Today I earned the rank of Candidate for Master of Sport. I completed 89 one arm clean and jerks with a 28k kettlebell in just over 9 minutes. I don't have a competition 28k, so I did it with a cast iron bell. I just submitted this video to Nico Rithner for rank:
I have a few thoughts to pass on about this. First about the organization I’m a part of . USA Kettlebell Lifting/International Kettlebell Lifting is a smaller and relatively new organization, but they are top flight. Nico Rithner is working hard to bring more lifters into the sport, hold local, regional, and national meets, and provide a fair ranking standard. Every experience I have had with this organization has been first class. If you are happy with your kettlebell sport organization, then by all means, lift, rank, and certify with them- I continue to lift in WKC meets. But if you are looking for an alternative source for instruction, ranking, and competitions, give this organization a good look. You will probably like what you see. If you lift hardstyle/RKC style and want to give ranking a try, this is a great place to start.
Second, about the set. This was really an anomaly. When I completed this set, I had been out of town for almost a week, and down for a few days with a stomach virus before that. I spent most of my day working in the yard in 90+ degree heat, and had already completed 100 double jerks in 10 minutes with 2x12k, and 100 snatches per arm with 12k, with one hand switch. I was working in my office and printed out the new ranking standards. I looked over them and thought I could probably hit rank I in the single clean and jerk- 70 reps with 28k. That was my goal, and in the video, you can see when I hit 35 with my left arm, I stopped a minute to think about it. I figured I could get to 44, so I went for it. I had been working hard all day, and somehow had enough gas in the tank to make CMS! Can’t explain that one.
The other thing is that I have hardly trained single clean and jerk in ages. My training log is on this site, and in the last months, I have done a couple of sets of 16/16 with 32k, and sets of 8-10 with 40k, preparing for my Kettlebell Strongman Sport set at next week’s competition in Charlotte. My training has been a steady diet of the basics: jerks, snatches, bench presses, deadlifts, pullups. Perhaps this is the “what the heck”effect Pavel talks about. There is certainly carryover from being reasonably strong and from performing high rep ballistic lifts. Of course, the single clean and jerk is a lift I have spent time on in the past, so my technique was already fairly efficient.
What’s next? I’ve got Master of Sport fever: 88 reps with 32k. I can’t do it right now- I’ll have to work up to it. But first, I’ve got a meet on June 30 at Cyrus Peterson’s gym in Charlotte, where I will compete in biathlon with the 16k, and strongman long cycle with 36k. I’ve paid my money, so I can’t get distracted in the last week. My goal is to bring home two gold medals and two ranks. After that, we’ll see about specializing in the one arm long cycle and getting that Master of Sport rank!
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