I had the idea to create IronCore – Ultimate Strength not long time ago.
In November 2011, I went to the doctor, because my arms became numb and tingled under certain conditions. But what really made me nervous is that I lost strength in my left arm to the point that I couldn’t even hold a frying pan.
Two weeks later, I was diagnosed with a disk hernia in the upper spine on C4/C5.
After 20 years of daily weightlifting, running, biking, and swimming, I stopped everything. What would happen, if I blew my disks completely? Would I remain paralyzed?
In late February, I went to the most renowned surgeon specialized in surgical interventions at the spine and underwent another series of tests.
I will always remember the moment when I was sitting anxiously there, waiting for the final verdict, and he said: “You’re fine. If I was you, I wouldn’t worry. Just make sure your neck muscles are strong and you work your posture.”
That’s what I did. I signed up in a gym again, and these folks had a couple of plastic kettlebells standing in a corner. Having heard about these “things” before, I started to google and youtube, to see how to use them. What I saw was mostly scary, from a functional movement perspective outright dangerous. So before hurting myself, I looked for something more “serious”, and, you can guess, found Pavel Tsatsouline. Having devoured his books and DVDs, my kettlebell skills seemingly improved very quickly. I soon added TRX suspension training and plyometric practices to my daily routines.
Being kind of perfectionist in many things I do, I soon realized that I wanted some real-life classes, and so I went to find some. But guess what? No way to find a hardstyle kettlebell class in Switzerland. And off I went to find (at that time) Pavel’s RKC certification program.
So I registered myself for the October 2012 RKC in London.
Looking back, I realize that I was really quite foolish. If, accidentially, you are an RKC you might agree with me. Touching a kettlebell the first time in April, and trying to pass the RKC six months later seems … foolish.
However, I started to practice very disciplined, following Pavel’s drills by the letter. And I soon realized, that indeed after so many years of sports, I was nowhere. Limited mobility, lack of core strength, leave alone coordination. I mean, I could press 100 on the bench. I couldn’t do a single pull-up. It had never been on my agenda. But then again, so what?
On the way to RKC, I learned many things, I had my ups and downs, and I was going through lots of pain as well.
And that way led me to create IronCore – Ultimate Strength.
Not only I want to share my own experience, which I know is limited, but mainly, I want to create a thriving community of people who want to develop strength, and who want to help others on the same way.
That is IronCore. Your place to share experience, find new information, exchange thoughts, make friends, and much more.
We’re just at the beginning, but I hope that this place grows quickly, and you make it your place.