Valery Fedorenko is certainly amongst the best kettlebell sport athletes of all time, and given the breadth of his achievements (from being ranked Honoured Master of Sport to holding the world record for 60kg jerks), is is one of the best kettlebell lifters of all time. Fedorenko lifting a 226lb dumbbell at the Arnold this year On the 18th March Fedorenko did a whopping 302 snatches with the 32kg kettlebell, with just one hand change – a set that took around 20 minutes.  What’s more, he made it look easy: barely broke a sweat and the last rep looked the same as the first rep. Fedorenko’s attention to detail, his flawless timing, relaxed breathing, ability to rest overhead and even pacing combined with an inhuman work capacity have enabled him to perform such an impressive set. The full set  can be seen in the video below, and it’s worth listening to what he has to say at the start because he’s a funny guy.

Valery Fedorenko, Honoured Master of Sport and revered kettlebell sport athlete, has recently, single handedly flipped a 72kg kettlebell. To put this into perspective, the heaviest kettlebell in existence in Australia is 64kg and there is probably only a handful of people who could manage to swing it with one hand – swinging it, letting go of it while it rotates in the air and then catching it mid flight is an unimaginable feat of strength, power, coordination and balls. So Fedorenko flipping the 72kg flawlessly is mind boggling.  Towards the end there is some super slow motion footage that shows how much power and skill is involved in this feat. Kettlebell Juggling While flipping the 72kg is out of the question for the vast majority of us, kettlebell juggling is something that pretty much anyone can do. Kettlebell juggling is heaps of fun and provides some significant training benefits: Trains hand/eye coordination and agility. Trains joints through several different planes of movement (something that is often missing in people’s training) so builds stonger, healthier more mobile joints. Provides a mixture of cardiorespiratory, strength, power and endurance training. Develops stong connective tissue particularly in the wrists, elbows and shoulders (areas [...]

On Saturday the 23th October 2010 Valery Fedorenko completed 70 one arm jerks with a 60 kg kettlebell, setting a world record and smashing his last attempt by 10 reps (which is huge given the weight he’s working with). Let’s put this into perspective: a 60kg kettlebell weighs as much as I do.  For most people, getting a kettlebell of that weight off the ground is enough of a challenge, getting it overhead is unthinkable.  Lifting that sort of weight overhead in one hand requires a tonne of skill, strength and shoulder stability. The kicker, though, is the pressure on the hand and forearm.  Anyone who has held what they consider a very heavy kettlebell in rack will tell you that the discomfort in your hand and wrist is intense and your body will scream at you to put it down immediately.  Notice that Fedorenko has nothing but ordinary sweat bands to protect his wrists. Bear all of this in mind when you watch this video, because Fedorenko makes it look easy and that’s really deceptive. As is the comment that he makes at the end: “that’s it”.  Not much fuss for an incredible world record, but that’s what makes [...]

Read the complete Valery Fedorenko interview on www.ickbgirls.com Ice Chamber Coach Maya interviews Valery Fedorenko : Valery Fedorenko Interview Maya: Describe some aspects of your childhood that led you to Kettlebells.  Did you play any other sports or consider yourself athletic as a young man? Valery’s Master of Sport Badge/ID from the Ministry of Sport Dept. USSR/Moscow Fedorenko: I’m not sure I considered myself athletic when I was young. Actually I wanted to be strong and athletic, so I turned to kettlebells. I was an active kid but most of my friends were naturally stronger than I was, so it was some motivation to make this skin and bones into something. As for other sports, I did attempt acrobatics, doing flips, jumps and such until I broke my arm. I guess it wasn’t for me. I do remember having to work with a really weak left arm after the break, but even though it’s not my dominant arm, I made it equal or even better than my right with the kettlebell. It didn’t heal straight, but maybe it healed stronger, I don’t know. I also did some Martial Arts training and some Boxing. I just figured kettlebells were more healthy [...]