Girevik

Hulk by Tim Sale.

I've been doing a lot of kettlebell training recently and while I might not look remotely like the Hulk, I certainly feel it. That odd stance pretty much sums how how I am at the end of a workout- the muscles of my shoulders and upper back feel incredibly pumped. In my last session I added only a few more repetitions to my sets of swings- and it literally left my panting on my knees. It's hard work.

Since the start of the year I have been very gradually working up the amount I can lift with my 32kg kettlebell, or girya. I started off with the easiest exercise- the two-handed swing. When I'd adapted to that I was soon able to add a snatch. At the start doing a single snatch was all that I could manage. After only a few weeks though I'm up to doing several sets of five.

I also began doing cleans (lifting the girya to shoulder level with one hand). I found these quite hard to begin with (and superb for developing my biceps) but soon got the hang of it- in the past week I've been able to clean and jerk for the first time. Progress here has been quick- from doing a single jerk at the start of the week, I'm now doing sets of five.

My next target is to shoulder press the girya. I think this will be the hardest of the lot as it's not a ballistic movement, but it's something I feel comfortable enough to attempt at my next workout.

When I'm able to do that I'll feel a whole lot better about calling myself a girevik, a kettlebell man.