Philadelphia, Pa. - On October 12th, the City of Brotherly Love was
the site of the first ever Tactical Strength Challenge. The
competition, the first of it's kind in North America, is based on
Special Forces training of the former Soviet Union. The challenge is
the brainchild of Pavel Tsatsouline, author of the books "Power to the
People", "Russian Kettlebell Challenge", and his latest, "From Russia
with Tough Love". The intention of the challenge is to test the skills
of the competitors on various "functional" exercises.

The event, hosted by Steve and D.C. Maxwell at their
facility, "Maxercise", featured two levels of competitors, with over
ten competitors in all. The first event was the pull-up. Level One
competitors performed bodyweight only pull-ups. The grip used was
palms away, thumb over the bar. The chin or throat had to touch the
bar for the rep to count. Level two followed the same rules, with the
exception of a 2 pood kettlebell strapped to the waist.

2nd event was a two-kettlebell front squat with the 1.5 pood kbs for
Level One competitors, while Level Two had the more difficult pistol
while holding a kb.

The 3rd event was the snatch. Level One used the 1.5 pood, while Level
Two went with the 2 pood. The rules here were to do as many snatches
as possible with each arm. The kb must never touch the floor, even
when transferring arms. The lower rep total was the official score.
Therefore, the competitors would stop with their 2nd arm when they
matched what they did with the first arm.

The final results were: Jim Trench winning Level One. For his efforts,
he receives a free KB certification course, and 20 deck squats, as
ordered by Pavel, for arriving late to the event. Winning the Level
Two competition was Brett Jones, who cites the good night's sleep he
had on Rob Lawrence's futon as being the reason for his victory. He,
too, receives a certification course.

Over 100 supporters for the competitors watched the event, which
featured seminars from Rob Lawrence, Mike Mahler, Steve Maxwell, Jeff
Martone and Pavel himself. It was an exciting event with the
competitors showing encouragement for each other. Plenty of good
sportsmanship and friendship as well. Look for the TSC to catch on in
the years to come.

See the official results and lift totals here.