In his first kettlebell book, Russian Kettlebell Challenge, Pavel Tsatsouline talks about the “what the heck?” effect of kettlebell lifting. He cited Russian studies from the 1980’s which indicated that as one’s kettlebell sport numbers go up, other athletic factors improve as well, even if they are not trained. I’ve just now gotten my jerk and snatch numbers up to an acceptable level with the 16k bells, and am doing my work sets with 20k now. The only heavy lifting I have done lately is to grease the groove on the deadlift- I keep the bar at 300 pounds, which is not terribly heavy for me. I can take it for 3-5 reps any time.
Wednesday my new knee wraps arrived from MuscleDriver. After a tough kettlebell workout (check the training log for July 11 for details), I decided to squat a little with my new wraps, and see if they helped my knees to feel more stable. I had a full ACL replacement in my left knee in 2006, and it’s been funny ever since. I got 225 easily, so I went for 255, which is my all-time best, as I don’t squat much. It went up strong, so I went for 275. Got it, slow and steady- a 20 pound personal best, without squatting since April! “What the heck?” indeed. The more time I devote to kettlebell sport, the more I realize that does the body good. Moderate weight, high rep ballistic lifting agrees with me. Think I’ll keep at it.
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