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February 6, 2006
Girevichka's: lady kettlebellers in Tsarist Russia
In 1902 Linda "the Baltic Champion" Belling impressed the St. Petersburg athletic society by one arm curling 32kg.
Agafiya Zavidnaya easily pressed a pair of 32s hanging on her pinkies even well past her youth!
Anna Geld, the wife of famous Russian clown Anatoly Durov, lifted heavy kettlebells and barbells on stage in the 1920s. To prove that her strength was for real Anna once challenged a male wrestler. She lost but only after twenty minutes of ruthless fighting.
In 1913 circus performer Maria Lurs from Estonia juggled 32kg kettlebells and could one-arm snatch a 3-pood or 48kg! That is the heaviest kettlebell that we manufacture and only a few mutants and elite powerlifters use it. Ivan Lebedev wrote about her: “Every stunt of hers is full of strength, yet Maria Lurs’ figure is not at all rough but amazes with its soft and supple lines… city ladies should see this Eve’s daughter, rightfully proud of her strength and the harmony of her shape.”
Don’t get the idea that the Russian city ladies were all wimps. St. Petersburg Gazette reported in 1897, “The strongest of the lady athletes in our capital is Ms. M.S.P…. In spite of her young age and her 3-pood bodyweight she one arm presses 2 poods and 10 pounds… The second strongest has to be Mrs. E.G. A twenty year old, she easily juggles one pood kettlebells. It is interesting that this athlete is married and her husband is much weaker than her.”
Take note, ladies! It can be done, especially in this age of feminized men. Test your man by asking him what does ‘exfoliate’ mean. An answer more detailed than Senior RKC Steve Maxwell’s “It’s something my wife does” marks him as a metrosexual. Pick up that kettlebell, you should have no trouble becoming a better man than him. Pick up your copy of From Russia with Tough Love: Pavel’s Kettlebell Workout for a Femme Fatale today.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
Posted by james at February 6, 2006 6:40 AM