With Jeff Martone

@ Crossfit West Houston

Why go to certifications?

I found out why I and others, should attend certifications last weekend.

This particular one was run by Jeff Martone, the official kettlebell  trainer for Crossfit. He has been with the organization since 2004 or 2005 and he has a long history in the business of physical fitness.

But he is not into the business of fitness. He is in it because he likes it, he has a passion for it and his teaching style is very rooted in the basics. Learn it right the first time.

I love kettlebells, I’m actually already a certified RKC Kettlebell instructor. So why get certified again?

For me, it’s really about the experience you get hanging out with like minded people for a couple/few days and let experts either teach you some things you didn”t know, or fix some things that you didn’t know needed fixing.

I needed some fixing. Jeff taught everybody the basic kettlebell progressions and why you should follow these progressions. He laid out a map for us to follow – to make us, and our clients get it right the first time.

There were over 20-25 people there, all of the them Crossfit people. Locals from Crossfit West Houston, Point Blank, Atomic Crossfit and some Crossfiters from Utah, San Antonio and even Hawaii. Yes, they left paradise to spend 2 days with Jeff Martone learning the correct way to incorporate kettlebells into thier training.

Here’s My Take Away: 

• Its all about using the correct form. Do it right the first time or spend the rest of your life trying to fix it.
• Use physical and mental cues to get people to discover the proper form. It was really cool to see Jeff use a simple drill to get people to move how he wanted them to. I saw a lot of bad form on the first day, a couple of drills later, the person would move exactly how Jeff wanted.
• There is a good reason you teach a specific swing progression. Each swing of lift has a movement pattern that helps you in the next swing or move. Start with the deadlift, which leads to the swing (Russian), then to the Power swing, then to the Overhead swing. Once he laid everything out, it made perfect sense. He unlocked the secret to getting people ready for kettlebell training in a very short time span.
• The kicker this weekend was the assistant instructor named Chris from Crossfit Central in Austin. He went through Jeff’s certification class last year then developed a Crossfit Central kettlebell program that is making his “Box” smaller and smaller (A good thing!) and he’s getting unbelievable results for his athletes.
• Never treat any one thing as an end all. “I only use _____ in my training”. (Fill in the blank) Have some imagination!
• It was just a blast – I’ve seen videos of Jeff Martone, read his books and to be able to sit down and talk with him was fantastic!
• Spread the word!

I encourage everyone to sign up for a certification that interests them. Here is a link to the Crossfit Website that lists all the available “Certs”. Look through them, you’ll find something that you like. Maybe there is something in our area, maybe you have to make a nice get-away out of it and leave town for one, trust me, you will not be disappointed!!!!!

There is Kettlebell training program getting started in the smaller “Box” next door at Champions. Stop by and give it a try. You just may like it! Go here for more info

Classes every Tuesdays & Thursdays at Crossfit Champions at 5:30 in the other “Box” next door.

I’ll be posting the Benchmark “Girls” kettlebell substitute workouts soon…

Tom Healy

Crossfit Kettlebell Guy with a piece a paper.