Well, it looked like we were in for a long dry spell for kettlebell lifting until the spring rolled around. Turns out our friends over at IronworkeFe have other plans. Rick and Chriss have just announced their first meet to be held on Jan 10th at their studio in Queens. I’ll post a link below.
Now, having lifted in their first event, I want to encourage everybody, but particularly those off you still looking to get your feet wet in your first girevoy sport competition to look into this. If this turns out to be anything like last time, you can expect a very excited and supportive crowd of people at all experience levels.
Seriously. It’s time. Jump in. I’ll see you there.
The first thing you’re going to notice with this is the absence of the universal athletic stance, that neutral posture spine and hips tilted slightly forward. In kettlebell terms that would be considered more of a hard style lift. My purpose here is to allow you, the lifter, to operate under load for as long as possible. Therefore I want to incorporate as many muscles as possible into your actual lifting instead of simply depending on a couple of big ones to do all the work. Spread the work over more muscles and allow your body to function more efficiently over a longer period of time.
Like I said, this is just my take on things. So here you go. Keep practicing your swing too.
What did we see Saturday at the National Long Cycle Championships? A room full of committed and dedicated athletes striving for one thing, performance. Why? And to what end? The shiny medals and certificates handed out at the end of the day? Some prize pot of cash? No. Bragging rights? Well, quite possibly that, but more importantly for personal pride and performance.
What’s interesting is that not a single one of them was a professional athlete. Sure, there’s a few coaches and trainers sprinkled in there. But most…utility workers, photographers, accountants. In short, a cross section ofevery day people in the city. It was a cross section that was hell bent on improving and besting their own performance.
Go back to my post about working out versus training. To achieve the goals you want and make the progress you want to make, it’s not about three sets of 15 reps and resting. It’s about pushing yourself to ever higher levels of performance. Proof that it really works? A competitor in the flight just before me was warming up & worried aloud that he’d been so busy that he hadn’t done a timed set in weeks. 2 minutes later he picked up two 42lbs weights and achieved a national ranking. His foundational training held true and pulled them true. I performed after having lost 2 weeks of training to an injury & set a personal best. My training held true. Working out isn’t going to hold up like that.
You are an athlete. Your body is a kinetic marvel. Train it that way. Make the gains you want and keep them, even when you fall off the wagon for a while.
