Monday, May 31, 2010

CK-FMS

Sunday, May 30, 2010
169#
I spent last weekend in St. Paul packing serious amounts of information into my little brain. While the CK-FMS is brilliant in its simplicity, it is also a LOT of stuff to process in just a few days. The gist of it is that it is a simple screening using 7 basic movements and a score for each to assess a person's risk for injury and whether a person is safe to do particular movements. Then, using a specific protocol for action, an FMS practitioner can help a client fix his or her problem areas. 103 of us spent 4 days learning that protocol both through lectures and labs where we practiced on one another in our given teams in much the same way we did at the RKC. I had already established for myself what a genius of movement Brett Jones is when he was my team leader for the RKC. Now I understand why he is teamed up with Gray Cook. Occasionally, we come across someone who just sees something differently. They might not understand why or how, but for whatever reason, they can break something down to its most basic level and then extrapolate from there. I suspect Gray is one of those people, that he sees movement and specifically movement dysfunction in a way most people do not, and then can reverse engineer that into a way to fix it. Even better, he can communicate to others what he sees--and be entertaining in the process :). I suspect it is very much like the way that Pavel evaluates movement and strength. This feeling of learning from people who just see movement differently was very much the same as it was at the RKC, and I enjoyed it.
A couple of things that were distinctly different from the RKC were the lack of an overall feeling of camaraderie and the lack of a physical beat down (though the mental beat down was plenty). Though we had occasional "movement breaks" in which we went over the TGU or had a short 20 minute workout to clear our minds for a little while, the long, grueling workouts and constant physical punishment were just not there. Instead, they packed our brains full of information. At one point, I felt like my head was one of those Hefty garbage bags with seemingly infinite stretch, and Gray and Brett were using one foot to pack in more and more and more. As the weekend went on, though, the thoughts began to come together, and I think we all were able to make better sense of it. The other thing (to which I had actually really looked forward as I anticipated the weekend) was the lack of camaraderie between the candidates. I thought a lot about this feeling and talked about it with a couple of friends. Though we were unable to reach a specific conclusion, we had a lot of thoughts about why there wasn't as great a feeling. First, everyone there was at least RKC certified, and there were many level II's, team leaders and seniors. We were no longer newbies, hoping to measure up. Instead, I think many of the people there were in some sort of pissing contest trying to be the smartest, best, coolest RKC around. Granted, not all of us were that way, and the people who do feel like they have something to prove to earn a position in the "cool crowd" are always the ones who are a little bit loud, a little bit boisterous, and a lot noticeable. But given the mood I was already in before I got there, these few sucked a little bit of the fun out of it all for me. Instead of feeling like we were all working together to get a job done, to support one another, to uplift each other, I felt a little like we were in middle school and I was the geeky fat kid with Coke bottle glasses again. How much of this feeling was my general funk and how much was actuality is hard to discern.

Despite this general feeling for me, I was able to meet some great folks and solidify some friendships started months ago and built slowly via phone calls and the internet. Two other Florida RKC's made the trip for the weekend. Jon Alford is an RKC from Pensacola, and Laurel Blackburn is an RKC from Tallahassee. I can't even remember how I met Jon, but he and I have talked over the phone, met up once to work out, and have been internet pals for a while now. Laurel and I met when she came to the Sara Cheatham workshop I hosted in November of last year, and we followed each other on Facebook after that. They both have been wonderful inspirations and, along with many of my other blog readers, have helped keep me on track when my faith was waning. I had the distinct pleasure of getting to know each of them better over the four days of the FMS and am all the better for it. They are both outstanding individuals (as most RKC's seem to be despite my feeling last weekend), and I wish we were all closer together than what we are.
I did get to catch up with the Irontamer a little while we were there.
Overall, I am happy that I went and pleased with the experience and definitely would do it again. If my primary gig were personal training, I'd be beside myself with the info I came away with.

WORKOUTS: I'm on week 10 of Pavel's Fighter Pull Up Protocol, and I am definitely advancing with the bands. I tried an unassisted pull up today, though, and didn't really seem to get any further than I did before I started the protocol. I knew going into this that it would still take months and months to get to an unassisted pull up, but I am hitting a point at which my motivation is waning. Honestly, I think it is waning in all of life and that is just carrying over here. I have SO many fitness goals, SO many things I want to do.I am finding staying on just a couple of things with such slow results very difficult.

With regard to that 169# up there, I left for the FMS weighing about 165#. I had followed my plan just as laid out for over a month, and I had scheduled to splurge on the trip. I splurged 4 meals and had dessert for 3 of them. Yes, I realize that is overkill, but no I would not expect to completely negate more than 5 weeks worth of hard work in a short 4 days. WTF?! I think I'm just frikkin' gonna be a chubbling the rest of my life. There's a string of expletives about a mile long I want to insert right here--about 15 f-bombs. I f'n give up. It is what it is. I am what I am, and apparently that's just gonna be chubby.

4 comments:

  1. Nice rap up of what sounds like a great, informative weekend. I totally recognize the background in the restuarant photo! I'll be back there again in 3 weeks.
    I, too, had Brett Jones for my HKC instructor at the first one held in St. Paul last October.

    "the long, grueling workouts and constant physical punishment".......
    GEE, as if I wasn't getting nervous before for the RKC, then I read that line!
    My nerves and anxiety level are reaching the danger zone!

    Thanks for your awesome comment to my blog-I will email you.

    In regards to having SO many fitness goals, I agree....I tend to have that same feeling, however, over many months of learning the "hard" way. I find that this phrase keeps me in line:
    "When you chase 2 rabbits, they both get away"

    So true, when I try to mix either training for kb's or a triathlon at the same time. Granted the bells got me to where I need to be, but there is a line. I was kind of chasing those 2 rabbits with that 1/2 marathon. It's been 95% bells for the RKC, and now since race is over, it's been 110% bells. As soon as the RKC is over, it's back to training for another 1/2 marathon in August. One rabbit at a time!

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  2. Jen, Thanks for finally posting about your experience. That is great perspective. I think there has been a lot of Gym Movement/Z-Health my non-RKC stuff is better than your non-RKC stuff going around. There was a big stink about it in the RKC forum.

    Diana, yes the RKC is hard, but it is not the hardest thing you will ever do, or at least it shouldn't be. You don't have to be elite, but you have to put your time in with the bells. I know some HKCs who failed the RKC, and the reason they failed is that they were arrogant and unprepared. Don't let the HKC give you a false sense of security, it is a who different ball game.

    Jen, re: the weight, cheat meals are a bitch. You allowed 2/week - and you basically got 7. Also, you have been flying, give your weight time to normalize. I don't really do a ton of this work with clients, but you have to treat cheat meals like time off from work. You have to earn them, and you can't get it back if you use it. A couple of my clients try to negotiate with me on this, but I don't control fat loss, thermodynamics does.

    Also, you have to get mileage out of your cheat meals -- I mean really enjoy them. If you have more than 1 in a weekend, you can't really enjoy it. You would be better of spreading out your cheat meals then getting them all in one weekend.

    That being said, don't even think about giving up. You are right that it is hard, and not really fair, but you can't give up. Just remember, you have an RKC coming up in Oct. and you want to represent -- you have 4 1/2 months left. Did you recert at the CK-FMS?

    I would recommend not focusing on the weight and focusing on your snatch test? That will get you where you want to go.

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  3. Faizal,
    You always give such wonderful insight. Thank you. I have missed the hullaballu on the forum but it doesn't surprise me any. I just wish people could realize that there is NO black and white. Life is a rainbow of gray, and if we can recognize that and learn what we can without hubris regarding our own "camp"of thought, we will only be the wiser for it. UGH!

    I didn't recert at the FMS. I'll do that in October and between now and then focus on snatching and my other fitness goals. While I'm not going to run willy-nilly through the streets eating all things not nailed down (though that sounds damn fun), I just can't focus on weight loss right now. I don't have the emotional reserve to get my hopes up that I might actually look fit and slim by then. I have gotten those hopes up WAY too many times only to feel like a horrible failure when I didn't meet them. For now, I'm just going to eat well and work well. I am what I am, and I have to accept that.

    I'll be keeping you up-to-date, though. Thanks again

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  4. Jen,

    Remember, your body only cares about what you put in and what you put out. Fat does not have any emotions. If you eat well and work well, that is the important thing.

    Keep at it....

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