Arnold/AKC Contest Winners!
Tens of thousands of athletes and spectators visited our booth, but 612 had the courage to step up on one of four platforms
and participate in our Overhead Lift Contest at the 2008 Arnold Fitness Expo. Last year we had around 250 participants in our 1 Arm LongCycle Contest, but our expanded booth made all the difference this year. Many thanks to our Volunteer Coach Staff that showed up like Soldiers, I think we had over 20 “work” our booth at some point in the weekend! It would have been impossible to have pulled it off with just myself, Jon and Valery, so we are grateful for your generosity. I know some of you made pretty good contacts, so I hope all the hard work pays off big! Except for a few guys spending a little too much time “Coaching” young gorgeous women, it was a 
well oiled Training Machine among chaos. Oh, and this year we did actually coach people that wanted to listen. Some people feel they have nothing to learn from a bunch of leaned out Kettlebell Athletes (only later did they find out they might…), but many got a nice introduction to Kettlebell Lifting that was well worth the price of admission. These AKC Coaches coach fast! It was pretty much non-stop action from Friday as the doors opened, until Close on Sunday. Young and old, big and small, man and woman… There is no discrimination in Kettlebells! How many can you do!?
So, I said to this big guy, “Where have I seen you before?” He said “Worlds Strongest Man?”. Yeah, I think that was it… Those were my first words to “Schoonie”, our Mens Overhead Lift winner. It’s ok, I
spoke some pretty stupid words to Valery the day I met him too, so I have reason to expect Mr. Brian Schoonveld will forgive me as well. After all, it was The Arnold and there are no shortages of big, strong and famous people walking around. Anyway, he lifted the 32kg/70lb “Fedorenko” bell 120 times in 10 minutes with only one hand switch. I messed up in the last Blog and said 129, but the 0 looked like a 9, probably scribbled due to the excitement of the performance! Not only do your arms have to be strong, but your hands, your wind, your back, feet and definitely your mind have to be up to the task. There weren’t many rules… Just begin the lift from 
down off the crest of the shoulder and pop the lockout. It ain’t Kettlebell Sport, it’s a Festival Lift, and from what I hear, they had a lot of these in the old country. You should have seen the creative ways people come up with to survive. This really proves natural instinct of lifting is not the best way when it comes to Kettlebells. The effort put forth by 90% of the contestants was simply amazing to see first hand. With a little bit of Coaching, some of these people could be the Champions of our Sport. The rest could tighten up a few weak links in the chain that holds together total Fitness.
Our Women’s winner came late Sunday. Unassuming, but you could tell she had been training something, hard. She put up 94 reps with a 16kg/35lb Kettlebell within 10 minutes. Her name is Rachel Rosenfeld.
I don’t know what she does yet, but it’s obvious by her results that she can go further and become a Kettlebell Athlete with the AKC. We think she’s going to turn out to be one of our best students, at least we hope. With the help of just the 4 main women AKC Athletes that were present assisting at the Arnold, I’m sure she will get all the help she desires in our Club. We charge Catherine Imes, Kelly Moore, Ashley Hughes, and Susanna Baxter, all who can now Jerk a 32kg Kettlebell for reps due to a lot of 16kg practice, with helping to welcome her to our Club and helping to steer her in the right directions if she chooses to pursue the Kettlebell.
More on the Arnold…
Eric Liford, Editor