Creating Chaos - For Fitness & Sport Professionals

This is only suitable for those proficient with kettlebells and wanting a strength and endurance challenge.

Instruction:

You have 10 minutes to achieve the highest mean average in repetitions of 4 different exercises. Each exercises uses a kettlebell and remains the same weight throughout. Double handed swing / Front squat / Snatch and Single arm press. Your final score is the total number of all exercises divided by 4.

Equipment:

• 1 x Kettlebell (24kg for men and 16kg for women)
• Stopwatch
• A friend/colleague or complete stranger to time and tally the attempt

Rules:

• Competitors may rest as many times as they wish
• Competitors may put the KB down 
• Competitors may complete the exercises in any order whatsoever
• Men must use a 24kg KB and women must use a 16kg KB
• All exercises must be done with full technique ie. full depth squats, full arm press etc
• Each exercise total must be within 10 repetitions of another exercise total. For example (20 swings, 30 squats, 40 snatches and 50 presses would be accepted - the average and final score would be 35)

How we got on:

Like every programme, Jen and Phill always put themselves through it before asking others to give it a go.

Phill scored 55 putting the KB down once around 7 minutes
Jenny scored 65 without putting the KB down at all (Jen the machine)

What to do once I've tried it:


Let us know how you get on with it. Post your score on the Chaos facebook page and even better if you have some pics or even video of you doing it.

Enjoy!!

The normal progression route for qualifying as a personal trainer in the fitness industry is to complete the gym instructor component, then the advanced fitness instructor course along with a couple of additional units which tops it up to a diploma in personal training. Whilst I appreciate the subtle differences between training providers, the syllabus for these courses is very rigid and based upon the training habits of decades gone by.

Don't get me wrong, the theory side is key and absolutely necessary to start understanding the body, demands upon the body and mechanics of training but the entire direction of the courses is all about how training can be achieved in a specific environment. For the gym instructor course, this makes sense with the name suggesting, this is for instructing within a gym and as it stands, gyms continue to be filled with machines. However, with the advanced fitness instructor course, gyms are no longer the single hub of where fitness and conditioning take place and the industry is moving in a good direction. Yet the training courses remain very gym-centric. 

My question is, would it not be better to gear the entire courses around learning how the body moves and works so that training can be achieved irrespective of any environment? The great thing about the body is that it's a mechanical wonder. It is packed with the joints, bones and muscles to articulate and move perfectly. Using futuristic looking gym machines forces the body to work around the movement of the machine which is the wrong way around in my opinion. It's understandable as to why machines are popular - they tell people what to do and keep things simple but in many situations, machines have little if no variability on movement. 

Watch a child playing, their movement is a model of perfection with no bad habits and nothing is impossible. Watch an adult playing with their children, not quite as dynamic, inflexible, slow to keep up and a little creaky when bending down to pick up a toy. The evidence is there for all to see. The results of sitting down, being constantly asked to position in awkward spaces and fit around the environment that we set (chairs/cars/sofas etc) leaves an almost prehistoric state of movement.

Here's a simple journey to get your clients heading in the right direction: