One of the many things that have been keeping me busy lately is my preparation for the Russian Kettlebell Certification. I haven’t talked about it much because I’ve been busy with the launching of my latest project, Primal Fit Bootcamp, in my local area (Pleasant Hill, Ca). Anyway, I’ve been training with Master RKC, Mark Reifkind at Girya Strength in Palo Alto and he designed a Kettlebell (KB) workout that I can do at home when I’m not training with him.

This was the most recent KB workout that I did:

Snatch technique

2 sets of 5 repetitions (reps) each arm with 8 kg
3 sets of 10 reps each arm with 12 kg

Turkish Get Ups

One rep per arm with 8 kg for 5 minutes ( switching each rep of course)
One KB Front Squats – 12 kg
8 sets of 5 reps per arm

One Arm Swings – 12 kg

10/10 (10 right, 10 left)
10/10/10 /10 (transfer after each ten and just keep going)
10/10/10/10/10/10

Overhead KB Hold per Arm

8 kg- 30 sec hold
8 kg – 45 sec hold
8 kg – 60 sec hold

This workout will smoke you no matter how great in shape you are in!

My biggest accomplishment with this workout is I was able to perform 60 repetitions of the KB Snatch with minimal rest. If you are not familiar with the RKC, students or “victims” need to pass the Snatch test which requires you to perform the snatch 100 times (both arms total) with a 12 kg Kettlebell in 5 minutes. While I am still almost 2 months away from the August Certification, I have lots of work to do in terms of conditioning, perfecting my KB techniques, and finally performing my mock snatch test.
To give you an idea of how the snatch looks like, I attached a video of me doing it with a 12 kg KB. But, before you watch it, here are the basic foundations of a snatch:

* Start with a basic swing with a “snap” at the hips
* Practice the High Pulls (that’s what I’m doing in the video before I do the actual snatch) before you even attempt a Snatch
* When you feel good with your technique with the first two, you’ll be ready to snatch

Of course, I am “in training” which means that I have a lot to learn. I wanted to wait until I shot a video of me snatching a 12 kg but with my other responsibilities, it is getting to be impossible at the moment. *Note: I have updated this post with a new video with proper instructions since I first wrote this article.