REDONDO BEACH BOOT CAMP

This is the meaning of a trainer’s company out of Canada who I have studied under at 3 different courses.

Agatsu- “Self victory.” According to the founder, true victory (MASAKATSU) is the victory one achieves over oneself (AGATSU). Thus one of the founder’s “slogans” was MASAKATSU AGATSU — “The true victory of self-mastery.”

I took The Agatsu Level 2 Kettlebell Certification on the 30 and 31st of January from kettlebell pioneer Shawn Mozen. He got certified in kettlebells back in 2003 under Pavel Tsatsouline when very few people even new what a kettlebell was. After getting certified Shawn popularized kettlebells in throughout Canada, where he is from. I met him through another kettlebell instructor, Alex King of Kettlebells USA. He told my about a course Shawn was instructing through Moni Aizik’s Commando Krav Maga called Elite Combat Fitness. This was back in June of 2008.
I trained with Shawn twice that year, first with the combat fitness course and then he was one of Moni’s instructors at the Commando Krav Maga’s Level 1 and 2 self defense course. What I liked about Shawn is that he is a martial artist and a trainer like myself. We both see martial arts and fitness differently than most people(more on this topic on my Ranger Fit Blog).
On the second day of his Level 2 course, Shawn asked us if we knew the meaning of Agatsu, his company’s name. He also said that he thought it strange that his students don’t ask the meaning of Agatsu. Maybe it is because they are all so mentally and physically exhausted from non-stop kettlebell lifting that they can’t think of anything else but getting through the course. I put allot of thought into this. Shawn spent time talking about things like, what is our intent with our own training and how we train our clients.He also talked about will and how it was his will that enabled him to bring kettlebells to Canada. He also spent time on his agatsu, self mastery.
So back to goals and how this relates to Redondo Beach Boot Camp. We are still in a brand new year. Many people have already quit on their new year’s fitness goal. National statistic is that 50% quit in the first month. So if you are still trying you are a success.
Since 2003 to the present each year the fitness industry tries to reel a new batch of people wanting to get in shape. Each year more people fail than succeed. The industry’s mistake is they market to the masses wants not needs and they try to dumb everything down and not tell people the truth. They believe that people will not buy unless you tell them what they want to hear. But the truth really comes back to agatsu, self mastery. My self mastery is going to be different than a 50 year old office worker or a busy mom. But we all must make a commitment to work the same basics, nutrition, cardio, weights, core, flexibility, mental(stress reduction and focus) and spiritual(attitude and outlook on life). Without these we will limmit our success or worse fail miserably. Many people want to omit some of those basic but all of those are inter-related. Self-mastery does not sound appealing but results and success does.