At first, Kettlebell Partner Passing seemed intimidating since I am neither skilled at throwing or catching.  But as soon as the mind chatter went away, all that remains is focus and fun!

KPP is about connection and flow.  It feels great to be engaged in an activity that strengthens all the muscles and creates a flow of energy, without feeling tedious or redundant.  I definitely was ecstatic about the benefits to my posture directly after and for a few days following a KPP session.  

It helps to have a great instructor!  Michael is phenomenal in training: reinforcing form for safety and injury prevention, and providing compassionate support in building confidence.   I highly recommend trying KPP!

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San Francisco, Ca

“Michael is a great trainer and a renaissance

man, strong in body, mind and spirit.”

Los Angeles, Ca

KPP is addictive and engaging.  With this system you will learn more than you expect and it's a lot of fun! It demands presence of mind and ask us to focus with and for the person on the other side. There's a finess that encourages a beautiful nonverbal form of communication; This helps people connect; it breaks down walls and builds trust.  It reminds us that we can feel good in something simple.  Anyone can do this, and Michael has created a seamless way of teaching the nvice to the advanced.  AND you will feel energized and it's a great way to build dynamic strength!  I love seeing people light up and smile after they pass for the first time.  For many it's a confidence builderas well.  I intend to continue to experience the benefits of this powerful practice and share it with my clients friends and family!

Rancho Coucomonga, CA

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It was great meeting you yesterday. I have experimented with passing bells with Mike and I have tinkered with juggling on my own. However, what we did yesterday adds depth to what I have been doing and opens the door to endless new possibilities for swinging kettlebells. 

I train regularly and I’m happy to punch the clock to gain strength, but I am starving for some new movement. I told you that I just did an outdoor workshop that revolved around tree climbing, rough housing, rolling, crawling, etc. All of that is great but it is not readily available to me like passing bells is. Passing bells with you yesterday was nourishing. It was nourishing in a physical way where it felt good to use my body with a kettlebell outside what I am used to. I can see how passing bells can have obvious physical benefits, and I look forward to learning the stepping throws and the other more open-chain 3dimensional movements. 

 But, the thing that really stood out to me was how it felt to pass two bells. Everything melted away similar to being in a light trance or when I drift off in a daydream. There is a spiritual component to passing bells, I found myself in a good flow when we were ‘stirring the pot’ in both horizontal and vertical circles. When I was done yesterday I felt energized and refreshed. Kettlebell training is not usually accompanied by smiles and laughter, passing bells is and it has a heeling effect on me. 

I didn’t get to experience the fear factor personally, but I can see how passing bells can be an empowering experience for people. I believe that bell passing can have a healing effect not only on the individual but on the people passing a bell/s. Passing bells is a conversation, it is about cooperation not confrontation or competition. Mike and I did 15 minutes of passing today and we both got a good sense of what effect a throw has on the receiver but also on how it comes back to us. It is metaphoric for the energy and emotions we send to others in our daily interactions, you get what you give. It is very satisfying when you get in a groove, when the handle turns over just right almost as if your partner is placing it in your hands, giving you the opportunity to return it in the same condition. 

I love the eye contact component. How often do people make eye contact and become fully engaged with each other. Most people are disconnected from each other, they do much of their communication through text or email. This is a relationship building tool. My wife and I have solid relationship. She is also an SFG2, I look forward to passing bells with her as another form of communication. This fits right in with the spiritual work that we have been doing over the last year and half.

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Love and Gratitude for this gift,

Hermosa Beach, CA

Kettlebell Partner Passing is one of the most versatile systems available because it can be strength training for athletes, quality time with a significant other, or an ice breaker when meeting new friends. However, the most powerful aspect of KPP is the connection it provides the participants. I believe that a team or partnership is only as strong as its strongest link. When a partnership inevitably goes through tough times, the strongest links in your chain need to be able to support and lift the weaker ones in order to maintain the structure they support. Like the process used to harden steel, KPP has toughened and helped remove the stresses and brittleness in the chain links between my wife and I as well as within the teams I coach. If you want to immediately create a stronger connection within a team, between you and a significant other, or you just simply want to connect with new people, Kettlebell Partner Passing is an effective and fun way to achieve those goals.

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Castrogiovanni almost 15 years ago. Yes, it was the kettlebell that brought us together on a field in Minnesota a long time ago. We quickly became friends and I am one of the lucky many who consider him a near and dear friend. 

To fully understand the Kettlebell Partner Passing program, you must know the man behind it. Michael is unlike anyone I have ever met. Without getting into his background, Michael has lived a full life, one with experiences that most of us will never have ourselves. This program is far beyond simply two people tossing a kettlebell back and forth. The system is about connection. The intent is to use this rudimentary tool to create a window for two or more people to tap into some of the deepest levels of themselves. The unspoken language that is organically formed almost immediately creates an environment where many of the physical, psychological, bio energetic and even spiritual skills we all possess come to the forefront. When a professional athlete speaks of "flow"- this is what the KPP system creates. It's a degree of concentration that allows the user to tap into deep areas of the brain that can only be accessed when they simultaneously focus while equally "letting go". There's a mysterious elegance to the entire process that can only be truly experienced. 

They system has been Michael's baby for over a decade now. He's refined things to the point that his teachings are effortless and he creates an environment that allows the users to progress at their own pace. He's truly a master and the KPP system is a direct reflection of who he is. 

Head Strength and Conditioning Coach- Cal Poly Athletics. San Luis Obispo, CA

If it weren't for Michael Castrogiovanni I would have never met Pavel Tsatsouline or become a Master Instructor. I've known Michael since he was 14 or so and showed him the basics of weight training and later on the kettlebell. The rest, as they say, is history. Michael, as he is wont to do, took the bull by the horns and braved a new trail, and expansive and evolving trail. His own trail. With weight training, mobility and of course the kettlebell. His Kettlebell Partner Passing program is truly Michael at his most original and best. Bringing together all the serious aspects of technique and progressions with Mike's love of fun, and joy and bringing people together, KPP takes kettlebell swinging and juggling to an entirely new level. One that everyone can enjoy, from the beginner to the most advanced, looking for a new serious challenge.

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I’ve known Michael Castrogiovanni since he was 14 years old and am proud to say I introduced him to the Iron World at my World Gym in Campbell, Ca. Michael was, as he still is, a quick study in things both physical and intellectual and he learned everything I showed him very fast, and ,more importantly, he worked hard on his own and thought about what he was doing. 

He was already an athlete, training for competition in wrestling and the strength he acquired in the gym did him well on the mat. He trained and studied bodybuilding, he watched and learned the intricacies of powerlifting from the elders in the gym and applied his own twist to everything he learned; making it his own. There is only One Mike Castro.

He left for college and came back with a degree in Kinesiology and a depth of knowledge in the science of training;a direction I did not expect him to go. He became a scientist as well as an athlete. And the artist in him demanded he merge all three. Which he did and continues to do to this day with his studies of yoga, martial arts, all kinds of crazy incredible juggling( both weighted and non) and body work therapies adding to his knowledge of kettlebells and traditional weight training.

When I showed Michael the kettlebell he did what he always does with a new athletic endeavor, he took it on himself to study it until he had mastered it, then made it his own, adding his own unique insights and knowledge born from his hard work.

Michael is truly the penultimate student as well as a gifted and caring teacher.Micheal is always searching for new knowledge, new ways of looking at old things and has an incredibly intuitive instinct for training and the body. 

If you get a chance to train with this incredible athlete/teacher don’t miss it,

I can't recommend KPP, or Michael enough!

Kettlebell and Physical culture and fitness expert San. Jose, CA

If you don't know what Kettle Bell Partner Passing (KPP) is you need to check it out.  There is nothing in the fitness industry or the business that gets you to connect and get into the zone like Michael Castrogiovanni's KPP.

The biggest thing that is missing in the fitness industry is connection.  It is the ability to adapt to another person or energy over a given period of time.  Adaptability is necessary not only for growth in your physical journey, but it is the essence of life itself.

What if in every session you could master yourself by mastering the moment, while collectively achieving a higher ordeal or version of your self.  An idea of community where you push your partner through connecting and caring about their performance rather than competing.    I am all for competition, but when it comes to success, we need cooperation.  Any great coach will tell you that it is the progressive ability of two high level athletes to work together to push each other.  When competition enters the picture, the ego takes over.  The ego is the downfall of the great athlete or the mover.  

To be a great athlete to be a great individual, "The "I"" must be terminated.  For "I" can not exist in the heat of battle, it just "IS".  The Zone, that state of connectivity, that state of performance, when a group together is connected for the collective success of  the whole, this is mastery on the field.  This is the "Secret" of all success.  Not techniques, fads, systems, or even the coaches.  It is all about the person, the connection, and the freedom of movement.  I am grateful for my time with Coach Michael and the times we have spent together passing have truly been some of the most FUN times I have ever spent training, as a matter of fact, we are now moving towards Playing like in the school yard, instead of Training.

Join the KPP Movement.

Santa Cruz, Ca

Being a yoga teacher, personal trainer, swimmer, cyclist, hiker, working with Kettlebells has been a fairly recent development in my training program. I had only swung a kettlebell in a straight line, sometimes horizontal (swings), sometimes vertical (cleans), with a hard hand grip, and feet planted on the ground.  The same movement plane, the same pattern, the same stance.  After meeting Michael, who introduced me to Kettlebell Partner Passing, my world (kettlebell) was flipped upside down and right side up.  I was awakened to a world of undreamed possibilities within the world of kettlebells and beyond! 

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Especially when Michael started changing the space between us, stepping further back, stepping closer in, playing with distance but yet somehow still being able to stay connected on a trusted unspoken communication front, despite time, distance and space. You know you're in the groove when theres no leader, theres no follower, just pure peaceful flow between partners passing. Relationship of pure reciprocity. And yet it's okay to fail, to drop the bell, and once you do, trust me its inevitable, you become aware of your strong heartbeat, your full deep breaths and you notice the paradigm shift of acceptance.  You smile, you pick up the bell, you ask one another, "are you ready", count to 3, lock eyes, and begin passing again and again, rinse and repeat. Its a fun, exhilarating, yet peaceful and grounding meditative dance. You've become woke to the flow.  If you're seeking a creative way to get in a good work out, while tapping into another layer of consciousness you didn't think existed, then this is the practice for you. 
 

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Personally, after our session I felt overwhelmed with a foreign feeling of raw vulnerability which in turn left me feeling humble yet strong. A humble warrior so to speak. This practice invited me to explore different avenues, pathways and routes, which in turn allowed myself to feel creative, open and free. 

Yoga instuctor Los Gatos, CA

I found it to be a learning curve passing with a new person in the way of learning and accepting their flow and way of passing. I found it very vulnerable to pass with someone that I had never met before. I really had to set my shit aside so I could be with Tone and not really mess him up. It was a humbling experience. To not have my ego jump in and run the show was really difficult and as we continued the crap just faded away into the background and it was just he and I throwing the bell to each other. Bitchen!

Encintas, CA

  Kettlebell partner passing is way more fun than I expected. Yes it is basically tossing a cannon ball back and forth. Yes it will make you strong and yes it is great conditioning. But what makes it fun is its magnetic ability to draw you into the present. The only thing that's better than being fully present is sharing that experience with a friend, or better yet someone you just met. In complete presence, facades and superficialities fall away. There's no space for them. When you fully drop into the present its just you. You can't pretend to be someone else or try to impress someone you just met. You can't be anything but yourself because you're trying to catch this ball of steel thats flying through the air at you. In those moments, whether you realize it or not, you are connecting with another person and being accepted as you are. And there is no greater feeling in the world than being validated as our honest, true selves. 

Passing the kettlebell creates a dialogue that teaches us about the person we are passing with and about ourselves. If I throw a perfect pass it is easy for the other person to receive and send back to me and I can feel it. The converse is true of a poor pass. The other person has to adjust and the return pass is far less fluid and harder for me to catch. What I put out returns immediate feedback reminding me that I cannot receive the best unless I give the best. This exchange creates a vested interest in the success of others further developing connection. 

True, simple connection that comes from a place of love is rare. Its hard enough to have that with ourselves, let alone with someone we just met (who is probably taller, stronger, prettier, more articulate, than we are blah, blah blah). Insecurities are real and can get the better of us. It happens to me all the time. But Kettlebell Partner Passing creates an opportunity to transcend those insecurities, an opportunity to defy our own narcissism by being so totally engrossed in the present that we can actually connect with ourselves and if we're lucky, with another person. The depth and richness of that experience is something I don't even know how to articulate. But I recognize it as fun. Its the same kind of fun toddlers have when they learn how to do summersaults. The kind of fun that gets you high, puts a smile on your face and makes the world a better place.

Regenerative Design Consultant, Seaside, CA

My KPP experience has been amazing so far! It is all about connecting with another person and learning how to focus into the present moment. It's meditation and so much more. I look forward, every time, to start my day by moving my body, being outdoors and interacting with another person. In the beginning its seams challenging but it's all about trust, following the steps, trusting the process andit becomes  truly magical. It has changed my life a lot and this is just the beginning!!!

Los Angeles, CA