Old and new - a KB journey

As I'm a bit of a social media whore you may have already noticed that I'm trying something familiarly new.

I say social media whore, I put a lot of burpees and coffee comments out there with some learning points along the way but am always pleasantly, if not awkwardly surprised when somebody tells me firstly that they read any of it and secondly that they enjoy it. I am not so much of a whore that I have yet accepted any of the direct offers to "collab? DM me" or buy followers. Honestly, and this probably makes me sound old but that makes less sense to me than putting every brain fart out into the ether as it is.

Anyhoo.

After about 15 years of throwing kettlebells around (literally in some cases) I've decided to give Kettlebell Sport ago. Crucially, I've also opted for working with a coach to do so. I've had the privilege of working with some very good coaches in their fields (and gyms) but in more recent years that has been occasional and with more of a view to programming than anything else. As I said before signing up with Fionn the coach who coaches themselves has a fool for a client. This was always going to be a challenge. Working with a world Champion would be kill or cure (let's face it, nobody reaches the top in their endeavour by allowing for ducking out of the hard yakka).

Let's back up a bit. What's Kettlebell Sport? Chances are that you have seen a kettlebell by this stage. The cannonball with a handle looking things Available in plastic from supermarkets in weights that are frequently lighter than the pick 'n'mix you snuck into your trolley without any conscious effort.

Cast iron are common. These became as rare as rocking horse poo during Lockdown through a combination of demand to cover the gap left by gym closures and supply as foundries closed and global supply chains struggled.

The most common decent usage of these little darlings (I say little, I do own a pointlessly large 92kg one) is what is known as Hardstyle. While something akin to kettlebells can be traced back to Ancient Greece, appearing also in Scotland, the kettlebell as we know and love it is firmly Russian, the girya. During the very late 20th and early 21st Century they became increasingly popular, first in the US and then on driven by the explosion of functional fitness.

Girevoy sport/Kettlebell sport, (Girevik-somebody who uses a kettlebell) is the more traditional form. Codified in the 1960s it focuses around the biathlon (10 minutes each of the Jerk and the snatch)i Long Cycle" (clean and Jerk, men using 2 kettlebells, women 1 with a single change of hands). keeping the endurance credentials there was also the half marathon (30 minutes non-stop) and marathon (60 minutes) in Jerk (1 or 2 bells); Long Cycle (1 or 2) ; Snatch (1 kettlebell) or half-snatch (1 or 2) . Thanks more recently to Valery Fedorenko we can add the pentathlon to the list (6 minute intervals separated by 5 minutes rest in each of clean, clean and press; Jerk; Half snatch, and push press).

Both styles are hard work. Hardstyle is swing centred, hip hinge focused and lends itself nicely to cross training.

GS is a sport in its own right. Power endurance, technique and a liberal requirement for mental focus.

Me? Before September 2021 I had precisely zero exposure to GS. Aware of it, but no exposure. I just used a kettlebell! The first-time was 2006 and on and off over the intervening 15 years have done hundreds of thousands of reps. But just because you've done something for a long time does not mean that you are going to be any good at it. Aside from that, every time I had read anything like the descriptions I put above, I shook my head in wonderment and put it to one side.

So, how come the sally into GS?

Well, on a whim I tried the pentathlon. It was horrible. So obviously I thought that I'd like to do it again but better. I then "met" Fionnbharr Toolan, coach and 3- time world kettlebell champion. After some dancing around my handbag, and having passed mutual initial assessment, I committed.

The coaching has been excellent in spite of us being on different islands. I won't lie though, while it has been building sensibly, it is hard work. Very. But that's ok, with a purpose I'm not afraid of hard work. Well, I am, I know how it hurts! But I'm more than prepared to do it. If it is just for the sake of it, the hallmark of organisational bullshit, I struggle.

"People want to not only do things that they can do well but also things that they care to do well"

Mayerson (2015,16)

Turns out that it isn't just me! Although as with all things in life, different people will have different degrees of response to any given scenario.

In this case, as often for me, the" why?" I was driven by curiosity. What can I learn, how far can I go with this, I'm a big advocate of approaching life with a sense of curiosity. It might have killed the cat but it also helps counter-­balance our human inclination to make assumptions.

But, in terms of pursuing things, it can be fragile - either because you feel that you have explored far enough at some random point when you are, effectively, no longer interested. Or, like a small child with a bottomless series of 'why?' you get sucked into never quite letting go at all.

The obvious challenges for me were going to be learning the new skills; resisting falling back on habits (not necessarily bad but unhelpful in this context) especially under fatigue, and endurance -both during and across sessions.

There is always a difference between "knowing" and doing. In advance of giving something a go, even with phenomenal research, your anticipation of how much/with something is going to hurt/go well is missing the nuance from doing it. Practice may or may not help the skill but it certainly can make for better informed predictions (note my earlier comment about assumptions).

The first example of this was the Jerk. Thankfully a new movement for me. Sure I knew the sequencing from barbell lifting but it was, prior to my first go at the pentathlon not something I'd either done or coached. And I found myself getting frustrated that, even with Fionn's dulcet tones cuing me, I could not get the steps - which made perfect logical sense in my head - to flow in the world.

I know myself enough that I recognise early and take some steps to bring my alarm systems under control. What I had not banked on was the focus on precision. In most of my other sporting endeavours there has been a skills component but with it being expressed with or to other people you introduce scope for variation to make it work- permissible in sports where style is more for the tales of panache afterwards rather than being a critical scoring component.

I've always been lucky to have a moderate level of physical strength, and with labourers on both sides of the family tree over generations it might be the family legacy.

In any event my mum tried to tell me that you don't always need to use brute strength. In others I've tried to encourage the view that part of being strong is giving you the choice about when to use it - being gentle when you can snap something like a twiglet is a sign of control and there's real strength in that. Both find echoes in Fionn's words when he said "you're plenty strong enough... but"

No matter how much I listen to Sir mix-a-lot, I have to be honest, not all buts are appealing.

This is where the desire to do well can be obstructive. The but crushes the good news and turns up the heat on the things that aren't right. Highlighting how far from perfect I am.

But wait a second. Of course I'm not perfect a) I'm human and b) as painful as the reminder is, I'm a newb!

The hundreds and thousands of reps with stones, barbells, sandbags, kettlebells and so on might buy me a seat at the table to play with reasonable load, but in terms of tech they count for little. Cutting, but my feelings about that don't change the factual merits. Indeed, it's not a question of merit, of good or bad, it just is!

With a little bit of calming, it becomes easier to look dispassionately. And under a cooling light I can see:

1. I'm learning a new sport
2. I'm developing strength endurance
3. I'm improving in my new sport
4. I'm learning about how I learn, and
5. In spite of all the time I've spent working with mine and other's minds, I'm still human and liable to trip myself up if I don't pay attention.

My curiosity goal may be limiting as much as it is liberating but using my own words back at me helped to re frame the issue.

"I want to know how good I can be"

Read it again Ben. Out loud. Slowly.

How good I can be, not how good I am currently...

The truth is, I may or may not be at an ok standard today. Firstly, that, in the finest scientific traditions, becomes valid when it is repeatable. After all, form is temporary, class is permanent. But more than that, there is very little reason (despite what the trolls, or worse, the negative internal broadcast) might say, to believe that this is the edge of our map. Or even if it is, that the edge of the map is the edge of our world.

I also need this calibration chat because as fate would have it, the English Kettlebell Association Open Pentathlon is 23rd October. Four weeks into the programme is probably not ideal but Fionn, like a good coach, is rolling with it to get me ready.

Early on I looked at the weights and reps and harboured an idea that I might a ranked standard. I've parked that. It is not impossible that somebody, after less than 2 months of training and instruction might find themselves in the running for a representative honour in their new sport but it is quite unlikely.

Plus, and this is important, that can only come to be if the player turns up and turns in a performance. Wanting it is not enough, you must earn it. Effort is not enough, you must execute as well.

This is where the honest feedback is important and invaluable. It is too easy to think we're doing ok. If you're scared to ask that question about how you're doing when you can still do something about it, then you will get exposed when it is too late to change trajectory. If you're trying to help people grow then you do them a dis-service to keep performance feedback to yourself in the interests of not denting their ego.

As an aside, if you're responsible for somebody else's performance then you let them and yourself down by ducking it. Sure, you can look at how you do it, but that is with what you are trying to achieve in mind. You don't have to be unpleasant when delivering a difficult message.

So, we'll push on and keep looking at what I can learn, reminding myself about what is important and that it is ok to find the task and the learning difficult. If they were easy, we'd see it more in life!

Thanks for checking in, it's been good to share with you. Until next time, keep being curious.