secret service snatch test

Secret Service Kettlebell Snatch Test

Kettlebell Training

The Secret Service Snatch Test, which I’ll refer to as the SSST (so I don’t have to keep spelling it out) is a brutal workout.  

More of a test of will power, really.  

The SSST is a test of how many snatch reps can be accumulated inside of a 10 minute time limit usig a 24kg (53lb) kettlebell.  

That’s it.  

Set the timer for 10 minutes… and go.  

Achieving your best finish in the SSST will require a combination of:

  •  Kettlebell Snatch Technique
  •  Work capacity
  •  Conditioning 
  •  Luck with skin integrity (if the skin rips, it’s painful)
  •  Courage to suffer, and keep suffering, and keep…

The courage aspect of conditioning tests like this is a huge determining factor of your score.

Are you able to center yourself, refocus your thoughts when the fatigue and discomfort pile on?   

When I say “discomfort”, I’m primarily referring to the hand discomfort.  

The micro motion between the palm of the hand and kettlebell handle gets worse sensitive as the minutes pass by.     

Chalk helps, but only to a point.  The more you stop to re-chalk the hands, the more time you’re losing where snatch reps could be completed.  

Some people will crack because of the fatigue.  Hitting 200+ snatch reps in such a short timeframe is aggressive.  

There’s little… wait… likely no rest to be taken.  

For those who have tested their conditioning in competition or periodicially in a training cycle, you know what redlining your engine’s capacity feels like.  

Achieving a personal best with the SSST is going to require redlining.  

Ideal for removing callouses…

If you’ve been wondering how to remove built up hand callouses, you’ve come to the right place.  The SSST will remove skin in less than 5 minutes or your money back. 

From a hand care standpoint, this isn’t a workout you’d want to try that frequently.  Probably not even monthly.  Testing your toughness 2-3 times per year is probably more than enough.  

When I was really heavy into kettlebell training, I was testing my SSST 2-3 times per year at very sporadic times.  

It’s not like you’re going to wake up and feel the desire to snatch hardcore for 10 minutes.  I’d pick a day, maybe 7-10 days out where I knew I would be giving the SSST another attempt.  Then I’d section off 1-2 days after for rest, recovery and hand caudling.   

Best case scenario, you’ll have some juicy blisters on both hands.  Worst case scenario, you can expect to rip plenty of skin.

This attempt shows approximately 238 repetitions.  I say “roughly” because counting slow to 238 can cause your eyes to play tricks on you.  So if you have 10 minutes to spare to watch the video, feel free to call me out if I did less or throw me a bone if I did more.

It’s an “approximation” because I’m too lazy to keep double checking the reps.  Counting to 238 across 10 minutes is something I don’t have the attention span to do 3-4 times.   

Some of the top dogs in the kettlebell community are snatching get around 270+ reps, documented through video.    

Secret Service Snatch Test Leaderboard

If you want to paste your name amongst the leaders, film it.  It’s important to document your performance with un-edited video.  No one cares about word of mouth reporting.  Prove it.

Breaking down my SSST attempt….

In the early minutes of the test, I typically aim for 10 snatches per arm before switching.  

Honestly, this is for counting reasons only.  After watching the video, I start miscounting the number of snatches per arm pretty quickly.  

The biggest mistake in this attempt was taking a break.  It’s obvious why.  When you’re timing and aiming for most reps, taking a break doesn’t help anything.  

A combination of boiled over physical stress and mental conflict led me to resting for a brief time.  Getting to the root of the why I stepped away, it’s purely mental.  My body could have tolerated the pain, my mind talked me stopping.  

Based on tempo, I’m guessing it cost me 5-10 reps at least.  

It get’s hard to get your thoughts in order during a conditioning test like this.  The mental governor is begging you to quit, your hands are pleading you to quit.    

I could feel the skin loosening up, blisters forming and eventually the ripping on my hands towards the end.  The impact of this impacted my outcome.

Kettlebell Snatch Lockout

Critiques…

My posture at the top of the snatch is not great.  

But, I’m going to cut myself some slack on this because the ceiling in my basement is exactly 7 feet 4 inches high at the lowest point of the trusses.  When snatching indoors, I make sure I’m locking out in between the beams, just in case.  

My personal decision to green light kettlebell snatches in my basement at this ceiling height were made based on snatch technique.  The kettlebell turns over the hand prior to reaching full shoulder extension which the highest my hand will be.

Check out this post for a freeze frame depiction of the snatch.

My worst fear is bouncing the kettlebell off the trusses and losing control.  Lord knows what comes next, but I have an idea.  

The fatigue is so high during an SSST, it wouldn’t be good.  

The forward body lean is a counterbalance to the kettlebell, but I also think it’s a precautionary measure to avoid impact with the ceiling.  The kettlebell is not traveling straight up and down, it’s traveling in an arc.  

Counterbalance like this is because the kettlebell is not traveling straight up and down, it’s traveling in a subtle arc.  

I’m counterbalancing to avoid being thrown backward.  On the downward descent, a slow motion video or a keen eye at full speed should show an opposite reaction, where I’m leaning back slightly as a counterbalance.  

The obvious:  Later in the SSST, technique erodes to ugliness and it’s survival time.  

I accept the risk in this. 

BODY FATIGUE IS A TECHNIQUE KILLER.

If you’re training MetCon, you must be able to look yourself in the mirror and accept the risk of doing so.  

To my knowledge, it hasn’t been directly pinpointed in studies but injuries become more predictable as fatigue alters the control you have over your movement.  

Performing a box jump when 100% fresh is a lot different than the same box jump after you’ve done 25 thrusters and a 500-meter row.  

Plain and simple.  If you accept the risk of your actions, then you’re taking ownership for the injury.  

Decreasing the number of times I switch hands with the kettlebell would get me more reps.  Every hand transition is essentially a lost repetition to the final tally and wasted energy in doing so.  

If I was working longer sets per arm before switching, say 15-20 reps, I could gain an additional 10-15 snatches across the 10 minutes.  

Years ago, the first time I attempted the SSST,  I was hovering around 180-185 reps. 

Kettlebell training was relatively new, snatch technique wasn’t as great and I was unfamiliar the demands of 10 minutes of torture.   

The repetitions gained is progress.  Progress is always the goal, no matter how small or large.  A step forward is a step in the right direction.  

Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, where I detail the kettlebell snatch along with many other exercises discussed on this blog.  

Cheers to The Secret Service Snatch Test,

Kyle

Completely Un-Organized Kettlebell Training for Fat Loss and Athletic-Like Conditioning: Part 2

Quick Tips

Part 1, if you made it through that novel, was me thinking out loud about systems.  Part 2, right here, is what I actually did to spark that post.

Here we go…

Using my trusty jump rope, I started the training session with a 10 minute jump session.  I always start slow with two-foot jumps and work into more progressive drills like running, single foot, etc.  I keep the rope moving continuously, only stopping to change a shitty song, scratch or grab a swig of water.

Last night, this is where the un-organized part comes in.  In the kettlebell training world, there is a world-famous tough guy test called the “SSST”.  The “SSST” stands for “Secret Service Snatch Test”.  Initially, I thought it was another gimmick workout but I later learned that there was actually a story behind it.  Interesting.

So, here is what the SSST entails:

  • Perform as many snatches as possible in 10 minutes using a 24kg (53lb) kettlebell.
  • Record your score while trying to hold your lungs and eyeballs from shooting out.

That’s it.  

My best score with the SSST is 226 repetitions respecting the perimeters of the test bulleted above.   

I haven’t attempted a full SSST for about 2 years, and I would like to think that I could get 250 reps in the 10 minute time frame.  Who knows.  I tend to not have a governor when it comes to pursuing competitive type stuff.  All or nothing.  

The kettlebell snatch is a technical move just like the dumbbell snatch, so there is a method to the madness.  Grip, arc of the bell, hip snap, etc… all make a HUGE difference in your numbers.  The first time I tried the SSST I ripped all of the skin off of both of my palms.  It’s important to note that a “rep” in the SSST is counted only if the elbow is locked out overhead.  

Back to last night…  

Initially, last night was scheduled to be a recovery style training session because of the intensity of the previous day’s workout.  Typically I would just jump rope and bike while keep my heart rate in specific BPM zones, then call it a day.  Nope, I decided to try something different.  I decided that I would mess around with mini-circuits using my kettlebells.

Here is what I did:

5 minutes each of:

1)  Kettlebell snatches (alternating hands every 10 reps)

2)  2-Hand Kettlebell swings (30 reps then rest until ready)

3)  Intense jump rope (not sure of the revolutions per minute)

Done.

For the snatches, I completed 110 repetitions and for the swings I completed 120 repetitions.  My heart rate stayed where I wanted it and I felt great during the session.  The jump rope at the end was a bear.  

All in all, the workout lasted about 30 minutes, which was perfect because that is roughly how long I would have biked for had I gone that route.  

Soreness today was not bad and overall the workout was a success.  

Is it possible to train improvised in every session?  Of course, but I am still not convinced that it is superior to an organized, progressive training system.  Attempting to train too many qualities at once seems to make a person “average” in all of those qualities.  However, for fat loss efforts and general athletic-conditioning, I think training sporadic will work just fine assuming you are using big movements with solid technique and load.  

Again, at this point I would look to stay within a system.

Also, be realistic about the SSST.  If you aren’t qualified to be snatching a kettlebell, don’t attempt the SSST.  Honestly, this is high level stuff.  I don’t mean to make myself or anyone else sound superior in any way, but injury prevention is important to me.  Snatching a 53lb kettlebell for 10 minutes straight is not for the average person.  Don’t be a hero.  If you don’t have the technique or the conditioning, stay away from it.  Building your technique, strength and conditioning and then give it a go when you are capable.  Make sure your hands are prepared, you won’t want to grab your steering wheel for a week if you don’t rough those hands up first.  

 

Cheers to the improvised workout…

 

KG

Brain Training for Fat Loss

Brain Training, Pure Fat Loss

Thanks for hopping over from my “What’s Slowing You Down:  Brain or Body” post…

I apologize for the organization of the end of this post.  I had to bullet each paragraph to separate it from the the previous paragraph.  A glitch in WordPress I believe.  I don’t know… Sorry about that…

Ok, where I left off…

Well, maybe nothing.  Most of you will never push yourself to the point where your brain or body begins to tell you to, “fuck off”.  It’s not a knock against you, it’s just a reality.

Two years ago I dove head first into the SSST (Secret Service Snatch Test), which is a kettlebell challenge not for the weak of heart.  The SSST is comprised of:

  • 24 kg (53lb) kettlebell
  • Perform as many snatches as possible in a 10 minute timeframe.
Simple and insane.
  • If you are a competitive minded person, this is something to shoot for.  I got about 190 snatches into the SSST and my brain flooded with “just quit this shit” thoughts.  I fought them off for another 1:30min or so, then tapped out.  I destroyed my old snatch record, but still, the thoughts came and engulfed me.
  • It’s easy to succumb to your thoughts during physical activity.
  • Next time you are on a run or bike, pay attention to how many times you start thinking about how nice it would be to be finished already, or how you could just walk for a bit, or no one is looking so you can dog it for a minute or two, blah blah blah.  I am human, I have these thoughts, so I know that you do too.
  • I think what the average person struggles with the most with is their thoughts.  Just one negative thought that slips passed your “will-power filter” in your brain and will infect your entire body during a workout, or ever before you ever strap on your shoes pre-workout.  Negative thoughts are infectious.  Once you start thinking about quitting on a task, for most people, it’s ALL OVER.

Think about it.  I know that everyone has had those thoughts during a long run, during a personal training session or even back in high school or college as an athlete.

When your brain quits, you quit.

Controlling your thoughts will build you a body, I firmly believe this.

Crazy.

***Go do something great today that your body will thank you for in the future.***