all posts post new thread

Kettlebell Kettlebell Milestones

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

John K

Level 8 Valued Member
Certified Instructor
Hello y'all!

Yesterday I found a post on Instagram that listed milestones for kettlebell training. A couple were the standard kind - swings and getups with 32, then the 40, then the 48 - and a couple were "milestones" I hadn't thought of.

Here's a couple from the post:

Clean and Jerk (single bell)
Strength Endurance - 50 C&J in 10 min​
Conditioning - 100 C&Js in 10 min​
Milestones: 24kg, 32kg, 40kg​
Press & Squat (single or double)
5x5​
Milestones: 24kg, 32kg, 40kg​

Snatches (single)
Strength Endurance: 100 snatches in 10 min​
Conditioning: 100 snatches in 5 min​
Milestones: 24kg, 32kg, 40kg​

I thought it was interesting that they split milestones into "strength endurance" and "conditioning."

I'm also blown away that someone could do 100 snatches in 5 min with a 40kg bell!

The clean and jerk reminds me of Jon Engum's article here.

The press and squat - they said either single or double bell, but I think those are two very different standards - squatting 5x5 with a single 32kg is one thing, with doubles it is another animal (at least for me).

Anyways, it was interesting to see another person's idea for "milestones" in your kettlebell journey. I don't think I'll be adopting them for my training or training others. I'm not sure why, working through why I think that.
 
The one I have my sights set on is 48kgx10 doubles C&P. Someone posted it as a good lifetime goal and I really like it. It comes out to roughly body weight for me and double what I’m currently using lol.

Interested to see/steal other peoples milestones/goals. I have some other fitness goals but nothing else for kettlebells.
 
The one I have my sights set on is 48kgx10 doubles C&P. Someone posted it as a good lifetime goal and I really like it. It comes out to roughly body weight for me and double what I’m currently using lol.

Interested to see/steal other peoples milestones/goals. I have some other fitness goals but nothing else for kettlebells.
Yes, owning 48s like that is definitely a personal goal for me, but that seems long down the line. 10 clean and presses, 10 front squats - one day!
 
My (completely unrealistic, never going to happen, a man can dream can't he) milestone would be the day I can give away my lighter bells and just have one really heavy kettlebell. Oh the sweet, sweet simplicity
 
Looks like milestones for GS (Girevoy Sport / kettlebell sport). Not nearly as applicable to hardstyle training.
Interesting, hadn't thought of that. What makes you think it is more GS? I'm not sure if the folks who posted this are SF, but they seem more hardstyle than GS.


My (completely unrealistic, never going to happen, a man can dream can't he) milestone would be the day I can give away my lighter bells and just have one really heavy kettlebell. Oh the sweet, sweet simplicity
I don't think I'll ever get rid of my lighter bells. I'm always finding new uses for bells I passed off as "too light" - like double snatching, or armbars, or bottoms up work ... Or even just a nice light fast day!
 
What makes you think it is more GS?

The milestones involve doing a certain amount of work in a given time.
We do that with the snatch test, but that's one of the few examples I can think of.
Also, C&J, great as it is, isn't used that much with hardstyle. And when it is, it's most often in sets of 3, 5, 7, or 10. Hardly ever 50.

Press and squat I suppose we both do... and 5x5 is strength.

Snatches could be either one, but just that they list 100 in 10 minutes as a first milestone, then 100 in 5 min, tells me they're coming at it form a different angle than hardstyle usually does; i.e. endure first, then do more work in less time.
 
The milestones involve doing a certain amount of work in a given time.
We do that with the snatch test, but that's one of the few examples I can think of.
Also, C&J, great as it is, isn't used that much with hardstyle. And when it is, it's most often in sets of 3, 5, 7, or 10. Hardly ever 50.

Press and squat I suppose we both do... and 5x5 is strength.

Snatches could be either one, but just that they list 100 in 10 minutes as a first milestone, then 100 in 5 min, tells me they're coming at it form a different angle than hardstyle usually does; i.e. endure first, then do more work in less time.
Interesting how I read my own preconceived ideas into this! So, for example, the clean and jerks, 50 in 10 min, I'm thinking "a weight you can sustain power with for 5 reps OTM" and for 100 in 10 min I'm thinking "a weight you can sustain power with for 10 reps OTM," both of which I would think would be in the hardstyle training vein (either that or my training is a lot softer than I think!). Snatch I thought similar, and have in the past done something like 5 OTM up to 30 min while passing the talk test, then once I can do that drop down to 10 OTM and repeat the process. So, when I read those standards, I immediately was thinking of things like that that I've done. But you've "recast" it into a different light.
 
I'm also blown away that someone could do 100 snatches in 5 min with a 40kg bell!
We have had some hardstyle practitioners do this feat. Master SFG Derek Toshner and Senior SFG Tim Almond. See this thread for more detail.

Interesting how I read my own preconceived ideas into this! So, for example, the clean and jerks, 50 in 10 min, I'm thinking "a weight you can sustain power with for 5 reps OTM" and for 100 in 10 min I'm thinking "a weight you can sustain power with for 10 reps OTM," both of which I would think would be in the hardstyle training vein (either that or my training is a lot softer than I think!)
Yeah, that would work, actually! But I've rarely heard of someone using hardstyle C&J this way.

GS would do it without setting the bells down. Hardstyle C&J is really limiting in that way... most people just can't hold heavy bells in the hardstyle rack position for extended sets.
 
Last edited:
My (completely unrealistic, never going to happen, a man can dream can't he) milestone would be the day I can give away my lighter bells and just have one really heavy kettlebell. Oh the sweet, sweet simplicity
I’ve done that with my 16kg. Then I acquired one back and found someone selling another from the company that made mine. So now I have my 16kgs again. I don’t even use them.
 
Hello y'all!

Yesterday I found a post on Instagram that listed milestones for kettlebell training. A couple were the standard kind - swings and getups with 32, then the 40, then the 48 - and a couple were "milestones" I hadn't thought of.

Here's a couple from the post:

Clean and Jerk (single bell)
Strength Endurance - 50 C&J in 10 min​
Conditioning - 100 C&Js in 10 min​
Milestones: 24kg, 32kg, 40kg​
Press & Squat (single or double)
5x5​
Milestones: 24kg, 32kg, 40kg​

Snatches (single)
Strength Endurance: 100 snatches in 10 min​
Conditioning: 100 snatches in 5 min​
Milestones: 24kg, 32kg, 40kg​

I thought it was interesting that they split milestones into "strength endurance" and "conditioning."

I'm also blown away that someone could do 100 snatches in 5 min with a 40kg bell!

The clean and jerk reminds me of Jon Engum's article here.

The press and squat - they said either single or double bell, but I think those are two very different standards - squatting 5x5 with a single 32kg is one thing, with doubles it is another animal (at least for me).

Anyways, it was interesting to see another person's idea for "milestones" in your kettlebell journey. I don't think I'll be adopting them for my training or training others. I'm not sure why, working through why I think that.
I am aware of the exact post you are referring to. Sean and Grant have also given a great template to build up the Getup numbers. Very simple ... almost felt like a cheat code when I got my 40kg TGU !!!
 
I left the comment above without reading all the other comments and now that I read them, I get a sense that most feel that these milestones seem to be quite unrealistic for a vast majority. And I agree that they might be, but it does mean there is a huge scope for improvement for those who aspire to do so. Something I also observed in Return of the Kettlebell, when the Grind block is talking about double 40kg Presses and squats .. and Double Snatches using double 40s (WHATTT !!!). Can't fathom that at all. I did try searching for folks doing double 40kg snatches and found very very few people doing that. But there are folks doing that.

What I mean is that not all milestones are for everyone. Pick and choose those that best suit you !!
 
Right away, I think of the beast press and the beast pistol as the quintessential kettlebell milestones. I think I have always felt that way. I think they were talked of like that back in the day. Am I old fashioned or just getting old and my memory plays tricks on me?
 
I enjoy things like this, and thanks for putting it out there. I think milestones are a better word than standards, but it’s still a little too suggestive for my taste. These are not necessarily things that you should work for but you can. Milestones for what exactly?

If that’s your thing and you train in an intelligent manner, then great. Have fun with it and enjoy the process. I like to work towards things for the sake of enabling me to do other things. You might be able to develop the same type of strength, power or endurance via other methods that could be even more efficient. Being able to toss around your body weight overhead via C&J certainly rewards with some great strength, mobility and endurance. There are of course other ways to achieve what you’re trying to build too.
 
There are few things to consider, concerning milestones with certain numbers / exercises. First is whether kettlebell training is your job, or is it a practice before or after your daily job. It is a huge factor, and I felt the differences myself, being able to practice kettlebells every day and twice a day, being on unemployment, and then trying to keep my achievements with a packed and stressful schedule. So, suggesting an average person to achieve sinister or snatching a 40 for sets of 10 is not completely efficient and productive, so to say. I'll leave aside all other factors like age, weight, prior sports experience or lack of it, injury history, ability to practice and not working out, financial ability to pay 50$ and more per session to the personal trainer (and if not, ability to design a program, to analyze performance, plan peaks, mids and offs, evaluate technique, etc., etc.), and handle "life happens" events. For some, numbers are goal, for some - obsession, for some - distraction, for rare - an instrument. I don't want also to speculate whether mentioned post about milestones is a real belief or the business tool, but I won't exclude this possibility (again, not necessarily this one).
So, in my opinion milestones are the small stones to pave dirt road, its length is endless. There we go about samurai having no goal...
 
These can be served as guidelines as to where you are, not set in stone though.

Single bell c and j 100 in 10 can mean 10 reps on the minute or 5 every :30
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom