And the winner is.........

Well, it depends. With 60% of the votes, public opinion says Pavel. But the force plate shows something different - depending on what the question is. Who generated the most force? Dave (by about 30kg of force), followed by Geoff, myself, Pavel, Brett, and Rush. However, once you put together a force to body weight ratio -so we can compare Rush to Dave- the results are different. The highest force to body weight ratio was generated by Rush at 2.28x his body weight, followed by Geoff (1.82) and Pavel (1.73).

One question I have -and am looking into - is what percentage of bodyweight the kettlebell is. For those of us in the Clydsdale division (200 + lbs) swinging a 24kg bell is a lot different than someone that swings a 24kg bell and weighs 160lbs. For myself (225lbs at the time on the forceplate) the 24kg bell was 24% of my body weight. For Pavel (177lbs) the 24kg bell is 30% of his body weight. To truly be equal, we need to look at myself swinging a 32kg bell and Pavel swinging a 24kg bell - both 30% of our body weight. I will look at this further, but do have a feeling that there is the "perfect" bell out there for everyone that will translate to the highest power production. Too light, and there is not enough mass to get a lot of power. Too heavy, and the mass causes the movement to slow down. The key is to find the heaviest bell possible AND maintain the speed of a lighter bell. To almost quote some smart people, "as soon as the movement starts to slows down" power will be negatively affected - in this instance.

Force to body weight is a very important athletic component. Want to jump off the ground or run? You need to generate at least enough force to equal your body weight to move, and more than your body weight to move higher or faster. Plan on landing or cutting to change directions? You need to be able to control from 2 - 5x your body weight unless you want to get hurt. Mark Toomey asked the question why worry about generating more force on the swing? He pointed out the benefits of bone density, but also the more force you generate on the up swing the more you have to control on the downswing. FYI - Pavels' down swing forces exceed 3x his body weight, which is head and shoulders above anyone else I've seen - including Rush. So, add bone density and improved force control and you may be onto something called injury reduction.....hmmmmmm.