Kettlebells might sound more like a musical instrument or farming implement, but apparently, they’re part of a fitness program that has come all the way from Russia to Fort St. James.
According to trainer Scott Croucher, a certified Kettlebell Coach, the kettlebells they use in Kettlebell Sport are derived from weights used to measure agricultural products in Russia.
While fairly new to North America, the sport has somehow found enough of a foothold in the Fort that some local women are training to get good enough they can travel to obtain official ranking in the sport at an international competition.
It all started with a contest through one of the women’s work.
Mel Chesnutt entered into a competition through the company she works for, Axis Family Resources, where employees had to set goals, report their progress and complete their goals to become eligible to win a draw prize of a one week trip for two to Las Vegas.
Chesnutt had been working out at Momentum Underground, the gym Croucher started, and decided on a ranking in Kettlebell Sport for her goal in the contest.
“I want it bad,” she says, referring to the trip to Vegas.
But it didn’t stop there, because after she started training for a ranking in the sport, two of the women she was working out with have also decided to train towards a similar goal.
These two women, Janna Burgart and Laurie Gross, hope to travel to Chicago on October 29 and 30 of this year to a World Kettlebell Challenge to obtain their ranking.
Gross said she’d been training at the gym and began learning the technique involved in the sport.
“I just really started enjoying the kettlebells,” explains Gross.
While the technical aspect of the sport drew her in, Gross said she likes how intense the workout can be in such a short period of time, but because it’s technical, “it’s not brainless.”
While Gross said she usually tends to get bored in gyms, it hasn’t happened yet with the training she’s been doing since she started learning the sport in November, and she’s really happy with what the sport has done for her physical endurance.
She’s especially looking forward to seeing the difference in her biking with her new fitness level.
Gross, Janna Burgart and Scott Croucher all hope to be in Chicago in October, and Gross can’t wait to see elite athletes in the sport compete.
“What’s appealing too is that the people doing kettlebells aren’t bulky,” said Gross, as a woman she likes that aspect.
Hopefully Gross and Burgart can show off their non-bulky physiques in