I learned how to lift Kettlebells in what I realize now was the most ideal situation imaginable and I am absolutely sure that this is why I made so much progress so fast! I was 21 years old and I worked a room and board job at a beautiful wilderness school with huge woods and waterfalls and dip pools. The day I first tried kettlebell training was probably an immaculately sunny summer day in the middle of June. I was in the basement of the main staff cabin at Great Hollow Wilderness School in New Fairfield, CT. It was likely the late afternoon and if you’ve ever been to that particular part of Connecticut then you know the kind of magic that can be in the air in a moment like I’m describing.
When I think back to where I was at the time, in this unfinished basement with a double door that opened up to a perfect woodland view, I see about 5 large and worn in kettlebells and a worn in barbell on a home made rack, with about 200 pounds on it. I’m talking to a friend, who knows that I’m gonna be good enough at kettlebell lifting to progress, and he’s willing to work with me on the basics and keep me on track as I continue to move forward.
On this particular day, it was being explained to me that the practice of kettlebell training is to learn how to use a 35 pound kettlebell to get strong enough to use the 50 pound kettlebell and I was excited by what that meant for my own personal strength and ability! But, as things go, I had a few reasons that day to keep it moving, after already talking for a while with this friend about kettlebells, while he and another friend were lifting. I probably only had 15 minutes before a staff meeting or something, or there was a task that I was signed up for to hurry off to, or some other way to procrastinate for a few minutes and run out of time to actually get into a lesson. But when I gestured to move on, my buddy said, “nah man, just start today, try this…”, then showed me how to perform a Kettlebell Clean and Press, which then directly effected the course of the rest of my life!
Now, this would still be true if I had’t decided to become a certified kettlebell instructor and personal trainer in the long run, because kettlebells added to every aspect of my life in that very moment. From who I was at the time, to what my physical abilities were, to how confident I felt in my overall strength, the moment I was introduced to the kettlebell I was shown a glimpse of my full physical potential.
I’ll write briefly about what the week before that was like for me. Me carrying heavy bags of gear up long hills and being happy to take breaks, me performing jobs and feeling limited about how much I could fill up a bucket to carry mulch or gravel or wood chips, me feeling small in general when it came to physical labor. I do say that all of that changed in that moment when buddy said, “just start today…”.
The story goes on, and that moment has so much depth, but that still stands as the best kettlebell lifting tip I’ve ever been given, “start today…”!Take a moment and pick up a kettlebell, then explore the thought of using this kettlebell to learn how to use one that’s 18 pounds heavier than it, and know that that learned progression is inevitable. That is the potential that you have access to when you pick up a kettlebell and that is why the best of all the kettlebell tips that I can give you is to just start today!
