Aryana Libris

Author : Tsatsouline Pavel
Title : The russian kettlebell challenge Xtreme fitness for hard living comrades
Year : 2001

Link download : Tsatsouline_Pavel_-_The_russian_kettlebell_challenge.zip

Vodka at night. Pickle juice in the morning (the best thing for a hangover). Throwing some kettlebells around between this hangover and the next one. A Russian’s day well spent. The ‘kettlebell’ or girya is a cast iron weight which looks like a basketball with a suitcase handle. It is an old Russian toy. As the 1986 Soviet Weightlifting Yearbook put it, “It is hard to find a sport that has deeper roots in the history of our people than the girevoy sport.” My ancestors played with kettlebells—when they weren’t skirmishing with the Germans, Turks, and many other neighbors who wanted a piece of Mother Russia. Later, it was the key to forging the mighty power of dinosaurs like Ivan ‘the Champion of Champions’ Poddubny. Poddubny, one of the strongest men of his time, trained with kettlebells in preparation for his undefeated wrestling career and six world champion belts. Thanks to K-bells, Poddubny would toy with much larger opponents, lift them over his head, and slam them into the ground! On one amusing occasion, in 1907, at London’s Pavilion Theater, Poddubny destroyed the referees’ table when he tossed another famous wrestler on top of it. Always the joker, Poddubny made himself a16kg cane—so he could amuse himself watching pencilnecks at coat checks drop it on their toes. Pyotr Kryloff, another top gun during the early days of the iron game, was nicknamed ‘the King of Kettlebells’, in honor of his favorite strengthening tool. He was known for his stunt of jerking two beefy soldiers over his head, while they sat inside two hollow spheres on the ends of a specially made barbell. ...