The Man Maker challenge has begun!!!

Operation Overlord was the greatest amphibious attack in history. Nearly 175,000 American, Canadian, and British troops landed in Normandy on D‐Day, 6 June 1944, supported by 6,000 aircraft and 6,000 naval vessels ranging in size from battleships to 32‐foot landing craft. The object of the attack was to win a beachhead in France in order to open a second front against Hitler's armies and to use the beachhead as a springboard for the liberation of France and Belgium, and the eventual conquest of Nazi Germany.

Comrades, It's D-Day and in honor of a 175,000 troops, all RKC's across the country are uniting to take on the Man-Manker challenge.

Location- General Wayne Elementary School-10am start time. Snatches and running is required of everyone.

See you all at 10am!!

Things that are on the plate for June

Comrades,

June 6th-. First, June 6th is our D-Day workout at General Wayne Elementary school in Malvern. This event starts at 10am sharp. Please bring a bell that you will be comfortable snatching with, because you will be doing a shit load of them.

June 13th- we will be doing our Kettlebell hike up Mt. Misery. This will require 2 bells (light bells) of the same weight. In a nut shell, you will be farmer walking your bells from one side of the Mountain to the other side. REMEMBER, YOU ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS YOUR GRIP. Details of exact dates will follow.

June 25th, Most of the RKC instructors in this area will be heading to MN for the Level II Certification. Myself, Will Williams, Mike Barbato and Gary from High Level Fitness are all heading up, Wish us luck. Looks like Dr. Dan or John will be teaching our classes. Again Details will follow towards the end of the month.

Oh yeah!, during all this I will be moving into a new house that I have been renovating for the past 4 months. I will be posting a Utube video of what the place looks like in it's final stages.


Power to you all!!

Are you kidding me with this!!!!!!!

So, I'm reading Men's Fitness magazine the other day and came across an article titled, "Summer Body." I usually read through these magazines quickly to get some ideas on what not to do during my training. What do I see as I turn to the next page? I see a guy doing a swing with a dumbbell.

Right away I start perusing the article on how they teach the reader to swing a dumbbell between their legs. First, the guy is squatting way to much. Second, the picture shows the guy coming all the way up onto the balls of his feet at the top of the swing. Lastly, given the popularity of Kettlebells, why the hell would they advertise this movement with a dumbbell?

I guess I should be happy that they at least are introducing the swing into the general population, but at least do it right and use a #@#@ Kettlebell.

Previous to this article, they were teaching the dumbbell snatch, a move that has become popular by Crossfit, a great movement btw, but would recommend using a Kettlebell again. They recommend trying the move with the greatest amount of weight you can pull. Let me ask you this, How many readers are going to go to the gym this month and try to do the DB snatch with a heavy weight? Something they probably have never done before. Do you think a lot of these readers are going to injure themselves??? What the hell is going on

Believe it or not, but a lot of people get ideas and training tips by reading magazines. Some offer great advice don't get me wrong, but from what I've seen so far, its scary. Go back to some primitive movements like the Bear crawl and simple squat thrusts. Movements that are multi-joint and really get the heart rate up. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Creutzburg Center Rocks The Main Line Night School!

Senior RKC Will Williams and I are teaching our 3rd six week Kettlebell session of MLNS. This 3rd session is by far our best location and by far our most people we have ever had. Who says there is no money in Kettlebell training?

We have averaged over 15 people per session, and I believe we have about 26 in this current session. I'm looking forward to teaching the great benefits that Kettlebell training provides to all the new victims who signed up for a life this changing experience.

First night consisted of a Swing tutorial, the foundation of all Kettlebell training. My job was to teach the swing to all the new victims while W2 put a smack down on the veterans with TGU, and Snatches. My focus was on hinging, breathing and building tension, principles that need to be practiced and mastered before learning advanced movements.

I want to congratulate all those who signed up for our Kettlebell class. This is the first step towards a strong and injury free body. Remember, if you have any questions about any moves that we cover or anything we talk about during the session, please contact Will Williams or myself.

Will Williams-rkc2005.blogspot.com/

Phil Scarito- scaritorkc.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!!

Broad Street in 1hr 47min and the "ManMaker"

Congratulations to my wife, Amy for completing the Broad Street Run in 1hr and 47min. Amy and a bunch of her friends represented DV8Fitness.com, thanks guys. Keep it up honey.

D-Day 200 Snatch Salute-RKC

Next on the Agenda is the, "ManMaker" June 6th- D-Day at Wayne Elementary school. This event will consist of Snatches and running. Keep it simple always.

Here are the rules:

1. 50 snatches (any combination, all with one arm, half and half, switch every 5 etc)
2. Jog around the track for recovery (close to a ¼ mile)
3. Repeat for a total of four times

Gary Berenbroick from High Level Fitness in Bryn Mawr is organizing the event. We would like all RKC's around the country to host the same event on June 6th-Saturday in honor of World War II veterans and the Normandy invasion.

We would like everyone to stop by and enjoy the pain. Hope you all are keeping up on your Snatches!!!! Good Luck.

Another awesome Art Museum Class in the books

I want to thank Will, Jen and Gary for putting together and advertising this event. When a bunch of RKC's get together, watch out! I think we had almost 30 victims show for the event. Out of that 30, 8 of them were brand new to the bell.

Clean and Jerks, Swings and presses were on the agenda. The sinister drills that W2 put together were brutal, even for the few RKC's that participated. For those who missed the event, there will be many more of these during the summer.

Please go to DV8Fitness.com for the latest on events and classes.

"Master the basic movements first before even thinking about anything else"

April RKC in Minnesota was epic!!

I just got back from another amazing weekend at the Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC). I assisted Senior Instructor Brad Nelson. Every Cert that I go to is different. The content, the ques, and the workouts are always evolving and getting better. This is my 2nd assisting position and I have to tell you, I learn something new every time I go back. It's really all about the basics. This is what separates the pro's from the armatures, they are just better at the basics.

I had a PR this weekend and I credit it to a couple things. First, I have improved my grip strength by ripping cards and bending nails. I finally had the privilege to meet Adam Glass who really helped me fine tune my card ripping technique. The bottom line is Total Body Tension. The second is the ques that Pavel mentioned during the Cert. I have forgotten about really activating the lat in the press, swing, TGU, etc. You really don't realize how much you need to activate the lat in a lot of these movements. I practiced these drills and pressed the 40k (Bulldog) without any problems at all. Shooting for the beast in June.

I want thank everyone for an amazing weekend and I want to congratulate Team Nelson for working very hard this weekend. Each and everyone of you did a great job. Enjoy and respect the title, RKC forever!

Power to you all.

Phil

Heading to another RKC tomorrow

How lucky am I? I get to assist once again at another RKC weekend. I guess I must have did something right at the last one. Pavel asked me to come back, how can I say no to him. This time around I get to assist Team Leader Brad Nelson. I have heard many good things about Brad and I am looking forward to working with him.

As I said before, every RKC weekend I go to whether I am a student or a teacher I learn something new. Remember, you can never get enough of the basics. Knowing the basics are what defines a great Kettlebell instructor. I believe there are about 80 participants at this cert, so almost a full house. This certification will be the last of the old Snatch test rules, which are taking your body weight and dividing by 2.2 which tells you how many snatches you need to do in 5min. Starting in June and going forward, it is 100 snatches across the board, for women and men. Women use a 16k and men a 24k.

I will be taking some video of course throughout my weekend, hopefully I will be able to tear a full deck of cards for Brett Jones without taking the entire night. I will certaintly get that on video.

It should be an awesome weekend as far as weather in concerned, so please don't sit on your ass, get outside and move around.

See you next week.

Phil.

IronTamer visits Philly

Comrades,

Thursday night's Kettlebell class was epic. 65 degree weather at the Philadelphia Art Museum, a bunch of RKC's, 2 SRKC's and over a dozen hungry Kettlebellers ready to work. David Whitley and Will Williams put together a great workout that required presses, swings and lots of steps, simple but very effective.

Of course the night started out with some card tearing and David ripping a phone book. I finally ripped an entire deck, took about a minute and the tear was not perfect, but the fact that I did it that night-awesome. I think we went through about 10 decks before our workout started. That is what I call a warm up.

I want to thank all my clients for coming down and kicking some serious ass. I also want to thank all the RKC's who came down to teach, Gary, Jen, Will and David. Excellent job. I look forward to many more workouts on the steps.

Check out my Utube channel for more DV8Fitness videos that I have posted. Slow motion video is coming soon.

Quote from Kenneth Jay's new book, "Viking Warrior Conditioning."

The following quote is in Kenneth's new book. I love this quote and had to share it with everyone.

"Pain is temporary,
It may last a minute,
or an hour,
or a day, or a year,
but eventually it will
subside and something
else will take its place.

If I quit, however,
it lasts forever."

--Lance Armstrong

April 2nd @ 7pm-David Whitely at the Art Museum

If you want to meet SRKC David Whitley and SRKC Will Williams, get your ass over to the Art Museum on April 2nd-7pm, with bells in hand. David is coming into town for a brief visit. While here, why not swing some bells, bend some nails and tear some cards with some RKC's.

My regularly scheduled class at CLM will be moved to the city for this one time event. So, if you have bells, please bring them and plan on working hard. For those who have never heard of David Whitley go to IronTamer.com to see his videos and read his blog posts.

I look forward to seeing all of you there, especially my new victims who took Main Line School Night. Congratulations to all those who graduated from Kettlebells 101. Will and I had a great time and look forward to seeing all of you very soon at one of our classes. It's time to gear up for our next group of victims.

Later.

Assisting again at the April RKC

My goal of becoming a Team Leader is getting closer and closer. I was asked to come back and teach again at the April RKC. Myself and my fellow RKC friend, Dr. Dan Kane will be assisting as well. As always, I am honored to get this invite for the second time.

This will be a busy summer for me. In June, I will be attending the Level II cert as well. I'm also thinking of attending the CrossFit Level I Cert the weekend before, not sure yet. Either way, I will be bringing a lot more ideas to my classes over the summer.

Things to keep in mind for the upcoming 2 months. We have the 10-minute Snatch test as well as an adventure race that I will be putting together. Be on the look out for these events.

In the immediate future we have a 6am class starting this Thursday. DV8Fitness clients now have 2 options on Thursday. This Summer take advantage of the unlimited classes for $103.00 a month. All you have to do is show up 2x's a week and you are ahead of the game.

See you all at class.

120 pullups with a 12k wrapped around my foot

Kenneth Jay recently posted a workout that he did on Facebook. It was 1 hour of pull ups with a 24k bell. I was talking to Will Williams the other night and he said that comes out to 1 pull up every 20 seconds for 1 hour.

So, of course I wanted to try it. Why the hell not. To do this effectively, I could not do this with a 24k bell, my form would go to shit pretty fast. So, I modified this workout to see how I would do. I used a 12k bell wrapped around my foot. I did not use a belt. I also alternated R/L foot with the bell to keep things symmetrical. I set my Gymboss timer to 15:15, so every 15 seconds I did 1 pull up with perfect form for 30min. Talk about being self motivated. Those 30min took forever.

15 seconds gave me enough time to recover, yet made it very challenging. Using the 12k bell was light but again I was focused on perfect form, I don't do things half-assed. I will try to do this again, but going 45min.

It was a great workout. Thank you Kenneth Jay for the idea.

Club La Maison's beginners Kettlebell class is catching on

The best part about teaching a Kettlebell class is watching the faces of everyone who walks by. They stop and look and wonder what the hell is going on in their. Well, for those who have taken the first step to a stronger body and have decided to try Kettlebells, all I have to say is oorahhh!!!

I have 7-10 sign ups so far for my beginners class. It's only a matter of time before this class is completely full. Tonight was awesome. I have all levels of fitness and all ages swinging bells. This is why I do what I do. I have the best job in the world, I make people stronger and healthier.

Sticking with the schedule that Will and I are using for MLSN, tonight was the C & P. We have already went over the swing and TGU. Bringing in some lighter bells for the presses next week. Everyone is picking up the movements pretty fast. The clean is a tough one to teach and a tough one for some to pick up. Yes, your forearms will be swollen for a couple days, suck it up.

I'm very happy with the progress that I am making with everyone. Keep up the great work. See you all next week.

Don't' forget!!!!!! WWW.DV8FITNESS.COM/WORKSHOP2009.COM

Main Line School night was a success!!!

Will Williams and I had the privilege to teach Kettlebells to a skeptical and nervous group individuals. Main Line School Night started last night at Lower Merion High School. What was on the agenda? Swings and Get-ups. This was the 1st of 5 weeks of Kettlebell training and I thought the class performed very well given all the new information we unloaded onto them.

I taught the Swing and Will taught the Get-up. I have to say, I was very excited to instruct with Will. How often do RKC's get to teach the secrets of Kettlebell training with a Senior RKC instructor? Our styles meshed very well together as If we have been teaching for years. Our group of newbies and some veterans were ready to get sweaty and burn some calories and that is just what they did.

Will and I took them through an hour and a half of ballistic and grind movements that really woke up their bodies. I'm sure today, they are all bitching at us, but loving us at the same time. Everyone picked up both movements pretty well. An hour and a half goes by fast, let me tell you. I'm looking forward to our next session. Lets see how many survive the 5 weeks. Take a good look at those in the pic above. We will take another at the end.

Keep swinging.

Tuesday night class goes to 45min

Comrades,

Due to Main Line School Night, which starts February 24th at 7:30pm I will be teaching a 45min class, from 6-6:45pm-Tuesday.

NEW CLASS IS ADDED STARTING MARCH 19TH

I have had tons of interest in a 6am class. I am starting this class March 19th @ Chesterbrook, sorry Deb. As the weather turns and daylight savings time kicks in, I'm sure the 6am class will be a hit. Now, you will have an option to go to a evening Kettelbell class or an early morning class, NO EXCUSES!!!

Remember you can sign up for classes and PT through Paypal now.

Yearly unlimited classes $900.00

Monthly unlimited classes $103.00

Drop in is $20.00

See you all in class.

WWW.DV8Fitness.com/workshop2009

Comrades,

The Workshop page is up and running, thanks to John. This is going to be the workshop among all workshops. August 1st, 2009, Sara Cheatham and I will be teaching a Z-Health/Kettlebell workshop at Club La Maison in Devon, PA. Please go to WWW.DV8Fitness.com/workshop2009 to sign up now. It's only $175 for a 6 hour workshop.

This workshop is for beginners to advanced Kettlebellers. All levels of fitness are welcome. This will be a hands on workshop. Everyone will be using Kettlebells and participating in Z-Health drills.

www.DV8Fitness.com/workshop2009

Main Line School Night, What a sell out!!

Will Williams and I sold out MLSN in less than a month. Who else could do that??

For those of you who were lucky enough to get in, you will not be disappointed. This is the best decision you have made all year. Let Will and I teach you what "Hardstyle" is all about. Kettlebells still have not taken off yet, they are on the rise and everyone is becoming addicted to them. After you take our class, I guarantee that you will be hooked.

Both Will and I look forward to a great session. It's time to get ready for the BEACH!!!

ACL Injuries? And why Kettlebells are the perfect remedy

After an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, you lose leg strength and motion and stability of the knee. It is important that you regain your leg strength and motion as soon as possible, whether you choose to have surgery for your ACL injury or not. Exercises to regain muscle strength and knee motion should begin before you start treatment, whether treatment is a rehabilitation (rehab) program only or surgery plus rehab (WebMD).

So, after all this information why is it that most people with ACL injuries continue to train the way they used to train. After attending the CK-FMS Certification, I better understand that we develop over time bad habits or movements that eventually result in ACL injuries and much more. Just walk around a gym and look at how people move. Take a good look at how they squat, lunge, run, etc, you will be blown away.

Obviously, we want to correct and fix these imbalances early on, but not everyone wants to listen or take the time out of their training schedule to learn the corrective movements that will eventually prevent an ACL injury. So, how do Kettlebells fit into all this discussion about ACL injuries.

If you do exercises to strengthen your thigh muscles (quadriceps and hamstrings) and regain knee motion soon after an ACL injury, you will be better prepared for a rehab program or for surgery with a rehab program (WebMD). I believe that Kettlebells are a great way to strengthen all the muscles surrounding the Knee. Now, I'm not a Doctor. If you just recently had an ACL injury, please do the rehab exercises first, don't be stupid and continue your usual training methods.

Kettlebells will strengthen the quads and hamstrings that will ultimately protect and strengthen the knee. The Kettlebell Swing is a fantastic movement that is low impact and highly effective. Train smart and try Kettlebells, they will change your life and strengthen your entire body. If you learn nothing else but the Kettlebell swing, you will be way ahead of the game.

Great start to a great week

I had an awesome training day today. Sometimes you get up out of bed after a good night sleep and just feel strong as hell. Today was my heavy day. I started implementing my 36kilo bell into my heavy day workouts. I did C & J with my 36k. Heavy deadlifts where I hit a PR of 315. I feel like my lifts are much better. I have been really focusing on double 32 swings, which help increase your deadlifts dramatically in my opinion.

Before I picked up my bar to do deadlifts, I used my pvc pipe to train my muscles to do a perfect deadlift. This is something I learned at CK-FMS. Go to my Utube channel to see what I'm talking about. I have also focused a lot of my attention on pressurizing my breath during my lift. All these things made for a perfect lift. I did 4 sets of 2, 315pds.

On another note. My new truck rocks. I'm getting my bed lined with Line-x and ordering a Retrax top. Still playing with how I want my Truck wrapped. Whatever I do, its gonna be seen from across a highway.

In the next couple of weeks, I will have another indoor location in Chesterbrook for all of you to enjoy. This location will be great for those who are coming from Malvern.

See you outside.

The Law of Autosuggestion

If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't,
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't,

If you think you'll lose, you're lost,
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a person's will--
It's all in the state of mind,

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before,
You can ever win a prize,

Life's battles don't always go,
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the one who wins,
Is the one WHO THINKS HE CAN!!!

Nepoleon Hill (poet unidentified)

Do this for yourself-Start recording what you Eat

Comrades,

I know that you have heard this many times before. I will tell you though, it works. Starting today, record everything that you put in your mouth, EVERYTHING.

Go to the dollar store and get a composition book and title it Food log. Keep it simple. Write down the date and one sentence on how you feel or your thoughts for the day. Start recording from breakfast until you go to bed. I want you to carry this book everywhere you go. Keep it close by. Why should I do this? Well, you will be surprised of how well you eat when you start writing everything down on paper. Basically, you start to think twice about what you are about to put in your stomach.

I have a client who wants to loose at least 40 pounds this year. This is a very attainable goal. I will tell you this, what you eat is more important than how much you excercise in my opinion. If you do not eat well, then your just wasting your money on your trainer or gym membership. So unless you have an endless supply of money or just don't care about your health, then start recording what you eat.

Recently, I had a great conversation with a good friend of mine about Americans and their health. Most American are overweight, have high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterol, etc. They also are on all kinds of drugs to prevent the above mentioned health issues. Drugs cost money, money that we don't have. Health insurance goes up and then living expenses rise. How do we prevent all this? START EATING HEALTHY AND WORKOUT!!!!! If you make the decision to start writing down what you eat and really pay attention to your health this year, you will save a lot of money. Once you start to loose weight, most likely you will not need all those drugs that cost a fortune.

The solution is simple. Record what you eat and start moving around and I guarantee that you will rely less on all those drugs.