Saturday, September 30, 2017

Coming out and Quitting

My two-part news for the Facebook/Blog Reading World

Part 1 : I'm gay!  well, bisexual, does that count? Yes, it's going to count because it needs to count in my country today.

Part 2 : I'm quitting Kettlebell Sport.

Any family members that I couldn't reach my email, let me know if you're going to disown me so I won't try to contact you. Everyone who wants to unfriend me, go ahead and do it. I'm certainly going to keep using and writing about kettlebells for fitness, but not likely to write much about KBSport, so maybe you want to unsubscribe? Do what you want.

About Part 1 :  it was not a spontaneous realization. I don't think sexual orientation can be. 
Rewind way back to 1993. I was attending college at Ft. Lewis in Durango, CO. It was the beginning of my self-discovery so yoga naturally played a part. After one particularly heart-opening class I had a complete identity shift and came out as bisexual. I attended PFLAG meetings on campus and went to Gay Night a few times. Though I did meet women who were interested in me, I was only half out of the closet, and not able to remain vulnerable in the discovery process. They passed me by. I started dating a man which rolled into more relationships with men and just became my pattern. Then I had a follow-up crisis of figuring out that I was not in school for the right subject. Drama and psychology was just a guess. I didn't know myself well enough to finish either degree. I withdrew from college and started a quest to find my calling. Easy to shelf the question of sexuality at this point.

Forward to 2008 at the point when my marriage was dissolving. I had my certification to practice Shiatsu, was building my client base in Crestone, CO, and trying to keep in touch with the clients I'd left in Boulder, CO, was active with martial arts (aikido) and was married to a guy who also was bisexual (his last relationship was with a man). I was bought-in to the purpose of our union - to create a healing center. He had moved us to Crestone to get that started. We met the local Native American Church soon after visiting town. My true prayer was still unfocussed, but I knew this was the place I needed to be (the fire ceremony had emerged in my art therapy in 1996). Three years of fairly regular sweat lodge and peyote ceremonies later it became clear that I was deep in hiding. When during a ceremony I allowed the realization that the marriage was not going to live up to its promise the divorce cascaded into reality. I returned to Boulder to rebuild my practice but had left unresolved the question of sexual orientation, which had been knocking on my consciousness in ceremonies all the while. I still felt terrified of my attraction to women and could not break down my ego to explore it further. Again, the trauma of divorce, relocation and poverty became more important.

About Part 2 : you may know I started playing Kettlebell Sport just before my dad died in 2011 and achieved a high level quickly. Suddenly I was a role-model in the sport and inspiring other women to go beyond their perceived possibilities. It was great to be acknowledged, but after a few years the sport was taking over my life. I wanted to expand my Shiatsu training but was giving all my physical and financial resources to the sport. I had absolutely no energy for an intimate relationship, but was putting out gestures with online dating that I wanted a boyfriend. Amusingly, my image was very masculine, there was no interest coming back from men. When women did "vibe" me I felt threatened and confused. My mind was stuck in the "heterosexual" marriage reality. Trauma does powerful things to our minds.

My knees spoke on behalf of my body in Spring of last year, exploding into tremendous inflammation. This has been the subject of my most recent blog posts. It has taken more than a year of bodywork and diet modifications to heal them and peel the injury back to a bad ankle sprain that happened in 1992 while rock climbing. I lifted and competed through the injury. I recently started running again, which was the point at which I thought I would be able to get back into a training cycle. The enthusiasm of coming back in a big way was the entire fuel for the plan to prepare for the big World Championship in California next February. I already knew it would be my last competition "for a while". 

And then the Native American Church showed up here in Boulder.

The ceremony was on September 15th, a Women Only event with the purpose of healing relationships among women and strengthen the community. My prayer had two very clear parts: How can I completely heal my legs? How can I heal my relationship with women? We all saw lightning flash in the distance just before going into the tipi.

During the night the medicine brought me out of a deep sleep. 
First I heard a clear voice telling me "I know how you can heal your legs but you're not going to like it." It took half the night for me to entertain the idea that life will continue without KBSport. I sobbed. Then I felt that familiar nudge on my mind about how shut down I had become physically. I thought for a while it was because of the exhaustion of training and finally realized I had been suppressing my body's response to women. Somewhere in the night a voice from outside my mind said "Coming out does not change who you are."

Starting on Sept. 16th stopped lifting Kettlebell Sport. I grieved this change for a week. 
I haven't really known what to do about coming out as bi, but know that if I don't make it known through the public forum that I do have I will just stay under the guise of Single Heterosexual out of default. The thing I know for sure is that my body has got the lead.

That's my story. I offer it to my blog readers as explanation for my Gay Pride profile picture, and the story of why I'm not going to play Kettlebell Sport anymore.
Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement for my writing all this time,

Christian

At the end of the night, this is how our altar looked. The cracks are very unusual!

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Cross-training and letting time heal

It has been a minute since the last post about pain and suffering and, most devastatingly, my inability to train Kettlebell Sport. Really I have nothing to say about the sport at this time. What I have to say is that cross-training can be every bit as challenging as KBSport training and time truly does heal. 

This is the second cross-training cycle since beginning my GS addiction. Last time I hired a non-GS coach to program a 6-week strength cycle. This time I asked my amazing Coach Sensei Sergey Rudnev to program for an undetermined amount of time. The only negative to this plan is that Coach still costs the same for off-season programming. Meaning I don't stand to gain credit from competition achievements to off-set his price, as in previous GS training cycles. Everything else about working with Rudnev Sensei is great, especially since I cannot live too many days in a row without a good crushing in the gym.

Rudnev Sensei has a unique perspective on auxiliary training. The objective is still strength/endurance, but not using typical "Stage 2" exercises (Deadlift, Squats, Jump Squats, Box Jumps, Bench Press, Military Press, Dips and running). You don't have to look far to see that Coach Rudnev is not just a great Kettlebell Sport teacher, he is an athlete on another level. He is creative with basic equipment and loves to use gymnastics-style exercises to keep up that enviable strength-to-weight ratio. Lucky for me, the rings and horizontal bars have become standard gear in most gyms. 

His three-part exercise complexes include nary a straight bar nor dumb bell. I'm lifting my bodyweight and kettlebells of 16kg or less. Use of the rings allows more versatile access to torso musculature than using a stationary bar for pull ups, push ups and hanging exercises. Rings also add the additional complexity of stabilizing against the swing. A few choice "Rudnev Specials" include moving weights through a plank position. Some of these exercises are featured in this short YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOHCNa693Hg
Not shown are the various abdominal exercises (Russian Twist is a new frenemy). Coach has a talent for highlighting one abdominal skill just long enough to make me hate it, then switching to a different one until I hate that one, etc. with about 4 different exercises. After 8 weeks I'm learning muscle up static holds which I will not be showing. My best attempts to date look like a cat that got stuck trying to use a telephone wire as a ladder. Very awkward. 

Because rowing has been my sole cardio for most of a year, I've started adding kettlebell juggling to get outside and mix things up. Overall my shoulders feel much more stable than before, I'm pushing my dip numbers higher, and am getting thicker around my mid-back and waistline (this is apparently a hazard of the mesomorph-dominant physique). Thanks to rope climb and bar exercises my callouses and grip training have continued to develop. A few weeks ago, while doing my third of three Russian Twist x 30 each side sets I realized the mental training is still in the programming, too.


Time heals and helps develop understanding. I can say there are at least three parts to this process. This is not new to the human awareness, and there probably are actual names for the phases of healing, but I'm going to refer to them as parts one, two and three.

Part one is the active management of pain. Managing pain is exhausting. All connection with myself as an athlete faded into a distant memory, therefore it was also active management of depression. Everything took longer to do because pain happened in all angles of movement. The fragile nature of comfort etched itself in the fibers of my consciousness. I made modifications to simple actions such as walking down stairs. It was less painful to do this backward. A natural pain relief  formula (Curica) became a daily supplement. I performed an initial scourge of all sources of inflammation from my diet. In terms of understandings gained in part one: health is valuable, irreplaceable, and if I have a tiny grain of common sense I will put my every resource into preserving health for the rest of my life. 

Part two is the stage that slowly dawns after a seeming endless time of treating the injury, be it pharmaceutical or through supplementation/diet. This is heralded by the glimmer of hope that there may be a day (in the distant future) when this injury is no longer the focal point of life. I put quite a bit of consciousness into part two because I wanted to remind myself of the improvement from "part one days."
Out of impatience I chose to push the edge a few times during this part (tried to run for cardio) and made the injury recur to lesser degrees, which struck the fear of God into me. The most recent time I did this it became clear that I needed to stay the healing course. I have been on the natural medicine route, rather than pharmacy/surgery, which may have prolonged the pain I experienced in part two, but served to re-build a solid foundation in my joint structure. It is a concept in Chinese Medicine that we reap benefits or punishments for the previous four months' habits, therefore I knew to get positive results I needed to buckle in for at least four months. This inspired the choice to detox from refined sugar and start intestinal cleansing. In this stage my understanding was: awareness of all the tiny mis-steps I made prior to the injury, specifically the many slips from my best diet choices; and the compromises of my inner need to balance intensity with recovery.

I'm fairly confident that part three is where I am now, which is distinctly different from part two. Almost all normal ranges of motion have returned and almost all signs of injury are gone. "Almost" is my nickname for part three. I found professional help in the form of an advocate for my body who has nothing to do with my sport.
I had to wait three weeks to see Physical Therapist Bob Cranny. He has a reputation for success here in Boulder, CO, home of hundreds of amateur and professional triathletes and himself an ultimate runner. At the intake appointment he was pleased with how far I had come on my own. He commended my focus on dietary support, specifically quitting sugar, saying it's a treatment strategy many people overlook. The homework he gave was foam rolling tensor fascia latae and iliotibial band for 3 minutes twice per day. This just straight sucked for 3 weeks, but I did and still do it religiously. Because I had done the intestinal cleansing for several weeks I undertook a liver flush with great results. (Here is an article describing the general cleanse protocol I used.) After five visits Bob has noted accelerated progress but has been unwilling to make an estimate on how long before I can run again. Bob is my part three guide, reminding me that "almost" isn't "all the way" healthy. My understanding at this point is: everything that I've integrated and added as self-care is here to stay, and wait longer than I want to start GS training again. 

I know there's little about the sport itself in this post. Three different posts developed since beginning to write this one, all with nothing to say about the sport.
Best wishes to everyone for safe and effective training,
Christian

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Confessions from Injury

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance

The stages of letting go of the training to allow healing, no matter what it means, no matter how long it takes.

My confession is that I've been too stoic (which is my way of saying prideful) to acknowledge my mortality publicly. Even thought my heart knows different, I haven't been able to own that this is the sin I've been guilty of for all this time. I have resisted the process since the initial tendon issue hit my left knee in late May of 2016. There is no rational way to blame Sport lifting for the cumulative tendon strain, the only thing that made it hurt during the onset was driving a manual transmission. Running on the inflamed joint made it worse. 
I rushed (well, hobbled) to the natural food store and purchased $75 in supplements, specifically joint support and developed a routine to keep myself going with natural anti-inflammatory nutrition. "Keep myself going" means be able to do my job, mat-style bodywork. I need to sit in seiza (it's like Child Pose, but sitting up) to do my work. Everything was modified in my technique, and at the beginning I nearly passed out after a day of work from the pain.

Turmeric, liquid joint formulas, flax and fish oils became regular grocery items.
Acupuncture helped, to a greater or lesser degree though sometimes the treatment made swelling more intense. Packing my knee with ice felt good for a while, then just made my muscles cold. Saturating my leg with essential oils did great work for me emotionally and physically. DMSO (dimethylsulphoxide) application was intense and burned, and made me feel like I was doing something good. But nothing was working over night. Finally in September my left knee started to feel normal again, but then my right knee began to swell.


During the time between May and September I all but stopped driving my car and converted to bicycle and public transportation. Finally in October I sold the car. On occasions when my bodywork business required driving to accommodate my clients, I used CarShare (all automatic vehicles). Interestingly, even though I was still doing Snatch training and rowing for cardio, the only things that caused the swelling to increase was driving. After the Thanksgiving and Christmas food bonanza was over I acknowledged that sweets and dairy were slowing down my healing. 

At New Year of 2017 I gave up sugar. This was not too hard on the practical level because I've been in the habit of preparing my own food for many years. Physically and emotionally it was like giving up an addictive substance. I was prepared with dried fruit and supportive herbs, but not prepared for the experience of facing my depth with no escape drug. What did I have to lean on? Not ice cream or chocolate. I don't drink or smoke (I know, waste of my Boulder County residency...). Faith that it was all working in its own time.

Soon there was clear evidence that God was in my world! Snatch Only training went very well through February and I made a nice PR (+11 reps) at the CaliOpen. Also I heard from a dear friend that she had a faith healing of her shoulders just the week before which allowed her to attend the event! I took almost two weeks to rest and started where I left off last May with Long Cycle training. My legs felt good, not 100% healed, but extremely improved. I was able to run for 20 minutes with no negative effect, but was alternating with rowing so as not to push my luck. 
This brings me to last Wednesday. I ran for 30 minutes then did some self-constructed assist exercises to support my abductors. I felt "something happen" in my right knee during this process. I had to drive a friend's car that night and by the next morning (last Thursday) my right knee was swollen and would not bend past 90 degrees without pain. It's not just a blow to my training, it's an extreme hit to my profession as a mat-style bodyworker. I need to sit in seiza to do my work.

Here is my second confession. Being a very spiritual person by nature I have long been a Jesus-follower, but a closet Jesus-follower. Meaning I did not go to congregation. I have kept God and Jesus in my own way for one main reason: every time I see or hear the crucifixion story I am reduced to painful weeping. This experience started sometime in my childhood (maybe 6 years old) when I saw the Easter story on television. The blatant injustice of the people who demanded the sentence wounded my heart so deeply with that I sobbed. My mother tried to console me, but nothing she said could justify the malice. My faith in humanity was lost at so young an age. (The only heartache near to this since that time was learning of the near-genocide of native peoples.) As an adult I have given my heart to Jesus but have not been able to attend a church gathering without shedding a river of tears.

This doesn't mean I do not need fellowship, however. I have spared myself emotionally rather than join a religious group that will only see me in pain. I know this is a process that has been parked in my life.
I have seen something especially appealing in the Kettlebell Sport community: a great bunch of believers. Whether it is in the pre-set gestures of blessing we see from the Russian World Champions or the many tattooed crosses and declarations of faith seen at any given event, I feel met in the KBSport community. Jesus is not only the Way, but also the Patron Saint for athletes, especially endurance athletes. So here I am calling out for support prayers (from those who can hear) that my path in this sport will be revealed through Grace.

The past year has been such a challenge because of the slow process of healing and working through the injury. As an athlete, if there is one thing I've learned about joint injuries, it's that immobilizing them long-term will not help with the recovery. As a bodyworker I am aware of the hazards of manual therapy at the wrong time. But as an athlete who does manual therapy I am often challenged to discern the correct timing. I submit this to you, my Friends in Kettle, by way of testimony. It is my greatest reveal to date, the place of deepest vulnerability within me and I'm trusting it to you all.

Please forgive any typos or grammar problems. I cannot bear to re-read this article one more time.
With gratitude for blessings and grace,

Christian

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Hand care tips for Kettlebell Sport lifters

Thanks to the new lifters for inspiration to write about this subject.

Though it is not the most vital part of Kettlebell Sport, timely hand care can prevent blisters from Snatch and heavy Long Cycle sets. The following are my experiences with hand care from managing calluses to training with a skin tear.

Chalk is the most useful tool to reduce moisture and friction for Swing, Clean and Snatch sets. Adequate chalk on hands and the handle will allow the necessary calluses to form but dries out the skin. Even with a well-chalked handle and hands, rough calluses may snag and tear off deeper layers of skin. Avoid this by keeping calluses manicured.

To groom calluses I use a coarse emery board. (I bought the one sturdy one pictured below at a beauty product store. This thing stays in my gym bag for use before Snatch and Clean sets.) A pedicure file will help manage thick calluses, and take off old, broken skin. This is a miniature cheese grater and can clean calluses off very fast. I suggest using this on dry skin, as it could take off too much wet skin. Manicure/cuticle trimmers work well for removing dried skin tabs without causing damage. Some lifters use a callus shaver to slice them off. I recommend caution with this method, as it is easy to cut too far into fresh skin. Other lifters have suggested using fresh, sharp blades for best results with a callus shaver. (For manicure/pedicure supplies, check a well-stocked grocery store or beauty product store.)

For friction burned skin or minor blisters I apply therapeutic grade essential oils of cedar wood and lavender directly to the damaged skin. (My preferred brand is Young Living therapeutic grade essential oils. You will need to sign up and create an account to purchase by phone or online. Please use sponsor/enroller number: 705744.) 
I then apply Egyptian Magic, a beeswax-based moisturizer, to seal in the skin-healing oils and keep skin strong. (This all-purpose skin blend is perfect for a custom pre-mix of essential oils. My personal favorite includes myrrh, sandalwood, cedar wood, lavender and frankincense.) 
Joshua Tree Gymnasts Salve is a quality, ready mixed salve designed for athletes who need to develop tough skin on their hands. Check out the product line while you're at it!
If you prefer to blend your own, consider using beeswax blended with olive oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, and/or shea butter. Natural products are more effective than lotion for keeping calluses supple and strong. Lotion is designed to soften the skin, thus increasing chances of tearing.

Blisters will develop in learning phases and during intense Snatch training. The essential oils help speed up healing and a beeswax-based moisturizer will keep them from cracking.
Blood-blisters indicate friction at a deeper level and take longer to heal than more superficial blisters. If blisters are uncomfortably full, one solution for both types is to break them open and drain the fluid. A bandage and tape may be applied to protect the raw skin during training with easy to moderate weights.

Wet green tea bag applied directly to a broken blister is known to speed up the healing after skin has been friction burned. I have tried it once on an open wound for approximately 10 seconds. It is one of the most painful things I can imagine doing voluntarily. People who have used this method with beneficial results advise to hold the tea bag in place until it stops hurting, or while watching a video that has you distracted. I have not tried it on a non-broken blister, but I think it could be effective in helping drain the fluid.

Liquid Bandage (Nu-Skin or generic brand found in drug stores or first-aid section of grocery store) is helpful to protect raw skin after a blister or callus has torn off.  This stuff is a flexible form of nail polish, so when applied to a fresh wound it hurts almost like pouring salt water on for about 5 minutes. Whenever possible I delay the application of liquid bandage until a thin layer of skin has formed on top of the wound. This is much less painful and provides protection from dust/debris, and makes it possible to submerge the hands while skin is healing.

Tape (Ace or Coach brands, 1.5 inches wide) can be applied in the direction the Kettlebell travels to protect broken skin.  For best results clean off chalk from the hand to be taped, measure out enough tape to cover the distance of the palm from the wrist to the base of whichever finger is closest to the broken skin. At that point cut a hole in the tape for the finger to thread through and continue the tape down the back of the hand to the other side of the wrist. So it's one long piece of tape with a finger hole in the middle. (Alternately fold or cut the tape so it fits between fingers.) Press the tape flush to the skin on both sides of the hand. If I want an extra layer of tape over my wound I repeat this process with the next finger over, then wrap a loose strip of tape around the wrist to anchor all the long strips. Getting the tape flush against the palm and back of hand are key to making this work, if the tape is too taught it will interfere with hand movement during the exercise, if it is too slack it will bunch up at the base of the fingers.

Experimentation will help new lifters find the perfect combo, but I strongly suggest finding a good beeswax-based skin cream at the least. Badger Balm and Bert's Bees are inexpensive and easy to find in natural food stores. For best results apply after training, not before, later in the day and on days between training.

Please feel free to comment on your personal experiences with hand care. Let me know if there's something I missed!

Best wishes for efficient, powerful lifting,
Christian

Friday, November 6, 2015

One Hour Long Cycle exemplifies the best of Kettlebell Sport

October 17th was the official date of this 6th annual fundraiser, started by the Orange Kettlebell Club and centered in Costa Mesa, CA. This year the charity being supported was Kettlebells 4 Autism, which allocated all funds raised in the US to the Global Autism Project.

Group photo before lift off. Mostly normal looking folks, right?*
Jen Yao, Kettlebell Sport lifter and Active Release Technique specialist from Colorado Springs, organized the Denver satellite event at the Colorado Kettlebell Club in Denver.
The significance of our lift being at the home base of BOLT was not lost on me. One of the things I really admired was the opening instructions: "like BOLT" we can switch hands as many times as we wanted, but "not like BOLT" we can not put the weight down for the whole hour. Jen came with two CrossFit Decimate team members who traded out their 16kg and 8kg weights with her for the hour.

Denise Eccles, personal trainer at CKC, encouraged us to lift "cupcakes" (or the lightest thing we could work with) for the hour. She then proceeded to work a pair of 8kg cream puffs for the whole time!

Certified Kettlebell Trainer Jeff Bott  journeyed forth from Windsor, CO, to side out a 16kg bell with one teammate.

I was very proud of my team from Longmont for staying with their respective cupcakes for all 60 minutes.
Jeff Bott, his team mate and Longmont KB Club members.*
Back to the original statement, the reason I say the One Hour Long Cycle exemplifies the best of Kettlebell Sport because it is an opportunity for lifters to explore the lift however they want and at whatever stage of learning they are in. Some people form a relay team so they can pass a more formidable weight among themselves in 5-minute intervals. Many prefer a solo effort with one or two weights. Both of these options make it possible to split the total time into segments for specific focus (pacing, technique nuances, breathing, etc.). For beginners with a coach willing to trade off the weight it is a great training/coaching opportunity. The beginner can practice in short sets and then watch during rest phases.

This year I lifted double 10kg bell to make use of the "practice makes permanent" principle, and to explore variations of the lift. The following are some of the object lessons I gleaned.
  • Lifting doubles leaves me with nowhere to hide.  Technique problems can and will hunt me down. Life will suck.
    Slava Barsuk, me, Denise Eccles and Jen Yao.*
  • Rotating thumbs back in the clean with doubles does not work as well as with a single kettlebell. The tendency to bang the weights together between my sawed-off legs is high. This causes extra work to re-gain control during hand insertion.
  • Stepping out for the clean and back in for the jerk (the Rudnev Shuffle - video below) increases efficiency in a few ways. One, it puts more momentum behind the acceleration pull, making it faster. Two, it allows me to get my feet closer together for the jerk, which I find to be easier than keeping a wide stance. Three, I can get a wide enough stance to rotate my thumbs back without smacking the bells, but have to steer the extra power generated in the hand insertion.
  • The Shuffle does have the draw back that it requires a bit of mental agility. I have not practiced it with a competition load because I am still ingraining the movement to lean away from the weights on the drop down. For the One Hour Long Cycle I practiced it for two 10-minute sets.


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPT-G53-D_g

The ultimate take away for me is this: people who play Kettlebell Sport are a special kind of weird.  I knew this about myself already, but there are hundreds of KB Sport lifters out there disguised as "normals." The fact that this lift was a fundraiser was completely secondary for everyone who attended the OHLC event in Denver. It was about putting the weight overhead.

When I mentioned it to other folks from my gym, intending to gain support for the Global Autism Project, I said it was similar to the Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser from elementary school days. They looked at me like I was speaking Russian. (Didn't people do that outside of Wyoming?) 
"So, Goldberg, when is your One Hour of Hell?"

Best wishes for safe and powerful lifting,

Christian

*Thanks to Bob Shafer for these photos!

Monday, September 14, 2015

KB Sport rank equal to black belt?

It's been said that Candidate for Master of Sport (CMS) in Kettlebell Sport is equivalent to a black belt in martial arts. I find this to be a curious idea. Having achieved black belts in Ki-Aikido and Master of Sport (MS) ranks in Kettlebell Sport I see similarities between the two physical practices.

Sometimes a new athlete achieves Rank 1 at their first KB Sport competition. It is more rare that a lifter reaches CMS on his/her first KB Sport event. It is an extremely exceptional athlete who has achieved MS at his/her first ever competition. Likewise, a student new to a martial may be able to advance two beginner ranks at once by virtue of previous martial arts training, but will not be promoted directly to black belt at his/her first test. Discipline is the well-known quality of a black belt, and it is truly required to step up to the test.

The following are my thoughts and opinions on the similarities of martial arts and Kettlebell Sport in the United States.

Lineage Affiliation/Educational organization: head teacher

In martial arts and Kettlebell Sport there exist various associations that focus on teaching the same art. In both cases, these associations have a code of peaceful co-existence with each other. The associations themselves are educational organizations featuring master level teachers that may not have an actual location for on-going training, events or tests.

Dojos and KB Sport clubs usually have affiliation with one of the major associations. Advanced level teachers who represent the association will periodically offer immersion training (weekend or longer) for large groups. This is a good way to keep everyone current with changes in technique and indoctrinate new students.

World-Class Kettlebell Sport teachers tour the U.S. individually and in groups to give certification workshops and training camps. Anyone serious about the sport will take advantage of these moments regardless of association because they don't come around the same way twice. 

Dojo/Gym: training space

This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. In martial arts these are "dojos" or "training halls." In Kettlebell Sport they are "gyms." The training space is created for the purpose of practicing the physical art. It isn't always ideal. I've practiced martial arts in a church basement, on a basketball court and in public parks. Hundreds of Kettlebell Sport lifters work out in garage gyms, their living rooms or even outdoors on hand-built platforms. Most commonly we create our space in the corner of a gym whose management is not concerned with chalk dust.

High priority is put on "open mat" in dojos or KB clubs whose members are serious about the practice. This is auxiliary, unguided practice time for students to work at their own pace. As athletes begin preparation for a goal extra practice time becomes their training time. Other people in the group  join if they are also working toward a goal.

A note to KB Sport athletes: we do not have the same intrinsic code of etiquette as in the martial arts, but it is important that respect and cleanliness is part of the sporting attitude. If equipment is shared in someone else's gym, clean off the handles before putting the weights away. Not everyone likes chalk on the bells or tracked across the floor. Know where the broom and mop are kept and use them.

In most martial arts the black belt rank does not indicate mastery. The first black belt indicates that a student is proficient in the basics.

Beginner ranks/Training progression: practice and refining skills

The beginner rank is commonly referred to as "white belt." White belts are the majority of students, and represent the type of person who is attracted to that martial art. These students are new to the etiquette, physical demands and coordination requirements of the art and are not expected to get it right all the time. They have logged about one or two hundred hours on the mat by the first test.

The "brown belt" (in some arts a "red belt") is a landmark achievement indicating that the student knows the etiquette, can be expected to demonstrate most of the basics, and can guide beginner-level exercises such as the warm-up. Brown belts are assistant instructors and often behind-the-scenes support crew when guest instructors visit a dojo. These students have logged several hundred hours and about three years on the mat before the first brown belt test, are in physical condition to practice for an entire class, and are less pre-occupied with basic technique details than white belts. Most styles of martial art do not expect students to engage with full-speed sparing practice until the brown belt level.

In Kettlebell Sport there are also lower ranks starting with 3 and progressing to 1. The rep counts to achieve these ranks are slightly different among ranking tables, but in all cases the lifter is challenged to perform these repetitions in a competitive setting. The lifter must have a clear idea of what he/she is capable of before arriving at the competition. This may sound obvious, but it does happen that lifters go to a competition with an ambiguous goal. The hard truth is that in a hyper-adrenalized setting almost never will a person's body say, "7 reps per minute is just too easy. Let's do 10." If a lifter is lucky enough to be part of a large club the lower ranks will be achieved at local, low-pressure events or informally at BOLT competitions.

Physically and mentally conditioning for success will eliminate random distractions but technique cannot be learned on the spot. An athlete's performance will reflect whether enough time (read: several hundred gym hours) was given to building maximally efficient technique. One thing is certain: the lifter will become acutely aware of exactly what he/she prepared for while on the platform. Any illusions or false structures of the ego will collapse under the load. The result will be exactly what the lifter trained to do on that day.

I've heard it said that a person can have three technical mistakes still achieve CMS. I'm not trying to diminish the difficulty and commitment needed to achieve CMS by any means, it does not happen without intense effort and resource, but I see the Candidate for Master of Sport rank very similar to the brown belt level.

To achieve MS there can only be one technical mistake, and even one is too many.

Intermediate and higher ranks/CMS and MS: hammer out the impurities

A young martial arts student (18 – 25 years old) can achieve a black belt in three years if he/she meets the following conditions: achieves brown belt, develops him/herself mentally, emotionally and physically, attends several (3 – 6) classes per week, does solo practice between group classes, can afford the dues and testing fees, participate in test preparation with all fellow students, attends all possible seminars at home and away, and voluntarily accepts the role of assistant teacher. Commitment on the part of the student is essential, but support of the dojo is indispensable. A candidate for the first black belt has thousands of mat hours under his/her belt.

This is similar to what is required to achieve the Master of Sport rank in three years. With Kettlebell Sport the athlete will need to be comfortable with competitions and have a feel for the commitment involved in achieving CMS. A programming coach becomes the main training partner, and all the foundational flexibility plus strength and conditioning training become the "early years." It's a good idea to attend advanced training seminars or get private lessons with a high level teacher to skim away all unnecessary movement in the lifts. Delegate all free time toward training and recovery, compete as often as possible and adhere to the Spartan-like lifestyle that I imagine in-season Olympic athletes live. Someone committed to achieving Master of Sport is a person living Kettlebell Sport.

A KB Sport athlete who is already a seasoned trainer/gym owner is more akin to the senior student/teacher at a dojo. This type of athlete has the additional challenge of guiding students in on-going training. Frequent visits from master-teachers are required to keep technique, the training goals, and the team in balance. A team may host regional Open Championships to spread the sport, but will certainly travel for training and competitions. One way or another, achieving Master of Sport is a team effort.

Ranking Tables, a KB Sport thing: unique to each major organization

To my knowledge there are currently two Kettlebell Sport ranking tables developed by non-IUKL (International Union of Kettlebell Lifting) affiliated organizations in the U.S.: KETAcademy and IKFF. These tables reflect what lifters want to lift at competitions.

For example, KETAcademy, whose premier club is OKC and affiliates, includes rank for 60- and 30-minute events, 7- and 3-minute Relays, 10- and 5-minute events, Women's single kettlebell ranks up to 28kg, Jerk Only, Snatch Only and CMS rank for amateur loads. Always at the leading edge, OKC announced in 2015 that moving forward Women's 10-minute events will be doubles (LC and Jerk). Women who want to lift single LC or Jerk compete in 5-minute events. The ranking table for this change has yet to come, but I expect it will live up to the Men's version in difficulty.

IKFF is the first organization to develop a ranking table for Women's 10- and 5-minute double events. On this table you find ranks for Jerk Only, Snatch Only, the 5-minute Chair Press, and a new title for 5-minute specialists (Elite Sprinter for standard lifts and Elite Presser for Chair Press). Men can achieve CMS for amateur loads and above, Women must lift 20kg to achieve CMS for Long Cycle with a single kettlebell, but in all other one arm events CMS is possible with 16kg.

AKA is the one organization in the United States that selects athletes to compete at the IUKL World Competition. The ranking table used by AKA is shared with IKSFA, ICKB and other affiliated organizations. This updated table, effective in 2014, includes the standard 10-minute lifts for both genders (Long Cycle, Biathlon and Snatch Only). Men lift double and women lift a single kettlebell. This table includes 28kg for Women's Long Cycle and 28kg for all Men's events. AKA also recognizes Junior Ranks.

Not to be overlooked is the BOLT network and affiliate gyms. In my opinion the most powerful things about BOLT are that both genders have always lifted double and single kettlebell loads, and kids are highly encouraged for their participation. This organization has its own list of events: Double Half-Snatch, Double Long Cycle, Double Jerk, Single Snatch, Single Long Cycle and Single Jerk. One thing to notice about BOLT is that the affiliate gyms play however they want. Some competitions are specific for ranking, while another feature 5-minute sprints. They also have an "Iron Man" focus, meaning lifters compete in all 6 lifts for a total volume score. Scoring is volume based, as the competitors are not organized in weight classes but rather age categories. For more details about BOLT scoring see the official rules.


If someone really wants to do something there is no obstacle that will stop that person from doing it.


Test/Competition: the results of training

All previous tests are the basis for the mental preparation on the day of a big test or competition. Some strategy for handling nerves must be in effect. Even the weigh-in for Kettlebell Sport has a parallel with black belt testing, in that all test candidates will meet with the examiners ahead of time to confirm their intention.

To maintain the integrity of a rank, a dojo's supervising teacher does not conduct tests for his/her own students. The appropriate testing panel is comprised of that teacher's peers and master-teachers. It is likely that a student must travel to a workshop for the test, or help host a seminar for teachers qualified to grant rank.

This is the same with Kettlebell Sport. It is far more legitimate when someone from a different team or organization judges a high-ranking set. Ideally that judge is a higher-level lifter and has a good grasp on the rules being applied at the competition.

One comment for lifters striving for the CMS or MS rank: pick your competition wisely. 
AKA only grants CMS for above Amateur weight loads (28kg for Men and 20kg for Women) while KETAcademy gives CMS rank for Amateur loads at rep counts that will take the entire 10 minutes to achieve. IKFF awards CMS for all Amateur loads except Women's LC.

Women's double events go up to Rank 1 on the IKFF table. KETAcademy is still gathering data from this group. They currently awards 1st, 2nd and 3rd place based on co-efficient to Women lifting the same kettlebell load in open weight class (total volume divided by lifter's body weight).

A further factor in choosing a competition for a high rank attempt is that AKA does not award CMS or MS at local events, only at Regional competitions where there is an accredited judge at your platform (your video is submitted for review), and the National competition.

Teaching/Adjustment of Goals: follow-up

In all martial arts the attitude of respect and humility is a universal black belt expectation. This is so because there is great responsibility in the knowledge entrusted to these people.  Depending on the art, black belts are potentially capable of ending a life. Most of the time I see black belts taking on the role of teacher in a life-long effort to pay back the generosity given by their teachers in the early years. Many become so identified with a martial art that they open a dojo or acquire on-going classes to keep the practice flourishing in their lives. And let's not overlook the reality that some martial arts have black belt levels up to 10th Dan, so there is no end of learning for a martial artist.


I see this as a similar path for Master of Sport Kettlebell lifters. It's not the highest rank. And even if it is achieved once all lifters are aware that there are three lifts, each with their own learning curves. Because the sport has no end of challenges, many MS lifters attend events with amateur or transition loads and take Rank 1 or CMS rather than attempt an MS weight load. I see this as evidence that these lifters are refining their practice and achieving personal records. Like martial artists, high level lifters influence people with their presence and etiquette at an event, and place focus on technique over the rank that may be achieved at any one competition.

Best wishes for all your lifting goals,
Christian

Monday, July 6, 2015

Kettlebells for a cause - WISEPlace Women's shelter & Mater Dei High School

Those of us who've been around Kettlebell Sport for a while have encountered the tremendous heart and generosity of its participants. Volumes of free information is made available every month through blogs, YouTubes and Facebook, not to mention nonprofit fundraising events (such as OneHour OneArm Long Cycle) and organizations with kettlebell lifting as their main format (Kettlebells 4 Autism is one).

It's like all those kids who did Jump-Rope-for-Heart grew up and became Kettlebell Sport people! Incidentally they all seem to have set up shop on the left coast of America (KB4A is Canada-based)....

The next event in charitable lifting I'd like to focus on is the BOLT for Charity event on July 25th in Santa Ana, California, raising money for the local nonprofit corporation WISEPlace Women's community and the host location Mater Dei High School. To donate, go to the Bolt for Charity page and sponsor one or more of the 6 athletes contributing their efforts to this fundraiser.

"So what the heck is BOLT?" you may be asking. It is a type of competitive kettlebell sport that focuses on giving lifters an opportunity to work at their own capacity for the competition time (10 minutes). Folks who would never hazard to enter a Kettlbell Sport competition, with its strict rules and fewer possible lifting events, feel more comfortable with the generous guidelines and wide spectrum of lifts at BOLT competitions. Thus it's a great place for new lifters to learn the classic lifts and engage in the competitive environment, and for athletes who don't want to commit to the intensity of KBSport training to stand out among their peers. Check out the home page for more info.

Due to the nice benefit-to-risk ratio for participants, BOLT is an up-and-coming kettlebell event that has affiliate organizations worldwide. The event on July 25th is the US National Championship.
Yep, Nationals! That means people will fly in from all over the country to compete! It's a big event!

The 6 athletes competing in the "Main Event" are the fundraising competitors. I encourage you to check out the page and get a load of these guys' credentials. They are not your average gym rat. These guys are gym owners, coaches and educators committed to making fitness possible to anyone willing to try. And they're donating their day to the cause.

So if you've gone to the Bolt for Charity page and totally fallen in love with a few of them (most of them are taken, so you know), you've got to decide who to sponsor. Here's where I say "follow your heart."
All of us in Kettlebell Sport know of the super star lifters, but there is one lifter out there we really identify with. Maybe it's a similar physique, seems to have the same favorite lift, wears cool shoes, whatever. That one person always has a special blip on our personal KBSport radar. I advise anyone who really wants to donate but doesn't know any of the lifters to pick out that guy who somehow resembles you and sponsor him.

Thanks for reading. I know there isn't much about technique or inner process in this post, but there is all kinds of heart. We kettlebell lifters are just individuals picking up heavy stuff over and over again, but it makes us better people and inspires others. So whenever possible we offer our efforts to those who need help. Here's another good opportunity to pay it forward.

Wishing you the best,
Christian