KETTLEBELL CENTER

RKC - Russian Kettlebell Challenge

Pavel Tsatsouline leads RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge), whose publisher, Dragon Door Publishing, owned and operated by John DuCane. Dragon Door sells books, DVDs, kettlebells, training courses and workshops.

RKC is the West's largest kettlebell organization and is represented in most of Europe, North and South America, Australia, parts of Asia and Africa. It was Pavel Tsatsouline, who introduced kettlebells to the U.S. in 2001, this makes RKC the oldest kettlebell organization in the Western world to our knowledge. It actually started already -98 when he wrote the now-legendary article "Vodka, Pickle Juice, Kettlebell Lifting, and Other Russian Pastimes" in MILO Magazine, which was well received by many well-known profiles in the fitness industry. This eventually led to the now legendary book "Power To the People", a book that was much different then the West's commercial fitness culture, the book was not about appearance and bodybuilding but about the body's full power potential from a holistic perspective.

RKC and Dragon Door is not just about kettlebells, but is a knowledge bank on a training system which is based on the complex interaction of muscles, the need to develop and train the nervous system and the central and crucial position of the hip between the upper and lower body. In one word - strength. This training system has kettlebells as a central tool in a workout. It is difficult to find a single piece of exercise equipment that engage and train so many vital functions in the body as kettlebells - strength, stamina, agility, coordination and balance.

Pavel Tsatsouline came from a completely different training culture (Russia), he has a background that is far from fitness culture in the West with its focus on muscle growth, muscle isolation and mechanical training solutions. Pavel Tsatsouline and John DuCane realized that to secure and protect all the skills that were generated in the future RKC instructors an organization that would encourage, capture and constantly develop new ideas within the system was needed and they formed RKC. The RKC organization constantly evolves and changes, all to prevent stagnation and what push the development forward. They understood how important it was for customers and clients would have confidence in an RKC instructor both in terms of quality and seriousness.

A prospective certified RKC instructor should train hard one to two years to cope with the rather demanding RKC instructor certification. Not only does an instructor's physical and mental capacities being put to the test during the 3 days certifcation but also but also his ability to teach beginners that come and want to learn the last day. To obtain RKC-license one must pass on all the physical, psychological and theoretical aspects that the training involves. Finally, the instructor must also sign a code of conduct which mainly puts the client at first. A certified RKC instructor must also continue to re-certify themselves every two years to further check that he/she is qualified and competent enough to perform his duties as a kettlebell instructor. When you hire an RKC certified kettlebell instructor, you are always guaranteed to get an instructor who can truly teach what it takes to train with kettlebells. There are several levels of RKC instructors, Level II and III, which places even greater demands on the skills and physics.

Video from Orlando RKC 2010