Most female clients say the same thing when they come to me: I want to lose weight and tone up but I don’t want to get bulky.  Most women don’t want to get huge and look like this (not to say it’s not impressive, but it’s not the look that the majority of women are trying to achieve): Don’t worry, girls, you have to work VERY hard and probably start injecting male hormones in order to get “bulky”.  The fact is that nearly all women are lacking the hormone profile that would enable them to get big from weight training. Many women fear heavy weights because they are worried that it’s the heavy weight that will make them big, so they stick to light weights, Pilates and cardio.  If anything has proven that heavy, hard training for women makes them anything but “bulky” it’s kettlebell sport. The Women of Kettlebell Sport The women of the Ice Chamber Kettlebell Sport team are a perfect example.  And these are not women who have been athletes all their lives or have “good genes”, they’re just like the rest of us, they are mothers and wives, they work full time and they have had [...]

The following interview was done by Ice Chamber Coach Maya: Master of Sport, Elena Viktorovna Yurysheva is from the Vologodskaya region in the city of Vytegra, Russia.  She is 25 years old and weighs between 60-61 kilograms.  Elena credits her coach, Vyacheslav Yakovlevich Ogarev, for helping her become one of the first women in the world to snatch the 24kg kettlebell over 120 times in competition.  Here are a few of Elena’s opinions on women’s participation in the sport and about her goal to break a world record this year… World Champion and Master of Sport, Elena Viktorovna Yurysheva Maya: Please tell us how you became involved in Kettlebell Sport. Elena: I practiced a variety of sports, but in our small city it was only possible to achieve great success in kettlebell sport, and because of a strong coach!! We don’t have the possibility of doing some other kind of sport (not in gyms or in stadiums). And by nature I’m active and I’m more attracted to active sports. Maya: What are some of your personal records? Elena: Snatch 16 kg kettlebell – 220 times. Snatch 24 kg kettlebell 121 times! Elena’s most recent PR on the platform was 121 [...]