Training with George Hynec: a tribute from A Hong Kong-based RKC
I’m delighted to have the opportunity to thank my good friend and Comrade, George Hynec, for the help and support he has given me in the three years that we’ve known each other and to tell all of you out there just how valuable George’s guidance has been to me.

George and I met in June 2003 when we took our Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) certification together/ Since then we’ve been in regular e-contact and I’ve become increasingly impressed by the breadth and depth of George’s knowledge of the world of sports, training, rehabilitation, and all the things – such as nutrition – that go with that. This means that he is in a position to provide a unique package of advice on exercise, diet, and training techniques (for example, for martial artists), specially tailored to your personal needs. So whether you’re a martial artist preparing for a grading or a tournament, or overweight and want to get control of your body back, or – like me – an ironhead training for recertification, George can provide you with highly specific personal programmes and the guidance that you need.
To illustrate my point, let me tell you a little about what George did for me. Us RKCs are supposed to recertify every two years. There are on average three courses a year and the organisers have undertaken to make each session tougher than the last. That means that the longer you leave it, the harder it is going to be to requalify.

I was supposed to do my recert in June 2005 but injuries and work pressures forced me to defer to April 2006. But these were compounded by a brush with tennis elbow, a setback that took me out of training until early February this year! With under three months to go, I was in desperate straits: they test your fitness at the start of the course and you have to pass the greatly feared snatch test: for men of my age and weight, the standard was 32 per arm and I wasn’t nearly ready to do that. But no worries! I knew that George would have the solution and did he have! Within a few days, George had devised a full, kick-your-butt-back-into-shape fast training programme, complete with complementary advised on nutrition and supplementation.

Let me give you a flavour of what I’m talking about and invite you to check out what George set me for the dreaded Day 3 –
1. 6 reps a side See saw presses, followed immediately by 20 swings (I do them 2 handed with a 16K KB) - do without a break for six sets, no breaks between sets.
Rest 2 minutes.
2. As for 1 but with alternating bent over rows,
Rest 2 minutes.
3. 6 reps chins followed without a break by 20 swings as for 1 and 2: continue without a break for 4 sets.
Rest 2 minutes.
4. As for 3 but with dips instead of chins.
Rest 2 minutes.
5. Core combo: 3 sets anything you like for your abs; 2 sets anything you like for lower back; 2 sets of rotator cuff strengtheners. Reps and rests up to you.
Trust me: that is a foretaste of the seventh circle of hell!

Results?
By late-March I was in the best shape I’d been in for years and ready to exceed the snatch test requirement by 25% if necessary. That would more than exceed the requirement for the top weight group in the open age category (the target reps are set by age and weight division) and I’m a 55 year-old cookie pusher! George had me back-off and focus on the key kettlebell exercises – that is, the things I would actually be doing on the course.

Between 11 and 16 pounds of solid muscle in just six weeks!
I didn’t set out to gain muscle: that’s not what I train for because I’m looking for strength without bulk. But George knew that I’d need to put on some additional packing around the shoulder girdle in order to absorb the shock from repeated and sudden locking out (at the top of a snatch the bell goes through massive deceleration and you need to be able to absorb that comfortably if you’re dong a lot of it day after day as we were). That was one of the aims of the protein shake and low-dosage creatine combo recommended in the programme – that and post-workout rehydration so that your body can sustain these very punishing programmes day in, day out, over the training period and into the course itself.

Well, at the weigh-in for the snatch test, I expected to have put on a little weight: say from my usual 160-165 lb range to something like 165-168. You can imagine the shock when I weighed in at 176: I’d put on something between 11 and 16 lbs over where I was at the start of the programme without even noticing it!!! How come, you might ask? Well, for one thing, I’d been losing fat around the waist – so much so, in fact, that I’d had two extra notches added to my belt: no kidding. But the main reason why I didn’t notice anything was that, in our way of training, where we’re looking for strength and endurance, we ignore the ‘display’ muscles, like the biceps and the pecs, and concentrate on developing the core, particularly the lats and the shoulder girdle: not for size as such but so that we can lift more weight.
So that’s exactly what happened in my case: the muscle build-up was invisible because it was centred around the upper back where those of us who don’t have eyes in the back of our heads can’t see it! But those of you who want to see gains where you and the world can see them need go no further than George Hynec: he’s the man and he’ll give you exactly what you need to make those gains and fast, providing – of course – that you are ready to do the work. And it’s not just about muscle: want to boost your speed? He knows what to do. Jump higher? Throw things further? Greater flexibility? He’s got them all.

So how was the course itself?
As one should expect with Pavel and Co, the workouts were absolute hell. I won't bore you with most of them but suffice it to say that the course was probably twice as tough as it was when I first took it and that had been one of the hardest things I’d done in my life to date. And let me tell you about the grand finale, which was done in blazing sun on a Sunday afternoon, after a morning of three tough workouts, testing, etc). This was ‘The Crucible’ –
Take two bells (24kg each), stand at the top of a sloping field about 100 metres long and form two lines. On the signal, we had to clean and press the bells (I’d never done it with two 24s before) then walk about a third of the distance holding them above our heads. On the next signal, we lowered to the clean rack and walked another third, followed by a farmer's walk to the end. We then had to turn round and bear crawl back up the slope (put the bells on the ground about shoulder width apart, hands grasping the handles, assume a push-up position and 'walk' them from that using your lats). On the signal, at we had to get up and swing one of the bells (hold with both hands, swing back between the legs then up to waist height and so on), until the next signal when the crawls recommenced. The cycle continued until we had re-crossed the line at the top of the field. All this under a mercilessly hot sun – and, for me, fighting a heavy cold that some ****** gave me on the flight out!

In case my glossing over the first two days gives you the impression that they were a cakewalk, let me immediately disabuse you. One poor guy- who was actually really fit - had to miss the final day because the second day had fried his quads so badly that he literally couldn't get out of bed! His wife (also on the course) told us that he hadn't been able to sleep all night because his muscles just wouldn’t respond to his brain signals to let him turn over!

Conclusion and recommendation: on-line coaching works
It will be clear from what I’ve been saying that this is one very happy customer. George took me from nowhere to surviving a brutally hard three days in just six weeks. He did it by preparing a programme that – because of his extensive training and experience – he knew would work so long as I did my bit. I live in Hong Kong and George is based in Sydney: over 8 hours flight apart but this was no more than a minor inconvenience thanks to the invention of the Internet. After every session, I’d mail George with feedback about how the session went, whether I’d decided to make any modifications, how I felt, and so. At every step, George came right back with encouragement, analysis and advice, right down to the prescription of a ‘protein fast’ to trick my body into grabbing every gram of protein and converting it to muscle.

My lesson: on-line training works. You may argue that I am an experienced lifter and that George didn’t need to teach me technique as he would for a beginner. That’s true up to a point but the fact is that the programme George prepared was specifically for me in my present state of training and experience and with a view to meeting my present needs. If I had been a beginner, he would have prepared a programme for a beginner and would have given the particular client the appropriate coaching and guidance. Of course it would be great if I could just drop in on George as so many of you can but I don’t have that luxury. The solution? It’s on-line training: on-line training works – it worked for me and it will work for you!

One last word
As I said at the beginning of this testimonial, George is my friend and it would be eminently understandable if you thought “well, as a friend he would say these things, wouldn’t he?” Or, if you’re really cynical, you might think that George wrote this himself. Well, he didn’t and you can check my bona fides by mailing me direct at pas4@hab.gov.hk. That address will change at the end of May 2006 and I’ll ask George to post the new one. I look forward to hearing from you and will be delighted to answer any questions about my experience of training with George to the best of my ability. With best wishes and all success to you!

Sincerely,
John Dean RKC
Hong Kong
April 2006