Marty Gallagher has developed a deadlifting protocol that leads both complete beginner and elite athlete through a Five Phase system that instills pulling mastery in a sequential approach that builds technical prowess from the ground up. This revolutionary approach has been used by Gallagher for over thirty years. Marty Gallagher is a multi-time national and world master champion in Olympic lifting and powerlifting. He was the coach for the world champion United States powerlifting squad in Orebro, Sweden in 1991 and has been the personal coach for world powerlifting champions Mark Chaillet, Ed Coan, Doug Furnas and current squat world record holder Kirk Karwoski.

As the on-line fitness columnist for the Washington Post, Gallagher penned 230 + weekly columns. His latest book, The Purposeful Primitive, is a fitness best seller and has been hailed as “A fitness and literary masterpiece” by Dr. Jeff Everson. The Purposeful Primitive was named Planet Muscle magazines “Fitness book of the year” in 2008. Since 1978 Gallagher has had over 1,000 articles published on the related topics of acquiring strength, power, fitness and how to trigger a complete physical transformation.

Registration fee is $50. Email sandysommer@charmcitykettlebells.com to pre-register. Payments will be accepted by check and Paypal. No walk ins!

Who Should Come: Fitness pros who are committed to transformation of their clients and those who want to learn to deadlift from a Master Practioner.

Space is extremely limited so please sign up today!

Train With Purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

Most gyms measure the success of their trainers solely by their ability to sell personal training sessions. It’s not about transformation and results. It’s about selling. Few gyms even have the ability, or the desire, to determine if anyone is getting stronger and healthier.

If you are lucky enough to find someone who is passionate and talented and who can really help you then it will require that you invest around $100 per session for their assistance. Sometimes it’s more.

For most folks who use personal trainers, they slog through the same workout session after session, with no measurable improvement. I see the same people at my gym doing the same workouts with the same weight for 6 months at a time. What a colossal waste of time and money! There is no progress. No one is getting stronger, fitter or healthier.

There is a better way. For much less than what the yawning guy in the polo shirt will charge to count your reps and walk you through the standard circuit at Gym Chrome, you can become an online coaching client with me.

This is not for everyone. It will require discipline, an open mind, dedication and some time. An hour or so a day. Usually less.

So what will you get? Results and satisfaction like never before. Someone to hold you accountable if need be. You will be a new person physically and mentally after this 6 month training.

Things will start with a thorough personal assessment and a training regimen specific to your ability and goals.

Your program will begin on August 30, 2010 and end on February 4, 2011. I am limited to 15 clients. I need to be able to give you each the attention you will need and deserve to transform yourself over the next 6 months.

Each week you will get a training schedule based on the coming week, your obligations, and the previous weeks results. There will be a group conference call weekly. We will record it for those unable to attend.  The call will offer you support and group coaching. I expect that we will have special guests from time to time. I know we will.

Additionally, I will review videos of you and your work and technique from time to time. Also, there will be a 1 on 1 coaching call every month.

You will work hard. You certainly won’t be going through the motions as they say. You won’t be staying in the same rut you’ve been in. We will set a course to develop you into the person you want to be and then get you there step by step.

How much has your body changed in the last 6 months? Is this due to the fact that you are perfectly happy where you are, or because something isn’t working?

My guess is something needs to be fixed with either your training or your nutrition, even both. Something we can fix.

As you know, I strictly work with motivated individuals. Thus I do require a phone interview.

If you’d like to be considered and want further information, please email me no later than August 23, 2010.

Train With purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

I’m pitching in by barbecuing some of my famous beef brisket that I put on my PK Grill about 2 hours ago. It’s 5:25 AM as I write this. Should be ready around 3 PM or so.

But I’ve been thinking and I wanted to share it with you. It takes a lot of time to properly prepare good barbecue. You need patience and you need perseverance. It’s not like grilling a hamburger. First,  you may put a wet or dry rub on it. Or maybe you like marinade. There’s 24 hours there. Add some smoke; hickory in this case and a slow fire and we are talking 36 hours or so to get it ready to eat. There are no shortcuts. You aren’t allowed to use gas, and you certainly don’t even entertain the thought of an oven finish.

So what does this have to do with you getting stronger?

Almost everyone would admit to a desire to get stronger. But that aspiration and actual behavior are aligned very rarely.  Just as proper brisket requires time and patience, getting stronger…I mean really stronger….does not happen overnight.

Most people do not have the ability to stick to any behavior that will help them reach their goals for even a short period of time. They get distracted by some other shiny object and get sidetracked.

If Joe Sixpack lacks the ability to stick to the Primal Blueprint in order to lose just 10 pounds, then how would you expect him to stick to a program to build real strength. Real strength means you can deadlift 2 times bodyweight. That according to Dan John.

But it really doesn’t matter what the goal is. Maybe you want to be able to pass the Secret Service Snatch Test? Then you will need to do a lot of snatches. Seriously.

If you can do 100 snatches in 10 minutes then you are half way home. I suggest that the next goal would be 110. Then 120 and so on. Getting from 100 to 200 sounds tough. Not so much getting from 100 to 110. Short term goals are the stuff that long term ones are made of. Just don’t fall victim to quitting.

I train with kettlebells, bodyweight, and barbells. Everything I do every day is related to the goals I have. The Tactical Strength Challenge is what I use to gauge my progress. Deadlift, tactical pull ups and kettlebell snatch. My training relates to the actual movements. So I do a lot of those 3 things.

My long term goal is to deadlift  565 pounds. That is 3 times bodyweight. I have 9 short to medium term goals between that and where I am now.

The very idea of giving up on my training borders on the absurd. How could I give up? I don’t care if it takes me 10 years. I will GET 3 times bodyweight.

When you feel THAT way about your training, consistency, perseverance and tenacity become second nature … and at that point, your ultimate success is a foregone conclusion.

It just takes time; like smoke to meat. Now I’ve got a fire to check on.

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

Look, unless you have an incurable metabolic condition or a chronic problem for which there is no solution, then you should be neither obese, nor in pain.

I will tell you that I am sympathetic to your plight if you are either (or both) and looking to make a change and become healthy.  But if you are a whiner and/or a complainer than save it.

I know it’s hard to trust what you read these days. What information should you trust? What makes sense?  Clearly, there is a lot of contradictory material out there and I understand if you think I am full of it. All I can say is if you happy the way things are currently that’s cool.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have never struggled with my weight. Last August was about the plumpest I’ve ever been and I was about 17% body fat. Now I’m at 7-8% so what I am sharing here has been lived by me. Also, I’ve had two clients who have lost North of 50 lbs and another who has lost almost 100. They have never starved themselves. They have eaten healthy food and worked out hard but intelligently.

When I first heard about the Primal Blueprint it was early in the Summer of 2009. I read it and began applying my new found knowledge in August. I used the information in out to completely change how I eat and I also used it to alter my workouts to a small degree.

Right away I knew I had found a tool that was very clear, and would be simple to implement for many many people. If you really want change, then this book couldn’t make it any simpler. I’d even hazard to say it’s also kind of easy. In  a nutshell, you eat lots of proteins, healthy fat and limit carbohydrate to fruits and vegetable, in season if possible. Ideally, that means nothing processed. And you’ll cut grain consumption to nil. You are trying to eat as man ate before the advent of agriculture. When we gathered and hunted for our food. I can assure you that to eat as we are meant to is not hard. Quitting heroin is hard. If you have PB experience or live Paleo please share the good, bad and the ugly in the comments.

And if your workouts involved working through pain then you are doing something (or many things) wrong. Pain isn’t what you experience when the going gets tough and lactic acid floods your muscles. It’s in your joints and is a signal that something isn’t right. Would you ignore a fire alarm?

If experience the pain of injury, then you are moving incorrectly. Or maybe the load is inappropriate. Maybe you are doing stupid things of which you have no business attempting. Do you know how to execute a proper deadlift? If not then find a qualified instructor. Or don’t do it. Or understand and accept the risk.

In my opinion, there is no excuse for getting hurt while training. Competition is another matter. Sure, bad luck can play a part, but if you get hurt over and over, then maybe you need to figure out why. Getting hurt isn’t a badge of honor. It’s nothing to be proud of. It just is . But it doesn’t need to be.

Today, (This article began percolation yesterday) but today someone called me and said this to me, “Sandy, I had an MRI done on my shoulder. There is some damage to my shoulder from doing clean and jerks with the barbell. What should I do?”

I wanted to say “heal,” but bit my tongue. I did find out that this person has never had any formal c and j instruction, had been experiencing pain for sometime and finally got hurt. Not too bright.

A lot of folks who are share my philosophies with want to argue with me; especially about the training part. There seems to be this idea “if it’s not a near-death experience” then it wasn’t a good workout. Real athletes don’t train that way. They work hard and they work smart. When athletes do get hurt usually it’s competing. If it’s not trauma based then they will try to figure out why they got hurt and figure out a way to avoid it in the future.

Here’s a good quote on from Brooks Kubik. “Hard work is using the heaviest possible weight for the number of reps you set as your target,
and then DOING those reps,every single one of them – in good form.
Let me repeat that. Hard work involves the use of the heaviest possible weight that you can handle for the number of reps you set as your target , and actually DOING those reps … and doing the reps in GOOD FORM.”

Don’t get injured. Lose some fat. And have fund doing it.

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

Bud Jeffries and Logan Christopher are putting together the Super Human Training Teleseminar Series. This is a series of interviews with people like Mike Mahler, Adam Glass, Roger Lapointe, Andrew Durniat and many more. All you have to do is signup on this page and you’ll be able to listen in live in these calls where the experts spill their training secrets. What works for them. What works with the people they teach and train. The mistakes they’ve made and how you can avoid them. Plus you get the chance to ask your own questions. This is top training information, from guys in the trenches on what really WORKS!

If you get one thing that can impact your training for the better it would be worth it. And with this lineup you’re sure to learn more than one thing. Go to this page for more details.

Train With Purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

I sensed right away that this guy was hoping to unlock some sort of workout secrets he could apply to his own sessions to lose weight and get stronger. I could also guess that when I told him that the secret was really much more about eating than working out that I would lose his interest. And I was right.

The first thing I told him was exactly what he didn’t want to hear and that was this. “90% of my body composition is based on what I do at home and not here at the gym.” He looked totally confused and asked for clarification.

I went on. I explained to him that to really see body change you have to change the way you eat. And here is where I lost the guy. He interrupted me and wanted to talk about my workout.  See, for most people it is much easier to get to the gym and spend an hour there and then try to justify terrible eating habits then it is to change the way they fuel themselves.

Just last week I saw that one of my Facebook friends and a cheese steak sandwich for lunch and that he was going to burn off that with a run. Well a cheese steak averages about 690 calories according to Livestrong.com .  Jogging burns off about 13 calories so he will have to run an hour to use that energy. But I digress. Bottom line is that you can’t outwork bad eating habits.

My business is helping people achieve their goals physically. I can’t help you very well if you won’t help yourself.  Here’s how you can get started.

• Start purchasing good quality foods. Shop at your local Farmer’s Market. Especially if they are producer only.
• Go out and meet some farmers. Check out www.eatwild.com
• Buy The Primal Blueprint and the Primal Blueprint Cookbook. All you need to know is in these two volumes. Just do it. And follow it. Conventional wisdom is nothing of the sort.
• Stop eating processed food. Be particularly cautious if a product is labeled “lite” or “low fat.”
• Avoid grain at all costs. And I mean all. Wheat is the enemy. Not fat.
• Work out because you love it. Have fun. Get strong.

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

Are there circumstances that dictate otherwise? Of course. For example, if you want to be an RKC instructor then it would be a good idea to be able to do 100 snatches in 5 minutes.You can nail the RKC snatch test by doing sets of 20 and that is one strategy. You get no bonus points for finishing in under 5 minutes.

Doing more than that could well have diminishing returns. We should all be training in order to train another day. We aren’t talking Girevoy sport here. Simply conditioning.

If you want to get in great shape, then here is a simple and elegant program for you. Please make sure you properly warm up and cool down. Dragon Door has some wonderful DVD and print products just for those two things. I use Relax Into Stretch.

As always, make sure you know what you are doing. Swinging a kettlebell does not mean that you are doing a kettlebell swing properly. Please find out how to train safely. Use a local RKC. Email me your location if you want a recommendation.  I’m happy to help!

Monday: Two handed Kettlebell swings,  As many quality reps as you can manage in 12 minutes. Not selling yourself short on quality. (Track your numbers) 10 minutes of alternating Turkish Get Ups. (Use the right bell. Too heavy isn’t the right bell)

Tuesday: Kettlebell clean and press left and right, 1-2-3/1-2-3 and so on. Do as many reps as you can in 15 minutes.

Wednesday: Swings. Do some two handed, some one handed and some transfers. As many reps as you can manage in 20 minutes. Again, not to beat a horse but quality is the key.

Thursday: Do whatever you want. I suggest that Pull Ups would be good.

Friday: Kettlebell Thrusters. Use Double kettlebells if you have them. I’ve included an old video for you to check out. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJc71WaNs0Q

Do sets of 5. As many as you can manage in 15 minutes.

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

As is often the case when something works, some want to argue about it. Maybe it’s since often it’s the antithesis of conventional wisdom. Or maybe someone doesn’t truly want to change. Change, even positive change, is scary as it is different.

Exercise is overrated. For almost everyone, the way you eat will have far greater impact on your body composition than your workouts. You simply can’t outwork a poor diet. I laugh out loud when I read on Facebook that someone is going to go “run off a cheese steak.” You better plan on a long run friend:)

Speaking of running….Most of us shouldn’t be doing it….Especially in running shoes. 99% of people have such awful form that they are hurting themselves with each and every step that they take. This goes for sprints too. I can much more easily teach the kettlebell swing to someone than teach them to run safely and efficiently. Unless you NEED to run for some reason or love it, ditch it. I know very few runners (even safe ones) who don’t seem to be in some sort of pain. And the benefits won’t come close to what you put into it.

So let’s talk about training….Or lack thereof. Less is more. And recovery is key.  I truly train as little as possible. But please make sure you deadlift. Heavy things. What I do is fun, sweet and to the point. Check it out.

Someone really should write a book on recovery. If you know of one, then please point me to it. Recovery is where it all happens. That’s when we get stronger. Make sure you get sleep. A lot of sleep. Your friends, family and your body will thank you.

Eat well. Eat local and eat fresh. As much as you can. It’s better for you and better for us. Follow the Primal Blueprint.

So what do I eat each day. Well it varies. It also requires that I shop at a few places. So my shopping is part of my weekly chore list. You can do it if you really want to. I go to a farm, a farmer’s market, a butcher and a grocer. I buy local as much as I can and don’t worry about organic certification. I do know my farmer and I’ve met some of the animals I end up eating. Seriously. I eat lots of red meat and it’s almost all grass finished. Not all of it but most of it. What’s also very important is source. I’d rather eat local grain fed with no hormones than grass fed from Uruguay which is what Wegman’s sells.

I eat a lot of vegetables. And some fruit. I avoid carbohydrate as much as I can. Sugar is sugar. Whether from fruit or candy. It’s true. And all carbs turn into sugar in your system. I eat no grain at all normally.

I don’t make a spectacle of myself socially though and eat pretty much anything at a party. I just WON’T ask a host/hostess questions about food at a gathering as it’s way too rude.

So here is what I had to eat yesterday.

Breakfast was 5 whole eggs cooked in the bacon grease after I cooked the nitrate free bacon I get from the butcher. The eggs were purchased from a local farm. I also had cantaloupe that is not yet local.

Did 66 swing with the 32 kg kettlebell in 2 minutes.

I had a protein shake made with whole raw milk, egg white protein from True Protein, dextrose, and three strawberries. This was post workout so I wanted some carbs for recovery.

Snacked on raw cashews and almonds through out the day.

Had 2 raw milk cheese burgers that were grass fed and 2 links of Italian nitrate free  sausage for dinner. No bread. Mayonnaise and onion to dress the burger. Naked sausage.

Went to pool party. At spinach dip with nacho chips and drank three beers.

Protein shake before bed. Just powder and milk.

A side note. I saw one of my neighbors at the pool party. I gave him the Primal Blueprint to borrow (haven’t gotten it back) around Christmas. He has lost 51 pounds. Nice.

There are simply far too many anecdotal instances of folks improving their health and their bodies to ignore.

First, let’s agree on one thing: The USDA food pyramid is a crock.

It’s based on politics and special interests; not health and wellness.

So what I share here is based on what I do and not what we would be told to do. Many doctors, when they lab test new primal eaters simply don’t and won’t believe. The numbers seem to almost always be better. Better levels of triglycerides especially and that seems to be one of the real indicators of heart disease.  Try to find doctors who practice wellness rather than sickness. Here’s one resource

Thoughts?

Train and eat with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

So why do so many of us insist on making their training so involved? Get from point A to point B with no intricacies if at all possible. You certainly would go from Baltimore Maryland to Washington DC via Chicago Illinois unless you are masochistic.

We have a choice in our life and in our training. Don’t make either harder than they need be.

We train seeking transformation. As I’ve written before, if we get stronger, faster and more powerful the rest takes care of itself. I add eating with intelligence, since you can’t outwork a donut.  Take a page (or three) from Mark Sisson and use the Primal Blueprint to your advantage.

My own training is laughable in its simplicity. I do snatches, swings, barbell dead lifts, barbell front squats, and pull ups. I eat sensibly. I 7.9% body fat. I’m 48. I’m reasonably strong. I never get hurt. I pay attention. I don’t “overreach.” My workouts never last more than 30 minutes. Most are shorter.

How are you doing?

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC

And the dead lift has an undeserved poor reputation.  In reality, anyone interested in getting stronger should perform the lift.

Last June, at the Delaware Kettlebell workshop, Doctor Mark Cheng, RKCTL, reintroduced it to me and for some reason I was smitten.

I started working with Marty Gallagher on this particular lift July 4th weekend, 2009 and I’ve made long strides in both my technique, as well as my ability to move weight off the floor.

So why dead lift? Number 1, now that I know how to I really enjoy the lift.

Most importantly, I can’t think of any reason most people shouldn’t dead lift in some shape or form.  Done well, the dead lift could be the most useful of all lifts.  Pay attention to your life and I am guessing you dead lift often in your daily activities. Using correct form, using your whole body, teaches you to safely lift things off the ground. So that is important.

Also, there is something truly invigorating to the movement. I always feel better after my weekly dead lifting session. Taxed sure, but great. And there is no way to cheat. Raw strength and technique are equally important. Either you win or the iron does. You can cheat the squat and surely you can cheat a dead lift.  There are ways to cheat almost any lift but it’s really hard to deceive yourself with the pull.

In closing, the dead lift should be an important part of everyone’s workout regimen; it is not just for powerlifters. It strengthens the core of the body; that to which all other parts are connected.  If properly performed the dead lift is a very safe and effective way to build work capacity and  strength. Depending on how you program it you’d likely build mass as well.

So why do you dead lift? or not?

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC