Professional perspective of competition

WKC has posted a strongman competition for the Arnold. I'm training for the Arnold and would like to do the traditional competition with 2 32kgs. It really isn't that heavy. I've tried 40 kgs before. That was heavy for me. But its all about context.

I like the idea of heavy kettlebells competition, particularly for 48 kgs.

In a year 2 48 kgs will go up. Why not. Even that is not heavy in the overall context of strength sports. For reps (30 or more), it is world class no doubt but I've seen videos of world champion olympic weight lifters. They are interesting to watch. Not unlike kettlebells, a lot of skill is required for impressive results. While power output per rep is different, the training volume of overall tonnage is similar.

Technique and work ethic are paramount. For the new years resolution I will have a service to offer to bring athletes together for a clinic. This purpose is to work out primarily but also fix problem areas. Since I've fixed mine, I can offer personal experience and also review how to prepare for competitions or ultimately performances. Since 2007 I've traveled every month and ate food that had been inconsistent, slept in different conditions and somehow tried to improve my performance while having additional objectives, such as instruction during a certification. Since this is a lengthy topic, and requires two way communication, it will behoove one to be honest with one self to compete like they train. Too often competition becomes a social event. Thats good! Its all about timing though. If I show up and socialize, I lose focus on what I'm supposed to be doing. I remember when I made Rank I and CMS, that this wasn't an issue. That means that I didn't understand what it (performing better) meant.

When you get to a professional level and it is up to you to decide when that is, you need to show up to the competition with one clear focus. Valery told me not to "have fun" the day before and from countless experiences it took I understand why.

Going back to my earlier sentiment, it's good to have fun, hence an awards ceremony after the competition and maybe a dinner.

In Miami FL, Denisov, Ivanko, who lifted 150 jerks showed up maybe an hour before the competition. He didn't stand around hang out and talk to people. He treated it like training. When I trained for Latvia, I spent 1000 hours in the gym in the last year, I went out before the competition and showed up socializing and did 31 Jerks and 7 minutes. I shot my foot off.

You are probably thinking that the word Primadonna comes to mind, but its again about context. When you invest in something, in this case training, you want to cash in all the hard work of 1000 hours and you get only 10 minutes to do it.

Stay Tuned. I will advertise sport training camp in a week. It is two days of hard work and personal instruction. We will also go over competition prep on the down time at a dinner after the training camp. The reason, I want t a dinner is to remind you that when its time to train, its time to work, when its time to have a good time, thats ok and recommended! The time, place and cost are TBD.

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