Although I have been using
kettlebells for many, many years – one of the first in the UK back in 2000/2001
- I have never really trained much for the competition side of it – Girevoy
Sport. I put this right at the weekend and decided to compete in the Scottish
championships in Glasgow.
Fantastic turnout and event!
The weekend had multiple agendas
and was a combination of kettlebells and nutrition workshops that will be
discussed in part 2. The reason I have never really taken to GS in the past is
on multiple levels. I always enjoyed training for strength and endurance as
separate events and never really combined these. I have also been competing in weightlifting
for the last few years and the different energy system work really adds a lot
of training time to the gym routine. However, I gave it a go and put myself on
the line to get a decent baseline figure to check progress.
Now and then you find world champions at these events!
I decided to compete with the
16kg for the very simple reason that I have had a minor disc injury for 20
years and the double rack is the only position in any of my training that
aggravates it. A pretty good reason to avoid GS until now! The other reason is
that not being able to get both elbows to iliac crest means that the platform
for rest is not present and the weights slowly fatigue the posterior section of
the shoulder girdle in around 2-3 minutes. Having little expectation I racked
the 16s and did my first 10. It did not feel too bad, but after a minute or so
I knew that putting them down early was a very wise option and so at 30 reps they
went back on the floor. Trying not to be hard on myself I would regard this
performance as awful at best and I was not happy. My only option was to make
some impact with the snatch and get some good number as it is my best event.
Off they go and Anna Plumridge of BoxBellFit.com got a Gold!
After the generous gap between events
I got on the platform and started on my left hand as the timer began. I got the
full 5 minutes left hand and with 85 reps switched sides. I did manage the full
10 minutes for possibly the first time and got 100 on my right. There were a
few extra, but these were no counts as the fatigue made fixation quite tough at
about 9:30 and so a few dropped short of the mark. 185 snatches was a PB for me
and I was very happy with that. What made it event better is that it was enough
to pull my score up for a bronze medal in my group and really made the day
worth it.
Me with my bronze and some strange fingers that I hid away.
It taught me a lot about myself
and also really encouraged me to take it further as most of the lifters I spoke
to mention the jerk is much easier than snatch – same as Olympic lifting I
guess – and with a jerk at rank 4 (16k 55) and snatch nearly CMS (32k 60) it is
safe to say the foundations are there to make this an enjoyable journey.
Me, Russell Pearcy of KB3training.com. Steve Gordon of Tunovakettlebells.com and Anna.
Alexander Khvostov - world champion and elite lifter with the best coach in the world - Sergey Rudnev.
There is a shedload of trigger
point, stretching and fascia release on the cards in order to get the elbows to
rack eventually and also using the heavier weights will help pull the arms down
lower on the torso. Like many things in life, you really understand what it is
all about when you go out there and actively rise to the challenge. It was fun,
it was educational and it will be repeated very soon. Now the real training
begins as the analysis is complete and the program will take me forwards for
future goals.
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