{"id":20535,"date":"2014-04-24T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\/\/uncategorized\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification"},"modified":"2021-11-22T01:08:44","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T06:08:44","slug":"4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"

This coming weekend I am going to be part of a large group of people attempting to get a StrongFirst Level II certificate<\/strong> (My fellow BreakingMuscle writer Brandon Hofer<\/a> will also be there, but with a great deal more flexibility than me).<\/p>\n

There has never been a doubt in my mind about getting the certificate, but after reading this article on the validity of certifications<\/a>, I began to wonder about the why? So to find out, I wrote an article.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Knowledge<\/h2>\n

Pavel Tsatsouline<\/a> has been one of my favorite coaches for years. I used to pick up Muscle Media magazines to read his articles in the late 1990s and early 2000s (most were not on the use of kettlebells). I purchased every one of his books and even though I don\u2019t use all of his techniques, he has my respect enough to listen and learn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Thus, a little over a year ago I thought I would learn from his new organization, StrongFirst<\/a>. As my primary career is not coaching, the knowledge is more about making myself stronger and having more mobility. For coaches, I would say that this certificate is much more than kettlebells. It is about making yourself or your clients strong in all of their lifts.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Effort Justification<\/h2>\n

I have CrossFit certifications, from which I gained excellent knowledge (mobility and gymnastics are great). However, they were not as physically taxing. In contrast, I needed to prepare and train for months to accomplish the exercise standards of the SFG Level I certificate<\/strong>. I could not just show up<\/a>. I had to learn techniques perfectly with heavy weights, as I would be tested on them. I stopped all other programming to focus on this one event.<\/p>\n

Social psychologists call my nostalgic thinking effort justification. That is, if we put a lot of effort into something, we need to justify it as being better (as the reason we put all the effort put into it)<\/strong>. A classic study put people through hazing like rituals to join a group. The tougher the ritual, the more they were proud of their group membership. I have some tough tasks to accomplish this weekend and if I do I will be proud to say that I am a SFG Level II. Sure it might be effort justification and I know that my mind is justifying the hard work. Be it what it may, I still feel more pride.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3. Goals<\/h2>\n

Part of the reason I liked Pavel\u2019s writing is that he would often drop a bit of information on what other strongmen have done<\/strong>. I took it as a personal challenge each time I read it. When he said that Marines who do 25 strict pull-ups get a top grade, I set a goal of doing 25 strict pull-ups. When he said that a strongman could clean-and-press a kettlebell closest to half bodyweight<\/a>, I knew I would have to do it. By the end of 2014, I hope to \u201ctame the beast<\/a>\u201d (strict press, do a pistol, and a weighted pull-up with a 48kg kettlebell.<\/p>\n

Other students at this certification are like-minded in wanting to do unusual strongman type of tasks (e.g., Dave Whitley, The Iron Tamer<\/a>). The certification is more about hitting my goals than having a piece of paper with my name on it<\/strong>. By signing up, I am now accountable<\/a> to hit these important goals.<\/p>\n

4. Community<\/h2>\n

The CrossFit community<\/a> at my gym is amazing. We have an amazing group of athletes that inspire me everyday (e.g., Gerard Bross<\/a>). At an SFG event, the community spirit is amplified due to the pressure of the standards. I really feel like I will not forget anyone from my team. To compare it to other certifications, I doubt anyone remembers me from any of them. But this Sunday, when everyone is completing their hundred kettlebell snatches in five minutes or half-bodyweight kettlebell strict presses, we will all cheer each other on and share this amazing memory. In one weekend, I build friendships that endure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

References:<\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Aronson, E., and Mills, J., \u201cThe Effect of Severity of Initiation on Liking for a Group<\/a>.\u201d The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology<\/em> (1959) 59 (2): 177.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Tsatsouline, Pavel. 2006. Enter The Kettlebell! Strength Secret of The Soviet Supermen<\/a><\/em>. 1st edition. St. Paul, MN: Dragon Door Publications.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Mandy Whitley<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This coming weekend I am going to be part of a large group of people attempting to get a StrongFirst Level II certificate (My fellow BreakingMuscle writer Brandon Hofer will also be there, but with a great deal more flexibility than me). There has never been a doubt in my mind about getting the certificate, but after reading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":984,"featured_media":20536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4642],"tags":[251],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification - Breaking Muscle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification - Breaking Muscle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This coming weekend I am going to be part of a large group of people attempting to get a StrongFirst Level II certificate (My fellow BreakingMuscle writer Brandon Hofer will also be there, but with a great deal more flexibility than me). There has never been a doubt in my mind about getting the certificate, but after reading...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking Muscle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/breakingmuscle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"pages\/Florida-Kettlebell\/237605536443665\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-24T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-22T06:08:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/tscsnatch.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Craig Marker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BreakingMuscle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BreakingMuscle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Craig Marker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Craig Marker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d9035b3d95da58f068dac0ffd544d8a\"},\"headline\":\"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-24T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-22T06:08:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/\"},\"wordCount\":722,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"kettlebells\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Fitness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/\",\"name\":\"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification - Breaking Muscle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-24T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-22T06:08:44+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Fitness\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/fitness\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking Muscle\",\"description\":\"Breaking Muscle\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Breaking Muscle\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bmlogowhite-red.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bmlogowhite-red.png\",\"width\":714,\"height\":714,\"caption\":\"Breaking Muscle\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/breakingmuscle\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreakingMuscle\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/breakingmuscle\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/breakingmuscle\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/BreakingMuscleVideos\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d9035b3d95da58f068dac0ffd544d8a\",\"name\":\"Craig Marker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cropped-craigmarkerbio2-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cropped-craigmarkerbio2-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Craig Marker\"},\"description\":\"Craig Marker, Ph.D. CSCS, StrongFirst Senior Instructor, is a fitness enthusiast who has spent his life trying to help people improve their lives. He is an Associate Professor at Mercer University teaching psychology and research methods. He works with students on how best to understand research and place it into context. He has published over fifty articles on psychology and research methods. As a researcher, he understands the latest cutting-edge research on fat loss, muscle gain, sports performance, and nutrition. As a psychologist, Craig has focused on research and treatment of anxiety disorders, which positions him to understand motivation and the fear of making life changes. His upcoming book, the AntiFragile Self, takes on the topic of building a stronger person in the mental and physical domains. As a certified StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor, Craig views kettlebells as one tool in the trade of forging a better person. He also has certifications in CrossFit, CrossFit Mobility, and CrossFit Gymnastics. He uses the Functional Movement Screen and multiple corrective movements to make sure his students are performing at their best for the rest of their lives. You can visit him in person at CrossFit Empirical in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.\",\"sameAs\":[\"pages\/Florida-Kettlebell\/237605536443665\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/author\/craig-marker\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification - Breaking Muscle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification - Breaking Muscle","og_description":"This coming weekend I am going to be part of a large group of people attempting to get a StrongFirst Level II certificate (My fellow BreakingMuscle writer Brandon Hofer will also be there, but with a great deal more flexibility than me). There has never been a doubt in my mind about getting the certificate, but after reading...","og_url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/","og_site_name":"Breaking Muscle","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/breakingmuscle\/","article_author":"pages\/Florida-Kettlebell\/237605536443665","article_published_time":"2014-04-24T18:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-22T06:08:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/tscsnatch.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Craig Marker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@BreakingMuscle","twitter_site":"@BreakingMuscle","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Craig Marker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/"},"author":{"name":"Craig Marker","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d9035b3d95da58f068dac0ffd544d8a"},"headline":"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification","datePublished":"2014-04-24T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-22T06:08:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/"},"wordCount":722,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["kettlebells"],"articleSection":["Fitness"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/","url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/","name":"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification - Breaking Muscle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-24T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-22T06:08:44+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/4-reasons-to-do-the-strongfirst-certification\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Fitness","item":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/fitness\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"4 Reasons to Do the StrongFirst Certification"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/","name":"Breaking Muscle","description":"Breaking Muscle","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#organization","name":"Breaking Muscle","url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bmlogowhite-red.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/bmlogowhite-red.png","width":714,"height":714,"caption":"Breaking Muscle"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/breakingmuscle\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreakingMuscle","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/breakingmuscle\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/breakingmuscle\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/BreakingMuscleVideos"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3d9035b3d95da58f068dac0ffd544d8a","name":"Craig Marker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cropped-craigmarkerbio2-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cropped-craigmarkerbio2-96x96.jpg","caption":"Craig Marker"},"description":"Craig Marker, Ph.D. CSCS, StrongFirst Senior Instructor, is a fitness enthusiast who has spent his life trying to help people improve their lives. He is an Associate Professor at Mercer University teaching psychology and research methods. He works with students on how best to understand research and place it into context. He has published over fifty articles on psychology and research methods. As a researcher, he understands the latest cutting-edge research on fat loss, muscle gain, sports performance, and nutrition. As a psychologist, Craig has focused on research and treatment of anxiety disorders, which positions him to understand motivation and the fear of making life changes. His upcoming book, the AntiFragile Self, takes on the topic of building a stronger person in the mental and physical domains. As a certified StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor, Craig views kettlebells as one tool in the trade of forging a better person. He also has certifications in CrossFit, CrossFit Mobility, and CrossFit Gymnastics. He uses the Functional Movement Screen and multiple corrective movements to make sure his students are performing at their best for the rest of their lives. You can visit him in person at CrossFit Empirical in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.","sameAs":["pages\/Florida-Kettlebell\/237605536443665"],"url":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/author\/craig-marker\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20535"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/984"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152857,"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20535\/revisions\/152857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}