Seminar by Vasily Ginko (circa 2009)

The reason for this post is rather sentimental. August 2009, five years ago. I always feel strange looking at my photographs from the past. These were good times...

Ginko came to Sydney to conduct his seminar, and I offered him my skills as the translator, which he accepted. I was on call during the weekend and could only get out of Saturday, the day of Level 1. My wife attended Level 2 which ran through Sunday and Monday. 

Was it worth it? Definitely. Vasily's teaching wasn't focused exclusively on on GS, but resembled - in a way - the approach taken by Dragondoor: he promotes kettlebells for general health, strength training, building muscle and - for those who want to take it there - girevoy sport. The lifts were taught in progression from the easiest to most difficult. For instance you learn two arm swing first, then one arm, then swinging two KBs, then outside swing, with one and then with two bells. Other lifts follow the same teaching pattern.

Separate part of the seminar was juggling, at which I sucked. It was a lot of fun anyway. At the end the Maestro gave an impressive demonstration of his juggling skills. 

I cannot comment on Level 2, but consider this. On the first day my wife came home at 7 pm., and on the second - the day of certification - at half past ten! I was preparing dinner in the honor of the Russian guest, and the barbeque got cold. Thankfully another friend (also Russian) visited our house that evening, and we started warming up with wine and lamb chops well in advance.

When Vasily finally arrived we had dinner. Obviously, I tortured him with questions about him, his training and training methods used for GS in general.

It's only five years ago when this photograph was taken, and yet I look very different now...

Vasily represented a commercial organization, and I was not - am not - at liberty to disclose most of the stuff he told me. Honestly, I don't remember much of it. But I remember one thing, his methods were in keeping with what I believed was the correct way to train. Russian EDT and continuous snatching, for instance, were both legitimate and used by many gireviks in Russia. Ginko is a cool dude.