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Old Forum Quest for becoming a Certified SFG

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stlmike, i am doing a SFG user course in Nashville in April. If STL means St. Louis, then you are easy driving distance from me (4 1/2hours) and that course will give you what you need to know to work your way toward level one.
 
Master Whitley - Thank you for the suggestion and I would most certainly like to participate.

 

Look forward to getting in contact with you to discuss.
 
Oh it is so on....

 

<a title="Philly SGF Level 1" href="http://www.strongfirst.com/product/sfg-kettlebell-instructor-level-i-philadelphia-september-6-8/">http://www.strongfirst.com/product/sfg-kettlebell-instructor-level-i-philadelphia-september-6-8/</a>

 
 
Allow me to echo the importance of volume.......get the reps in, high quality reps.
 
There are a few very key components:

1) Technique

Learn the correct technique for each of the six basic skills taught SFG. If possible from a hands on session(s) with an SFG instructor.My advice when you get a session: video tape it so you will remember all the key drills and corrections.

You must PRACTICE these skills to become proficient in them. Trying to load them too early ( training) before you can do them correctly will make things harder, not easier.My DVD Mastering the Hardstyle KB swing was based on the Day One of the SFG with all the progressions and corrections. A good place to start and it's $17 on Amazon.
Enter the KB is another must have DVD/book.

Start with single bells before you go to doubles. It's a must

Strength:
The SFG course is VERY demanding and you must have more than enough strength to survive the weekend using double snatch sized bells and above the entire weekend. This means you must have a reserve of strength to be able to do so. That means you must be able to use heavier bells first.

Again this will take time. Don't rush it. Barbell work  for deadlifts, military presses will help build this reserve strength in addition to heavy KB work,

Work Capacity
This is where the volume comes in. You must be able to deal with three days of heavy loading with LOTS of low rep sets with double singles and heavier than snatch test bells. build this steadily as you get closer to the cert.
Also getting used to doing multiple sessions in a day and training for two or more days in a row as you prepare to peak for the cert is important.

Carries.
Dan John talks about the fundamental nature of this and I couldn't agree more. Get used to hauling around kbs of all shapes and sizes as well as dragging sleds, hiking with rucks and anything else that will be your all around  strength endurance and work capacity. Farmers walks,overhead walks rack walks etc are all GREAT and  MUST be included.

I would also add in basic crawling as this will kick your butt fast as well and add to your overall GPP and work capacity

 

hope this helps

 

Rif
 
The advice from Rif above is golden. Take it to heart if you are attending a SFG cert.

Thanks Rif for your contributions to this community
 
a few things as well:

the snatch test is but 5 minutes for a 23 hour weekend

hand care is a must, blisters and torn skin, avoid and prevent them as much as you can

when in doubt: ask questions :)

 

best of luck

 
 
Great advice and thanks for everything from everyone!

 

All of it is taken to heart and I'm doing to be drilling technique on the basics for the next couple months and really taking some time to get a solid understanding of the lifts.

 

Looking forward to joining the ranks!
 
Daniel

you are most welcome :) It is my pleasure.
 
Was looking at my Wordpress profile and saw this thread that I had started a while back. Kind of funny reflecting on where I was in my training before 2 weeks ago at the  SFG I in Philly. It feels damn good looking at where I started in this journey, seeing where I was two weeks ago, and looking towards the next mountain to climb in my own journey with "strength's greater purpose".

Anyone who told me volume volume volume, I thought I "got it" before. After doing all the volume needed to get through level 1, I sort of got it. After the weekend was over, I'm starting to understand what "it" really is. The journey, not the destination.  Many thanks to all for the tips, inspiration, and assistance along the way.
 
I take it you took and passed the Level One in Philly? If  that's the case, I'd like to ask a couple questions:

- what programs did you end up using for prep and how closely did you adhere to them?

- what volume did you end up doin, what program(s) did you use to get it in, and how successful were they for preparing you for the volume challenge of the weekend?
 
Speaking mainly on mProgramming kudos go to Brett Jones, Geoff Nuepert, and Tracy Rif  as it was mainly the original Brett Jones prep course that helped to drill down the techniques and get those solid.

The volume I give credit to doing a combination of double and heavy swings EMOTM with gradually increasing work times and decreasing rest times. (If you ever see anything Tracy posts on Facebook then you see ton of high volume routines fairly often and Geoff's "Kettlebell Strong" has a fun little program called "One"). Weight, reps, sets, number of times through the circuit varied but stayed pretty true to form with the older program before be posted the new one. I switched and followed that to the letter and felt very prepared for the weekend.

I've heard people preparing a number of ways with varying milage but I personally found the greatest benefit coming from not just heavy swings but also heavier getups as well. The heavy swing sessions did wonders to prep for the snatch test and the heavy getups forced me to stay tight throughout the grinds and gave me a lot of confidence throughout my weekend.

Did I following each program to the letter every single time? I probably came pretty close but probably faltered here and there. I did take out a training day here and there when I needed the extra rest but most of my training was on Friday, Saturday, Sunday to simulate the weekend as best I could.

Hope that helps.
 
Wow, great reply Mike.  Thank you.  Very thorough.  I have "Kettlebell Strong", "KB Muscle", "More KB Muscle", ETK, "Easy Strength", and Geoff's compilation of Inner Circle workouts, so I'm familiar with what you did.  I just finished a squat-intensive program from More KB Muscle and dinked around for a week playing with fairly heavy GetUps and a snatch test which I passed cold in 4:48 because I've been doing tons of..... double front squats?  WTH?!!?  I've just started the "Strong!" program.  I'm not currently combining it as described with the One program because I want to do one pure strength cycle early in my prep, going as heavy as I can - currently, that's double 32s in the clean & press.  I'm planning to time it so I finish a high-volume swing/lean out program of some sort the week prior to the cert.  I'm leaning toward "The Universe" from More KB Muscle because it's an absolutely brutal complex that hits swings very hard, plus a taste of squats, snatches, and presses.

Thanks again, and congratulations.
 
Lots of ways to get your reps and strength up for sure.

Not surprising on the DFSQ's lending to the power output in the snatch test. Those things are brutally awesome and not to many people wouldn't benefit from more of those.

Really as long as you are training smart, training hard, and recovering well it sounds like you should do well yourself.  Keep us posted!
 
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