“The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid.” ~ Thomas Kempis
Girevoy Sport is not something you can expect to succeed at without laying a proper foundation of strength and endurance first.
Save for a few genetically gifted athletes who have attained MS or CMS in a short while, most of us will have to spend many months or even years building our kettlebell sport foundation before we can achieve high numbers in our selected events.
Furthermore, those of us who started this sport later in life, may have pre-existing injuries to contend with, or years of de-conditioning to overcome. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that MS or CMS numbers are out of reach for the middle-aged or Masters athlete. But it does require a bit more planning and patience, if for no other reason than it just takes longer to recover!
A great way to build up one’s kettlebell sport strength and endurance is with the World Kettlebell Club‘s Fitness Protocol. I first wrote about this protocol back in November 2008, with this post.
Since then, I practiced Hardstyle and came back to Girevoy Sport in order to properly try my hand at making rank and perhaps trying a contest or two.
I’ve been following the Long Islander program with my wife, and have found that even though we’re using relatively light weights, we’re not overtaxing our nervous systems and we’re still building a great foundation for the competitive lifts. My wife has been losing weight (about 4 pounds since we started) without any dieting, and she’s excited to see the muscular definition she’s creating in her back and shoulder muscles.
Last week we completed levels eight and nine in our climb up to level twenty. Level eight reduced our rest periods to thirty seconds, while level nine increased our work sets to two minutes with a corresponding rest period reset back to two minutes as well.
Next week we’ll be practicing level ten and eleven, and we’re aiming to hit level twenty by the first or second week of July.
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Hi Jim. I love your blog. I am very interested in the AKC workout protocol. Is there a place to purchase this? Thanks.
Dan,
Sorry for taking so long to respond. At present there isn’t a way to purchase the workout protocol. When it first came out, it was only offered in sort of a “beta” version to American Kettlebell Club (AKC) coaches. The final version still isn’t out, but AKC certification attendees are learning the protocol as part of their cert weekend. If you look at my current and old posts, you’ll probably be able to put the progression together without much difficulty. Or just stay tuned, as I plan on working all the way up to level 20 by July.
Best,
Jim
No problem Jim. I know how that goes. I am doing the fitness course May 15th. I’m pretty excited to see how it goes. Thanks for the heads up.
Great! It would be great to get your take on that course. Maybe a guest post? I’ll be attending the cert (again) in September at the Ice Chamber. The first AKC cert I attended was all GS.
Good luck!
Jim,
How’s it going? Good to see you are back in action. I went to the akc fitness trainer course put on by Chris Duffey. It was my first exposure to “soft-style.” I think Chris has been out to the Ice chamber so I’m not sure if you know him or not. The course was definitely awesome. I’m whipping up a little testimonial for Chris b/c it was so great and I could give a guest post no problem.
Hey Dan,
Glad to hear it was a success! I’d love to get your take on the course and a guest post would be fantastic! I’ve already signed up for the September Ice Chamber AKC fitness trainer course, so it would be great to get a preview.
Thanks again,
Jim