I’m humbled and honored to be an official member of the DV8 family. Phil and Pam hosted another great course. My expectations were exceeded on multiple occasions over the weekend, especially when the sword came out (that’s right folks, a real sword). While I’m excited to share what I’ve learned with my clients and colleagues, I’d like to share with you the biggest lessons I learned from both training for and attending the DV8 course.
- Focus on one primary goal at a time. I started training for DV8 after 3-months of Sinister training. I didn’t want to lose the gains I’d made on swings and get-ups so I tried to do both. The volume proved to be too much for my body and my forearm started hurting. This forced me to back off on Sinister and focus on DV8. This led to me not only passing my strength endurance test, but also healing my arm. The temporary blow to the ego was worth it in the long run.
- Depth is everything. Despite having completed the StrongFirst Kettlebell course and 7 years’ experience training with bells, I learned a lot more about the fundamental kettlebell movements over the weekend. We didn’t focus on getting good at everything. We worked to get great at a few things. One of the DV8 mottos is “Master the basics to own the advanced.” I now have a much better base of knowledge to help teach my clients.
- Keep an open mind. The DV8 method challenged what we were previously taught. From teaching methods to progressions, it was markedly different from the method we were accustomed to. The push out of our comfort zone helped us think critically and become better coaches. I’m excited to test it over the years and take the best of both.
- Beginner’s mindset. Part of our certification requirement was passing the strength and endurance test. The test is to perform 20 double kettlebell clean to push press repetitions without setting the bells down until complete. Training for this event put us back in the trenches, learning a new movement and pushing ourselves to the next level. It was challenging and really took our breath away (thank you, I’m here all week…). While I’m happy to say I passed, it definitely wasn’t easy!
It was a humbling but very rewarding experience. I was amazed at how Phil and Pam ran the virtual course, planning and doing everything they could to preserve the sense of community everyone’s been missing this year. If you’re a coach or trainer and are serious about your career, I can’t recommend a DV8 course enough!
Train your body. Feed your mind.
-Demarco
