She’s a poor example of Fitness
Sunday, May 11th, 2008“She’s a poor example of Fitness.” That’s the message we received after posting that short clip of Catherine failing and then getting a 1 Arm Jerk with our new 36kg Competition™ Kettlebell at the American Kettlebell Club Classic weekend. We get several nasty emails per week, so it’s not a surprise, but sometimes there is some good that comes from them. They spark ideas on how to better explain what’s going on in Kettlebell training. This guy didn’t leave his name, and the following emails from him made me feel he was playing with me. But, whoever he is he is real and he has brought up an interesting topic.
My reply to him was… “Actually not”. I mean, Catherine has told me more than once she’s had a weight problem since
childhood. She only recently began eating real food. You know, that strange stuff at the edges of a grocery store? She’s lost nearly 50 pounds lifting kettlebells! She even wants to get in a lower weight-class for Kettlebell Sport, so she’s by no means done losing weight. OK, that being said, she’s a phenomenal Athlete. In this video she Jerks a Kettlebell that weighs 79 pounds. I’ve never seen another woman do it. I’m not saying others can’t, but I just haven’t seen it yet. On a fresh day and with good reason I think she could Jerk the 88 pound bell. That’s Strength, but the most amazing part is she has not practiced low-rep or heavy kettlebells in a while. She’s been training for Kettlebell Sport, the most intense test of Strength/Power-Endurance on the planet. She put in two 10 minute 1st Place sets with a 16kg Kettlebell at the AKC Classic before this Feat of Strength.
Catherine is strong, but she has an unsurpassed Strength-Endurance display in this country. She’s the first American Master of Sport. She holds the Female rep records in the USA and travels to Germany to compete Internationally next month. That reminds me, we have several athletes going to Hamburg that do this from their own pockets. The AKC is about to order Team Uniforms and we will take care of any fees to compete, but travel expenses are getting out of reach, so AKC is going to begin Sponsorship drives for these athletes. More details on that later, but these Americans work a full time job and compete with people that get paid to train. They need Sponsors even if small. More to the point, Catherine is “Fit” in my opinion and I’d like to share why I think so and what it means to the Fitness Business.
I referred this guy to the wikipedia explanation of “Fitness”. With the exception of Body Composition, I feel Catherine excels at the other attributes of Fitness. I break them down even more detailed than Wikipedia:
- Accuracy
- Agility
- Balance
- Body composition
- Cardiovascular endurance
- Coordination
- Flexibility
- Strength
- Power
- Speed
- Stamina
- Mental Health
- Joint Range of Motion
- Emotional Health
- Age
- Lifestyle
There isn’t any one thing that solidifies Fitness, but what’s fascinating is Kettlebells enhance every one of these attributes and our methods seem to do it better and faster than anything else. Of course you can specialize, but Kettlebell Lifting, and particularly Kettlebell Sport IS a specialization in the general. Kettlebells ARE Fitness.
I further explained to this guy… I see several other factors that determine “Fitness” but as you see, appearance or more specifically, the % of bodyfat to lean muscle mass is only one factor. It might not even be one of the main factors, although for vanity’s sake people focus here. That’s why a clear majority of the people with perfect bodies have very little Fitness from our evaluations at our Certifications. Powerlifters and Bodybuilders while exceptional in “Strength” and “Body Composition” are not typically “Fit” by this definition. It’s not a dig, just observable fact, and the reason many Strongmen, Powerlifters, OL, Bodybuilders and people from all kinds of other Sports are applying the Fedorenko Methods now.
I’ve seen Catherine outperform many fit looking MEN that come from other Kettlebell schools to our Coach Certification. She never asked to be our top Fitness model. What she did was go and prove she was our top Athlete. How do you measure Fitness?
Bodybuilders, who would do best in the Body Composition category, claim their success is 80% nutritionally based anyway. Sure, they spend a lot of time in the gym and their workouts are grueling. Valery loves the movie “Pumping Iron” with his childhood hero Arnold Schwarzenegger and his new friend Lou Ferrigno. He always talks about how dedicated and almost obsessive they have to be to win. He says he was like that when he was trying to be Champ, but his sessions were done much faster than a typical Bodybuilder routine. Same with Powerlifters… They are masters of the Strength category, but overeating and overemphasis sometimes diminishes the other attributes of Fitness. Not Kettlebells. They seem to enhance all pieces of the Fitness puzzle at the same time.
About diet… Since a lot of experts feel nutrition is a big component of body composition, or lean mass versus bodyfat, why not ask what a Kettlebell Lifter eats? I already did. We come out with our Kettlebell Lifter Diet in 2008, but I can tell you now that the high level guys eat solidly nutritious meals and have huge appetites. It’s no secret that even average or beginner level Kettlebell Lifters experience an increase in appetite and lose bodyfat while consuming equal or more calories than before they started. It’s said this appetite is a sign of health. It’s also virtually impossible to lift at these levels and be unhealthy. We have widely varying builds and physiques in the Club and the Sport, as you’ll see in the coming videos.
I urge anyone in the Fitness Industry that is unsure how real Kettlebell Lifting can be converted into viable group classes to come to our first-ever Kettlebell Fitness Trainer Course in NYC, where we will share the Methods that will change the game. Every Commercial Gym will have to have this System in operation. Every Gym will have clients asking where the real goods on Kettlebells are! Do you have Coach Fedorenko’s Methods? This is the System developed by World Champion and Honored Master of Sport Valery Fedorenko and his Advisors, including the World Renowned Scott Sonnon. Don’t wait! Be one of the first Gyms/Trainers Licensed to operate the World Kettlebell Club Fitness System by coming to the East Coast Course May 24-25 (NYC).
Eric Liford, Editor
World Kettlebell Club
