The CK-FMS .. Unbelievable!

I just spent one of the best three days of my life hanging out with, studying with and learning with the finest assembled group of Kettlebell enthusiats at the CK-FMS Certification. Over eighty RKCs, the "hand-them-the-keys-to-my-house" type folks, provided the highest quality learning environment for this new certification.

For me it started off on the highest note possible as I had the honor of sharing my hotel room with Franz Snideman, RKC Team Leader. As thoughtful, supportive and intelligent he is traversing the blogo-sphere, Franz in person is off the charts! An extraordinarily humble, knowledgeable, upbeat and down right nice guy, its no surprise that the RKC recognized this and granted him an RKC Team Leadership. Hey listen, he had to put up with me for three full nights! That right there is worthy of praise of the highest accolades! Rock on Franz!!

Then there was spending quality time with bloggers Katie and Gabi both of whom I owe much to their constant support and encouragement. I also got to talk with so many other RKCs only known to me via their blogs or DD posts. In particular, I finally got to meet Rif, Mark Reifkind, MasterRKC , and the amazing Tracy Reifkind, RKC, as we wined, dined and even hula-hooped on Friday evening at the home of the incredibly generous and hospitable Fawn and Aaron Friday. This is my second time I have had the privilege to join the Friday's impromptu BBQs and like the first it was wonderful.

It was also great to see and talk to Mark Toomey, RKC Team Leader again. I also got meet RKC rock stars: Sarah Cheatum, SrRKC, Steve Freides, RKC II, David Whitley, SrRKC, and Kenneth Jay, MasterRKC and many others. In fact I met two brand new wonderful RKCs, Kirstin Farrel and Matt Seki, both of whom only having just completed their Certs the previous week at the UCLA cert.

As for the CK-FMS Certification itself, it was a huge success. However I did not achieve my official certification yet .. no pity please as none of the eighty plus attendees did either. :) In order to certify I will have to

• create a video of an FMS screen/corrective strategy case study and
  
• pass an on-line test.
  

In the meantime, we were all encouraged to administer at least one hundred screens right away to get our feet wet before taking the test.

Mike Johnson, RKC, posted an excellent list CK-FMS high points on the DD forum which I have taken the liberty to copy below:

• You've got to get the fundamentals down, otherwise the fancy stuff won't work. That means more Get-ups
• Remove the negative before you add a positive.
• Learn a movement before you add resistance.
• Static work before dynamic work. (Deads before swings)
• Motion is more important than load.
• Don't add fitness to dysfunction.
• 10% is the maximum acceptable imbalance in terms of strength, endurance, mobility, and flexibility.
• Don't over-train the core musculature, you need them for postural stability.
• Systems are evolving. Programs just go from point A to point B without change.
• Do what people need, not what people want.
• For most people dead-lift to squat frequency should be a 3:1 ratio.
• Machines and straight bars will not expose strength imbalances. (Side note: I've seen strength imbalances exposed during bench pressing)
• Mobility first, Stability second.
• Stretching is good, but it won't reset nueromuscular movement patterns.
• The purpose of training is progress, not entertainment.

One of the small drawbacks to the Cert was not supplying a screening kit for each participant. Being slightly crafty and not wanting to shell out an additional hundred fifty plus dollars, I intend on building one from a two-by-six and a couple of wooden dowels.