The Road To The StrongFirst Girya (SFG) Certification - Pt 1 of 4
Part 1 of 4
Certifying for the Strongfirst Kettlebell is not supposed to be a walk in the park but it also shouldn’t be overwhelming. There are a number of people and programs out there to help you reach the certification without injuring or breaking yourself and coming out the other side with a stronger and more resilient mind and body.
GOAL:
To be conditioned enough and strong enough to focus on learning rather than struggling to survive the certification
MOST COMMON ISSUES:
Lack of swing/snatch conditioning
Too weak for the press
Poor ROM (often due to injuries or overtraining)
Soft hands (lack of time with the bells, lack of general hand care)
Addressing swing and snatch conditioning
Many people attend the certification and they haven’t spent the time to become good at swinging and snatching. These are core skills for the weekend and need to be built up over time. You want to get good at the movement first, then you want to build a solid foundation of strength, and finally, you need to address your overall conditioning.
In general, most people will want to spend time swinging sub-maximal weights 3 to 5 times per week and snatching a moderately heavy bell 1-2 times every two weeks. Varied loads, including light, medium and heavy days are desirable, but not mandatory.
Your goal when you practise should be to produce a lot of power with whichever bell you choose to use but spend the majority of your time with a bell that you could do 15-25 fantastic reps within a single set.
Some plans that are out there that are great, in a suggested order of application for this (they include other movements which you would want to do as well, but we are thinking about their application to swing/snatch):
Simple and sinister - Great base builder. 300-600 swings per week, and strengthen your shoulder before you start snatching using the TGU. There is a great variation of this taught in the StrongFirst Kettlebell 101 workshop.
Rite of passage - Another fantastic base builder. This will ensure that your shoulders are super strong, and will allow you to tolerate the high volume snatches that you will end up needing in order to safely and “comfortably” do your snatch test. This program also includes one day of snatch practice, and one day of relatively high effort swings, two things that will also prepare your body for the rigours of the certification. There is also an additional plan for this in the StrongFirst Kettlebell 201 workshop.
StrongFirst Plan 44c, or Plan 44 from The Quick and The Dead - This plan allows you to get a lot of very powerful snatches and develops the capacity to explosively drive your snatch again and again. Aside from the specific practice, this program will also likely improve both your grip strength and increase the size of the bell that you are comfortably snatching beyond the weight that you are likely to test with.
These are all programs that you can follow along with from a book, but ultimately, there is nothing like having eyes on from someone who has gone through the certification before. If you can get to the StrongFirst Courses (KB101, KB201, KB301), they are just about the best possible base for these events, because you’ll get a StrongFirst certified Team Leader, Senior Instructor or Master Instructor who can look at what you are doing and give you direct feedback on what you need to improve to meet the standard at the event.
Keep your eyes peeled, because the next article in this series will give you a plan for preparing if you are currently struggling with your press.