I am three months away from one of the biggest life events in the history of my existence. As time ticks away, I am reminded of just how close April is, and as such, it’s time to get serious about training. I have decided to outline my own blueprint for RKC in order to be of service for anyone else out there who may be confused about how to train for a major certification like the RKC and I have done this to explain WHY this training is designed the way it is designed. It took me nearly 2 weeks of constant emailing, phone calling, and facebooking some of the best RKC’s I know to figure out an appropriate course of action for my certification training. The final result has FINALLY ARRIVED!
This blog post is going to be pretty informative and pretty lengthy, so feel free to take notes or print this entire blog post out if you must. If you are on the RKC cert track right now, this should give you an idea of how to train your body for the weekend long workshop that is both mentally and physically demanding. This training involves simple progressions each week that will prepare your nervous system appropriately to handle high volume and heavy training with minimal risk of overtraining. It will also 
increase your strength and endurance appropriately over time. The goal here is to feel rested and ready to tackle the RKC come April and not to feel worn out, overstressed, or otherwise burnt out from training preparation. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!
So…let’s get down to business.
Note: You must refer to “Enter the Kettlebell” for this training. Get your copy of that book here. Also, please note that Saturday is a complex day and I will be taking complexes straight out of the RKC Book of Strength and Conditioning. Pick up your copy of that too!). You can substitute or switch Saturday training out for heavy swing circuits if complexes are not your thing, or you can treat Saturday as an extra rest day if you need to recover from your previous workout. Also, please note that these workouts are tailored for the strong female, so men, please feel free to increase weights you will need to use according to the RKC certification requirements.
Monday: Clean, Press, Pull Ups and Swings
1.Heavy press ladders along with pullups and double swing. Heavy presses will be set per arm.The ladder will be as follows.
1 16kg clean and press per arm followed by one pull up, followed by 10 double 12kg swings.
2 16kg cleans and presses per arm followed by two pull ups, followed by 15 double 12kg swings.
3 16kg cleans and presses per arm followed by three pull ups, followed by 20 double 12 kg swings.
follow this routine for 3 weeks. On week three, ladders will increase to 4, meaning you will end the latter with 4 cleans and pressed per arm and 4 pull ups. Work up to 5 sets.
2. Snatch Test Practice (will discuss this below)
3. End with heavy one arm swings. Set interval timer for five rounds of for 15 second intervals. You will swing a 20kg with one arm for 15 seconds, take 15 seconds of rest. Then 15 seconds of 20kg swings with teh other arm, then 15 seconds of rest. Begin with a total of 5 minutes. Work up to 8 minutes.
Tuesday: off.
Wednesday: Get ups, Squats, and Pull Ups
1. Getups and goblet squats for 15 minutes. Complete one goblet squat and then move to one get up per side. Use a 12kg for these exercises. Complete one pull up after each double 12kg squat. complete one double squat then one pull up.
2. Double 12kg squats and pull ups. Complete one 12kg double squat followed by one pull up for 15 minutes.
3. End with Snatch Practice
note: Wednesday you can do ladders of squats for the double kettlebell squat and pull up routine for variety. You can do ladders of 1,2,3. Also, each week you will add an additional squat on to the goblet squat and get up routine. Week one is one goblet squat, week two is two goblet squats, week three will be three goblet squats with week four being an off week for deloading.
Thursday: Off
Friday: Deadlifts, Presses, Pull Ups and Snatches
1. Begin with 3 sets of 6, 24kg deadlifts. Work up to 5 sets over time.
2. Double press ladders, pull ups and snatch ladders. The ladder will be as follows
1 press one pullup then 2 snatches per arm.
2 presses 2 pullups 3 snatches per arm.
3 presses 3 pullups 5 snatches per arm. do 3 sets.
Start with 12kg for this ladder, which includes 12kg double presses. If load does not provide sufficient resistance, increase to a 16kg kettlebell. Work up to 5 sets.
3. Snatch practice
Saturday: Variety Day Complexes/Heavy Swing Circuits/Extra Rest Day
Saturday is a day for either extra conditioning or extra rest depending on the load of your workout in the week. Please keep in mind that the loads will slowly increase by reps and sets over time, so an extra rest day on any given week of highly demanding work may be needed. Within the first two weeks of training, I personally plan on heavy swing circuits or complexes on Saturday to start, but will rotate this extra day of training on and off my schedule. What that means is that I will follow a three week schedule of Saturday workouts with my fourth week (a deload week) off from Saturday workouts (more on this later). There will be no snatch test practice on this day.
Sunday: Off.
Now, if you’re curious about what this “snatch test practice” really looks like, take a look at it here. It is a system of slowly increasing the snatch load per week for 13 weeks to make sure you, the trainee, are able to not only master your snatch technique, but to kick those 5 minutes of 100 snatches in the butt! Don’t fear the clock! Let the clock fear YOU! Here’s the plan of attack! (special shout out and BIG THANKS to RKC Michael Krivka for helping me intelligently tackle this part of the RKC training protocol. Seriously RKC Krivka, I cannot thank you enough for this!).
Snatch Test preparation Workout Outline
|
Week |
Workout I |
Workout II |
Workout III |
|
1 |
10 |
12 |
11 |
|
2 |
11 |
13 |
12 |
|
3 |
12 |
14 |
13 |
|
4 |
13 |
15 |
14 |
|
5 |
14 |
16 |
15 |
|
6 |
15 |
17 |
16 |
|
7 |
16 |
18 |
17 |
|
8 |
17 |
19 |
18 |
|
9 |
18 |
20 |
19 |
|
10 |
19 |
21 |
20 |
|
11 |
20 |
22 |
21 |
|
12 |
21 |
23 |
22 |
|
13 |
22 |
– |
– |
Based on the table you’ve got three snatch workouts a week; one easy, one hard and one medium. You goal is to hit those numbers each minute and no more. Put the KB down or hold it overhead or in the rack if you are feeling particularly strong. Be sure to hit the top of every snatch and let the backswing and the hip-drive do their job. Make it a point to work on your shoulder mobility and pay attention to your abs and your glutes during snatch practice – these two areas are the keys to having a strong ballistic movement. The RKC snatch test is 5 minutes in length, and your goal at the end of the 13 weeks is to nail 100 snatches in 5 minutes. Snatch test practice will only last 5 minutes each day you practice this movement. Keep in mind, over the course of 13 weeks, you will be doing a high volume of snatches so adjust loads of your entire routine appropriately if you begin to feel overly fatigued.
I want to note here that this workout can be performed before your routine, in the middle of your routine, or after your workout routine. I have purposefully put these snatch practices at the middle and end of my workouts this month as the loading for the first three weeks of this snatch preparation are a) not too demanding as of yet and b) I am trying to have my body adapt to this stressor at the end of a workout. Next month, these snatch prep practices will be positioned at the beginning of my workouts, as the loads will be significantly increased in week four.
Now, as for the issue of overtraining and deloading during this time of preparation, here’s the final straw. The above protocol is only month one of a three month program. It is designed to begin to tax the nervous system for demanding work for a weekend long event, with minimal risk for overtraining. Rest days are built in appropriately based on the load of the previous days workouts. Also, on the fourth week of each month of training, only snatch test preparation will continue with minimal and very basic swing routines. Snatch test practice lasts 5 minutes, so I plan on some 16kg one arm and two arm swings for about 10-15 minutes max. This amount of work will help to keep up with some level of conditioning but also allow my body to relax from the other areas of heavy loaded exercise. Deload week will involve only 3 days of work split up as one day on, one day off. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be workout days, but Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday will be off days. Keep workouts during the deload period to no longer than 20-25 minutes maximum. It is good to be prepared for the RKC, but please keep in mind we are to be alert and energetic for when we arrive at the cert. We should not, I repeat, SHOULD NOT feel stressed out, burnt out, or otherwise freaking out over this event (or any other fitness event for that matter). I have made this mistake twice before in terms of taking on too much volume too quickly, and I will not make this mistake again for a third time with the cert so close to the date. Enough said!
If you have any other questions about this protocol, feel free to email me at janelle@primalburgher.com. Also, be on the look out for the updated training for March, as I will have a slightly different protocol worked out for myself at that time. As always, remember to eat smart, train hard, and enjoy your life!
RKC VIENNA OR BUST!
Love Always,
Janelle Pica-HKC, CPT
