Kettlebelling in Korea - Doc & Jon's Excellent Adventures: Days 3 & 4

No rest for the wicked.

While Friday was supposed to be a day of NOT teaching and R&R before the weekend workshop, it ended up being anything but.

While our morning didn't start with roll call at 6am, and we had the chance to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of bulgogi (YEAH, BABY!!! First thing in the morning!!!), the R&R stopped there. In the later part of the morning, Men's Health - Korean edition came by our place for a photo shoot. They knew about as much about kettlebells as I do about speaking Swahili.

I'm gonna digress for a moment here.

Since we got here, the Koreans have been nothing but critical about almost every aspect of how we do things and what we do initially. I got an earful about the lack of PowerPoint presentation and handouts making it harder for students to learn, and then another earful during the photo shoot about how the RKC instructors' uniform (khaki Patagonias & black T-shirt) were unstylish and made me look fat... like I give a $h!#.

But with all things on this trip, Jon & I seem to meet the initial Korean skepticism, and turn it on its ear Hardstyle.

So back to the point at hand... Having had plenty of experience directing photoshoots for Black Belt Magazine, I told the photographer which angles to shoot from, and the results were far more than satisfactory. So while you won't see Doc & Jon in colorful Nikes with spandex shorts and neon T-shirts on with bright pink kettlebells, you WILL get to see some of the RKC's finest representing the system and the organization with the integrity that matches the RKC Code. Just wait, folks.... the pics'll be posted here when I get them.

Following that shoot, which ended up being rather long, we had an interview with MFight Magazine, which is Korea's MMA-focused periodical. Trying to verbally describe the benefits of kettlebell training and FMS-style repatterning with any semblance of accuracy to someone that's never experienced it is almost futile. So we forcefully invited the interviewer to attend the first day of Hard Style Hanguk. His protests about knee pain were met with my cocked right eyebrow and a deadpan reply to just show up.

Day 1 of Hard Style Hanguk was a blast!

We got there at 9am, people filtered in on Korean time, and we rocked the house at Sportime. Much to my surprise, there were at least a half a dozen women in attendance. And in a country where the fitness movement is still in its infancy (although they don't think so) and where female trainers are not as common as in the States, their presence was a pleasant surprise.

The rest of the attendees ranged from a couple of Americans who were working in Korea to personal trainers to physical therapists to strength coaches to athletes to military educators. Hmmmmm, sounds like the roster at a regular RKC, doesn't it?

The first day was obsessively focused on Program Minimum and its myriad of applications. Squat patterning, Hard Style Lock, Deadlift, Swing & Swing variants, Naked Get-Up, & Turkish Get-Ups made for the menu on Day 1. Between my detailed explanations and Jon's corrections that are straight out of the RKC Manual, the participants were treated to a level of training that we heard was "unexpectedly thorough!"