e26. The symbol for iron in the periodic table of the elements. Strong. Solid. Reliable. Welcome to Ironbell Athletics. No secret formulas or programs. Just honest, hard work, liberally applied.Ironbell Athletics started in 2007 as a name for my blog and reflected my interests at the time; 1. I loved to deadlift and work with thick handled dumbbells for basic work. 2. I was really into Ironmind’s Captain’s of Crush grippers for a while. 3. I was getting ready to get my RKC cert and was very much into Hardstyle kettlebell training. So I came up with Ironbell Athletics to write about my training and to keep me honest and goal-oriented.
Since that time, I was having difficulty getting time off to go to the RKC cert and in the meantime, the American Kettlebell Club offered a cert which included a complete set of 8 competition-style kettlebells. The cost/benefit made sense to me and I could get the time off. As a result, I went to the American Kettlebell Club’s certification in March 2007, which was held at Scott Sonnon’s Rmax gym. At the time, the cert was one day and was crammed into about 12 hours, consisting of a great deal of lecture and demo by Coach Valery Federenko. Unfortunately, our time with the bells was very limited and the lack of hands-on instruction really left me feeling less like a coach and more like a newbie with a free set of competition-style kettlebells.
So I spent some time with Girevoy Sport-style lifting by working on the World kettlebell Club’s Fitness Protocol and continued to practice Hardstyle lifts for variety. In fact, my wife, my son and I completed the Enter The Kettlebell program during the summer of 2008. It was (and is) a great program and we made great progress with our fitness and body composition.
After practicing GS training for a while, I found that I really wasn’t getting a lot out of the extended timed sets needed to practice Girevoy Sport training. I took a careful look at my training and found that I felt and looked my best when I was practicing Hardstyle kettlebell training.
So to continue my Hard Style education, I attended and passed the very first Dragondoor’s HKC certification in September 2009, and I plan on attending the RKC sometime in 2010. I hope you’ll take the time to read some of my older posts and please send me your comments.
Thanks for reading my intro,
Jim Lane’s Profile | Create Your Badge
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Hey Jim,
Nice set up! I look forward to seeing more as it continues to develop:).
Shane.
Hi Jim,
I was brought into the KB world by a Hardstyle practitioner about 4 years ago and have trained with that mindset. But, I’ve also recently become interested in GS and have modified my workouts accordingly. Good luck in making rank.
Jerod
Hey Jerod,
Thanks for the good wishes and best of luck in your training as well.
Jim
Hi Jim,
I recently jumped to the AKC style myself and love it. I was a runner and really miss it. GS trains in a very familiar way and I get the benefits of using my favorite toy too. I have also sucked it up and admitted that at 47, connective tissue just ain’t what it used to be. I have invested in Coach Sonnon’s KB series, Flow Fit and Intu Flow to help with the wear and tear. I do have a question that I hope you can answer. I saw you reference completing level 14 of a protocol and I have seen it mentioned in other places as well. It sounds like it is a GS style protocol for training. Any idea where I can find it as I want to train properly. Thanks for all your no BS information.
Happy Swinging!
Lisa