What is Kettlebell Sport?

The basic goal in kettlebell sport is to see how many times you can lift the kettlebell in 10 minutes. The person with the highest reps wins.  Sounds simple right?  Well let me explain the rules a little better and then you can decide for yourself.  So in kettlebell sport you have 3 main lifts the snatch, jerk, and long cycle (which is clean and jerk).  There are a few other events at competitions but these are your main 3 lifts always performed.  The women compete with only one kettlebell in all 3 events and the men compete with 2 kettlebells in the jerk and long cycle and only one kettlebell in the snatch.  You are allowed only one hand switch during the entire 10 minutes and you are not allowed to put the kettlebells down.  If you have to set the kettlebells down your set is done.  So in the events with 2 kettlebells there are no hand switches you just have to hold on to both kettlebells the whole time.  You will hear the term fixation a lot amongst kettlebell sport atheltes and what is on every rep your arm and legs must be locked out for a second or two to show that you have completed the lift successfully each and every rep.  If you do not achieve lockout you will hear a no count and the rep will not count.  Competitors are spilt into weight divisions and what kettlebell size they chose to compete with which could be between 8kg to 32kg.  

In kettlebell sport there is also a ranking a system which goes in the following order from highest to lowest:
MSIC (Master of Sport International Class)
MS (Master of Sport)
CMS (Candidate Master of Sport)
Rank 1
Rank 2
Rank 3

Each rank is determined by a set number of reps one must achieve during the 10 minutes and also certain ranks can only be achieved with one kettlebell size.  For example men can only achieve MSIC with the 32kg and women can only achieve MSIC with the 24kg. 

So what do you think piece of cake right?  Kettlebell sport is great is because you have people young and old with different abilities competing it is a sport for everyone.  Do yourself a favor and compete in at least one kettlebell competition and make sure to find a coach with kettlebell sport experience to help you out with your training.  It will be one of the best decisions you ever make.