Perfect for athletes, Darius Andre Gilbert, RKC Team Leader interview Dragon Door: How did first find kettlebells? Darius Gilbert: A good friend introduced them to me—Glenn Seth, one of the first original RKCs back when it first started in 2001. I was a trainer at Gold’s Gym, and was in a functional fitness mode, and doing the typical functional exercises using Bosu balls, Swissballs, and all kinds of crazy stuff. At the same time, Glenn was over in the corner working with just a few heavy kettlebells. He was also a trainer at Gold’s and had tried to get me to try kettlebells for a long time—finally I decided to give it a shot. Immediately I was impressed and realized that I’d never felt this way before while working out. Kettlebells really effected me, and right from the start I knew that I’d have to get into it. I went to NYC, took some courses, bought some kettlebells, then came back and just started training. The moment I tried them the first time, I knew it was for me. Being an athlete I know when something feels right, and kettlebell training felt great. I jumped into it and soon signed up for the RKC. Everything happened quickly as I first tried kettlebells in 2007, then went for my RKC in 2008. I knew right away that kettlebells were for me. Dragon Door: You have an extensive athletic background in football and basketball, how does that effect your training? Darius Gilbert: Being an athlete, I always love to be in shape and love to train. Also, kettlebells are just perfect for how we want to train our athletes at my gym. I’d say that I’m the perfect testimonial because I still feel just as strong, explosive, and capable of doing many of the same things I did when I played football at the University of Virginia. I know I’m training the right way because at age 40 I can still keep up with the 18 year old kids we train, and still dunk a basketball. Also, I don’t have any injuries and I’ve never been injured during training—I’m always feeling good and explosive. Kettlebells are the perfect tool for what our athletes need, because we dont like to load them with a lot of heavy barbell work. At first, most of the kids who come in to train with us dont move very well, so we start to work on their mobility, movement competency and core stability—and kettlebells have been just perfect for that. Our athletes really take off after…read complete interview: dragondoor/dragon_door_interviews_rkc_team_leader_darius_gilbert
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 15:17:46 +0000