Becoming a RKC Instructor

I spent a good chunk of 2022 prepping for the Dragon Door RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) certification. 

Kettlebell certifications are funny because they don’t actually teach you a ton. You are expected to show up knowing how to do everything and you are (as the name suggests) challenged to perform for two solid days as you are critiqued on both your form and your endurance. The learning happens in the details, small 1-1 interactions, and in the days/weeks after when you recover & marinate on what happened. 

I already knew that KB certs aren’t exactly learning opportunities, but a lot of people who show up don’t know that. And therein lies a huge problem because everyone who’s there is silently peer pressured by a group of incredibly strong and capable of people to try and conquer the challenge, whether or not they prepared.

So backtracking a bit, why did I decide to do RKC? Honestly, I felt a little professional pressure to have a certification people have heard of, I hold 3 different KB certs, but they are from smaller organizations that focus on teaching rather than challenging you. As kettlebells are gaining popularity I wanted to learn what all the other RKC trainers knew and honestly, I wanted to get to meet some other badass trainers because Covid was very professionally isolating for me. 

Also, despite RKC’s challenging reputation, I knew with preparation that I would kill it! But with all my setbacks in recent years, I wanted to prove to myself that I was as tough as I used to be and not breakable.

I’ve studied, trained with, and taught kettlebells for years. I’ve learned from some of the best coaches in the industry, and I knew how to prepare. But at the same time, I’ve gotten hurt just living life a lot over the past few years and I feel breakable sometimes.

That is why, even though I trained for it for months, I didn’t sign-up until 6 weeks out when I finally attempted and finished the 100 rep snatch test (for those who don’t know you need to complete 100 snatches in 5 minutes with a 14kg or 16kg KB to pass). I’m such a control freak and I wanted to be sure I could do it before pulling the trigger.

So of course, despite all the prep, it didn’t stop me from doubting myself. I actually didn’t even share on IG what I was training for because I didn’t want to jinx myself. And then about a month before the cert I started having knee problems that were hard to trace or treat. So I started taking it easier, cut back on my programming and resting as much as I could. Literally the night before the cert my knee was so swollen I couldn’t walk home from dinner. I was convinced that not only was I going to fail, but despite my commitment to my prep work I was going to leave the weekend in worse shape than I started it.

I can thank the adrenaline gods for kicking in because somehow by Saturday morning my knee was fine and hung in there until I stepped out of my cab home in Sunday night. I passed all my tests and managed to stay relatively pain free for the entire weekend.

The group that was there was very interesting, I would say 35% of us were highly prepared and barring a freakout during the endurance snatch test, were all guaranteed to pass. The rest of the group was a combo of people who could have passed with better preparation, people who assumed they would actually learn the basics of bells, and people who didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. One other interesting thing was the most prepared people were the women. Once again the feminine ego prevailed and our own self doubt proved beneficial in guaranteeing we not only were prepared for the snatch test, but had razor sharp skills.

I won’t bore you with the details of how I prepared, there are lots of different timelines and plans depending on your current skills. (I took the method of building up from 5 snatches every 30 seconds, to 10 snatches every 30 seconds.) But if you’re interested in doing one of these certs, reach out to me to chat! I can help you with a training plan or discuss whether or not there’s actually any value in you personally doing them. If you know nothing about KBs or are a novice, SheBeast would be a way better option for learning the ins and outs of all the movements.

IMHO, these are the best reasons to pursue a kettlebell certification over an actual kettlebell course. 

#1 You need the cert to teach at your gym/studio. If that is the case I would encourage you to seek out a cert that is more geared towards teaching like the HKC (the one day cert that teaches YOU how to teach others the swing and TGU).

#2 You want to network. As a professional it’s really fulfilling to link up with a room of likeminded coaches.

#3 You want to prove to yourself you can do something hard. I kind of felt like this was akin to a Spartan Race or Triathlon for some. (Which much like a race, if you didn’t train for it, you didn’t win.)

I was driven by reasons 2 and 3. I also incidentally learned some useful stuff, but it’s not ground breaking for me and won’t radically change how I am training my clients. Which is probably a good thing, since I view myself as an expert, and after hearing from the other experts I feel like I am aligned with them and able to offer what any of them are offering.

And I did meet so many amazing coaches, both those getting certified and those coaching us. The positivity the coaches brought to the room, their care, and attention was so greatly appreciated. I’m excited to be apart of a new community of coaches who all speak the same language and have a common bond. I also got to slay something I doubted myself on. I conquered the challenge and it felt great.