Two months ago, in April, I got 56 double jerks with 2x16k at the USA Kettlebell Lifting meet at Ross Gilling's gym in Rutherfordton. That was pretty near a max- I may have pushed it to 60, but my deltoids and triceps were wearing out prematurely. I've been working on jerk technique, along with overall strength. Following some good advice, I've worked the jerk in multiple short sets, rather than always doing grueling long sets. Today I hit a milestone: 10 minutes with the 16k bells at 8 rpm. I can hit 10 minutes at 10 rpm with the 12k bells, but had not pursued 10 minutes with the yellow bells until today. I hit 80 reps in 10 minutes- a 24 rep improvement (42 %) since April.
My goal for this weekend’s Throwdown Kettlebell Meet at Cyrus Peterson’s gym in Charlotte is 80 double jerks, and 80 snatches per arm with the 16k kettlebell. This would get me rank in the biathlon with World Kettlebell Club with reps to spare, and might be competitive against other lifters in my weight class- but maybe not. Double digit jerks and snatches with 16k is small potatoes in kettlebell sport. There are 14 year old girls in Russia who do this as a warm up! However, for me, it’s a pretty good number, and I look forward to this weekend’s meet. It’s always great to meet other lifters, and to reach your goals. It’s a great feeling to know what you are capable of, and do it on the platform where it counts. I hope to add a snatch video shortly.
I think it’s no small coincidence that I hit Candidate for Master of Sport in the single clean and jerk last week after hardly training that lift for months- my jerk and snatch numbers have been steadily increasing, and as Pavel Tsatsouline points out in his book Russian Kettlebell Challenge, many studies have demonstrated that a higher total in the traditional kettlebell lifts has great carryover to other strength and endurance activities, such as a different kettlebell lift.
I’ll continue to train with the 16k bells until I can regularly hit 100 double jerks and 100 snatches per arm in 10 minutes. Then it’s on to the purple 20k bells! I’ll also put some time into single clean and jerks with 32k to train for Master of Sport, but I have no doubt that higher numbers in the traditional biathlon lifts will be a great help to get me there!
My goal for this weekend’s Throwdown Kettlebell Meet at Cyrus Peterson’s gym in Charlotte is 80 double jerks, and 80 snatches per arm with the 16k kettlebell. This would get me rank in the biathlon with World Kettlebell Club with reps to spare, and might be competitive against other lifters in my weight class- but maybe not. Double digit jerks and snatches with 16k is small potatoes in kettlebell sport. There are 14 year old girls in Russia who do this as a warm up! However, for me, it’s a pretty good number, and I look forward to this weekend’s meet. It’s always great to meet other lifters, and to reach your goals. It’s a great feeling to know what you are capable of, and do it on the platform where it counts. I hope to add a snatch video shortly.
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