No Gym? No Problem! How Kettlebells Transformed My Home Workouts
I have never joined a gym. Pre-pandemic, my life was too chaotic and unstable to justify spending hundreds of dollars a month on a service I may never use. You see, I was a documentarian by trade. My wife Kelly and I created a food and travel show with PBS called The Original Fare.
Road Warrior’s Workout Woes
Instead of a gym membership, I owned a range of dumbbells, installed a pull up bar and used workout routines like P90X and Insanity that were ideal for a life on the road. I was happy with my physicality that allowed me to carry around heavy camera equipment while simultaneously hanging from the side of fishing boats in Alaska or riding horseback in Peru.
When the pandemic struck, my wife and I found ourselves out of work and living with her parents. I quickly became bored of my old routine. Now that I wasn’t jumping from country to country and hotel to hotel for work, I was not only seeing a plateau in my strength and stamina but my enthusiasm was at rock bottom.
Beers, Workouts, and Surprising Gasps
Then I remembered a conversation with my friend Dan who was an accomplished Mixed Martial Artist. “Kettlebells, that’s all you need,” he had said while sipping beers in my kitchen. Hungry to change my routine, I ordered a 35lbs kettlebell from Amazon and scoured the web for a trainer.
That’s when I stumbled across Caroline Girvan. Her workouts are intense and completely enjoyable with enough variation to keep me interested. I was introduced to Kettlebell swings, Romanian Deadlifts, Sumo Squats and Turkish Getups. What surprised me most was not the strength needed to wield the kettlebell but the cardio and the balance. I found myself gasping for air, drenched in sweat and having to pause the workouts before proceeding.
From Stumbling to Summiting: Kettlebells Turned Me into a Farming Dynamo
I saw changes immediately. My core and legs were stronger. My endurance improved. It even helped with running - I charged up hills where I would typically be stumbling to the summit. Yet I would see the biggest impacts in my daily life.
Kelly and I relocated to Star, Idaho in 2022. We were able to fulfill a long time dream of growing our own food. On her parents newly purchased 2 acres, we started a small farm. That entailed digging 150 foot trenches and carrying buckets of heavy rocks to dump in a pile — hence the name of the property ‘Rock Bottom Farm’. I also had to constantly bend down to pull weeds and plant seeds. Motions to which my body was not accustomed to.
I am so grateful I discovered kettlebells before I became a part-time farmer. The deadlifts and the swings strengthened my lower back and core and allowed me to do repetitive tasks with lighter weights over and over again without injuring myself. Dumping a fifty pound bucket of rocks over a fence is hard once. Try doing it for hours without end. I attribute my injury-free experience to my rigorous strength building routine with kettlebells.
Kettlebell Revelation: Unleashing Practical Strength and Winning Over the Missus
To sum up: if you want to build functional power and endurance, get yourself a kettlebell. I eventually bought a 40lbs kettlebell as well as some lighter versions and, seeing my success, my wife started lifting weights alongside me. I still use dumbbells in my workout routine, but there’s something about the awkward, burdensome kettlebell that translates into more practical strength.
