Over the last few weeks I’ve kept you posted on my journey to the 1st Irish Kettlebell Sports Championships.

Well they were held last weekend.
Before I go into the event, here are my last few training sessions on the lead up:

2/7/10
Jerks Day
Warm Up : 10 x 16, 20, 24, 28 and 5 x 32
Work Sets : 24 x 25 x 1, 24 x 28 x 1, 24 x 21 x 1
Supplement : Swing-Squats countdown, start with 35 swings with the 32 and 5 hindu squats. Drop 5 swings and add 5 squats every set untill you finish with 5 swings and 35 squats.

3/7/10
Snatch and variety.
24 kg x 10 min, swap hands at will.
Squats contrast training : 3 reps on Barbell immediately followed by 15 jump squats with 24kgs.
The squats went 60×3, 70×3, 80×3, 90×3

5/7/10
This the start of twice per day training.
AM : Jerks
1 min each of 16, 24, 32kg
1 min 32kg
2min 24kg
3min 16kg

PM : Snatch
Same protocol as AM but with snatch instead of jerk

6/7/10
AM : Jerk
1 min each o 16, 24, 32kg
1 min 32kg, 2 min 24kg, 3 min 16kg

PM : Circuit training
Plyometric push up, Bodyweight Row, Double Jerk (28kgs), Double cleans (24kgs)
round 1 – 45’s x 4 stations
round 2 – 30s x 6 stations
round 3 & 4 – 15s x 8 stations
Finished with a Time/Volume set of 36kg 1 arm jerks

7/7/10
AM : Snatch
1 min each of 16, 24, 32
1 min 32 l/r, 2 min 24 l/r, 3min 16 l/r

8/7/10
PM : Snatch
10 x 6 l/r 32kg Snatch

12/7/10
AM : Conditioning Drill
10 x Snatch, 10 x Jerk, 8 x Snatch, 8 x Jerk, 6 x Snatch, 6 x Jerk, 4 x Snatch, 4 x Jerk, 2 x Snatch, 2 x jerk
all done with double 28’s

PM : Jerks
24’s x 2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2
36kg x Time/Volume

13/7/10
AM : Jerks
32 x 10 x 5
28 x 10 x 5

PM : Snatch & Swing
24 kg Snatch x 2 minl/r
32kg Swing x 10 min, switch hand every 10 reps

14/7/10
AM : Long Cycle 24’s x 4 min x 2
Jerks 24’s x 2 min sprint
Hindu Squat x 100

PM : Circuit
Barbell Squat x 5 (40, 50, 70, 80kg)
32kg Snatch x 10 l/r
Sledgehammer slam x 15 L/R

The last few workouts I never took note of. Fatigue and boredom were setting in so the workouts became a little more random in the final few days before tapering down in the final week.

Then came competition day.

I dropped from my original goal of competing with the 28’s and went for 24’s instead. Next competition i will hit the CMS rank with the 28kg bells!
How did I go in this competition, well a picture speaks a thousand words so here are the video clips:

Jerks:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAnTAbcbSbk&hl=en_US&fs=1]

Total 78 reps, and the first time I’d ever gone 10 minutes with the 24’s.
Very happy with this result.

Snatch

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpsgyoB7INI&hl=en_US&fs=1]

Extremely disappointed here. I’ve no idea how this happened but it felt like my hand just “switched off” I didn’t feel the familiar build up of fatigue, it just seemed to let go. I only scored 53 reps and dropped the bell after 3 min 35sec.
Better luck next time.

Strong

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpwkZx6tz5U&hl=en_US&fs=1]

This was just a bit of fun at the end of the day. I put the 36kg bell up 24 times on the left and 23 on the right. If you watch carefully you’ll see a slight infringement of the rules, but the lads let me away with it….

It was a great day, over 45 lifters all shouting and cheering each other on. There were inexperienced, experienced, old and young all competing, all setting PR’s and getting stuck in.
I want to say a thank you to the lads from the Kilkenny Kettlebell Club for organising the event. If you’re looking to get into Kettlebell Lifting and are in their area, look them up.

Regards

Dave

www.WG-Fit.com
www.wildgeesema.com