerlifting Champion and IPF Team USA Head Coach, Doc Hartle plays semi-pro football—with guys half his age.

Dr. Hartle knows powerlifting inside and out—but he also knows how to select and modify its techniques and methods for athletes and discard the rest.

And how to combine barbell strength training with kettlebell training to get the best of both worlds.

(In fact, we are teaching barbell skills on the platform of StrongFirst kettlebell skills. A number of barbell experts such as Dan John, Master SFG, state that the kettlebell is the perfect entry point into strength training. Which is why a prerequisite for this course is any kettlebell course or certification with the curriculum written by Pavel Tsatsouline.)

Learn the power lifts:

Back squat
Bench press
Deadlift (conventional and sumo)

Plus, hand-picked accessory lifts:

Front squat
Zercher squat
Good morning
Military press
Several bench press variations

You will get plenty of individual attention and troubleshooting.

Get plenty of individual attention on appropriate for your level progressions and regressions.

Receive a package of effective strength plans—barbell and barbell plus kettlebell.

Russian specialist Nikolay Vitkevich stressed: “[Sport specific training] is different for everybody… Basic training is roughly the same in all sports and aims to increase general strength and muscle mass. Powerlifting was born as a competition in exercises everybody does.”

And if you don’t, you should.

Play The Game.
Be StrongFirst.

SCHEDULE TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON

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Courses

SFG Kettlebell Course

U.S. COURSES

INTERNATIONAL COURSES

SFB Bodyweight Course

In case civilization is temporary.™

SFL Barbell Course

U.S. SFG Kettlebell Courses

INTERNATIONAL SFG KETTLEBELL COURSES

SFB BODYWEIGHT COURSES

SFG Level I Kettlebell Certifications

SFG Level II Kettlebell Certifications

SFL Barbell Certifications

SFB Bodyweight Certifications