Product Review – FlowFit

Flowfit is an interesting product offered by Scott Sonnon’s RMAX International I recently introduced into my training. Apparently based on a series of movements derived from Prasara Yoga, I find it powerfully effective in my training and share a few thoughts.

The DVD itself is short and well produced. It is divided into an introductory lecture by Scott, demonstrations of seven exercises showing progressions of difficulty, and a series of four “flows” tying these exercises together. Scott’s explanation is concise, well considered, and easy to follow. The exercises address movement in six planes, which you can study further at this link. The flows themselves are a wonder to behold.

Some fellow coaches at the American Kettlebell Club recommended Flowfit to me. After practicing Flow2 and more recently Flow3 almost daily either as a warm up or a standalone training session, I can’t encourage you enough to invest in the DVD and try it. The exercises are easy to pick up from the DVD, and I very quickly noticed physical and mental benefits from almost daily practice. Scott’s demonstation of the exercises and flows appears effortless, but the best judge of effort is your own actual practice. It’s not as easy as it looks, and practice of the flows requires effort and concentration.

From dedicated practice, I have discovered, not surprisingly, that I move easier, I am more mobile, and my joints feel better. The mental benefits have been surprising and are harder to explain. Suffice it to say, I feel calmer, more focused, and more at peace with the world around me.

I have used the program daily as a morning wake up, warm up session, or stand alone training session. Fifteen to 20 minutes is all it takes. Scott tells you that 14-18 minutes, three times a week is all it takes to derive benefits from the program, but once you start practicing, you may find like me that you want to do more. Although the material is presented in “flows”, I don’t see why the exercises could not be mixed and match to create hundreds of possible flows. For the business traveller, it has powerful possibilities as well.

I have interacted with Scott online, and based on my interaction, he is extremely knowledgeable and kind.  The Office of Common Sense(TM) recommends Flowfit as an excellent option for mobility practice and bodyweight exercise. You can order from Scott’s company directly or from amazon.com and other vendors.

The Office of Common Sense(TM)

I work in the accounting world, and am lucky to be a corporate tax consultant in a sub-specialty where there is a huge  demand, always enough work, and nowhere near enough skilled specialists practicing my sub-specialty. What this means is that (i) I make a good living, (ii) although I work hard, I have a very supportive employer due to the supply problem mentioned above, and (iii) I see some ridiculous things.

One of the things I endure do is help out on a large audit of a multi-national client. Auditors are strange birds – those of us who are CPAs are known to say that a trained monkey could audit. Maybe some of my former colleagues at Arthur Andersen, actually had trained monkeys working on the Enron audit, but that is a different story. Some of my colleagues at my current gig on this audit have some strange notions. Whether than bore you with the ridiculousness of auditing theory in today’s Sarbanes Oxley world, some of my colleagues on the tax consulting end of the business and I have decided that some matters need to be run by the Office of Common Sense, or OCS(TM). The only problem is that no such organization exists, which, if you lived in my (very temporary)  hell world of working on a multinational audit, you would wish an Office of Common Sense did exist.

Never fear, I have decided to open the OCS(TM) right here. I don’t know where I  am going to go with this to the world of desk jockey fitness and kettlebell lifting,. Hell, maybe like the well reasoned, photoshopping madman rational guy over at RFP, I may print some t-shirts. Seriously, Scott has some good things to say over at Rational Fitness Practice. I would recommend reading every single entry in his blog – there is some good stuff over there that, well, makes a lot of sense.

My advice for you today, kettlebell lifter and fellow fitness enthusiast, is to step back from every marketing claim that you hear on the internet and ask yourself the question – does this make sense? Give what you read the OCS(TM) Filter Test.

If all goes well, I will also share something wonderful with you going on in my personal life that normally would not pass muster from the OCS(TM) . Give me a few weeks to make sure that this process indeed defies explanation from the OCS(TM) and isn’t another fork down the same cruel road we have gone down several other times. I have a feeling it isn’t. If you’re curious as to the direction I might be heading, read the story of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis and check back periodically.