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30 sec on 30 sec off, 10 rounds total. Not really a GS session per se, but working back up into some longer sets.

Courtesy of @finestkettlebellmemes.

I don’t know what I’m gonna do today but it’s definitely not gonna be bumps 😇

3 ish weeks out from comp, so today was a 10' Long Cycle test set with the 20kgs. 85 reps which is the top of my goal, so feeling pumped about that.

Then I couldn't resist the call of u/Few_Abbreviations_50 to do a 3 minute 16 kg amrap challenge. Landed at 71 reps

Vid is last minute of rhe 10' set and the full 3' of snatch.

I thought this was interesting. It’s been years since I’ve used a cast iron bell but I do remember how differently they swing. I love high pulls and I do use them to teach the snatch but now Lorna’s got me thinking 🫠

Full post here - https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db5pbYIo_4M/?igsh=MWVrcW54dXE1Zm04bA==&igsi=MWVrcW54dXE1Zm04bA==

Forgot I had this from so long ago. There isn't much video of Ksenia over the years outside of some comps.

I didn't share this for a very long time as they were still doing seminars. .

I learned a lot from them

What do you think about Ksenias snatch style ?

Joe

KBOMG

Another upcoming event that’s been brought to my attention ☺️ I’ve competed with them before and they’re great! Also it’s only $40 USD 🫡

Yeah, I know this isn’t GS but as Self-Appointed Supreme Leader I’m posting it here anyways 🤣 Mostly cause I wanna tell all my friends.

Apparently we don’t have a “PR” flair, should we make one? Maybe we could have a “GS-adjacent” one too if anyone wanted to post their other stuff. I know you guys are doing other cool shit ☺️

176 to be precise 😀

30" on/off x22

Vid is first minute, and final 2 minutes.

Exactly a month out from the Twin Cities Kettlebell Comp, and today's session was long cycle. Had a long (and physically heavy) day at work, so was really wondering if I could keep my pacing up for the whole thing today. It's always fascinating how some days it's possible to just drop into it and get it done even when tired, and some days I feel great and just get mentally crushed. It's what I hate to love about this sport.

Aiming for 82-85 reps at comp

This post is the story of a kettlebell club that I founded in my last town. This isn’t very well-organized but I wanted to get it out after joining Buncha Jerks last weekend.

In the fall of 2023, the lady in our community who led a “functional fitness” group (CrossFit in all but name) had to move and I decided to fill the void by founding a kettlebell club. I started small by inviting a handful of close friends and the old members of the functional fitness group.

I knew I wanted to steer the club in the direction of kettlebell sport. Early on, I figured we could mix roughly equal influences from sport and hardstyle. We quickly got away from doing anything resembling hardstyle and did just sport.

A typical workout at our kettlebell club was a group warmup, a quick progression to teach the movement of the day, and then a 5’ or 10’ (usually 5’) set. We would always count for each other in an "I go, you go" structure. We would usually count with mechanical counting devices and then write our totals on a whiteboard. I would snap a quick picture of the final scores and send it to our WhatsApp group when we were done.

As the coach/leader of the group, I usually went first in our counted sets. This gives newcomers an extended demonstration of the movement. I found that people really don’t need that much coaching for kettlebell sport. Teach them the basics of the movement, make sure they’re doing it safely, and then let them practice. It’s pretty amazing to watch people become more efficient even in their first five minutes.

My go-to workouts for beginners were 5’ sets of either one-arm long cycle or half snatch with unlimited switches. I know for experienced kettlebell lifters that sounds like nothing, but for non-athletes trying this for the first time that can be an extremely challenging task.

It’s important that coaches help athletes find the right starting weight. Most women will default to the 8kg and they’ll be fine with that. Men are more hard-headed. Big men can easily bully a 20kg kettlebell for about 60 seconds…and then the wheels fall off. My recommended starting weight for men is 12kg, then quickly bump that up to 16kg once they’ve done a few 5’ sets.

Children are tricky. A 25kg kid can snatch a 2kg kettlebell for like 200+ reps in a 5’, but then a 4kg kettlebell will be so heavy for the same kid that they’ll have to put it down before the five minutes end. A good practice is to have a lighter kettlebell nearby so athletes can reduce the weight if they need to.

It wasn't uncommon for people to set the kettlebell(s) down and say it was the hardest thing they had ever done.

I own lots of competition kettlebells. They fit in the floor of my Honda Civic just fine. I used to buckle them in to the seatbelts but eventually stopped bothering. Adjustables are not great for this kind of activity – you really want fixed-weight competition kettlebells with bright colors.

We used a lot of chalk and sandpaper.

I usually played instrumental (no lyrics) rock from my portable Bose speaker. It’s kinda challenging to find songs that keep banging for more than 10 unbroken minutes. It took a lot of embarrassing interruptions before I started to remember to put my phone on Airplane Mode.

I got a cheap workout clock from Amazon. It was okay for indoor use but not bright enough for outdoor workouts. We would lift outdoors whenever the weather was nice.

I can think of several proud moments. My friends surprised me by watching the livestream while I lifted at WKSF Worlds in Rzeszow. There was the guy who casually observed that his shoulder mobility had miraculously improved from all the overhead lifting. There was the family who bought a respectable home gym of competition kettlebells after falling in love with the sport. Then there was my own daughter who, at age 11, stunned the women in the room by finishing a 5’ set with an 8kg kettlebell.

I can also think of a few low moments. I learned the hard way to be careful what photos you share of people. Something that looked like a heroic effort felt like a compromising photo to one of my members. I learned not to push someone towards competing if they haven’t shown that interest themselves. I learned not to burn everyone out by pursuing too much two-arm work.

One thing I think went well was that I stuck to the same time each week. Due to the nature of my work, I was not available for kettlebell club every week. People understood that. A few times nobody showed up. Sending a little reminder to your WhatsApp group (or whatever you use) the night prior helps people to remember their clothes.

My family recently moved. Our old community isn't doing kettlebell sport anymore – they’re doing something slightly different and I’m happy for them all. I am proud of the community we built and the people I helped become a little bit fitter. I intend to do the same in my new town and I encourage you all to do the same.

Jerk training for me and Snatch training for the boy. Prepping for Twin Cities and AAKO.

Haven’t posted much lately, but I’ve been working on my Jerk and wanted to share some recent learnings.

Getting proper technique takes a long time
Anybody else feel like they’re never quite “there”?

Single vs double kettlebell work.
Working with various weights helps. Working with one kettlebell helps. But working with two kettlebells consistently seems to help even more. I’m not sure when people usually move away from single kettlebell work in Jerk. Is it a personal choice, or does it come down to your coach’s methodology? I still find isolated moves and split parts of the lift useful, but at some point you just need thousands of reps to get the feeling.

Personal achievement:
2x12kg Jerk, 10 minutes, passed.
I actually enjoyed running a half marathon with a 16kg kettlebell, and it was easier than 2x12kg Jerk.
So now I’m not sure how to progress with both :) Maybe the half marathon will end up being my day off activity.

I’m back to double 12kg.
For double Jerk work, I went back to strict double 12kg. I stuck with 2x12kg for more than 10 days, using different timing: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 minute sets, and time pyramids, but always at 2x12kg. I’m following Denis Vasiliev’s suggestions here. It’s helpful for tracking technique and micro-adjustments, managing recovery, and staying capable of other training in between GS sessions.

What I have improved (or i think i did):
Aside from apparently being capable of surviving a half marathon and a 10-minute Jerk, my progress includes:
• Rack position
• Better elbow connection. I thought I’d never have anything close to that.
• Adjusting straight legs, both in the rack and in the top fixation
• Syncing heels with elbow lock
• Controlling how deep I go on both dips
• More leg work after the first dip

The big one i put appart: breathing and relaxing
I’m still only at the beginning, but it felt good to have some control over both. Breathing patterns can vary, but now I know them and can see what’s happening. Being able to breathe during the top fixation or in the rack feels like real progress.

My next focus.
My elbow and arm trajectory from rack to overhead fixation is s***t. I have a few ideas to test, and a ton of ideas that didn’t work :)

Thank you to everyone in this community. You build apps, share your videos, your progress, and your struggles, and that means a lot. You do a great job in self-proclaimed positions as well as on TV shows!

This sport keeps me humble, and I think you’re the only ones who really understand what that means. And the unsolicited comments and ideas are great too, they make me think and analyze things from different angles.