Colliding Forces
Big thanks to Mike Mahler for his gracious invitation to this colossal event. It was a blast to see all the phenomenal athletes from various modalities display their skills, trade methods, and share experiences. In addition, it was fun to watch Maya demo her GS techniques for the kettlebell enthusiasts in the house.
Jason Dolby, IKFF Coach extraordinaire, and Mike Mahler, the Vegan Superhero, are some seriously strong dudes. Mike used himself to debunk myths about vegetarians lacking muscle mass and strength. He snatched a 120lb KB and pressed (not jerk) a pair of 97 pounders for reps. At the end of the day, Jason decided to go for some odd object lifting and cleaned two 100+ lb. women.
John Brookfield, the Godfather of rope training, teaches Maya the sidewinder.
Mark Philippi is one of the World’s Strongest Men, a national powerlifting champion, and a phenomenal strength coach on the cutting edge.
Matt from MBG in Wisconsin represents the IC on the steel log clean & press.
As fate would have it we met Nazo this weekend. We later found out that she has been, coincidentally, writing about Maya’s postpartum comeback on her Japanese kettlebell blog. What are the odds?
Here she is trying to lift the Atlas stone (weighs about the same as her bodyweight).
First of all, congratulations to the IC team for representing! That is amazing!
Secondly, something tells me we’re going to see a variation of these evil, er, challenging exercises at bootcamp in the near future …
And thirdly, Steven, are you wearing shorts??!?! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that! One for the record books, certainly.
Hmmm…side winders, atlas stone. Not sure I want to go to core class this week.
Just got home from Vegas. It was a blast. As usual, Maya represented the IC appropriately with technique and style. Interesting observation Rachel Q. I actually sport shorts quite often. It’s just a matter of relativity – Vegas is the opposite of the IC. You’ll see more shorts as the Indian summer kicks in. Speaking of relativity, Mark Philippi was killing me every time he instructed us to begin a set, “let’s start with the light stone (200lbs.), let’s start with the light log (160 lbs), let’s start with the light tire (350lbs.).” You get the point.
Steve, sounds like you and Mark are cut from the same cloth, as in “O.K. people, let’s start the workout” after a grueling warm up. Wait, do you hear that? That’s the sound of a bunch of IC members nodding their heads in commiseration.
Oh, and power to the vegetarians!
Steve and Maya are two of the most intelligent and skilled fitness professionals I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with. I have been around a lot of trainers and instructors during my ten years of working in this field, and Steve and Maya sit right at the top!
As the undisputed rulers of the IC, Steve and Maya bring passion, patience, caring, and class to the world of athletic instruction. If you have not had the tremendously rewarding opportunity to train with them, I would highly encourage you to put it at the top of your agenda, even if you have to fly in to do it!
– Jason Dolby, Assistant Instructor IKFF
Thanks for the review Maya and Steve and great meeting and working with you two last weekend.
Mike “the anti Dr Phil” Mahler
Jason and Mike – thanks for the kind words. I’m sure we’ll be seeing and working with you again very soon
Best,
Steven
Very interesting meeting you guys in the Las Vegas Workshop.
It sure left a great impression your techinique and skills.
Definitly it´s going to help you keep steping the ladder of athletic instruction and keeping you ahead of the pack.
Keep it up.
Greetings from Panama City, Panama
Hey Oyden,
Great meeting you and the guys. You are all great athletes. Perhaps we can visit Panama one day. Thanks for the love.
Best,
Steve
Here is a clip of Maya’s great KB snatch technique at the CC course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbJKotatfsk