Baron von Raschke
Level 3 Valued Member
Hello everyone. Just wanted to drop in and mention how we should not underestimate the importance of working with an SFG instructor, particularly with the getups. I'd been humming along doing my swings (per the heartrate monitor instructions) and getups from S&S the last few months, all with the 24kg bell. I'd convinced myself that I was getting close to moving up from the 24kg bell in my getups because I could do my 5 sets per arm almost every day. In fact, I felt I was farther ahead with getups than swings because I've been trying to keep my heartrate down below 135 in the swings and it's been prolonging my measurable progress, which is fine though. So I decided to go to an SFG instructor that's only 15 minutes from my house, found him on this site.
Within a couple of minutes watching me do getups he found a problem in the initial stages. I was picking my head up and using my neck muscles and sortof tomahawking my way up to being propped on my elbow. When I watched him doing it I could see the difference right away. He gave me some drills to work on to focus on using my core more and my neck not at all. I was finding it somewhat difficult to do this properly at first, even unweighted. He worked with me for an hour and 15 minutes and the bulk of that time was drilling this initial movement and working on hand positions before doing the sweep through. He did, however, say my swings were solid and to keep doing what I was doing.
When I went home I made the decision to drop down to the 16kg bell to practice the initial moves only, making sure to use my core and not lead with my neck. I know it specifically says not to do this (lead with the neck) in the S&S book, but it's funny how having a piece of cast iron over your head will put you into survival mode and make you forget about technique. Instinct sort of takes over and you focus more on finishing the getup by any means necessary and forget about doing it correctly.
It was money well spent.
Within a couple of minutes watching me do getups he found a problem in the initial stages. I was picking my head up and using my neck muscles and sortof tomahawking my way up to being propped on my elbow. When I watched him doing it I could see the difference right away. He gave me some drills to work on to focus on using my core more and my neck not at all. I was finding it somewhat difficult to do this properly at first, even unweighted. He worked with me for an hour and 15 minutes and the bulk of that time was drilling this initial movement and working on hand positions before doing the sweep through. He did, however, say my swings were solid and to keep doing what I was doing.
When I went home I made the decision to drop down to the 16kg bell to practice the initial moves only, making sure to use my core and not lead with my neck. I know it specifically says not to do this (lead with the neck) in the S&S book, but it's funny how having a piece of cast iron over your head will put you into survival mode and make you forget about technique. Instinct sort of takes over and you focus more on finishing the getup by any means necessary and forget about doing it correctly.
It was money well spent.