RKC 2 - The Decision. I'm taking my talents to Venice, Italy!

No the above isn't a typo. For a month or so I've toyed with the idea. I was excited about RKC 2 next month in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was looking forward to meeting Dave Clancy, Linda Elizabeth Mertens, Kevin Knapp, and others. I was looking forward to participating side by side with my coach and friend Mark Snow and doing the shooting stance with Jason Nold. I was looking forward to learning from Brett Jones and getting to meet Jeff O'Connor.

But I had doubts. Prior to my trip to Omaha I hadn't slept comfortably in a bed in 2 years, due to my herniated disc. With the recent flare up of my back, my very wobbly pistol with a counterweight, was gone and, produced pain everytime I tried it. My heaviest press was a 36kg far from the 44kg I need for level 2. Last, I'm 15 pounds heavier than my "game shape" and my pullup was terrible. I had zero confidence. While in Omaha, Mark asked me, "which do you want to do"? "When you say St. Paul, I see you get nervous and tense." "When you mention Italy, you get more relaxed". Everyone needs a coach and my coach had me pegged.

With that talk, I made the switch. I've made progress in my pistol training again and, hit a PR in the press! I hit a 32kg bottoms up press last Saturday and a 40kg military press on Tuesday. I've also got a new program from Mark to work on. This and the extra 90 days gives me the confidence that I'll be successful in June. Hmmm, guess it's time to get Rosetta Stone!

The Gun Show at the RKC 8/20/11

This post is also about goals. I wasn't proactive enough with mine. I let my own doubts get in the way and built excuses. I tell clients you should have a goal, take before and after pictures. The photos from the August RKC were posted the day after I made the switch to Italy. This photo reminded me of what "game shape" looks like. This photo was months in the making. This photo is what I need to get back to. Time to GET MONEY!

Pharaoh out!

90 days until RKC 2!

Wow, 3 months away. I remember sitting in my hotel room in Hawai'i last August a few days after the RKC (I know tough life). I looked at the Dragon Door schedule and saw the dates. I signed up without a second thought. Still high off the experience of Level 1 I made the purchase. Dave Clancy has been doing a countdown on Facebook. The countdown started about 6 months ago. Complete with days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining. With the date fast approaching, my palms just started sweating.

My training has been good to date. Going to the CK-FMS in October got me to address some issues I had with my body. No not the "does this kettlebell make me look fat?" kind of issues. But the issues of a 40 year old that has been lifting, running, jumping and throwing things since high school.  Doing correctives isn't meant to be fun, it's meant to keep you doing the "fun" things. Thanks to my coach Mark Snow I have correctives built in to my programming. Even better is I've started to include them in my Small Group classes (shhh don't tell them it's good for them, I've been sneaking them in!).

Still the plan is to be in St. Paul in April with my fellow RKC's. It will be nice to put a face and voice to several of the people I only communicate with through some form of Social Media. It will be good to share ideas with fellow RKC's on programming, class structure and running a facility. I can't wait to learn from passionate and knowledgeable RKC's. It will be good to fire up the group, not that I know anything about firing up groups of people.

Do I have doubts? Hell yeah I do. The half body weight press, with my shoulder history worries the heck out of me. A solid pistol with my crappy ankles worries the heck out of me. But that is the beauty of it. If I don't try, then I'll constantly say, what if? If I don't get the press or pistol in April, I have 90 days to complete the tasks. 90 days and more knowledge and tools in the arsenal. Plus if I truly don't think I'm ready for April, the next RKC 2 is in July in Italy.  Can you say extended vacation?

So what does this mean for the next 3 months? Smart training, no distractions, a grumpy Pharaoh (of course I'm never grumpy), nervousness, excitement and learning.

Pharaoh out!