The Twelve Gifts of Fit-mas

This holiday season, old Couch Handy recommends that you give the gift of fitness to yourself, a family member or a friend.

Here are Twelve gift recommendations!

Give a Kettlebell lesson or Olympic Weightlifting lesson or package of lessons: my rates are going back up at the beginning of the year so now is a good time to buy.

Lesson Purchase Options

1 Lesson $65.00 5 Lessons $300.00 10 Lessons $550.00 20 Lessons $1,000.00

I also have a little e-book/pdf on beginning Olympic Weightlifting called More Power! which I'll send to you for the princely sum of $15. My friend Krista Scott-Dixon of Stumptuous.com wrote the foreword...it's pretty good if I say so myself. I wish I had it when I was teaching myself the lifts back in the day when information was scarce and DVDs hadn't yet been invented.
More Power!

Know someone who wants to try kettlebells or is ready for a new, heavier one? Dragon Door still makes the best solid cast iron kettlebells in the industry and are backed by a no questions asked guarantee. You can order them here...but with the holidays coming you should order soon to assure a timely delivery.

Read my reviews of Dan John's Never Let Go book and 4-DVD Series and you will want them for yourself...but if you know a coach or athlete or weekend warrior, any of these items will make a great stocking stuffer. Order from DaveDraper.com

While we are on the subject of books and DVDs...Dragon Door has a great selection of books on topics of strength, kettlebells and martial arts. My recommendations are Beyond Bodybuilding ,
Enter the Kettlebell, Return of the Kettlebell and Power to the People Professional.

Well that's Twelve things (more or less, depending on how you count and combine)

Enjoy the Holidays and make 2010 a healthy, happy and strong year!

Randy Hauer
"Couch Handy"
RKC Team Leader, USAW Weightlifting and Sports Performance Coach

Dan John's Never Let Go DVD's 3 and 4

Received the final two DVDs of this 4 part project. There are real nuggets of knowledge in both. As in the previous installments, these presentations are not tedious chores to sit through. Dan has fun teaching and the information is delivered with both a sense of humor and an obvious passion for the topics.

For the Olympic Lifting coach, athlete or enthusiast, the Olympic Lifting for Beginners offers real insights into how to make these technical and complicated lifts accessible. Good coaching cues are pithy and should evoke a coordinated set of responses; one can't think and lift at the same time. Dan has managed to break the lifts into manageable chunks and excellent cues that can have a beginner snatching and jerking the bar in an impressively brief period of time with more than acceptably safe technique.

Warmups, Workouts and Barbell Complexes provides excellent ideas and a structure for how to think about a proper general warmup before a weight training workout. Great ideas here too for how to design and incorporate barbell complexes. Honestly, the kids under Dan's supervision at Juan Diego H.S. must be some of the strongest, best conditioned kids in the country: Dan's warmup alone is killer. A nice touch is the PDF list of the warmups and workouts on the DVD which can be printed out.

The Never Let Go book tour DVD set is available as a 4 part set or as can be ordered individually here: http://www.davedraper.com/fitness_products/product/DJ4DVD.html

A great stocking stuffer for the strength enthusiast on your holiday list.

A Little Press Coverage

Article in the local paper about our recent WL Clinic with Carissa Gump.
http://www.dailycamera.com/health-fitness/ci_13901567

Our next Clinic is September 19th at Flatirons Crossfit...$35 in advance. $50 at the Door.
Troubleshooting the Pulls

Kettlebells: Never Let Go Tour Part 2

This is the second of 4 DVDs cut from a Dan John lecture/clinic a few months back. The first DVD, A Philosophy of Strength Training is reviewed below. These are not slick, high production value videos...but they don't need to be. The material is excellent, Dan John's delivery is always engaging and the presentations are illuminating.

As an RKC Team Leader myself with a background in Olympic Weightlifting, I share a heuristic assumption with John: whenever possible link the techniques of kettlebells to weightlifting and to other athletic movements. With this linkage in mind, John has developed a concept that should be developed into a chart and hung in all weight rooms: The Hip Displacement Continuum. Just about any ground based reactive athletic movement can be placed on one side or the other of the Continuum. If you or someone you love has a back ache from kettlebell swings....refer to this chart. Kettlebell swings don't hurt your back...it's how YOU do kettlebell swings that hurts your back. The HDC show once and for all why a squatty swing is not a good swing at all, but actually a potentially dangerous and ultimately useless kettlebell chimera.

Another great idea John has come up with is the notion that the Plank is a foundational exercise that informs other more dynamic weightlifting and kettlebell movements. The Moving Plank is best seen demonstrated so I won't go into it here, but I can attest to it's power. I tried it on three of my athletes the other night and the improvements in KB swings and BB snatches and cleans was astonishing.

Great stuff in here...all of it useful and none of it old hat. John is a master teacher and he enjoys sharing the fruits of his labors. There are no dull moments in this video...John's delivery alternates between self deprecating humor and over the top expressions of self-esteem...if anyone has a right to take himself a little more seriously, it would be Dan John, but he doesn't. He clearly believes in what he says but his confidence comes from practice not from theory...he is sharing what works, not what might work.

Dan John really is brilliant - just ask him.

Order here: http://www.davedraper.com/fitness_products/product/DJKB.html

Olympic Weightlifting Clinic, Oct 24, 2009

SUBJECT: Maximizing Performance for Your First Official Competition

USAW International Coach David Miller and I will cover teaching progressions for the squat snatch, squat clean and split jerk. Then through a mini-competition we'll review the official rules, how to choose attempts, warm up and achieve personal records on the platform!

10/5/09 UPDATE
Unfortunately we've had a scheduling issue arise and Carissa will not be able to join us for the October 24th Clinic.

However, we are still very excited to announce that special guest 2008 USA Olympian Carissa Gump will be joining us for our November 21st workshop! Carissa will be assisting and demonstrating the lifts. Here's some video of Carissa lifting in Beijing.


Maximizing Performance for Your First Official Competition

When: Saturday, October 24th
Where: Flatirons Crossfit
Time: Noon to 3PM

Price: Flatirons Crossfit and Flatirons WL Club Members - $75
Non-Members: $100

Register below via PayPal

Clinic Prices Members/Non-Members

Flatirons Crossfit Member $75.00 FI Crossfit Non-Member $100.00

Discounted Personal Training until 2010

I've dropped pricing for one on one lessons until January 1, 2010. Economy has been rough, holidays are coming up and money has been tight...so I've lowered my rates so you can get the personal attention you want on your kettlebell and/or Olympic weightlifting technique...check out the PayPal pull down menu for prices.

Lesson Purchase Options

1 Lesson $65.00 5 Lessons $300.00 10 Lessons $550.00 20 Lessons $1,000.00

All lessons are held at Flatirons Crossfit...purchase the package you want and I'll contact you for scheduling.

The Gumps Visit ECG Rocky Mtn Satellite Center

Here is some video from this last Wednesday when Jason and Carissa Gump visited our new training center at Flatirons Crossfit in Boulder and took a workout. Carissa of course represented the US at the Beijing Olympics. Jason is training to hit some big lifts at the American Open in December.

By the way Rocky Mtn Strength and Health and Flatirons Crossfit are the home of the newest East Coast Gold Satellite Center the ECG Rocky Mountain Satellite Center. If you are interested in Oly Weightlifting on America's largest weightlifting team, stop by or drop us an e-mail at info@eastcoastgold.org