Toledo Midwest Kettlebell Competition

Eric St-Onge, Matt Schinabeck, and Andrew Durniat - Toledo Jan 30, 2010

Another great competition was put on in Toledo this past weekend by Todd Baden, Mike Sherman, Rachel Suh, and Kettlebell Bob. A who's who in North American male kettlebell sport was in attendance to compete including Eric St-Onge, Marty Farrell, Andrew Durniat, Michael Cluse, Mike Sherman, and Sean Armstead. Some pretty impressive performances were recorded including Eric St-Onge hitting 101 jerks with the 32kg bells, and Andrew Durniat making CMS ranking with the 28kg bells in the LCCJ with 70 reps. On the female side, Svetlana Krechik hit 58/58 reps with the 24kg bell in the OALCCJ just coming a few reps short of the AKC MSWC ranking. I put together a video montage of these performances which can be seen below.

As far as me.....I had a very strong jerk performance, hitting a personal best of 82 reps with the 28kg bells. I felt quick and solid for the entire set. Video below:

My snatch continues to be a work in progress. I was pretty happy with the performance, hitting 55/52. It was nice to have Catherine able to see me perform live. She was able to give me a few more things to focus on in hopes of making my elusive CMS snatch numbers. Compared to Atlanta, I am now catching the bell higher and engaging the finger lock consistently, but Catherine pointed out that I started to short my backswing about half way into my left hand set which led to a cascade of problems including: causing my timing to be off on the ascent, pulling with my arm and using my legs less, and dropping the bell straight down (instead of casting out) leading to more jerking of my arm at the bottom of the descent causing significant grip fatigue. I need to be more mindful of my descent, backswing, and following the bell with my body. I also need to consistently remind myself to not rush the backswing as this leads to more pulling with the arm and less use of the legs and ultimately grip fatigue and failure. The video below: