Week 0: Preparing for the SFG Level 1 Certification

It begins  today!  What is it?  SFG is Strong First Girevik Level 1 Certification.  That would be a Kettlebell Certification from the greatest Kettlebell organization in the  world.

I’m enrolled in Strong First’s certification in Chicago on April 28-30.  This blog is about my preparation leading up to the cert.  This is not your average certification, it’s tough, 25-30% failure rate is typical.  3 days of KB lifting, typically 9-5.  You need to master the  technique for the following lifts:  Swing, Double Clean, Press, Double Front Squat, Snatch, Getup.  There’s a strength test: 24Kilo bell, 100 one handed snatches in 5 minutes.  Maximum of 3 no counts due to poor technique.  You also have a written test and prove you can teach others the correct KB lifts.

The Snatch Test will be on the final day of the cert.  You need strength and endurance.  Antifragile is a necessary attribute.

What’s my plan?  Strong First has a couple of very good cert prep programs,  I chose the one from Craig Marker.

Conditioning through KB Swings.  Sessions 3 times per week.  Swing the bell for 10 reps, every minute on the minute (EMOM) for a varied number of minutes.  Week 1: Tu-12 min., Th-16 min., Sa-14 min.  The next week add 2 minutes to  each session, for a total of 60 swing increase in volume per week.  By April 19th, I will be at 30 minutes.  Don’t go higher than 30 minutes.  When you hit 30 minutes, it’s time to test yourself at that weight.  100 One Handed Swings in 5 minutes.  That will be just about when I start the cert.  I’m also going to add a small amount of tactical pullups after each swing session.

Strength through KB Military Press.  It’s based on determining your 1 Repetition Maximum (RM) in the KB Military Press.  Lift 3 days per week,        M-W-F, with varying %’s of my 1RM – 24KG.  Typically sets of 75 and 85% of max and occassional 90%.  For me 75% = 18KG, 85% = 20KG and 90% = 22KG. It’s based on varying/decoupling volume and intensity.  Here’s a sample week 1:

So, Day 1 would be 18KG – 3 reps; 20KG – 2 reps,  then 2 reps; 18KG  – 3 reps. (Note: I did do a 26KG 1RM, but I didn’t feel my technique was good enough to count, so I stayed with a 24KG 1RM).

This continues for 6 weeks, then retest and start again.  The only problem with this plan is you need a lot of Kettlebells.  I’ve got 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 & 32 Kilo bells so I’m covered.  I’ll be doing 1-6 Turkish Getups after completing the day’s Presses.  Turkish Getups (TGU) are an excellent overall strength and stabilizer exercise.

I’ll post to this blog every Monday morning.  Looking forward to my journey.

Summary:

M-W-F: KB Military Press; Turkish Getups

Tu-Th-Sa: KB Swings, Tactical Pullups

Adding Cycling and Rowing to build my Aerobic base, but low intensity (60-70% max HR).  I don’t want it to interfere with my strength or swing work.

See you next week.