For those that follow our monthly Caveman Athlete, you know that we’ve had some super nominations, people that are simply incredible! We had people that showed age is just a number by snatching more at age 50+ or 70+ than most of us snatch right now. Women who demonstrated that sex is no barrier by lifting crazy amounts of weight, numbers that most of us just dream about.
I won’t keep you in suspense much longer, but this months Caveman Athlete is just da bomb, super cute, but also super bad@ss, she’s Supergirl! I’m so glad to have received this nomination, as I know it will make a change in the world, and it will open up the world of kettlebells to a larger audience—especially the younger generation.
Fitness is a way of life, it’s part of life, simply put, without it, you’re not really living. Without it, you’re setting yourself up for an unhealthy lifestyle that makes you more susceptible to disease. Hence, it’s so important to instill good foundations that promote an active lifestyle at an early age.
Without further ado, I present to you…
Ava Morris
Age: 8
Best Result:
- Double Snatch 2.3kg 162 reps
- Double-Jerk 2.3kg 250 reps
- Long Cycle 2.3kg 165
- Snatch: 2.3kg 292
- One Arm Jerk: 2.3kg 478 rep
- One Arm Clean and Jerk: 2.3kg 190
Ava is an 8-year-old girl who has already started to make a name for herself in the kettlebell world. She has been training kettlebell for 2 years under the supervision of Kimberly Fox. She has competed in 3 IKLF BOLT competitions with all her events being full 10-minute sets. She competes for the Great Plains Kettlebell Club out of Wichita, Kansas. She comes from a competitive family. Her mother, Jessica Middleton, a Bellator MMA veteran who has fought internationally. We sat down with her and her coach to see what drives her.
Interviewer: How long have you been doing kettlebell?
Ava: Um, I don’t know.
Kim F: Two years.
Interviewer: How many times per week do you train?
Ava: Two days and sometimes on Sunday when my mom does Jiu-Jitsu.
Kim: I have a kid’s class that I teach twice a week. Most of the kids in the class are girls and about half of them train Jiu-Jitsu as well. My youngest kid is four years old. They usually train for 30 minutes depending on their attention span.
Interviewer: Why do you think other kids should use kettlebells?
Ava: Because it’s good for you and its fun.
Interviewer: Why do you think it’s fun?
Ava: Because I get to do kettlebell competitions and it’s just fun.
Interviewer How many kettlebell competition have you competed in?
Ava: Three.
Interviewer: How many medals do you have?
Ava: I have 17 medals my mom has hung all of them up
Interviewer: When you compete how many events do you do in one day?
Ava: Six.
Interviewer: Wow. How long are the events?
Ava: 10 minutes each.
Interviewer: So your coach told us that you compete in the double snatch, double jerk, double clean and jerk, single arm snatch, jerk, and clean and jerk. So which one of those do you think is the hardest one?
Ava: Hmmm, I don’t know.
Interviewer: Which one is the easiest?
Ava: All of them are easy.
Kim: It’s surprising how well all of the kids do at competition. Considering they have to stand up on the platform for 10 minutes. And competing in 6 events in one day is no joke, even for an adult it’s hard. The amount of mental stamina to push through is pretty impressive especially when you see kids do it.
Interviewer: Who inspires you to do kettlebell?
Ava: Kim does.
Kim: Aw, you don’t have to say me (laughing). I’m sure her mom is a huge influence as well. She is pretty damn good MMA fighter. And seeing your mom kick butt can only make you want to do the same thing. She definitely has her mom’s fight and drive. I’m lucky to get to teach her.
Interviewer: What would you tell someone to get them interested in kettlebell?
Ava: You get to do competitions.
Interviewer: Do you think it’s really important to compete against other people?
Ava: No, it’s just fun.
Interviewer: What made you interested in kettlebell?
Ava: I saw other people doing it and I thought I would be good at it.
Interviewer: Do you like doing fitness stuff?
Ava: Yeah, I like to make up my own workouts when my mom is training Jiu-Jitsu using the medicine ball and kettlebells.
Interviewer: Do you have any goals?
Ava: Next time I want to get to 500 reps. (single arm jerk) cause the last time I got 478. I wish there were more kids that I could compete against. But it doesn’t make me sad when there isn’t anyone because I just want to do my best and have fun.
Interviewer: Kim why did you start a kid kettlebell program and what are some goals you have for the future of the program.
Kim: Funny enough the kids really started the program. The girls watched the women train kettlebell and decided they wanted to do it. I had a couple of girls that would come ask every day if they could do kettlebell. I started training them not really thinking they would continue to do it. And it developed into an actual class. I couldn’t really train them with the adult class because I felt like it was a safety issue and they really needed more attention. I also didn’t think they needed to train for quite as long as the adults did so I had to make a separate class.
I really just want to give kids the option for alternate types of sports. I mean there are more things out there than just baseball and football. Its pretty cool I have so many girls wanting to do a weight lifting sport. I mean for the most part weight lifting is a male-dominated sport. But I guess most of them have only ever really seen my kettlebell team lifting and its mostly women. We could have a new generation of girls on our hands. Scary.
Parents, find yourself the nearest kettlebell lifting club and enroll your kids today. If there is no club, buy yourself a pair of kettlebells, buy a pair for your child, learn kettlebells online, and lift together.
Huge thanks to Kimberly and Jake Fox.
