Toledo Midwest Kettlebell Competition

I returned last night from the Toledo Midwest Kettlebell Competition hosted by Todd Baden, Mike Sherman, and Kettlebell Bob at Synergy Gym in Toledo. First of all, I would like to thank these guys for putting on a first class meet. The facility is very impressive. There were many local competitors who stepped on the platform for the first time and put up some very impressive numbers. They are planning to hold a meet at Synergy Gym every 3 or 4 months and I would highly recommend anybody living within a few hours drive make every effort to attend.....you won't be disappointed.

Overall, I was pleased with my performance. I originally had planned to just hit my CMS jerk numbers (73) and save energy for my snatches, but I got caught up in the excitement and ended up getting a PR in my jerks (below).

I paced myself at 7 rpm for the first 8 minutes and then finished with 9 rpm in the 9th minute and 12 rpm in the 10th minute for a grand total of 77 reps. Overall, I feel like my jerk technique continues to improve. I am getting quicker.

Next, came the snatches. I felt very strong on the left. Started at 15 rpm and switched around the 4:20 mark with 62 reps. Probably could have gutted out a few more reps, but I didn't want to risk dropping the bell. Since I didn't switch on the minute, and they had digital clocks, I had a very difficult time pacing myself on the right side. My last 8 reps or so on the right were shear gut check. I completely lost my backswing, but I made my goal of hitting 60 on each side, with a total of 62 left and 60 right (below):

CMS is clearly in sight. I have circled December 5th as my target date. If Valery attends Scott Shelter's meet in Atlanta, I plan to be their to make my CMS numbers. Six weeks of training to pick up 8 reps on the left and 10 reps on the right in the snatch. This should be doable.