I still love kettlebells and I still love rocking, rolling, and crawling – the Original Strength resets, but I gave myself a new shiny toy – a strength shell from Ultimate Sandbag Training. I trained with it for about 30 minutes today and am looking forward to more sessions in the future. I worked with about 30 pounds for the first 20 minutes and then went up to about 50 pounds at the end after I felt like I might be doing what I was doing competently.
This video does not reflect what I was doing today, but I find it inspirational and am posting it here to remind me of what I want to do in my next workout.
Tom, I’ve greatly enjoyed reading your journey through the fitness gauntlet. Well done, and you’ve inspired me. I’ve read East Strength, and I’m starting to slowly ramp up my kettlebell workouts. Your progression has been a huge help in plotting that out. Notice you haven’t posted since the spring. Hope all is well, and thanks again for all your writing.
Andrew, My mom was in an accident in the Spring that left her requiring full-time care. Then my 93-year old father died in July. Then seven weeks later my mom died at age 88. I didn’t even notice that I was not writing about fitness anymore. The funny thing is, the feebleness of my parents in their 70’s was what inspired me to get serious about working out. I realized that I wanted to reach old age with a high level of fitness. I am still training 4-5 days per week, mainly with kettlebells, but most sessions are only about 30 minutes long. When I got back from my dad’s funeral, I decided it was time to get a puppy. I found a sweet German Shepherd boy just a few days later and he became part of my family at 12 weeks old. Puppies require a lot of time that I found by training and writing less. On the other hand, Kurt needs a brisk walk twice per day, so whether I am lifting weights or not, I am getting outside regularly to exercise Kurt. I am more motivated than ever to keep getting stronger. I want to die like an old farmer… within a week of not being able to weed my vegetables. Or in my case, snatch a kettlebell or take my dog for a walk around the block. Thanks for asking and for letting me know that I helped inspire you to get stronger!