StrongFirst Lifters Instructor Certification – Lillieshall Dec 2015

I’m fortunate. Somehow I’ve managed to become a member of a community that strives for excellence. A group that realise that being ‘strong’ and being ‘smart’ are not two diametrically opposed concepts. Case in point I recently attended my second StrongFirst Lifters (SFL) certification.

The SFL is the brain child of Pavel Tsatsouline and Dr Michael Hartle. Pavel, the Evil Russian, is of course the man who is credited as bringing the kettlebell into the mainstream of Western fitness culture. Though people who have read Pavel’s work over the last 15 or more years will realise that he is more than just ‘kettlebell guy’. His first published works being books on stretching/movement and using barbells to become hideously strong.

Doc Hartle, is one of those rare individuals who is truly a strong scholar. Smart and strong, Doc is, amongst many things: a chiropractic physician; a founder (and former Chairman) of the Sports Medicine committee of USA Powerlifting; was Head Coach of the USAPL Bench Press team for eight years; has a Powerlifting best total of 1,840 lbs (835 kg), and currently plays semi-pro defensive tackle for the Adams County Patriots. Doc Hartle is a StrongFirst Master Kettlebell Instructor and the Chief StrongFirst Barbell Instructor.

Who is the certification for? We had gym owners, personal trainers, Crossfit coaches, fighters, gym enthusiasts and even two members of the Star Wars special effects team there! I should note that StrongFirst do run user courses in the barbell for those who don’t need/want to be certified as instructors. The user courses last one day, as opposed to the three days for the instructor certification, and covers a smaller curriculum.

The location was the Lillieshall English Institute of Sport facility. This is a place where national athletes train. The facility is top notch and has the added bonus of having everything we needed (accommodation, meals and gym) within a stones throw of each other. And that is literal! [Please don’t actually throw stones there, they wouldn’t approve of it and you won’t be asked back!]

You can’t ‘just show up’ to an SFL, there are various prerequisites to attendance. These being either the SF Kettlebell user course, the SF Barbell user course or the SF Girya Instructor certification. At the SFL there is an assumption that you can already hip hinge, goblet squat, power breathe and have some experience with putting something heavy overhead (be is a barbell or kettlebell). There is a lot of knowledge to be covered during the SFL and the attendees are expected to hit the ground running!

And it’s not just a case of turning up and getting a tick in the box. As in all StrongFirst Instructor Certifications there are a number of physical tests to be passed. [Here for test standards]

Because I was there as an assistant, I had been through the cert before as a candidate. When I was offered the opportunity to come again I jumped at it as the SFL was very much a game changer for my business practice and the way I coach students. Pavel and Doc have distilled a ridiculous volume of knowledge into the three days and the Instructor manual issued on the cert is worth the price of the admittance on it’s own (and no, I won’t let you borrow it!). Even with the comprehensive manual, I was quiet aware that I had only really begun to scratch the surface of what it is possible to achieve with the knowledge on offer.

At the start of day one, Doc let it be known that the SFL is not a ‘Powerlifting Course’. That is, it is not a course for how to compete in the sport of Powerlifting, but rather it is a course in using the barbell to develop absolute strength or develop ‘armour’ (in StrongFirst we talk about ‘Armour Building’ rather than ‘Bodybuilding’). Because Powerlifters are the masters of lifting heavy barbells, it does make sense to look at what they do and how they achieve it.

Doc uses the analogy of high performance race cars. Whilst nobody needs a race car in their day to day life a lot of the technology developed in that sporting arena does tend to find it’s way back to vehicles that we do use day to day. Airbags, ABS and engine management systems all started out as concepts used to improve race performance (or keep drivers alive!).

We started every morning with a mobility session and a kettlebell warm up of swings and goblet squats. In the StrongFirst school we use the Kettlebell as the entry point for many movements. The kettlebell is probably the single most versatile tool in the strength and conditioning arsenal, so it makes sense to use it early in our training career. The ‘bell is fantastic for developing good hip hinge and squat mechanic, which can then be brought to our barbell training. Whilst the kettlebell can be used as a strength training tool if the goal is absolute strength, then the barbell is King. The ‘bell cannot match the loading of the barbell for the grinds.

The SFL covers eight barbell lifts in depth, discusses accessory/corrective training and, possibly most importantly, programming for various goals. The days are well structured and planned out with drilling done in small groups with comparatively light loads. Everyone gets a turn to drill and then plenty of time to coach (and/or rest up).

During the drills segment, students are taught how to find the optimum position for each lift. It’s understood that there is a technical ideal for each lift, but that individuals come in all shapes, sizes, lever lengths and with varying degrees of thoracic mobility. Individuals must be placed in the best mechanical position they can adopt to safely express the greatest amount of force.

Here lies the magic, can someone not enter a position because they are mechanically unable to (joint construction and lever length) or because they do not have access to their full range of motion (a mobility or stability issue)? Much discussion was had here on foot angle, knee/toe tracking, elbow flare and ‘neutral’ spine.

Once all the drills and skills have been covered the students are allotted some ‘free practice’ time. During this time 47% of the attendees achieved some form of personal best over the weekend. For me this is the best time of the certification, as it really shows the sense of community that is StrongFirst. All the members of a group cheering on someone whilst they attempt a new PR with teachers like Doc Hartle, Pavel Macek and Claire Booth moving around and providing individual cuing.

The programming lectures are used to break up the physical work. These lectures covered how to plan for various sports/goals, how to recast programmes, exercise selection and how to best use combinations of barbells and kettlebells to maximise results.

One of the take away nuggets of the weekend was the ‘Yoda talk’.

“Lift or lift not, there is no try.”

When you approach the bar, you have already decided that it is going up. Doc discussed how attitude and belief are an import part of ‘grinding strength’. The moment that you begin to doubt yourself during (or before) a lift, is the moment that you fail. This was evident visually with one or two of the students actually starting to shake their heads midway through the deadlift and then subsequently lose the lift. They were basically telling themselves to lose. It is often said that ‘Strength is an attitude’ and there is a lot of truth to that statement.

It should be noted that there is no dishonour in failing a lift. From time to time it is good to find your limit (this should be a rare event) or you may even just be having a bad day. But when you fail, you should fail with integrity. Your technique should remain impeccable. You never gave up on the lift, you didn’t break form or compromise on technique. If you fail it is should be because, to quote an unnamed World Class Strongman:

“It was just £$%”ing heavy.”

It was great to be a part of the weekend and again I’m thankful to Doc Hartle as I’ve walked away with even more lifting nuggets (and a reawakened appreciation for White Zombie, but that’s another story). I have things to work on for myself and have moved in the direction of becoming a better Coach for my students.

Thanks of course to Doc Mike Hartle for coming over from the USA to teach, to Claire and Roger for hosting the weekend, to SF Team Leader Pavel Macek for coming over from the Czech Republic to assist, and to Leslie Hand for hiding in the background and doing the admin that makes things possible. And of course thanks to the 30 candidates (sold out and with a waiting list!) without whom this event would not have been possible. Let’s do it again next year!

Be fit, be strong, be happy!