Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Catherine Imes is Master of Sport

Check out what kettlebell lifting is about!

8 comments:

Franz Snideman said...

Wow. Congrats to Catherine. She is one strong chick! Having seen her lift at last years' RKC I am not surprised that she achieved this. She is uniquely gifted!

ashe higgs said...

was that a 32kg?

Ryan said...

The yellow kettlebell is 16kg.

Mark Reifkind said...

while this is a very cool and seriously tough sport, I still dont see how anyone can make the case that this style of kb lifting would be best for athletes where explosive power, speed and strength are important.Congrats to cate though she is a GS star.

Unknown said...

I really am stoked for Catherine.MS that lives just down the road! Hey Mark, try it and report back.

ashe higgs said...

i agree with mark. this type of lifting is great for strength endurance, but maybe not so great for explosive power.

the high level of reps concerned also speaks more to the technique involved rather than the amount of force being generated.

long story short, if your not into GS, don't train like you are. use your tools appropriately.

A Headless Place said...

Ashe, with that being the case why use kettlebells to train as if a powerlifter?
Not meaning to argue a point but isn't power-endurance equaly as viable to any sport or daily activity as training for power alone?
The appropriate tool in the wrong hands is still the appropriate tool...it's just in the wrong hands.

Eric

CI said...

Thanks for posting this Tom. I just made my way to your blog from SLC.

More than speed and explosiveness, I'm interested in building my work capacity..safely. At 35, my shoulders have never felt better. My GPP has probably not ever been better. Even at 185, I can knock off a couple of pullups. I can still press the 32kg (when I did it at the RKC last June I weighed over 200).

My older clients have thrived on this style and the teaching method. It promotes stability and a healthy mix of tension and relaxation. If it looks soft, that's because the weight is light for me. I don't have to exert the effort to stabilize it that Marty does a 32kg because I'm heavier than he is. But, trust me..I do stabilize it.

I wouldn't sell this to someone with a definitive goal of increasing their vertical or knocking time off their 40..But then again, I wouldn't sell them the RKC either.

The fact of the matter is that this training will improve GPP. It would be scaled for people not interested in competing. But the goal would be to build work capacity.

This training works "staying power". The fact that our "rest" is really not a rest gives us mental fortitude that other high intensity training does not. Learning how to "breath" when you are holding a weight and then digging and finding the strength to jerk that weight and lock it out overhead after grueling minutes is not trivial.

My explosive power is fine. I can still knock off double snatches with the 24s and jerks with 2-32kg bells even though I rarely practice them.

CI