What is connection?

Connection means connecting the arm holding the kettlebell to your body (i.e. the hips) in order to conduct the force of your hip drive into the bell.
This is the foundation upon which kettlebell swinging works.  You cannot create a ballistic swing if you don't have connection, because you cannot launch the bell (i.e. arm) off a surface it was never connected to.
Connection means more power, but it also means lifting safer because it shortens what is referred to in the study of biomechanics as the moment arm.
A moment arm is the length between a joint axis or fulcrum and the line of force acting on that joint.

This is my interpretation of the line of action in a kettlebell swing.  I'm not a physics wizard so if anyone else is well studied on lines of action and moment arms feel free to add your take if you feel like there is a significant discrepancy with what actually happens during the swing.
Basically, the longer the line of red dots (moment arm), the more stress the back lever undergoes.  Not connecting to the hips also displaces the relative load higher up the spine to the scapula (anchor) increasing the risk of back injury.  So example (A) exhibits less risk and less stress, whereas example (B) exhibits more risk and more stress.

It cannot be stressed enough how fundamentally crucial this concept is.  If you don't get this concept then you should not be lifting.  It's fine if you're working on it, and really it's something you should ALWAYS be working on.  But not adhering to this principle makes you a back lifter, and a back lifter is not a safe lifter.

Play safe!

Coach Solly

I am just another guy chasing his dreams, and not unselfishly.  I have learned over the years from others smarter than me, that if you are honest with yourself and how you want to spend your time, you will never work a day in your life.  If you go that extra step further and invest your heart and soul into sharing what you know, and if you help people to find the same joy that you have in what you do, then you can make a living out of it.

Sometimes it is difficult to know your place in the world, and where you fit in exactly.  I have discovered that I can only understand who I am by the impact I make on others.  My clients make their opinions about me based on what they take away from coming to our gym.  I depend on their feedback to know if I am doing a good job.  I take pride in their accomplishments.  Your purpose, vocation, words, or actions will never be about you or the message you intended, but rather how that message is received by those around you.  The moment you think your voice is the most important one in the room, is the moment you stop growing and people quit listening.

Every year at the Nanaimo Kettlebell Club is different from the last.  Each year I meet and train new people; some of them stay and some of them move on.  Each year our competitive team grows a little larger and more diverse.  Each year members reach new and sometimes scary heights where the biggest challenge is staying there, not getting there.  They learn about themselves, and I learn about them and how I can help the next person with the knowledge I've gained. 

I look back at old certifications and accolades received in years past, if for no other reason than to remind myself that they actually happened.  They seem somewhat trivial compared to now.  I remember the challenge and the chase: the grunt work, the neck-wrenching research, the nervousness of being tested - whether by competitions or exams.  I look at myself now and realize that I was never done, and each accomplishment served only to precede the next.  I am always learning, and always pushing myself to be better.

This is how it is with weights.  This is the nature of weightlifting.  Weightlifting is the ongoing process of self-evaluation through practice and performance.  You temper your body, mind, and spirit with gym iron.  You repeat the same exercises day after day, week after week, and month after month until you master your body.  Your body repays you with stamina, strength, and resilience.  When the body is stubborn and refuses to develop, you make changes and push the envelope, coaxing the body to respond - but never forcing it.  You must listen to your body to tell you how much is enough, but you must never fail to set your sights a little higher each time.  Just like the seasons, your body changes: not always stronger or faster, not always bigger or leaner.  But progress is always forward, and never backward.

So who am I?  Where do I fit?  What is my place? 

Here is my coaching mantra: I offer opportunity.  I provide encouragement.  I show fairness.  I build trust.  I start my day with a smile with the hope it rubs off on others.  I will show others the way, and for as long as I am of able mind and body I will continue to lead by example.

I started the Nanaimo Kettlebell Club competitive team because I saw greatness in those who, perhaps had no way to express it.  I founded the Grip Strength Kettlebell Competition to provide a platform for the people I believe in to challenge themselves.  I support my fellow gym owners and physical trainers to share their craft with those looking to glean hard earned wisdom.  If I have succeeded in business, in sport, or in life then it is because I am raised up by my most ardent cohorts.

This is an excerpt from one of the many video tutorials I share with my monthly Personalized Coaching clients through Google Classroom.   We discuss meal prep and training strategies, and just all things relevant to keeping your on track with reaching your goals.

We are running an In-House fundraising event for our lifters to prepare for the Swanson Mountain Fitness Okanagan Open on August 10! Check our event page for details. Sister kettlebell clubs are encouraged to participate, and all spectators are welcome and encouraged to make a small donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Nanaimo.

Also, we have Club mugs available for $20, with $10 going to the Boys & Girls Club.  We ask all those registering to lift to include this as their formal registration.  Please list your events on our FaceBook page!

 Details on our event PAGE

"I'm so unmotivated", "I need a new routine", "I need something different", "I got bored of my old program"...

Do these sentiments sound familiar?  I hear this stuff all the time, and it's one of the many things that drive me batty. 

I've been training for over 20 years, and I've been training others for just over a decade, so believe me when I tell you I've heard it all.  I know how the average person perceives exercise; I know their good habits and I know their bad habits; I know why most people start and stop exercising; I know the success and failure rates; I know what separates them from me.  I know this from experience, and I know this from the abundance of exercise physiology, psychology, behavioural, and epidemiological research.

There's always some new article or book that convinces people of the obscure missing piece to their daily regimen that will magically be the one thing that sends them over the top of whatever obstacle(s) have been keeping them back.  But I, as well as the scads of coaches who actually work with people one on one (not just write books or articles), know that those who fail to accomplish their goals, whether fitness-based or otherwise - do so because they neglect the fundamentals, the basics - not the nuances.

Fundamentals account for 90-95% of success, whereas nuances are largely unnecessary components of the bigger picture.  A machine can be "finely tuned", but it can nonetheless perform its job as directed without fine tuning.  Fine tuning just means it does the job with less wasted energy.  The irony when it comes to a goal like weight-loss is that wasted energy IS the goal.  The less efficient you are, the more energy you expend, and the more weight you lose.  In contrast, getting fitter is a process of becoming more efficient at a given task - whether physically (e.g. stronger muscles move weight easier), or physiologically (e.g. more and larger mitochondria and RBC's allow you to use oxygen more efficiently).  This is why, in part at least, you find it difficult to maintain your weight-loss momentum from month to month.  You've picked all the low-hanging fruit (the easy weight), and now you have to work a bit harder and/or longer to get more weight off.

If you have a fitness goal, which also accomplishes health goals by proxy, you only need to worry about doing the basics, repeatedly, over a long enough timeline to see your goals through, and with the intent of doing so as best you can while acknowledging that you can always improve:

1. Do not overfeed yourself - or starve yourself
2. Do not restrict or avoid foods or food groups
3. Be active, regularly - but not obsessively
4. Get enough sleep
5. Avoid "all-or-nothing" attitude towards life
6. Pay attention to what you are doing, and learn from your mistakes
7. Strive for excellence; do the best you can; do better over time

Do NOT worry about silly, dichotomous thinking and biohacking BS such as:

1. Should I eat all my carbs at the start of the day or at the end of the day?
2. Should I sleep all at once or take micro-naps through the day?
3. Should I eat low carb or low fat?
4. Should I go Vegan or Carnivore?
5. I should count every calorie...or...Calories don't count if I do this diet!
6. Tracking food is obsessive compulsive, so I'm going to intermittent fast instead and create a binge eating disorder - yay!
7. I should only do only the BEST exercises, otherwise exercise isn't worth doing!
8. I'm 44, overweight, poor diet, high BP, and no training experience or formal guidance in exercise.... time to start training for that marathon and eating only meal replacement shakes!
9. I need to eat only low-glycemic carbs, less than 25g at every other meal, across 10 meals per day, between the hours of 12pm and 8pm, paired with only lean or vegan protein, every other day on my rest days where I only do fasted, low-intensity steady-state cardio first thing after I wake up.  Unless I'm on a carb load refeed - in which case I eat only 2 meals per day, immediately after my workout if 1 hour or less, otherwise before my workout if 1 hour or more, at 1500 calories each, containing 200g of mixed carbs each meal, with fats as low as possible to speed up gastric emptying and maximally stimulate insulin to "drive nutrients into my cells", along with at least 0.1g per kg/bodyweight of leucine to stimulate muscle protein synthesis from a protein source that is either only lactose free, gluten free, egg-free, free-range, grass-fed, organic, and ethically butchered....unless it's Saturday - in which case YOLO!!!!!!!!

We need to stop this nonsense.  These examples are all indicative of behaviour that attempts to circumvent long term commitment to the process, in favour of an easier way to the prize.  There isn't one.  This is true in life, as well as fitness.  For this reason, I find it typical that those who fall for these shortcuts and empty promises of success without effort tend to display a similar kind of half-assed approach to their jobs and home life.  Your "new routine" should be seeing your current routine through to the end.  Are you bored with progress?  If you are bored it's because you're just going through the motions, and in the beginning that was enough to keep you interested.  If you're bored it's because you never identified what your goals were, and thus you don't know why you started your routine in the first place.  That or you need a reminder - progress is the goal, not entertainment.

How you do fitness, is how you do life, work, and family - "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?" - John Wooden