I tend to stay away from forums as it annoys me to read posts from people who happen to think they are superior and feel the need to talk down to others who are not doing the same training or have the same goals as them.
Of course, we can discuss the words “a lot” in the title too. Yes, there are a lot of down-to-earth and much smarter people than me that I’ve met in the Hardstyle community, but over 2 decades of participation in kettlebells, experience has shown that there are “a lot” in this particular community (Hardstyle) who feel the need to talk down and focus on who can pee the furthest. Nothing wrong with competition, and nothing wrong with wanting to be the best, the problem is with those who need to belittle others. The problem is with those who have a closed mind and don’t understand nor invest the time to understand other training styles.
I want to add that I believe this applies more to the followers of the Hardstyle, those who aren’t certified but hardline end-users.
My desire to write this post was sparked when I tried to look up my trainer profile on StrongFirst and came across a negative post that mentioned my name and had lots of other negative stuff about things they don’t understand. Just so it’s clear, I’m no longer a snowflake on this matter, as long as I’ve been in the kettlebell community I’ve been fighting superiority. My only reason for writing is in the hope that these people will come down a notch and start respecting other kettlebell enthusiasts no matter what they do with the kettlebell, juggling, sportstyle, freestyle, or hardstyle. And on that note, there are definately people on the opposite spectrum as well, in Sport they talk crap too, even about their own fellow competitors but also about Hardstyle, thinking that Sportstyle is superior, which it’s not. Nothing is superior other than that what provides what you as an individual require. For me that has been everything, HS, GS, Freestyle, Juggling, and so on.
Now, you might wonder “What is this guy on about?”, I am referring to talking down to people who do not use heavy weights, do not use heavy weights for everything, or have different goals. Let me start with kettlebell sport as a good example. People are like “I use 2 x 16kg for my warm-up”, but yeah, do you do 170 reps unbroken of clean and jerk for the full 10 minutes? No, then maybe consider that not everything is purely focused on strength, yes, you are StrongFirst, you have to focus on that, and there’s no problem with that until you have to start talking crap to make yourself feel superior. In my eyes, you are a sad individual who has a self-confidence problem,
There are many goals in kettlebell training that people can work toward, flexibility (under load), cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, max strength, power, mental toughness, mobility, coordination, and fun… Yes, I said the dirty word “FUN”, if one is not enjoying what they’re doing you can forget about them sticking to it.
If someone juggles a kettlebell then why do people feel the need to talk it down? If you see someone use 12kg, then perhaps they are learning, and if they’re not, juggling is not something you generally do with extremely heavy weight (and heavy is relative). Try it first, actually juggle continuously for 2 minutes or more, and then tell me that it doesn’t require every fiber in your body. The movements are made with the body in positions that one otherwise would not work in. Putting that aside, what about reflexes, coordination, and proprioception, are these things not worthy of working on? No, when someone juggles it is not to get attention, it is to have fun, enjoy the moment, and work on the goals that I mentioned. Just because you may be jealous or don’t understand what is actually going on, doesn’t mean that they are attention seekers, show-offs, tiktokkers, instagrammers, or whatever derogative name/meaning you want to assign.
If someone performs long cycle jerk with 2 x 16kg and that is your warm-up weight, great, but do you do the same amount of reps unbroken? If you do, still, why does it matter what someone else at a different level does to you?
When is it enough weight for them? I don’t consider myself nearly as strong as the majority of people in StrongFirst, far from it, even plenty of women are many times stronger than me, so, why should I worry about that, why should someone else worry about that and publicly make fun of others? When is it enough? I have or am snatching 2 x 28kg (probably even 2 x 32kg 1RM), snatching 36kg, chest press 2 x 40kg, and windmill 40kg, but even that some people would talk down. It’s more than a lot of people I work with but I would not dare look down on them, I encourage them. So when is it (weight/reps/whatever) enough? It’s enough when YOU are happy with yourself when you are staying injury-free and still enjoying training after 2 decades.
I could go on with examples of different training with the kettlebell where the first goal is not Strength First, but they’re still just as good as they keep someone moving, and if there are people who follow that person who does less weight than you (even if they are a tiktokker), well, they may inspire more people to move and do better than doing nothing. Focus on yourself, take it down a notch, open your mind, and respect those who train with the kettlebell if they deserve it as a good human being.
End of rant.
Taco Fleur SFG1 (SFG2 in November), Russian Girevoy Sport Institute Kettlebell Coach, IKSFA Kettlebell Sport Coach, IKFF Certified Kettlebell Teacher, Kettlebell Sport Rank 1, HardstyleFit Kettlebell Level 1 Instructor., CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, CrossFit Judges Certificate, CrossFit Lesson Planning Certificate, Kettlebells Level 2 Trainer, Kettlebell Science and Application, MMA Fitness Level 2, MMA Conditioning Level 1, BJJ Purple Belt and more. Owner of Cavemantraining and IKU™ (International Kettlebell University). Featured in 4 issues of the Iron Man magazine. You know people want to know all this 🙂
