GS vs everything else

I am not going to start on One True Way versus Hard Style or whatever. Just an observation after abstaining from timed sets for over a year.

During my las session the day before yesterday I did 32 reps per hand with 16 kg bell in 8 minutes (after doing 8 minute set of alternating snatches and swings). Surprisingly, I managed to complete it, even though at this moment I am completely untrained for this activity. Not a great weight and not a remarkably high cadence either. However, after the set I was dripping with sweat and my muscles were trembling. These sets also required some mental effort. Not too grueling, but noticeable.

Which brought me back to the whole debate regarding timed sets, girevoy sport and hard style. HS guys insist that they purposefully keep the technique suboptimal in order to increase the training effect. So any effort to save energy should be dismissed.

I am not aware of any study - and there probably aren't any - that compares energy expenditure of HS snatch versus that of GS. I still suspect though that overall effort during timed sets is going to cost more in terms of oxygen consumption than the cumulative cost of several HS sets. There is something about continuous work that makes it special. Twenty squat routine, for example, is very well known to bodybuilders, and it gives compares fairly well with GS sets in terms of effort. Squatting 70 kg for 4 sets of 5 reps is relatively easy, but doing 20 reps non-stop gets you seriously winded. GS sets are similar, and I think from metabolic point of view they are very demanding.

Which brings us to another point that I have maintained for a long time: you don't have to do 10 minute sets every time you train for GS. Exactly because these sets are so physiologically demanding they should not be done too frequently. Just like maximal lifts in powerlifting or full effort long distance runs.

Baby, I am back!

Couple of weeks ago I get the email from Sergey Rudnev: "Hey, Eugene, I am coming to Sydney to run the local comp and couple of seminars. It would be great to catch up!" Last Thursday - he is here. On Saturday I went to watch him competing in 24 kg Long Cycle in the morning, and in the afternoon I attended his masterclass. I could stay only for the firts couple of hours which covered the jerk.

One thing you realize at times like these is the significance of a professional coach. For what it i worth, Sergey is the best GS coach I have ever come across. On Sunday morning I helped him - in the capacity of the interpreter from Russian - with his seminar on the training process. His knowledge of the subject and understanding of the individual approach is truly professional. Which is not surprising; he has a university degree in the fucking subject, not six month long part time course in personal training, run by the guys who graduated from the same course three months ago! Once again I was gloating deep inside about being right in regards to AKC training methodology: ten minute sets every session are not the way to train for the sport.

Never mind the others. The message: if you wat to learn Girevoy Sport - learn it from guys like Rudnev. And as I know nothing else like him - learn from Rudnev himself. That is, if he has training spots available.

It was also nice to see that Australian GS is getting bigger. There were 22 participants this time, compared with 15 last time about six months ago. Sure it is not as big as AFL, but the baby is growing.

Where was I... Ah, yeah. Couple of hours of that masterclass was enough to get bitten by the GS bug again. I don't know what it is about GS: the crazy talk about the intricacies of the tecnique, the sincerity of the sport or something else, but there is something in this activity that draws me in. The prospect of saying that I did fifty-something snatches in this many minutes? The knowledge that I can almost die and get through the long set, let alone voluntarily!

Anyway, I am seriously considering giving GS another shot. I am thinking snatch. It is a one arm lift which makes it easier on the back. On the other hand it is most technical of the three, which makes it challenging and interesting. Snatch it is. In any case, if I get any better I can always build other lifts on top of that.

Whatch this spot, baby, I am back!