Making my Own Training Program?

[JoeApostol]

Hello Coach,

Now, I might have missed the whole point in you releasing your material and having certifications for various things like CST CB etc. So I am writing to you to verify if I am on the right train of thought.....since it feels like a square peg in a round hole. Any input from the tribe on this would also help.

I was reading the Preface of Body Flow. It mentioned that the development of a person is really to create their own program. Now that is a somewhat foreign idea to me. I think of instructors as the only ones who really are to be designated with that responsibility & privilege because of the knowledge & experience they are to have.

Now me, regular Joe, purchasing Body Flow and other products would then give access to the knowledge of particular BME / movement, structure , breathing, philosophies & principle that I need to know in training. Acquiring that knowledge is the first step. The next is to put it to practice by creating my own training regimen. Right???

The reason I ask is that I have seen other "DOJO Instructors" who were exposed to one private lesson / public class of KB training,
BME or whatever the course may be and then now they are teaching/implementing it to members of their class. Business is business...however I am one who thinks that to actually implement it top someone, that person has to speak from solid experience not necessarily from just a few sessions. Of course Certification may also provide somewhat of a proof.

At this point in my training I am somewhat dis-illusioned by these MA dojos that basically has a slave driver telling you what to do & such. No specificity of focusing on breathing, shifting of weight, structure, movement etc....Nothing wrong with a slave driver telling you what to do that since some people resonate with that kind of instructor....it is just not my cup of tea. I know these clubs often have developed quality fighters. So obviously they are doing something right. Or maybe it is genetics in the fighters. It is that I find it difficult to find a club that is functioning in the same approach as I find in ROSS. They all speak of "HARDCORE" training but really no substance to it. No intellectual, systematic feed to one's training...it is quite frustrating.

Now I guess the real question is.....is this the method of development in ROSS? I get the material....review it ...learn it via video, books, private lesson forum....work at it....create my own regimen using the principle, (for lack of a better word) exercises...& progress from there.??? Is that it?
And if I make any mistakes, it is OK as stated in the PREFACE. Right? As far as going to Dojo's / MMA clubs, just go there work out with the guys applying the info gained in ROSS? Decline from activity that does not correspond to proper principles? When working out....create my own program?

SO is it OK to create my own training regimen? To mix KB with BME? To do CB with Kali stuff? All that & then some? That's OK??? I know all the guys in the forum are creating their own training regimes. It is just that I don't think I have the right to do so? Or maybe is just a lack of knowledge? Or maybe me regressing to the Instructor-Student role of asking permission etc?

If it is lack of knowledge then I know what to do...get the material & work at it.

If it is regressing to the Permission mentality then it is shedding myself of this "mold" to get to me.

What do you think? I look forward to your response & the feedback from the Tribe.

Thanks.

Joe

[Ronald Seoane]

Since I don't have Clubbells yet, I'll address my response in terms of kettlebell training.

I purchased the RKC book. I thought there would be specific routines; like specific daily exercises and the order that you should do them in, sets and reps. Well, there isn't. Then I thought about it. The book does give you some basic ideas. It's up to you to build on those ideas.

Just think about this. There is no one Kettlebell routine or Clubbell routine that may be right for everyone. The bottom line is- if you come up with a routine for Clubbells that you want to try, try it. You can always post your routine here and either Coach Sonnon or someone will respond.

And, by the way, don't worry about making mistakes, just like it says in Body Flow. I think it says you will grow from your mistakes. I believe it also says that success is moving from one mistake to another. Or, maybe I have that all wrong.

Good luck in your training and follow your instinct.

[JoeApostol]

Ronald,

Thanks for the reply.

Then I thought about it. The book does give you some basic ideas. It's up to you to build on those ideas.
I think that is cool. To build on those ideas...and get feedback.

I guess that approach is very anti-oldschool thinking. It is funny because as I write my first posting on this issue, I realize that it was more of my previous instructor who was speaking. He hated having these "wanna be's....copy cats" instructors who only learned thru seminars. I guess the key word there is "instructors". Since having a program does not necessarily make one an instructor. I may need to separate the "instructor" mentality from being just the person working out / training. Funny how this process works. I see parts of my old instructor engrained in me and may have lost parts of me.....so carry on I WILL.

GO...ON...ON WITH THE SHEDDING...... :twisted:

:D :D :D WOW...THIS IS LIKE A MENTAL BME BODY-FLOW GETTING RID OF FEAR REACTIVITY. I am shedding my old programming :D :D :D

Joe

[Doug Szolek]

I guess that approach is very anti-oldschool thinking.

Actually Joe, self-learning is the oldest-school there is, "We are always and only self-taught." I believe is what Coach Sonnon says. The idea of rote instruction only came about when some perhaps well-meaning (though probably not) individuals realized that they could use it to control the masses and line their pockets. Whether it be in Academics, Physical Culture, Religion or whatever... Until we learn that we are our only teachers, we are, as Roger Waters put it a few decades ago, "just a 'nother brick in the wall".

Congratulations on shedding the old skin of instruction. I look forward to reading the program that you come up with for yourself. Have confidence that it will be exactly what you are supossed to be working at that time.

[SteveB]

Always, regardless of the love or talent of our allies, each of us must find our own path. The goal is mastery of our own lives, using various guideposts along the way to guide us, and various stresses and opportunities to test ourselves against. One excellent one is the arena of the physical, but unless you engage your emotions and intellect, it is often of little use outside the gym. No matter how excellent the teacher, we are always responsible for understanding more and more of our specifc gifts and limitations. This happens only by testing ourselves, evaluating the results, recalibrating, recording. Coach Sonnon experiments and publishes the results that we might replicate his results--if we can't, then scientific method suggests that his theories may be incorrect. If we can, another path up the mountain has been more clearly deliniated. In Body Flow, the Coach gives general guidelines: "play" for between 30-40 minutes a day. If you do this, moving as inspiration and intuition guide us. Body Flow is for those who are willing to suspend what they think they understand about physical training. Understanding isn't where it's at. Animals and children don't exercise to sets and reps, however useful sets and reps may be. Without intuition you will injure yourself, overtrain or undertrain. Follow a set-rep scheme, or a teacher's words, but always look to the WHY beneath these general instructions. Mastery can never be reached through set patterns, however useful set patterns may be. Body-Flow, I'm convinced, is one of the doorways to this rarified place of self-knowledge and expression, but one must approach it with the discipline of an Olympian and the innocence of a child. Play hard.

Steve

[Robert V]

Steve, that was an awesome post. Simply, awesome!

I can't say it much better than the guys before me.

But I can add that only you are an expert of "you". On that road of finding your "authentic self", you learn a lot. Enough to share with others your own experiences.

You present yourself as someone who says, "hey...we are on this journey together. Stand by my side, for I know the general direction." Rather, than looking down on others and saying, "hey...I'm way up here. Follow my path."

I truly feel we are here on this earth to "create". We may use the same tools as others, but we can still mold something authentic.

And not only are we all teachers, but we are also all students.

"BodyFlow" allowed me to intergrate new knowledge and old knowlegde to compose something that was unique and mine.

And in ROSS there is no "style" to teach. Just general laws and concepts governed by biomechanics, physics and psychology.

"Your way is the way"

[Scott Sonnon]

I could not top the beautiful words already written, but I'll share one critical distinction that has helped me.

If you practice someone else's style, it must be as a guide to discovering and unleashing your own personal style. If it is not for that reason, then why practice it? You can become an expect in someone else's style or a master in your own. No one has more experience at being you... than you. Confidence in your autonomy comes from active upon that fact.

Never turn back. Be your own man.