WHAT IS GIREVOY SPORT? Also know as Kettlebell Sport Traditionally called Girevoy Sport (Girya meaning ‘kettlebell’ in Russian), the sport uses traditional Russian lifts of snatch, clean and jerk, each of which are performed for a maximum period of ten minutes with the aim to complete as many repetitions as possible without setting the kettlebell(s) down. There are two forms of seasonal competitions: Biathlon and Long Cycle, each using a weights range from 12 to 32kg per bell. BIATHLON: Biathlon is comprised of two kettlebell lifts - the jerk and snatch, which are performed for ten minutes each. Firstly the jerk: Men use two bells of equal weight held against their chest (one for the ladies) in what is called the ‘rack position’. They then power both bells up over their head to complete the jerk movement. This equals one repetition, then it’s back down to the rack position to repeat for the allotted ten minutes.  After a rest of up to 30 minutes competitors move on to the second part of Biathlon, the snatch: The snatch uses power transferred throughout the body from the legs to propel the weight up to a standing fixation point from momentum given from swinging the bell through the legs. At the top point this will equal one repetition. The weight is then dropped down to let swing through the legs once again and the process is repeated for another ten minutes. Current Biathlon world record holder Ivan Denisov from Russia completed the jerk with 2 x 32kg bells and performed 175 repetitions in ten minutes. On a separate day he then broke the snatch record managing 232 repetitions in ten minutes with a 32kg bell - 120 with his right arm and 112 with his left. LONG CYCLE: The Long Cycle features the clean and jerk: For the clean part of the Cycle men use two bells of equal weight held against their chest (one for the ladies) in the rack position. They then let them drop down to swing through their legs and back up to the rack position which they started from. From here they then complete the jerk by powering both weights up above them to stand equalling one repetition. Then it’s back down to the rack position ready to repeat again for ten minutes.  “As you can imagine this is a very tough sport mentally and obviously physically,” Mark states. “It’s also very technical requiring dedication and focus.” LONG CYCLE COMPETITION KILKENNY, IRELAND MARCH 2011  |
| John Shewell, Silvia Elia, Andy Bellamy, me |
After three months of hard training here at the Brighton Girevoy Sport Club for our first EGSA Long Cycle competion in Kilkenny, Ireland the day finally came. Myself, Andy, John and Silvia jumped on our flight in the early hours of Friday morning and headed off to the Emerald Isle.
Saturday morning came around quickly and before we knew it we were at the University sports hall being weighed in for our first long cycle comp. The suspence was killing me after the two weeks of cutting weight I ended up missing out by .3kg. BALLS!!!!!
Never mind I thought nothing I can do about it now so I just settled down and got ready to compete.
Silvia was up first and even with massive tension in her shoulders managed 126 reps with the 12kb bell. (This result ended with her gaining a silver medal in her weight division for the coefficient. Bell weight x reps /body weight). She did a great job and has the determiation and ability to go so much further and I'm sure she will compete in London with the 16kg.
Next up was Andy, and after a great start he was off and running. Watching his form and technique I was confident he would go the distance as he did the previous Friday in training. Unfortunately for him, he had the tail end of a chest infection and this halted him in his tracks at 8 mins and 43 reps.......next time mate, next time!!!! Your mind set and technique will take you far in this sport.
Third to jump in the platform was Aussie John. He was fired up and ready to go, especially after seeing others in his division compete.
He started strong (if not a bit quick) but kept his nerve for the full ten mins. Great, great effort finishing with 72 reps. A personal best by 11 reps. This guy has been bitten by the GS comp bug and will be fired up for the next comp in May. He's a bit crazy I think!!!! ;-)
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| Silvia (12 KG Coefficient Silver medal - Big Andy B - Aussie John |
Next it was down to me as coach and founder of the club to man up and perform. I stepped up for the last wave of the comp. I was not as nervous as I thought I'd be, my wife had been texting me support and this only made me focus more and dig deep.
The set went well and I finished with a total of 63 reps. A personal best and with that result I gained bronze medal position for absolute weight lifted in the 24kg bell division. I was so surprised when my name was called and I was not expecting the Bronze medal. I then managed to get another PR in the speed snatch comp with 85 reps with the 24 kg bell. Again I was well chuffed:-D .
For results of this weekend cometition cliick here:
EGSA was very well represented by head coach Gregor Sobocan (MS), Ivana Britvec (MS), Kat Helcmanovska (WCMS), Mark Stapleton (CMS), Eddie Sheehan (CMS) Nenad Gorički, and myself. This was a great turnout and will only help strengthen the newly formed organization.
A massive thank you goes out to Eddie, Mark and Martina of Kilkenny Kettlebell Club for organising such a brilliant competition with 70 competitors coming from 10 countries. Evry athlete that competed did themselves proud and if this is any indication of the strength of this new sport then we have a great deal to look forward to and Europe will become a force to be reckoned with in no time at all.
Here's looking forward to the Biathlon comp in London on May 28 at Trojan Lifting Club.
STAY STRONG AND KEEP LIFTING
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That's the duck broken. 1st training night as Brighton Girevoy Sport Club. Thanks to Miles Key, Jane Ray, Andrew Bellamy, Silvia Elia, John Shewell, Alex HyslopFiona Newman for making it a great first night. Next week we will hit the timed sets hard and get geared up good and proper for the comp in Kilkenny.
Thanks to you all for making the first night a great night!!
Saturday 14/8/10
The rain did come down and quite heavily, mother nature came to the rescue in the form of a Willow tree. She shielded us from the shower so we could concentrate on what we came to achieve.
Next session we will be working on longer timed sessions and training patterns and really get things going. There is plenty of work to be done by all of us and today was a great way of getting the ball rolling.
With only 3 months until the Welsh Open Competition. Getting a team of people together is the best way of motivating people to work hard and help each other.
Even if people do not want to compete the pure nature of the training and mind set of each individual goes a long way to help those of us who do.
Even if people do not want to compete the pure nature of the training and mind set of each individual goes a long way to help those of us who do.
Thank you for becoming part of my dream of getting a Girevoy Sport team created in Brighton.
A GREAT DAY AT THE PARK
Friday 16/7/10
Week 3 training is as follows. I found this little protocol from a Facebook friend and I thought to myself "That makes sense, I will give that a bash". The session went as follows:
JERKS:
Me:
2 sets of the following = 50 reps
2 x 12kg x 10reps
2 x 16kg x 10reps
2 x 24kg x 5reps
Mr Pea:
2 x 8kg x 10reps
2 x 12kg x 10reps
2 x 16kg x 5reps WORKOUT:
Me:
5 sets of the following @ 10rpm
2 x 24kg x 10reps
Mr Pea:
2 x 16kg x 10reps
3MIN AFTERBURNER:
Me:
2 x 24kg @ 8rpm = 23reps - not an excuse but the timer failed ;0)Mr Pea:
2 x 12kg @ 8rpm = 27reps
MR PEA IS ON A ROLL!
Friday 9/7/10
Week 2 of the Sport training with my pal Mr Pea. We both increased bell weight this week. I need to start cranking up a gear and Mr Pea was up for the challenge. The numbers as as follows:
I was disappointed with my results this week and will make sure I increase my work capacity for next weeks session, but on a positive not Mr Pea did great and I'm sure that within the next few weeks he will going his first 10min set with the16s.
GREAT WORK MATE!
Friday 2/7/10
Today my sport training resumed.
It has been a while since I concentrated fully on my sport lifting, I have kept working on technique etc but not really done any fixed time sets. Luckily I have a training partner in the guise of my mate Steve Pacitti, he is new to the Girevoy Sport but has been using KBs for fitness for the past 6 months. It was only last Friday that I got him involved in long set training and introduced him to the Jerk.
After only one formal technique session and a refresher yesterday morning today he was set a task. That task was to join me in some Double Jerk Protocol training.
He did absolutely brilliantly and it will not take him long to start moving up reps and weight as he has the mental ability to stick to the task in hand and dig deep when needed.
RESULTS:
Next week is set to be a cracker with both of us aiming to up the weights by the end of the month.
HARD WORK = GREAT RESULTS
