[quote]jblues85 wrote:
Some strong lifts going on in here!! I am especially curious about your experience in Kettlebell Sport. At one point I was considering entering a Biathlon in my region but I caught some pretty tough illnesses (nothing major) that just zapped my energy and desire to compete this year. Also learned the major differences in RKC Training Style and Sport Training Style which are night and day of one anohter. Can you comment on how you got into kettlebell sport and what led to your burnout and possibly some of the training methods you were using at the time? [/quote]
Thanks! I got into GS almost by accident - started training with kettlebells RKC style and then just kind of meandered into GS.
A bunch of issues led to me burning out. The main one was probably that I’m simply not physically or mentally suited to it. My upper arms are too short relative to my trunk to have a comfortable rack position, so that makes jerk and long cycle much harder - either you fry your shoulders holding the bells up, or you have to go fast to minimise time in the rack. Also, I find it much easier mentally to approach a heavy single or triple than something like 30 or 50 or 100 very light reps.
Working with a Russian coach also didn’t help - the volume was too much for me to handle: five to seven days a week training, with sessions averaging 17500 lbs per session. The training style also didn’t actually help my performance much in the events, oddly enough. I got much better at the training sets (three to five minutes), but it didn’t translate to the 10 minute sets at all.
All that combined with not making good progress at all and constant nagging injuries (open sores on both elbows and hips from the rack and lipomas with deep bruising on both wrists) made me sick of it. Moving to strength training and to powerlifting from there was a breath of fresh air, because I could actually make progress if I worked hard and not be in constant pain. My body composition improved too.
As to training methods, there is a real limit to how much information is available to non-Russian speakers compared to powerlifting or bodybuilding. The majority of it is heavily periodised and the progression is no really linear as far as I can tell - mostly I think because you aren’t trying to increase load but volume, and until you reach Candidate for Master of Sport level your main focus is going to be technique.
Generally, training will be with below competition weight at a faster than competition pace; above competition weight at or above competition pace (and this usually will only apply to intermediate and above) and at competition weight at or below competition pace. However, it really does depend on the coach how the training works. Some use a fair bit of GPP with a barbell and running or swimming or something and some don’t, using only really the bells and some running.
From my experience, the first thing to do is learn the techniques well enough to be able to relax under load and not have to think too much about execution, which is drastically different to powerlifting where I think a lot of very good lifters still run through a checklist of cues as they lift. A huge part of that is learning the correct breathing pattern which essentially is that when the bell moves up, you inhale and when it moves down you exhale. This takes some doing, as at first it feels very weird. Then it becomes a matter of getting comfortable with long sets. Mobility plays a big role too - that is one thing I took from GS and still make an effort to maintain (although I actually do little mobility work, luckily having figured out what it is I need to do as a minimum to maintain what I have).
I hope that answers your question, let me know if not. I’ve got a few blog entries on a blog I keopt when competing in GS I can send you the link to if you like.
