Girevik

I finally got round to moving up from my one pood girya (16kgs or 35lbs kettlebell) to the two pood weight. This is 32kg or 70lbs. The standard weight girya used by the Russian military is 24kg or 50lbs weight, and while I'd originally planned on getting one to work up gradually, I jumped the gun and went for the big boy instead. The next weight up is 88lbs. I think I might pass on that one!

Now, 32kg doesn't sound like a lot but believe me it is when you're swinging it around. To be honest, while I'm happy enough doing high rep sets with the 16kg KB, this 32kg is a whole different ballgame so I'm taking it very easy. My first workout consisted of swings, cleans and squats. This is too much weight for me to attempt to snatch just yet- I'm not quite sure how my body'll hold up so I'm taking no risks. My second workout was just three sets of swings, keeping the reps low and trying to get the girya a little higher than the night before. I can get it up to chest height now which is all I need for swings. Now that I know my limits with that my next goal is to increase my cleans, get the reps up a little and then work towards adding in the overhead jerk. When I started with the 16kg kettlebell I really noticed my shoulder strength increase so I'm hoping to see big gains with this. Though my workouts have been light so far I can already feel the muscles around my torso being worked by the KB- these things really do work your whole body.

I've got to say that I'm pretty much hooked on kettlebell training- it's simple, fast and effective- and it's good to finally have the two pood girya to train with. I feel like I can finally call myself girevik, a "kettlebell man".