My workout tonight.

Did the following Metabolic Conditioning session.

Double swings x 10
Double snatch x 10
Double squat x 10
Double Clean and press x 10
Double bent row x 10
Press ups x 10

Set 1: 2 x 12 kg
Set 2: 2 x 16 kg
Set 3: 2 x 20 kg
Set 4: 2 x 20 kg
Set 5: 2 x 20 kg

Looks easy? Far from it. This is a tough session. Try it and see!

Sunday the 28th June saw a number of contestants descend upon The Odyssey health club in Stevenage for the first of 3 league competitions. This is a great way to put in a pentathlon score with only moderate pressure! You are still judged and there are still a number of spectators but it’s certainly a lot more relaxed than a full on kettlebell pentathlon event.

Team SKC along with Mandy Kemp line up for their group photo!

Here are the league rules:

• Teams consist of 3 lifters
• Team results will be split into Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed.
• Each season has 3 rounds, each round lasts 1 month
• At the end of the season a winner will be declared for Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed teams based on the sum of 3 scores for the season.
• A lifter may only submit 1 score per month. This means you can only participate on one team at a time.

In all, 12 lifters were to lift today. These were:

• David Winter
• David Hood
• John Hood
• Gary Curtis
• Leah Rowland
• Sue Hufton
• Monica Gonclaves
• Joel Kemp
• Del Wilson
• Pete Edkins
• Paul Eaten
• Selena Herridge

So, for me, there were quite a few familiar faces there as well as some new ones. At 10 am Mandy the head coach and judge addressed everyone regarding the rules and what makes a rep a good one or a bad one.

The first flight.

The first flight consisted off Pete Edkins, Leah Rowland and David Winter.

I was judging Pete on this one. He put in a great all round effort and the result was a new Personal Best under judging conditions. I think it’s quite important here to make the distinction between judged scores and scores achieved at home. Pete had previously scored over 1500 in a non judged attempt. It’s a very different animal competing under judged conditions. Initially you are going to feel more tense and this will result in a lot more nervous energy. It’s easy to come away feeling disappointed when you fail to reach your Personal best score that you’ve achieved at home. I say, completely separate the two. At home, the lack of a judge of course will result in you never discounting your own reps so for this reason alone you need to lower your expectations for your competitive score.

I therefore think that if you are increasing your judged score each time you compete, then you should be happy, that really is all you can ask of yourself. Next time you try at home, video it and review your results as impartially as you can. Alternatively, get someone else who has some experience to look over it for you. You will probably be surprised with what you see and will, if you are honest, discount a few of your own reps! My own ‘at home’ personal best is 1649. My effort on Sunday was 1567. Was I a little disappointed? initially yes as I was hoping for at least 1600 points but on reflection, it was a good result.

Leah has a very particular of style to her lifting. She has great flexibility and this shows in her movements. She scored an impressive 711 points.

David (SKC) is also new to the sport and used a 12 kg weight throughout. I don’t doubt that he will soon up the clean weight to something a bit heavier to increase his score. He scored 642 points.

Flight 2

Up next were Sue, Selina and me.

Sue competed at the Spring open and clearly enjoys the competitive nature of the sport. I believe she didn’t quite hit the score she managed in the spring open but was still happy with her performance. She scored 671 points.

Selena is a member of the Stevenage Kettlebell Club, one of 5 competing from their home turf today. She scored an impressive 624 points

For me it was the first try with the 36 kg bell in competition. The clean is by far the biggest point scorer in the pentathlon, or at least it should be. I really don’t get why some contestants are using the same weight for their cleans as they use for the other disciplines.

The 36 kg really feels quite manageable for me in this one. I managed 20/20/15/15/15/15/10/10 (120 max) in this round which was entirely to plan. Having a plan for your rep sequence is very important I think as it’s something to focus on. The discipline is sticking to it as much as possible whist at the same time deviating from it if you really need to. You should always try to retain control though. It’s a waste of time and effort changing hands every few reps. You may well have a dominant side and if this is the case, try to bring that side up to par in your training. Don’t be happy with it lagging behind, it really doesn’t have to.

Up next was my Long cycle press set. Lovely this one, really enjoyable discipline. None of the frenetic huffing and puffing of the other disciplines, just nice and slow very controlled breathing trying your best to conserve as much energy as possible for the hard stuff coming up next. Scored the full 60 reps with a 24 kg bell.

Speaking of which, the jerk is still the one discipline that causes more stress than any other. My own experience with this discipline has been a mixed one. I never used to do jerks until the pentathlon came into my life about 7 months ago so it was very alien to me and seemed quite a complex lift. I believe that ‘work in progress’ is something that all my lifts will have an element of but none more so than the jerk. A recent comment thread of Facebook prompted over 40 comments when I asked for some critique on my form.

Initially it was suggested that my form was such that some of my reps shouldn’t really even have counted. This was due to some confusion over the differences in rules between Girevoy sport and WKC Pentathlon. I occasionally push out to complete on some of my reps. This is not allowed under the Russian federations rules. However under the WKC rules it states, and I quote, ‘WKC will not penalize lifters who perform a press or push press instead of a proper jerk’.

However, despite this, it is clear from the points raised in the discussion that my jerk technique is not very economical in terms of energy requirements and needs to be improved. I scored 98 reps with the 24 kg bell which was a good result for me.

On to my snatch set and this is also a favourite of mine. Regular snatches has always been a regular exercise for me so making the transition to the half snatch really wasn’t a problem. I used a 24 kg bell this time as opposed to a 28 that I used in the Spring open competition. I decided to go down this route simply because my final exercise, the push press, suffers too much if I use a 28 for the half snatch. This time round I managed 92 reps which is okay but I was hoping for nearer 100. I’m not too sure where these extra reps are going to come from as this set was fairly relentless and I certainly don’t recall stopping in the rack position for any extended periods of time. The 28 kg will be reconsidered for the summer open in June.

Finally the push press. 24 kg again here. I scored 91 reps here which again was disappointing. 100 was my minimum target so some way short.

On the whole it was a good day for me. I felt fresher on completion than in comparison to how I felt at the Spring open. Of course the obvious conclusion you could draw from this is simply because I didn’t try hard enough but this really wasn’t the case. I believe I used a lot less nervous energy this time round and that was the main reason I felt less burnt out at the end.

Flight 3

On to flight 3 and it was Monica Conclaves, Joel Kemp (both of whom are in my team) and David Hood.

Monica, Joel and David line up in this shot.

Joel has a slight shoulder issue currently so was unsure how it would hold up. Despite this he managed to achieve a good result with a total of 860 points

Monica is completely new to this sport having only been involved for a few weeks. She was actually a stand in for a guy who pulled out at the last minute so well done to her for taking up this position at very short notice. She put in a great effort and scored 527 points. Well done Monica!

David Hood, also one of SKC’s members was going well until an incident in the Long cycle press resulted in him and the kettlebell parting company during a hand change. WKC rules state quite clearly that at no point are two hands allowed to be on the bell at any one time. This means that effectively during a hand change, the bell will be momentarily floating in air! It is certainly worth practicing your changeovers since mistakes can happen. It was unfortunate for David as he was only a few reps in when it happened. Despite this he still scored 748 points.

Flight 4

Last up were John Hood (SKC) and Paul Eaten.

Paul and John were the last two to go.

John is very new to the sport also. It’s great to see clubs like the SKC bringing in so many new members so well done to Ben Jones for what would appear to be a very successful recruitment campaign. Ben himself was due to compete but he was sidelined by an ongoing shoulder injury so had to sit this one out. John put in a score of 676 points.

Also on the platform was Paul Eaten. Paul has some substantial experience with kettlebells but is very new to the sport of pentathlon. Unfortunately he also had a stopped set when he inadvertently placed his free hand on the bell to steady it during his Long cycle press set. This was picked up by judge Leah Rowland who rightly called for his set to be stopped. Paul politely put the bell down and waited for the set to end before he left the platform. Despite this set stopping only a few reps in he still scored a very impressive 877 points. This was effectively through 4 disciplines so clearly a score well in excess of 1000 points will be achievable in the future.

So, all in all a very good days lifting. It was a learning curve for everyone but especially those who hadn’t competed before. As I write this, it’s only 4 weeks or so until the Summer open. I certainly hope that the majority of people competing here today will make that event. It’ s a great sport to be involved in and it’s a privilege to be involved in it whist it’s still in its infancy.

I would like to thank Mandy Kemp, Ipswich kettlebells, Odyssey health club and Ben Jones for organising this event. Thanks guys!

For the full results of all the teams, see here.

Ipswich kettlebells

World kettlebell club

Kettlebell Nation

Joel Kemp, one of my team members did the team proud!

Athletes off and running. Officials scrutinising!

The 4 months of pentathlon specific training, the experimenting with different strategies and the number crunching on the calculator have now been put into practise at my first ever kettlebell competition! Was it all worth it? Absolutely!

What is the kettlebell pentathlon?

First up, for those of you just stumbling onto this blog, a quick explanation as to what the kettlebell pentathlon is all about.

It has been designed from the onset to be a more accessible form of kettlebell sport, one in which the vast majority of people will be able to put in a score once they know the 5 disciplines.

Here are the basic mechanics of it.

• 5 disciplines working for 6 minutes on each one.
• They are:

1. Cleans
2. Long cycle press
3. Jerks
4. Half snatch
5. Push press

• 6 minutes of work per set
• 5 minutes rest between each discipline
• Multiple hand changes allowed
• Maximum repetition (rep) count assigned to each discipline
• You are allowed to choose a maximum of 5 different weights for your bells. Those bells can then be used for whatever discipline you choose. No changing of the weight once you start that particular discipline and no setting the weight down until the 6 minutes are up.

Maximum reps allowed

1. Cleans: 120 reps
2. Long cycle press: 60 reps
3. Jerks: 120 reps
4. Half snatch: 108 reps
5. Push press: 120 reps

There is a different points value assigned to each kettlebell

• 8 kg = 1 point
• 12 kg = 1.5 points
• 16 kg = 2 points
• 20 kg = 2.5 points
• 24 kg = 3 points
• 28 kg = 3.5 points
• 32 kg = 4 points
• 36 kg = 4.5 points
• 40 kg = 5 points
• This goes all the way up to 72 kg but I reckon I’ve covered most people’s needs here!

Here is a video presented by head coach at the World Kettlebell Club, Valery Fedorenko

The art of a successful pentathlon is all in the pacing. It’s no good maxing yourself out on the first 2 disciplines only to find you have nothing left in the tank for the last 3.

It’s a combination of finding a bell that will enable you to hit high rep numbers (although not necessarily maximum) whist also allowing you to have enough energy to go into the next discipline. There are also strict criteria around what makes a rep count or not. Briefly, there needs to be fixation in all over head lifts, or in other words, the kettlebell needs to have a moment of stillness at the top of all overhead moves, no sway and with good alignment.

In the case of the long cycle press, there needs to ba a clear distinction between the clean and press elements.

The competitors.

17 guys and 4 women were in attendance for the competition. Some were first timers whist a few others had a certain level of experience but I think it’s fair to say that the pentathlon is a fairly new event to most of us. There were 5 flights in all setting off at 9, 10,30, 12, 1,30 and finally at 3pm.

Heres a picture gallery of some of them.

Tony Stapleton on his way to a PB with a score of 1268 points

Ben Jones putting in a PB of 995.25 points!

There was a lot of socialising at the event with talk of tactics and training.

Sue Hufton on her way to second place with a score of 642.75

No one wants to see one of these! Get your reps right and you won't!

Pete Edkins on his way to forth place with a massive PB of 1308!

4 months preparation

Prior to me hooking up with Mandy Kemp via Facebook, I was not even familiar with the pentathlon as a form of kettlebell sport. As a follower of several kettlebell athletes, I was certainly familiar with The biathlon but that was about it. I tried out a few sessions of the biathlon and had reasonable results but ultimately fatigue induced by a lack of flexibility was the main reason why I failed in a set. This was still very much work in progress when the pentathlon came along So, I set about training and regular followers of my blog will have read about some of my efforts via my posts.

Having a competition looming certainly helps you to focus on training. I’ve always been a very disciplined hard working individual in this regard but things certainly went up a notch or two.

Officials prepared to judge!

Competition day

Following an appalling nights sleep due to my apprehension of the competition, I was up at 4.30am to head down to Southend on Sea. Arriving at 7.30 I helped to set up and then chatted to some of the familiar faces at the event as well as a number of other people. This remained a theme throughout the day, very friendly and very sociable throughout.There were a number of people there that were considering competing in the future and wanted to see what it was all about. All in all, 17 guys and 4 girls were there to compete that day. Unfortunately there were 5 no shows, all guys. This is disappointing of course but an inevitability.

Once Mandy had addressed the contestants, the first flight started bang on time at 9am. As I was also a deputy at the event, I made my way to my allocated contestant which was Pete Edkins. This was Pete’s second event having scored 1125 points on that occasion. On this occasion he manged a very impressive 1308 which was an increase of 183 points, fantastic!

My flight!

Well underway. Feeling the strain!

I was up on the second flight which was at 10.30. I started my warm up at 10.10. I kept it simple, ran through some mobility stuff before progressing to the pentathlon movements with some lighter weights. Of course at this point I had no idea of the standard of athletes around me.

I did get a sneaky glimpse at the weights the others were using and noticed that no one had elected to use a 32kg bell for anything, except me, on the cleans. Moving onto my platform with a strange sense of reassurance from this, I had a quick chat to Leah, my judge and then set about getting my head in the right place to put in a good score. I really like the first two events. You’re fresh and in the case of the cleans, don’t even have to put anything above your head!

Cleans

The 10 second countdown began and I was off and running. Strategy was full reps (120) in the 6 minutes with the following format 20 right, 20 left, 20 right, 20 left, 10 right, 10 left, 10 right, 10 left. This I stuck to perfectly ending the set with 5 seconds to spare, perfect!

Reps: 120 (full) at 4.0 points per rep. Total points: 480

Long cycle Press

Still feeling fresh, I sat down briefly for the 5 minute rest before preparing myself for round 2, the Long cycle press.

Another nice event this one. Not manic at all, just nice and relaxed with timings at 10 reps per minute alternating hands every 10 reps. Breathing cycle is easy to manage. clean, breathe, press, rack, breathe, re-clean, repeat. Barely out of breath at the end of this one. Quite why some contestants choose to set off at a really quick pace is beyond me. Granted, you may get an extra minute or so of rest but best not to stress the CV system to start with is surely the way to go.

Reps: 60 (full) at 3.0 points per rep. Total points: 180

Jerks

I came to jerks only just recently in the 3 years I’ve been lifting kettlebells. From a technical point of view, it was a tough cookie to crack! The timing of the double dip being the main issue. Having spoke to many of the other contestants, it’s fairly universally dis-liked. I would say though that significant progress has been made since I started my pentathlon training. Having said that, I am only jerking the same weight as I am strict pressing which doesn’t make any sense at all. I ought to be using at the very least a 28kg bell. This is my target for the summer open.

Rep strategy was 15 reps per side as opposed to using the clock and changing on the minute. I know that if I manage to stick to this I will get at least 90 reps but my goal was 100. It was a tough one and I had 3 reps disallowed although I did have 2 of them reinstated by Mandy. By the time this was over, I was in a completely different place in comparison to the first 2 events. I was breathing hard, didn’t want to chat with Leah (nothing personal!) just wanted to sit down on my own to try and recover. The pain had well and truly started!

Reps: 101 at 3.0 points per rep. Total points: 303

Half Snatch

As I sat there recovering, in what felt like an ever decreasing 5 minute rest period, I had to decide on whether to snatch the 24 or 28kg bell. In my pentathlon tests, I had tried several combinations with the main variance being on the weight choices for the jerk and half snatch. In one of my tests I used the 28 for both jerks and half snatch but this killed me for the Push press. Up to this point, I was up for 1600 points but topped out at 1573 which incidentally is still my PB.

My strategy therefore today was to jerk the 24 and half snatch the 28. I had serious doubts moving back to the platform whether or not I could manage the 28. With 15 seconds to go and both bells still off to the side, I decided to go for the 28.

Again, I started out at 15 reps but this time was hoping to keep to the clock, changing hands every 55 seconds. This was pretty much the strategy until the final 2 minutes. At that point, there was no strategy, and I have no idea how many reps I was doing on each hand.

At the completion of the set, I immediately sat down, I was knackered!

Reps: 89 at 3.5 points per rep. Total points: 311.5

Push press

At this point, I was thankful for my 20kg back up bell! When fresh, push presses are one of my favorite of the 5 events. Very rhythmic in nature, fast and satisfying to do. Not at the end of a pentathlon though. This is where you find out whether or not you have paced yourself correctly. Get it right, and you should finish with a high rep count, get it wrong and you’ll be changing hands every few reps begging for the end of the round!

My plan was to use the 24kg bell but I decided to go with the 20. Upon getting started, I wondered if I had made the right choice as it seemed relatively light. 3 minutes in though, it wasn’t light any more and I had made the right choice!

Reps: 105 at 2.5 points per rep. Total points: 262.5

Total scores

• Cleans: 32kg bell 120 reps 480 points
• Long cycle press: 24kg bell 60 reps 180 points
• Jerks: 24kg bell 101 reps 303 points
• Half snatch: 28kg bell 89 reps 311.5 points
• Push press: 20kg bell 105 reps 262.5 points
• Total score: 1537 points

Jenni Harrington with a score of 887 receives her winners trophy along with myself. Presented by Mandy Kemp.

Rasmus Bom performing with style!

My first blog in a while so I thought I would update my latest progress!

Training progress

Training has had its ups and downs. Problems with my right shoulder caused me to focus on my left side only for a period of 3 to 4 weeks. This has resulted in a level of confidence on my left side which I’ve never had before. Strength and technical ability on that side actually surpasses my formally stronger right side now. Now that normal training has resumed, my right side is still slightly down and still causes me a few niggles but on the whole it is no longer holding me back.

Working to a point of cardiovascular fatigue when working one side only is difficult as sets are generally limited to 2 minutes max due to muscular fatigue so I had to compensate for this by putting in a few tough Concept 2 rowing sessions. As a result no fitness has been lost and resuming with both sides hasn’t shown any decline in my ability to sustain a 6 minute set.

My general format for training is much the same and I’ve been doing the following when focusing on just one of the movements.

For example:

Half snatch

• Set 1 16kg x 1 minute left then 1 minute right
• 1 minute rest
• Set 2 20kg x 1 minute left then 1 minute right
• 1 minute rest
• Set 3 24kg x 1 minute left then 1 minute right
• 1 minute rest
• Sets 4 28kg x 1 minute left then 1 minute right
• 1 minute rest
• set 5 28kg x 1 minute left then 1 minute right
• 1 minute rest
• Set 6 28kg x 1 minute left then 1 minute right
• 1 minute rest
• Set 7 28kg x 1 minute left then 1 minute right
• 1 minute rest
• Set 8, 9 combined for a 4 minute set
• Set 10 24kgx 1 minute left then 1 minute right

Total time: 27 minutes.

Sometimes I will choose to perform 2 of the disciplines back to back and always in the order that they fall during the pentathlon. I will reduce the total sets to 8 for each exercise on these occasions.

These are tough sessions but worth doing as I certainly feel as though I have benefitted from them.

Officiating at the event

Having now attended the Officials meeting last Sunday, I ma now officially one of the judges at the Spring open! It was an interesting meeting focusing on whats expected of the athletes and how to fairly judge their sets.

We each performed a 4 minute set of the disciplines and judged each other accordingly. I copped out a bit and stuck with a 20kg bell as I had a back issue but the good news is, all my reps were solid with little critique on my form which was pleasing.

Even performing these movements with just a couple of people watching gives everything a whole new slant. I was certainly very conscious of my form and as a result my cadence per minute was generally down on the sets that I do at home. I will be pushing for max reps on the cleans, Long cycle press and the push press but not on the jerks and the snatches as I feel as though the speed is simply too fast to keep within the guide lines set out by the AKC as regards to correct form.

We also watched a bunch of videos so as to check the form of some accomplised kettlebell athletes.

The competition

Now looming with under 4 weeks to go. I still aim to put in 2 complete pentathlon sets before then as I am still undecided as to my exact strategy to use on the day. These 2 attempts will be kept under wraps though as I don’t want to reveal too much to my fellow competitors.

I only hope that on the day I can relax into it and really focus on my performance and block everything out. I’m fairly confident I will manage this as I can get into the ‘zone’ quite readily at home and rarely have a session where I bow out early.

On the whole I am really looking forward to it. The folks I met on the officials meet were all very friendly and I can only assume that on the day there will a very competitive atmosphere but also a very friendly one. I will have a level of anxiety on the day but this is to be expected. Of course everyone else is in the same boat.

Rested up today from my pentathlon training. My shoulder is on the mend but I don’t want to scupper things by getting impatient.

So, hampered by my lack of ability to press anything either horizontally or vertically I decided to hit my legs for the second time this week.  I decided to go fo a 5 exercise ladder sequence using the following exercises for 30 seconds each round, a 7 second transition and a 45 rest after each round.

• Exercise one: Double kettlebell squat. 2 x 20kg (A1)
• Exercise two: Double lunge right leg (forward and back is one rep) (A2)
• Exercise three: Double lunge left leg (A3)
• Exercise four: TRX Pistol right leg (A4)
• Exercise five: TRX Pistol left leg (A5)

Round 1 – A1

Round 2 – A1, A2

Round 3 – A1, A2, A3

Round 4 – A1, A2, A3, A4

Round 5 – A1, A2, A3, A4, A5

Round 6 – A5, A4, A3, A2, A1

Round 7 – A5, A4, A3, A2

Round 8 – A5, A4, A3, 

Round 9 – A5, A4,

Round 10 – A5

Hamstrings were kept separate

TRX Hamstring alternate curls

6 x 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.

whilst browsing through Facebook on Monday, I came across an article from the excellent website www.t-nation.com about press ups. Article here.

Regular readers of my blog, that’s assuming there are some, will know that I like a physical challenge now and then and the 4 minute press up challenge got me down on the floor within 2 minutes of reading it! Slightly foolish as despite the fact that I regularly incorporate press ups in my routine, I have never gone all out for 4 minutes!

I took a look at the rating scale and thought I could smash the golden 100 mark barrier

Rooney’s Rating Scale

Below Average: Under 49
Average: 50-84
Good: 85-109
Excellent: 110-139
Extraordinary: 140+

Following the advice from Martin Rooney, I set off at a good pace but stopped at 30 reps as fatigue was just starting to set in.I rested up until the start of the second minute and went again. Round 2 saw me hit another 15 reps totalling 45 in 2 minutes. Set 3 wasn’t great as I struggled for 10 reps! The remaining 16 reps for a total of 71 was achieved in the remaining time. As you will notice this puts me in the ‘average category’. I’m not sure where the ratings come from but I’m fairly certain they’re from people who have a certain degree of fitness already and not just Joe average of the street!

Problems started soon after and I found it painful to externally rotate my shoulder. The pain was akin to an injury I once picked up from bench pressing. I still struggle with bench pressing to this day and a bit of research revealed that it was most likely due to the bench restricting the natural movement of the scapula which in turn creates a lot of stress on the shoulder joint.

Press ups of course don’t cause any restriction so they’re not normally a problem but I guess going all out simply wasn’t a sensible thing to do.

Anyway, it’s already on the mend so shouldn’t hold me back for too long.

Today’s session was a bit of an odd one as it was a pentathlon session all on my left hand side.

Here’s what I did:

I went through all 5 disciplines in the correct order. 1 minute on, 1 minute off and a 2 minute rest between each discipline.

Cleans

• Set 1: 28kg x 20
• Set 2: 32kg x 20
• Set 3: 32kg x 20
• Set 4: 32kg x 20
• Set 5: 32kg x 20

Long cycle press

• Set 1: 20kg x 10
• Set 2: 24kg x 10
• Set 3: 24kg x 10
• Set 4: 24kg x 10
• Set 5: 24kg x 10

Jerk

• Set 1: 24kg x 17
• Set 2: 28kg x 15
• Set 3: 28kg x 15
• Set 4: 28kg x 14
• Set 5: zero! This was due to a bit of a tweak in my thigh. This in turn was due to the fact that my quads were still recovering from a leg session on Monday. Thought it better to lay off the final set.

Half snatch

• Set 1: 24kg x 17
• Set 2: 28kg x 17
• Set 3: 28kg x 16
• Set 4: 28kg x 16
• Set 5: 28kg x 16

Push press

• Set 1: 24kg x 17
• Set 2: 24kg x 17
• Set 3: 24kg x 17
• Set 4: 24kg x 16
• Set 5: 24kg x 13

That was it. A tough session. Easier on the cardio than the usual 1 minute left, 1 minute right, 1 minute rest sessions but greater endurance was required in my forearm and shoulder.

Coming soon to the Rushden area, kettlebell strength and conditioning classes.

The class will teach you the basics of kettlebell and body weight training. Don’t be overly concerned about your initial fitness levels as the workload can be tailored to all levels.

Just so long as you are not carrying any existing injuries, it will be perfectly safe for you to join.

Please note that this is not kettlecise, kettlerobics or some other form of franchised kettlebell workout, just old school kettlebell stength and conditioning training.

You will learn and become proficient at:

• Turkish get up
• Swings
• Deadlifts
• Squats
• Cleans
• Military press
• Snatches
• Body weight training

All of the above are movements which require a lot of energy expenditure as they require you to work the body as a whole unit, no isolation exercises here. The result:

• High intensity session achieved in a relatively short time frame
• Full body cardiovascular conditioning
• Increased muscular endurance
• Increased functional strength
• Improved co-ordination
• Increased flexibility
• Increase mobility
• Improved core stability
• Enhanced sport performance
• Decreased body fat

It’s been 5 weeks since I last tested my performance and got my numbers. So, here I am one week later than scheduled due to illness and only 3 workouts under my belt in the last 14 days! Let me assure you, this was no Christmas lull! that’s just not something I do. Just the worst cold I’ve ever had, a real bastard of a thing!

My first attempt at a full kettlebell pentathlon was rather oddly, a joyful experience! Having never attempted one before I didn’t know what to expect and I was so up for it and excited to find out what I was capable off. My chosen weights were all a bit conservative though and I breezed through it with a point score of 1371.

Attempt number two (see here) was a more realistic attempt and brought home to me just how tough an event the pentathlon is. It was a very tough experience but I upped my score to a very respectable 1524 points.

Now fully aware of the intensity of the pentathlon, I was pensive going into attempt number three. Now, fully aware of the brutality of it, I wasn’t relishing the pain of it all. I liken this to the pain of a flat out 2K on the rower, of which I’ve done plenty and have a Personal best of 6 minutes 35 seconds. If you have ever fully committed to a flat out 2K then you’ll know exactly what I’m referring too. If you are able to do anything else training wise after an attempt at this, other than trying not to faint or throw up then you simply haven’t filly committed yourself to it.

To feel nervous and anxious before a max attempt or attempting a new PB is to be expected as you know full well that it’s going to hurt, big time!

My attempt

Cleans

Weight wise the cleans were to stay the same at 32kg. I don’t have a 36 at the moment but hope to have one soon. I maxed out here with 120 reps so scored 480 points.

Longcycle press

Same weight as before, 24kg. Maxed out the reps with 60. Scored 180 points. Slightly frustrating discipline this one as I can get to the max number in just over 4 minutes! All the other events seemed to be pitched about right regarding cadence and time. I have tried 28kg but really struggle with that. 26kg could be an option but for the extra points I gain and the additional fatigue, it hardly seems worth it. So, 2 disciplines down, same score as before.

Jerk

Been putting in a lot of training here. I upped the bell to 28kg from 24. Initially it felt pleasingly light! My reps seem quite smooth but I was soon taking a double breath between reps which slows me down considerably. Good result though. 3 reps down on before but the additional weight took my score up 38 points on my previous attempt.

Half Snatch

One of my favorite events this one as I am more confident with my technique in comparison to the jerk. Same weight as the previous attempt but I had a firm goal of hitting 100 reps here. My previous best was 91 reps. Max reps is 108 but to me this remains just out of reach. There doesn’t seem to be enough time especially when you have to think about fixating in the rack and overhead positions! I made the 100 reps though but at considerable cost to me physically! I was drained after this, totally spent. The 5 minute recovery seem to end in no time and as I stood up, my head was still spinning from the effort.

This is a classic case of getting the pacing slightly out. None of these events can be looked at singularly but need to be looked at as a whole. With only one discipline following the half snatch, I hoped I would get away with it.

Push press

This was not going to ne fun. I used a 24 as per previous attempt and set about minimising the damage from my Half snatch set. I managed a disappointing 84 reps. This was 8 reps and 24 points down on my previous best!

Overall I was up 47 points on my previous attempt. Not too shabby but I reckon I could increase this by an additional 60 points by switching to a 36 for the cleans. Of course, this will have a knock on effect on the rest of the sequence but it’s one I believe I can absorb.

Conclusion

I increased my numbers on 2 events, equalled on 2 and lost out on one so there is plenty of work to be done yet. Pleased overall though. I really don’t know how my conditioning affected me going into this as I am still fighting a bit of an infection.

My next attempt and probably my last before the competition will be in early February.

Here’s how it stacked up with the 3 attempts so far:

2 sessions to write-up about tonight.

Session 1 was purely centered on the Push press. This is the last of the disciplines in the pentathlon so all the built up fatigue really plays a big part here. My weight for this will almost undoubtedly be the 24kg bell. This session was my usual format of 1 minute left, 1 minute right, 1 minute recovery x 10 sets.

Here’s how it went.

The 28kg sets were a struggle and felt massively heavier than the 24 sets. This is in contrast to the other 4 disciplines where the difference between my current predicted working weight and one weight up are less pronounced.

Session 2

This was another Half snatch session but this time using a 4 x 4 format. That is 4 sets of 4 minutes work. Rest periods varied from 3 to 5 minutes. This was a very tough session. I warmed up with the 24 before moving onto my competition weight, the 28. Next set I decided to move one weight up from this and went all out with the 32kg bell. This was a killer of a set but I stuck to a decent cadence. Set 4 was back to 28kg. At this present time, I haven’t ruled out the possibility of using the 32kg bell.

Here’s how it went.

Tough little session tonight. I try to put in a dedicated leg session once per week. At the moment it’s a case of somehow slotting it in between my pentathlon training so it can be a bit tricky. I also like to have at least one solid session on the Concept 2 rower so I am presently putting in 6 sessions per week with just the one day off.

Tonight’s session consisted of the following.