Remembering Enter the Kettlebell!

By Sean Schniederjan RKC

The reason kettlebells are so popular is because a.) they work and b.) they work.  Just do swings (safely) and see how you feel.

Some people simply get addicted after that first time.  They get over exuberant and start talking about kettlebells all the time, harass their family and neighbors about how great they are, and constantly think about the next time they can ballistically load the hips with their beloved kettlebell.

I was and remain one of these people.  I’ve since mellowed out with the harassing family and friends part (they just aren’t on our level, lol) and instead put on workshops where I can be around like minded people who can appreciate a set of swings.

Why ETK

One of my fondest memories of the early part of my kettlebell lifting “career” was realizing and confronting a problem.  I had gotten to the point where I could snatch a 53 pound kettlebell fairly well.  I felt comfortable.  But the problem came when I first tried to do the secret service snatch test.

I could put together some nice sets of 10 r / 10 l so if I really kicked it into gear, doing 200 total snatches in 10 minutes shouldn’t be a big problem.

The first try ended badly.  At 120 total snatches in about 7 minutes I was done and done.  I think I blacked out for a little bit.  Never before or since have I been that out of breathe and winded.  I was stumbling around in the backyard trying to pull myself together.

200 snatches in 10 minutes was a problem.  A big problem.  And I had no idea how to increase my numbers in the dramatic fashion that the test required.

Then…something happened.  A how to book on conquering the secret service snatch test AND increasing your press written by Pavel himself was released back in 2006.

2006…Those were the Haight-Ashburydays of kettlebells.  It was before the scene split up and a lot of the RKCs left to form their own businesses.  And EVERYONE (on the dragon door forum) was doing ETK.  It might as well have the only kettlebell program in existence.

Ageless Body?  There was no Ageless Body.  Kettlebell Burn?  RETURN of the kettlebell?  Easy Strength?  Kettlebell Sport?  IKFF?  Z-Health?  Those kettlebells that look like purses endorsed by some bleached hair abomination at Walgreen’s?

In those days we rolled the dice before we did swings.  Back in the day we took a week off before testing our press.  In those days it was OK to do 75 presses on each side with a relatively heavy kettlebell on your heavy day.  We only snatched on the easy day….Medium and Heavy days we were doing swings and a lot of pressing.

The dd forum was like this:  Have you done your ladders?  Have you done your test day?  What did the dice roll today?  Some guy just nailed the SSST!  This comrade just barely missed his goal press.  Someone just made a useful spreadsheet!

And the stuff was so much better back then…people were PRing left and right.  The majority was all about one, or two things.  Everyone shared the same workout consciousness.  If someone wasn’t getting it, 20 people would chime in and offer help.  And it was always the same: just do the program as it was written.

I won’t bore with the details here but suffice it to say that hitting the SSST felt really damn good.  It did for everyone back then who broke through to the other side.

That program worked.  It was written at the time were KBs were getting big but hadn’t exploded yet.  And everyone was using it.  Everyone wanted to earn their own “Rite of Passage.”  When you got there the elders were there waiting to congratulate you.

I wrote an article back then that I’ve since lost, but remember saying that you could take elite level athletes and they would fail the SSST miserably on their first try.

If you can handle 200 snatches in 10 minutes with a 24kg bell that is no joke.  It’s a fast and easy way to doing something, not elite by any means, but something not many people, even athletes can handle.

You can walk a little taller knowing that you’ve conquered a test that a Secret Service Agent has to pass (Pavel tells the narrative of the SSST in the book).

Now that I’m a little older, a little wiser (not really) I can still look at the book and see there is more to it than tools to passing the snatch and press test.

There is “Ageless Body” type stuff in there.

-The Joint Mobility moves – the halo and “pump” are essential to hip and shoulder joint health.  I never did them back then and that caused some problems.

-Don’t snatch too much, especially if you’re pressing.  Improve your conditioning by doing swings instead and spare your shoulders.

-The Turkish Get Up will make anything you do stronger.

-You can ignore the variety days.  Just rest up and recover.  You’ll make progress faster.

You can still get the book but you can’t get that atmosphere back.  Those times are gone forever.

But the how to book and the immortal program remain:

Enter the Kettlebell!