“WHEN I REACH AT THE PLATFORM, I AM CALM AND ALREADY HAVE DONE THE SET IN MY MIND”

Sir Sergey Rudnev is an Honored Master of Sport. This is the highest rank that a Kettlebell lifter can have and there is a handful that can say that they have such prestige. He is also the president of one of the most prominent Kettlebell factions in the world in International Kettlebell Sport & Fitness Academy (IKSFA).

I am fortunate to meet him personally and had a long chat about his life and his teachings in kettlebell sport.

During the conversation, I came to know about his distinguished past as a Russian army officer and his role to train elite Russian military forces for general physical preparedness(GPP) with kettlebells.

When I asked him about his varied skill set as he posts many gymnastics movements on social media, then he told me about his childhood when he was a gymnast for four years followed by a long stint in wrestling and at last he fell in love with the kettlebell or famously known as Girevoy sport(GS).

He took up kettlebell sports during his military days when he was about 22 years old and then we all know how he dominated the sport and has been declared The Honored Master of Sport(HMS).

A video showcasing some of his amazing skills.

He stressed a lot on endurance training along with flexibility and mobility to excel in kettlebell sports.He gave me an option between running and squatting if one dislikes running.

He said for every kilometer do 100 squats, so you may substitute 5km running with 500 bodyweight squats.In the same way, he focussed on specific breathing methods to keep the heart rate down so the athlete can perform on the platform with a calm mind.

To develop specific strength for the sport he suggested rack hold and overhead carries with the double and single kettlebell as an athlete need to spend 10 minutes each in the Long cycle(Clean and Jerk) and Snatch to complete the participation.

He emphasized on stretching in any form including yoga after every training session to maintain the suppleness as various segments of kettlebell lifts need great amount of shoulder and hip mobility.

Coach Rudnev told me the drills briefly and guided me to find this article which he wrote for Strong First (SFG).To know these drills in detail visit this link.

Flexibility Exercises for Kettlebell Training and Kettlebell Sport

He loves to integrate different methods so he has adopted some of Hardstyle kettlebell drills,specially Turkish Get Ups(TGU).Get ups not only is a strength move but it also fixes major mobility issues in an athlete and a leymen.

This is me doing a get up with 24kg kettlebell.

Apart from techniques I discussed the secret of russian dominance in almost all the sports including kettlebells and Coach unequivocally gave the credit to russian sports system as they pick young kids and train them in different sports.To establish good kettlebell community in India he advised to follow the same principle so athletes have enough time to hone the skills and perform at global stage.

Lastly he accepted his love for Indian cuisines specially curry and Sweets.He is taking IKSFA certifications regularly in INDIA in association with AWE fitness,KOLKATA led by esteemed Coach Anwar Wahab.

For more information regarding certification and online training visit IKSFA facebook page.

Please listen his full audio interview below.

Shun The Weakness