Seminar Analysis

Firefighter Kettlebell Seminar – February 7 and 8, 2009 - Post Event Analysis and Summary

Participant Comments taken from Evaluation Form:

"I doubted it at first, but once I saw the instructors and literally felt the work out, it was great. The yoga/breathing was awesome and the core work was awesome."

"The instructors explained everything really well, made all the guys feel like we were part of something."

"The workouts make everything else I have done seem pointless, can't wait to see where it takes me."

"the fact that they are RKC was great. Anyone who trained under Pavel definitely has walked the walk!"

"It would absolutely help with the way we operate on the fire ground."

"I haven't had too many classes where the instructors are so focused & dedicated to educate me on a subject. They incorporated humor when appropriate while constantly maintaining the focused learning environment. They are truly exceptional instructors."

"Total body work out that I can take home or to the firehouse, even teach my wife."

"It can be easily adjustable to your own home and the benefit from the program is exactly what is needed for today's modern firefighter."

"It was real life training that can be done anywhere."

"It will improve my performance, especially when I have to work with 20 y/o kids!"

"Loved this class!"

"Great Program! Don't change anything"

"The best thing for this program would be to continue to introduce it to new brothers and continuing the education of the bell and it's benefits."

Evaluation Summary - all instructors received a score of 10 out of 10 for every evaluation received, except for Zar Horton – who received a score of 11 from one student. Every participant would recommend this course to a friend or brother firefighter. Every participant would like to take another course of this type, either a refresher in 6 months to a year or an advanced kettlebell course. Every participant felt this program would help improve their performance on the job. The food and the facility received high ratings from all participants.

A very special thanks to all who attended the first ever "Kettlebell Training for Firefighters" Seminar held last weekend at the CT Tank facility in Bridgeport CT. We had over 41 participants. Firefighters attended from all over the State, representing Norwalk FD, Stamford Fire Rescue, Poquonnock Bridge Fire Dept., Milford FD, West Haven FD, Stratford FD, and Fairfield. Some brought their wives, and some brought their sons and daughters. The diversity of the class was amazing – from age 12 through age 63, from a few years on the job to retirees, firefighters through Chief Officers. The physical conditioning ranged from athletic to highly deconditioned. All participants performed EVERY exercise and participated in every training session. With the exception of sore hamstrings and one dropped bell there were NO reported injuries in 2 days of training in this eclectic blend of hard style Russian Kettlebell training, flexibility, strength training and yoga. The program was made possible through the generosity of CT Tank and it's owners – Joe Palmerie and Rob Kellerman. Thanks for sharing your space with us. A very special thanks to United Indoor Soccer - Gus Florez and Lourdes Gonzalez for their generous donation to our event which helped pay for our lunch on Sunday. We are also extremely grateful to the Fairfield Firefighters Benevolent Association and it's members – Frank DeAngelo – head cook and bottle washer – Jeff Denitto – social director, Mark Harry and John Callandriello – long-gistics.

As Zar put it so well on the ride back to the airport – we learned kettlebells with the hope that some day we could teach our brothers what we had learned. Thanks for giving us the opportunity. Train hard, train smart.