Long Cycle Championships

this weekend was the Kettlebell King IKO Long Cycle Championships! And it was a really successful competition for me!

Since Worlds, I've had a lot going on. Quit my job, took a break from training, got a new job, and then dove the heck into Long Cycle training... and then a month ago I added a snatch training cycle in on top of it. Cause I am also doing a kettlebell comp at the end of June.

SO, it's been a lot. but I did have a whole lot of focus for my long cycle sets for this comp. I worked a lot on nailing down some technique issues that I saw in my competition set in February. And I had a lot more time to really work on it all.

My goal for this competition was to break 100 reps, so then I could start lifting some heavier bells in my next competitions. (all the yellow bells!!)

some additional stuff that I had to deal with was that: 1) this was the first comp that I didn't have Britt, my coach at (@kbfitbritt) which was a change, but nothing too crazy to adapt to. 2) figuring out the weigh in the days before the comp, trying to get there before they left/getting out on time from work. 3) my brother came and I haven't had any family see me lift before so that was a bonus stress. 4) I randomly got to do an extra 5 minute 16kg one arm long cycle. 5) I had no idea when I was lifting. due to lots of circumstances, the flight schedules came out pretty late

but overall, all that worked out. I got to weigh in and eat everything I wanted the night before. the random 16kg set went well, and didn't tire me out for my 10 min set.  I had awesome support from Dan (@musclehipster) during the set, along with Gary, Marian (@marianjhart), Lolo (lolonicole13) , and my brother and Colt. But, Dan was really awesome during those last few minutes, you can hear him really coaching me through it, in the video I'll post below, and it definitely helped.

16 kg, 5 min One Arm Long Cycle

58 reps (1st place)

despite the music shutting off a couple minutes into the set, I finished pretty strong and honestly, it was just fun! got all my nervous energy out of the way, and made it happen.

2x12kg 10 min Long Cycle

106 reps (? rank)

SO, SO  proud of this set. honestly, my favorite part of this video is the last 90 seconds. it's all grit and will power and I am really proud of how well I did. I wanted 100+ reps and I did it. Max effort. and next time I get on the platform I'll be stronger for it. And I am really excited that I hit over 100 reps. My last PR was 75. That's 31 more reps added in about 3 months. That is hella progress.

Now, we're all onto all the snatches so I can be ready for the end of June! So excited!!

if you want to learn some stuff about kettlebells or take a class with me... check out edge.fitness to see what classes i'm teaching in San Marcos. Or message me on Facebook or Instagram!

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WAKSC Cali Open/ World Championships KB Competition

If you didn't know, last weekend I got to compete in my second kettlebell competition. But honestly, I don't know how you wouldn't have known cause i was talking about it nonstop. Like,  an obnoxious amount. (No regrets, but i know that I was talking about it a lot).

I competed in long cycle (for the first time with double bells) and snatch. All 12 kg bells. 

Training was with my badass and super amazing coach Brittany (@kbfitbritt) at Kor Strength and Conditioning (@mykorstrength). Literally couldn't have done it without them. If you're wanting to get into KB Sport, definitely shoot Britt a message cause she's awesome. 

So my goals this time around were: 

Long Cycle - Finishing the full 10 mins, over 70 reps 

Snatch - over 200 reps 

Long Cycle: 

Set: Finished with 75 reps! Had a few ugly reps but I found a pretty decent rhythm throughout the set and I was able to push myself the last minute! 

Long Cycle takes a pretty good amount of cardio & I feel pretty solid on my cardio. Definitely was feeling fatigue in that last couple of minutes (longest I had gone with 2x12kg was 8 mins) but my thought process is, if I can convince myself to run for 2 hours, I can convince myself to keep lifting for however more minutes ! :) 

Long Cycle was also great because I had Britt there the whole time coaching me through it, and even though I definitely zone out during my sets, I definitely appreciated having her there reminding me to keep my form and head straight throughout the set.

Results: 
Rank 1, Overall 2 

Snatch: 

Set: finished with a whopping 229 reps!!!!!! 

Absolutely destroyed my goal and I was/am SO proud of myself! It was the best  set of kettlebell lifting that i have ever had. I went in with a goal, and i was absolutely determined to beat that goal. I pushed myself really hard and I felt really strong throughout the set. I was wayyy more nervous for this set than I was for the Long Cycle set because I had set such high expectations for myself. But with my training, and the support of my team (if you watch the video you can hear them, mostly marian ( <3 @marianjhart) dan (@musclehipster) and JJ) cheering and yelling throughout the set) I hit and exceeded my goal. shout out to JJ for filming this set (@jjsavestheday) 

one of the best parts of that video is after the set... the counter couldn't keep up with me, so I thought I had hit 212... but then he came up and showed me the official count which was the 229 and you can see my eyes double in size.

So proud of that set. 

Rank 1, Overall 1. 

(beat second place by about 50 reps!) 

Overall, this was SUCH a fun weekend. 

Beyond my own sets, my team did awesome and I got to watch my friends hit their goals and lift crazy weights and I love it. I love getting to see people be successful in their sets. One of the best parts of kettlebell sport is how supportive everyone is and everyone is rooting for each other. It is such a cool environment to be in. AND I got to meet SO MANY cool people that I have been following on IG and I got to see SO MANY badass people lift. I got the opportunity to see some of the best lifters in the world compete which was so cool and so inspiring. Legitimately gets me so excited to keep pushing myself to get better for the next one.

If you have questions about Kettlebell Sport, leave'em in the comments below! Or send me a message on instagram and/or facebook page!  If you want to start training for something you're excited about and need some guidance... send me a message or check out my program packages! 

what is: kettlebell sport?

once i moved down to san diego i started training in kettlebell sport, which i didn't even realize was a thing until i started following people under the "kettlebell" hashtag on instagram. i ended up following a bunch of people, some of which were kettlebell sport athletes, and then i was  like, "hmmmm,... i think i want to do that."

So when I moved down to San Diego, I booked one on one sessions with Brittany (@kbfitbritt) so I could figure out HOW to do kettlebell sport, which has very different techniques from the average kettlebell workout. and then joined team KOR (@mykorstrength) so I could start to learn more and prepare for a competition! but that's not the topic of today's post.  Today I am going to explain what exactly kettlebell sport is because i have been explaining it to friends and family since i started getting into it, and i figured there were other people who had questions on what i've been talking about all the time!

SO. here are the basics of what kettlebell sport is: 

(disclaimer: I do not know everything about KB sport, but this is my basic understanding of it all!) 

there are three main events: 

all of these events are for 10 minutes, and if you drop the bells you cannot pick them back up. There are competitions that do 5 minutes, as well. but they are not ranked events (as far as I can tell)

Snatch : one bell, you swing the bell overhead as many times as possible in 10 minutes, you can switch hands once throughout the event. 

Long Cycle: double bells, clean and jerk, for as many reps as possible in 10 minutes. clean being swinging the bells back through your legs and up into a rack position, and then jerk (basically a press that uses your legs to get it overhead)

Jerk: double bells, just jerking the bells overhead nonstop, for as many reps as possible in 10 minutes.

Other events include: 

One Arm Long Cycle: Fairly self explanatory, it is long cycle, as listed above, just using one arm instead of two. And this allows for a hand switch.

Double Snatch: Snatch two bells up and either drop back into rack and then snatch them back up or just snatch them as you would with one arm. (I haven't seen this at except in instagram videos, so I'm not sure if its an event typically seen at any competition) 

Biathlon: This is competing in a 10 minute jerk set, and then a 10 minute snatch set. With rest between those sets.

Other things to know: 

• kettlebell sport is also known as girevoy sport, and the terms can be used interchangeably.

• the sport originated in Russia.

• sport kettlebells, regardless of weight, are the same dimensions.

• The weights you can compete in are all in kilograms, which are 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48.

• Fixation! You have to fixate at the top of each rep, otherwise it does not count. What is fixation? That is a complete arm and body lockout at the top of the rep, with the lifter and the bell completely motionless.

• Scoring is calculated by several things: the reps, the lift, the weight of the kettlebell, and the weight of the lifter. so basically, if two people are lifting the same weight KB and hit the same reps, but one is lighter... the lighter person would win. there is a full on mathematical formula that calculates the scores in a competition if you are interested in looking into it.

EDIT:

As of 2020, Kettlebell Juggling has been added to Kettlebell Sport.

Kettlebell Juggling is judged by a panel who give points for number of rotations on flips, timing, turns, and style. My understanding, is that it’s kind of judged like ice skating. Though I have not found a scoring system online yet.

and that's the gist of it! there's obviously a lot more nuance as you get into it, especially into the technical side of things. but now, hopefully you can understand the basics of kettlebell sport! 

kettlebell sport is a great endurance sport and an amazing community of people! i have legitimately made so many friends through this, and if you're thinking about trying it out, i would go for it! it can be super intimidating, for sure, but you won't know if you like it if you don't try! 

any questions? want to start learning more about fitness or kettlebells?  leave me a comment below or send me a message on instagram or facebook!