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Welcome To The Strength Academy Blog!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Kettlebell Pentathlon - see what you are made of!

The kettlebell pentathlon was designed by Valery Fedorenko in order to assess the strength and conditioning of participants. It is a paced event that has a fixed number of reps per exercise per time slot. 5 events are performed for 6 minutes with a 5 minute rest in between for a total time of 50 minutes.

The aim is to increase your overall score by increasing the weight you use for the exercises as the reps are fixed. Your score increases when you move up a kettlebell for some or all of the exercises as each weight has a corresponding number that creates your total score -

8kg - 1

12kg - 1.5

16kg - 2

20kg - 2.5

24kg - 3

28kg - 3.5

32kg - 4

36kg - 4.5

40kg - 5

44kg - 5.5

48kg - 6

So 120 cleans with the 16kg kettlebell would give you 240 points to your total. Go up to the 20kg next time and you will get 300 points and so on.

There is rumour that the table goes up to 72kg and it would be interesting to see this lifted for 6 minutes!

The exercises and reps per minutes are as follows -

Single arm clean - 20rpm

Single arm long cycle press - 10rpm

Single arm jerk - 20rpm

Single arm half snatch - 18rpm

Single arm push press - 20rpm

You can change hands as often as you wish, but cannot put the kettlebell down!

The rpm is the maximum reps. If you find you still had more in the tank then use a heavier bell. However, this tests how you deal with accumulated fatigue and a very brief relative recovery. You only have 5 minutes before you go again for what should be a near maximum effort. Performing too heavy on the first exercise will short change you for the remainder of the event so always go through the entire routine with a lighter weight to complete it and get an idea of how you perform based on the demands.


A video to explain the entire event is below -



The overall aim of the pentathlon is really to test yourself against the only real competitor that matters - yourself. Has your training improved you! It is also a great way to get a very different energy system workout compared to traditional GS with the biathlon and can be used for specific work capacity to develop a weaker event. Like anything, you get out what you put in and it could be personalised for whatever you are specifically training for with some imagination!

There is a rankings table so you can compare your superhero status and motivate yourself to get better -

For Men 

Low - less than 720

Average - 721 - 900

Good - 901 - 1080

High - 1081 - 1260

Extreme - 1261 - 1440

Superhuman - 1441 +


For Women

Low - less than 360

Average - 361 - 540

Good - 541 - 720

High - 721 - 900

Extreme - 901 - 1080

Superhuman - 1081 +



Have fun and feel free to post your scores below!

3/10/2012 - First Attempt 1320 points using 24/20/20/20/16 - really enjoyed it!

10/12/2012 - second attempt 1500 points using 32/20/20/20/20 - rank superhuman - very happy!

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