Q: What Pace Makes Sense for a 10 min set of Girevoy Jerk? (A question by Andi Baumann)
A. Hi Andi,
Great question!
How many reps of Jerk one should aim for in a minute during a 10 min Girevoy Competition set?
You should be in the approximate range of 90-180 reps total. Under 90 is too heavy, over 180 is too light. That’s a very wide range, meaning you might be going 9RPM or 18 RPM, but your individual number depends on how efficiently you can fixate the Kettlebells and whether you can do that for 10 min consistently.
Fixation
Just getting the KBs overhead isn’t enough in Girevoy sport. What really matters is what’s called ‘Fixation’, or bringing the KBs and the body to a complete stop with elbows and knees locked out, which is when the rep is counted.
The second part of jerk fixation is in the rack. Yes, the rack has to be fixated too, with Kettlebells and body at momentary complete stop and knees locked out.
So, the rep only counts when there’s a fixation in the rack followed by a fixation overhead. Doing more reps faster but without proper fixation will just waste reps. How many reps can you fixate in a minute, every minute for 10 minutes? That’s due to individual skill.
So, in competition, we go as fast as we can efficiently fixate for 10 minutes.
Thus, there’s no definitive answer of ‘one best pace’ for everyone. Someone who’s really efficient at fixation will be able to hammer out more qualifying reps in a minute and keep it up longer. Someone who takes longer to fixate will do fewer reps.
But the worst situation is when a person is trying to go faster but isn’t fixating their reps property, therefore they’re just wasting energy but aren’t getting any points. Painful, painful stuff.
So, go at a pace they allows you to complete 90-180 reps in 10 minutes, and that where you can fixate every rep.
Thank you for the question!
Kat T
Kettlebell Academy of New Zealand 