Report from CST Eta

[Scott Sonnon]

My friends,

I can only give a short report, but things progress brutally well! :twisted: From Japan to Canada to Trinidad & Tobago (and of course from the republic of Texas to the city state of New York :D ), men and women from around the world gathered this weekend. Coaches from Renegade Training, Crossfit, RKC, and NSCA, health practitioners from Chiro, PT, massage therapy, a whole host of competitive athletes, and a group of returning CST Instructors have been pushing the limits of their prior experiences and creating some impressive feats.

The revised format of CST Eta comes off brilliantly thanks to an incredibly educated and talented coaching staff (composed of Brandon Jones, Dan Chomycia and Doug Szolek) and the hardest intelligently working group of trainees I've had the honor of teaching.

We'll post videos and photos of this fantastic event as soon as we undergo one more day of full-on CST! Wish them luck. Today's the big examination.

[Connie Brown]

I'll also do a brief report. Just finished CST Eta and while it yes, was brutal at times, it was also extremely efficient and effective. Compared with Epsilon where I was first certified, there was more material, more nuance, and more instruction from beginning concepts to advanced, all in the same amount of time. The segments of training moved quickly from topic to topic and there was "meaty" stuff in every topic.

The effect was sort of like drinking from a fire hose but sort of not. Because each time segment was structured so there was something appropriate for every level of practice and instruction. I noticed some nuances that I couldn't the first time around, when I was appropriately learning the new exercises. This time I could see nuances on what I had seen before, plus there was new material.

One of my favorite parts is the last third on program design and individual assessment. It's one thing to understand CST concepts such as cleaning the slate, adding attributes, finding flow. But take a real person, who by the way might be a fitness professional himself, and listen to what he wants to do, what he is currently doing, then assess his movement and figure out a program. It seems overwhelming at the beginning of the exercise and by the end, with the input from the CST cadre, it's obvious that not only can it be done, but we have the tools to do it and the support of the CST team here online. Amazing.

And what fun to see what everyone is up to! From surfing to elite judo to ice skating to running and just plain strong man stuff - bending nails - the variety of people, and what they're up to, and how to use CST to do it better.... well it just reminds you why you love that stuff and how much fun it is to hang out with people who love it too.

More later maybe! see you when I'm all the way home.

Respectfully submitted,

[maxmoon]

thanks for the update connie 8) sound like all went good!

max

[Scott Sonnon]

Well, everyone has been returned to the airport and has departed from 'sunny' Bellingham. 8)

What an amazing event! When I post the video clips of some of the performances, you'll be equally amazed by CST Eta Cadre.

I want to say thank you to all of the members of each squad. By the end of the seminar, it was actually quite a relief to walk to each and observe your self-sufficient client assessments, and creative applications of program design and exercise selection/creation. I say 'relief' because I have been used to heavily guiding this critical part of CST Instructor certification to prevent the departure outside the scope of what we do, and keep our screening focused. However, you not only remained highly focused, but required little to no guidance.

I learned a great deal from this event, thanks to you. And although I was "this close" to finalizing the optimal format (after 7 prior iterations), I believe due to your superlative performance, I may have to continue the evolution of the program and presentation. :wink:

Thanks of course to Dan, Brandon and Doug. Your unique presentation, interesting personal anecdotes on your individual physical journeys, and your ability to adapt and improvise to the idiosyncratic squad dynamics made for an outstanding seminar. It's an honor to work with such a staff.

And of course, the grease in the engine, the man who makes it all work, and with his elaborate behind-the-scenes mechanations weaves the entire event into a seamless presentation which went off without one hitch.

I look forward to the after action report of all of the participants, and all of the new directions you pioneer upon completing your certification requirements.

CST Instructor Candidates: Please remember to send me your usernames so that you can be given viewing and posting access privileges to the CST Instructor Candidate forum.

[Scott Sonnon]

http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta1.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta2.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta3.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta4.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta5.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta6.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta7.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta8.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta9.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta10.jpg
http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/csteta11.jpg

Here are 3 video (.MOV) clips from a portion of the Eta Cadre's examination requirements:

Squad 1 Combination Routine (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/squad1test.MOV)
Squad 2 Combination Routine (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/squad2test.MOV)
Squad 3 Combination Routine (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/squad3test.MOV)

Here are two new Body-Flow kinetic chains I demo'ed for the participants to dissect (filmed during breaks):
Pinwheel (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/pinwheel.MOV)
No Foot Threading Scorpion Bridge (http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/threadscorp2.MOV)

[Chuck Kechter]

Thanks for the pics, and movies!

Looks like quite a time! :shock: :D

Mortar meet Pestle! :wink: :D

[JasonE]

Cool stuff! I look forward to attending one again when my schedule works out!

Nice face, Jarlo. :twisted: Love the hair(lessness)!

[Flatland]

What a great seminar! Scott and the RMAX crew really outdid themselves this time. Lots of new material, and a new presentation.

I want to thank the whole crew for a great weekend! Now to rest for a few days....

Scott Hagnas
Portland, OR

[cbeltrante]

Looks like everybody had a great time at ETA!! I'm looking forward to Theta in November and having some more fun again with Scott, the Head Coaches and my fellow tribe members!!!

Keep up the great work!!!!

See you soon,
Chris

[Aaron Mcgrath]

It's great to see what part of the Instructor Program looks like. 8) I was reminded of samurai's practicing sword drills. That abstraction seems like appropriate comparison. I'm stoked for the November event. :twisted:

Scott, you continue to inspire and amaze with body flow. :twisted:

[Matt Schwartz]

The combo routines were fun and cool to see how people strung moves together. Stuff I hadn't thought of.
Was it just me or did anyone else feel like doing our combination routines was reminiscent of the happy hands club in "Napoleon Dynamite"? ;-)
LOL!
Take care all!
Matt

[Connie Brown]

I just got back from CST re-certification.
What a blast that was. Also very tough at times.

Here is my first story....

This weekend was my recertification for CST,
held in Bellingham, WA, USA.
I live in Portland, OR.

On the drive up on Friday, in a freeway hairball around
Seattle I got rear-ended! Oick! The pickup driver and I pulled off
and exchanged information. Left rear damage to the car, but none to me. So I
arrived just in time for a few WW circles to undo the drive, and
on to the seminar. I didn't even think of consequences to my bod
because I didn't feel any different.

Next day, Saturday, we had a hard, full day and then ate out at a
Chinese
restaurant. After the restaurant I drove to Kinko's,
and on the way back I got in
another car accident. This time hit on the left coming from behind.
Bigger smash, cars joined and did a 180...

So this crash was flashing lights, police and fire dept EMTs and
everything. I am okay so far. Car is towed (and totaled they
say).

Here's a funny part. The fireman / EMT did a check for
injuries, and he said, after doing the eye, neck and back, why
are you so relaxed (or maybe it was, why are you not tense?)? I said,
I've been at
a martial art seminar all day and we study shock absorption and I'm
loose as a goose. He says, oh really, which one. So we start getting
into physical conditioning and release of tension and he had just
pulled up his sleeve to show me where he had tendon issues from too
many submissions in judo... when the policeman interrupted us for
reports and things.

The other interesting thing is to walk into that seminar full of
physical conditioning guys and chiros and PTs and tell that story
(Scott found it interesting). They are watching my movement like a
hawk and are skeptical when I say I feel fine. They have me do the
WW circles looking for hitches. One chiropractor says, "please let me
know what transpires in the next 10 days. If you can move like that
after 2 crashes, there really is something about this kind of
conditioning. It's another reason to tell my people they need to do
this! ."

I love this stuff!

[Scott Sonnon]

http://www.circularstrengthmag.com/images/cstetagroupsm.jpg

[Dan Chomycia]

What a great looking group!

I had so much fun hanging out with everyone at the seminar, I don't even know where to begin. I'll be posting my comments and discoveries very soon right now I'm just overwhelmed by how great the seminar was for me.

Thanks everyone!

[Coach Tran]

To sum up my experience: The Eta Seminar was more than learning how to swing clubbells or learning special inner CST secrets. Actually I learned everything "in between" and gained a deeper understanding of the whole system of CST/Rmax, than just focusing on clubbells performance. I learned how to be truly creative and how complex it is to be simple in the end. I am still amazed how far I have developed as a personal trainer, a martial artist, and as someone who practice CST/Rmax for a short time. I never expected that I would developed so quickly and love it this much. Coach Scott and the head coaches are true mensches, real and decent human beings. I am so happy that I finally made the decision to go to a CST seminar. I made a goal in the past to become a CST coach and I finally "almost" made it. (I have a written examine that needs to be complete.) CST is not a static system and it is constantly changing because there are too many talented sick monkeys (coaches) are breaking new records and inventing new methods. This is why I will do my best to attend every CST seminar even if I am a CST coach. There is too much to learn, too much fun to be had, and too many friends to learn from, especially sick monkeys. If you look at all my posts from my very first one up untill now, I am sure you will see that CST has made a huge impact on me. Hopefully, I would encourage you to take up a CST seminar and start having fun. Maybe you can become a sick monkey too?

Yours in Strength and Respect,
Bao Tran
PS: I hope to meet all my eta buddies at future seminars.

[Scott Sonnon]

how complex it is to be simple
Perfectly profound, amigo. I look forward to all of the personal innovations your create!

[Ryan Murdock]

Bao, that was beautifully said my friend. I continue to be surprised and impressed by the things you come out with (and not just by your constant hunger and the amount that you eat :wink: ). Looks like I'll be seeing you at every CST seminar from here on, as that is my goal too.

On a general note, I'll post my impressions of the seminar when I clear a backlog of work. I'm doing an editorial review for CST Mag, so will slay two boids with one clubbell (in the interests of efficiency). But at the moment my first priority is to complete my exam so I can get to work!!

[Matt Schwartz]

Well, I've got a lot of work to do here at home but I wanted to write this while it was still somewhat fresh.
It was a great weekend for me at CST eta. I came in a bit injured. I had hurt my low back slipping out of a bridge on wet wood in October. I had partially recovered and been working moderatley heavy on the weights again. So, 2 weeks before the seminar I started to gently work bridging again. It was feeling good until I overdid it bridging on the Tuesday before the seminar. I was not a frequent reader of the forum so I hadn't seen coach's instructions to take a few days off before the CST seminar. Even better, I worked out on Wednesday doing 300 hindu squats since I wanted to do something since my back was sore. So now, my back *and* legs were mighty sore. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes. Got on the plane on Thursday and everything locked up. Walked with a stoop and did not want to move my back.
Drove up to B-ham Friday for what I hoped would be an easy night. Wrong, it would have been ok if I didn't feel like I was wearing concrete pants but we went into Body Flow movements that made me cringe. I throttled way back but even so was worried about things. Felt better afterwards though, and even more so the next day. Great, some improvement. I won't be like this forever, yay!

Ok, enough about me. Just wanted to to give my perspective on things for how I experienced them. The seminar rocked. My motivation for coming was to expand on my Body Flow. I got that video last September and it blew my mind as far as ideas on how to move well. Opened a whole new world. I said to myself, I *need* to learn more from the guy who does this so I signed up for the seminar. I am into kettlebells and barbells as a tool for sports training, so I was honestly not that into clubbells and more into learning how to move better, but I saw how clubbells can be an integral part of that goal. And I saw how moving better is the best thing to help your sports movement, especially for a bigger guy like me. Using clubbells with warrior wellness and body flow as we did with Dan at the seminar was eye opening. Really showed my how they can safely strengthen and expand joint ROM. Also, learned fine points in Warrior wellness of really localizing the movement to the joint you are working on and not letting the movement leak over to other joints, in order to maximize that joint's ROM. Learned many nuances as well as just the important fundamentals of using clubbells from our most excellent coaches. All were enthusiastic and professional. Finally, I really saw put together how reclaiming and expanding your joint ROM is part of a continuum at the beginning of working toward sports mastery. It is a necessary foundation and can not be skipped. You have to move well before adding load or speed to a movement or you will have consequences one way or another.

The summary for me was that:
1) You need to clean your slate before you add more complexity or load.
2) Baby steps are the only way to progress. I am a quantitative kind of quy, so seeing this stated as an RPD of 3 or less and and RPT of 6 or more was a great way to understand this.
3) Complementary movement. If you specialize on one or several things, you will eventually become imbalanced. You can address this with complementary movement. For me this translates into rehabbing my bridge injury with spinal rocks.
4) Inappropriate tension is the enemy, and leads to myofascial density. I saw how movement patterns eventually embed into one's structure, and how intelligent movement can also reverse this pattern.
5) I came to a greater understanding of breath matching force. I was a power breathing guy and I see how that is not applicable in many situations. If you have to power breathe, maybe you need to work on becoming more efficient at the movement. I am really going to work on breathing as calmly as possible and making sure my easy movements really remain easy by monitoring my breath.

I know I learned many more things this weekend but am not recalling them at this exact moment because I am just typing this up while I have a few free moments. I am on a deadline. Anyway, after the weekend, even with all the work, my back was feeling a lot better than before. Not perfect but that sharp pain was gone and I could see that it was scaled back from an injury pain down to just pretty good soreness. I don't think that would have happened if I wasn't at the seminar. I was disappointed that I couldn't do the movements nearly as well as in practice, and couldn't participate as fully as I would have liked, but it was still a great experience.

I met *great* people this weekend, learned a ton, which I would go into even more detail about (if I had time and wasn't afraid of boring everyone), got to watch the "Truest American Sport" in the hotel with some of the boys from the seminar (armwrestling for you sports aficionados), and came away understanding how wellness and athletic development are one and the same. Anyway, just a short glimpse of what I thought. Take care all!

Matt

[Scott Sonnon]

Matt, an amazing report! Thank you! Please don't try to delete redundant posts as we're having forum glitches and it may delete the entire thread.

[JasonE]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Forum bugs. :twisted: :lol: :lol:

[Matt Schwartz]

Oh, jeez. I kept getting failures when posting my summary, so I kept re-posting. Doh! Looks like it made it through even though the browser said it didn't. Sorry for the many many postings! Uggh...
Coach, I am a software engineer experienced in web technologies and data ases, so if I can offer any assistance please let me know. I am on a tight deadline right now, but if I can do something quick, I'd be happy to.
Matt

[Matt Schwartz]

experienced in web technologies and data ases

Should say databases. Doh!
M

[Scott Sonnon]

Matt, with the way this ISP works, I think you were closer with your first spelling.

[Jarlo Ilano]

Nice face, Jarlo. :twisted: Love the hair(lessness)!

Yup, that face was a direct connection to my left hand going "What the heck is going on here?!" It was a near miracle that the club didn't fly out of my hand and whack somebody! :lol:

Well here is a report of my experience of ETA.

I knew I had wanted to participate in a CST seminar for awhile now, and my experiences at the Softwork seminar sealed it. Not just for the information, but also for the camaraderie and great environment of learning and growth that I knew would accompany it. I wasn’t really looking for certification or anything like that. I remember speaking with Ray K. briefly about it, and the gist of his statement was “I figure if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right.” That really jived with me and my philosophy. Matt Schwartz said something similar at ETA, wherein he stated “I wanted to learn from the best”. This is something I’ve always sought out as well. I have always invested good time and money in seeking out the best continuing education I could for my career, and I view participating in CST as a part of that as well.

The first night was great. After a couple of hours in the car, I really needed to get my spine moving. The instruction on cloverleaf motion, vibrations, and breath scales was awesome. I had done these before, but I feel much better about it after receiving personal instruction. It helps so much. I was also pleasantly surprised that I was not as nauseous in performing the Body Flow kinetic chains as I was at Softwork. I would not have minded spending a whole day just on Body Flow and kinetic chain variations and adjustments based on personal needs. These along with the multiplanar movement and vibrational techniques are just plain sweet, and very applicable to my profession. I liked the approach of choosing particular exercises based upon the aspects of structure and movement that you need to develop. This is another key (IMO)

Ryan Hurst and I were talking about how bummed we were that the grappling seminar had to be nixed, but we got over that after the first hours of ETA. (I’m just gonna have to head over to Japan to roll with my buddy.)

The next day was quite intensive! I really enjoyed the presentation where Brandon, Doug, and Dan rotated among the squads and taught their material. Each had his own flavor and their personal spin to the clubbell work. This was very helpful in exploring and understanding the depth of the material. Brandon’s coordination in handling two clubs in the patterns was amazing. Dan’s dexterity in throwing and gripping his clubs was inspiring. And Doug’s ease with the Bruiser made my jaw drop more than once! The worst part was in figuring out which program you want to start doing once you get back home! I was very happy to have gotten through the day without killing myself.

After going through all the variations of clubbell training, the section on creating combination routines really helped me a lot to understand the “match, patch, and hem” concepts. I had only a cursory understanding of this prior to this, and afterwards I feel like I had a good handle on it. I was amazed at the creativity of my fellow trainees in their creation of routines. That, along with, the head coaches demonstration of their routine, shows how much can be done with the clubbells, and how they can be manipulated for your personal needs.

Finally, the end of the day brought with it our 5 minutes of Swipes, and 5 minutes of Mills. Just half of the ICS performance was enough to bring that expression to my face shown in the pictures above! My main problem was the relative weakness in my left hand grip, and the fact that I have never done Mills before (I had decided to wait on those since I had poor form).

The last day began with Mobilized Strength with Dan. This was very interesting. The concept of using a light weight to “close the chain” in your movements is very creative. This was the last of the clubbells, which for me was great. I remember picking up a ten pounder to try out my mill form, and I could barely move it!

Next up, the client assessment. This, as I stated to Coach Sonnon, was “IT”. I have never seen an assessment protocol, outside of a good physical therapy evaluation, that was of as much significant value as the CST method. The Doctors Kevin can offer more about how chiropractor’s evaluate their patients. But, I can tell you without exaggeration, that I know some physical therapists that cannot assess as well. New graduates especially. The CST system of client assessment is as close as it gets to my personal physical therapy evaluation scheme without putting “hands on”. And in fact fits many of my colleagues’ style who rely more on movement assessment to guide their treatment plan. Some of the concepts resemble some physical therapy methods so well, that it would seem to be the same! But as I’ve stated before, these methods are so esoteric to the field, that you would have to read some pretty obscure texts and go to specific seminars to get them. This is why I found it so amazing to listen to what was going on. This assessment portion was what I do everyday in my work, and portions of which had taken me years of trial and error and experience to streamline! CST instructors are well ahead of the curve on this. Other personal trainers do not know this information. Seriously. There is a training facility next door to my friend’s therapy clinic. They THINK they are assessing and have appropriate goals for their clients. They, quite simply, DON’T. How can they when after all their “functional” tests, they have people do the SAME things (albeit with less weight or reps). This would not happen with a good CST instructor. I’m not blowing smoke either.

I would actually not mind writing an article on the proper CST assessment and what it means to stay within your “scope”. (If that is appropriate).

Overall… Good stuff. Good times. Good people. What more is there?

[Jarlo Ilano]

Double postage...

[Scott Sonnon]

Awesome, Jarlo, awesome! Thanks for such a great report!

[Dan Chomycia]

Outstanding Jarlo!

I can't wait to see what comes of this! I think your idea for the article is superb and look forward to it. 8)

[JasonE]

:twisted: :twisted: *hunched and rubbing hands together*...excellent... :twisted: :twisted:

Write that article, Jarlo!

[Coach Billew]

Hi everyone,

I am finally back on the forum, and wanted to add my comments on Eta.

Attending a second CST seminar I was a little trepidatious about whether or not I would really be pushed to develop by a weekend of going over the "basics" of CST. What I learned changed my perspective on what training means.

First, there are only basics. All of the highly sophisticated things we can do are deepening explorations of the basics. There are no advanced techniques, only experiencing and exploring the basics in more sophisticated ways. This insight changed my perspective on training and on how to build programs for myself and my clients. I think many people look at what the Head Coaches are doing, and think I want to learn that advanced exercise, but the reality is that what the Head Coaches are doing is their exploration of their experience of CST, and we can gain great inspiration from that, but we all have to deepen our own practice to achieve our own goals and address our own issues. We must look to ourselves to create our own "advanced" exercises otherwise we are not truly exploring ouR MAX through CST.

Secondly the beauty of training with a group of some of the most talented athletes I have ever met is worth the price of admission. At Gamma, I was so focused on my own experience of encountering CST, and now I am better able to see the joy of the tribal comraderie. I met and talked with so many great people at this event. The quality of person who is drawn to this material always amazes me. This environment creates an opportunity for each of us to make advances in our training with the hands on support of the tribe that would take much longer on our own.

Lastly, being in the presence of the Head Coaches is incredibly inspiring. Seeing what they are working on, and their deepening approaches to sharing CST with others.

The experience of a CST certification seminar will deepen your training no matter whether you are brand new to RMAX or have been here for years. I now intend to go as many CST seminars as I can possibly afford.

Thank you to everyone for helping me to have one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

[Scott Sonnon]

[Scott Sonnon]

....

[Scott Sonnon]

Slade,

It was a great to train with you again, my friend! Thanks for such a great report and including some of the most impacting insights for you. Training with such a group of incredibly diverse natural athletes (which we ALL are!) is my privilege and honor. I look forward to reading your exam, as well as your continued progress reports!