Acheyball Challenge

No, the 1st Intergalactic Acheyball Challenge isn't what you probably think it is, but rather an informal fitness challenge involving putting a steel ball with a handle above your head as many times as possible.

This past weekend some 200 lifters gathered in gyms, basements, and homes across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe to participate.

The rules are simple: 10 minutes of snatches (putting the kettlebell overhead in one motion) followed by 10 minutes of one arm clean and jerk (two distinct movements) with no break. Putting the bell down was allowed (not putting it down for 20 minutes gave snearing privileges), resting was allowed, as was changing hands anytime. You could choose any weight you wanted. The goal was simply to get as many repetitions as possible in 20 minutes.

This challenge started out on the IGX Forum between the two main kettlebell camps in the U.S., Valery Fedorenko's American Kettlebell Club, and Pavel Tsatsouline's Russian Kettlebell Challenge. Thankfully it evolved into more of just a fun way to challenge one's own fitness level and technique.

Since nobody else in Los Angeles that I know of was participating I did my 20 minute set at home.

My results are:
24kg (53lbs) bell
10:00 - 144 snatches
10:00 - 84 one arm clean & jerk
total=228
age: 36 weight: 192 lbs
put bell down? yes
tore skin off hands? oh yes

Lessons learned: I need alot of technique work, particularly lockouts on the snatches. This will help efficiency and ultimately mean more reps with less energy spent, and reduce friction on hands which will preserve some skin. By about the 15 minute mark my hands started to tear, which messed with my clean and jerk technique and ultimately affected my results. Number-wise I finished around the middle of the pack. Now I can't wait to get back to the drawing board and employ these lessons.

In the meantime check out some videos of the challenge. For reference, pink bells are 8kg 916lbs), blue kettlebells are 12kg (25lbs), green are 24kg (53lbs), red are 32kg (70lbs) and one or two guys used the silver 40kg (80lbs).