I have been reading an interesting book lately entitled Fooled by Randomness.  The author is Nassim Taleb, a professor of Mathematics and Management.  In this book the concept of signal to noise is discussed.  In particular the author mentions examples of the media using noise to distract our attention (intentional or not) from what is actually the important information.  We of course usually mistake the noise for the signal or fail to extract the signal at all.  Certainly the goal of most journalists is to capture our attention with sound bytes or their printed equivalents.    There is a lot to this book, it discusses topics such as Monte Carlo mathematics, black swans, the stock market, and why your douchebag cousin with an IQ of 30 makes more money than you do.  I am enjoying the book so far but the signal to noise topic seemed timely as there has been a lot of noise recently on some of the exercise forums as far as kettlebell lifting is concerned. 

Apparently drama is everywhere and people enjoy it.  Even the peaceful kettlebell community is not immune (imagine a Walnut Grove equivalent in say, Kiev).  Don't tell me you didn't like the Little House on the Prairie reference.  If you read any of the forums I read like www.fullkontact.com or www.irongarmx.net you will find this debate is still ongoing.  It has cooled off in the past few days but if you kick it around you might find an ember hot enough to burn yourself on.  Not worth the lost training time comrade.
Anyway the staff here at RFP is all about the signal but we can do without the noise.  Let me distill it down for you into something palatable like your favorite brand of fine malt liquor.  So delicious. 

The meat of the debate is the RKC system as popularized by Pavel Tsatsouline  and the folks at www.dragondoor.com  vs.  The American kettlebell club.  The RKC crew were the ones who made kettlebells mainstream here in the US.  Of course kettlebells have been well known in Europe for years as Girevoy sport.  The RKC system is called "Hardstyle"  Although they teach many of the traditional lifts that are well known to kettlebell sport (swings, cleans, presses, jerks, snatches etc), their teaching emphasizes maintaining tension  and an overall rather rigid technique.  Their advocated rep schemes tend to be low often as low as  5 reps  per set for multiple sets although they also espouse long sets for testing like the secret service snatch test  (24 kg kettlebell snatches for max reps in 10 min with as many hand switches as you wish and you may even set the bell down).  The American Kettlebell Club system uses a kettlebell sport paradigm which is the traditional style of use in Europe.  The style is more fluid and the goal is maximal reps done in context of long timed sets, sometimes exceeding ten minutes in a single set (without setting the bells down).  This is effective for building strength endurance as it strengthens not only the muscles but the connective tissues like tendons and ligaments.  You don't get this benefit with low rep schemes.  This type of work is not fun, it is sort of like the occasional ass-beating your parents gave you when you got out of hand as a kid.  It hurt and maybe you cried early to make it end sooner but hey you deserved it and maybe you were better off for it.  (That was noise, back to the signal).  The AKC is headed up by Valery Fedorenko, a world champion KB lifter.  www.americankettlebellclub.com.   This school of teaching represents pure kettlebell sport with an emphasis on developing strength endurance with the traditional lifts (snatch, jerk, long cycle clean and jerk) and assistance work like one arm jerks, swings, push presses, presses, etc.

I have read many of the dragondoor books and watched several DVDs.  Much of it is useful.  It got me started with KBs. I did have to "unlearn" some aspects of it to get better at KB sport and I am continuing to improve in these endeavors.  It must be said though that without Pavel and DD many of us would probably not be using KBs today.  If all you want to do is stay in shape and get some variety in your training with KBs, the RKC stuff is fine.  I have no problem with those who use it and if it works for you, great.  I just want people to be active and healthy.  If you want to carry heavy rocks around in your back yard, cool,  whatever.  RKC techniques did work  for me but honestly AKC style has taken this to another level as far as general conditioning, exercise specific work capacity and training injury-free are concerned. 

If you want to reap the most benefits from kettlebell lifting it is my opinion based on my own experience that the AKC endorsed methods are the way to go.  There are many ways to train but I think that kettlebell sport offers a unique way to develop and maximize strength-endurance which is a property pretty much everyone can use.  Big muscles and a nice physique are fine but when the shit hits the fan sometimes it becomes an issue of conditioning and your strength may be needed over an extended period of time.  That is something to think about.  As they say a picture is worth a thousand words and a youtube video must be worth a couple thousand words each so enjoy these.  They are from Valery's AKC certification in Greece.  These rather unassuming looking men perform some feats of strength that will blow your mind.  No smoke and mirrors, no noise just pure signal.