Charlie Munger
There was a bit of a dust-up on the DD boards earlier this week when PW, MD, who runs a private coaching shop SS wrote an article for the Peninsula Daily News trashing kettlebell training. It was a stupid fluff piece and no doubt W had a friend at the rag who got it published. Girya has been running HKC cert programs of late and W is clearly worried. MR took the time to respond in detail, though I don't think he needed to bite. W comes off as an elitist prick, and his shop claims to be an incubator of professional and elite college athletes, not really the space Girya or DD seem to be aimed at. Although given W's reaction, perhaps Sparta Science is not really the elite training shop it purports to be.
The whole thing pissed me off because it is yet another example of the gutter sniping that goes on in the industry. The my fluff is better than your fluff crap that gets dished out in search of the clients' training dollars.
As Mark did point out, albeit far more charitably, 99 percent of us poor middle aged shlubs were never athletes at an elite level and age has not improved our chances. We train to feel better, to try to age gracefully, to live healthy productive lives notwithstanding all the shit in our water food and air and in spite of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent trying to sell us the next greatest thing that will increase our fitness in health, without all that gosh darn work.
Anyone who has trained and improved knows that there is only one way to get results. Hard, consistent, work. The good news is that if you do work, whether with body weight exercises, traditional weights, or even machines, you will improve your health, you will.
So the next pitch is, ok, since you don't mind hard work, or perhaps even enjoy being a busy beaver, be busy with us. We are more efficient, provide greater results in a shorter period of time, and if you just buy our shit, the fountain of youth will be yours.
Now I am happy to spend money and time on kettlebell training. It works. Yeah maybe if I'd given the tens of thousands I have spent in the last five years to W, I could squat with heavy load and deadlift 450. I doubt it, but maybe. But am I likely to take an oly bar and a set of plates in my mini-van so I can set up in the park during my daughter's basketball practice ? Would I be able to stare into an inky black sky on a deserted playground with steam coming off of my entire being with a 44 pound weight overhead, lats engaged, obliques ready to fire, lower back down, bell in hand, wrist straight, shoulder sucked into the socket, chest ready to lead, up to elbow, mobility, then hand, mobility, eyes forward then lunge to stand and lock out and reverse while listening to the 49ers kick the shit out of the Cardinals ? No. Do I do that with kettlebells, you bet your ass. Do I feel good, hell yes. Do I need to be told that my perceived middle aged strength is an illusion and if I had just been smart enough to go elsewhere I could feel even better and be truly strong ? No, and fuck you W.
But even the kettlebell community eats their own. I like Diluglio. I like his old videos, with his New England accent, knit cap and bulldog wandering around his funky gym. But I hate what his site has become. I hate the sizzle and the constant sales pitch. The criticism of the high hip bridge. The knock on DD whenever he gets a chance. Look, you did not make this shit up, promotion does not make you the best, and stop sending me two or three emails a day offering me confusing discounts on second tier products. The Art of Strength has crept toward the Art of Sales. Unsubscribe, yes I did.
DD is better, but has its faults. I am wary of lite anything, and that is what HKC looks like to me. It looks like a way to get folks to dip their toe in the pool and then rush to the deep end within twelve months so you can apply the cost to the RKC cert fee. And that is ok, except I doubt the public knows the difference between RKC and HKC and if I had bought the cadillac and were suddenly facing competition from a bunch of folks who had not, I would not be happy. I bet there is a lot more money in training the trainers, than training the poor shlubs like me and it seems unfair that the organization that promised to support you is now training folks who could undercut you.
And the cert does not mean that much anyway and don't try to tell me that it does. Best trainer I have ever worked with is a kid with a fine arts degree who blew out his knee in high school and became a gym rat. He is good because he is smart and creative. I am sure there are a lot of great RKC's out there, I have met and worked with a few of them. I am equally certain that there are many who are not. Creativity has never counted enough in the fitness industry. I have never seen the word creativity on any board, but from the middle aged client's perspective it is critical. Can you quickly adapt to help me work around my pain or immobility ? Can you do it in a nonjudgmental, empowering manner ? Can you do it without tripping over your tongue, or letting me know you are improvising ? Can you do it without channeling your younger, fitter self, which no matter how hard I work, I will never emulate ? Are you smart (or experienced) enough to work on multiple levels ?
Don't give me sizzle; give me substance. Understand that at the end of the day, I don't give a shit about PR's; I want to keep feeling better. I want to bounce on the beach with my kid, like Brigid up there and, if not get hurt, at least not be rendered immobile. I want to exude physicality; to walk into a room and control it with my posture and breath. I want a glossy coat and a hard body. I want to feel good until the day I die and rot which is now approaching far faster than I would like. I want brains, reflection, challenge and comprehension, if not understanding; not brawn I can never hope to achieve.
Enough.
Monday, went like this
15 hindu pushups
10 goblet squats, 24 kg
10 clean to five press, 24kg, 5+5, yes 5+5 thanks to Pavel's breath seminar on sat. When I hit it right left just rocketed up.
8+8 single leg deads, 16kg
3x
eight hours later, in the dark, on the playground
10+10 24 kg windmills
20, 28, 16,28, 20, 16kg swing ladder, 10 per.
3,2,1 TGU ladder l+r, 20 kg
4x
Tuesday, six miles
Wednesday am
10 pushups, deep and slow alternating to side plank, watch the free hand up and down
30 body weight box squats
10+10 rows, body as bench, 60lb dumbell.
15 walking tactical lunges, 16kg, alternating
3x
10+10 16kg windmills
20 16kg spike swings, to 20 24kg swings
2+2x2 24 kg TGUS
1 minute plank, lock down everything, lats, glutes, obliques, hard and flat.
3x
Killer 60 min flow class in pm.
Thursday, write 30 holiday greeting cards.
2 comments:
Did you actaully read this article or just the response from Reifkind? Phil doesn't target anyone at Dragon Door or Reifkind. In fact SPARTA only trains athletes and has always only trained athletes.
I did read the article Eric. What Phil was aiming at was kettlebells, which I found really odd. They are just a tool. His timing was odd as well as Girya was just kicking off HKC certs. I did not under stand the point of Phil's article; and given that Sparta does train elite college athletes it does not exactly occupy the same space as the ketylebell community, so why bother ? Unless it is to further the industry wide gutter-sniping, which is what I really find annoying.
Post a Comment