If you’re not aware, Mike Mahler has produced a new 3-DVD set, with over 7-1/2 hours of instruction, featuring Mike Mahler, Steve Maxwell, Steve Cotter, and Nate Morrison. I’ve been wanting to write a review of Boys Are Back in Town Kettlebell Workshop DVD since I got it a few weeks ago, but it’s just taken a while to watch the whole thing. So, you might want to grab a drink and sit back, this could be a long one.
Let me say that at first, I was a little skeptical about the quality of the video. Since it was shot at a kettlebell workshop, I was expecting poor quality video and sound. However, I have no problem at all. The workshop was held indoors, so there are no outdoor sounds to muck it up. Both the video and audio are professional grade – as is the production. I’ve had no problems with the DVDs themselves, the menus, or anything else.
Now I haven’t read all of the information about it on Mike’s site – I just went ahead and ordered it. But I just gave the description a quick look, and it gives you a lot more details than I’m going to put here. You can get there by clicking here: Boys Are Back in Town Kettlebell Workshop DVD.
So, I really just wanted to give a quick overview of what’s actually on the DVDs. I own the set and have watched it. Admittedly, I haven’t absorbed it all – I’ve only seen it once. At any rate, here goes.
Here’s a basic overview of what’s in the set, broken down by instructor:
Mike Mahler
Mike has two sections in the DVD set. First up is on kettlebell training. The focus is on power and speed, and the techniques he uses are just about the polar opposite of what I’ve learned. But, different purpose, different technique. It has actually changed the way I’ve been thinking about kettlebell training – and I’m not just saying that. While slow grinds have their place, I’m going to change the way I do things for a while after watching this.
Mike’s second section is on optimizing hormones. To be honest this was the first thing I watched, and that was because it was already almost midnight and I wanted to watch something that I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in because I wanted to get to bed. I must say that I ended up staying up until 1:00 am watching the whole section. It was very interesting stuff, and he gives some practical things you can do to optimize your hormone levels – and why you’d want to.
Steve Maxwell
Steve also has two sections, and both are basically about joint mobility and core strength. The first section is general mobility with bodyweight only. Everything from the basics to advanced mobility drills. If you’ve seen Steve’s Spartan 300 videos, this touches on at least some of that.
The other section starts with joint mobility using the kettlebell. From there he goes into some of the more positionally-awkward kettlebell drills like the windmill, Turkish get-up, overhead squat, bent press, and the Gladiator. He’s also got a few other core-specific drills.
Steve Cotter
Steve Cotter also has two sections, but basically covers four topics. There’s a section on “Effortless Motion”, which goes into some athletic drills for efficiency and speed of movement. It’s really good stuff, especially for athletes (obviously). But who doesn’t want to be a little more spry? The other non-kettlebell teaching is on Chi Gong. He really just covers some basics. I know nothing about Chi Gong, so won’t really try to describe anything. Suffice it to say that he discusses the benefits of Chi Gong, deep breathing exercises, and shows some basics to get you started.
The other two topics involve kettlebells. Basically, he covers the snatch and the clean & jerk. However, his take on it is from a position of Girevoy Sport, after actually going to Russia to learn. There are very specific techniques on efficiency of movement to get the highest numbers possible in these two drills. He discusses body positioning, proper body mechanics, kettlebell positioning, etc. If your goal is to raise your numbers in these two exercises, this is what you’re looking for.
Nate Morrison
Nate also has two sections. One on breathing and one on posture alignment & mobility. There’s quite a bit on breathing techniques and when to use which ones.
In the posture alignment and mobility section, mobility refers to keeping your body mobile as a unit, not joint mobility as Steve Maxwell covers. Nate’s section here is more about finding (and taking advantage of) optimal combinations of stability and mobility. While a lot of the techniques are geared toward martial artists (refers to Systema a few times) and fighters, a lot can be learned by athletes and “regular folks” as well. He also discusses things like joint loading and impact.
The Negatives
I always try to be honest about things and point out the negatives as well. When I look at reviews, the first ones I usually look at are the one-star negative comments. This is where I figure I’ll get the “real story”. However, I really, honestly don’t have much negative to say about this set. Physically, the set comes in one normal DVD case, with all three DVDs stacked on (touching) each other. But, the case was obviously designed to hold them that way. That bugged me at first, but obviously it’s not a huge problem.
As for the content of the DVD, I only have a few, very slightly negative comments. There are a few spots where someone is talking and it fades out to the next bit. It’s obvious that no “meat” was missed, but I’d still like to hear where the comments went. I’d also like to have seen more of the instructors actually with the students, making comments on technique and such. There was some of this, but generally the instructor would call a person up to the front for demonstration. Now, that being said, I also realize that this was taken from a two-day workshop and STILL ended up at over 7-1/2 hours. Clearly, they had to do some serious editing. Overall, these are only minor issues on my part, and would probably just be considered “fluff” to most. As it is, this DVD set is all meat.
So, that’s the gist of what’s in the set – and believe me, I’m not doing it justice. It’s hard to cover everything in a review of a 7-1/2 hour DVD set. I’ll say that it’s a great deal of information. Granted, it’s not cheap, but do you have any idea what it would have cost to attend that workshop? If you are serious about your training, are an athlete, or a coach or personal trainer, you’d do well to pick it up. Also, Mike still has special pricing on this one – so order it quick. The Boys Are Back in Town Kettlebell Workshop DVD.
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