SEALgrinderPT Interviews Kettlebell Instructor Rob Budd

Rob Budd is a kettlebell instructor and part owner of the Phyzyks gym in Cardif, California. I met Rob as he trained athlete at SEALFIT/US CrossFit down the road a few miles. I was very impressed with Rob’s knowledge of kettlebells and stretching and genuine desire to help others learn and grow.

Every time I am out in SoCal it is my goal to hook up with Rob and learn more about training. Check out the interview with Rob Budd and SEALgrinderPT.

SGPT: Can you tell us about yourself and the type of training that you coach?

RB: I am a Level II Russian Kettlebell Certified Instructor Team Leader. I coach what is called “Hard Style” kettlebells. It is a martial based system like Kenpo or Karate, very rooted and very powerful. I am co-owner of a private training facility in Cardif-by-the-Sea named PHYZYKS. I am also a Level I Crossfit coach and teach at SealFit in Encinitas,Ca. I am a CK-FMS Movement Screen Specialist. FMS screening really helps me pinpoint where to start with someones fitness objectives and reduces injuries. I also am Certified in E-Centric Strength Stretching that is a theraputic modality that balances the body from a world that promotes tight muscles.

SGPT: Tell us more about your past background in sports and weight lifting.

RB: My strength background is in Power Lifting and my athletic background is in football and swimming. I discovered kettlebells while competing in Powerlifting in Nevada, wanting to increase my deadlift. I had been reading about a guy named Pavel Tsatsouline who at the time was writing strength articles for Muscle Media about kettlebells. I was sold on his basic principles for lifting kettlebells that I use to this day. I first met him in 2003 and began using his principles to get stronger in all of my lifts then using the kettlebells in 2005. I have never looked back! I almost solely work with kettlebells coupled with body-weight exercises that mimic movements the we use for life, like burpees! The kettlebells helped me recover so we while I was powerlifting I decided to use them more and more and eventually give up specializing in powerlifting and begin doing a hybrid type of Crossfit workouts.

SGPT: What made your gravitate towards training with kettlebells?

RB: The fact that they stripped excess fat and bodyweight right off of me was the first thing that attracted me to using kettlebells. The other is their humbling effect they had on my ego. I had been lifting weights in a Bodybuilder and Powerlifting style for so long I had thought that I had been there and done that with lifting weights. When the kettlebells were handing me my ass on a regular basis it reminding me of my martial arts background and what a humbling experience that was.

Another thing with kettlebells is that there is so much I can do with them. In the 6 years that I have been working with them I have never been bored or lost for a new way to put the hurt on myself, and after I got certified, put the hurt on my clients.

SGPT: Tell us more in depth about the style of stretching that you work with and how that can help athletes.

RB: E-centric Stretching put the body back in an eccentric balance. As athletes we are in a constant state of concentric which leads to a lot of tight hamstrings, rounded shoulders and the feeling of being all banged up. With the stretching, which by the way is not anywhere close to a passive yoga type stretch, I can literally reset the body to a balanced state and feel loose but not like gumby who is weak. Strength Stretching is what it sounds like, a strong way to stretch. Being stretched this way really is a lot of work, it feels like a workout and is not easy or relaxing. I am stronger afterward.

SGPT: You have trained with Pavel Tsatsouline, can you tell us more about the RKC kettlebell training?

RB: It has been life changing having the opportunity to work side by side with Pavel Tsatsouline. Pavel teaches principles that overlap from kettlebells, bodyweight exercises, powerlifting to Olympic lifting. It is amazing that once I learned these principles of staying braced and tight to an explosive state I was able to excel in all of my workouts.

I have been able to stay healthy with no injuries because of these principles and pass this knowledge onto my clients who have also benefited with keeping injury free. Because what we all want to do is to train as hard as we can for as long as we can injury free. If we are sidelined with an injury, minor or major, that is our progress we are sacrificing. And it really sucks to be injured!

Pavel takes knowledge from all types of authorities in the Health and Wellness business. Everyone from pro athletes, Physical Therapist, Chiropractors, Martial Artists and Mutant beings that have are able to do crazy feats of strength. He doesn’t claim to be the expert in any one of these fields, he has the experts in these fields coming to him to share there knowledge.

SGPT: Have you had injuries in the past and if so what do you do now to prevent them?

RB: I have had 3 back injuries that to me were major, enough so to seek help in getting me healthy. The first major one I was preparing for a powerlifting meet and strained my back warming up to back squat. I went to a chiropractor who unfortunately misdiagnosed me as having one leg longer than the other which I found out later was an elevated hip. I again strained my back because of the same issue and sought help from Carolyn Brumfield, whom

I co-own PHYZYKS with, who specializes in Postural Therapy. She balanced my hip and sacrum to the point were I haven’t had the need to see a chiropractor in over 5 years. The Postural Therapy is magic! The third, and worse incident, I received an aggressive deep tissue massage that ended in a release of tight hip flexors, which elevated my hip which in turn strained my back. Once again Carolyn put me back together. Her therapy is an article in itself but definitely worth looking into. She, by the way, is the best kettlebell instructor that I know.

SGPT: What are some good warmups that athletes can perform with the kettlebells?

RB: There are so many great warm-ups that can be done with the kettlebells but here are a few: kettlebell sling shots is where an athlete takes a kettlebell and swings it around their body to open up their shoulders and engage their truck stabilizers (aka core). Turkish Get UP (TGU) is one of the all time best warm-ups, done slowly and with relatively light weight. By slowly I mean taking up to 2 min to complete one side of the TGU! Half kneeling halo is a fantastic warm up that works on shoulder mobility and trunk rotation and stability.

Take a 1/2 kneeling stance with the front foot as close to inline with the supporting knee (one knee on the floor with one foot out in front of the body), grasp a kettlebell but the handle and trace a halo around your head making sure the kettlebell is going all the way around the head to the middle of the shoulder blades and to the front and top of the chest under the chin. These exercises can be seen throughout the workouts on my web-site www.buddbells.com.

SGPT: What are some good stretching exercises before and after a workout that athletes can do?

RB: To name a few: iliotibial band (IT) stretch (static or dynamic) while lying on the floor on the back, reach the leg across the body with the knee locked out and the foot flexed. Lunge stretch in a sprinters starting position, alternate sides after a 5 second hold. Up/down dog stretch done dynamic, dont spend too much time in a static position. Arm circles and over head squats without any weight to round it out. This is an abbreviated version of a warm-up.

After workout: again an IT band stretch because we tend to over use and strain the IT band with running and squatting. Cat/dog stretch, down dog and one of my favorites is a Bretzelle. It is fairly complicated to describe in writing but the idea is to get spinal rotation for thoracic mobility, quad stretch and IT band stretch all in one movement. If you are interested in seeing it I will send you a you-tube video of it.

SGPT: We greatly appreciate the interview Rob. See you at SEALFit in a few weeks.

RB: I am honored that you have asked my for an interview! I look forward to seeing you soon. Take care, train hard, train smart and keep swinging those kettlebells!

If you are out in Southern California – SEALgrinderPT highly recommends that you go visit Rob Budd at his gym in Cardif — Phyzyks Gym.

Questions from athletes in our gym.

Question: What is an abbreviated kettle bell workout program?
Monday: Swing
Tuesday: Get-Up
Wednesday: Clean
Thursday: Press
Friday: Front Squat
Saturday: Snatch
Ten minutes a day, six days a week is one hour a week of exercise. Everyone can perform ten minutes of exercise a day.

Question: Where can I find a free navy seal kettlebell workouts download pdf?